Captain Clark Terrell of the U.S.S. Reliant

Of the many guest stars to take a role in Star Trek, Paul Winfield rates in the top ten.  Like Mark Leonard, Tricia Neal, and William Windom, he brought his character to life in a way that made the performance stand out.  My latest creation is dedicated to his perfomance in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Captain Clark Terrell commands U.S.S. Reliant in a search for a suitable test site for the Genesis Project.  To a dedicated space veteran like Terrell, this rather mundane mission seems a waste of time.  

As Reliant locates a suitable planet in the Alpha Ceti system, Terrell is overjoyed that his tedium is about to end.  Unfortunately, scanners indicate a tiny bit of particulate matter that threatens to scrap the entire location.  The test site must be a dead world--totally devoid of even microscopic life.  Hoping to finally rid himself of his mission, Terrell and First Officer Chekov beam to the sand-blasted surface of Seti Alpha Six.

Once there, they are quick to discover the wreck of a transport ship half-buried in the sand.  As Terrell explores the ship, Chekov makes a startling discovery--the ship is none other than the infamous S.S. Botany Bay.  The derelict sleeper ship had been used to transport a group of genetically enhanced supermen away from Earth in the year 1996.  The leader, one of the most feared dictators of human history--Khan Noonien Singh!

Overpowered, Terrell and Chekov are used a pawns to exact revenge on the man who marooned Khan and his followers fifteen years prior--Admiral James T. Kirk.  Later, Kirk and his party discover that Khan has taken control of Reliant and is pursuing Kirk in very much the same destructive manner that Ahab pursued his White Whale.  With very much the same results.  Those of you who have yet to see the movie, check it out and then read the book.  

Using the deadly Seti eel to control his victims, Khan orders Terrell to kill Admiral Kirk.  Pulling his phaser, the Captain holds the Admiral at bay for a time.  However, as he struggles to resist it becomes apparent that while the eel is powerful, Terrell's will is stronger.   

Terrell fights against the control exerted by the slithering abomination long enough to regain his composure.

Still training his weapon on Kirk, he flings his communicator to the ground and collapses in a fit of agony.

Rolling back up to his knees, he once again points the phaser at the Admiral before turning it on himself.   Moments later, Terrell pulls the trigger and disintegrates.

To make Terrell, I took the head and hands from Capt. Sisko and placed it on the body of Admiral Kirk. The hair was from Klingon Commander Kor, re-sculpted to resemble Terrell.  The Star Trek: Innerspace Stargazer was used to stand in for the bridge of the Reliant.  

Beating the Alliance: What's Next for Mirror Universe Minimates

Is it possible that the somewhat open-ended conclusion to the Emperor's New Cloak represented a closed circle?  What are the possible endings for the mirror universe?  The Defiant once again flew circles around the clunky, embarrassingly large Nek'Var and captured Regent Worf.  The cat-suited Intendant Kira managed to escape.  By the end of the episode, it was clear the Alliance was on the back-foot.  All Captain O'Brien need do now is replicate a few dozen Defiant-class warships and make a fiery "grand tour" of Alliance worlds.  Can we expect different from a Terran?     

Whether Klingons and Cardassians accept defeat and surrender or fight to the death doesn't really matter.  The mirror universe will be bathed in blood for decades to come.  O'Brien seems an honorable man.  He has proven that since we first saw him meekly standing up to Odo in the ore-processing center.  However, he does live in a less than honorable universe.  To keep the peace, he may have no choice but to become the very thing he seeks to overthrow.   

Regent Worf is a prisoner of war.  Garek is dead.  Kira is on the lamb--yet still looking fabulous!  With the technical files from our universe, it is possible that O'Brien can create a mini-Federation from among the assorted oppressed races that constitute the Terran Resistance.  However, it is more likely that, given the nature of his universe, such an entity would fail to thrive or collapse into tyranny in the end.  It would not be wise to replicate Spock's hubris. 

The smart play would be for O'Brien to consolidate his power base by building more Defiant-class warships.  He could then assure loyalty to his vision by dispensing commands of these shiny new ships to commanders loyal to him.  Handing commands out like patronage to loyal commanders in order to keep the coalition together is the best way to ensure that he can guide the war towards its inevitable conclusion.  To be fair, O'Brien would not discriminate based on race.  Key commands would most assuredly be given to Terrans, Ferengi, Trills, Vulcans, and any other race associated with the former Terran Empire.  In the end, though, loyalty (and perhaps fealty) would be to the man who crossed through the looking glass and enabled the movement to succeed.
 

 

To ensure a greater tyranny doesn't rise from the ashes of the old, O'Brien would have to use less than honorable methods.  For the greater good, he would need to dispense patronage in the form of Defiant-class warships.  He would need to become a benevolent dictator.  Its simply the nature of his universe.  

Bashir Through the Looking Glass

He's not a brilliant doctor, but a harsh Terran pirate. 

This Julian Bashir possess all the bedside manner of the Bubonic Plague.  Armed with lethal cunning and a hatred for the Alliance, Bashir rose quickly through the ranks to become one of the principle leaders of the Terran Resistance Forces.

Little is known about his early life, but when we first see Bashir he is questioning the wisdom of an open attack on Terok Nor.  His loud objections to the proposed plan soon result in a smack-down at the hands of our Benjamin Sisko--who was posing as the movement's dead leader.

As time goes by, Captain Bashir becomes even more ruthless in his methods--itching for conflict, advocating scorched earth campaigns,
and delighting in subjecting a cat-suited Intendant Kira to the agonizer.  Bitch had it coming!   

Despite his sadism, he remains willing to volunteer for increasingly risky missions--such as taking his raider out in an effort to lure the Alliance away from the Terran base at Terok Nor.  His bravado was ultimately successful.  Throwing off the sensors of the Alliance fleet and leading them in a wild goose chase long enough for the rebels to bring the Defiant online, Bashir returns to the field in just enough time to do what he does best--kill Klingons. 

Hero?  Villain?  Human?  Whether you enjoy the darker side of humanity or like the prospect of a universe where humans are brigands and swarthy pirates or simply like the idea of Alexander Sidgig with scruff, the mirror universe never disappoints.  Oh wait, there's still Enterprise.

To make this figure, I took Space Seed Khan's hair and placed it on the head of a scruffy, random character from some line of figures I have never heard of.  I took the bear chested body of Khan (its actually under his gold dress tunic) and constructed the outfit from paper based on stills from the episodes in which the mirror-Bashir appeared.   I fashioned the holster from sculpy.  The Cardassian disruptor was inserted into the holster for effect.  The legs are from Klingon Commander Kor. 

The Terran Raider is the Maquis Raider Geronimo from the Star Trek: Strike Force collection.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard from “Yesterday’s Enterprise”

What started as a typical anomaly in space turned into a time-altering misadventure involving Klingons, a militaristic Federation, a ship from the past, and Tasha Yar finally finding a man!. 

 

The emergence of the battered Enterprise-C creates a ripple in time that results in an alternate reality in which the Federation is at war with the Klingon Empire.  Instead of meeting a heroic end defending a Klingon colony from Romulan attack, the Enterprise-C is propelled 22 years into the future.  A Federation vessel defending a Klingon colony would have improved relations between the two powers.  Instead, a fragile peace gave way to interplanetary war.  A war the Federation cannot win.    

 

The Picard of this new timeline is not the diplomat we have come to know.  Rather, he is a hardened veteran of a long-standing conflict.  In fact, everyone has changed.  Worf is gone…or rather, he never existed.  Tasha Yar is still alive—and looking fierce.  Counselor Trio is also absent.  To us this seems strange.  For the crew, this is reality.  The only person who feels that this reality is not quite right is Guinan; whose species not only has an affinity for obnoxious millenary, but a perception that transcends time.    

 

Guinan alerts Picard that what he perceives as reality is indeed an altered state.  The destruction of the Enterprise-C at the hands of the Romulans could have prevented it all.     

 

Conferring with Captain Rachel Garret, Picard reveals that the war is going very badly for Starfleet.  The Klingons have conquered almost half of the Federation.  Billions have died.  The most shocking revelation is that the best estimates indicate that defeat is inevitable within six months.  While one ship may make no difference is this reality, Picard stresses that 22 years ago one ship might have prevented everything.  With that, Garret agrees to go back—right into the firefight with the Romulans. 

 

Picard and his crew prepare to hold off the advancing Klingon ships long enough to allow the Enterprise-C to return to its own time.  In a fierce battle, the Enterprise-D takes a pounding.

 

With his First Officer dead, his shields gone, and a Warp Core breach minutes away, Picard takes control of the weapons.  The last image is so brilliantly shot it is actually breath-taking.  Flames all around him, Picard continues to fire at the advancing ships.  Just and the Klingons move in for the kill, the Enterprise-C enters the rift and the timeline is restored.  All’s well that ends well.                    

 

The high collars and metallic weapons belts present on all the officers portray a universe of ridged discipline.

 

To create this figure, I took the standard Picard in Duty Uniform and altered it to match the darker uniforms portrayed in the show.  The Silver belt was accomplished through metallic tape and incredibly careful painting.  Seriously, my eyes almost fell out of my head.  The high collar was simple sculpting.  

The Star Trek: Strike Force Enterprise was used for the interior shots. 

Through a Glass Darkly...the Mirror Universe: Captain Smiley O'Brien

 

I decided to undertake a bold experiment with the creation of one of the best characters from the Deep Space Nine crossover series--Mile "Smiley" O'Brien. 

After the fall of the Terran Empire, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance ravaged Earth and scourged Vulcan.  Those who did not escape into exile, collaborate to retain their status, or die in the final battles were enslaved under the harsh lash of the Alliance. 

 

This Miles Edward O’Brien was born to serve.  Eventually, his mechanical skills earned him a Theta designation—giving him a much more privileged status on the ore-processing center, Terok Nor.  Due to his perpetual woeful demeanor, he was dubbed “smiley” by Benjamin Sicko—a free Terran
captain who worked for the Alliance. 



Life was difficult, but O'Brien managed to survive.  It was not until he met people from another universe that he realized that Terrans were capable of much, much more. 

The mirror Sisko eventually sparked a rebellion against Alliance rule, taking Smiley with him.  A year later, Sisko was dead and O’Brien was now the leader of the Terran Resistance--or, at least of this particular center of the movement.  Crossing into the prime-reality, Captain O’Brien kidnapped the Benjamin Sisko of that universe and downloaded the plans for the U.S.S. Defiant.  Eventually retaking the station, the Resistance secretly constructed their own warship—a powerful little vessel that will bring home to the downtrodden people of Earth and Vulcan
 

For the head, I used Captain Kirk—the only face that came close to that of O’Brien.  The hair is from Leoben of the Battlestar Galactica line.  The upper body is that of Ambassador Sarek.  I used an overlay of construction tape and painted it to match as closely as I could.  The lower portion of the body and legs are from Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.   The weapons belt is from Captain Picard.

To make the Defiant more like the one of the mirror universe, I removed all the stickers designating the ship's name and registry number.  This is how the vessel appeared in the show.  The only reference to the ships official designation is the small placard on the bridge bearing the name, I.S.S. Defiant and the registry number.  I found this interesting as the Terran Starfleet long since ceased to exist.  Perhaps it was nostalgia--or just tradition.  Either way. the tiny dedication plague on the bridge bears the name I.S.S. Defiant.