Most Shafted Star Trek Side Characters

[thecursor]

Yes, they stand in the background. They're often the most memorable part of the scene and appear quite extensively in Star Trek's expanded universe.

But sadly, they never quite get their due. I present my personal top ten shafted Star Trek Characters. Feel free to point out the ones I miss.

10. Dr. Selar (TNG)- So you're a Vulcan, a doctor, and you're at the top of your field. You get assigned to the Enterprise D, the choicest spot in the whole fleet and what happens? You're constantly upstaged by either a doddering old biddy or a soft-hearted single mom and her whiny punk kid!

9. Klaa (Final Frontier)- There have been a lot of memorable Klingon villains, men and women who harassed and haranged Captain Kirk from one end of the Galaxy to the other. But none of them were as stupid as Captian Klaa. He didn't get to fight anybody, he didn't get to kill anybody, and when that fat general shows up, you gotta toe the line. Songs will be sung about his battles with space probes and his rather mannish girlfriend.

8. Hawk (First Contact)- You're a bad ass. You look like a bad ass, you talk like a bad ass, you're even played by a bad ass actor. You might even be gay which would make you a history making bad ass! You get your first real fight scene with the Borg and...you get assimilated. Then Worf shoots you. Even Boba Fett was treated better then this.

7. The Gorn-Nothing makes people wet themselves like giant lizards. Luckily for us, but sadly for them, they've been scene ONCE in the regular universe and only ONCE in the Mirror Universe where their imposing monster size is replaced by a Jurassic Park Reject. Ouch.

6. Leeta (DS9)- Ah, such a nice Bajoran girl! A real sweet heart even though she works for a scumbag. Still, she's dating a nice handsome doctor...what? Okay, so that didn't work out. No biggie, she'll find someone-ROM!?

5. Hugh (TNG)- You're the first Borg with a personality. You've got charm and you're funny. When it's time for you to go back to your collective, your departure is met with tears and waves. So what happens to you? I mean you are a once in a lifetime fluke of programming after all. Surely this little detail would be worthy of future refrence. You get a two parter...where you're upstaged by Data's evil twin and never get mentioned again.

4. T'Pau (TOS, ENT)- You are the most fear Vulcan in history. People love you so much they carry you on their shoulders. But instead of getting your due on ENT, where you were almost a main character, you are felled by something more powerful then logic: A Dead Writer's Royalty Payments.

3. Quark (DS9)- You're a main character on a Star Trek show, a criminal master mind (sort of) but you're stuck slinging drinks to that fat Irishman and the snobby doctor. To top it off, for some reason they keep giving your retarded brother screen time. This reaches the point of ridiculous when the idiot stumbles his way into, get this, the Ferengi Presidency. Yeah, that's right. Somebody actually made that little turd the Grand Nagus. Kinda makes that bar look a little smaller.

2. The Borg- You are the scariest Star Trek villains in the show's history. You're story line is the first real continuing plot to hit the Trekverse. Then somebody gets the bright idea to water you down and take away the specialness. Who had the bright idea to give them a queen anyway?

1. Voyager's Original Chief Medical Officer (VOY)- You could've been awesome. You could've been great. You were probably the best damn medical character in the universe. We would've been astounded by you and your amazing skills as a doctor. Then you got aced in the first episode and replaced by a bunch of floating photons.

Honorable Mention- Kelby (ENT)- All the green women in the universe aren't going to help you deal with not getting the big promotion at work.

[Elessar]

Awesome list. I agree with almost all of them. But I thought you left out "Captain Braxton" and Seven of Nine's cheeky adopted 29th Century Borg son, ...whose name I can't remember because he was SO COOL he only got one episode.

Who else... In no particular order because my brain can't prioritize at 3:08 AM:

10. Michael Eddington - Played by a guy who looked like such a WEENY that that whole Maquis arc was just terribly hard to take seriously. He had a great character, but how seriously can you take Woody Allen cast as Scarface, no matter how cool the lines?

9. John Frederick Paxton - Potential for a long-running villain... If only ECW and NASCAR didn't define UPN's target demographic, we could actually have had a fifth season and seen you come back with a vengeance. Not to mention help us create a whole Tucker clan of clones. Maybe Tucker-Vulcan augments... HMmMmMmmmmmmMm...

8. Ezri Dax - I don't understand why she's called the 2nd rate Dax or "Dax Lite" because I LOVED HER! She came in at the 11th hour man, when the other Dax chick decided to become a major FEMME and wig out on the show to such a degree that they couldn't even use archival footage of her in the DS9 finale. I heart you Ezri Dax. So cuuuuuuuuuuuuuute.

7. Ziyal - Killed off, for why, I don't know. Cool chick. I ... don't really have much else to say about her other than her existence brought another impressive layer of depth to Dukat's character.

6. Q - Character assassinated in his desperate attempts to engage Sisko in the same kinds of upper-brain games he did with Picard only showed the showrunners' desperation to go "Hey guys, hey guys, we we wrote TNG, remember? We wrote TNG!" When Rick and Brannon show up to a cocktail party, I'm betting that industry professionals get the same look on their face as when Gary Coleman walks in. Nobody wants to hear about your glory days unless they happen to be the same days WE ALL LIVE IN RIGHT NOW. I liked most of the stuff they did with Q in Voyager, but not all of it.

5. El-Aurians - Never, ever, ever, ever should have let them call that idiot on DS9 an El-Aurian. How bout just a moron? That seems like an appropriate species. C'mon. Guinan. Tolian Soran. BADASSES!!! You? Guy who looks like a metrosexual date-rapist. Did this actor mix up the Lifetime set with the DS9 set?

4. Chakotay - We think he was a Starfleet officer once, but we'll never know. Because he won't let us get a word in edgewise, always babbling about spirit animals, dream states, and women warriors.

3. Xindi - Hi. You tried to wipe out humanity, remember? What? You got a better gig than ever showing up again after Season 3? Oh. Well shit. I guess we'll just never, ever, ever hear from you again in the entire rest of the Star Trek universe. It's a good thing that won't be weird.

2. Shran - Two words. Jewel Thief.

1. Andddddd number one abandoned, shafted, AWESOME character... Betcha can't guess. Betcha'll never guess.

Lon Suder.

Who? You might ask.

This badass Betazoid Maquis from Voyager who should've gotten HIS OWN SHOW.

How often does Star Trek portray a freakin serial killer whose motives don't fit some kind of cookie cutter Jungian archetype that a 4-yr old could identify? How often is he asked, only after beginning to control his murderous impulses, to HARNESS and EXERCISE those impulses to save the ship at the cost of himself, and our moral cleanliness? Guy had such a hoss violence in him, even Tuvok couldn't hang around him without becoming violent. Yet, it was like a Buddha violence. He'd recite a poem to you in that smooooth, freaky voice and then sever your arms from your body with a hacksaw made of saved up fingernails.

My favorite side character of all time. Killed by the freakin Kazon. I would have rathered him be killed by Jason Alexander's poorly-concealed homoerotic "Think Tank" character. Actually, I think I would have rathered seen Lon Suder bash his skull in with a tire iron. See? Should have held onto him. Every problem Voyager would have had in the future could have been solved by Lon. Lon Suder was Voyager's cross-dimensional love-child between Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer. He could have taken out the Borg, Species 8472, the Devor Imperium and the Kazon, all with a blunt instrument. Maybe even with that Malon freighter Captain's big, watermelon-sized head.

Runner Up:

Sakonna. The pre-T'Polian hottie Vulcan who also just so happened to be... a MAQUIS GUNRUNNER?! Recast Jolene and I - am - in - LOVE.

[JadziaKathryn]

3. Xindi - Hi. You tried to wipe out humanity, remember? What? You got a better gig than ever showing up again after Season 3? Oh. Well shit. I guess we'll just never, ever, ever hear from you again in the entire rest of the Star Trek universe. It's a good thing that won't be weird.

That last line is perfect.

Also, I think you're right about Lon Suder being a good character because of his complexity, but at least he a) did die saving the ship and b) wasn't overused to the point that he became a joke. There are worse fates.

Total agreement about Kelby.

Here are my suggestions:

Joe Carey: This poor guy gets his nose broken, has the position of Chief Engineer taken from under him given to the person who broke his nose, and then after season 1 we don't see him until he dies, tragically before finishing his Voyager in a bottle.

Lwaxana Troi: Because she could have been an interesting character in the beginning, but was turned into a joke. In the end she was stupid enough to marry someone whose culture demands complete separation of sexes when raising their kids and apparently didn't think this through before the marriage or before getting pregnant. Isn't this woman supposed to be an ambassador? Shouldn't ambassadors have brains?

Travis Mayweather Okay, technically not a side character, but there are recurring guest stars with more character development. Anthony Montgomery did a great job when they gave him something to work with, too. Travis was a Boomer. He should have a) been a Lt. jg and b) been given more screen time.

[Asso]

I have difficulty to imagine something substantial for Travis Mayweather. He appears roughhewed, like looking for his own future and character. He should be invented again.

But do you know what I have to say? From that list, it emerges T'Pau, above all, in my mind. Because she... well... she is unappealing, smattered and also... a little bit nasty.

[Alelou]

Smattered? (?) So you'd like to see more of her? Or you don't think she should be on the list?

Travis was either miscast or horribly mis-directed. If he was really a boomer he should have been less the bubbly naive type Montgomery played. He needed to be tougher, more cynical, even a little angry. Then he could have developed into an inherently more interesting character. Sometimes I wonder if they were simply afraid to give a black guy enough edge (too scary from a PC point of view). So he ended up terminally bland and no fun to write.

[Lady Rainbow]

Travis was either miscast or horribly mis-directed. If he was really a boomer he should have been less the bubbly naive type Montgomery played. He needed to be tougher, more cynical, even a little angry. Then he could have developed into an inherently more interesting character. Sometimes I wonder if they were simply afraid to give a black guy enough edge (too scary from a PC point of view). So he ended up terminally bland and no fun to write.

Completely agree with you there, Alelou. I think they screwed up Travis's character, considering the background he was supposed to have. And Travis in the MU struck me more as the "silent but deadly type", someone cool and calculating. So he's got the potential SOMEWHERE.

I thought Feezal Phlox would've been interesting, if "Stigma" didn't beat us over the head with the "Denobulans have multiple spouses" thing and she wasn't "in heat" and after Trip for most ofthe episode. It would've been a great insight into Phlox and his culture. Obviously, she's a smart scientist...she's the one who brought the electron microscope.

[Alelou]

I enjoyed that comic relief in that episode, but I see your point about Feezal.

One of the more interesting fics I can ever remember reading has Feezal and Phlox basically ganging up sexually on Trip, and T'Pol as first officer going to bat for him. I'm not sure I totally bought the way it played out, but it was definitely one of the more unforgettable fics. Except that of course I HAVE forgotten the title and the author.

[Reanok]

When it comes to Stigma there's a Reed /Hoshi shiper story i like about Feezel called Hurricane Feezle and Trip's not the only character who gets too much of her attention malcolm and Travis do too. And Hoshi lets Feezel know that Malcolm belongs to her.

[Lady Rainbow]

When it comes to Stigma there's a Reed /Hoshi shiper story i like about Feezel called Hurricane Feezle and Trip's not the only character who gets too much of her attention malcolm and Travis do too. And Hoshi lets Feezel know that Malcolm belongs to her.

Yeah, I've read that! And it's hilarious!

[thecursor]

5. El-Aurians - Never, ever, ever, ever should have let them call that idiot on DS9 an El-Aurian. How bout just a moron? That seems like an appropriate species. C'mon. Guinan. Tolian Soran. BADASSES!!! You? Guy who looks like a metrosexual date-rapist. Did this actor mix up the Lifetime set with the DS9 set?

Let's see, Immortal, can easily go toe to toe with Q, one of them killed Kirk. Yeah, bad ass. I don't know what that DS9 guy's problem was. He was supposed to be Guinan's son but that would be falling very far from a bad ass tree. You come from a race of immortal knowledge seekers and you don't think maybe it might not be a good idea to use a mysterious glowing ball as a gambling device? YOUR RACE KNOWS THE SECRETS OF UNIVERSE FOR CHRISSAKE!

Sakonna. The pre-T'Polian hottie Vulcan who also just so happened to be... a MAQUIS GUNRUNNER?! Recast Jolene and I - am - in - LOVE.

I forgot her! She and Dr. Selar join the long line of Hot, yet shafted characters lacking their proper due.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

What about poor Harry Kim, stuck as a lowly Ensign for seven years? Don't they have automatic promotion to LT JG after a couple of years? At least Janeway could've given him a field promotion.

The return of Kes! 'Nuff said!

Hoshi Sato and her linguistic skills were underused. And her characterization inconsistent. This shy and scared girl played games, kicked ass and was kicked out of Starfleet Training? Huh?

V'Las was too stereotypically a bad guy. I would've liked to see his probably more complex motivations for being an agent for the Romulans.

I haven't finished DS9, but so far I don't like that Dukat has apparently gone mad.

And of course I would've liked to see more of Kevin Riley on TOS!

The Klingons were smart and cunning in TOS, but once they got bumpy foreheads they de-evolved.

The Romulans got taken over by a crazy Picard clone and his Reman followers. Please!

[thecursor]

Here's one:

The Hunters (DS9)- You hunt people, in fact your whole race does nothing but hunt living breathing people. That already sounds pretty bitchin' but when you include the fact that you were originally supposed to be the 3rd Dominion race. Imagine that, thousands of crazy hunters hunting down Federation Ambassadors and ruthlessly executing in a campaign of terror.

Except you weren't. You were just a one off bunch of punks from a one shot episode, all because the powers that be didn't think a tv show with the most loyal following in history would recognize a character from the first season.

[CoffeeCat]

10. Dr. Selar (TNG)- So you're a Vulcan, a doctor, and you're at the top of your field. You get assigned to the Enterprise D, the choicest spot in the whole fleet and what happens? You're constantly upstaged by either a doddering old biddy or a soft-hearted single mom and her whiny punk kid!

THANK YOU.

And Lon Suder - damn right he should have gotten his own show.

And I just want to add one character to this list:

Lt. Tallas - She was a kick ass Andorian bitch who could probably blow the shit out of Lt. Reed if she wanted to - so what do they do? Make her Shran's girlfriend and then fridge her like a goddamn Kirk-whore.

[thecursor]

10. Dr. Selar (TNG)- So you're a Vulcan, a doctor, and you're at the top of your field. You get assigned to the Enterprise D, the choicest spot in the whole fleet and what happens? You're constantly upstaged by either a doddering old biddy or a soft-hearted single mom and her whiny punk kid!

THANK YOU.

When people ask for an example of "Vulcaness", they point to that one famous screen cap of Selar looking emotionlessly down her nose at someone. I mean look at all the paintings of her on the cover art for New Frontier, it's always a repaint of that same photo. That was a character that needed more depth.

[Lady Rainbow]

10. Dr. Selar (TNG)- So you're a Vulcan, a doctor, and you're at the top of your field. You get assigned to the Enterprise D, the choicest spot in the whole fleet and what happens? You're constantly upstaged by either a doddering old biddy or a soft-hearted single mom and her whiny punk kid!

THANK YOU.

And Lon Suder - damn right he should have gotten his own show.

And I just want to add one character to this list:

Lt. Tallas - She was a kick ass Andorian bitch who could probably blow the shit out of Lt. Reed if she wanted to - so what do they do? Make her Shran's girlfriend and then fridge her like a goddamn Kirk-whore.

Amen to all the above. I thought Lon Suder would've been a pretty cool character and Selar deserved more than just be in the background. I could have seen her as a character like O'Brien on ENT/DS9...someone who might've had a larger role.

And Talas...ditto. Loved her line about how her mother had a higher security clearance than SHE did. She and Shran should've been a couple.

I liked Mike Rostov's character...wish they showed him more. Liked him better than Kelby, actually.