The Suspicious Character of a Travel Star Modeled After Renaissance Gentlemen

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 1 second ago

Star Trek is a franchise set in the distant future, but many of its best moments are inspired by the past. For example, Captain Picard's Enterprise in The Next Generation a ship where people relax by playing classical music or living literary adventures (from Shakespeare to Sherlock) on the holodeck.

Things were very different Deep Space Ninebut that Star Trek spin-off still takes inspiration from the past. For example, in the episode “The Forsaken,” writer Jim Trombetta deliberately modeled Odo on the archetypal vision of the Renaissance gentleman.

Even if you've watched this episode of Star Trek many times, you probably haven't burned through the Renaissance references because nothing at the time is clearly mentioned. Instead, Trombetta used the period's sense of gentlemanliness to fill Odo's very different plight.

The episode has a shapeshifter stuck in a broken turbolift with a very romantic Lwaxana Troi. Odo blushes at the thought that he will be the first person to see him return to his water form.

Like Troi herself, we can hear what every Star Trek fan reading this is asking: What does getting Odo stuck in an elevator with a crazy Betazed has to do with the Renaissance? According to Jim Trombetta (who wrote the story but not the script), Odo's plight is similar to that of the Renaissance “gentlemen” who “need to be strong warriors with a strong posture, like weapons of war.” The metaphor here is straightforward, as Odo is stuck in a building, and is in danger of melting, something he wants to hide from Lwaxana Troi.

Star Trek writers tend to be historical intellectuals, and as Trombetta helpfully points out, there was a “concern” during the Renaissance that men would “go soft.” Men at the time were worried that they might turn from aggressive warriors into someone who is “useless” and “childlike.” Odo had to return to his liquid state every day, even after trying so hard to hide his pain. After Troi's act of kindness by taking off her wig and showing the constable a vulnerable side of herself that no one has ever seen, she turns into a pool of liquid trapped inside the hem of her dress.

While other Star Trek metaphors tend to suffer a bit, Trombetta is convinced that the Renaissance gentlemen angle “works very clearly” in “The Forsaken.” As he puts it, “Odo is a cop and a tough guy, but he has to go through that process and let someone else help him.” Odo learned an important lesson that, frankly, many fans watching at home can't learn: that, ironically, it takes a lot of strength to be vulnerable in front of others, even those (maybe). especially those) you care about.

It's nice to see Lwaxana Troi in her prime, but for some it was hard to see her scenes with Odo as more than half-hearted jokes. Now that we know that even their silly moments were inspired by the Renaissance, we can't help but look at the episode with a new respect. And, to be honest, we're always on the ground anywhere an excuse to revisit Deep Space Ninewhich remains the best showing in Gene Roddenberry's long-running franchise.