Species Caitian Rank Lieutenant | Posting USS Enterprise Portrayed by Majel Barrett (voice) | |
 | ||
Position engineering
communications officer Affiliations Starfleet, United Federation of Planets Similar Christine Chapel, Phlox, Janice Rand, Dax, Hoshi Sato | ||
Lieutenant M'Ress, voiced by Majel Barrett, is a fictional character from the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek, which aired as part of NBC's Saturday morning lineup from 1973 to 1974. The character M'Ress is of the Caitian race, and remains one of only two Caitian characters to appear in any Star Trek storylines: another is briefly seen in the courtroom scene at the conclusion of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
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Biography
M'Ress was a female Starfleet officer assigned to the engineering section of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. She also occasionally assumes the role of relief communications officer. M'Ress was Caitian: a felinoid race with long, thick orange fur and yellow, slit-pupiled eyes. She spoke softly and had a cat-like purring quality to her voice. M'Ress was depicted to not wear shoes; she had four digits on each paw and a cat-like tail, which was often caught and pinched as the doors on the "Enterprise" automatically closed behind her.
The name of the Caitians' homeworld is Cait according to a biography of Lt. M'ress published by (the Gene Roddenberry/Majel Barrett run) Lincoln Enterprises in 1974. This and additional details from the biography were adapted into prose by science fiction author Alan Dean Foster in his novelization of the animated Star Trek episode "The Ambergris Element".
Appearances
M'Ress first appeared in the animated Star Trek episode "The Survivor". She appeared in a total of six episodes: "The Survivor", "Once Upon a Planet", "Mudd's Passion", "The Eye of the Beholder", "Bem", and "The Practical Joker".
M'Ress was the heroine of the Star Trek book and record set "Star Trek: Passage to Moauv" (1975 Power Records) where the catlike pet waoul of the Moauvian ambassador escapes and psychically spreads fear and violence throughout the entire crew of the Enterprise.
M'Ress appeared in the Star Trek novel, The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold published by Ballantine Books in October 1980. She was also featured in several issues of the 1980s DC Comics version of Star Trek. Those stories took place a few years after the original five-year mission. M'Ress was featured several storylines in which she even teasingly flirted with Sulu.
She appeared again in several Next Generation era Star Trek: New Frontier novels, where she was depicted serving aboard the USS Trident. It was explained in the novels that a time anomaly brought her forth to the future. She appears over the course of several New Frontier books, where she is involved in accusations of mental manipulation against a superior officer and is the suspect in the officer's later murder.