Strange New Worlds' Latest Guest Star Previously Appeared In Star Trek When He Was Six Years Old
Although "The Corbomite Maneuver" (November 10, 1966) was the tenth "Star Trek" episode to air on television, it was actually the first produced after the pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." As all good Trekkies know, the ideal order in which to watch "Star Trek" is its production order. Broadcast order is for chumps and poseurs.
In "The Corbomite Maneuver," the U.S.S. Enterprise is approached by a massive and mysterious alien spaceship, perfectly spherical and possessed of immense destructive power. The ship is called the Fesarius, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) can only communicate with the Fesarius' captain, Balok (voiced by Ted Cassidy), via audio. Balok declares that he very much intends to destroy the Enterprise using his superior weapons. Thinking quickly, Kirk bluffs; he says that the Enterprise is equipped with an imaginary substance called Corbomite that would react negatively to a weapons attack and destroy both ships. The bulk of the episode is a standoff between the two captains.
Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is able to hack into the video cameras on board the Fesarius and gets a visual of Balok. Children of multiple generations likely recall the nightmare-inducing image of Balok's evil face. Cruelly, the "Star Trek" producers included Balok's evil face over the credits of every episode.
At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Balok was also enacting a bluff. He was not an evil, blue-skinned alien, but a creature that looks an awful lot like a six-year-old boy. Balok was merely testing Kirk and would love to chat diplomatically.
Balok was played by a six-year-old Clint Howard, an actor who has revisited "Trek" periodically over the decades, and he appears in the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" as a general in the Klingon Wars.
The many faces of Clint Howard
Surprisingly, "Star Trek" was not Clint Howard's first acting gig. When he was still only a toddler, Clint appeared in an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" opposite his older brother, Ron Howard. Both brothers would go on to successful showbiz careers as actors (and in Ron's case, a director as well). Clint would also star in 26 episodes of "The Baileys of Balboa" in 1964, and had small roles in shows like "The Virginian" and "The Fugitive" prior to playing Balok on "Star Trek."
As a franchise, "Star Trek" has long been faithful to its actors and often welcomes back its supporting players to appear again and again. 29 years after "The Corbomite Maneuver," Howard appeared in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "Past Tense" (January 2 and 9, 1995) as a human character named Grady. That episode saw the crew of Deep Space Nine thrown back in time to 2024 Earth where poverty was rampant and political upheaval was nigh. Grady was one of the many people living in a homeless encampment ... and who believed aliens were coming for him. He also believed he could turn invisible. Grady was a tragic character.
Howard would return again to play a Ferengi named Muk in a "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode called "Acquisition" (March 27, 2002). According to "Trek" lore, the Ferengi and the Federation wouldn't make face-to-face contact until the era of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," set some 212 years later. As such, when Ferengi pirates infiltrated the Enterprise, they didn't bother to introduce themselves. Ferengi are obsessed with money but rarely resorted to theft as in this episode. Muk was one of the Ferengi crew, and he was intrigued by the presence of a beagle on board the Enterprise.
That one creepy guy
Howard also appeared in the season 1 finale of "Star Trek: Discovery," called "Will You Take My Hand?" (February 11, 2018). In the episode, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Cadet Tilly (Mary Wiseman) infiltrate the Klingon homeworld and run into a creepy Orion in a futuristic drug den. He offers the cadet a hit of smokable planetary ash, and Tilly passes out. He only appears briefly, but Howard cackles with appropriate glee.
Howard's latest "Star Trek" appearance is in "Under the Cloak of War," a flashback episode which shows what Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Dr. M'Benga (Bab Olusanmokun) experienced during the Klingon Wars. Nurse Chapel arrives at a remote Federation outpost that is being aggressively bombarded by Klingon forces and is immediately made one of the chief medical officers because her predecessor was just killed in combat. Howard shows Nurse Chapel around, completely jaded by death and unaffected by the violence.
Howard first appeared on "Star Trek" in 1966, and made his most recent appearance 57 years later. This gives Howard the distinction of the longest career on "Star Trek," having made appearances the greatest number of years apart.
The astonishing thing is how well Howard performs at both age six and at age 64. He plays an alien with unexpected authority as a boy and a jaded soldier as a man, both with equal aplomb. Granted, for his on-screen appearance in "The Corbomite Maneuver," he was voiced by veteran voice actor Walker Edmiston ("Beany and Cecil," "Spider-Man," "Avatar: The Last Airbender"), but he still was assured and mature.
Once you're in the "Trek" family, you never leave.