Fleet Admiral Cartwright

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Fleet Admiral Cartwright
Species	human
Gender	male
Home planet	Earth
Affiliation	Starfleet
Posting	Starfleet Command
Rank	Fleet Admiral
Portrayed by	Brock Peters
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Fleet Admiral Cartwright is a character of the Star Trek universe who appears in two feature films, those being Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He is one of only five Star Trek minor characters to make an appearance in more than one Star Trek film (the others being Sarek, Saavik, David Marcus, and the Klingon Ambassador played by actor John Schuck). Fleet Admiral Cartwright was portrayed in both Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI by actor Brock Peters.

[edit] Overview

In Star Trek IV, Fleet Admiral Cartwright is seen as something of a hero character, keeping together the headquarters of Starfleet Command during the Whale song crisis which caused Earth to nearly be destroyed. The admiral was on Earth when Starfleet ships confirmed the presence of an un-identified cylinder-shaped ship on a direct course to Earth. A sphere was suspended just a short way down from the ship by a bright glowing tractor beam. The sphere emitted a signal that caused extreme damage to any nearby power grid. After disabling several ships and Earth's Spacedock installation, the ship proceeded straight for Earth. Upon its arrival, it began to direct its transmission toward the oceans. Earth's entire power grid failed, but the emergency power grid was unaffected for the most part. As the weather control grid was out, chaotic weather devastated Earth. Cartwright and the Federation President attempted to help save as many people as possible. All Cartwright's attempts to respond to the alien ship's transmissions failed. He then received a transmission from Admiral James T. Kirk aboard his captured Klingon Bird of Prey. Kirk told Cartwright he would attempt time travel to respond to the probe. The transmission died just as Kirk began to explain how, and Cartwright simply ordered "Get him back! Get him back!". While Kirk was in the past, attempting to save Earth from the alien ship (later named "The Whale Probe") Cartwright and the president attempted to preserve Earth until Kirk managed to issue the correct response to the probe, which then returned to its place of origin.

In Star Trek VI, Fleet Admiral Cartwright takes on a more sinister role in that his character is part of a conspiracy to de-rail peace efforts between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. He was at the meeting in which Captain James T. Kirk was assigned to meet the Klingon Chancellor's ship, Kronos One. He sided with General Chang when the group had decided to use the prototype Bird of Prey to assassinate Chancellor Gorkon. When Chang arrested Kirk and Leonard McCoy, he presented a plan to the Federation President to launch a rescue operation. The President rejected the plan, and Cartwright decided more extreme action had to be taken. He attended the secret peace conference at Camp Khitomer between Romulus, The Klingon Empire and The United Federation of Planets, where further action was planned to prevent a peace agreement. One of his officers, Colonel West, disguised as a Klingon, was armed with a phaser rifle and sent to kill the Federation President as he gave his speech. Kirk and a team from the Enterprise managed to save the Federation President, as Montgomery Scott badly injured the assassin, who fell to his death. The assassin's identity as a Starfleet officer was discovered by Colonel Worf, leading to confirmation of Cartwright's suspected involvement. Cartwright had previously attempted to flee, but was apprehended by Captain Hikaru Sulu and arrested for treason at the conclusion of Star Trek VI. In the non-canon Star Trek Expanded Universe novel Cloak by S. D. Perry it is stated the admiral is part of the secretive Federation orginization, Section 31.

The character of Fleet Admiral Cartwright was intended as a replacement for Fleet Admiral Morrow, who held the same position as Cartwright yet in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Early publications regarding Star Trek IV indicated that the character of Morrow would return, but actor Robert Hooks was unavailable. Brock Peters may have been cast to play Morrow, as he was an African American actor similar in appearance to Robert Hooks. By the time of filming Star Trek IV, however, Fleet Admiral Cartwright was created as a replacement for Morrow perhaps to demonstrate that Starfleet, much like the United States Navy upon which it is based, rotates and transfers its senior leadership.

Subsequent to Star Trek VI, Fleet Admiral Cartwright has made no further appearances in the Star Trek universe, although the actor who portrayed him may be seen as the father of Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. If the Cartwright character is used again in any movie or series, a different actor will have to be used as Brock Peters died on August 23, 2005.