Summary
Twin Peaksactor Ray Wise portrayed two different characters in theStar Trekfranchise. Wise’s firstStar Trekappearance came inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 3, episode 4, “Who Watches the Watchers,” in which he plays Liko, a member of a Vulcan-like species being observed by the United Federation of Planets. InStar Trek: Voyagerseason 4, episode 26, “Hope and Fear,” Wise portrayed Arturis, a member of an unnamed species designated Species 116.Ray Wise is most known for his role inTwin PeaksandTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Meas Leland Palmer,the father of the ill-fated Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), whose murder becomes the central mystery of the series.
Prior to thegenre-bendingTwin Peaks, Wise appeared in episodes ofDallas, The A-Team, Knots Landing,andL.A. Law.Wise stayed busy afterTwin Peaksended, continuing to appear in various episodes of popular television shows,includingCharmed, Dawson’s Creek, The West Wing, 24, CSI, Law & Order: SVU,andCastle. Wise played Robin Sr. in six episodes ofHow I Met Your Mother, Ed Baxter in five episodes ofMad Men, and Marvin in 91 episodes ofFresh Off the Boat.Wise has also appeared in nearly 100 movies, includingX-Men: First Class, Swamp Thing, Jeepers Creepers 2,God’s Not Dead 2,and Chris Pine’sPoolman.
Fire Walk With Boimler: Star Trek & Twin Peaks' Secret Connection
Star Trek: Lower Decks just gave a subtle shout-out to David Lynch’s cult classic, Twin Peaks. Does Boimler know who killed Laura Palmer?
Ray Wise Appeared In Star Trek: TNG & Voyager
In Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 4 - “Who Watches The Watchers” & Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 26, “Hope and Fear”
InStar Trek: The Next Generation’s"Who Watches the Watchers,“Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart)and the USS Enterprise-D head to the planet Mintaka III to resupply the Federation outpost there. The Federation has been secretly monitoring the Mintakan people to see how their proto-Vulcan society progresses.When their holographic camouflage malfunctions, Ray Wise’s Liko sees it and is injured when he tries to investigate.Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) then beams Liko to the Enterprise to treat his injuries. She attempts to erase his memories of the encounter, but the procedure is unsuccessful, leaving Liko with the belief that Captain Picard is a god.
In “Who Watches the Watchers,” a scientist named Palmer goes missing, which results in multiple characters referencing his name as they search for him. Ray Wise’s character onTwin Peaksis named Leland Palmer and"Who killed Laura Palmer?“became a tagline for the show.
Ray Wise’s character inStar Trek: Voyager’s"Hope and Fear,” Arturis, visits the USS Voyager after helping Neelix (Ethan Phillips) acquire supplies. As his species can translate almost any language, Arturis helps decode an encrypted message that Voyager received from Starfleet.Former Borg drone Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) grows suspicious of Arturis and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) later comes to share her suspicions.Arturis eventually reveals that his homeworld was recently assimilated by the Borg and he blames Voyager for interfering in the war betweenthe Borg and Species 8472. Thankfully, Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Voyager’s crew are able to thwart Arturis’s plan before he turns them over to the Borg.
Ray Wise Is One Of Many Twin Peaks Actors In Star Trek
Twin Peaks returned with an 18-episode revival on Showtime in 2017, with many of the main cast returning.
Ray Wise is certainly not the only actor fromDavid Lynch’s cult classicto pop up inStar Trek. Carel Struycken portrayed the imposing Giant onTwin Peaks, who sometimes appeared in the dreams of Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).Struycken appeared in several episodes ofStar Trek, as Mr. Homn, the mostly silent valet of Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett).Michael J. Anderson also played a mysterious figure who popped up in Cooper’s dreams, a character known as The Man From Another Place. Anderson appeared in an episode ofStar Trek: Deep Space Nineas Rumpelstiltskin.
Wendy Robie and Madchen Amick both had major roles inTwin Peaks, as Nadine Hurley and Shelly Johnson, respectively, but only played minor roles inStar Trek. Robie played a Cardassian scientist onDS9,while Amick appeared as an incarnation of a shapeshifter onTNG.InTwin Peaks,Richard Beymer played Benjamin Horne, and he appeared in three episodes ofDS9as Bajoran resistance leader Li Nalas.David Warner has threeStar Trekroles, including Klingon Chancellor Gorkon inStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countryand Cardassian Gul Madred inTNG’s"Chain of Command” two-parter. InTwin Peaks, Warner plays the menacing Thomas Eckhardt. There are many more connections betweenTwin PeaksandStar Trek,and both series have come to have passionate and devoted fan bases.
Twin Peaks and every live-action Star Trek show are available to stream on Paramount+.
