Actress Patti Yasutake, best known to Trekkies as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, died on August 5, 2024, of a rare type of T-cell lymphoma. She was 70 years old.
Nurse Ogawa first appeared on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in the episode “Future Imperfect” (November 12, 1990) more or less as a background character. She was one of Dr. Crusher’s retinue of medical staff, there to give viewers the impression that the ship’s sickbay was constantly bustling. She went on to star in 14 additional episodes of the show, and was usually merely standing next to Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), passing her tools or saying “Yes, Doctor.” She had a good bedside manner, and her repeated appearances had viewers wondering who she was and what her story might be. As the series progressed, Nurse Ogawa’s role expanded incrementally, eventually leading to her becoming a legitimate supporting player.
Indeed, by the show’s seventh season, Nurse Ogawa began to have significant episodes of her own. In “Parallels” (November 29, 1993), for instance, Worf (Michael Dorn) found himself unexpectedly shunting between parallel dimensions, and in one of them, Dr. Crusher was dead (or just absent) and Dr. Ogawa had taken her place. It was nice to know that, even in a parallel universe, Nurse Ogawa’s professional medical career would continue apace.
Nurse Ogawa was also one of several featured characters in the episode “Lower Decks” (February 7, 1994), which would serve as the primary inspiration for the modern-day animated series that shares its namesake. That episode was about a random assortment of ensigns on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Nurse Ogawa among them, who don’t always get a full description of the missions the senior staff is involved with. It’s frustrating when you only have to follow orders.
Nurse Ogawa’s 14 episodes
On the DVD commentary track for “Lower Decks,” writer René Echevarria said Nurse Ogawa was included among that episode’s main characters because the “NextGen” writers always liked Patti Yasutake, and wanted to give her something significant to do. She wasn’t in earlier drafts of that script, but Echevarria found a way to work her in.
In the season 7 episode “Genesis” (March 21, 1994), Nurse Ogawa announced to Dr. Crusher that she was pregnant, a surprise to her boss, as it didn’t seem like her relationship with the off-screen Lieutenant Andrew Powell. Indeed, Nurse Ogawa seems to have had several romantic relationships on “NextGen,” including with someone named Ensign Markson, as stated in the episode “Attached” (November 8, 1993). Andrew Powell was said to have proposed marriage in “Lower Decks,” and Ogawa would become pregnant with their child by “Genesis.” Nurse Ogawa’s pregnancy proved to be a plot point in that episode. A virus was causing the ship’s crew to devolve into animals (Ogawa became an ape), but her fetus was protected by its amniotic locale. Data (Brent Spiner) was able to extrapolate a cure from Nurse Ogawa’s body.
Also notable: in 1993, Patti Yasutake appeared in a TV commercial for Hallmark’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” collectible ornament. That year, Hallmark put out an ornament of the U.S.S. Enterprise D, and the commercial depicted Nurse Ogawa, in her quarters, asking the ship’s computer (Majel Barrett) about the object in question. She liked it so much, she replicated one herself.
Nurse Ogawa in the movies
Although she has little to do in them, Nurse Ogawa also appeared in the first two “Star Trek: The Next Generation” spinoff movies “Star Trek: Generations” and “Star Trek: First Contact.” In the former, she was merely a medical professional again, standing alongside Dr. Crusher. While nothing was added to her story, it was comforting to see that she was still on the ship for its first big-screen outing. In “First Contact,” she could be seen steering people to safety during a Borg attack. Looking closely at her rank pips in the movies reveals that Nurse Ogawa had been promoted from an ensign to a lieutenant.
Yasutake stayed in the orbit of “Star Trek” for a few years thereafter, providing her voice for various characters in “Star Trek: Armada II” (2001), and appearing as Dr. Beverly Krasher in the 2016 “Star Trek” spoof “Unbelievable!!!!!” That film also featured Snoop Dogg and over 40 known Trek actors, including Walter Koenig, and Nichelle Nichols in her final film role.
Yasutake began her career in the 1980s, and some might recall her role as Umeki in Ron Howard’s “Gung Ho,” a role she reprised for the spinoff TV series. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 1988 for her performance in Michael Toshiyuki Uno’s “The Wash,” and played a newscaster in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!” She’s a cult favorite as Mrs. Howard in “Drop Dead Gorgeous” but most recently, Yasutake appeared on the heavily awarded TV series “Beef” as Fumi.
She was always a welcome presence on “Star Trek,” and a warm human being otherwise. Rest in peace.
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