In Tony Todd’s Star Trek Oeuvre, ‘The Visitor’ Is Unequalled
Prolific guest star in the franchise has passed away at age 69
Although actor Jeffrey Combs’ prolificacy as a guest star in the Star Trek franchise is unmatched, you could say that Tony Todd certainly gave Combs a run for his money.
Todd, who appeared as several different characters in a number of series throughout the history of Star Trek, passed away Wednesday at age 69.
Todd spent a career working across the science fiction and horror genres. In Star Trek, he made several appearances in both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Worf’s (Michael Dorn) brother, Kurn.
And each time, Todd turned in excellent, nuanced performances that very much made Kurn an integral part not only of Worf’s family — but our own extended Star Trek family as well.
So much so that Kurn ranked among the Top 10 Klingons of all time several years ago.
The actor always treasured his association with the franchise.
“Once Star Trek happened as an actor, my personal growth sort of solidified,” Todd said in a recorded interview about 10 years ago.
However, as deft as he was playing Kurn, for me Todd’s work in the Deep Space Nine episode, “The Visitor,” will forever be his true masterpiece.
An accident leaves Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) frozen in time, leaving his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) with a lifelong obsession with rescuing his father, who he contacts only when they briefly reunite every few decades.
Todd plays an older Jake flawlessly, and his performance is largely the fuel that propels “The Visitor” to rarified company as not only one of the very best episodes of Deep Space Nine, but really one of the best stories ever to come from the franchise.
Writer Keith DeCandido, who for many years produced a Star Trek rewatch column at Tor.com, called “The Visitor” one the 10 best Star Trek stories and praised the acting of Brooks, Lofton, and particularly, Todd.
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Jamahl Epsicokhan, of Jammer’s Reviews, gave the episode 4/4 stars, and he said “The Visitor” was a “moving, thematic tale [that] is one of the most brilliantly realized character pieces I've seen on television.”
If you take away all of its technological and futuristic artifice, “The Visitor” — written by Michael Taylor and directed by David Livingston — isn’t really a science fiction story at all.
It has many of the great storytelling hallmarks you’d find in a great stage play. The relationship between Ben Sisko and his son has always been one of most compelling aspects of Deep Space Nine, so of course “The Visitor”’s exploration of that would almost guarantee it a special place among fans.
But in a very real sense it is simply a great story about love, life and the human condition.
It was just as special for Todd, himself, as well.
His aunt, who had raised him, had just passed away when he got the part for “The Visitor.”
“I didn’t work for three months, and I got the script and it was like she had reached down and shook me out of my solace, and said, ‘Get up! This is your gift. Get up and do this,’” Todd said in an interview at his appearance at a convention in 2015. “It just felt like she was with me the entire time I was shooting. So it was a true channeling experience that I’ve never felt since, or before.
“Yeah, it’s for her,” he added. “It’s the one thing that I’ve done that I wish she’d seen.”
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