For additional meanings of "Leslie", please see Leslie.

Lieutenant Leslie was a male Human Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. He served aboard the USS Enterprise between 2265 and 2268 under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, during a historic five-year mission that starship undertook.

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Starfleet service

A versatile crew member who was assigned primarily to the operations division as an engineer or a security officer, Leslie served in several departments as needed.

He was aboard the Enterprise when the starship first crossed the galactic barrier on stardate 1312.4, and became a lieutenant on stardate 2126.1. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Squire of Gothos") During breaks from duty, Leslie socialized with his shipmates in the recreation room of the Enterprise or in a bar. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Charlie X", "The Trouble with Tribbles"; DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")

The lieutenant once risked facing a charge of mutiny on stardate 3417.3. He abandoned his post after becoming temporarily infected by the Omicron spores and lined up near the transporter room to join the colonists of Omicron Ceti III. When Kirk told him to return to his station, Leslie disobeyed the captain's order. (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")

On stardate 3619.2, Leslie was violently attacked by a dikironium cloud creature during a planetary survey of Argus X. With all the red blood corpuscles drained from his body, Doctor Leonard McCoy declared him deceased in an autopsy report. Leslie was later revived and returned to duty by stardate 3620.7, and continued to serve aboard the Enterprise until stardate 5630.7. (TOS: "Obsession", "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")

Duty officer

When the alien Trelane appeared on the bridge of the Enterprise and abducted eight members of the bridge crew, Leslie sat in the command chair as the ship orbited the planet Gothos on stardate 2126.1. Upon safe escape from captivity, Kirk and the seven officers resumed their posts to warp the vessel away from the rogue planet. (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos")

After a fire was ignited aboard the Enterprise and caused damage to main engineering on stardate 3088.7, Leslie served as the duty officer as Kirk pursued the scientist Lazarus to an uncharted iron-silica planet in order to retrieve the ship's stolen dilithium crystals. When Kirk returned to the bridge, Leslie discharged the ship's phasers and destroyed Lazarus' spaceship. This sealed the negative magnetic corridor, forever trapping Lazarus with his antimatter counterpart and saving both universes from mutual annihilation. (TOS: "The Alternative Factor")

Engineer

Leslie was often assigned to the engineering station on the bridge, next to the turbolift doors. During a star mapping mission that lead to the initially tense first contact with the First Federation starship Fesarius on stardate 1514.0, Leslie observed Kirk relieving Lieutenant Dave Bailey from duty when the navigator suffered an emotional breakdown. As the countdown ticked away on Balok's threat to destroy the Enterprise, Leslie talked with Lieutenant Brent and Bobby while Kirk appealed to Commander Spock for solutions. With the captain's corbomite bluff successful in stopping the threat, a pilot vessel emerged from the Fesarius and used its tractor beam to drag the Enterprise. Leslie monitored the engine temperature readings as the Enterprise overheated its impulse engines to pull free. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")

When Doctor Simon Van Gelder escaped from the Tantalus Penal Colony and became a stowaway during a routine cargo exchange on stardate 2715.1, Leslie listened to the security alerts as the escaped inmate assaulted Enterprise crew members near the transporter room. He witnessed Spock subduing Van Gelder with a Vulcan nerve pinch moments later, after the inmate barged his way onto the bridge, demanding asylum with a phaser in hand. (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")

On stardate 2821.7, Leslie monitored the engineering controls as the Enterprise searched for the missing shuttlecraft Galileo near the quasar-like Murasaki 312. Later assisting Lieutenant Galloway in the transporter room, he beamed in the Galileo survivors before the shuttlecraft incinerated around the planet Taurus II. (TOS: "The Galileo Seven")

With Kirk believing that the attack on the Cestus III Federation outpost on stardate 3045.6 was a prelude to a Gorn invasion, the Enterprise chased a fleeing Gorn starship past an uncharted star system. Leslie reacted with concern when Kirk ordered the ship to jump to warp 8 to catch the fleeing vessel, after Spock and Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott had both warned the captain that a sustained warp 7 speed would damage the ship's engines. The lieutenant watched the main viewscreen helplessly as the powerful Metrons seized Kirk and forced him to fight the Gorn captain on the surface of an unknown world. He sprang to his feet when Kirk returned suddenly and safely to the bridge. (TOS: "Arena")

When the Enterprise headed to Starbase 9 for resupply on stardate 3113.2, the ship encountered an uncharted black star and used all its warp power to escape from the star's gravitational pull. The resulting accidental breakaway caused the vessel to travel back in time to the year 1969 on planet Earth. With the ship operating solely on impulse power, Leslie repaired the engineering station for the return trip back to the year 2267. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")

During the planned time travel mission to Earth in the year 1968, Leslie performed a sensor scan as the Enterprise intercepted a powerful transporter beam carrying Gary Seven and a cat, originating from a hidden planet located one thousand light years away. The enigmatic Gary Seven used a servo to escape confinement in the brig and render the lieutenant unconscious in the transporter room in order to beam down to a secret office in New York City. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth")

Leslie belonged to a select group of Enterprise officers who dined at a banquet that was organized by Lieutenant Marla McGivers on stardate 3141.9 for revived 20th century Augment leader Khan Noonien Singh. He was rendered unconscious after Khan cut off the life support system to the bridge and hijacked the Enterprise. A weakened Kirk listed the bridge crew for commendations before passing out. Leslie, however, was not included on the list. Before Kirk retook the Enterprise, Leslie was taken prisoner and forced to watch the captain's torture on the conference room viewscreen. (TOS: "Space Seed")

When Spock became infected by a flying parasite during the mission to the Deneva colony on stardate 3287.2., Kirk confined the first officer to sickbay and quarantined the planet. Spock escaped from his confinement and entered the transporter room, encountering Leslie and Scott, who were both working on the transporter. Determined to beam down to Deneva, Spock shoved Scott and subdued Leslie with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Scott detained Spock with a phaser until Kirk arrived. Rubbing his shoulder after regaining consciousness, Leslie watched as the captain allowed Spock to beam down to collect a neural parasite specimen for study. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!")

With the Enterprise orbiting the planet Gamma Hydra IV on stardate 3478.2 and Kirk suffering from the effects of advanced aging due to radiation exposure, Leslie observed Commodore Stocker assume command of the ship and plot a shortcut to Starbase 10 through the Romulan Neutral Zone. Ambushed by an attacking Romulan Bird-of-Prey squadron, Kirk recovered and retook command to warp the vessel safely out of the Neutral Zone. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")

Leslie saw the wrecked, drifting USS Constellation on the main viewscreen when the Enterprise entered star system L-374 on stardate 4202.9. He witnessed Commodore Matt Decker invoking Starfleet General Order 104 to displace Spock from command duty and take control of the Enterprise in order to launch an attack on an automated, self-propelled "planet killer". (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")

After Starbase 6 had lost contact with USS Intrepid on stardate 4307.1, the Enterprise was ordered to investigate the lost all-Vulcan starship in the Gamma 7A star system in Sector 39J. As the Enterprise traveled through a giant space amoeba, Leslie succumbed to the effects of the amoeba's negative energy field and fainted on the bridge. He received immediate medical treatment and resumed his duties as Kirk searched for a solution to destroy the space amoeba. (TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome")

On stardate 4372.5, the Enterprise was assigned a secret diplomatic mission to facilitate the peace marriage of Elaan, the Dohlman of Elas, to the ruler of Troyius. When the ship was under attack by a Klingon battle cruiser in the Tellun star system near the Federation-Klingon border, Leslie gave up his seat at the engineering station to Elaan as she entered the bridge. He continued to monitor the engineering readings throughout the skirmish until he was relieved by Scott. (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")

When explorers from the Kelvan Empire lured the Enterprise with a false distress call to their colony and hijacked the ship on stardate 4657.5, Leslie's voluntary muscles were neutralized by Hanar after the Kelvan intruder appeared on the bridge and activated the paralysis field on his belt buckle. Before Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott regained control of the Enterprise, Leslie was reduced temporarily by the Kelvans into a small dehydrated porous cuboctahedron solid. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")

Helm officer

With the crew exposed to a virus during the mission to the planet Psi 2000 on stardate 1704.2, Leslie took over the helm after an infected Sulu abandoned his post. He struggled to stabilize the ship's decaying orbit before a sword-wielding Sulu returned to the bridge and was subdued by Spock. Kirk later relieved him from duty when Leslie became infected with the virus. (TOS: "The Naked Time")

After the actor Anton Karidian was revealed as Kodos the Executioner of Tarsus IV and killed unintentionally by his daughter Lenore during a theatrical performance of William Shakespeare's Hamlet aboard the Enterprise, Leslie operated the helm on stardate 2819.8. He warped the vessel out of planetary orbit when she was institutionalized for her mental insanity at a medical facility on Benecia. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")

In the final revised draft script for "The Conscience of the King", the part of the episode which evidently became Leslie's featured Sulu instead.

Leslie switched from his post at the engineering station to the helm when Kirk placed Lieutenant DeSalle in command of the Enterprise and beamed down with Spock and McCoy to the planet Pyris VII on stardate 3018.2. He maintained orbit as the Ornithoid explorers Sylvia and Korob subjected the starship to extreme heat and enclosed it with a surrounding force field. (TOS: "Catspaw")

With the entire crew feeling tired and weary, Leslie was at the helm when Sulu conducted a survey of the Shore Leave Planet with McCoy on stardate 3025.3. He was allowed to join a shore party after Kirk assessed the dangers and authorized a shore leave for the crew. (TOS: "Shore Leave")

Medical assistant

Leslie served as an assistant in sickbay at least twice.

He treated Spock's injuries after the M-113 creature infiltrated the Enterprise and assaulted the first officer on stardate 1513.8. (TOS: "The Man Trap")

When Kirk ordered Spock to report to sickbay for a medical examination on stardate 3372.7, Leslie assisted the chief medical officer in conducting the physical that revealed Spock was suffering from the Vulcan neurochemical effects of pon farr. (TOS: "Amok Time")

Navigator

Leslie sat at the navigation console when the Enterprise was en route to the Malurian star system on stardate 3541.9, investigating a distress call and facing a barrage of attacks by the interstellar space probe Nomad. After the probe ceased fire, it was beamed aboard the starship. Leslie carried Scott's body to sickbay after Nomad attacked the chief engineer on the bridge, but was not present to witness Scott's revival. (TOS: "The Changeling")

Science technician

On stardate 1672.1, Leslie was a technician of a survey team on Alfa 177. Exposed to the rapidly freezing conditions of the planet surface, he was left stranded after a malfunction rendered the transporter unusable. He suffered frostbite and was given immediate medical treatment when the transporter was repaired. (TOS: "The Enemy Within")

The lieutenant sat at the science station when Spock took command of the Enterprise after Kirk, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, and Ensign Pavel Chekov were kidnapped by the Providers on stardate 3211.7. Leslie monitored the sensor readings as the starship headed for Triskelion in search of the three missing Starfleet officers. (TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion")

Security officer

When Kirk decided to maroon Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell on the planet Delta Vega on stardate 1313.1, Leslie took the tranquilized lieutenant commander to a holding cell inside a lithium cracking station. He guarded the brig before Mitchell unleashed his psionic powers to escape confinement. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

Leslie joined the second landing party on Beta III on stardate 3156.2, when the Enterprise was sent to investigate the fate of the Archon, a Federation starship that disappeared mysteriously one hundred years earlier. He fired his phaser on an attacking mob, stunning them as the landing party struggled to flee. Before Kirk neutralized an ancient computer that was built by the philosopher Landru to control the society of Beta III, Leslie was absorbed temporarily into the Body of Landru. (TOS: "The Return of the Archons")

On stardate 3196.1, Leslie was assigned to Lieutenant Commander Giotto's security team in the hunt for the Horta, an elusive silicon-based lifeform that terrorized the miners of Janus VI. While Kirk, Spock, and McCoy struggled to save the life of the wounded Horta, he suffered head injuries after an angry group of miners overpowered a security perimeter. (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark")

The lieutenant was sent to Deep Space Station K-7 on a security assignment on stardate 4523.3. Soon after leaving the bar, he rushed back to end a brawl that had erupted between a small group of Klingons and Enterprise officers. While guarding the quadrotriticale storage compartment, he witnessed an avalanche of poisoned tribbles falling on Kirk's head, almost burying the captain. Leslie later apprehended Cyrano Jones for questioning when the intergalactic trader was suspected of being a Klingon spy, and assisted Kirk in uncovering Arne Darvin as a surgically-altered Klingon operative who had infiltrated the Federation's agricultural authority. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles"; DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")

On stardate 4729.4, Leslie was one of twenty officers who remained aboard the Enterprise when the M-5 multitronic unit was installed into the ship's computer system as part of an automation experiment. After the M-5 drills turned deadly and Doctor Richard Daystrom suffered a nervous breakdown on the bridge, Leslie escorted the renowned scientist to sickbay as Kirk struggled to deactivate the computer. (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")

When the Enterprise encountered the powerful alien Sargon and reached the uninhabited planet Arret on stardate 4768.3, Leslie was assigned to the security detail of the landing party. Sargon used his powers to prevent him from beaming down, allowing only Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Lieutenant Commander Ann Mulhall to arrive beneath the planet surface. (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow") Later that year, he was exposed to a virus when he beamed down to the planet Omega IV and held custody of Captain Ronald Tracey of the USS Exeter, charged by Kirk for violating the Prime Directive. (TOS: "The Omega Glory")

Responding to a distress call from the Starnes Exploration Party on stardate 5029.5, the Enterprise arrived to rescue the surviving orphans of the Federation outpost on the planet Triacus. Leslie was assigned to watch over Tommy Starnes, the oldest of the surviving children and the son of the exploration party's leader. After the children summoned a noncorporeal being known as the Friendly Angel, they exerted mind control over the crew and forced the ship on a heading for Marcos XII. Kirk tried to regain control of the Enterprise, approaching Leslie who was stationed by the turbolift doors. The lieutenant was unable to comply with Kirk's orders to remove Sulu from the bridge after Starnes turned the captain's words into incomprehensible gibberish. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")

When the Enterprise transported Ambassador Kollos back to his homeworld on stardate 5630.7, a love-spurned Doctor Larry Marvick attempted to kill the Medusan ambassador and became insane. After Marvick fled the ambassador's room and assaulted an Enterprise officer in a corridor, Leslie headed to the ambassador's quarters with Kirk and discovered the assassination plot. (TOS: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")

Memorable quotes

"Get back to your stations."

"I'm sorry, sir. We're all transporting down to join the colonists."

"I said get back to your station."

"No, sir."

"This is mutiny, mister."

"Yes, sir. It is."

- Kirk and Leslie, as an infected Leslie stands in a line headed for the transporter room ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Appendices

Related topics

Appearances

Background information

Leslie was played by Eddie Paskey, a regular extra who served as a set stand-in throughout the course of the original Star Trek series. He was often seen in the background wearing a red Starfleet duty uniform while operating the engineering station on the Enterprise bridge or serving as a security officer.

Paskey's character did not have a set identity at the start of the series. The script for the pilot episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", referred to him as both a "crewman" and a "guard". McCoy called him "Connors" in "Mudd's Women" and Spock referred to him as "Rand" in "The Naked Time". By the end of "The Conscience of the King", Kirk addressed him as "Mister Leslie" three times and continued calling him "Leslie" in subsequent episodes.

According to Paskey's personal website, his character was named after William Shatner's eldest daughter, Leslie Shatner.

Paskey had few speaking opportunities throughout the series. The first time he spoke occurred in "The Naked Time", when his character replied to Kirk's orders on the bridge. The other times he was heard speaking occurred in "The Conscience of the King", "The Alternative Factor", and "This Side of Paradise".

The only screen credits that he received were in "The Alternative Factor", when he was credited as "Lesley", and in "This Side of Paradise", when he was listed simply as "Crewman".

Leslie's last filmed appearance happened in the episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?", when Paskey retired from the series. The actor suffered a back injury while filming a scene in "Operation -- Annihilate!", where Spock applied the Vulcan nerve pinch on Leslie. He also experienced severe headaches which were aggravated by the stage lighting on the set. By the beginning of the third season, Paskey felt that he could no longer handle the job's activities. [1]

Red shirt

Leslie has the distinction of being known as the first Star Trek recurring character to return from the dead without explanation. After being attacked by the cloud creature in "Obsession", he was listed as one of the two unnamed and deceased officers in Kirk's log entry who was pronounced dead by McCoy. Later in the same episode, Paskey nonetheless appeared twice – first walking past Kirk's quarters in a red operations division uniform and then again walking by sickbay in a gold command division uniform.

According to Paskey, a scene in the script for "Obsession" that had all three victims of the landing party attacked by the creature would have them coming back to life later in sickbay due to a miracle potion. He mentioned that this scene was never filmed. [2] Director Ralph Senensky confirmed that he did not film it. [3]

Paskey continued to appear in subsequent episodes and his character was called "Leslie" by Kirk in "Assignment: Earth", "The Omega Glory", "The Enterprise Incident", and "And the Children Shall Lead".

One possible explanation, not contradicted by anything in the dialogue, is that Eddie Paskey was playing a different character in "Obsession": this is supported by the absence of Mr Leslie's Lieutenant's stripe from Paskey's uniform in the episode; and by the fact that he plays two other characters in the same episode; and by the fact that lots of actors - including Mark Lenard, Lawrence Montaigne, William Campbell - played different characters in different episodes. Even William Shatner played multiple parts in the same episode (both Kirks in "The Enemy Within" and in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", but also Kirk's brother, Sam, in "Operation -- Annihilate!"). Also, Eddie Paskey had previously played other characters in earlier episodes: appearing as Connors in "Mudd's Women" and Rand in "The Naked Time".

Service rank

Leslie was never addressed by his Starfleet service rank. Kirk simply called him "Mister Leslie". Until he sat in the captain's chair in "The Squire of Gothos", Leslie's uniform did not display any rank insignia. With three exceptions after this point, the uniform regularly showed a full lieutenant stripe. During the attack by the cloud creature in "Obsession", the rank stripe was inexplicably missing. It was also absent in "Spock's Brain" and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?", Paskey's last two filmed episodes on the series.

Apocrypha

According to the comic book Who's Who in Star Trek, Leslie grew up on Earth near the Starfleet Impulse Engine Testing Grounds in El Paso, Texas, where he developed an interest in engineering. He went to Starfleet Academy in San Francisco and met Kirk in judo competitions. In the novel Present Tense, he developed a friendship with Sulu on the Enterprise soon after the events of "The Naked Time".

The novel Yesterday's Son mentioned that he achieved the rank of lieutenant commander and served as the chief engineer aboard the USS Lexington near the end of Kirk's five-year mission. Shortly after the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as depicted in the novel The Darkness Drops Again, he was transferred back to the Enterprise and served as the security chief under Captain Spock. In Who's Who in Star Trek, he returned to the USS Lexington around the time of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The novel The Fire and the Rose mentioned that he attended Kirk's memorial service at Starfleet Academy in 2293 during the events of Star Trek Generations. In the novel One Constant Star, he joined the USS Excelsior with the rank of commander in 2308 and became Captain Sulu's first officer.

There are inconsistencies regarding Leslie's first name. According to Who's Who in Star Trek, his first name was Frank. In the novels The Fire and the Rose, A Choice of Catastrophes and One Constant Star, it was Ryan. The other novels state that it was Ed – an apparent tribute to Eddie Paskey, the actor who portrayed him on the original series.

The alternate reality-set novel The Assassination Game depicts that reality's Leslie supplying James T. Kirk with an excuse for being late. When Kirk thanks him, Leslie says Kirk can repay him by giving him a spot on the ship he'll command. According to Leslie, "they'd be crazy not to" (give Kirk a command).