The Basics
After a long absence as an available officer, M’Benga is back! He’s a common science officer in the Auxiliary Controls crew.
If you know who M’Benga is, you should be winning Star Trek trivia contests. It’s Larry Nemechek-level trivia. I’ll be honest, I think I’m pretty good at this stuff, but I’d completely forgotten him.
His first Star Trek appearance came in The Original Series second season episode A Private Little War, where he’s the doctor who treats Spock after he was shot. McCoy tells Kirk that Dr. M’Benga interned on Vulcan and that Spock, “couldn’t be in better hands.”
Yes, the treatment does involve Nurse Chapel and Dr. M’Benga slapping Spock in the face a few times. But his Vulcan patient does recover.
In That Which Survives, Dr. M’Benga is the top doctor left on the Enterprise when it’s hurled 990.7 light-years away from the planet that Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu had beamed down.
M’Benga’s Captain’s Maneuver
“Break Through” – When defending the Station, M’Benga increases the Armor Piercing, Shield Piercing, and Accuracy of the Ship by 10%.
M’Benga’s Officer Ability
“Slip Through” – When defending the station, M’Benga increases the Dodge, Armor and Shield Deflection by 10%. This ability will top out at 40% when fully promoted.
Being a common officer, he’s now in reach for lower-level players who may not yet have an officer like Carol Marcus or Keenser yet. For those players, he’d be a good captain and a good crew member on your ships in port when you’ve got your shields down, if you’re out hunting Latinum on Ferengi Monday, or trying to crack someone else’s base.
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Booker Bradshaw Trivia
Dr. M’Benga was played by actor Booker Bradshaw.
Bradshaw was a renaissance man. He started his career at his father’s insurance company. He became disillusioned with that line of work and decided to go to Harvard. There he learned to speak three languages.
At Harvard, he met Joan Baez and became a folk singer. And he was good enough as a folk singer to win three times on The Original Amateur Hour. And good enough to play Carnegie Hall.
Then he earned a full scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London to study acting.
He then went on to Motown, where he managed tours for The Supremes and The Temptations – before going back into acting.
His first TV credit was in 1966 on The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. He then appeared on Tarzan and Here’s Lucy (Lucille Ball’s first show after I Love Lucy,) before making his two appearances as M’Benga on Star Trek.
He later appeared on The Mod Squad, Bracken’s World, and The F.B.I
Bradshaw later became an accomplished TV writer, writing episodes of Planet Of The Apes, Get Christie Love! , McMillan & Wife, and Columbo.
Sadly, Booker Bradshaw passed away from a heart attack in 2003.