First of a two part article - second part to be posted Sunday. Technicians on Star Trek are rarely seen in the episode for very long. Usually one or more of them appear in the hallway, ascending or descending from Jefferies Tubes or under consoles, working on some unknown components. You are barely aware of them. But the handsome gentleman in this photo is one of the rare ones. We see him in more than one scene for an extended amount of time and he even gets in a fight with his Captain (well, one side of his Captain anyway) in “The Enemy Within.” Later he assists when a test is run on the transporter in an attempt to see if they can reunite the two sides of the original horned dog.
We first see Ensign Wilson in the Transporter Room working with Scotty as they attempt to bring in the injured Geological Technician. Fisher begins to materialize and then fades out. Scotty makes some adjustments with Wilson's assistance as they attempt to bring him in the second time. This time, Fisher fully materializes but both men notice he is covered in a yellow powder. After examination, Scotty theorizes the powder is from a magnetic ore which most likely caused the transporter problem. He sends Fisher to Sickbay and then tells Wilson to go find an instrument so they can double-check the transporter. Once Wilson leaves, Scotty attempts to beam up Captain Kirk, but has the same problem he did with Fisher. This time, when the captain steps off the platform, he begins to feel dizzy and Scotty leads him out of the room to head to Sickbay. Ensign Wilson has evidently impressed Mr. Scott enough in the past that he can reassure the captain that his Transporter Assistant will be back momentarily.
What Scotty did not realize was that in that short period of time after everyone left, another Kirk has appeared. When Wilson re-enters the room, he is concerned to see the man he thinks is his captain acting a bit disoriented and offers to help. But this Kirk looks at him strangely and abruptly heads out the door, leaving Wilson quite puzzled.
Fast forward several scenes and Ensign Wilson appears again. Evil Kirk has just applied makeup to his face to cover the scratches which will identify him to the crew per Good Kirk's announcement. He has just set foot in the outside corridor when he sees Wilson and orders him to turn over his phaser. The ensign, still not suspecting this is the imposter, complies. Evil Kirk then attacks Wilson and leaves him unconscious on the floor while he escapes to find another place to hide. FYI - There's more involved in setting up this scene than meets the eye. Be sure to look for the follow-up article on Sunday.
Luckily, our transporter assistant is not seriously injured and is able to help Spock bring the two horned dogs, one evil and one good just like Kirk, to the transporter pad. Unfortunately, when Scotty sends both dogs down and then tries to bring them back, there is only one dog but it is dead. Spock convinces Jim to attempt bringing his two halves back together anyway and fortunately Kirk's intelligence allows the transporter to bring the two halves back as one Captain Kirk, fully recovered. The rest of the landing party on Alpha 177 is rescued before they have fully succumbed to the freezing temperatures.
Interestingly, we had seen a character who looked exactly like Wilson in an earlier episode, "Charlie X." That's because an actor named Garland Lee Thompson played both Transporter Assistant Ensign Wilson and the technician here (referred to in the credits as Crewman II). Garland Thompson never appeared on many TV shows or films. But he did leave a huge mark on the world of Black Theater. Look for the second part of this article on Sunday when we find out just how amazingly talented and influential this man was (and still is).
