Willard Decker
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| Willard Decker | |
|---|---|
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair color: | Blonde |
| Eye color: | Blue |
| Home planet: | Earth |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | USS Enterprise commanding officer, demoted to executive officer/science officer |
| Rank: | Captain Commander (reinstated to captain upon going missing) |
| Portrayed by: | Stephen Collins |
In the Star Trek universe, Captain Willard Decker (played by Stephen Collins) is briefly commanding officer of the USS Enterprise after its refit in 2270. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry asserted that Willard Decker is the son of Commodore Matt Decker[citation needed], who commands the USS Constellation and is killed by the Doomsday Machine in an episode of The Original Series. However, this has never been established in canon.
Will Decker loses command of the Enterprise to Rear Admiral James T. Kirk in 2272 when V'ger threatens Earth. Kirk demotes him to commander and first officer. He also serves as science officer until Spock rejoins the crew. Decker previously had a relationship with Deltan navigator Lieutenant Ilia, whom V'ger captures and uses as a template to allow it to interact with humans. Decker chooses to represent humanity as V'ger's creator, merging with V'ger in the process. Kirk orders both Decker and Ilea listed as missing in action, and returns Decker to the rank of captain (Star Trek: The Motion Picture).
Stephen Collins has stated that Star Trek fans forget he was captain of the Enterprise when they list the starship's captains[citation needed]. He also said he would love to revisit the role to see what happened to Decker after he joins with V'Ger but no one has approached him with any ideas[citation needed]. In the special edition interview of the film, Collins mentioned that he felt very out of place working with the Star Trek cast, a feeling that he decided to utilize in his characterization of Decker, as he felt that Decker was something of an outsider within the crew.
Decker's basic character outline was originally constructed as part of Star Trek: Phase II development before that project became The Motion Picture. Some of this character's elements are similar to those of William Riker, the second in command of the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
[edit] External links
- Willard Decker article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Captains of Star Trek vessels named Enterprise | ||||||||||
| Jonathan Archer | Robert April | Christopher Pike | James T. Kirk | Willard Decker | Spock | John Harriman | Rachel Garrett | Jean-Luc Picard | William Riker | Edward Jellico |
