Summary
- Gillian Taylor is an essential character in Star Trek IV, helping Kirk and Spock navigate through the 1980s in a fish-out-of-water comedy.
- Catherine Hicks' portrayal of Dr. Gillian Taylor has a lasting legacy, influencing the creation of a descendant whale character in Star Trek: Prodigy.
- Dr. Gillian Taylor's expertise in humpback whales in Star Trek IV leads to the development of Starfleet's Cetacean Operations program in the future.
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, directed by Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks plays Dr. Gillian Taylor, a 20th-century marine biologist with expertise in humpback whales. To save 23rd-century Earth from a probe demanding to speak with whales, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and the crew of the USS Enterprise must take their stolen Klingon Bird-of-Prey (dubbed the HMS Bounty) back to 1986, when humpback whales were not yet extinct. In 20th century San Francisco, Dr. Gillian Taylor, the assistant director of the Cetacean Institute, is instrumental in bringing humpback whales George and Gracie to the future.
Part audience surrogate, part potential love interest for Admiral Kirk, Catherine Hicks' Gillian Taylor is a grounding factor in Star Trek IV. Narratively, Gillian Taylor plays the straight man, so to speak, in the fish-out-of-water comedy that makes The Voyage Home one of the best Star Trek movies. Despite her initial disbelief at Kirk and Spock's story, Dr. Taylor becomes Kirk and Spock's guide to navigating the 1980s in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Gillian helps the time-displaced Enterprise crew with basics like money and getting through 20th-century San Francisco as they rush to save George and Gracie, who have been prematurely released into the wild.
Catherine Hicks Played Whale Biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Gillian Taylor Introduced Kirk and Spock To Humpback Whales
Catherine Hicks plays whale biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Dr. Taylor is a consummately professional woman of science who is highly knowledgeable and dedicated to the welfare of the humpback whales in her care. It's this dedication that first alerts Dr. Taylor to the mission of the original Starship Enterprise crew, when Spock enters the whales' tank in an effort to communicate with George and Gracie. The Institute is losing funding, so Gillian is quick to help Kirk and Spock bring George and Gracie to the future. Because the 23rd-century whales and their offspring need a caretaker to thrive, Dr. Taylor ultimately joins them.
Catherine Hicks may be best known to Star Trek fans for her role as Dr. Gillian Taylor in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, though in that same year, Hicks was also in Peggy Sue Got Married. Prior to Star Trek IV, Catherine Hicks played other professional women on television. Hicks played Dr. Emily Rappant in the TV version of The Bad News Bears, and Dr. Faith Coleridge in the 1970s soap opera Ryan's Hope, which also featured Star Trek: Voyager's own Kate Mulgrew. Later, Catherine Hicks starred as family matriarch Annie Camden in Aaron Spelling's family dramedy 7th Heaven, and frequently appeared in TV guest spots and made-for-TV movies.
Catherine Hicks’ Gillian Has A Surprising Star Trek Legacy
Dr. Gillian Taylor Influenced Star Trek's Cetacean Legacy Character
Catherine Hicks' Dr. Gillian Taylor has a surprising Star Trek legacy. In Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, episode 5, "Observer's Paradox", Starfleet Academy hopeful Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) is assigned to the Cetacean Operations division on the Lamarr-class USS Voyager-A. Rok-Tahk works directly with (and befriends) a humpback whale named Gillian, who communicates through Voyager's computer (Bonnie Gordon). Star Trek: Prodigy writer and co-executive producer Aaron Waltke confirmed that Prodigy's whale Gillian is George and Gracie's descendant. Gillian the whale's name is a direct homage to Dr. Gillian Taylor, showing the importance of Dr. Taylor's work with George and Gracie in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Before the debut of Gillian the whale in Star Trek: Prodigy, the first cetacean Starfleet officers seen on screen were beluga whales named Matt and Kimolu, in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 10, "First First Contact".
The existence of the Cetacean Operations division in Star Trek: Prodigy also finally answers the question, albeit obliquely, of what happened to Catherine Hicks' Dr. Gillian Taylor after coming to the future with Kirk and Spock on the HMS Bounty. As the only marine biologist in the 23rd century with expertise in humpback whales, Gillian Taylor became a key figure in developing Starfleet's Cetacean Operations program, which trained whales and dolphins as navigators on Starfleet starships. Humpback whales George and Gracie likely became some of Starfleet's first cetacean navigators after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, thanks to Catherine Hicks' Dr. Gillian Taylor.
