Stark is a member of a slave race � the Baniks, who can block their thoughts from others. Discovered by Crichton in a cell on Scorpius� Gammak base, he had already endured two cycles of torture in the Aurora Chair, without letting anyone into his memories.

The metal plate he wears over half his face conceals a bright, penetrating glow. By removing it, Stark can share experiences and memories with other, most often doing so to relieve their pain and help them pass into death.

He is sensitive to death, able to feel when it is around, and can sometimes see the dead. Not truly corporeal, his body is just a vessel for his real existence, which is on another plane entirely. Luckily so, as it allowed him to survive "dispersal", a punishment meted out to him for destroying an alien ship in The Ugly Truth.

Stark often appears quite mad, gibbering, twittering and repeating himself in a little sing-song voice. The crew don�t exactly distrust him, but nobody would ever think him reliable. The only person on Moya he really became close to was Zhaan, the two of them entering a relationship based on a shared spirituality.

When Zhaan died, Stark became even more erratic. Eventually he left, claiming he could hear her voice and must follow it. His face-plate, passed to Crichton via Crais, contains some sort of message, but what it is we don't yet know.

Key episodes: Nerve, The Locket,The Ugly Truth, Self Inflicted Wounds pt 2, Meltdown, The Choice.

Read our actor profile of Paul Goddard.