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| Species | Deltan |
|---|---|
| Home planet | Delta IV |
| Affiliation | United Federation of Planets Starfleet |
| Posting | USS Enterprise navigator |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Portrayed by | Persis Khambatta |
Lieutenant Ilia is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. She was the navigator of the fictional starship USS Enterprise in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The character was played by Indian actress and former Miss India (1965), Persis Khambatta.
The character of Ilia is identified as a "Deltan", and referred to having met the character of Willard Decker on "Delta IV", and is portrayed as being an alien who must take an "oath of celibacy" in order to serve amongst humans. In some edits of the film she is portrayed as being able to stop the pain of others. The Ilia character is killed in the course of the story and replaced by an alien probe that replicates her in precise detail, including all her memories. At the end of the film the character vanishes, never to be seen again.[1]
Origins of the Character
Ilia was originally created for the aborted television series Star Trek: Phase II. Although the prospective series was canceled,[2] the show's production materials described the character's abilities and background. Notably, that she was very intelligent, an "esper" and that almost everything with her people was sex-oriented.[3]
The character appeared in many of the stories proposed for the series, and features prominently in an unfilmed script called "The Child", by Jaron Summers & Jon Povill.[4] Although Phase II was canceled, Khambatta had been cast as Ilia for it, and had done costume and makeup tests[5], but was carried over with the character for the motion picture.
Major elements of Ilia's character as conceived for Phase II, most notably her empathic abilities, and her prior relationship with the ship's first officer (Willard Decker or Will Riker) were later incorporated into the character of Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
References
- ^ http://www.st-minutiae.com/academy/literature329/tmp.txt
- ^ Reeves-Steves, Judith and Garfield (1997). Pocket Books. p. 75. ISBN 0-671-56839-6.
- ^ Sackett, Susan (1980). The Making of Star Trek The Motion Picture. Pocket Books. p. 42. ISBN 067179109-5.
- ^ Reeves-Steves, Judith and Garfield (1997). Pocket Books. pp. 303–349. ISBN 0-671-56839-6.
- ^ Reeves-Steves, Judith and Garfield (1997). Pocket Books. p. 14 of color insert. ISBN 0-671-56839-6.
External links
- Ilia at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
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