Blalock Pleased With 'Stigma's' Realism

See Also: 'Stigma' Episode Guide

Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) is happy the Enterprise producers have gone for a realistic approach with the upcoming AIDS allegory 'Stigma'.

"They wanted to keep it along the lines of the actual disease," Blalock told the Sci-Fi Wire. "A lot of people walking around right now have AIDS or the HIV virus, and you wouldn't know it. So the decision was made not to have me look sickly. That helps eliminate the sympathy factor, and I'm really happy about that. It's not about feeling sorry for T'Pol."

'Stigma' is Enterprise's contribution to Viacom's AIDS awareness campaign, the first Trek episode to deal with the disease since David Gerrold's Next Generation script, 'Blood and Fire,' was shelved over fifteen years ago. The episode will reveal T'Pol has been infected with Pa'nar Syndrome, an incurable degenerative disease whose sufferers are ostracised in Vulcan society.

Blalock said the episode will depict how T'Pol became infected. "It's one thing to have a story where you see a character who's sick and dealing with it, and it's another to see how a character contracts the disease. And we do show how. She contracts the disease through a mind-meld, and there's a lot of shame concerning the act."

'Stigma' will air February 5 on UPN. The original interview can be found here at the Sci-Fi Wire.

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