FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE

Admiral Owen Paris [#24 Persistence Of Vision]   Admiral Owen Paris [Pathfinder]   PROJECT PATHFINDER: Admiral Paris

Thomas Eugene Paris had an unhappy childhood which he attributes to his father, Owen Paris who is an Admiral in Starfleet. Admiral Paris firmly believed in Starfleet's Prime Directive (the non-interference in the development of other species), and lectured his family on the subject once a year [#4 Time and Again]. As a child Paris wore hats to cover the haircuts that his father made him have the first day of every summer. As a child Paris wanted to join the Federation Naval Patrol but his father wanted him to fly a vessel with Starfleet insignia. His father used to read him Jules Verne novels when Paris was a child. He read '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' many times. Ancient sailing ships were his first love. [#103 Thirty Days] Admiral Paris was an instructor at Starfleet Academy and tried to avoid favouritism to the extent that he marked his son a B-minus grade in a course on survival [#23 Parturition]. Admiral Paris was deeply disappointed when Paris was forced to leave Starfleet (see below). At times Paris has tried to build bridges to mend the strained relationship with his father: correspondence could not be sent in [#83 Hunters], but Paris dictated a letter during a term of solitary confinement [#103 Thirty Days] to be despatched to Admiral Paris once Voyager was within range of Earth. Tom Paris heard his father give a message to Voyager when Earth made contact with Voyager via the MIDAS Array, thanks to the efforts of Lt. Reginald Barclay [#130 Pathfinder]. After that relations between Tom and his father became less strained. The first conversation between Project Pathfinder on Earth and USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant [#130 Pathfinder]: part 1 part 2 [Tom Paris' middle name Eugene was named for Gene Roddenberry.]

One of Paris' childhood heroes was Lt. John Kelly, a pilot on the Mars project 2032 [#128 One Small Step]. Paris says he spent much of his childhood crying in his room [#31 Threshold]. When aged 8 he had his first flight when his father took him up in an old S-class shuttle, two seats, no warp drive, manual helm control: "I was scared out of my wits." He could not keep the ship level, "not at first, and then came this moment of clarity when suddenly everything made sense. ... I was flying! No matter how many starships I've piloted since then I'm still chasing that feeling." [#125 Alice] Paris told Neelix in [#23 Parturition] that when he was a kid a baby bird fell from its nest onto his windowsill, and they fed it with an eyedropper to save its life. When Paris was 16, he "borrowed" his father's shuttlecraft for a joyride but a mishap sent it to the bottom of Lake Tahoe [#88 Vis à Vis]. He lost his virginity, in his room, at the age of 17 while his parents were away [#31 Threshold].

The young Tom Paris [#103 Thirty Days]

Paris likes dogs and says he always had a dog [#6 The Cloud].

Paris told the bridge crew that he once tried to "learn while you sleep" and the experience gave him a headache [#129 The Voyager Conspiracy].

MISCELLANEOUS:
Tom Paris likes his tomato soup plain (and hot) [#1 and #2 Caretaker]. Tom Paris orders from a replicator in the messhall. He also likes grilled mushrooms: a side dish consisting of umbrella-shaped edible fungi seared on a hot metal grill, usually served in melted butter [The Chute]. Yum, yum!

 

 

EARLY CAREER / JOINING VOYAGER

Chez Sandrine holoprogram [#6 The Cloud]

Paris enrolled in Starfleet Academy and majored in astrophysics [#50 Future's End, Part One]. He went out with Susie Crabtree but she dumped him during his first year at the Academy. It affected him deeply - he walked around in a daze for the rest of the year and almost failed stellar cartography [#35 Lifesigns]. As an Academy cadet he chose the Starfleet base outside Marseilles, France, for physical training in his second semester. He spent most of that time at Chez Sandrine, a local bistro which later (approximately stardate 48546) he recreated on Voyager's holodeck as program "Paris 3" [#6 The Cloud] [#116 Someone to Watch Over Me]. Paris also did some basic medical training, which later made him suitable, in Janeway's eyes [#3 Parallax], to assist the Doctor from stardate 48439 onwards.

Paris took a course in advanced subspace geometry and later claims it was the only course at Starfleet Academy in which he paid attention. This proves useful in [#88 Vis à Vis] when he applies his knowledge to saving the pilot of a ship using coaxial warp drive.

Early on, after graduating from Starfleet Academy, Paris served aboard the starship USS Exeter [#22 Non Sequitur]. He was involved in a fatal accident in which three fellow-officers were killed. Initially Paris denied responsibility for the accident and falsified report to cover up his part, but later admitted what he had done and was forced to leave Starfleet [#1&2 Caretaker]. He learned from this and told Neelix that his Paris' greatest mistake was not to have told the truth [#55 Fair Trade].

Next Paris became a member of the Maquis but his motives were mercenary, a fact which made fellow-Maquis officer Chakotay dislike him. Paris was captured by the Federation while on his first Maquis mission and sentenced to labour in the Federation penal colony in New Zealand on Earth. In 2371, on stardate 48315, as depicted in [#1 Caretaker], Janeway visited him there and proposed that he join her crew, officially as an observer, but in reality to use his known extraordinary piloting skills and Maquis knowledge to find Chakotay's ship which had gone missing in the Badlands. He agreed, in return for his parole.

Paris is recruited by Janeway [#1 and #2 Caretaker]

Paris' first sight of Voyager is also the first sight for the tv viewer. Lt Stadi describes Voyager to Tom Paris

Paris rescues Kim from Quark's hard-sell scam [#1 and #2 Caretaker]

At Deep Space 9, before boarding Voyager, Paris rescued a fellow-member of Voyager's crew, Ensign Harry Kim, from being scammed by Quark, the Ferengi owner of Quark's bar [#1 Caretaker]. Despite being told by other crewmembers about Paris' involvement in the deaths of three Starfleet officers, Kim ignored their hints and chose to be friends with Paris. Kim told him: "I don't need anyone to choose my friends for me."

Voyager tries to flee the displacement wave (opens in a new window) (196Kb. Approx. download for 56K modem 38 seconds)

Voyager is caught by the displacement wave which takes ship and crew 70,000 light-years, into the Delta Quadrant (opens in a new window) (169Kb. Approx. download for 56K modem 32 seconds)

Along with the rest of Voyager's crew, Paris was swept into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker's Array and, like them, was kept for experiments on the Array for three days. But Kim and B'Elanna Torres, a Maquis officer from Chakotay's ship, were kept behind on the Caretaker's Array.

Chakotay to Paris: "...you betrayed us for what - freedom from prison, latinum? What was your price this time?!" [#1 and #2 Caretaker]

Chakotay, Tuvok and one other* beamed aboard Voyager to discuss their respective missing crewmembers. Tuvok revealed his undercover role to Chakotay, but Chakotay had harshest words for Paris: "At least the Vulcan was doing his duty as a Starfleet officer, but you, you betrayed us for what - freedom from prison, latinum? What was your price this time?!" * The "other" is not named here, but we later learn his name is Ayala, and he holds the rank of Lieutenant after the Maquis crew joins Voyager's.

When Janeway decided on an away team to return to the Caretaker's Array to find Kim and Torres, Paris asked to accompany them, saying: "I'd hate to see anything happen to Harry." In the picture note that Paris wears no rank pip.

Paris asks to join the away mission to the Array. [#1 and #2 Caretaker]

During the mission Paris saves Chakotay's life after a broken leg immobilises him: Paris carries him to safety. Paris tells him he beforehand that he intends to save his life because then Chakotay's life will belong to him.

Afterwards Janeway tells Paris she has invited the Maquis members to join her crew.
Paris: "Will you provide a bodyguard for me, captain?"
Janeway: "It seems you already have one...Mr Chakotay said something about his life belonging to you. He'll be taking responsibility for your safety."
Paris: "I think I'm going to enjoy this."

Janeway: "Don't be so sure. He'll also be my First Officer. Everyone aboard this ship will report to him, including the Lieutenant assigned to the conn. ..... I'm granting a field commission of Lieutenant to Thomas Eugene Paris. Congratulations."

Paris: "For the first time in my life, I don't know what to say."

 

 

WORK DUTIES

Paris taps the would-be replacement Doctor [Message in a Bottle]

On stardate 48439 [#3 Parallax], Janeway assigned Paris to be the Doctor's field assistant, although later Kes took on the role of trainee nurse. After Kes' departure, Paris was ordered on stardate 51186 to become the Doctor's permanent assistant [#73 Revulsion]. He made no secret of his dislike of, or of his fondness for disliking, the Doctor's bedside manner. When the Doctor went to the Alpha Quadrant as depicted in [#82 Message in a Bottle] Paris got Harry Kim to create a holographic replacement in case the Doctor did not return, so that he Paris could escape from sickbay duties. At the same time Paris suggested improving the Doctor's bedside manner and hairline. Unfortunately the experiment was not a success. Paris often calls the Doctor "Doc".

 

 

PRIVATE QUARTERS