Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Had a Half-Vulcan/Half-Romulan Before Picard

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Star Trek: Picard season 1.

One of Star Trek: Picard's villains is Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita), a diabolical half-Vulcan/half-Romulan, but she isn't the first pointy-eared hybrid in the franchise. The original half-Vulcan/half-Romulan was the Star Trek movies' Lieutenant Saavik (Kirstie Alley). While there are no prominent full-blooded Vulcan characters in Star Trek: Picard, the Romulans took center stage as Big Bads in the Patrick Stewart-led Star Trek: The Next Generation sequel series. Commodore Oh being a Vulcan/Romulan mutt is a fascinating follow-up to Saavik.

Introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Lt. Saavik was the prized pupil of Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), although the film began with Saavik disappointed that she failed the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario test. Still, Saavik joined the U.S.S. Enterprise's crew and played a major role when Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) battled Khan (Ricardo Montalban) over the Genesis Device - which resulted in Spock's death in order to save the Enterprise from destruction. Saavik's Romulan side allowed her to cry at Spock's funeral before his corpse was photon torpedoed into the newly-formed Genesis planet. In the sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Saavik (now played by Robin Curtis) joined Kirk's scientist son David Marcus (Merritt Butrick) to investigate the Genesis planet, where they found Spock resurrected as a child. As Spock rapidly aged to adulthood, Saavik joined the suffering Vulcan as his mate when he underwent his Pon Farr sexual awakening. After Spock was reunited with his katra - his Vulcan soul - and became whole again, Saavik stayed behind on Vulcan while Kirk led the Enterprise crew on a new mission to save the Earth in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Saavik wasn't seen again in Star Trek canon.

In Star Trek: Picard, Commodore Oh emerged as a more fascinating and villainous successor to Saavik as a Romulan/Vulcan hybrid. Oh was introduced as the Head of Starfleet Security, a high-ranking position she has held for decades. But Oh is secretly the leader of the Tal Shiar's anti-synthetics cabal the Zhat Vash, and the halfbreed used her lofty Starfleet perch to covertly manipulate the United Federation of Planets. Oh's masterstroke was engineering the attack on Mars by rogue synthetics, which led to artificial lifeforms being banned by the Federation for 14 years. Oh also ordered the murder of Dahj (Isa Briones), the synthetic daughter of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner). After sending her subordinates, the sibling agents Narissa (Peyton List) and Narek (Harry Treadaway), to target Dahj's twin sister Soji, Oh personally led 218 Romulan Warbirds to attack Soji's homeworld of Coppelius, where her synthetic family resided. But thanks to Jean-Luc Picard and a Starfleet squadron led by Acting Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the Romulans were foiled and Oh's treachery was finally exposed.

As a Vulcan/Romulan crossbreed, Oh emerges as the opposite to the heroic Saavik. The villain actually has more in common with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country's Lieutenant Valeris (Kim Cattrall). A full Vulcan and the first to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy, Valeris was also Spock's protege. But Valeris conspired with Klingon, Federation, and Romulan dissidents to frame Kirk for the murder of Klingon High Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) because they feared a future of peace between the Klingons and the Federation. Savvy detective work by Kirk and Spock uncovered Valeris' treachery and Spock was uniquely hurt and furious by his pupil's betrayal. Valeris was apprehended at the end of Star Trek VI, but perhaps her devious acts were an inspiration to Commodore Oh nearly a century later.

Vulcans and Romulans were established as originally one species that splintered thousands of years ago, hence the shared pointy ears. However, back in 1982, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry vehemently opposed Saavik being a hybrid because he felt the species couldn't be cross-mingled. Roddenberry's objections were ignored and, years later, he came to regard Saavik as holding "beloved Star Trek character status", which is why Valeris was invented instead of Saavik returning as a traitor in Star Trek VI. Trekkers can only wonder if Roddenberry would appreciate the full-blooded villainy of Commodore Oh in Star Trek: Picard.

Star Trek: Picard is available to stream on CBS All-Access and internationally on Amazon Prime Video.

Source: screenrant.com