#lt. hansen

[redshirtgal]

There are many discussions among Star Trek fans about the proper line of command as far as who takes the Captain’s chair in certain situations. It seems to be fairly accepted that if the Captain is absent (or off duty), the chair goes to Spock. And if both Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are absent or off duty, then Mr. Scott steps in. And many of us (but not all) agree that Sulu is fourth in the chain of command. From then on out, it gets a bit murky. But let’s not get bogged down in that discussion. But occasionally, for whatever reason, someone other than a line officer is given temporary command of the Enterprise. We see this happen several times over the course of the first two seasons on The Original Series. The first one is Lieutenant Hansen in “The Menagerie, Part One.” The transfer of command goes back and forth so many times, it can make your head spin. First, Kirk places the Enterprise temporarily in the hands of Lt. Hansen while he and Spock transport down to Starbase 11. Then the situation in the photo above shows Spock coming to relieve Hansen of command in an attempt to take his former captain, Christopher Pike, back to Talos IV. Once he was caught, Spock then turned temporary command back to Hansen who transfers it back to Captain Kirk when he returns. Alas, we never see the lieutenant again.  During “The Squire of Gothos,” Lieutenant Leslie evidently assumes command when Trelane spirits away most of the bridge crew. At least he is there when they are transported back to the ship. Interestingly, you see Sulu and DeSalle come through the bridge entrance. Sulu would later become more established as the fourth in the line of command and Kirk would put DeSalle in the Captain’s chair while he and the rest of the command officers dealt with Korob and Sylvia in “Catspaw.” Later, Leslie assumes the Captain’s chair again during “The Alternative Factor” after Kirk has beamed down to the planet surface to deal with Lazurus-A and Spock has followed with a security team. We never realize this however until Kirk and Spock have returned to the Enterprise. One second we see Lt. Leslie on the bridge with a stony earnestness on his face sitting in the big chair. Then once Kirk and Spock break through the doors on the bridge, Leslie gets up and returns to his seat at the helm. This is the last time we ever see Lt. Leslie take command. And to add insult to injury, his name is spelled “Lesley” in the credits.  The final time we see someone outside the regular chain of command in the Captain’s chair is during “Catspaw.”  Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle is placed in command by Captain Kirk as he, Spock, and Dr. McCoy all beam down to find out what happened to Crewman Jackson. Since Mr. Scott and Mr. Sulu are still on the planet, that means the entire line of command is no longer on the Enterprise. A most curious state of affairs, but it does give Mr. DeSalle the chance to utter one of the more well-known lines on The Original Series :

“Maybe we can't break it, but I'll bet you credits to navy beans we can put a dent in it.” 

Sadly, this is the last time we see Lt. DeSalle. Unofficially, he was meant to be the fifth in the line of command but Gene Coon decided to retire the character for reasons stated in an earlier article. And this is also the last time anyone besides a line officer is in command of the Enterprise.

But wait… Kirk does hand the ship over to Mr. Chekov in Journey to Babel once Thelev is dead and Kirk now needs to head for Sickbay himself. Unfortunately, we never see Chekov issuing any commands. Which could have been interesting, since he was still an ensign. But from there on out, the only members of the Enterprise crew to occupy the Captain’s chair are Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Mr. Sulu. At least until the Animated Series.

[redshirtgal]

That career of Lt. Hansen is very similar to that of DeSalle. Both were placed in command of the Enterprise by Captain Kirk at one time (and twice in Hansen's case) and appeared in three episodes. However after the third appearance, we no longer see either DeSalle or Beggs.

More information appears in the earlier Redshirt article athttps://www.facebook.com/talesoftheunknownredshirt/posts/1877541292551394 Birthday montage created by Todd Walkenhorst

[redshirtgal]

We see Lt. Hansen three times in The Original Series. The first two appearances occur during both Menagerie I and Menagerie II. While Kirk and Spock were on Starbase 11, Hansen seems to have been in command at that point. But if not then, Spock definitely turned over command to him when he was about to turn himself in to Dr. McCoy for treason. The first photo depicts Lt. Hansen returning control of the ship to Captain Kirk. In the second half of The Menagerie, Hansen appears in his assigned duty as helmsman. 

The third time comes during Court Martial. Lt. Hansen mans the helm again as he did in The Menagerie. What is interesting, though, is that he is a member of the skeleton crew who stayed on the ship when the rest had been transported down to Starbase 11. 

It’s always dangerous to make assumptions based on so little evidence. But it appears perhaps Hansen was another one of those wearing command gold who had already risen to the level where he could be entrusted with the command of the Enterprise for brief periods of time. And his skill as helmsman (in absence of Sulu) must have been regarded highly enough to be one of the few considered to be essential personnel during the events of “Court Martial.”  Again, this is all speculation on the writer’s part and is no way stated in any episode he appeared in.  The actor who portrayed Lt. Hansen, Hagan Beggs, already knew James Doohan before getting the part. Beggs was born in Northern Ireland but raised mainly in Canada, the two had run into each other before in the Canadian acting circles. Beggs not only had acting experience, but he had experience as a set decorator and props coordinator as well.  But Hagan claims he did not get his part because he knew Doohan. His agent had sent him over to audition for the character of Lt. Hansen. Once he had the part, he remembers being in awe of the Enterprise bridge set. He had acted on TV sets before, but nothing like this one. Since he was already in “The Menagerie” and it was being filmed back to back with “Court Martial,” he was again given the part of Lt. Hansen for that one as well. Beggs remembers that most of the crew, such as Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols, were very nice to him on the set. But as soon as William Shatner finished his lines on the set either during rehearsal or filming, he immediately returned to his trailer. So Hagan never had a chance to get to know Shatner, although he remembers Gene Roddenberry as also being very friendly. At the end of Court Martial, Roddenberry expressed his regret that he would not be keeping the part of Lt. Hansen because he wanted to spread the role of helmsman out more, which Hagan took to mean he needed a more diverse crew. However, Beggs did not suffer for work after Star Trek. In fact, at some point, he decided to remove his role as Lt. Hansen from his resume because he thought pushing a few levers did not look too impressive. However, he later realized the phenomenal popularity of the show and put it back on. 

He went on to guest star in many other films and TV shows. However, he may be more familiar to our Canadian members for having recurring roles in two shows that were both filmed in British Columbia. The first was as Dr. George Dunbar on the show Danger Bay, airing on both CBC and The Disney Channel between 1985-1990. The second was as Liam Gleeson on Bordertown , appearing on CTV between 1989-1991.  Perhaps he lost out on the chance for a recurring role on Star Trek but Harlan Begg had a full acting career.