First, a very happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. And now down to business and to a debate we've held before: Who is Star Trek's best mom?
We love Lwaxana Troi, who was deliciously over-the-top, but our vote goes to Amanda, the human teacher who married Vulcan ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) and, not long after, gave birth to our favorite half-human/half-Vulcan.
Jane Wyatt first played Amanda in the TOS episode “Journey to Babel,” and she'd previously starred as Margaret Anderson on the beloved TV sitcom, Father Knows Best. The years rolled by following Wyatt's single appearance on TOS, but in 1986, director Leonard Nimoy gathered together his Vulcan family together one more time for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Wyatt again imbued Amanda with a sense of warmth and love as she guided Spock toward reclaiming his humanness following his death and subsequent resurrection on the Genesis Planet.
Wyatt, during an interview she conducted years ago, spoke of Amanda’s enduring impact on her career and people in general. “The three big movies or shows for which I get fan mail are Star Trek, Father Knows Best and Lost Horizon,” she said. “But Star Trek is the oddest of them all. Complete strangers come up and call me ‘Amanda.’ Once I got off the plane in Iceland, where I was going fishing, and somebody down below yelled ‘Amanda!’ Well, I didn’t know who Amanda was until I realized that was my name in Star Trek. It’s absolutely crazy!”
Wyatt she passed away on October 20, 2006. She was 96 years old.
Interestingly, Amanda was referenced and/or appeared in other Star Trek ventures. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry provided the voice of the character in the animated episode “Yesteryear,” while Cynthia Blaise played a young Amanda in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. More recently, Winona Ryder co-starred in Star Trek (2009) as a doomed version of the character; check out the DVD/Blu-ray extras for deleted scenes that add texture and emotion to Ryder’s characterization. And, finally, Amanda figured into several Star Trek books, most notably Sarek, by A.C. Crispin, which depicts the character’s death, as well as The Fire and the Rose and A Less Perfect Union.
So, back to you. Who do YOU think is Star Trek's best mom?
And again, to all the moms out there in the universe, happy Mother’s Day from everyone at StarTrek.com!
