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'Star Trek': The 10 Best Villains, Ranked

"KHAAANNNN! KHAAANNNN!"

With well over twenty television series and movies focusing on the exploits and adventures of numerous Starfleet commanders, the Star Trek saga has become one of the most iconic sci-fi stories in entertainment history. With its incredible line-up of heroic leads, though, there also needs to be an array of antagonists capable of striking fear into the hearts of fans.

From the original Star Trek series to revival shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation to 2009’s cinematic re-imaging of the franchise, the saga at large has a cohort of worthy villains. Ranging from misunderstood antagonists to outright evil and tyrannical beings, Star Trek ’s 10 best bad guys are just a small collection of the regular threats to the galaxy Starfleet faces.

10 Captain Gabriel Lorca – 'Star Trek: Discovery' (2017-)

From Harry Potter to Star Wars: Rebels , Jason Isaacs has made a career out of playing villains with outstanding and underrated impact. As such, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise when Gabriel Lorca was revealed to be a bad guy in Star Trek: Discovery .

As the commanding officer of the USS Discovery, Lorca presented as a hard-edged captain, but not one without a sense of fairness and accountability. However, it was then revealed that he was an imposter from the mirror universe who had murdered and schemed to get to his position. To date, Discovery is yet to produce a villain as compelling as Lorca.

9 Nero — 'Star Trek' (2009)

A credit to the brilliance of 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , many of the series’ villains have boasted epic tales of revenge against crew members of Starfleet. While most of those homages have fallen well short, one that did get close was Eric Bana ’s portrayal of Nero, a spiteful Romulan who blames Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) for not preventing the supernova which killed his family.

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Traveling back in time to exact his vengeance, Nero creates an alternate timeline the new Star Trek movies take part in. While the character is a little one-dimensional, Bana makes his seething hatred burst off the screen with a magnetic vigor, and the fact that he realizes part of his plan by destroying Vulcan made him all the more impactful.

8 Kai Winn Adami — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

Religious zealots often make for fantastic villains. In addition to having immense power and influence in their story worlds, they also usually excel as complex characters who are difficult for protagonists to outmaneuver. That was exactly what fans got in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with Winn Adami ( Louise Fletcher ).

As a ruthless opportunist, Adami often used her prominent standing in her faith as a means to gain more power and often came at odds with Captain Benjamin Sisko ( Avery Brooks ), despite being named the Emissary of the Prophets. Delivering every snide line with her spiteful, condescending smirk, Adami may not have been the most terrifying villain in Star Trek , but she was certainly capable of stoking the ire of fans like few others.

7 General Chang — 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' (1991)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country served as the film farewell to the cast of the original series. It also saw the belligerent race of the Klingons restored to the brand of villainy that made them so popular in the original series, with General Chang ( Christopher Plummer ) an over-the-top antagonist for the ages.

With peace talks between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets nearing a conclusion, Chang uses his unique Birds of Prey warship to frame Captain Kirk for a political assassination, thus shattering relations between the Klingons and humanity. Resentful of the prospect of a peaceful future, the wily old Klingon was also made memorable for his love of Shakespearean quotes.

6 Weyoun — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

A gifted villainous actor, Jeffrey Combs has appeared as a wide range of characters throughout Star Trek , but the greatest one he portrayed was Deep Space Nine ’s Weyoun. A Vorta who serves as the mouth of the Dominion, the conniving diplomat always presented a wide smile but was never one to be trusted.

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As a clone (which all Vorta are), he was also quite difficult to get rid of. Despite being killed several times throughout the series, he kept coming back for more and usually delighted fans every time he returned with his wonderfully slimy personality still firmly intact.

5 Q – 'Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

As a being of unlimited power, it is quite funny that Q ( John de Lancie ) became almost a comedic figure in the series, but that is not how he was introduced. First appearing in the pilot episode of The Next Generation , the omnipotent villain charged Picard for the crimes of humanity before becoming a recurring character, not only in The Next Generation but in the wider Star Trek series.

Arguably his most villainous action came when he challenged Picard’s mettle as a leader by transporting the Enterprise to a distant system. His display of immense power introduced the Borg to the Federation, which kick-started a conflict that resulted in the deaths of millions.

4 Kruge — 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' (1984)

Feudal, ruthless, and incredibly brutal, the Klingons were a military power to be feared ever since their introduction in Star Trek: The Original Series . That couldn’t have been emphasized better when Christopher Lloyd portrayed Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

A commander of a Klingon Bird of Prey warship, Kruge was a relentless fighter with a stern desire to acquire secrets of Genesis to further his career and strengthen the Klingon Empire. He killed his own lover for looking at classified information and sanctioned the murder of Captain Kirk’s ( William Shatner ) son, something which haunted Kirk throughout the rest of the Star Trek saga.

3 Gul Dukat — 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' (1993-1999)

Star Trek has had many unforgettable villains across its numerous television series, but few are as truly evil as Gul Dukat ( Marc Alaimo ). A Cardassian war criminal who appeared throughout Deep Space Nine , he ruled over Bajor with an iron fist, assembling labor camps that saw millions of Bajorans die.

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Interestingly, Alaimo didn’t only excel at making Dukat a force of evil, but he was also able to give him layers and complexity as well, which made him all the more compelling. Not only the best of Deep Space Nine ’s antagonists, Gul Dukat is arguably greatest villain in Star Trek ’s television history.

2 The Borg Queen — 'Star Trek: First Contact' (1996)

After making their first appearance in the second season of The Next Generation , the Borg fast became one of Star Trek ’s most notable antagonistic clans. As a cybernetic force operating as a hive mind to assimilate all other lifeforms to their state of being, the Borg were a terrifying threat that fans feared would be undermined with the introduction of their queen in Star Trek: First Contact .

With Alice Krige portraying her, however, the character became one of the saga’s most striking villains with her horrific goals and her unnerving sensuality. The character became a recurring role in the franchise, appearing in Star Trek: Voyager and recently returning in Star Trek: Picard .

1 Khan Noonien Singh — 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' (1982)

If its cinematic predecessor left some fans a little underwhelmed, then The Wrath of Khan more than made up for it. The first of many sequels, it features all the fan-favorite main characters of the series but became such an adored film within Star Trek ’s filmography thanks to Ricardo Maltabán ’s turn as Khan.

A past enemy of Starfleet, Khan was a genetically engineered superhuman on a warpath to exact revenge against Captain Kirk and his crew. With his raw and resonant motivation, some great dialogue, and a magnetic performance from Maltabán, Khan elevated The Wrath of Khan to be the best Star Trek movie produced to date and stands unmatched as the greatest villain the saga has ever produced.

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The Best Star Trek Villains Ranked

Space — the final frontier. In that vast expanse, there waits mystery, challenge, and according to  Star Trek , a bunch of gods, cyborg collectives, and countless species waiting to kill us, assimilate us, or test the boundaries of our civility. 

Since  Star Trek: The Original Series  ( TOS ) premiered in 1966, the Trek universe has been feeding our imaginations with villains — from bizarre to embarrassing to utterly ruthless — for over half a century. Since many of the earliest  Trek series were episodic, we didn't often get the chance to see the same bad guys return to hound the heroes. But as Trek experimented with serialized storytelling — particularly with  Deep Space Nine   ( DS9 ) — the more promising space-faring antagonists got multiple chances to show how bad they could be or, in some memorable cases, to prove they weren't quite as bad as you thought.

Among Trek 's villains are some of the most fun and memorable in popular media, and we thought we'd give you our own choices of who among them shines the brightest. Best lists are always subjective, but we're fairly confident there won't be too many disagreements for our picks of the best Star Trek  villains, ranked from worst to best. 

Badgey makes fun of both Star Trek and Microsoft

As one of the youngest  Star Trek  series with a much stronger focus on comedy, the animated  Star Trek: Lower Decks doesn't boast a wealth of recurring villains. Regardless, one of the few reappearing bad guys from the series is one of the funniest and cleverest conceptions in the entire  Trek  franchise. Voiced by Jack McBrayer (best known as  30 Rock 's Kenneth the Page), the holographic villain Badgey is a hilarious and brutal send-up of not only one of  Star Trek 's most tired tropes but of one of the most famously annoying aspects of Microsoft's software. 

We first meet Badgey in season 1's "Terminal Provocations," when Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) introduces Ensign D'Vana Tendi (Noel Wells) to his holodeck training program. Acting like the animated paper clip "Clippy" from Microsoft Office and shaped like a Starfleet badge, Badgey at first seems eager to help Rutherford and Tendi with whatever they need. But when an attack by alien scavengers causes the holodeck to malfunction and disengage the safety protocols, Badgey takes the opportunity to get vengeance on the person he sees as his abusive creator — Rutherford. Sharing such Clippy-like homicidal gems as, "Fun fact: I'm gonna rip your eyes out!" and, "Here's a tip: I'm going to burn your hearts in a fire!" Badgey pursues Rutherford and Tendi across holographic landscapes until Rutherford figures out a way to defeat him. 

Badgey makes a second appearance in the season 1 finale, and we hope we'll be seeing plenty more of him in the future. 

Annorax is one of Star Trek's most sympathetic villains

Kurtwood Smith has made a number of TV and film appearances in the  Star Trek  franchise, but none of his characters are both as chilling and sympathetic as the brilliant scientist Annorax from season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager . He places a low on our list because he never reappears after the two-parter "Year of Hell," but he makes enough of an impression to earn a spot regardless.

Part of a race known as the Krenim, Annorax begins his cursed quest by seeking to restore his people's once expansive empire to power. To this end, he develops a temporal weapon called simply the "Weapon Ship," which he uses to wipe out other species — not simply killing them but making it as if they never existed in the first place. While his attempts do restore more and more of the Krenim Imperium, the restoration of a single colony eludes him every time — the colony of Kyana Prime, where Annorax's wife, children, and grandchildren lived until his actions unintentionally erased them. So he and his restless crew, protected from the time-space continuum within their ship, have continued like this for two centuries, committing genocide again and again to feed the obsession of a captain who's convinced time itself is claiming vengeance upon him.  

While his time is brief, Annorax is one of the most quietly horrifying and tragic villains in the entire Trek  franchise.

General Chang was a perfect rival for Captain Kirk

Few Star Trek  villains simultaneously embody the sophistication, Shakespearean nobility, and ruthlessness of the late Christopher Plummer's General Chang. Plummer was a fitting choice not only because of his acting chops but because he was an important part of William Shatner's career. A decade before Shatner assumed the role of Captain Kirk, he was Plummer's understudy in a 1956 production of  Henry V .  

Chang appears exclusively in the final film to feature the complete  Original Series  crew, 1991's  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Chang is one of the architects of an alliance between rogue elements of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Empire who are unwilling to see a lasting peace between Earth and Qo'noS. Chang plays a large part in the framing of Captain Kirk (Shatner) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) for Klingon chancellor Gorkon's (David Warner) assassination, he prosecutes them in the unforgiving Klingon court, and he captains the prototype Bird-of-Prey that comes close to destroying both the  Enterprise  and the  Excelsior  toward the end of the film. 

While Chang is ultimately unsuccessful, from start to finish he exudes a singular presence among  Trek 's rogues' gallery. Plummer is particularly impressive when he and the rest of Gorkon's entourage are leaving the  Enterprise  after a diplomatic dinner. In spite of not saying a single overtly threatening word or making any hostile gesture, his body language and facial expressions tell you everything you need to know in the scene — that Chang is eager to be the man who defeats Kirk in battle. 

Data's evil brother was a fun and formidable foe

The android Data is unquestionably one of the fan-favorite characters from  Star Trek: The Next Generation . But one of the downsides of portraying the android is that — except in instances when something causes Data's programming to go haywire (which, admittedly, is often) — the emotional spectrum that actor Brent Spiner gets to play with is fairly limited. That changes just a little bit with the season 1 introduction of Data's evil brother, Lore, in "Datalore." 

Unlike Data, Lore is "gifted" with human emotions, but unfortunately, he receives them long before Dr. Noonian Soong has truly learned to properly program them. As a result, Lore is unstable and treacherous. It's eventually discovered that it's Lore who summoned the powerful Crystalline Entity that destroys all human life on Omicron Theta — the planet upon which both androids are discovered. After Lore is reassembled, he deactivates his brother and assumes Data's identity in an attempt to feed the crew of the  Enterprise  to the Crystalline Entity. And in his final appearance — the two-part "Descent" bridging the sixth and seventh seasons — he becomes something of a cult leader to a group of Borg who've liberated themselves from the Collective.

As humorous as he is evil, Lore is one of the most fun villains to show up on  The Next Generation  ( TNG ). At the same time, his appearances often pack an emotional punch, since the evil android remains one of the few creatures Data can call family. 

Gowron isn't always a villain, but when he is, he threatens the entire Federation and more

First appearing in the season 4  TNG  episode "Reunion," Gowron isn't always a villain. He's introduced as one of two contenders for the Klingon chancellorship, a title he eventually achieves. For the most part in his TNG  appearances, Gowron is more of a neutral character pursuing his own agenda. This changes once  TNG  ends and Gowron becomes a recurring character on  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . 

While his first DS9 appearance is season 3's "The House of Quark," Gowron doesn't become an important part of the show's serial drama until Michael Dorn's Worf joins the series in the season 4 premiere "The Way of the Warrior." While still perfectly expressing the trademark Klingon passion for battle, on  DS9,  Gowron is portrayed more as an opportunistic politician. He uses the threat of the Dominion to reignite his people's warlike tendencies with an invasion of Cardassia and, later, a new war with the Federation. During the epic war storyline in the show's final season, Gowron purposely wastes the lives of his warriors by sending the forces of General Martok (JG Hertzler) — who he sees as a political rival — to fight battles they can't win in order to humiliate Martok. 

Played expertly by Robert O'Reilly in all of his appearances, Gowron is an unforgettable Klingon villain with some of the craziest eyes you'll ever see.

Gabriel Lorca fooled us all

For most of  Star Trek: Discovery 's inaugural season, Jason Isaacs' Captain Gabriel Lorca commands the eponymous vessel. While he has a mysterious air early in the series, you're convinced he's the real deal because of his leadership skills and what appears to be an unwavering dedication to his crew. 

That changes after the  Discovery  winds up in the Mirror Universe in the final moments of "Into the Forest I Go." For most of the time  Discovery  is in this strange, much more brutal reality, no one seems to know exactly how they got there. It isn't until the third-to-last episode of the season, "Vaulting Ambition," that we learn Gabriel Lorca is a Mirror Universe native. Having switched places with his Prime counterpart before the events of the series, Lorca sees the potential of Discovery 's spore drive to bring him back home so he can continue his rebellion against Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).

Arguably, just the fact that Lorca is able to pull the wool over so many viewers' eyes is enough reason to earn him a spot on this list. But Isaacs' superb acting and the layered conception of the character earn the accolades all on their own. Lorca is able to fool us precisely because he isn't simply a mustache-twirling bad guy. While he's using the  Discovery  crew for his own ends, he bears no ill will toward them, and in some ways, the respect and care he shows for them is genuine ... until it isn't.

Shran walks the line between friend and foe

A lot of fans would balk at the idea of the blue-skinned Commander Shran being labeled a villain. Portrayed by Jeffrey Combs — who's played more roles on  Star Trek  shows than most — Shran is an Andorian fiercely loyal to his people who's introduced in  Star Trek: Enterprise 's ( ENT ) first season. We meet Shran in "The Andorian Incident" when he leads a squad of his blue-skinned brethren in the violent takeover of a Vulcan monastery. Shran and the other Andorians come off as paranoid and xenophobic bullies. But in spite of their thuggish behavior, Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) discovers they're right about the monastery being a cover for a Vulcan facility monitoring the Andorians. When Archer exposes the truth, he earns an uneasy ally in Shran.

Shran comes to the aid of Archer and the Enterprise  on more than one occasion. In particular, in season 3, Shran bails the heroes out twice, including in the final battle to save Earth from the Xindi's doomsday weapon. But there's always a volatility working under Shran's surface, threatening to once more put him at odds with Archer and his crew. It happens, for example, in season 4's "United" when Shran's stubborn refusal to give the Tellarites the benefit of the doubt leads to Archer challenging him to a death duel.

Commander Kruge is one scary Klingon

For the most part,  Christopher Lloyd 's most famous characters – like Doc Brown in the  Back to the Future  series — aren't particularly intimidating. So it's a testament to the actor's range that he performed so well as the Klingon Commander Kruge in 1984's  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . When Kruge learns of Starfleet's secret Genesis project — meant to instantly turn lifeless celestial bodies into habitable planets — he means to seize it as a doomsday weapon for the Klingon Empire. In the process, he orders the murder of Captain Kirk's son — a death that scars Kirk for years. 

In many ways, Kruge is the first example of the kind of Klingon we'd see in the subsequent Trek movies, as well as the  Star Trek: The Next Generation  era of TV series. While the Klingons' new look is seen briefly in 1979's  Star Trek: The Motion Picture , it isn't until Kruge that we get to see a fully fleshed-out performance. While the Klingons were always warlike, Kruge and his crew are more brutish than their predecessors in  TOS.  Locking himself in a death grip with an alien beast just for fun and going mano a mano with Kirk as Genesis is in its explosive death throes, Kruge gives us a portrayal of what remains one of the most potent examples of the Klingon passion for combat.

Benjamin Sisko is no fan of Michael Eddington

You don't find a lot of Trek villains wearing Starfleet uniforms. After all, the desire to join Starfleet is usually accompanied by a drive to uphold the values of the United Federation of Planets . But one notable exception is Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington (Kenneth Marshall). Introduced in  DS9 's season 3 premiere, Eddington starts out as an officer who appears to be overly concerned with promotion and more than willing to turn in the heroes of  DS9  if they dare disobey their Starfleet superiors. 

Toward the end of season 4, we learn Eddington's seemingly tireless devotion to Starfleet is a ruse. In "For the Cause," Eddington tricks most of DS9's command crew away from the station, and in their absence, he steals a shipment of industrial replicators, revealing himself as a member of the Maquis — a group of violent rebels who oppose the Federation's treaty with Cardassia and wage relentless guerrilla war against the aliens.

The very fact that Eddington is able to pull the wool over his eyes makes Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) obsessed with capturing the traitor. He's one of the few villains capable of getting so thoroughly under a series captain's skin, to the point where Sisko actually humors some rather questionable tactics in apprehending him.

Harry Mudd is a truly conniving Star Trek villain

The flamboyant and deceptive Harry Mudd is one of the few named antagonists from  TOS to enjoy a second appearance. He first shows up played by Roger C. Carmel in season 1's "Mudd's Women," trying to sell women like cattle and using an illegal drug to render them physically irresistible. Later in season 2's "I, Mudd," the con man gives up the  Enterprise  crew to a group of androids with dreams of galactic conquest. 

Carmel returned to voice his famous crook in "Mudd's Passion," an episode of  Star Trek: The Animated Series . He runs afoul of the  Enterprise  once more after attempting to con the inhabitants of an alien planet into believing he could sell them Starfleet Academy. 

That wouldn't be the end of Mudd. Rainn Wilson (best known as  Dwight Schrute on  The Office ) plays a more vicious version of Harry Mudd in  Star Trek: Discovery 's ( DISCO ) first season. Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs) meets Mudd in "Choose Your Pain," when they're both prisoners of the Klingons, and Mudd is more than happy to give up his fellow humans to avoid a beating or two. After Lorca and Lieutenant Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) leave Mudd behind when they escape the Klingons, the con man gets revenge with a plot involving a time manipulation device in "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad."

Luther Sloan is a complicated character

One of the most popular pieces of Trek mythology introduced by  DS9 is the clandestine organization Section 31. And William Sadler's brilliant performance as Luther Sloan — the director of Section 31 during the events of  DS9  – is one of the main reasons for the group's popularity. 

Suspecting Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) of being an unwitting spy for the Dominion, Sloan first shows up on DS9  using a holodeck to find out the truth. He subjects Bashir to an elaborate illusion, in which all of his friends on DS9 turn their backs on him. Once Bashir discovers the truth, Sloan is convinced of Bashir's innocence and offers him a position with Section 31. In spite of Bashir's clear refusal, Sloan soon returns to use the doctor in a covert operation involving infiltration of the Romulan Empire. Toward the end of the series, we learn Sloan is behind poisoning Odo (Rene Auberjonois) and all of his people with a deadly plague.

Sloan is a singular Trek villain. He's ruthless, cunning, and mysterious, but he's surprisingly sympathetic. He's aware of the hypocrisy of betraying the Federation's core values in order to protect it, yet he still believes in what he's doing and has no ill will towards Bashir for despising him. He sees Bashir as exactly the kind of man he was born to protect, even if in safeguarding him, he earns nothing but Bashir's disgust.

Intendant Kira is one of Star Trek's most sadistic bad guys

Introduced in  TOS ' "Mirror, Mirror," the Mirror Universe is an alternate dimension where the Federation is replaced by the tyrannical Terran Empire. Rather than living by values like tolerance, diplomacy, and discovery, the Terrans are a brutal people believing in conquest and cruelty. But in  DS9 's "Crossover," Dr. Bashir and Major Kira (Nana Visitor) find themselves in the alternate universe, where they learn that since the events of  TOS , the Terran Empire has been conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Terrans have become a slave race, and DS9 — retaining its original Cardassian name Terok Nor — is led by Intendant Kira.

Intendant Kira is the cold-blooded counterpart to Major Kira, and the character gives Visitor a chance to show us her acting range. Other than the Kiras of both universes sharing the quality of natural leadership, Intendant Kira is a wild departure from Major Kira. She's seductive, with an unapologetically endless appetite for pleasure, using Sisko — a pirate in the Mirror Universe — as her personal plaything. She's as vicious as any of the Cardassians or Klingons under her command and deceptively sadistic, sometimes acting as if she's about to absolve her victims before ordering their executions. 

Intendant Kira was far too much fun for just a single  DS9  episode. She's a recurring villain, including showing up for all of  DS9 's Mirror Universe stories.  

Kai Winn's tale is a tragic one

You hear a lot about villains you "love to hate." But then there are villains you just straight-up hate. Kai Winn is definitely one of the latter. 

Louise Fletcher — Nurse Ratched in 1975's  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest — plays Winn on DS9 , beginning as an ambitious vedek of a rigid religious order on Bajor. Winn is a slippery and manipulative vedek, working behind the scenes in coup and assassination attempts. Her actions, she claims, are always at the service of the Prophets — the aliens living inside the wormhole who the Bajorans worship as gods — yet it seems she's always working towards her own ascension in the ranks of Bajor's clergy. She succeeds in becoming Bajor's spiritual leader, the Kai, but by the end of the series, her jealousy towards Ben Sisko, her seduction by Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo), and her anger toward the Prophets leads her to finally abandon her religion and follow the devilish Pah-wraiths.

Winn is one of the most interesting and complex villains in all of Trek . Her downfall is tragic in the most classic sense of the word. Once she wins the title of Kai, rather than simply basking in her power as we expect, she seems to genuinely want to help her people. The problem is, of course, she also seems to fully believe that the ends justify any and all means. 

Weyoun steals the spotlight with his manipulative charm

What if you could genetically engineer a race to be equally cunning leaders and diplomats in the most hostile of situations? What you come up with might look a lot like the Vorta, the Dominion's lieutenant race, leading the hordes of brutal Jem'Hadar while being completely subservient to the Founders. And of the Vorta we meet on  DS9 , none is more memorable than Jeffrey Combs' Weyoun. While Weyoun dies at the end of his first appearance in season 4's "To the Death," the villain was just too good to keep dead. So, it was decided that the Founders keep clones of the Vorta always at the ready, complete with the memories of their predecessors. 

As the head of the Dominion's military in the Alpha Quadrant, Weyoun shows up often in the last two seasons of  DS9 , and he steals every scene he's in. He's dishonest and manipulative without shame, ready to shift from intimidating to conciliatory at a moment's notice. In scenes with politically influential  DS9  characters like Ben Sisko and Gul Dukat, Weyoun uses conversation like a deadly, evasive weapon — always adapting to his counterpart's mood with everything from wrath to abject apology. He lies so easily that you wonder whether or not Weyoun knows, or even cares, what's true or false.  

The Prime Universe's Khan Noonien Singh is obsessed with revenge

Any list of best Star Trek villains that doesn't include Ricardo Montalban's Khan needs to delete everything and start over. First appearing in  TOS 's "Space Seed," Khan is a genetically enhanced despot who ruled over a quarter of the Earth before escaping the Eugenic Wars with 84 of his followers. The  Enterprise  crew soon regrets waking Khan and his people from suspended animation once they take over the ship.

While Khan is a fun villain in his first appearance, his appeal doesn't reach full bloom until 1982's  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , arguably the best Star Trek movie ever . Blaming Kirk for the tragedies that have befallen him since they crossed paths years earlier, Khan and his followers take over the U.S.S.  Reliant  and wage war on the  Enterprise . While Khan's followers believe they're using the stolen Federation property for power and prosperity, it's soon clear their leader is willing to sacrifice everything — including his own life and theirs — to get revenge on Kirk. 

Through Montalban, Khan becomes the absolute embodiment of all-consuming vengeance. The villain regularly either paraphrases or directly quotes lines from Herman Melville's novel  Moby Dick . And just as Captain Ahab is obsessed with destroying the titular whale, Khan ultimately has no purpose left but vengeance against Kirk.

The Borg Queen is equal parts sexy and scary

In  TNG 's "Q Who," the Borg — one of the Federation's deadliest enemies — are introduced. The cybernetic, zombie-like, hive-minded bad guys kill with impunity. However, their goal is not to kill but to assimilate the technology and biology of other intelligent species into their collective to bring them closer to perfection. There are no individuals within the Borg Collective, but in 1996's  Star Trek: First Contact ,   we're introduced to the Borg Queen, the living embodiment of the Collective's will.

The Borg Queen does something you wouldn't think possible with the Borg — she makes them sexy. In fact, she spends most of her scenes in  First Contact  seducing Data (Brent Spiner) with promises of pleasures he's never been capable of fully experiencing. But she's far from just a temptress. Particularly in her subsequent appearances in  Star Trek: Voyager  ( VOY ), the Borg Queen — played by both Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson at different points — conveys the singular horror of being confronted by a being who is, in her own words, "one who is many."

Speaking to  Looper in early 2020 , Krige shared interesting insights about playing the cybernetic villain, including just how old she thinks the Borg Queen is. "I think she was an entity that happened at the moment of creation," Krige explained. "And she's always been that and she always will be, and it is entirely abnormal."

Q is a delightfully devious trickster

Perhaps no other single villain has appeared in as many  Star Trek series as John de Lancie's all-powerful Q. Showing up for the premiere of  TNG , its finale, and a bunch of fun episodes in between, Q is a mischievous, godlike being who defies definition. He would eventually come to harass  VOY 's Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) almost as much as he does Picard (Patrick Stewart), along with making brief but memorable appearances on  DS9  and  Star Trek: Lower Decks . 

Hilarious and carefree, Q is so popular that it might be a problem for some fans to even call him a villain. But while he isn't wholly evil, he's certainly a villain in the sense that when he shows up, he's almost always an antagonist. While he usually reverses any direct harm he inflicts upon humans, he couldn't care less about those lost indirectly, such as the  Enterprise  crew members killed by the Borg in "Q Who."

Whether you see him as a good guy or a bad guy, de Lancie's portrayal of the trickster is one of the most delightful parts of TNG  and  VOY . Without him, after all, we'd never see a mariachi band on the  Enterprise  bridge, we'd never see Guinan plunge a fork into a dude's hand, and most importantly, we'd never see the  Enterprise  crew in Sherwood Forest.

Dukat is Star Trek's greatest villain

One of the places where  DS9  excels over other Trek series is that its serialized storytelling allows for characters to evolve. And you can see this evolution clearly in the Cardassian tyrant Gul Dukat. Formerly the prefect of Bajor during its occupation, Dukat is none too happy to find a human sitting in his old office in  DS9 's premiere, and his fixation on Sisko and his crushing sense of inadequacy grow over the course of the series, to the point where it suffocates him. 

The Dukat we meet in  DS9 's premiere isn't the Dukat we see in its finale. A characteristic Cardassian, Dukat spends the first few seasons of  DS9  working towards the goal of once again finding himself ruling over the people of Bajor. He's not only unwilling to face the atrocities he committed, but he's so delusional that he harbors resentment for the Bajorans refusing to honor him with statues and plaques. For a time, he's something of an ally to the DS9 crew, but when the Dominion gives him an opportunity to seize control over all of Cardassia, he becomes the Alpha Quadrant's most feared warlord. Before the end of the series, he goes from conqueror to madman, madman to cult leader, and from cult leader to the powerful vessel of the Pah-wraiths — the Prophets' destructive adversaries.

Wonderfully portrayed by Marc Alaimo, Dukat is ultimately the most complex, believable, and twisted villain in all of Star Trek .

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The Enemy Within

• Episode aired Oct 6, 1966

A transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two halves: one meek and indecisive, the other violent and ill tempered. The remaining crew members stranded on the planet cannot be beamed... Read all A transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two halves: one meek and indecisive, the other violent and ill tempered. The remaining crew members stranded on the planet cannot be beamed up to the ship until a problem is fixed. A transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two halves: one meek and indecisive, the other violent and ill tempered. The remaining crew members stranded on the planet cannot be beamed up to the ship until a problem is fixed.

• Richard Matheson
• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 46 User reviews
• 14 Critic reviews

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

• Mister Spock

• Yeoman Rand

• (as Edward Madden)

• Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
• (uncredited)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The original script called for Spock to karate chop Kirk to subdue him. Leonard Nimoy felt that this would be an uncharacteristically violent act for a peace-loving species like the Vulcans so he came up with a pincer-like grasp on the neck that has since become known as the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and become one of the character's most famous gimmicks.
• Goofs During the showdown between Good Kirk and Evil Kirk on the bridge, Evil Kirk's scratch marks are suddenly shown on the right cheek instead of the left as they had been throughout the episode.

Lt. Cmdr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : He's dead, Jim.

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
• Connections Featured in Star Trek Logs: An MTV Big Picture Special Edition (1991)
• Soundtracks Theme From Star Trek Written by and credited to Alexander Courage

User reviews 46

• Mar 14, 2021
• October 6, 1966 (United States)
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• Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
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• Runtime 50 minutes

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• View history
• 3 Individuals
• 4.1 Appearances
• 4.2 Background information
• 4.3 Apocrypha
• 4.4 External links

History [ ]

Hundreds of years before the 24th century , Caitians hunted and ate Betazoids . After this practice was discontinued, the Caitians developed a synthetic substitute for Betazoid flesh . ( LD : " Empathological Fallacies ")

Caitians were attending Starfleet Academy by the early 2250s , and the Caitian homeworld was a Federation member with members on the Federation Council by 2286 . ( DIS : " Brother "; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ) Caitians were present on Qualor II in 2381 . ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ")

In the alternate reality , Caitians were present on Earth by 2259 . ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

Biology [ ]

A Caitian child

Caitians exhibited feline features, such as short faces , triangular ears , large eyes with vertically slitted pupils , whiskers , fangs , and a tail . Most were entirely covered with fur that could be orange , brown , gray , or black , and could also be solid, multicolored, or patterned. Some Caitians had four fingers (including a thumb) on each hand , while others had five. Additionally, the feet of some Caitians possessed a digitigrade configuration, while others had a plantigrade foot structure. There were also at least a few Caitians who had a very different, more Human -like appearance. ( Star Trek: The Animated Series ; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; Star Trek Into Darkness ; Star Trek: Lower Decks ; PRO : " Lost and Found ")

When they needed to move quickly, Caitians could switch to quadrupedal locomotion, displaying feline agility and reaction times. They had sharp claws on their hands and feet, which led some to prefer going without footwear . Their claws could be used combatively, or to scale vertical surfaces, such as cliffs . ( Star Trek: The Animated Series ; LD : " Mugato, Gumato ", " I, Excretus ", " wej Duj "; PRO : " A Moral Star, Part 2 ")

The voices of some female Caitians had a soft purring quality. Agitated Caitians could also make a variety of cat -like hisses and yowls. ( Star Trek: The Animated Series ; Star Trek: Lower Decks )

Caitians experienced several hormonal cycles. One of these was the need to have sex once a year , or else their hormones would drive them crazy ; this could be alleviated using a libido post . Caitian females had coital hooks as part of their reproductive anatomy . When stressed , Caitians enjoyed playing inside boxes . ( LD : " No Small Parts ", " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ")

Caitians were mainly carnivorous, and skilled hunters. In the past, they had no qualms about hunting Betazoids , a fellow sentient race, for food. Caitian doctors took an oath not to consume their patients. Even so, they could still determine the specific presence of Betazoids just by scent and considered the smell to be delectable. ( LD : " Empathological Fallacies ")

Individuals [ ]

• Unnamed Caitians

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

A list of all appearances of Caitians (excluding the regular appearances of T'Ana):

• " The Survivor "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Eye of the Beholder "
• " The Practical Joker "
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• " Temporal Edict "
• " Crisis Point " ( hologram )
• " We'll Always Have Tom Paris "
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers " ( photograph )
• " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus " (hologram)
• " The Inner Fight "
• " Old Friends, New Planets "
• " Lost and Found "
• " Starstruck "
• " A Moral Star, Part 1 "
• " A Moral Star, Part 2 "
• " Preludes "
• " Skin a Cat "
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

The name of the species comes from a biography of Lt. M'Ress , published by Lincoln Enterprises in 1974 , which claims that the Caitians are related to the Kzinti , and were from Cait . This is corroborated by extensive commentary by Larry Niven, author of most of the Known Space books and virtually the entire Known Space sub-series The Man-Kzin Wars, primarily found in his short story books "N-Space", "Playgrounds of the Mind", and "The Patchwork Man".

From StarTrek.com , "The felinoid Caitians and the warlike Kzinti share common roots in the deep past — as do Vulcans and Romulans . As with the Vulcans and the Romulans, the two groups went their separate ways to develop as two entirely different civilizations. The Caitians are fierce warriors when so called upon, but pride themselves on their accomplishments in arts and philosophy rather than on the martial arts. Natives of Cait tend to be small and sinewy; the females are as delicately dainty as the Siamese or Abyssinian cats of old Earth. Their family units are extremely close."

The Lincoln Enterprises biography of M'Ress similarly expanded on the Caitians, stating that they tended to be small and sinewy, with their females delicately dainty. [1]

Damon Lindelof has confirmed that the alien twins Kirk slept with in Star Trek Into Darkness were Caitians. [2]

According to Akiva Goldsman , Bjayzl from the Star Trek: Picard episode " Stardust City Rag " was originally intended to be a Caitian. [3]

Apocrypha [ ]

The Caitians are expanded upon in FASA 's Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update , which indicates that the feline humanoids seen in The Voyage Home were intended to be the same species.

The Last Unicorn and Decipher RPG books had to use the name "Regulans" because of copyright issues. [4]

M'Ress is also referred to as a Caitian in the audio story " Passage to Moauv ".

Set in 2409, the computer game Star Trek Online features the Caitians as a playable species of the Federation faction, which also employs ships of unique Caitian design, e.g., the Atrox Carrier, Aspero Support Carrier, Shikaris Escort, and Stalker Stealth Fighter. According to their description, Caitians are "known throughout their quadrant for their intelligence, curiosity, loyalty and love of beauty". The game includes several Caitian NPCs, including Enterprise -F Tactical Officer and Security Chief Commander Kyona. It also depicts a species closely related to the Caitians called Ferasans, who genetically engineered themselves which resulted in some Caitians leaving their homeworld of Ferasa, settling on Cait and taking the demonym "Caitian".

In Star Trek: Lower Decks - Crew Handbook , T'Ana's Profanity being censored out is suggested to be the Universal translator being unable to properly translate such words from Caitian and, thus, replacing it with "beep"s.

External links [ ]

• Caitian at StarTrek.com
• Caitian at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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• Series & Movies

Published Apr 22, 2024

The 10 Plagues of Star Trek: The Original Series

As Passover brought 10 plagues to test Pharaoh, so too did The Original Series test the crew of the Enterprise!

StarTrek.com

Considering Gene Roddenberry stated that there would be no religion in the future when he conceived of Star Trek , a lot of Judaism sure did manage to creep it's way in!

From Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner bonding on the set of The Original Series over their shared Jewish background, and Nimoy being inspired by his Orthodox upbringing when creating Vulcan culture , to later series with Jewish actors and parallels such as Worf's diasporic experience, and Marina Sirtis drawing on inspiration from an Israeli friend as she created Deanna Troi. It makes sense, then, to spend some time during Passover reflecting on the many aspects of Jewish influence seen on Star Trek .

So, of course, I’ve decided to give you the 10 Plagues of Passover as episodes from The Original Series . Let’s get into it.

1. Rivers of Blood, " Amok Time "

"Amok Time"

When Aaron turned the Nile into a river of blood, it shook the Pharaoh to his core, much like how the blood fever of Pon Farr shook up Spock's usual calm and logic. Hormonal imbalances are no joke, and this quickly descended from throwing soup and nearly ended with Captain Kirk's death on Vulcan!

Much as I hate to parallel the Pharaoh, the villain of the Passover story, with Spock, a hero and a pacifist, they are both powerful men brought low (and emotional) by blood.

2. Frogs, " And the Children Shall Lead "

"All the Children Shall Lead"

There is a debate in Judaism over whether the second plague was a swarm of frogs, or one giant frog that covered the land of Egypt. But if we go with the more traditional interpretation of a swarm, then the Star Trek equivalent swarm would be the children from "And The Children Shall Lead" who take over the Enterprise .

Not only are they a hive mind (very swarm-like behavior) controlled by an evil embodiment called Gorgon, but they also bring the majority of the bridge crew under their sway. Whichever frog interpretation you go with, Kirk was as deeply unhappy with this plague-parallel as the Egyptians were with their own froggy problem — and he was pretty hostile to the kids too!

3. Lice, " Operation — Annihilate! "

"Operation — Annihilate!"

Whilst it may not be as scary or strange as the other plagues, the plague of lice always makes me wince and want to scratch my scalp in sympathy.

The episode "Operation — Annihilate!" also makes me wince, as a meeting with behavior-altering parasites is not how I imagine Kirk wanted his family reunion to go. But while lice do alter behavior, making people far more irritable, I wonder if they could cause the collapse of civilizations as this Star Trek parasite did before the crew of the Enterprise stopped it?

4. Flies or Deadly Animals, "Wink of an Eye"

"Wink of an Eye"

Here we find ourselves with another heavily debated plague. Some scholars believe it was the buzzing of flies that punished the Egyptians, while others believe it was a hoard of deadly animals destroying everything in their path. Luckily, "Wink of an Eye" covers both!

It begins when a landing party on Scalos and Kirk hears a mysterious buzzing noise like a swarm of insects before one of their party goes missing. Kirk continues to hear this insect buzzing on the Enterprise . However, it turns out to be a group of people living at hyper-accelerated speed, causing mischief all over the ship as they try to put the Enterprise into a deep freeze. Moreover, when they try to hyper-accelerate the humans, they end up causing them to age and decay rapidly. Deadly creatures destroying everything in their path indeed!

5. Pestilence, " The Trouble with Tribbles "

"The Trouble with Tribbles"

The fifth plague was a pestilence that killed all the Egyptians livestock, and what better episode to compare this with than "The Trouble with Tribbles."

The tribbles not only eat all of the grain supplies, they also end up dying en masse because the grain has been poisoned by saboteurs. This makes them not only the pestilence, but also the dead livestock in the Passover parallels! It's said the Egyptians grieved when they looked upon the dead animals they worshipped like gods, and whilst I doubt the tribbles were worshipped, I'm sure the Klingon vessel they were eventually beamed onto did indeed grieve having this fluffy plague.

6. Boils, " Miri "

"Miri"

When painful boils appear on the people of Egypt, it was meant to have caused horror and agony. Well, the episode "Miri" caused so much horror, it was banned by the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s!

In this episode, the landing party, except for Spock, begin developing purple lesions on their bodies and are told by the children of the planet they will die horribly in a week. Even Spock can't return to the Enterprise , because they don’t know whether or not he'll infect the rest of the crew. The boils end up being painful physically and emotionally, as the crew seek to save themselves and the children who have trapped them.

7. Hail, " Mirror, Mirror "

"Mirror, Mirror"

The seventh plague was a hail-storm of unprecedented strength that damaged every living thing in its path — much like the wrath of the Mirrorverse that Kirk and company discover in the episode "Mirror, Mirror"!

When negotiating with the Halkan's for dilithium, the council says there is no guarantee the Federation will always be peaceful. A violent and unpredictable ion-storm proves they may have a point when it causes the transporter malfunction that takes our Enterprise crew to a parallel universe of unprecedented violence!

8. Locusts, " The Conscience of the King "

"The Conscience of the King"

On Moses' eighth attempt to sway the Pharaoh, a devastating plague of locusts is summoned. The bugs devour everything green that has escaped the hail and previous plagues. This brings to mind one of Kirk's most famous pieces of backstory — the Tarsus IV massacre.

In "The Conscience of the King," we discover that as a teenager, Kirk lived in the Tarsus IV colony when a food crisis allowed Governor Kodos to take control and order the deaths of half the population. While it might not have been locusts that destroyed the grain on Tarsus IV, this event certainly caused untold devastation.

9. Darkness, " The Tholian Web "

"The Tholian Web"

Space, the final frontier. In the context of Star Trek , it's hard to think of darkness as a plague when it is the mission and adventure of our voyagers to explore it. But darkness in the Passover story was terrifying, as for several days all of Egypt was enveloped in a thick and impenetrable veil of darkness which extinguished all lights kindled. Remind you of "The Tholian Web"?

On a rescue mission for their sister ship, the U.S.S. Defiant , the Enterprise enters a sector of unknown space and finds the Defiant adrift, its crew dead, and slowly phasing out of existence, before vanishing entirely and taking Kirk with it. This episode focuses on the more terrifying aspects of space and the unknown, and how the hardest thing to do can be just having to wait for the darkness to pass.

10. Death of the First Born, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

First-born children don't have the best track record for surviving in Star Trek ; we've already covered Sam Kirk's death in "Operation — Annihilate!" and Kodos' daughter Lenore Karidian meets a grim fate in "The Conscience of the King."

Moving on to the movies, we see Spock's older brother, Sybok, die in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . But for this plague I had to go with Captain Kirk's own son David Marcus, who is killed by Klingons in The Search for Spock . As the Pharoah's own infant son's death broke his resolve to finally allow the Israelites to be free, David's death so soon after they met causes Kirk to become embittered and colors his own attitude towards Klingons as a species.

Yes, the plagues make up a significant part of the Passover story, the main theme of the holiday is triumph over adversity and freedom —a fundamental tenet of Star Trek . For all of the dangers and threats the Enterprise crew face, from physical to emotional, they always overcome them together. And much like the Israelites finally leaving Egypt to wander the desert in search of the Holy Land, it tells us that perseverance is key and the journey and exploration it entails can be as important as the final destination.

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This article was originally published on March 29, 2021.

Emily Zinkin (she/her) is a writer based in London, UK, who also runs Moishe House Clapham. She once cosplayed as Captain Kirk but realised she was the mirror version when she met another one. You can find her on Twitter at @EmilyZinkin

Star Trek: Discovery Finally Gave Us A Closer Look At The Franchise's Most Mysterious Villain

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Discovery."

"Star Trek" might represent an idealistic vision of a bolder and brighter future, but the last few seasons of "Discovery" have proven that there will always be bad guys with a penchant for muddying up those ambitions in unexpected ways — even in the 32nd Century. While the Borg, Romulans, and the warlord Khan often have a stranglehold on the title of "Best 'Trek' villains," one alien species in particular has remained shrouded in mystery for decades. First mentioned in foreboding whispers in "The Next Generation" and finally seen in the flesh (well, so to speak) in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the Breen have played a significant role throughout the franchise in the years since ... yet Trekkies still had to wait until now to actually see what lies underneath their distinctive helmets.

The advantage of never showing us a Breen's face, as it turns out, is that "Discovery" was able to hide one in plain sight all along.

So far, the addition of scavengers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) has felt like a shoe waiting to drop. The close-knit pair continue to frustrate Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the rest of the Discovery crew (nowhere more dramatically than in last week's time-traveling bottle episode ), remaining one step ahead of our heroes in their quest to recover whatever Progenitor technological treasure hides at the end of this galaxy-spanning rainbow. About midway through episode 5, titled "Mirrors," the writers unleashed their big twist. L'ak, thus far considered an unknown type of extraterrestrial, actually reveals himself as a Breen. Or, rather, an emotional Moll lets this information slip by accident during a particularly fraught moment. In the process, "Trek" finally unmasked its most enigmatic aliens.

Putting on a brave face (or two)

In the span of one episode, "Discovery" officially made "Star Trek" history.

Long treated as a mystery that left everything up to our own imaginations, the Breen reveal puts a specific face to what had previously only been a name ... actually, make that two faces. While Moll and L'ak come to a tense faceoff with Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) on board the mirror-universe version of the USS Enterprise while trapped in multidimensional space (it's a long story), the writers treat this as the perfect opportunity to delve into the scavengers' shared past. In a series of flashbacks, we find out that L'ak was part of the Breen royal family and disgraced by his powerful Primarch uncle. Hoping to earn his way back to his people's good graces, all his plans are upended by a torrid romance with then-courier Moll. With their backs against the wall and nowhere else to turn, the lovers choose their own path altogether and, along the way, L'ak reveals his most private aspect of himself: his Breen face.

Of course, the episode adds another twist and introduces the concept of the Breen having two  faces — a solid, corporeal form they can present to others if they so choose, and a more translucent one. (Really, it can only be described as  squishier. ) In fact, this creepy and altogether unique visage symbolizes a much more meaningful difference, as we learn when L'ak's uncle calls his chosen face an "insult to your heritage." Apparently, most Breen have moved beyond this "weak" form and consider this some sort of societal faux pas. In just a few minutes, we discover more about Breen culture than we've ever known before.

New episodes of "Star Trek: Discovery" stream every Thursday on Paramount+.

Giant Freakin Robot

Forgotten Star Trek: TNG Episode Filled With Original Series Easter Eggs

Posted: April 24, 2024 | Last updated: April 25, 2024

If most Star Trek: The Next Generation fans are being honest, they’d rather take a phaser blast to the face than watch the majority of the first season. However, depending on what you are looking for from the franchise, there are some real gems hiding inside some otherwise forgettable episodes. For example, “The Battle” isn’t really a great episode of The Next Generation, but it contains some great Easter eggs (including special effects and a different ship model in Picard’s Ready Room) referencing The Original Series.

Has it been a while since you watched this Star Trek episode, or maybe you’ve never had the dubious pleasure of seeing “The Battle?” Here’s a quick breakdown: in this episode, a Ferengi commander brings Captain Picard the derelict Stargazer, which Picard is happy to receive because this is the first ship he ever captained. It all turns out to be a ploy on the part of the Ferengi, who uses a strange orb to affect Picard’s mind and make him think he’s living in the past and that he must use his famous Picard Maneuver to defeat the Enterprise. 

Shut Up, Wesley

Much of this early Star Trek episode is painful to watch, and it even includes some particularly cringeworthy Wesley Crusher dialogue that Wil Wheaton is convinced turned the fandom against him. However, the episode is notable for giving us plenty of fascinating insights into Captain Picard’s early Starfleet career. If you know where to look, the episode also includes some great homages to The Original Series, something that was a real rarity in the early days of TNG.

What Kind Of Ship?

For example, Picard’s earlier ship Stargazer is a new design, and it is listed as a Constellation-class vessel. Originally, though, it was going to be a Constitution II-class vessel, allowing the show to re-use the Enterprise model from the early Star Trek films. The decision to change what class of ship this was came late in the production of “The Battle”, and the class name “Constellation” was chosen because it roughly matched the lips of LeVar Burton and Wil Wheaton, who are clearly saying “Constitution-class” in some of their scenes.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation producers were very committed at one point to making the Stargazer a Constitution-class vessel, and this was going to retroactively explain why Picard has what appears to be a silver model of a Constitution-class vessel in his Ready Room in “The Battle” and earlier episodes. After the decision was made to turn Picard’s original command into a Constellation-class vessel, however, that model was swapped out for the more familiar golden Stargazer model we see in future episodes.

Old School Warp

There is one more Original Series Easter egg hidden in this Star Trek episode, and it involves the famous Picard Maneuver. In “The Battle,” we find out this is a kind of slick warp speed tactic invented by Picard to win a showdown with an attacking Ferengi vessel. At one point, Picard takes the Stargazer into warp, and if you look closely, this vintage ship has the same warp speed effect from movies like The Wrath of Khan rather than the newer TNG warp effect.

We Never Said It Was A Good Story

Again, if you go into this Star Trek episode expecting great storytelling, you’re likely to be disappointed. However, if you approach “The Battle” as a chance to learn more about Picard’s career and to see some sly nods to the days of Captain Kirk, you’ll find plenty to love. 

By the way, if you love the episode enough to repeatedly watch it, can someone please explain how the heck the Picard Maneuver foils enemy ships’ sensors? I tried to get a former boy genius to explain it to me like I was 12, but Wil Wheaton never picks up the communicator when I call.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 Review: The Crew Solves Two of the Series’ Biggest Mysteries

While on the hunt for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's powerful alien technology, Captain Michael Burnham solves two decades-old franchise mysteries.

The following contains spoilers from Star Trek: Discovery, Season 5, Episode 5, "Mirrors."

One thing about Star Trek: Discovery fans is they are very observant. The big surprise in Season 5, Episode 5, "Mirrors," was slightly spoiled by the trailers, particularly when these eagle-eyed fans captured and examined screenshots. While the return of the ISS Enterprise after 58 years is a big deal, there is more that happens in the episode than solving an old mystery from Star Trek: The Original Series . However, the answer that Captain Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker uncover is a great one, and fans finally get a long-awaited first look at a mysterious alien species.

After dealing with the Time-Bug in the previous episode , the crew of the USS Discovery tries to figure out where Moll and L'ak disappeared to. While the space criminals have been very capable villains (almost too capable), they're not doing very well in the race. "Mirrors" marks the first time that Moll and L'ak put their hands onto one of the pieces of the Progenitors' puzzle before the Discovery crew. Of course, they aren't able to hold onto it for long after L'ak suffered a serious injury. Still, for the first time, both Burnham and Booker talk to their rivals, approaching them with the kind of compassion that Starfleet is known for. However, they still have to accomplish their mission, and L'ak's determination to be there for Moll gets in the way of any common ground they could've found. Thanks to flashbacks, viewers finally learn why the two are so eager to find this treasure, and where L'ak is coming from.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Continues To Put the USS Discovery in Classic Star Trek Situations

“mirrors” shows the crew rising to meet the challenge in classic star trek fashion, star trek: discovery's callum keith rennie shows a new side of starfleet.

From the lack of galaxy-ending stakes and major interpersonal drama among the crew, Season 5 is Stark Trek: Discovery at its most fun. This episode, in particular, is full of classic Star Trek moments, from forcing enemies to work together to sci-fi technobabble that provides a dramatic resolution to a major problem. The impetus for this race for the Progenitors' technology stems from Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Chase (Season 6, Episode 20)," but there are major connections to all eras of Gene Roddenberry's universe throughout the season.

While they don't get a lot of screentime, the USS Discovery's crew under Commander Rayner's authority is an equally interesting part of the episode. The recently-demoted captain is hesitant to take full command of the ship in a crisis. In "Jinaal (Season 5, Episode 3)," he took command while Burnham and the away team were down on the surface of Trill. Yet, as far as he knew, their lives and that of the crew weren't in serious danger. His focus was on finding Moll and L'ak, and personally connecting with the crew in 20 words or less. That's not to say that the stoic commander was above some of the series' most emotional beats.

An early scene in the episode, where Captain Burnham tells her new Number One that she believes in him, was subtle but touching . After Rayner showed that he studied Earth customs and sayings, such as "breaking the ice," Burnham returns the favor and cites a historical epic from the Kellerun people. This comes into play when she's able to reference that story later on as a distress call for herself and Book. Instead of badgering the crew, Rayner uses his newfound personal connections (and a friendly offer of Kellerun Citrus Mash) to inspire the crew to solve the problem. This was as classic a Star Trek moment as any, and one longtime franchise fans will surely love.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Reveals the Face of the Breen Imperium Through Moll and L'ak

Star trek fans have wondered what the breen looked like under their armor for decades, star trek: discovery's mary wiseman, wilson cruz and blu del barrio hype finale.

First introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the Breen Imperium was a galactic seat of power outside of Federation space who allied with the Dominion. The armored aliens look like something out of Star Wars , particularly their helmets, which were reminiscent of Princess Leia's Boussh disguise in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi . The Breen's appearance and who they really were was one of the most enduring mysteries in Star Trek canon. Even the Dominion didn't know what their Breen allies looked like under the armor. Star Trek: Discovery finally reveals the armor keeps their bodies in a translucent, almost liquid-like state. L'ak, as viewers have seen them, are what the Breen call their "other face."

Moll originally teamed up with L'ak to cheat the Imperium out of some faulty dilithium, a commodity that became scarce because of the Burn . They soon fell in love and when L'ak's uncle, the Primarch of the Sixth Fleet, found out, he ordered L'ak to kill Moll. He instead killed his uncle's guards, but spared the Primarch because, as L'ak said, "he raised me." This defiance earned him an "Erigah," a Breen bounty that is impossible to lift. He now hopes that bringing the Progenitors' technology to the Primarch will lift this death sentence.

Moll also bonded with her quasi-brother Cleveland Booker, though he's the fourth to use that name. Her father was the third Booker, which made him desperate to "save" Moll. Knowing that all she really wants is to live a quiet life, "Mirrors" could be the start of Moll and L'ak eventually joining forces with the USS Discovery crew. Captain Burnham is, after all, a big fan of second chances and redemption . If Season 5 is to have a big villainous threat, it will clearly be the Breen trying to collect on L'ak's Erigah, not two petty criminals.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Reveals What Happened to the Mirror Universe Enterprise

The iss enterprise was introduced in star trek: the original series “mirror, mirror (season 2, episode 4)”, star trek: discovery actors doug jones & david ajala prepare for their last adventure.

"Mirrors" also reveals another, older Star Trek secret, specifically the ultimate fate of the ISS Enterprise, formerly under the command of Tiberius Kirk . Previously, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Crossover (Season 2, Episode 23)" revealed what happened to the Mirror Spock and the Terran Empire. He started the revolution that Kirk suggested and was successful in conquering the Terran Empire to usher in galactic peace. Unfortunately, an alliance of Klingons and Cardassians attacked their weakened forces and took over the galaxy -- or at least the sector containing the Cardassian and Bajoran territory. The fate of Spock himself and his flagship was left open for other storytellers to explore.

Star Trek: Discovery still leaves Spock's ultimate fate an open question, though it seems unlikely that he would have fled his universe. His ship, however, became a refugee vessel for Terran reformers who fled, either in the face of Klingon-Cardassian attacks or a resurgence of the Terran Empire's xenophobic and warlike ways . Their goal was to cross over to the Prime Universe, where they knew the universe they hoped to build already existed. Along with Doctor Cho, the Federation scientist who hid the clue, the Mirror version of Saru (who also became a revolutionary) came with them. This placed the crossover sometime in the Kelpien lifespan, but close enough for Doctor Cho to still be alive. The use of the ship at all is mostly fan service, but it doesn't take away from the story's importance.

In Star Trek: Disocovery Season 3, a holographic interrogator told Philippa Georgiou, the former Terran Empress, that there was a subatomic "chimeric strain on the Terran stem cell" which explained their "evil" natures. Georgiou doubted this, and the ISS Enterprise's refugees are more evidence that the Empress was right. The ideal of Star Trek is that anyone welcomed into this utopian society would discover the logic and practicality of Federation morality, and thus abandon their more outdated worldviews. It obviously worked on Dr. Cho, who hid the clue to the Progenitors' technology instead of using it like a Terran out to reshape an ordered universe in their vainglorious image .

Moll & L'ak Are Bigger Wildcards Than Starfleet's 'New' Enterprise

Star trek: discovery season 5 suggests the uss discovery is headed for a confrontation with the breen imperium, star trek: discovery's sonequa martin-green embarks on one final voyage.

Thanks to the crew of the USS Discovery, the Federation is now in possession of a 23rd Century Constitution-class Terran warship. That said, its value is likely little more than that of an ancient relic from the Terran dimension. If anything, the dilithium left in the ship's stores is worth more than the rest of the ship's parts put together. However, one piece of it -- a warp-capable Terran life-support and escape vessel called a warpod -- disappeared with Moll and L'ak inside of it. The Breen's fate is an open question, but Moll will certainly return for the final piece of the puzzle. She doesn't have to solve the clues; she just has to follow Booker.

This episode is the middle point of Star Trek: Discovery 's final season , and the crew are just two pieces away from the full clue device. The race against Moll and L'ak will probably end in three episodes at most, leaving two for a different, more difficult mission. Whether or not L'ak survives, the Erigah placed on his head means that the Breen and the USS Discovery are headed for conflict. It's looking more likely that Star Trek: Discovery is going to go out with a big space battle. Star Trek is a sci-fi action-adventure story, too, which makes episodes like these even more special.

Star Trek: Discovery examines the kinds of big questions that Star Trek is supposed to. A happy ending for some of the "good" Terrans is reminiscent of how Picard brought the Borg into the Federation . In this universe, the heroes don't defeat their enemies; they convince them to become their allies. As Commander Hugh Culber and

Sylvia Tilly discussed in the lounge at the end of "Mirrors," the characters of this universe are essentially going to meet God, and not that phony one on Sha'Ka Ree. The fights ahead will be fun, but the biggest challenge facing Star Trek: Discovery from this episode onwards is making the discovery of the Progenitors' "prize" as meaningful as it needs to be.

Star Trek: Discovery debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

• Moll and L'ak get overdue screentime to tell their side of the story.
• Commander Rayner begins to find his place as a true member of the USS Discovery crew.
• The fate of Mirror Saru and the other Terrans is good Star Trek storytelling.
• Moll and L'ak's escape feels convenient, continuing the 'cards-down' approach to their telling story.
• The use of the ISS Enterprise could reasonably be called 'fan service' because the ship itself means nothing to the characters.
• The choice to keep the sequences on the ISS Enterprise so dark might be visually unappealing to some viewers.

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Original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise Model Is Found After Being Missing for Decades

The 33-inch model surfaced on eBay after disappearing around 1979. An auction house is giving it to the son of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

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By Emily Schmall

The first model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series , has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the creator of the series, decades after it went missing.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Mr. Roddenberry wrote on social media on Thursday.

For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed.

“Red alert,” someone in an online costume and prop-making forum wrote, linking to the listing.

Mr. Roddenberry’s father, Gene Roddenberry, created the television series, which first aired in 1966 and ran for three seasons. It spawned numerous spinoffs, several films and a franchise that has included conventions and legions of devoted fans with an avid interest in memorabilia.

The seller of the model was bombarded with inquiries and quickly took the listing down.

The seller contacted Heritage Auctions to authenticate it, the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said on Saturday. As soon as the seller, who said he had found it in a storage unit, brought it to the auction house’s office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Mr. Maddalena said he knew it was real.

“That’s when I reached out to Rod to say, ‘We’ve got this. This is it,’” he said, adding that the model was being transferred to Mr. Roddenberry.

Mr. Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said on Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution. He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

“Whoever borrowed it or misplaced it or lost it, something happened somewhere,” he said. “Where’s it been?”

It was unclear how the model ended up in the storage unit and who had it before its discovery.

The original U.S.S. Enterprise, a 33-inch model, was mostly made of solid wood by Richard C. Datin, a model maker for the Howard Anderson Company, a special-effects company that created the opening credits for some of the 20th century’s biggest TV shows .

An enlarged 11-foot model was used in subsequent “Star Trek” television episodes, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum , where it was donated by Paramount Studios in 1974.

Mr. Roddenberry, who said he gave the seller a “reward” for its recovery but did not disclose the terms, assembled a group of “Star Trek” production veterans, model makers and restoration specialists in Beverly Hills to authenticate the find.

The group included a “Star Trek” art supervisor, Michael Okuda, and his wife, Denise, an artist on “Star Trek” television series and films, and Gary Kerr, a “Trek x-pert” who served as technical consultant for the Smithsonian during a 2016 restoration of the 11-foot model.

“We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood,” Mr. Roddenberry said.

“It was a unanimous ‘This is 100 percent the one,’” he said.

Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991 , kept the original model, which appeared in the show’s opening credits and pilot episode, on his desk.

Mr. Kerr compared the model to 1960s photos he had of the model on Mr. Roddenberry’s desk.

“The wood grain matched exactly, so that was it,” he said on Saturday.

The model went missing after Mr. Roddenberry lent it to the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979, Mr. Maddalena said.

“This is a major discovery,” he said, likening the model to the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” a prop that was stolen in 2005 and recovered by the F.B.I. in 2018, and that Heritage Auctions is selling.

While the slippers represent hope, he said, the starship Enterprise model “represents dreams.”

“It’s a portal to what could be,” he said.

Emily Schmall covers breaking news and feature stories and is based in Chicago. More about Emily Schmall

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