Best known for his roles in RoboCop and That ’70s Show, Kurtwood Smith has played four different characters in Star Trek movies and TV shows. Smith’s breakthrough movie role was Clarence Boddicker opposite Star Trek into Darkness‘ Peter Weller as Alex Murphy/RoboCop in Paul Verhoeven’s brutal sci-fi satire. After RoboCop, Kurtwood Smith went on to star in an eclectic collection of movies from Rambo III to Dead Poet’s Society. In tandem with his movie career, Kurtwood Smith made many guest appearances on popular shows such as The X-Files, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and two Star Trek TV shows.
In 1998, Kurtwood Smith was cast as Red Forman in That ’70s Show, starring in 200 episodes of the nostalgic sitcom. One of Kurtwood Smith’s That ’70s Show co-stars was Don Stark, who is best known to Star Trek fans as the actor who played Nicky the Nose in 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact. Kurtwood Smith starred in another of the best Star Trek movies, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, after working with the movie’s director, Nicholas Meyer on the espionage thriller, Company Business. Kurtwood Smith’s casting in Star Trek 6 began a connection between the actor and the franchise that continued into the 2020s.
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Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Kurtwood Smith’s first Star Trek role was as the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The Federation President’s species was given as Efrosian in some publicity materials for Star Trek 6, but was never confirmed on-screen. With his cranial ridges, long white hair and whiskery beard, Kurtwood Smith cuts quite a figure as the head of the United Federation of Planets. Smith discussed his role as the Federation President in The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine issue 18, way back in 1998:
“It wasn’t really an acting role. I had to achieve a quick sense of presence and then be shot at. I also had that scene in the office with all the boys [….] I was pleased to be a part of it.“
The President was targeted for assassination as part of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country‘s vast Khitomer conspiracy to derail peace talks with the Klingon Empire. Thankfully, the crews of the USS Enterprise and USS Excelsior discover the truth about the conspiracy in time to stop the attempt on the President’s life. Captain Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) killed the assassin, restoring order to the peace conference. It may have been a small role for Kurtwood Smith, but despite his lack of screentime, the President who oversaw the Klingon peace process is a hugely important character in Star Trek‘s fictional history.
Thrax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5, Episode 8, “Things Past”
Kurtwood Smith played Thrax, the Cardassian predecessor of Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) from when Deep Space Nine was Terok Nor. Thrax appears in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, episode 8, “Things Past”, in which a freak runabout accident created a telepathic link between Odo, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) and Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson). The link takes them back to a dark moment from Odo’s past, during which Thrax ordered the execution of three innocent Bajorans who had been accused of attempting to murder Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo).
At the end of “Things Past”, it was revealed that it wasn’t Thrax who ordered the execution, but Odo. Kurtwood Smith was, therefore, playing quite a complicated character in the episode. Thrax was essentially an amalgam of the original Cardassian security officer, and Odo’s own guilt. In a 2017 interview with the official Star Trek website, Kurtwood Smith reflected on the duality of his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine role, saying:
“[Thrax] was a character within a character, and he was also a mirror of Rene’s character from a different time. I loved the depth of it. I always liked the size of the characters on Star Trek. It reminds me of when I used to do a lot of Shakespeare, back when I was first coming up. It has that feel about it, you know, because you’ve got all this stuff on, and you’re dealing with enhanced language. They’re just very fun, complicated characters.”
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Annorax in Star Trek: Voyager, Season 4, Episodes 8 & 9, “Year of Hell”
Annorax is Kurtwood Smith’s biggest Star Trek role to date, appearing in the epic Star Trek: Voyager two-parter, “Year of Hell”. Annorax was a temporal scientist who had built a devastating weapon that could remove elements from the space-time continuum. Using his weapon, Annorax set about restoring the glory of the Krenim Imperium, which had been devastated by a war with the Rilnar. Star Trek: Voyager‘s Krenim villains were so powerful that, in multiple alternate timelines, they destroyed Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the majority of the USS Voyager crew.
Annorax was a tyrant, but he was also a tragic figure, as his temporal weapon had accidentally destroyed a Krenim colony, killing his wife. However, having nothing left drove Annorax to more and more extreme measures as he struggled to reorganize the flow of history in his favor. It’s a compelling performance from Kurtwood Smith and his scenes with his former Zoot Suit co-star Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay are some of the standout moments from the Star Trek: Voyager two-parter. Kurtwood Smith discussed how Thrax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine influenced his portrayal of Thrax in The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, saying that:
“I guess the producers liked what I did on Deep Space Nine, and asked me to come back, which was fine with me. […] Because Thrax was actually in the imagination of another character […] he wasn’t quite as interesting to play as Annorax. He didn’t have nearly as much to do.”
Imperium Magistrate Clar in Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 1, Episode 8, “Veritas”
Imperium Magistrate Clar was a much lighter Star Trek role for Kurtwood Smith, as the character featured in the animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks. In “Veritas”, the Lower Deckers are seemingly put on trial by Imperium Magistrate Clar as he interrogates them about the USS Cerritos’ senior staff. However, Clar isn’t putting the crew of the USS Cerritos on trial, he’s instead honoring them according to his planet’s traditions. However, Jack Quaid’s Boimler and his fellow Lower Deckers torpedo the whole ceremony by misunderstanding Clar’s line of questioning, which is designed to show them all as infallible heroes.
While it’s a voice performance, Kurtwood Smith is clearly having fun in the role of Imperium Magistrate Clar, perhaps delighting in sending up his previous villain roles. Just as Annorax in Star Trek: Voyager was Kurtwood Smith’s last Star Trek role before That ’70s Show, Clar was his last role before That ’90s Show. Hopefully, Kurtwood Smith can return to Star Trek once That ’90s Show season 2 drops on Netflix later in the year.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is streaming on Max.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
Star Trek Voyager
The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they’ve never faced before.
Star Trek Lower Decks
The animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least significant ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells) have to keep up with their duties and their social lives often. At the same time, the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
