

(covers information from several alternate timelines Multiple realities

Alyssa, I think you know how much I've come to depend upon you here."

Nurse Alyssa Ogawa was a Starfleet officer aboard the USS Enterprise-D, and later, the USS Enterprise-E. She was one of the head nurses in the ship's sickbay, assigned there in 2367 as an ensign. (TNG: "Future Imperfect", "Clues", "Identity Crisis", "The Host") Upon recommendation of Dr. Beverly Crusher, she was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in 2370. (TNG: "Lower Decks") Ogawa became a senior sickbay staff member, and would make reports to the senior staff in Crusher's absence. (TNG: "Genesis")

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Duties and responsibilities

Nurse Ogawa helped Dr. Crusher develop a way to stop the metamorphosis of the Tarchannen III aliens in 2367. (TNG: "Identity Crisis") She was also present during several surgeries involving the Trill ambassador Odan, which were the first Federation observations of the Trill symbiont. (TNG: "The Host")

Alyssa was one of the many crewmembers to fall victim to the psychotropically addictive effects of the Ktarian game when it was introduced to the Enterprise. (TNG: "The Game")

She was the nurse on hand for the first use of the genetronic replicator, during the risky surgery on Lieutenant Worf's spinal column. (TNG: "Ethics")

Ogawa brought several pieces of medical equipment to the Enterprise bridge in order to monitor Captain Jean-Luc Picard's condition while he was knocked unconscious by a Kataan probe in late 2368. (TNG: "The Inner Light")

In 2369, Ogawa assisted Dr. Crusher in performing an autopsy on Joshua Kelly, an engineer from the USS Yosemite. (TNG: "Realm of Fear") Shortly following this incident, she helped treat Deanna Troi after she became a receptacle for Ambassador Ves Alkar's psychic "waste." (TNG: "Man of the People")

Ogawa took part in the relief effort to Tagra IV in 2369. She helped Amanda Rogers pack a shipment of tricorders for transport to the planet. (TNG: "True Q")

Ogawa was mentioned but not seen during the episode.

Ogawa helped investigate the mysterious deaths of Doctors Jo'Bril and Reyga in 2369. (TNG: "Suspicions")

Ogawa was one of the few junior officers who knew of the Cardassian defector Joret Dal's presence aboard the Enterprise, as she helped Dr. Crusher treat his serious injuries. She was ordered not to discuss what she knew of Joret with anyone. (TNG: "Lower Decks")

In 2370, Ogawa treated Commander William T. Riker's back after he had rolled onto Cypirion cactus during a date with Rebecca Smith. (TNG: "Genesis")

She also helped evacuate sickbay and care for injured crewmembers following the crash of the Enterprise-D saucer section on Veridian III in 2371. (Star Trek Generations)

Ogawa was promoted to full lieutenant by 2373 and was posted to the new USS Enterprise-E. During the ship's trip to 2063, she helped evacuate sickbay after the Borg began to overrun the ship. (Star Trek: First Contact)

Personal relationships

Friendships

Alyssa was friends with several other junior officers and civilians on the ship, including Sam Lavelle, Taurik, the late Sito Jaxa, and Ten Forward waiter Ben. The group often played poker together. Sito departed the Enterprise on a covert mission with Joret Dal in 2370. Lavelle asked Ogawa if she knew any details about the mission, but Ogawa refused to reveal any information. Ogawa was saddened and upset when Sito was lost while returning from the mission. Lavelle felt guilty for accepting a promotion that he competed for with Ensign Sito, but Ogawa assured him that Sito would have been proud and happy for him. (TNG: "Lower Decks")

Beverly Crusher also considered Ogawa a friend. Beverly took interest in Alyssa's love life (TNG: "Imaginary Friend", "Attached") and was concerned when she noticed Ogawa's future husband, Andrew Powell, with another woman in Ten Forward shortly before they announced their engagement. (TNG: "Lower Decks")

Ogawa risked her own career when Dr. Crusher was relieved of duty for performing an autopsy on Dr. Reyga, violating the Ferengi death ritual and the Prime Directive. Crusher wanted to continue investigating, and was unable to access the needed autopsy files. Ogawa used her authorization to provide Crusher with the information, realizing that the vindication of Reyga and his work on the metaphasic shielding was very important to Crusher. (TNG: "Suspicions")

Alyssa also seemed to know Beverly's son, Wesley Crusher. (TNG: "The Game")

Romance

Ogawa briefly dated a fellow Enterprise-D crewmember in 2368. They took a holodeck trip to the Champs Elysees, and he invited her to Risa. Ogawa wasn't sure if she was ready for the uninhibited atmosphere of that planet, and Dr. Crusher suggested Tavela Minor as an alternate destination. (TNG: "Imaginary Friend")

Ogawa dated Ensign Markson in early 2370, a relationship which became the subject of gossip between Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard. (TNG: "Attached")

Ogawa began seeing Lieutenant Andrew Powell later that year. Around the time of midyear crew evaluations, Alyssa worried that she and Andrew were growing apart. He began putting in many overtime hours and the couple did not spend much time together. However, Andrew proposed to her, much to her surprise and delight. They announced the engagement after the evaluations. (TNG: "Lower Decks")

The couple conceived a child shortly thereafter. The baby saved the life of the entire Enterprise-D crew when the ship was ravaged by Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome. Commander Data was able to extract natural immune barriers in the amniotic fluid from the pregnancy, which was used to cure the condition. During the crisis, Ogawa de-evolved to a lifeform resembling a primate. (TNG: "Genesis") She gave birth to the child in 2371. (Star Trek Generations)

Ogawa was not pregnant by the time of Star Trek Generations , so it can be assumed that the child was born sometime prior to that film. The child's gender was never revealed.

Alternate timelines and realities

In 2367, Ogawa was part of the holoprogram set in 2383 created by the alien Barash to fool Commander Riker. She was still Dr. Crusher's assistant in sickbay aboard the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Future Imperfect")

Ogawa was a doctor and chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D in one alternate quantum reality visited by Worf in 2370. She held the rank of commander. Dr. Ogawa informed Worf and Data that Geordi La Forge had perished as a result of a Cardassian attack. (TNG: "Parallels")

In an alternate 2370, Ogawa's baby was lost when she was exposed to the energies of an anti-time eruption. When the eruption was sealed into subspace, the events of this timeline were erased. (TNG: "All Good Things...")

Appendices

Appearances

Background information

Ogawa was first seen in "Future Imperfect" as part of Riker's illusory future. Although actress Patti Yasutake believed she would not be called back after this episode, the character appeared again, this time with a first name, in "Clues" (although credited simply as "Nurse") and was given a last name in "Cause and Effect". Yasutake wasn't originally scheduled to appear in the fifth season episode "The Game" as the original call sheet features Wil Wheaton and two background performers during this turbolift scene, filmed on Friday 30 August 1991 on Paramount Stage 9.

It was Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias who opted to use Ogawa in the seventh season outing "Lower Decks", as they particularly liked the character. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 25/26, No. 6/1, p. 78) Ogawa was nearly omitted from the story, though, in order to make more room for the episode's other characters. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 3rd ed., p. 282) Explaining why Ogawa was used in the episode, René Echevarria – who wrote the script for "Lower Decks" – said, "We were always very fond of the actress and felt she never had enough to do." ("Lower Decks" audio commentary, TNG Season 7 Blu-ray special features)

Her first name was spelled "Alissa" in the scripts of "Suspicions", "Genesis" and "All Good Things..." but "Alyssa" in "Clues", "Identity Crisis", "The Host", and "Lower Decks".

Ogawa was named by Star Trek: The Next Generation budget estimator Suzi Shimizu at the request of script coordinator Eric A. Stillwell. He had been asked to come up with a Japanese name for the character. She decided on the first name of Alyssa, after her daughter, and Ogawa, after Shimizu's maiden name. (Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 2, p. 102)) Although her origins were not mentioned on-screen, Alyssa may be Japanese descent as her name and Yasutake's own heritage suggests.

In 1993, Hallmark aired a television commercial in North America featuring Patti Yasutake in the role of Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, who is seen questioning the shipboard computer about the features of the USS Enterprise-D "Keepsake" ornament. [1]

Apocrypha

Star Trek: Starship Creator reveals her parents' names as Luci and Kenada Ogawa. It also gives her a birthplace of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Nurse Ogawa featured as a supporting character in the Marvel Comics one-shot crossover special "Star Trek: Telepathy War". She is also a main character in the Star Trek: Titan series of novels. Her child is also featured, revealed to be a boy named Noah. In The Genesis Wave, Book Three, the child is a girl named Suzi. In the Titan books it is mentioned that Ogawa's husband, Andrew Powell, died at the Battle of Rigel during the Dominion War in 2375.

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