Joe Tormolen

Lieutenant junior grade Joe Tormolen

Joe Tormolen was a Starfleet lieutenant junior grade in the sciences division, in Lieutenant Commander Spock's department aboard the Federation starship USS Enterprise in 2266.

He and Spock comprised a landing party to Psi 2000 in 2266, where a group of Federation researchers had become intoxicated by a polywater agent and killed themselves. Tormolen abentmindedly removed the glove of his contamination garb and placed his hand on a stain of blood in the ice of the frozen outpost. He carried the polywater back to Enterprise, and intoxicated the crew.

As the first to fall victim to the intoxication effects, Tormolen expressed his horror about the deaths to Captain Kirk. Tormolen then displayed a short temper with colleagues Hikaru Sulu and Kevin Riley, expressing a deep-seated doubt if man was meant to travel through space. Tormolen stabbed himself with a table knife in the recreation room, in front of horrified onlookers. Sulu and Riley attempted to restrain him, and became infected as well.

Tormolen died in surgery under the care of Doctor Leonard McCoy. McCoy commented that Joe's wound should have been a minor injury, but his body simply displayed no healing capacity – as if Tormolen had lost his will to live. (TOS: "The Naked Time")

Tormolen was played by Stewart Moss, who later returned as the Kelvan "Hanar" in TOS: "By Any Other Name." This character has the distinction of being the only officer to wear lieutenant junior grade rank insignia in the entire run of TOS. However, possibly due to the effects of the disease, he mistakenly says that Sulu doesn't "rank him." Sulu, a full lieutenant, did indeed rank Tormolen.