A Star Trek Mainstay Was Fashioned After George Wendt's Cheers Character

The character's name wasn't said until "Vortex" (April 18, 1993), the twelfth episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," but he was there from the start. The walrus-like alien Morn could always reliably be seen sitting at Quark's Bar, often by himself, quietly drinking. Morn was played by actor Mark Allen Shepherd, and the role was easy to play, as Morn never spoke and rarely did anything beyond drink. A cute running gag on "Deep Space Nine" was that other characters would refer to Morn as being active, raucous, and prone to chatty gossip, when really he was little more than an intergalactic barfly. 

As was confirmed (repeatedly) by "Deep Space Nine" showrunner Ira Steven Behr (on StarTrek.com back in 1999), Morn was named and designed after Norm, George Wendt's character from the hit sitcom "Cheers." Norm, of course, was as friendly and gregarious as Morn was laconic, but Behr was insistent that his character was extrapolated from Norm. Before filming, Morn was referred to among the "Deep Space Nine" filming crew as The Grinch, as he looked kind of like the Dr. Seuss character. He was renamed Morn somewhere before the pilot. The character ended up appearing in 93 episodes of "Deep Space Nine," as well as in  crossover episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Star Trek: Lower Decks." That's nowhere near the legendary 275 episodes that George Wendt appeared on "Cheers," but it's notable nonetheless. 

Despite having no lines, Morn is a character with quite a bit of backstory. Indeed, the show's writers were constantly pushing to expand Morn's role on "Deep Space Nine," and even given him lines of dialogue, but the showrunners would invariably cut all of the Morn subplots before filming began. 

Back in 2011, Shepherd was interviewed by StarTrek.com about playing Morn, and he had a lot of stories from the set. Mostly, he recalls that his part wasn't heavily scripted, and that a lot of the directors would give him some background business on the day of filming. Because he didn't mind staying in the heavy Lurian makeup for 12-hour shifts, Shepherd became a reliable mainstay of the franchise. Shepherd also joked about the silences of the character, saying that he came up with really, really interesting dialogue, but, golly, it just got cut from the final episode. In the "Deep Space Nine" pilot, Morn is seen making a very funny joke, but all audiences hear are people laughing. Shepherd "recalls" the joke in question, saying it was: 

"Finalism finger fink. Obligatory quotient yokefellow, coconut kachina cosmological argument. Bank swallow fish story, inculpate minuteman. Stress certifier in lecithin. Hard-hearted dill, divine minded domineer, mind reader sextuplet, garden fly honey suckle garbage. Palter rimfire, green peace. Change is the ultimate solution." 

It's 24th-century humor. You wouldn't get it. It's like saying "Skibidi Toilet" to anyone over the age of 11. 

Morn really got his moment to shine in "Who Mourns for Morn?" (February 2, 1998,) wherein the character died. Quark (Armin Shimerman) became embroiled in Morn's former life, discovering that he had been involved in a long-game criminal enterprise to hide a great deal of latinum from some unsavory associates. Morn, it seems, once robbed a bank, stashed the loot, and was hiding out for ten years, hoping to outlive the criminal statute of limitations. His associates arrive and spend the episode fighting over the possible take. After a shootout, they are all arrested.

Morn, however, then re-enters Quark's Bar. He faked his own death, hoping to draw out his associates and have them jailed. It worked. Morn, it is revealed, had been carrying the latinum inside his second stomach for a decade. That's why he lost all his hair. 

Trekkies love Morn. He was a fitting tribute to Norm.