Jefferies Tubes #2: Italians and Star Trek

Kirk: “I love Italian…and so do you.”Spock: “Yes.”Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeFrom its beginnings, Star Trek emphasized racial, ethnic, and gender diversity through both its narratives and its characters. Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov, for example, both had strong ethnic identities, and in Chekov’s case especially, ethnic pride.While Star Trek has never had a main character identified through dialog as being of Italian heritage (although it is possible using onomastics that Geordi LaForge may had Italian ancestors), several recurring and episodic characters are arguably of Italian heritage.Holographic mentors seem to be a preferred style for Trek’s recurring Italian characters. On Deep Space Nine, holographic singer Vic Fontaine was sage to characters such as Odo and Nog. Voyager introduced its own holographic mentor for Captain Kathryn Janeway in the form of famous real world Italian artist/scientist Leonardo da Vinci, played by genre favorite John Rhys-Davies. While not appearing in as many episodes as Vic, Leonardo da Vinci’s workroom and advice were important elements of the show’s fourth season, especially “Concerning Flight,” as Captain Janeway tries to rescue the Leonardo da Vinci program from alien thieves. Interestingly, Captain Kirk and crew met the “real” Leonardo because Flint claimed that as one his past identities (“Requiem for Methuselah”).