John Billingsley Has A Tongue-In-Cheek Pitch For Phlox's Ideal Star Trek Spin-Off
On "Star Trek: Enterprise," John Billingsley played Dr. Phlox, the chief medical officer on board the titular ship. "Enterprise" took place a century prior to the events of the original "Star Trek," and was about Earth's very first ship to undergo a mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. It was a time before starship shields were invented, before transporters were safe to use on living beings, and before the Prime Directive. It was also before Earth had come into contact with a great number of alien species, making the Enterprise crew almost entirely human. Serving on the bridge was the Vulcan T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and serving as the ship's doctor was the Denobulan Phlox.
Dr. Phlox is one of the more fascinating characters in all of "Star Trek." Denobulans hadn't been introduced until "Enterprise," and he provided an entire new culture to explore. Denobulans, Trekkies soon learned, were upbeat and cheerful. They stayed awake for months at a time, then would hibernate for a week straight. They marry in large polycules that could incorporate, it seems, dozens of people. Phlox, for instance, has three wives. Each of his wives has three husbands. When the human engineer Lt. Tucker (Connor Trinneer) asks him if that gets complicated, Phlox grins and answers "Very." He offered the show a very different viewpoint — and a very different ethic — than the inexperienced human officers around him. In the true spirit of "Star Trek," he was curious about other cultures, and eager to interact with new civilizations.
Star Trek: Old Man Phlox
Beginning in 2017, Paramount+ has steadily been releasing new "Star Trek" shows, with each one set at a different place in Trek's historical timeline. "Strange New Worlds," for instance, take place immediately prior to the events of the original series, "Lower Decks" takes place a few years after the closure of "Star Trek: Voyager" nearly 100 years later, and "Picard" takes place a few decades further hence. This broad spectrum of Trek's chronology has left the franchise merrily open for opportunities for references and for returning characters. Almost any character from the past is now close enough to at least one "Star Trek" show to make a guest appearance.
In a recent interview with TrekMovie.com, Billingsley playfully offered his own pitch for a return of Dr. Phlox. Although "Enterprise" takes place quite a long time before "Strange New Worlds," there has never been an official statement as to how long Denobulans live. If they have a lifespan of, say 400 years, there's no reason why Phlox couldn't return. Or, as Billingsley has pitched, go for broke and give Phlox his very own show. His pitch runs thus:
"I have frequently pitched Old Fat Phlox, which is an hour. This is how it begins: Old fat Phlox is sitting on a box: [old man voice] 'Back when I was on Enterprise ... here's a story to tell ...' And you see all these young people running around in their blue underpants. At the very end it's back to me: [old man voice] 'Well, that's it! Stay tuned next week for another episode of Old Fat Phlox.' And I'd be #1 on the call sheet, I get well paid. I don't have to wear the rubber head."
Blue underpants
Billingsley doesn't elucidate further on what he means about the blue underpants, although it may be an allusion to the frequently filmed undergarments worn by the Enterprise crew. A notable — and notably prurient — element of "Enterprise" was the ship's decontamination chamber. After returning from an away mission, crew members would have to re-enter through a sterilization sauna wherein they would strip to their underthings and rub sanitizing salve on one another. Throughout "Enterprise," character would luxuriate in massaging one another with oil. Gene Roddenberry would be so proud.
In Billingsley's mind, these scenes would loom large on his Phlox show. He admits, though, that such a show would likely not be terribly well-received by the executives at Paramount. "You'll be shocked to hear," he said "that no one has expressed interest in making that program."
Phlox, as far as audiences knew, had no other names besides merely Phlox. Denobulans seemingly do not use family names. Or — and Billingsley thought this was the case — Trekkies merely never heard them. In Billingsley's mind, Phlox was his character's family name, and the actor handily invented a first name for him.
"The other thing that I've tried to introduce into the franchise is that he was called Phil Phlox. I know. I've been calling myself Phil Phlox now for 25 years. And I'm hoping that it eventually sneaks into canon through the back door."
The canon of "Phil Phlox" has not been incorporated into "Star Trek" at large. At least not yet.