Jackson (Lieutenant) (original) (raw)

"All of this, just an illusion." "No illusion. Jackson is dead."

– Leonard McCoy and James T. Kirk, 2267 ("Catspaw")

Lieutenant Jackson was a male Human Starfleet officer who lived during the mid-23rd century. He served in the command division aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk, during a historic five-year mission the starship undertook.

In 2267, Jackson joined Scott and Sulu for the first Enterprise landing party sent to the surface of Pyris VII. In the meantime, the Enterprise lost contact with the landing party until, about a half-hour after it was overdue, when Jackson called the ship and requested a one person beam-up. Upon Jackson's return to the ship, Kirk was prepared to question him about the fate of the rest of the landing party; however, when he materialized, he stood in place for a moment with a drugged, blank stare, then fell off the transporter pad onto the floor, dead. Eerily, a voice spoke from Jackson's reanimated mouth, stating, "Captain Kirk, can you hear me? There is a curse on your ship. Leave this place or you will all die."

Later, when Kirk, Spock and McCoy visited the surface, Kirk learned that Sylvia had killed Jackson using a term from Human mythology known as "sympathetic magic". Sylvia explained, "I made an exact image of him. In the essence of my thoughts, the image was Jackson. When I killed the image and knew that it was dead – he died." Kirk thought her account was ridiculous, arguing, "You can't 'think' a man to death." Kirk, nevertheless, lamented the loss of Jackson, as he often did when he lost a crewmember. (TOS: "Catspaw")

Jackson was played by regular Star Trek stuntman Jay Jones, as the script required the performance of a stunt fall — in this case, Jackson toppling off the transporter pad.