"I'd say your evaluation is reasonable, Mister Boma."
Lieutenant Boma was a male Human Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. He served in the sciences division aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk, during a historic five-year mission that starship undertook. In 2267, he served as one of the ship's astrophysicists.
That same year, Boma was aboard the shuttlecraft Galileo while assisting in collecting data on the Murasaki Effect. Boma openly disputed Lieutenant Commander Spock's orders, after the Galileo crashed on planet Taurus II. (TOS: "The Galileo Seven")
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Boma was played by actor Don Marshall.
In the script of "The Galileo Seven", Boma was characterized as "a strong Negro." In an ultimately discarded scene from the script, Boma pointed out, to the others aboard the Galileo, one of numerous anthropoids living on Taurus II. Boma reckoned it didn't like the look of the Galileo crewmembers, though Yeoman Mears believed that was too "understanding" of him.
The producers intended to make Boma a recurring character after "The Galileo Seven". However, Marshall was already signed on by Irwin Allen for Land of the Giants, and was not available to reprise his role. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)
Apocrypha[]
Boma in the alternate reality
In two Star Trek novels written by Diane Carey, Dreadnought! and Battlestations!, Boma appeared as a civilian scientist. The latter novel gave him the first name "Samuel". After the events of "The Galileo Seven", Boma was dismissed from Starfleet, consequent to a court martial hearing called by Montgomery Scott on charges that Boma was openly disrespectful and insubordinate towards Spock. He then entered into a notable scientific career, which included the development of an extremely resilient alloy used in the construction of the Dreadnought-class. Ultimately, however, he got involved in unethical weapons research.
Boma appeared in the novel That Which Divides by Dayton Ward. As a science officer aboard the USS Huang Zhong in the year 2269, he was one of three survivors of the eleven-person crew – and was the highest-ranking of the survivors – after the ship crashed into the Dolysian planetoid Gralafi. He mended fences with Spock, who held no grudge against the officer, lauding him for his exemplary actions while dispelling a Romulan takeover of the planetoid. Boma elected to remain behind on Gralafi, as part of a Starfleet presence studying the Kalandan archive buried beneath the planetoid's surface.
In the IDW Star Trek: Ongoing version of "The Galileo Seven", Boma's alternate reality counterpart is a member of the USS Enterprise's operations division.
External links[]
- Samuel Boma at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works