The Omega Glory: Dr. Carter


 


Continuing with the theme of doomed sister ships of the U.S.S. Enterprise, I elected to focus on a minor character from "The Omega Glory".   




In this episode, the Enterprise discovers the U.S.S. Exeter (NCC 1762) adrift above a planet bearing a remarkable similarity to Earth.



Yes, this another one of those silly parallel Earth plotlines, created mostly for budgetary reasons.  What makes this one different is the fact that its actually quite good. 

The Exeter crew were felled by a genetically engineered virus that turned them into desiccated piles of salt--how very biblical! 



 

Beaming aboard to investigate, Captain Kirk and party discover nothing but uniforms filled with salt crystals.  Upon reaching the bridge, they discover that the crew set the ship on automatic pilot in a fixed orbit around the planet. 








At this point, Dr. McCoy makes the startling discovery that the crew never left Exeter--they were still there, reduced to piles of salt.   

Spock pulls up the last recorded log entry, made by the ill-fated vessel's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Carter.  With most of the crew already dead, the doctor assumed command.










Before succumbing to the virus, he made his way to the bridge and recorded a final log entry that warned the crew that their only hope of survival was to beam down to the planet below.

We then see Dr.Carter lurch forward and fall out of view.  The empty Captain's Chair frames in the center of the darkened bridge.

 

Before cutting to commercial, Captain Kirk dramatically pauses to consider the uniform strewn in front of the Captain's Chair--a blue Science Division uniform with Commander's rank braids and a Medical Insignia centered on the Exeter's Mission Patch.  Dr. Carter, like the rest of his crew, had been reduced to a pile of salt.

Carter was made by placing a Captain Picard head on Commander Spock's body.  I then painted the hair to resemble the frayed, thinning hairline of the late CMO.  Gold leaf paint was used to create the Exeter Mission patch.  I have been giving serious thought to creating a figure representing the last survivor of the Exeter, Captain Ronald Tracy.  The Enterprise Action Set works perfectly for the Exeter bridge