Stephen Collins & Persis Khambata - Episode 114

70s Trek: Star Trek in the 1970s

When Star Trek The Motion Picture hit theaters, fans saw two new additions to the cast.

During The Original Series, we got to meet guest characters that helped to tell that week’s story. But they were never members of the crew.

But when we meet Decker and Ilia, they are the first, new, significant crew members to join the ship since Ensign Chekov in the 2nd season.

While we only see these characters in this movie, they do have meaningful roles in the film. That could be due to the fact that the script for The Motion Picture was originally to be the pilot film for the aborted TV show, Star Trek Phase II. That story was called In thy Image.

Had Phase II gotten the green light and moved into production, Decker and Ilia played by Collins and Khambata would have been ongoing, major characters.

This week we’ll tell you about actors Stephen Collins and Persis Khambata.