

split 2233) Alternate Reality

Lieutenant 0718 was a sciences division Starfleet officer. He was serving on the bridge of the USS Enterprise in 2259. 0718 was present during the ship's mission to Nibiru, its confrontation with the USS Vengeance and later embarkation on a five-year mission. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

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Biography

Following the Vengeance's attack on the Enterprise, he reported that the latter had sustained major hull damage.

Later, he counted down James T. Kirk and Khan Noonien Singh's distance from the Vengeance in meters as they approached the Dreadnought-class starship in thruster suits.

Finally, at the orders of Commander Spock, he gave the order to evacuate the Enterprise as it began its descent into Earth's atmosphere. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Appendices

Background information

0718 was played by Joseph Gatt. He didn't audition for the part but read for two other roles in Star Trek Into Darkness. "I had two further meetings," he said, "and then… silence. After another couple of weeks I got the call from my manager checking my availability for January (2011) and that casting had offered me the role!" Despite the actor having been sent portions of the film's script (to prepare for the two roles he auditioned for), details about 0718 weren't disclosed to Gatt until he arrived on the set of Star Trek Into Darkness. "All I knew before reaching the set was that I was a bridge officer, that I'd be wearing a blue shirt, and that I'd been contracted to work for six weeks at Sony studios." [1]

0718 was regarded as a Human who graduated from Starfleet and was augmented with advanced cybernetic implants before becoming a science officer on the Enterprise bridge. [2] "He is NOT an android or robot of any kind," Joseph Gatt noted. He imagined additional facts about the character, which he referred to as "stuff that I've had to come up with, as an actor, to help fill in the gaps and play my role effectively." The actor's main thoughts, during production on Star Trek Into Darkness, were that his character's primary assignment on the bridge of the Enterprise "is augmenting the work of Spock and Uhura, mainly managing the science and engineering systems in the bridge." [3]

Although 0718 represents significantly advanced technology in relation to the time period of Star Trek Into Darkness, Gatt didn't overly concern himself with matching earlier canon or timelines from other Star Trek productions, due to the fact the movie is set in the alternate reality. "Not a huge amount of details were decided about the character on set unless they were deemed absolutely necessary to the shoot at that time. Due to the scope of the character, I was free, as an actor, to work out as much of this unstated background as I needed. None of this is canon or set in stone. They are the educated thoughts and developments which I did to help my work as an actor and to fulfill my inner geek... a little. I knew the basics [....] Technically, my humanity acts as a firewall against the [potential] hacking threat. Because I'm still a Human, with a cybernetic implant, I can't be hacked. My humanity will always know what’s right and wrong and is always in control over the cybernetic implant part of me. This means that, even if there is a hacking threat to the ship’s main computer or to me directly, it won't get through the Human firewall and the ship will always be safe." [4]

Makeup Supervisor David LeRoy Anderson took a photograph of the bridge's ceiling to duplicate onto Joseph Gatt's head, because the ceiling would not be shown in the film. [5] Gatt said, "One of my cybernetic augmentations is on the back of my head. The concept is that it's a miniature version of the ship's main computer which puts me in direct telepathic connection with the ship's systems at all times." [6] "During November and December 2010, I had a few meetings with David LeRoy Anderson [...] at his AFX Studio in Burbank. These were primarily to take a head cast to help them begin designing my character. Apart from the appliance to the back of the head, there were also ideas of other digital/electronic effects on my face and side of head. When these ideas where brought to (creature designer) Neville Page and [Director] J.J. [Abrams], they decided that they loved the way I looked without anything at all and decided that a 'less is more' approach would work best for this character. J.J. really just wanted something special to accent 0718. Then different ideas about eyes started being thrown around and many different types were ordered and tested for J.J. and camera. In the end, again, J.J. wanted to keep things as simple as possible, settling on the full white sclerals." [7]

While Joseph Gatt and Costume Designer Michael Kaplan were having 0718's blue Starfleet uniform shirt fitted, Gatt kept requesting that it accentuate his physique by being made tighter and more fitted. "I thought that would be awesome for 0718," Gatt remarked, "since there has never really been a muscular officer character on the bridge. But word kept coming back from production to keep the shirt loose fitted to slim down my physique as much as possible." Gatt suspected this was because some of the other actors preferred not to be "upstaged by a muscular cyborg," which Gatt found funny. [8]

On set, this character was initially known as GATT2000 and then GATT5000. These in-joke names originated as a nickname which David LeRoy Anderson used to refer to Joseph Gatt, on the set. Because J.J. Abrams often names characters according to their actor names or other important names or dates in his own life, Gatt began to believe – unlike he would've done if he had been on any other production – that one of the originally in-joke names might actually turn out to be his character name. About two weeks before the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, Paramount Pictures gave Gatt permission to reveal this would be the case. He was then informed, around a week prior to the film's release, that his character name was Science Officer 0718. [9] He later admitted that 0718 is "a very significant number to J.J. [Abrams]." [10]

This number, 0718, also happens to be the NCC designation for the USS Biddeford which was shown in the scene where the Enterprise departs for Qo'noS. The name and designation of the Biddeford were also used in a deleted scene showing Admiral Marcus' office where a model of a ship that resembles a prime reality version of the Constitution-class hung atop the room with the name and designation clearly visible.

Joseph Gatt deemed the early character names of GATT2000 and GATT5000 as "kind of funny." He thought Paramount giving him permission to use the latter name "was a little strange, but cool." He was at first slightly irritated by the name change to 0718 but gradually became more accepting of it. "It does, however, seem like a very inhuman name," he reckoned. "One of the most frustrating things was that we'd already established that the character was Human, with cybernetic implants. So, why does he have a number and not a name? Did he have a name before the implants? I didn't answer these questions at the time because there was no name and no need for a name, but now it makes me wonder." [11]

Joseph Gatt has speculated that Star Trek Beyond might unveil the truth about 0718's designation. [12] The actor has also considered he might be given a tighter shirt to wear in that film than the one he wore in Star Trek Into Darkness. [13] On 7 August 2015, however, Gatt confirmed that 0718 would not be returning for Star Trek Beyond, due to script rewrites eliminating his role from the story. [14]

The portrayal of 0718 was extremely influential. "[He] made a big impact in just a few scenes of the movie thanks to Joseph Gatt's performance," remarked comics writer Mike Johnson. ("Top 50 Alien Species!", Star Trek: Ongoing issue #50, "Live Evil, Part 1")

The virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals used a behind-the-scenes shot of Gatt for card #18, "Science Officer 0718".

Jae, an alien crewman seen in Star Trek Beyond, sports a similar cybernetic implant on the back of his head, although this was not visible on screen.

Apocrypha

0718 was the protagonist of "I, Enterprise!" Parts 1 and 2, two issues of IDW Publishing's Star Trek: Ongoing, which reveals he was created in the medbay by a mysterious alien sphere that took control of the ship.

Gatt commented that he loved the backstory depicted; "I am the humanoid version of the Enterprise. That is pretty exciting. I feel kind of privileged." [15] Mark Johnson admitted he was "So glad we got to expand on the story of 0718." ("Top 50 Alien Species!", Star Trek: Ongoing issue #50, "Live Evil, Part 1")

I, Enterprise revealed that 0718 preferred to spend his off duty hours in the botanical lab.

According to the character list from "The Q Gambit, Part 2", 0718 was "online as of stardate 2260.314". It is unclear what this date refers to, since all the Human characters are given birth years, but 0718 obviously existed in 2259 while the comic is set in 2261.

In Star Trek Online, 0718 appears in the third expansion, Agents of Yesterday, with Joseph Gatt reprising his role. While serving on the Enterprise, 0718 developed a tactic to combat the Sphere-Builders in this universe's version of the Delphic Expanse, destroying one of their spheres. He was reassigned to the USS Yorktown by 2260, working to spread this knowledge throughout that dimension's Starfleet. The player captain, tasked by Agent Daniels to preserve the timelines, travels to the alternate universe, teaming with 0718 to save the Yorktown and destroy another sphere to prevent the formation of the Expanse. 0718 is also a bridge officer for players who purchase the Temporal Agent Starter Pack or Temporal Special Agent Pack for the game. He was also included as part of a July 2016 Loot Crate promotion.