Mordock Mordock was a 24th century male Benzite Starfleet officer , the first of his species to gain a place in Starfleet Academy . He devised a notable strategy named after him , the Mordock Strategy . He sat the entrance exam on Relva VII in 2364 , and he narrowly beat out Wesley Crusher for a place . He had trouble with the dynamic relationships part of the exam , but with the help of Crusher managed to score the second best time ever for the test . He regarded this as being unfair to Crusher , but was assured that Crusher ' s help was not the deciding factor between them . ( ) Mordock was from the same geostructure as Mendon and they therefore looked alike . Wesley Crusher commented on the similarity when Mendon came aboard the in 2365 . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Mordock was played by John Putch in his first of three " Star Trek " appearances . Putch became the first guest star to play two separate characters from the same species , also playing Mendon in " A Matter of Honor . " The script for " Coming of Age " describes Mordock as " " a powerfully built alien with a special suit using circulating gas tubes . " " Of playing Mordock , Putch recalled ; " " " I was always a Star Trek fan . When I got to work on the show it was really fun . I was an alien - of - the - week . Big make - up deal . Michael Westmore made a giant head for me and it was fun . I became a trading card and an action figure . " " Of going on to play another Benzite , he commented ; " " I was all very impressed by that . I thought , ' Ah , they love me , they love me . ' What they really loved was that it was me , because they ' d spent all that money on making that blue head and it was form fitted to me … I don ' t fault them for that . I would have done the same thing , but it ' s funny how you are naive about these things when you ' re just an actor . " " Mordock was the first Benzite to appear on - screen . All the makeup department had to go on when designing him was a brief description in an early draft of the script for " Coming of Age . " They created one major appliance that covered most of actor John Putch ' s head and additional pieces that covered his upper lip , chin and eyelids , both of which were an unusual configuration of " puffy eyes " with lids that " folded back on themselves like Venetian blinds . " The mouth area and earlobes possessed a set of catfish " feelers " while the overall headpiece was painted blue with oranges and yellows worked in to make the skin color look more lifelike . ( " " , p . 110 ) In 1993 , Playmates Toys released a " Mordock the Benzite " action figure complete with type 2 phaser , tricorder with holster , scanner and monitor . The description on the packaging reads ; " " Sincere . Eager . Polite . Efficient . These social traits seem to be the bases for all geo - structures on Benzar . Mordock is well - known throughout the galaxy for his strategic planning - in particular , the Mordock Strategy , which he developed prior to joining Starfleet . He is the first Benzite to attend Starfleet Academy , and he scored in the top 1 % on the entrance exams . Mordock maintains a lasting friendship with Wesley Crusher of the U . S . S . " Enterprise . " " "