Darting from planet to planet, discovering the unknown, Star Trek has shown that relationships are a struggle when your main focus is on exploring the unknown. Yet beyond the great adventure, one of the most complex relationships shown on screen have been between parents and their children.
Family drama is one of televisions most loved tropes and Star Trek has mined that particular well more than a few times over the years; particularly with father figures. For every inspiring and supportive Joseph Sisko, there’s a Kyle Riker holding a life long resentment over their children. Occasionally there’s an Enabrin Tain, who’d deny his parentage right until his deathbed.
Not every family relationship in Trek has been antagonistic and some have been inspirational to both characters within the story and the audience at home. Today we’re celebrating Fathers Day by looking back at some of the more inspirational father figures in Star Trek, starting with one of the most relatable faces in the franchises history…
Miles O’Brien
Possibly the most normal and down to Earth character that wore the uniform, Miles O’Brien wasn’t a career officer but an overworked enlisted man who’d do his job, do it very well, then clock off to go back home to what really mattered. His family. Despite his heavy workload, move to DS9 and the eventual war with the Dominion, O’Brien always found the balance of making sure his wife and kids – Molly and Kirayoshi – were his priority no matter what challenges they faced; even ensuring they had a calmer, happier life by leaving the front lines for a quiet job on Earth.
Sergey Rozhenko
Worf may have been known as the son of Mogh, but for all his Klingon heritage Worf owed a lot to his foster parents Sergey and Helena. When serving on the USS Intrepid, Sergey found the orphaned Worf and took him into his care. Leaving his life in Starfleet behind, he and Helena raised Worf with their own son, taking on the massive responsibility of caring for the troublesome outcast. While Worf was known to be stubborn and himself not the best fatherly role model, the love his human parents gave him ensured he stayed grounded, restrained and gained the courage to become the first Klingon to join Starfleet.
Hikaru Sulu (and Ben!)
Gallivanting through space and rising to the rank of Captain, the audience learned there was more to Sulu’s personal life than met the eye when we wre introduced to his daughter, Demora, who’d follow in his footsteps to become the helmsman of the Enterprise-B. In the Kelvin Timeline we got a little more insight into his family life as he struggled through the days waiting until he could see his daughter again and as Kirk watched on, envying how fulfilled Sulu’s life was, we saw Sulu reunited with his daughter and husband Ben. While it did receive criticism for being all too brief a moment, this was the first indication of both a same-sex couple and same sex parents in Star Trek’s main cast.
George Kirk
In the original ‘Prime’ time-line, George Kirk was an inspiring figure to a young James T and lived long enough to see his son become Captain of the Enterprise. In the Kelvin Timeline, his legacy was a little bit different. Placed in command, George Kirk witnessed his captain’s death from afar before the mysterious Romulan Nero began the attack on the USS Kelvin. Stepping up to save the crew, and his wife who was in the middle of giving birth to their son, George had the ship evacuated and stayed behind to make sure all eight hundred people could escape; sacrificing his own life for that of the crew – and his newborn son. In the new timeline the death of a father he never knew would haunt James Kirk, before being dared by Captain Pike to live up to his memory.
Rom
Introduced as a fool and Quark’s whipping boy, Rom would have one of the best character transformations in Deep Space Nine as time showed him to be less of a greedy stereotype and more of a loving father struggling to balance his decency with the Ferengi lifestyle. Rom’s failure to break free of those traditions would inspire his son Nog to join Starfleet; and in turn, seeing his son achieve his best life, as well as fighting for Nog’s future, inspired Rom to distance himself from the lust for money to focus on being a good father, good husband and better person.
Sarek
Perhaps an odd one to add to the list, Sarek is well known as a notoriously cold and distant parent who struggled to accept his sons ‘flaws’ as a Human-Vulcan hybrid, and who struggled to demonstrate his affection to any of his children. Despite his Vulcan arrogance, and his eventual reconciliation, his failings as a parent haunted himto the end. After his death Captain Picard offered his most famed son, Spock, to mind meld with him; passing on the love and admiration Sarek had for his son; things that Sarek’s Vulcan distance wouldn’t allow him to say in life.
Ben Sisko
After the loss of his wife Jennifer at the battle of Wolf 359, Benjamin Sisko not only mourned deeply for his wife, but steered their son through the devastating news. Balancing his work alongside being a single father, Sisko’s assignment to Deep Space Nine led them both through a journey of self discovery as Sisko finally learned to move on from his loss and Jake began to grow into his own person. Despite their interests and destinies veering in different directions, the Sisko’s lived in a loving, supporting environment that saw them both grow as characters and ultimately led Sisko to become the best example of a strong father figure in Starfleet.
Happy Fathers Day to those in Star Trek and in reality who inspired us, stood by us, who grew with us and who were gone too soon.
For more lists of inspiring Star Trek characters, you can read more with ‘Bunch of Fives’ regular feature in our Comms Archive. To find out more about Comms and how to read the full issue, visit our Comms Preview or join the conversation on the new era of Trek with the fleet and Enlist Today!
About the author
Beta Quarter Plans and Progress..
Since the 50th anniversary of SFC as a whole, we've been on a mission to revitalise and update several elements of Quadrant 2, working on improving services and experience fleet wide for all members. Following some background changes and a lot of work in the Alpha Quarter behind the scenes, we're moving into the next phase with some more visibility in whats coming next! Balancing life and fleet life is always a trial. All too often things can lapse or take time due to finding that right balance; especially as life now is a little more chaotic than it was ten years ago and the things we'd take in our stride tend to take a little bit longer now. That balance has been on my mind a lot in the past year, particularly in how Q2 has changed and grown […]
Who Is…. Montgomery Scott?
Starfleet engineers are known throughout the universe for their innovation and ability to fix absolutely anything. Whether it's connecting all the warp cores or turning rocks into replicators, the legend of the engineer all started with one man: Montgomery Scott. Born in the early 22nd century, Scott was raised in the years of Starfleet's mission that turned a small force into stuff of legend. With a passion for learning Scott was trained in a mix of obsessively learning everything he could to the point of reading technical manuals as a pass time, to hands on experience working on some of the finest and most complex systems in the fleet. Assigned as chief engineer of the Enterprise in the 2260's, Scott saw the prestigious ship as his own; engineering his complete domain where even the captain was merely a guest on […]
Comms/Comms Relay Revisions from Beta Quarter 2025 Onwards
Following our last released issue of Comms as a downloadable publication, we've been moving to an easier and more accessible format by using Q2's website for various articles and updates throughout the year which has included some carry over features from Comms itself. After some trial and error experimentation, our 2025 plan began with some tests through the first quarter and a new comms line up for the site ahead of any plans by our next Fleet Comms Officer. To mirror the old style, reduce workload and offer some variety to our regular posts, we've broken down the year of updates through our operating quarters and scheduled in a rotation of our regular features to keep the fleet updated, entertained with some positive Trek hijinks and more. The current quarter (Beta Quarter: April, May, June) is the first full use […]
[Q2&A] If I Could Get Serial For A Minute…
With a long history and many people coming to SFC over the decades, there can often be a lot of curiosity for members – both old and new – about various subjects. From questions about our base structure, how to get four pips, how Q2 and Q1 diverged many moons ago.... even questions on the curse of the Daring. Sometimes we have questions where the answers are as mundane as the question. One of the most common.... what is my serial number and why do I have it? Like any account number in the known universe – whether it's your broadband provider or local Blockbusters – your service ID is a unique membership number that helps us identify each member whether we're updating a record or assessing a Fleet Support application form. With our structure and organisational systems based on […]
[Retro Review] Latent Image; Voyager S5E11
Running through annual check-ups and playing around with a 24th century version of a digital camera, the Doctor spots some weird scars on Ensign Kim. Scars that could only have come from a surgical procedure he developed, but has no memory of ever performing. The surgery isn't the only gap in the Doctors memory. What else has he forgotten? And how...? No matter the show or the season, Star Trek loves diving into the lives of it's artificial characters. Data explored everything from his basic rights to the meaning of dreams as he developed to become more of a person. For the Doctor, things had always been a bit more complicated. He was a program developed for short term use. A piece of equipment built into sickbay that could be turned off and on at will. While Deep Space Nine's […]
A New Class: Academy Revisions For The Class of 2402
It's only April and the year has been one for us to take a step back and review our operations to do some much overdue maintenance on our overall performance and offerings. One of the major hurdles for the second quarter is one of the tougher parts of Q2: The Academy. Once upon a time the Academy was a core part of the experience in joining SFC. After singing up new members would pass through the Academy, completing a series of tests before becoming an ensign, joining their unit and becoming an active member of the club. Many people over the years enjoyed the more immersive and playful nature of being part of an organisation modelled after Starfleet. Some didn't. As years went by, the franchise itself evolved, opening it's door to new fans who'd want to reach out and […]
Related
A Fistful Of…. Other Worlds
Beyond the final frontier lies worlds even stranger than those encountered by heroic starship crews week after week. Running parallel to our world are many more. Some slightly different, some dramatically so and with each possibility time splinters into further alternate realities where everything that could be, is.
Star Trek, LGBT & Me.
The concept of IDIC - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - has always been core to the ideology of Star Trek and to SFC. As we celebrate Pride month, a celebration of diversity in itself, we're proud to introduce the first post from Churchill's CO Stephen Lester in sharing his experiences in what brought him to the world of Star Trek and to SFCQ2. Hello, my name is Stephen Lester aka Sebastian Rax. I am the Captain of the USS Churchill. I am a gay man with a partner. When I was at school, I wasn’t into Football like the other boys. I didn’t really have many friends who were boys. We rarely have anything in common and besides, they used to bully me. Calling me Gaylord. I preferred to get along with the girls and hang out with them. […]
Diversity and Inclusion in Star Trek
Sovereign's Sam Lewis (right) and their wife, Claire. Diversity and Inclusion in Star Trek June marks Pride month, celebrating diversity and inclusivity in the LGBT+ community. Star Trek has had mixed success with representation of LGBT+ individuals despite being otherwise representative of other minorities such as people of colour and those with a disability. Despite these hiccups the enduring message in Star Trek has always been one of inclusion and nothing demonstrates this more than Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. IDIC was first heard during the season 3 TOS episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty" where the symbol is first seen and talked about by Spock and Dr Jones, the actress whom went on to play the polarising TNG character Dr Polaski. The Original Series did not have any openly LGBT+ characters and whilst Roddenbery promised gay characters in […]
The Legacy of the Next Generation
Decades after the original crew launch their five year mission, 1987 introduced us to a new era of Star Trek as Captain Jean Luc Picard took centre stage of an all new Enterprise. The relaunch of the series was a bold move, replacing the lovable figures of the original crew with an all new cast, including an Android and a Klingon on the bridge! At the time it was a shocking change, but now for many of us, this is the Star Trek we grew up with. Despite initial hesitation, 30 years later the Next Generation is one of the most iconic of the franchise. Long after the original series was cancelled, Kirk and crew had found new life on the big screen. By 1986 they were on their fourth instalment of the film franchise and the popularity was at […]
The Best of Trek!
On the build up to our latest issue of Comms, members of SFC Quadrant 2 taking part in our Facbeook group have been voting for the Best of Trek. Using fan created polls throughout the years and suggestions form members, the best and highest rated episodes of all five Trek series have been picked out and put into battle in a knockout tournament. Over the past week members have been asked to choose their favourites in the first four groups. Each of the qualifying groups contains one highly rated episode of each series. Members can vote on their favourites and the winner moves onto the next stage. At the half way mark we've seen the first four groups dominated by the original series with the only non-TOS winner being DS9's time travelling anniversary special Trials and Tribbleations! Tonight we'll see […]
Remembering Gene Roddenberry
"The human race is a remarkable creature, one with great potential, and I hope that 'Star Trek' has helped to show us what we can be if we believe in ourselves and our abilities." Twenty five years ago today the creator of Star Trek passed away while serving as executive producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, leaving behind a legacy that would continue long after his passing. Born August 19th, 1921, the creator of the Star Trek franchise has become an infamous figure both in fandom, and through his industry. Best known for creating Star Trek, Gene roddenberry's goal wasn't always to work in television. In his formative years Roddenberry followed in his fathers footsteps, majoring in police science at LA City College, later developing an interest in aeronautical engineering and earning himself a pilots licence through the US […]
