Summary
When the firstStar Trekepisodes were made in the 1960s, writers and producers couldn’t rely on special effects to distract their viewers from the weaker parts of a television show or movie. Writing, casting, and character development were more important to Gene Roddenberry, which is why the franchise endures more than 50 years after its initial launch.
TheStar Trekuniverse includes books, graphic novels, and comics, along with several video games and movies, but it’s always revolved arounda core group of serialized shows on network television. The tradition of great characters and their adventures through space, along with their own close encounters, is what fans really love about the franchise. Everyone’s opinion on who thebestStar Trekcharactersare will differ, but it’s hard to deny the significant impact of a select few.
7T’Pol
The Real First Contact
Stepping off a ship and learning how a handshake works is one thing, but how difficult would it be for a Vulcan to live and work on a ship built and run by humans for an extended period of time? It’s easy to forget that T’Pol was the first Vulcan to have any kind of extended contact with humans, and that wasalmost a century before Spock was born.
T’Pol was a controversial character in the show, regarded with open suspicion and even hostility by her human crewmates, but her Vulcan counterparts also regarded her with less than complete trust. In their view, she had grown too attached to humans, and they were probably right. Her struggles with Vulcan identity while surrounded by Terran sensualism, personified in her romantic relationship with Chief Engineer Tripp Tucker, was a revealing way of showing how members of this stoic race could live and work successfully alongside earthlings.
6Christopher Pike
The Captain From The Pilot
The pilot episode of the original series is an interesting study of how TV shows are made in real life and where modernTrekgets a lot of its pre-TOSlore and backstory. The very first episode hada different captain, Christopher Pike, and according to the historical records, he was the second captain of the Enterprise and the precursor to James Kirk.
The existence of Captain Pike used to be an obscure bit of trivia, but more recentStar Trekprojects have brought him into the spotlight. First, he appeared in theStar Trekreboot movie as a mentor to the jaded young James Kirk. Then, Pike was featured as a character onStar Trek: Discovery, which led to the spin-off showStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, where he takes his familiar place as the Captain of the USS Enterprise.
5Seven Of Nine
She Was The Borg
Star Trek: The Next Generationgot a lot more exciting when a fearsome enemy, the seemingly invulnerable Borg, appeared on the galactic horizon. Humanity’s saving grace was being located in a part of the universe that was far away from Borg space, but then Voyager ended up in the Delta Quadrant, virtually their doorstep.
It was unknown how to defeat the Borg, never mind negotiate with them, but the Captain and her crew found a way, and not only did Voyager escape, but they managed to take one of the Borg with them.Seven of Nine evolved into one of the most popular characters on the show, not only because of her fascinating backstory as the first human to be rescued and rehabilitated from the Borg but also due to her being a living symbol of hope that the Borg could be stopped and even defeated.
4Jean Luc Picard
The Captain For A New Generation
It was partly the talent of Patrick Stewart that made Jean Luc Picard such a great character, and audiences were already prepared for a dramatic change from the hotheaded Captain Kirk from theTOSera. The calm reserve of Picard and his cool memorization of every rule in the Starfleet book was a perfect fit for a Federation that had come into its own and was flexing its muscles in a wider universe.
Jean Luc proved that diplomats and bureaucrats also have a role to play in the exploration of space, taking the same risks as Kirk without the machismo. Despite a shaky beginning with other popular characters like Riker and Data,it was Picard’s legacy that endured, and he’s the character who got his own show decades later.
3Nyota Uhura
Master Of The Comms
Uhura was one of the few characters who survived the transition from the pilot to the actual series, and her popularity has ensured that she’s appeared in virtually every property in this IP. Video games, books, comics, and almost every movie and TV show include Uhura, provided the timeline allows.
Nichelle Nichols brought the character to life in the 1960s and never planned to stay past the first season because of her musical theater career. However, she ended up becoming a fan favorite as the multilingual communications officer who was also a determined and brave space explorer, not only controlling the vital communications of the ship but also taking the helm.
2Kathryn Janeway
Brought The Voyager Home
Some fans argue thatVoyageris the true successor toThe Original Seriesbecause the storyline is similar, but the stakes are much higher. Instead of a mission of exploration, the ship is lost in the wilderness, and it’s more about survival than research. It would take a fantastic leader to get a Starfleet crew out of this mess. Luckily, the USS Voyager had one.
During their travels, under Janeway’s leadership, she and her crew did what would have been impossible in the Alpha Quadrant. They discovered several new races and survived the encounters. On top of that, not only did they defeat the Borg, but they also discovered that beings could be rescued from the collective. Janeway not only successfully gets her ship and crew back to Earth, but she does so twice to take a few years off the journey, as was revealed in the show’s last episode.
1Spock
Two Worlds, One Character
The original Spock was more expressive, with Leonard Nimoy playing off the dour captain and his stern doctor sidekick, and the concept of the stoic Vulcan did not yet exist. With the start of the original series after the pilot and while filling out more of his home planet’s lore, Spock became one of the most important and compelling characters in theStar Trekfranchise. His parents, Amanda Grayson and Sarek, also appear as recurring characters in the franchise.
As the Science Officer, Spock is always one of the first characters to ask the important questions, and he’s notoriously stubborn and fearless when seeking answers. Behind all of his heroics is a constant reminder that his human and Vulcan side are at constant odds, serving a painful dichotomy that forms the basis of the bestStar Trekstories.
