Thelev was an Orion posing as a member of the Andorian delegation at the Babel Conference. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
Biography[]
Serving as an aide to Ambassador Shras, Thelev's mission was to destroy the USS Enterprise, which was responsible for transporting delegates to the Babel Conference. The purpose was to instigate mutual suspicion and possibly interplanetary war. Had war broken out, the Orions would have cleaned up supplying dilithium to both sides while continuing to raid Coridan.
He murdered the Tellarite ambassador Gav by breaking his neck and later tried to murder James T. Kirk with a knife. He managed to stab Kirk but was captured and put in the brig. When he tried to escape he was stunned with a phaser and fell so that one of his antennae broke off and revealed a hidden device he had used to communicate with his ship. When Enterprise damaged his ship, it self-destructed, and Thelev committed suicide by poisoning. (TOS: "Journey to Babel")
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Thelev was played by actor William O'Connell and by stunt double Jim Sheppard. Sheppard's appearance as Thelev can be clearly seen with Caucasian flesh-colored hands.
It was never made clear if the Orion stole the identity of a real Andorian named Thelev, or if he fabricated the identity all on his own.
Apocrypha[]
The TOS timeframe in the novel Federation picks up immediately after "Journey to Babel" and states that the knife Thelev used against Kirk was poisoned. Leonard McCoy treated the wound but it continued to pain Kirk for decades afterwards.
External link[]
- Thelev at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works