Portrait of a Character – Malcolm Reed
Malcolm Reed is, by far, one of my all-time favorite Star Trek characters.
Origins
Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating)
This character is, of course, Star Trek: Enterprise canon. The actor, Dominic Keating, is British (he’s from Leicester), but the character is from Malaysia. Repressed, uptight and a lover of big guns and even bigger explosions, Reed was rumored to be the first regular gay character. However, according to Keating, the rumors were Internet hype more than anything else, and homosexuality was never intended to be a part of the portrayal. This has not stopped a lot of fan fiction writers from giving him a slash angle. I do not. Instead, since all of his relationships and possible relationships are straight, I write him as completely heterosexual.
Portrayal
As in canon, Reed is played by actor Dominic Keating.
Personality
Canon states that Reed is repressed and shy around women. He’s also very competent at his job, possibly the most competent person behind T’Pol. Self-sacrificing to a fault, Reed is uncomfortable fraternizing with his captain, and feels that the relationship should remain at arm’s-length. Furthermore, Malcolm is afraid of water and is the ship’s chess champion.
So much for canon.
As I have written him, he also has a fondness for Scrabble and various word games and puzzles, enjoying competition but also working to improve his mind. He’s an avid reader (some of that reading is canon), and is particularly fond of Jane Eyre. Whether he sees himself as Rochester is yet to be determined.
A cautious lover and a natural pessimist, Malcolm is a bit afraid of rejection and has a bit of dysfunction at times. He keeps to himself, which tends to make relationships problematic at best. But when he meets someone and he likes her, he latches on rather quickly. However, at the beginning of much of my fanfiction (and in keeping with canon), he tends to fall for women who are either thoroughly inappropriate for him or are utterly unattainable, a fact that he acknowledges in Concord and Together, in particular.
Relationships
As I write Malcolm, he has two major relationships which define him.
Pamela Hudson
With Pamela, Malcolm feels he may be falling in love, but she pulls him back and tells him, no, you’re mistaken. He finds it freeing when he realizes that she’s right.
But Pamela also stretches his limits, and loosens him up. A part of that is due to her prowess and her proclivities. He finds himself enjoying a bit of naughty bedroom play, and participates in some, but not all of it. At the end of Intolerance they part, assuring each other that they will become, essentially, Friends with Benefits.
Lili O’Day
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
With Lili, the relationship is considerably stronger and more loving. Malcolm finds that he can be a lot freer with her than he has ever been with anyone before, even Pamela. He fulfills the destiny that was denied him in the original, canon E2 episode, and becomes a family man when Lili gives birth to Declan (Temper, Fortune). Initially, in Reversal, Lili is denied him, as she goes with Doug.
In later life, he and Lili marry, an event prepared for in Equinox and then shown in Fortune. Their later married life is briefly shown in The Rite.
Lili also pairs with him in the E2 stories I am currently writing. In one scenario, they have a daughter who they name Pamela Morgan. In another, in keeping with canon, they do not have children.
Charlotte Hayes
In Concord, Malcolm pines for Charlotte but never truly attempts to win her. Instead, seeing a picture of Lili after his encounter with Charlotte, Malcolm experiences an eerie sense of déja vu.
Theme Music
Malcolm’s behaviors work well with music. In Intolerance, his relationship with Pamela is covered by Love is Strange but also Be My Baby. In Together, his initial theme is The Style Council‘s Wanted, with its message of unattainable longing. The reader is told – Malcolm has been holding back, and there is someone he is pining for. When he and Lili hook up, the musical theme, shared by them, is A Flock of Seagulls‘ Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You). His disastrous reunion with Pamela is evoked with Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. By the time the action shifts to Temper, the music changes, too, to Paul Young’s Every Time You Go Away. His final theme, in Fortune, is evocative of their wedding. It’s Bruce Springsteen’s Prove It All Night.
Poetry
In Intolerance, it’s revealed that Malcolm is a gifted poet, so long as he has motivation. And Pamela provides that in spades. Malcolm’s medium of choice is Shakespearean sonnets. I have written him three for her, two for Declan (in Fortune) and one for Lili in the E2 stories. Here is my favorite, the second sonnet for Pamela –
Reed the Knave (Dominic Keating)
A burning ember, burst to flame
as kindred souls entwine and merge
the knave, he could not be the same
falling, ever falling over precipice and verge
Reed, still the Knave (Dominic Keating)
Her face was fair, her mind was keen
her body offered untold pleasure
And yet her heart remained unseen —
could the knave unlock this treasure?
The Queen, she came down from above
She changed the knave, who did it all for love
Mirror Universe
Ian Reed (Dominic Keating)
Malcolm Reed has a canon counterpart, who I name Ian and kill off before Reversal. But Ian has a rather rich afterlife, particularly in Equinox and the E2 stories. I’ll cover him in a separate entry.
Quote
“It’s the stuff that makes up your life. You have allowed me to be a part of it. That’s almost as intimate as holding your body to mine, touching and kissing and looking at all of your, your secret places.”
Upshot
For a canon character with a comparatively sketchy background, I’ve been happy to fill in the blanks. And I hear his voice better than any of the other canon characters, except perhaps for Jay Hayes. I could tell a thousand stories about Malcolm Reed. I feel I have merely scratched the surface.
Malcolm Reed has always been one of my favorite characters in Trek, my favorite on ENT. He was always underdeveloped which was bad for viewers but to those that love to write and read fanfic, a writer’s dream. I like what you have done with him. Like how you made him “grow” as a person and officer. Still neurotic but not as needy.
Thanks! He’s grown, I think. He drops into neediness on occasion, particularly with Pamela because he wants SO badly for it to work out. Thank you for commenting!
[…] Post navigation ← Previous […]
[…] story that it’s revealed that she wears the Cuff of Lo, which had been worn by Declan and Malcolm Reed long before her, and by Lili O’Day before them and then Yipran before […]
[…] friend suggested to me – get Malcolm Reed to loosen up. I bet, down deep, he’s kinky. And so the gauntlet was thrown down. Challenge […]
[…] the canon E2 episode for the first time, I began to think – hey, that’s unfair. Malcolm should have had someone. In a lot of ways, that’s why I write him the way I do, particularly […]
[…] Enter Malcolm Reed. […]
[…] in Together, it’s revealed that Jennifer and Frank are particularly good. In Fortune, Malcolm gives Lili dancing lessons as a wedding […]
[…] Malcolm is excited about the film as he wants to watch it and compare notes with his girl afterwards. She is at home, so this is a kind of date for them as well, and she assures him that she will dress up and everything. […]
[…] For Jay, it’s about getting the job done. However, he does so with few niceties. For Malcolm, this is unacceptable, and there is a need for communications and for protocols to be followed. In […]
[…] any faster. Because Tripp is gone, and T’Pol has returned to Vulcan, Jonathan selects Malcolm to be his First Officer. Malcolm is on paternity leave when Archer asks him to come along. […]
[…] idea for Cobbled Together was that Malcolm would be miserable on the catwalk (that’s actually in canon) and that there would be a poker […]
[…] party (in addition to Hoshi, Corporal Todd and Major Dawson, Travis Mayweather, Jonathan Archer and Malcolm Reed are present) that, long ago, the men of his species researched how to decrease gestation until […]
[…] Temper, and in Fortune, it’s established that he is at least a descendant of Lili and Malcolm, but he’s apparently also at least a descendant of Chip and Deb, as his mother’s maiden […]
[…] problem is noted when Porthos has a reaction. That is, he breaks wind. Malcolm, who is at the dinner and is bored out of his mind, volunteers to take the dog to Sick Bay. For […]
[…] to be a main character), e. g. Doug Beckett, Leonora Digiorno, Melissa Madden, Lili O’Day and Malcolm Reed. Four of the characters had already had a story more or less assigned (albeit not completely […]
[…] returns to his quarters and waits for his friends. Lieutenant Reed comes by briefly, in order to offer his condolences as he is Ethan’s boss. The other three […]
[…] story begins with Malcolm telling Travis and Hoshi that he’s going to miss them. Hoshi is looking forward to spending […]
[…] Hayes Farm is not squeamish when it comes to slaughtering animals, including a veal calf. But when Malcolm drives the horse, Phoebe, Charlotte urges him to be gentle while slapping the reins. The hens are […]
[…] Houses, she violently takes charge, beginning a bloody reign by first killing off Phlox and Ian (Malcolm‘s counterpart), and then moving onto the Emperor Philip IV (counterpart to Colonel Philip […]
[…] Houses, Beth is given a syringe full of tricoulamine and is told to fatally inject either Phlox or Malcolm‘s counterpart, Ian. She chooses Ian, knowing full well that Phlox will also get a lethal […]
[…] Lili sets about explaining what’s available for dessert, which is a fruit and cheese plate. Malcolm looks up as she’s […]
[…] the conclusion of the Earth-Romulan War, Malcolm and the remainder of the crew of the NX-01 are back on Earth. Seeking to forget a horrible incident […]
[…] I had for a time travel series. And two, I wanted to not only continue the story of Doug, Lili, Malcolm, Melissa and Leonora, but I wanted the kids to be older without aging Lili and Doug quite so much. […]
[…] Minna, who is nearly the same age as her), but also to thank Captain Archer and Commander Reed. It’s Reed who selected the […]
[…] beauty and intelligence. Doug has intelligence and physical prowess, and eventually has heroism. Malcolm and Jay both have intelligence and physical prowess, usually mixed with heroism. Blair has beauty, […]
[…] Earth and sometimes he’s an acting captain. I swear, they’d better make Mackum – uh, Malcolm Reed – a for-real captain before we all get any […]
[…] a bit of a contrast to the ENT canon Silent Enemy episode, wherein the executive staff celebrates Malcolm Reed‘s birthday. Because the Xindi war is raging, I wanted it to be […]
[…] Lili are flown to the surface by Travis, who makes a point of telling Lili that Captain Archer and Malcolm both expressed regrets at not being able to personally see her off. For the captain, it’s […]
[…] The story ends with Milit announcing his engagement to one of the girls and then Hoshi telling Captain Malcolm Reed that he’d better warn Lili that she’ll need to cater a few thousand Arisian […]
[…] decided the judges would be Jonathan, Malcolm and Jay, thereby prefiguring Lili’s relationship with Malcolm and her connection to Jay, plus […]
[…] Malcolm is on Lafa II with Lili, for Declan‘s birth, and Aidan MacKenzie is running Tactical in his stead. Travis has just met Ellen Warren. Jonathan is talking about his new ship, the Zefram Cochrane. Lucy Stone, the new Science Ensign, is catching the eye of both Andy Miller and Chip Masterson, even though Chip is married to the pregnant Deborah Haddon. In short, everyone is going somewhere. But Tripp Tucker is living in the past. […]
[…] were hints about this story, too, in He Stays a Stranger, where a far more mature Malcolm and Lili, in a shared dream, recall their first meeting […]
[…] the time we get to the second chapter, we learn that Jenny is getting married. Malcolm can bring a date, so he sends a note to Pamela, inviting her. Therefore, the astute reader should […]
[…] even gets a second nickname which is a misnomer. Malcolm refers to her as “Lioness” or “the Lioness”, when the truth is that her […]
[…] Together, Malcolm attends this foreign film – even though, in canon, he’d prefer films with a lot of […]
[…] and by many people (e. g. Daniel Chang in Demotion, for one). She still gets her men, Doug Beckett, Malcolm Reed, Jay Hayes, Ian Reed and José Torres, depending upon which stories you […]
[…] on a number of memorable (literal) dream dates with Doug. Her E2 experiences with Jay Hayes and Malcolm Reed are also very […]
[…] Perhaps the best-known friendship in Star Trek: Enterprise is that between Tripp and Malcolm. […]
[…] was originally a plot device. I was told – get a crew member to loosen up. Really loosen […]
[…] Tactical Officer in Fortune and, finally, to a Commander in Flight of the Bluebird before Malcolm Reed‘s generous […]
[…] her out during Flight of the Bluebird in order to dispel a rumor, and it’s revealed that Malcolm and Lili talked to her when the Cochrane was launched as they had had to explain their arrangement […]
[…] to me, given the way that the overall story arc was to go, that he not be the killer of Ian Reed, Malcolm‘s mirror counterpart. And so Doug had to be put in charge of Tactical on the Defiant, […]
[…] known about her in canon is that she owns the 602 Club, and had romances with both Tripp Tucker and Malcolm Reed (Reed writes her a fairly generic good-bye letter in the canon Shuttlepod One episode, thereby […]
[…] Shell Shock story also references Demotion, when Dan (along with Malcolm, Tristan Curtis, and Josef Kastle and Derek Kelby from the NX-02 Columbia) is suspected of a crime. […]
[…] generated some friendships between Daranaeans and humans, including Jonathan Archer and Seppa, and Malcolm Reed and […]
[…] and Malcolm‘s son is a gifted artist from a young age. In Temptation, Cria and Mistra look over a letter […]
[…] course, crops are grown there. Malcolm gets his pineapples, and Shelby grows oranges, too, which Will wants. An elaborate tree-planting […]
[…] story, I wanted to have two more or less parallel couples with very different fates. One would be Malcolm and Pamela. The other would be Blair and […]
[…] rivalry is alive, well and living in the Beckett-O’Day-Reed-Digiorno-Madden family, and Marie Patrice is one of its biggest proponents and […]
[…] In Together, he helps Deborah Haddon pick up the pieces and they begin dating. By the time of Temper, she’s proposed to him, and they are married by the time of Fortune. During the initial celebration of the first child born to a crew member becoming a parent, he begins to thank the captain who corrects him and instead tells him that the celebration is for Malcolm. […]
[…] Her first name means “free woman” and her middle name is of course a flower (and Malcolm refers to her, in the prime timeline, as Lili-Flower). Her surname sets up the contrast to Doug, […]
[…] panting. The air smells like turkey cooking. She’s got a cast iron skillet in her hands. Reed‘s voice is on the […]
[…] all received significantly greater shares of airtime. This was virtually always at the expense of Reed, Sato, Mayweather and Phlox. Frankly, by the time I started writing fanfiction, I’d gotten […]
[…] He’s a bit shocked to learn that Erika Hernandez is a captain, Jonathan has never married, Malcolm is a father but isn’t married to Lili, and Phlox has three wives who each have three […]
[…] Cyril commits medical malpractice regularly and participates in the torture deaths of Phlox and Ian (Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses). Later, he attempts to persuade Travis to allow him to let […]
[…] in every single thing made, from the French toast batter in Captain Archer‘s breakfast with Malcolm, to the main dishes at dinner and everything in […]
[…] who are in the midst of their Immunology rotation. By the time of Fortune, she has become Malcolm‘s CMO on the USS Bluebird. In the Mirror Universe, she is some sort of technician and is no […]
[…] diverge rather quickly. For one thing, Charlotte has a little brother, Declan (and, when Lili and Malcolm have a child, they name him Declan Reed in honor of the boy with no counterpart). In addition, much […]
[…] time for finals at Oxford, so Declan can’t make it. Doug has died, and Lili has married Malcolm. Marie Patrice has finagled a business trip, and is present with Ken Masterson, the child of Chip […]
[…] my own Star Trek fanfiction prompt about forgiveness, I went with a story about Malcolm, Lili, Joss, Marie Patrice, Declan, and Malcolm’s parents, which dovetailed with a far more […]
[…] missions to the NX-01 or elsewhere in canon, and having him eventually need to confer with ancestor Malcolm Reed, I was able to provide more canon credibility to these […]
[…] the post-Fortune time period, on acting Captain Malcolm Reed‘s ship, the Zefram Cochrane. Chip comes over to Deb and tells her that Kelsey killed himself. […]
[…] I wanted Malcolm to have to deal with introducing his parents to Lili, and possibly risk their disapproval. Done […]
[…] of course, played Malcolm Reed on […]
[…] Together, when they decide to open up their marriage to Malcolm and Melissa (and, by extension, Leonora), they copy the Calafan style of doing things. That is, […]
[…] T’Pol wed and have a son, Lorian. Travis marries MACO J. McKenzie (I name her Julie). And Malcolm dies without […]
[…] enough that Phlox keeps him in Sick Bay overnight. In Temper, the war is again interrupted as Malcolm, Jonathan and Tripp need to work to protect the NX-01 from damage that could be incurred from an […]
[…] an alternate timeline, he is brought out of retirement a lot longer, and serves as Malcolm‘s CMO, again on the Bluebird, but in a lost cause […]
[…] you heard, Mister Reed. What I don’t get, is that even before I mentioned them to you, they were, I know they are – […]
[…] afraid of fire, her maternal grandmother, Lilienne, makes her cook. Lili explains to Malcolm, in Together, that she was a difficult teenager, getting into minor trouble such as joyriding. She […]
[…] they’re very demonstrative about what they’re like. Diana isn’t – and she and Malcolm find they have that in common – so she ends up sometimes having to fend off unwelcome male […]
[…] she becomes clinically depressed. But in her, the manifestation is of increased aggression. When Malcolm comes onto her, she loudly and angrily declares him to be closeted and, as a result, he loses a […]
[…] Frank Ramirez‘s first dance an occasion for people to feel some true melancholy. As a result, Malcolm blows his nose to hide the fact that he’s weeping a bit, Lili much more openly cries and is […]
[…] the prime timeline, he plays cards with Malcolm, Hoshi, and Sophie Creighton, in Cobbled Together, and hits on Sophie. In Shell Shock, he’s […]
[…] running Tactical (after defeating Chip Masterson and Aidan MacKenzie in a competition). Ian (Malcolm‘s counterpart) and T’Pol had to still be alive. Phlox would still be the doctor; this […]
[…] is, as she often is, a little snarky. Declan even jokes a bit. Lili is of course more supportive. Malcolm is mentioned very […]
[…] back into hiding, Shran bids farewell to his family and seeks refuge on Malcolm‘s ship, the USS […]
[…] the Prime Universe, Aidan is supportive, offering to talk to Captain Reed about taking some time off to help Susan with her […]
[…] had where she’s waited. He’s also the first man she has ever loved (she did not love Malcolm when they dated in Intolerance and met again in Together), and he ends up being the only man she […]
[…] who would be loyal and loving, and would leap into the Beckett-Madden-Digiorno-O’Day-Reed family without even […]
[…] Captain Malcolm Reed and his new ship, the DC-1505 USS Bluebird, they’ve left space dock and gone to Andoria. But […]
[…] be a fun job for her, but also a challenge. She would be reminded, as others wrote to Fong, that Malcolm could be injured or killed at any time, too. Her boss, Ehigha Ejiogu, would be a Nigerian man young […]
[…] to prepare a bit of a prequel story in Star Trek fan fiction, where some of the estrangement that Malcolm has from his parents is not explained, but it is certainly […]
[…] character, of course, is canon, and is Malcolm‘s […]
[…] Navigating his own depression, and the crew’s, while honorably stepping back as the women begin pairing up with others, Archer in particular is affected. But others’ feelings begin to surface. Ethan Shapiro, Andrew Miller, and Josh Rosen begin cautiously circling the only female Jewish crew member, Karin Bernstein. Maryam Haroun asks Phlox‘s help in deciding between the two Muslim male crew members, Azar Hamidi and Ramih Azar. Lili O’Day does her best to keep it together, but also believes rumors about Jay Hayes and Malcolm Reed. […]
[…] I had wanted to contradict canon and give Malcolm Reed a family and long-term descendants, Malcolm’s son, Declan, would need a wife or at least a […]
[…] decided to go a bit silly but also capture a moment in the later lives of Lili, Doug, and Malcolm. I had already established, in Fortune, that Lili suffers from some mild hearing loss near the end […]
[…] November of 2159, Malcolm takes Melissa to Movie […]
[…] treat to bring these mostly minor characters together, as Laura is more than just the officiant at Malcolm and Lili’s wedding, or Jay‘s elder sister. I particularly liked giving one final bit of […]
[…] Malcolm Reed who, in canon, never had a family and was never close to anyone, I wanted to fix that in my Star […]
[…] and The Mess (the immediate aftermath). Lili discusses the matter with Doug in Reversal, and with Malcolm during Together. There’s even a small foreshadowing in Protocols, where Captain Archer […]
[…] on her first day, she surreptitiously sketches her classmate, Declan Reed. The sketch is sent to Malcolm, as it is his birthday, and the families have remained close for years. Some reviewers have said […]
[…] with Tripp, Malcolm pranks Hoshi by telling her that there’s been a slight transporter malfunction, and a […]
[…] For a Star Trek fan fiction prompt about misbehaving, I wanted to write about an older yet still frisky Malcolm Reed. […]
[…] And we all know how elusive it can be. After the end of Together, Doug, Lili, Malcolm, Melissa, and Leonora are ready to start the arrangement and live their lives in […]
[…] sometimes. At least , when Malcolm was injured in Minefield, he was still injured in Dead Stop and, in fact, Phlox had the automated […]
[…] to lift the plot of Two Days, Two Nights. Risa would still have a crime problem. But instead of Malcolm and Tripp being tied up in a basement, it would be Captain James T. Kirk and […]
[…] the first E2 kick back in time, and then in the In Between Days time period, after Fortune, Malcolm gets the promotion. In E2, he gets it because Jonathan Archer promotes a number of people. In the […]
[…] before the start of the Xindi War, Malcolm is accidentally transported to 1775 Concord, […]
[…] clearing out Malcolm‘s quarters, Lili comes across the book and takes it, vowing to read […]
[…] The Prince by Machiavelli. Empress Hoshi’s moves are calculated, everything from killing off Ian and Phlox, to overpowering T’Pol while at her weakest, to turning the loyalties of Emperor […]
[…] does a crossword puzzle on hers. Jonathan Archer even seems to use his for reading (although Malcolm Reed appears to prefer paper […]
[…] presides over Malcolm‘s and Jay‘s funerals in The Three of Us and both of theirs, Tripp‘s and […]
[…] he’s working full-time as a sous-chef. And by the time of Fortune, he has become the chef for Malcolm Reed‘s ship, the USS Bluebird. He’s even seen in Equinox; Malcolm confides in him a […]
[…] my own fan canon, I told a short tale of Malcolm Reed bringing home a decidedly different girlfriend from Lili. Truth is, this could have been Ruby […]
[…] Doug has embraced Declan as more or less one of his own. The unspoken assumption is that, if Malcolm dies in action, that no one will have to worry about […]
[…] has been tasked with taking care of all five children as Malcolm is defending the Neutral Zone (so Declan is around). Melissa and Norri are on Earth for an […]
[…] to the Mirror Universe, where Richard Daniels is not allowed to pursue them. Also, on Lafa II, Malcolm Reed and his wife, Lili O’Day Beckett Reed, see a mysterious light in the sky, which turns out to […]
[…] this actor as I also have him playing Declan Reed. Hence, Steven Reed has connections to both Malcolm and Doug (just like Richard […]
[…] together ENT and the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan film. Work on the Genesis Project sends Malcolm Reed back to […]