Favorite Star Trek Villains Part 2

Hey, all. Here is the rest of the list. As you can probably tell below, there's a reason I split this thing into two parts.

7. The Romulans

The Romulans have been major villains for the franchise since the beginning. They are descended from Vulcans who left the planet long ago to forge a different path. Instead of logic, their prime motive is maintaining their own set of order through any means. They definitely like to spark up trouble especially when it involves the Federation and its allies. Their technology is on even on par with Stafleet’s.

There have been some standout moments involving the Romulans. There was Kirk’s encounter with  a cloaked Romulan ship in “Balance of Terror.” We had the Romulans trying to interrupt the creation of the Federation on Star Trek: Enterprise. Then, there’s all the stuff they did on TNG with the Federation’s relationship with the Klingons. The most standout moment for the Romulans would have to be from the rebooted movies series where a group of them travels back in time and wreck some serious havoc on Starfleet and Vulcan. What Worf said about them is true: “They are without honor.”

6. The Klingons 

Like the Romulans, The Klingons have been around since the beginning. They were primarily villains during the TOS era but that spans over to other eras too. They have a warrior culture that’s based on honor. Their ways tended to clash with the Federation’s culture. Kirk came up against them in the series and three movies, so they were pretty big. When we get to TNG and the other next-gen shows, the Klingons are allies of the Federation. That doesn’t stop a few from starting trouble though especially when Worf is concerned.

There are too many to list, so here are some of my favorite Klingons. We had the original Klingons like Kor and Kang from TOS who were pretty cool. There was Commander Kruge from The Search for Spock who caused Kirk’s son, David, to die. Then, there was General Chang from the sixth movie who teamed with members of Starfleet to keep peace from coming to the Federation and the Klingons. The Klingons who caused trouble in the next-gen era were the Duras sisters and Gowron . You’d be shocked to know that Lursa and B’Etor took down the Enterprise-D. In the end, you can’t estimate the Klingons.

5. Gul Dukat

Gul Dukat was the main Cardassian antagonist for DS9. While you had some Cardassians here and there, Dukat was the big one for us. He was praetor on Terok Nor during the occupation of Bajor. Afterwards, he’d use his political ways to make stuff better for himself. While he had a noble side to him, all of that went out of the window after the Cardassians joined the Dominion. After Starfleet re-took DS9 and his daughter died, Dukat really went off into the deep end with his hatred toward the Bajorans and Sisko.

What made Dukat such a good villain was that he that he was complex. As I said above, he had a noble, charismatic side. He showed it with Sisko and his crew a few times. Still, there was that darker side to him. The side that housed his hate and greed ultimately won out with him. Mark Alamo did some good things with the character during the show’s run. His contention with Sisko and others was one of the things that made the show so good. 

4. Starfleet

Before anyone says anything, hear me out. Sometimes, internal conflict can make for some good stories. We definitely got that in Star Trek. I’m not talking about folk who went mad or were under mind control either.  I’m talking people in Starfleet who took it upon themselves to do some devious acts. They end up committing these acts in order to supposedly protect the Federation and Starfleet. It gave the idea that while humanity has gotten their stuff together, you’ll still have some who’ll go into those gray and dark areas to win.

There aren’t many officers, but most of them made an impression. We had Admiral Satie from TNG’s “The Drumhead” who would use anything to find so-called corruption in Starfleet. There were the conspirators from the sixth movie who allied with the Klingons to hinder peace between their species. We had Admiral Leyton and a few other higher officials try to stage a coup on Earth when the Dominion started to make plays in the Alpha Quadrant. There was the USS Equinox, another starship lost in the Delta Quadrant, which made unethical decisions in order to make it home. Then, there’s Section 31, a hidden organization in Starfleet, who’ll go to dark places in order to help Starfleet. We even had Captain Sisko break some rules in order to get the Romulans on their side in the Dominion War. Starfleet may be on the side of the angels, but there are moments where they’ll go dark.

3. Khan

Yeah, you know he’d show up. Khan Noonian Singh was a genetically engineered superman who waged war on Earth in the 1990’s… I must have missed that. He and others like him escaped into space where they were eventually found frozen 300 years later by Kirk and crew. Of course, Khan was still a maniac and tried to take over the Enterprise. He failed and he and his followers were exiled to Ceti Alpha V. 15 years later, he and his remaining followers escaped the planet and tried to enact vengeance on Kirk.

Khan gets put at the top of these lists and it’s easy to see why. He had such a commanding, cool, and maniacal presence on TOS and in Wrath of Khan. It was cool that the team brought Ricardo Montalblon to play the character in the movie.  While he was cool in “Space Seed,” he gets leveled up in the movie. His vengeance drives him to do some terrible things. His people take over the USS Reliant and cause havoc on a starbase and the Enterprise.  It was Khan who ultimately caused Spock to sacrifice himself at the end of the movie. If there’s anything that going to get Khan on this list, it’ll be that and Montolabon’s awesome performance.

2. The Dominion

If the Borg are an unmovable object, then the Dominion is an unstoppable force.  Introduced on DS9, they hail from the Gamma Quadrant.  The Dominion is a organization of species that basically want everything under their thumb. It’s headed by the Founders, the race of shapeshifters that Constable Odo belongs to. Under their wing are two genetically engineered races: the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar. The Vorta handle the diplomatic side of things while the Jem’Hadar are the brutal soldiers that look to the Founders as gods.

The Dominion was cool for a lot of reasons. Not only did they fight with might, they used some dirty tactics against the major powers in the Alpha Quadrant. The Founders would use their shape-shifting ability to cause distrust, make friends into enemies, and make some of the best of Starfleet do uncharacteristic acts. They’d also make alliances with some races in the quadrant. The biggest ones were the Cardassians and the Breen. The Dominion was one of the biggest threats to the Alpha quadrant. The entirety of the Dominion War was pretty cool to see and made DS9 one of the best of the Trek shows.

1. The Borg

When it comes to hoarding things and making them their own, the Borg win that battle in spades. They are a cybernetic species that live in the Delta Quadrant. While their origins are unknown, their purpose is always clear: assimilating entire worlds and cultures into their own. The strip away all individuality and force you to be a part of the Collective. They tried to take over Earth twice and while they didn’t succeed, their prescience made a mark on the Alpha Quadrant and the Federation. They also showed up on Star Trek Voyager when Voyager made it to Borg space.

They’re at this point on the list for a few reasons. The Borg are that immovable object with thousands of drones on just one Borg cube. Their technology is so advanced and their ability to adapt to weapons makes them hard to beat. They can’t be bartered with unless they want something in return. They are also pretty unique in that it is all one mind that’s controlling it. Yes, the Borg Queen wasn’t the best thing about the Borg, but she at least looks the part. The Borg also affected the lives of people like Captain Picard, Captain Sisko, and Seven of Nine. They are truly one of Trek’s deadliest enemies.

Well, that’s where I have to end the list. Will the new Trek show coming in 2017 house good villains? I hope so since the better the villains are, the cooler our heroes have to be. Well, that works some of the time. If you have any favorites I left off, let me know. I have one more post left regarding Star Trek and then I’ll be done… for now anyway. Until then, Peace and God Bless.