Legendary genre actor Tony Todd died in 2024leaving behind a legacy that includes the horror films Candyman and Final Destination. His deep voice has also landed him many voice-over villain roles in geek franchises: Zoom in Season 2 of "The Flash" (Dubbing the man in the suit a la James Earl Jones, a perfect fit for Darth Vader-inspired speedster), Decepticon Dreadwing in Transformers: Prime, Venom in Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 video game, and many others.

Trekkies may also recognize Todd; he had a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation and then Deep Space Nine as Kurn, the Klingon brother of Worf (Michael Dorn). Kurn's last appearance was in "DS9" Season 4, "Sons of Mogh," but Todd appeared in an even better episode earlier that season. That would be "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Season 4, Episode 2, "The Visitor," written by prolific "Trek" writer Michael Taylor.

The Visitor is set many decades (even farther) in the future and stars Todd as an aging Jake Sisko (usually played as a young man by Ciroc Lofton), the son of series lead Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks). It is also one of the the best episodes of Deep Space Nine.and Todd himself said the episode "changed his life". 2010 interview with StarTrek.com. "Not only in terms of convention appearances, but at the time that episode was made, the Internet just exploded, and I remember sitting for hours just basking in the glow of the love that was being written for that one episode," Todd recalls.

"The Visitor" features the typical 40 minutes of a "Deep Space Nine" episode, but spans decades of Jake Sisko's life. As the episode begins, he is visited by a young woman named Melanie (Rachel Robinson). See, in previous episodes, Jake decided he wanted to be a writer and even started working on a novel: "Anslem." Turns out he finished the book and it was a success - but then he stopped writing. Melanie, an aspiring writer herself, wants to know why. Cue the framing device, where Jake tells her the story of how "(his) father died."

Back in the distant past of 2373, Ben Sisko was seemingly vaporized before his son's eyes during an accident in the Defiant's warp core. Only Sisko the elder did that no died; he was thrown into another dimension ("subspace"). Every so often (sometimes years apart) and without warning, Ben returns to Jake for a few moments, only to disappear again. You see, the title "Visitor" is a double paragraph; Jake has two visitors, Melanie and his father.

Knowing his father is still there makes it so worse for Jake because he can't go on. He sacrifices his career, his marriage, and his life to save his father—first actually, then literally. Against Ben's pleas, Jake poisons himself to "cut the chord," sending his father back to the moment he first disappeared: "For you and the boy I was," Jake explains. “He needs you more than you know.

"The Visitor" really shows the magic of long-form television storytelling. It's a powerful episode on its own, but it gets an extra kick from us knowing how close Ben and Jake are. Their relationship is a key part of both characters in the first three seasons and remains so in the four that follow. Continuing with "Deep Space Nine" after "The Visitor", we see firsthand how Jake's sacrifice to give his father and younger self a "second chance" was worth it.

Todd's performance as the grown-up Jake is the heart of the episode, of course, and there's a reason why he played it so beautifully beyond his talent. In the aforementioned interview, Todd explained the episode's themes of loss, grief, and moving on, hitting a personal level. When he first got the script for The Visitor, his aunt (the woman who raised him) had recently died at the age of 82. In his words:

“I just finished Candyman 2 and it destroyed me because she was the person I talked to every day. Fortunately, she was able to see some of the beginnings of my success. But I was in a state of shock and I couldn't work for four months. They sent me the script for The Visitor. It wasn't a full offer, but they sent it to me for consideration and wanted me to come in and see them, so it was the role that got me out of bed, out of the house, and into the producers' office. "

Todd got the part, and to play Jake's grief over the loss of his father, all he had to do was channel his own feelings. He described acting in The Visitor as "kind of my tribute to a parental figure in my life that I loved and cherished."

If you're in need of a good cry this upcoming Father's Day, visit The Visitor.