Star Trek: Who is Roberta Lincoln?

Key Takeaways

• Gary Seven reveals he is an alien on a mission to save Earth, despite skepticism.
• Roberta Lincoln becomes unintentionally involved in helping Seven complete his mission.
• Kirk and Spock reluctantly choose to trust Seven to prevent nuclear war and save Earth.

In the season two finale of Star Trek: The Original Series, entitled “Assignment: Earth,” the Enterprise travels back in time to 1968. When they arrive in the 20th century, a mysterious man beams aboard the ship. He introduces himself as Gary Seven, portrayed by actor Robert Lansing, and claims to be from the 20th century. Of course, the crew of the Enterprise doesn’t believe him, since he just used transporter technology — which definitely didn’t exist in the 20th century — to get onto their ship. After some questioning, Seven reveals that he is actually from another planet and was sent to save Earth, marking one of the first times Star Trek explored this classic sc-fi trope.

After digging into Seven and his story, the crew of the Enterprise discover he is telling the truth. However, they still detain him, forcing Seven to escape and beam down to Earth. As he tries, with the help of a hidden futuristic computer called Beta 5, to find the other alien agents sent to Earth to help with his mission, Seven encounters a human named Roberta Lincoln.

Who is Roberta Lincoln?

Roberta Lincoln, portrayed by actress Terri Garr, was a twenty-year-old human living in New York City, where Gary Seven and his colleagues were sent to prevent Earth’s governments from escalating global conflict by using nuclear weapons. When they first meet, Seven assumes that Licoln is one of his colleagues, since he hadn’t actually met them before. However, as he reveals details about his mission, Seven realizes she has no idea what he’s talking about.

The Beta 5 computer informs Seven that Lincoln was hired as a secretary by the other agents to help them gather intelligence for their mission. Lincoln explains that they told her she was working on research for a set of encyclopedias. Seven is furious that he’d revealed the details of his mission to a 20th century civilian, but he decides that since Roberta knew anyway, he might as well leverage her services. So, he asks her to watch the office while he does some top-secret work.

Meeting Kirk and Spock

Determined to apprehend Seven, Kirk and his trusty first officer Spock beam down to the surface of Earth, where Spock wears a hat to hide his Vulcan ears. They track the transporter signal that Seven used to escape the ship, but when they knock at his office door, Lincoln answers and tries to stop them from coming in. When they try to push through, Kirk and Spock overpower and restrain her. However, Lincoln reveals that she’d already called the police, who were on their way.

Inside the office, Kirk discovers a map of McKinley Rocket Base, but before he can speculate about what Seven was doing, the police arriv. Kirk and Spock, desperate to not get caught, contact the Enterprise to beam them up. Unfortunately, the police arrived before Scotty could transport them out. When the Enterprise finally locks on with the transporter beam, Spock, Kirk, and the two police officers who’d arrived on the scene are all transported to the Enterprise, disappearing right in front of Lincoln.

As soon as Kirk and Spock arrive on the Enterprise, Kirk commands Scotty to beam the police officers back down immediately. He does, and the police officers rematerialize in the office, right in front of Lincoln. They were all dumbfounded.

Accidentally Helping Seven Complete His Mission

Though unwittingly and completely by accident, Lincoln played a major role in helping Seven complete his mission and save Earth. While Kirk and Spock were back on the Enterprise, leaving Lincoln alone in the office, Seven was at McKinley Rocket Base, trying to stop a nuclear missile from launching. Kirk and Spock beam down to the Base, trying again to apprehend Seven.

Back at the office, Roberta accidentally presses down on a pen holder, revealing the secret computer and transporter that Seven had in the office. She happened to be fiddling with the transporter right as Kirk and Spock tried to catch Seven, and, completely by accident, she beamed Seven back to the office. Seven is initially upset, but eventually realizes she’d saved him from being caught again, and thanks her. However, Lincoln has grown suspicious, and she attacks Seven. He begs her to let him complete his mission, insisting that nuclear war would erupt if he didn’t. He then revealed the true nature of his mission.

When he was done, Lincoln replies that she believes him, mainly because she knew the world was in dire need of help that it wasn’t getting from world governments. She agreed to help in any way she could, but at that moment, Kirk and Spock burst into the office and try to stop Seven again. Seven quickly explains his mission and its importance, and Kirk and Spock face the difficult choice to trust Seven. After deliberating, Spock and Kirk decide it is “logical” to trust Seven since the stakes are so high. Seven manages to detonate the warhead in the atmosphere, saving Earth.

Seven was distressed that Spock and Kirk had interfered with his mission, but Spock suggested the only “logical” explanation was that the Enterprise was supposed to be part of these events. In their history books, a sub-orbital warhead exploding in Earth’s atmosphere was the event that caused Earth’s governments to reconsider nuclear war. Though the mission didn’t go as planned, Seven, and coincidentally Lincoln, did save Earth and preserve the Prime Timeline.

Remembering Terri Garr

At the time “Assignment: Earth” aired, Garr was a relatively unknown actress. She’d had a few roles on the small and big screens, but she was years away from her big break as Inga in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. A few years later, Garr’s Star Trek experience proved useful when she was cast as Ronnie Neary in the extraterrestrial classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Garr’s decades-long career in film and television ended in 2011. She continued to work in spite of her battle with multiple sclerosis. She died on October, 29th 2024 at the age of 79.