Russell was a Starfleet engineer who served for five years aboard the USS Enterprise-D as an ensign. In 2371, he was transferred into the command division, held the rank of a lieutenant, aboard the USS Voyager.
Service history
2366
Russell in an alternate timeline
Ensign Russell in 2366
In an alternate timeline created when the USS Enterprise-C traveled forward in time, Russell served on the Enterprise-D. He passed Tasha Yar and Richard Castillo in a corridor and joined fellow crewmembers in Ten Forward. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
In late 2366, he was working at an aft station of the bridge when Captain Jean-Luc Picard was abducted by aliens and replaced by a doppelgänger. (TNG: "Allegiance")
He assisted Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge with repairs to the shields and later the sensor array after both systems were damaged during an encounter with Tin Man. (TNG: "Tin Man")
Russell was doing duty on the bridge when the ship was rendezvousing with a Zalkonian vessel and experienced the suffocating weapon of the Zalkonians. (TNG: "Transfigurations")
He was working in engineering when the Enterprise-D encountered a Borg cube in late 2366 and Captain Picard was assimilated by the Borg. He was part of the engineering crew who were evacuated from main engineering. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds")
2367
In 2367, Russell was part of the engineering team with Commander Shelby which improved the Enterprise-D following the abduction of Captain Picard. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")
Russell was doing maintenance repair work in main engineering, dressed in a technician jumpsuit, when Worf gave his parents Helena and Sergey Rozhenko a tour through main engineering. (TNG: "Family")
He was working on the system table in engineering when Commander Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge and Ishara Yar discussed plans to infiltrate the Alliance territory on Turkana IV. (TNG: "Legacy")
Russell was working in engineering when the ship was rapidly approaching a cosmic string as it was dragged along by two-dimensional lifeforms. (TNG: "The Loss")
He was on duty during the encounter of the Paxans and served in engineering when Data and Nelson performed a scan. (TNG: "Clues")
He was also working in engineering when a spaceborne species dubbed "Junior" attached itself to the hull of the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Galaxy's Child")
He was one of the engineers on duty in main engineering when the ship met the Cytherian probe near the Argus Array and was part of the team which couldn't start to work because Reginald Barclay was missing. (TNG: "The Nth Degree")
He was on duty on the bridge when the Enterprise-D was in orbit of Tagus III and hosted a banquet for the members of the Federation Archaeology Council. (TNG: "Qpid")
Russell was working in main engineering when Admiral Norah Satie visited the machine room and inspected the dilithium chamber hatch. (TNG: "The Drumhead")
Russell was on duty when Lwaxana Troi and her valet Mr. Homn entered engineering with Mantickian patés for a small picnic. (TNG: "Half a Life")
Later, he was working in engineering after Geordi La Forge returned from his trip to Risa; La Forge was very pleased with the work the engineers had done in his absence. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")
He was one of the crewmembers who honored Worf by standing in a row in the corridor to the transporter room when Worf left the ship and Starfleet to fight in the Klingon Civil War. (TNG: "Redemption")
2368
He was one of the crewmembers assigned to scan the debris of the Vulcan transport T'Pau. (TNG: "Unification I")
Russell was working on the bridge when the Enterprise-D was in orbit of Qualor II and received a subspace message from Captain Picard aboard K'Vada's Bird-of-Prey. (TNG: "Unification II")
He was one of the engineers on duty when the Enterprise-D assisted the scientists on Penthara IV in saving their colony while being observed by Berlinghoff Rasmussen (TNG: "A Matter of Time") and when the Enterprise-D assisted Doctor Ja'Dar in testing the soliton wave. (TNG: "New Ground")
Sometime between 2366 and 2368 he was one of the engineering crewmembers who were evacuated from the main engineering due to a warp core breach. Commander Riker experienced this event during a telepathic memory invasion by the Ullian Jev and remembered the death of Ensign Keller. (TNG: "Violations")
Russell was scanning several containers in a cargo bay when one of the containers fell onto Lieutenant Worf and crushed his spinal cord. (TNG: "Ethics")
He was working in the shuttlebay when Geordi La Forge finished the repairs on the shuttle Magellan and Commander Riker and the J'naii Soren left the ship for a rescue mission. (TNG: "The Outcast")
Russell was on duty in engineering when Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher got their report from Data and La Forge about the possibilities of the accident caused by the Nova Squadron in 2368. (TNG: "The First Duty")
He was working in engineering when the Enterprise-D went into the FGC 47 nebula and a lifeform came aboard the ship. (TNG: "Imaginary Friend")
He served in main engineering when the Enterprise-D supported a Romulan science vessel. (TNG: "The Next Phase")
2369
Russell was in Ten Forward and passed Guinan, who talked to Commander Riker, when the Enterprise-D was in orbit of Devidia II. (TNG: "Time's Arrow, Part II")
He was also in main engineering when the Enterprise-D discovered the dyson sphere and the crashed USS Jenolen on it. He was very busy when Captain Montgomery Scott visited the main engineering, later. (TNG: "Relics")
He was on duty in engineering and working with Lieutenant Shipley when Solanogen-based lifeforms were conducting medical experiments on the crew of the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Schisms")
He was also on duty when Geordi La Forge guided Amanda Rogers through the ship. (TNG: "True Q")
Together with an ensign, he scanned the debris of the shuttle Fermi in a shuttle bay. Later he was on duty in engineering and among the crewmembers who were beamed to the surface of Ligos VII by the renegade Ferengi. (TNG: "Rascals")
Russell performed duties in engineering when a malfunction of the connection between Data and the Enterprise-D caused problems aboard the ship. (TNG: "A Fistful of Datas")
Geordi La Forge asked Russell if he could hear the music, which was played by Jean-Luc Picard and Nella Daren in 2369. They performed in a Jefferies tube and their music sounds through the ship. (TNG: "Lessons")
Russell was also working in engineering when Counselor Troi searched for her next present puzzle there. (TNG: "Second Chances")
The same year he was on duty in engineering when Lieutenant Commander Data was checked because of his "emotional" behavior on Ohniaka III. (TNG: "Descent")
2370
Together with Ensign Armstrong, he was part of an away team on a Borg-controlled planet and was ordered by Commander William T. Riker to beam back to the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Descent, Part II")
He inspected the Iyaaran shuttle when Captain Picard and Iyaaran Ambassador Voval returned with the shuttlecraft in early 2370. (TNG: "Liaisons")
He was working in engineering close to the warp core around the time when Data was experiencing his first dreams early in 2370. (TNG: "Phantasms")
Later that year, he was again working in engineering when the Enterprise was exploring the Hekaras Corridor. (TNG: "Force of Nature")
In at least one parallel universe Worf passed, Russell was working in main engineering. (TNG: "Parallels")
Ensign Russell was also on duty in engineering while Commander Riker had to face his past, the USS Pegasus and Admiral Erik Pressman. (TNG: "The Pegasus")
Russell was one of the officers of the Enterprise that the Boraalan Vorin encountered when he accidentally left the holodeck. (TNG: "Homeward")
He was on duty in main engineering when La Forge left, after the discussion with Ensign Taurik, and shortly before Sam Lavelle was promoted to lieutenant junior grade. (TNG: "Lower Decks")
Russell was again working in main engineering when Data was taken over by various D'Arsay personalities. (TNG: "Masks")
He was on duty in main engineering shortly after Daniel Kwan committed suicide. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")
He was also on duty at his regular post in main engineering when the crew was beginning to feel the influence of Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome. (TNG: "Genesis")
He beamed down to Maranga IV, together with many other members of the crew of the Enterprise to attend the Kot'baval Festival. (TNG: "Firstborn")
Russell was on duty in main engineering when the ship was developing an emergent property in late 2370. (TNG: "Emergence")
He was a guest at Lieutenant Ro Laren's welcome back party in Ten Forward later that year. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike")
2371
Lieutenant Russell in 2372
Russell was transferred into the command division and promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He signed on for duty on board the USS Voyager, which was lost in the Delta Quadrant.
2372
In 2372, Russell was among the Starfleet officers who participated in the bets of Tom Paris's Radiogenic Sweepstakes on the holodeck at Chez Sandrine. (VOY: "Meld")
2373
Russell was among the crewmembers in the mess hall who celebrated the successful mission and the return of the Voyager back into the 24th century. (VOY: "Future's End, Part II")
He was also in the mess hall during the absence of Neelix and had problems with the replicator. (VOY: "Macrocosm")
Appendices
Appearances
- TNG:
- "Yesterday's Enterprise"
- "Allegiance"
- "Tin Man"
- "Transfigurations"
- "The Best of Both Worlds"
- "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"
- "Family"
- "Legacy"
- "The Loss"
- "Clues"
- "Galaxy's Child"
- "The Nth Degree"
- "Qpid"
- "The Drumhead"
- "Half a Life"
- "The Mind's Eye"
- "Redemption"
- "Unification I"
- "Unification II"
- "A Matter of Time"
- "New Ground"
- "Violations"
- "Ethics"
- "The Outcast"
- "The First Duty"
- "Imaginary Friend"
- "The Next Phase"
- "Time's Arrow, Part II"
- "Relics"
- "Schisms"
- "True Q"
- "Rascals"
- "A Fistful of Datas"
- "Lessons"
- "Second Chances"
- "Descent"
- "Descent, Part II"
- "Liaisons"
- "Phantasms"
- "Force of Nature"
- "Parallels"
- "The Pegasus"
- "Homeward"
- "Lower Decks"
- "Masks"
- "Eye of the Beholder"
- "Genesis"
- "Firstborn"
- "Bloodlines"
- "Emergence"
- "Preemptive Strike"
- VOY:
Background information
Russell was a nonspeaking role played by regular background actor and stand-in Carl David Burks who received no on-screen credit for his appearances. With the end of The Next Generation, Burks signed on with Star Trek: Voyager, where he reprised his role.
He appeared in many episodes, usually in engineering, and was referred to by name in the episode "Tin Man". The character was named for the son of Dennis Russell Bailey, one of the "Tin Man" writers.