by Chris Snelgrove
| has been published
Star Trek is a franchise set in the distant future, but many of its best moments are inspired by the distant past. For example, in Captain Picard's Enterprise The Next Generation A ship where people relax by playing classical music or literary adventures on the holodeck (from Shakespeare to Sherlock).
Things were very different Deep Space NineBut that Star Trek spinoff still took inspiration from the past. For example, in the episode “The Forsaken”, writer Jim Trombetta deliberately modeled Odo on the archetypal idea of a Renaissance gentleman.
Even if you've seen this Star Trek episode countless times, you probably didn't clock any Renaissance references because nothing about that period is explicitly mentioned. Instead, Trombetta draws on the era's idea of a gentleman trying to get out of Odo's very unique predicament.
In the episode the shapeshifter is trapped in a broken turbolift with a very lustful Lwaxana Troi. Odo is embarrassed at the idea that he will be the first person to see him revert to his liquid form.
Like Troi himself, we can all hear Star Trek Fans reading this are asking: What does Odor's Renaissance have to do with crazy Betazed being stuck in an elevator? According to Jim Trombeter (who wrote the story but not the screenplay), Odo's plight mirrors the Renaissance “gentlemen” who “had to be hardened warriors in armor.” The metaphor here is very direct, as Odo's solid form is breaking down in the turbolift, and he is in danger of melting, which he desperately wants to hide from Luxana Troy.
Star Trek writers tend to be history savvy, and as Trombetta helpfully points out, there was “a concern” during the Renaissance that the gentlemen would “grow soft”. Men at the time worried that they might be transformed from fierce warriors to “helpless” and “childlike” ones. Odo had to return to his liquid state every day and after stubbornly trying to hide his pain. After removing her wig from Troy and showing the constable a vulnerable side of herself that no one else has seen, she turns into a pool of liquid held inside the hem of her dress.
While some of the Star Trek tropes tend to be a bit tortured, Trombetta is convinced that the Renaissance gentlemen angle “works very clearly” in “The Forsaken.” As he wrote, “Odo is a constable and a very tough guy, but he has to do the process and allow someone else to help him.” Odo learns a valuable lesson that, frankly, many fans watching at home could stand to learn: that, ironically enough, it takes a lot of strength to be vulnerable in front of others, even if they (maybe) especially those) that you care about.
It's fun to see Lwaxana Troi in all her glory, but for some it was hard to see her scenes with Odo as more than equally middle-of-the-road comedy. Now that we know that even their silliest moments were inspired by Renaissance, we can't help but look at the episode with a new respect. Plus, the truth is, we're always down any An excuse to revisit Deep Space Ninewhich remains the best show in Gene Roddenberry's long-running franchise.