Take Away One Character From Each Series

[Oddish]

The rules of the exercise are simple... the game is that you must choose a primary character from each series that if you ABSOLUTELY HAD to get rid of one character (either they leave in the first season of just have them never there to begin with), that's the one you'd choose.

- You may choose to have no opinion for a series you don't know well, but assume for the sake of this argument that if you don't present a character, one will be deleted at random.
- Note that characters in streaming series who were not in every season have not been included. Hence the short lists for DIS and PIC. However, characters in classic series have been included.
- If you delete Dax, you delete both versions.
- You can remove Worf from one series but not the other, if you choose. Or both, if you really don't like Klingons.
- You may explain your answer as much or as little as you choose.
- Since ST and VST are unique and don't have recurring characters, I saw no point in including them.
- I'll post my answers later; I'm on a library computer..
- If there's a major character I've forgotten, or one I left out but you feel I should have included, feel free to let me know.

Here are the options...

TOS
Kirk
Spock
McCoy
Scotty
Sulu
Uhura
Chekhov
Chapel

TAS
Kirk
Spock
McCoy
Scotty
Sulu
Uhura
Arex
M'Ress
Chapel

TNG
Picard
Riker
Data
Troi
Beverly
Wesley
Worf
Geordi

DS9
Sisko
Kira
O'Brien
Bashir
Dax
Jake
Odo
Quark
Worf

VOY
Janeway
Chakotay
Tuvok
Neelix
EMH
Paris
B'Elanna
Kim
Kes
Seven

ENT
Archer
Trip
T'Pol
Hoshi
Mayweather
Reed
Phlox

DIS
Burnham
Saru
Tilly
Stamets
Culber
Book
Adira
Georgieu

PIC
Picard
Seven
Raffi
Rios
Jurati

LD
Mariner
Boimler
Rutherford
Tendi
Freeman
Ransom
Shaxxs
T'Ana

PRO
Dal
Gwyn
Jankem
Zero
Rok-Tak
Murf
Holo-Janeway

SNW
Pike
Una
Spock
M'Benga
Chapel
La'an
Uhura
Ortega

 

[Tosk]

TOS - Chekov. Last in, first out.
TAS - Arex. His voice annoys me.
TNG - Wesley. I don't care how much of an obvious answer it is.
DS9 - Worf. I think Worf was better on DS9 than he was on TNG, but they got along fine without him so it's an easy drop.
VOY - Probably Paris? He's certainly not the first one that comes to mind, but if I drop Paris maybe I get to avoid all those awful Holodeck creations of his.
ENT - Not to be mean, but Mayweather. It's like he wasn't there anyway.
DIS - Culber. I've got nothing against him, but he did get killed off anyway, so...
PIC - Seven gets to stay only because I dislike Raffi and the candidates are so few.
LDS - I'll have to go with Shaxs, if only because as with Culber he did get killed off already.
PRO - Murf. Simply because he brings the least to it.
SNW - Ortegas. She's the Mayweather of SNW in multiple ways.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

TOS: Chapel. The women were generally weak on the show, but Barrett wasn't very good.
TNG: Riker. Big props to Frakes on the production side. I can't imagine the franchise without him, but I would expect he could have done more for it behind the camera after the second season.
DS9: Worf. Great additional, but the show could have gone on without him.
VOY: Chakotay. He could have been replaced by a plank of wood. He was very disappointing as the first Latino regular.
ENT: Hoshi. Great in episodes that she was featured, but often relegated to boilerplate dialogue.
Disco: Detmer. A not so great actor. Her input is just low grade.
PIC: Seven. The character has been a stalking horse. Hugh should have been the incoming Borg character AND the LGBT representation.
LDX: Ransom. The character is funny, but often plays no important roles in stories.
Prodigy: Chakotay. I haven't seen him on the show yet, but if it's still Beltran, ...
SNW: Number One. I must have it in for XOs. It doesn't feel that the character has much to do, and the courtroom episode focused on her reminded me too much of the hearing over Dax.

 

[Oddish]

TOS - Chekhov. None of the four non-big 3 ones seemed that indispensable in the series. Of them, Sulu and Uhura and Chekhov are all possibilities. But I enjoyed Sulu trashing that lummox of a guard, and I'm not removing the only woman in the group. So, sorry, Pavel.

TAS - I haven't seen enough TAS episodes to make a fair comparison.

TNG - Because he left the series so early, Wes is the instinctive choice... but I'm picking Deanna. She was pretty meh to me, didn't start to grow on me until "Insurrection"

DS9 - Worf arrived late, but... I'm going with Bashir. I liked his friendship with Miles, but he's still the weakest link, albeit in a set of very strong links.

VOY - They made it a choice between Kes and Seven. But I'd rather keep them both and dump either Harry or Chakotay. Neither of the two saw much in the way of development. Harry is tempting, because it would settle one of the show's most annoying issues. But given that everything about Chakotay was created by a charlatan, I'm picking him. Only thing I liked about him was his chemistry with Janeway, and that wasn't going to happen.

ENT - Mayweather is the obvious choice. His space boomer background could have been very interesting, but they clearly had no idea what to do with him. Or any other intriguing premise a prequel provided.

DIS - Of the five recurring characters that I know of... I liked Saru's style, I felt a kinship with Tilly, and I'm still surprised how cute I found Stamets and Culber as a couple. Maybe the reason I couldn't get into DIS was I wasn't really interested by the protagonist.

PIC - I liked Raffi. But I liked Picard and Seven more.

LD - Ransom. I liked Freeman's long-suffering captain, Shaxx's bombastic nature was awesome, and T'Ana... well, cats make everything better. And of course all the Lower Deckers are safe.

PRO - This was another toughie. Of course my favorite characters (Murf, Rok-tak, and holo-Janeway) are safe. Of the remaining four, I think Zero made the least impact on me.

SNW - My instinct is to avoid canon characters, and I didn't want to get rid of a male character because there are so few... but I really like La'an's mix of toughness and vulnerability, and I adore Ortega's sass. Main thing I remember about M'benga was he had his kid in the transporter, and that was resolved too quickly. So... I guess he's the unlucky one.

 

[drt]

If there's a major character I've forgotten, or one I left out but you feel I should have included, feel free to let me know.

Curious why you had the “needed to be in every season” stipulation for the streaming shows? For instance, while both are only in two seasons of a three season show, Rios is in 60% of the PIC episodes, while Chekov is only in 45% of TOS.

I’d maybe have also included Chapel in TOS, she’s in almost 1/3 of the episodes, which is more than I think most people realize.

 

[Orphalesion]

Hmmmm

TOS
Chekov and "Scotty" are really two characters I can't stand. But it's difficult To choose which one I'd rather remove. So I flipped a coin and went with Chekov no more "x vas inwented in Rashah!"
TNG
Difficult. And I suppose you won't let me remove Q. I think I'm gonna go with Riker. I never particularly liked him and if I remove him a "better" character could replace him. But I'd still rather remove Q.
DS9
Worf. Shoving him and even more Klingon crap than we already had in TNG into DS9 was unnecessary.
VOY
The Doctor. Sorry, I hate that guy. Kes can be the doctor.
ENT
Archer. Is there a worse Captain in Star Trek in concept or execution (as in writing)
PIC
Rios.
LD
Difficult. I like them all. I guess Ransom is the most disposable of all.
SNW
Very difficult, I like them all too. I guess I go with La'an.

 

[Cyfa]

TOS : Kirk, because I find Shatner's hammy acting too much to take, never mind believe (not that it was always hammy, but there was enough to be annoying). I'd have him leave at the end of season 1 so he could return for ST II, III & IV (because I rather liked his performance in the TOS trilogy).

TAS : I'm going to nick @Crazy 4 Xmas Lights answer "I haven't seen enough TAS episodes to make a fair comparison" (although, from what little I've seen, I find M'Ress's purring voice annoying - I can't stand people making cat noises, I don't know why?)

TNG : Geordi, because I find him pretty pointless and annoying.

DS9 : Worf really came into his own on DS9, but I just can't take away any of the original cast as they're all so awesome, so Worf will have to stick with TNG for me.

VOY : Harry! Easy. Next!

ENT : Archer. Scott Bakula is amazing, but Archer is all over the place. I'd have Archer heroically killed off late in season one and then T'Pol takes over.

DIS : Burnham. As with Archer, killed off, but this time in the opening two-parter leaving the first officer position (or captain's chair) open for Saru.

PIC : Picard, then perhaps this show as is wouldn't exist which would leave a space for something far less self-indulgent with most of the rest of the cast.

LDS : Another very difficult choice as I love ALL the main cast, but I'll go with keeping Shaxs dead at the end of season one. (If Migleemo was a main character, he would never have existed for me - I find him annoying and pointless)

PRO : Murf, because I find it/them annoying. Crikey, "annoying" seems to be my default reason for offing characters!

SNW : M'Benga. I've never warmed to him, and he's done some extremely questionable things, so I think I'd have him written out some time in season one.

 

[Paul755]

TOS - Chekov

TAS - Arex

TNG - Troi. At best she should have been a recurring character like O’Brien, Guinan or Barclay. The ships councilor having an important seat on the bridge…eh…

DS9 - very tough because the cast is so intertwined. I would pick Quark because you could split his stories/relationships between other characters easier than the others. Rom runs the bar, Nog is secretly in love with Dax, Odo is always after Garak, etc…

VOY - very tough because there are too many options. The only ones you can’t lose are Janeway, Seven and The Doctor. Flipping a coin here I land on Harry.

Enterprise - Reed. Not that he was story heavy but I think eliminating him gives more of a chance for Mayweather and Hoshi to develop. Besides, wasn’t the plan for S5 to replace him with Shran anyway?

Disco - Tilly. Other than being Burnhams bestie she felt redundant. Probably why she was shuffled off screen in S3/4

Picard - Seven

Lower Decks - Ransom

Prodigy - Murf.

SNW - Uhura. It’s nothing against the actress. I just think she should be playing an original character not a legacy character. I’m not all that interested in Uhura: Origins.

 

[BillJ]

TOS - Easy, Chekov. He served no real purpose that couldn't be covered by the "navigator of the week".

TNG - Tougher, but I'm going with Riker. He went from driven starship captain (which was good) to Picard's administrative assistant (which was bad).

DS9 - Kira. Visitor just does nothing for me, and Kira was the whiniest freedom fighter in the galaxy.

VOY - Since they got rid of Kes, I'll go with Kim, which is a no-brainer.

ENT - Sato. She was just so generic.

DIS - Burnham. The writing just didn't serve her very well, from my POV.

Lower Decks - They are all very enjoyable, I wouldn't change a thing.

Picard - Uh, Picard. Stewart's acting chops aren't what they once were and this is another example of the writing letting a character down.

Prodigy - The Brikar that sounds like a baby. It is just irritating.

Strange New Worlds - Uhura. Way too young of a character to have such an outsized role.

 

[Oddish]

Curious why you had the “needed to be in every season” stipulation for the streaming shows? For instance, while both are only in two seasons of a three season show, Rios is in 60% of the PIC episodes, while Chekov is only in 45% of TOS.

I’d maybe have also included Chapel in TOS, she’s in almost 1/3 of the episodes, which is more than I think most people realize.

Added them to the list.

 

[FederationHistorian]

@Crazy 4 Xmas Lights , a couple of oversights.

You have Rios listed, but not Jurati, when they were in PIC for the same amount of time. And you don’t have Georgiou, Book and Adira listed for DIS even though they were mains for back-to-back seasons.

As for my list...

TOS: Chapel. At least Chekov had a purpose of Russian representation in a future where all of humanity coexisted in peace – important during the Cold War - despite Chekov doing nothing a redshirt couldn’t do. Chapel was a weak character. Her role and story arcs could have been filled by M’Benga or Rand.

TAS: Again Chapel. We would still have Majel Barrett being the voice of M’Ress. Maybe we’d get an appearance from Number One on the show if Chapel was gone. And who know, maybe Number One ends up in the TOS moves afterward.

TNG: Troi. Troi’s just redundant once Guinan arrives. Guinan performed the same role Troi did as a bartender and did a better job as a counselor. So, Troi would transfer to the USS Hood or another starship at the end of the first season.

DS9: Jake Sisko. Jake appeared the least in the show, despite Jake being a main character. His various appearances could have been filled by extended members of the Sisko family.

VOY: Even though Kes did nothing for me, it would have been interesting to see her full lifespan go for the entire duration of the show. So, I’ll go with Chakotay. There was no point for Chakotay to be on the show outside the first two seasons. With Chakotay gone at the end of the first season, the rest of the bridge senior staff can all be promoted. And it opens the door for someone else to lead a Maquis mutiny.

ENT: Reed. His backstory, story arcs and close friendship with Trip could have been given to Mayweather and Sato.It would have led to a much richer show.

DIS: Tilly. Aside from the Captain Killy persona in the mirror, Tilly did nothing for me. She should have been a casualty of the Klingon war.

PIC: Picard. Could have moved on from Picard from S1 (he survives S1 and does not get the synth body in my iteration) and kept Seven, Jurati, Rios, Raffi & Elnor around while focusing on other legacy characters like Riker, Janeway or Sisko for the other two seasons. The only thing is the show probably would not be called Picard.

LD: Ransom. He’s the most expendable one of a strong cast.

PRO: Dal. He’s the one character on the show I did not take to.

SNW: M’Benga. His accent is thick, and I don’t understand half of what he says. The fact I’m usually used to such thick accents and I still can’t understand him makes it worse.

 

[ananta]

Maybe a teensy bit mean spirited for the festive season but I can’t resist

TOS
Chapel - this one was easy. I have nothing against Chapel and I like having Majel a regular presence on the show, but Chapel was just kind of…there, and had a rather one-note characterisation (ie, her unrequited love for Spock. She really needed to get on whatever equivalent the Enterprise had for Tinder, because that really just wasn’t happening).

TAS
M'Ress - sorry again, Majel, but the vocal performance really annoys me and is unintentionally funny. ”Hailing frequencies meeeeoooooowwwpen!”

TNG
Wesley - I was almost going to choose Beverly because I much preferred Pulaski as a character and actress. But Wesley didn’t add much to the show and gave it a kind of kiddy show feel.

DS9
Worf - I like Worf and felt he added to the show, but I’m choosing him because the first three seasons weee quite fine without him.

VOY
Neelix - just too easy. A watered down, cloying VOY answer to Quark, but utterly irritating and a controlling, unpleasant creep in his relationship with Kes.

ENT
Mayweather - I tend to forget he even existed. Complete non-entity of a character. Entirely the writers/showrunners’ fault.

DIS
Culber - I like Culber, he’s just the least essential of the characters listed. If you’d listed the entire cast I’d have picked Adira because I find the character and performance quite flat and unengaging.

PIC
Raffi - I like her more than most but I could still live without her. If you’d listed the entire cast I’d probably have picked Agnes, who literally got away with murder.

LD
Mariner- even though she has mellowed considerably, thank the Prophets, I still find her insufferable and perhaps the most obnoxious Trek character who ever existed.

PRO
Murf - cute, but inessential. I didn’t like his redesign.

SNW
Ortegas - the definition of smug, although she’s growing on me, there’s still too much smirking and not much else to the character.

 

[Relayer1]

TOS
Sulu- reluctantly, but badly underused Uhura was still ground breaking.

TAS
Chapel - not a vital inclusion.

TNG
Wesley - love Will, hated Rodenberry's mini-me.

DS9
Dax - reluctantly

VOY
Janeway
Tuvok
I can't stand them - gotta be both, sorry !

ENT
Mayweather - way underused.

DIS
Tilly - reluctantly, but someone's got to go.

PIC
Raffi - I'm not a fan.

LD
Every last godawful one of them.

PRO
Holo-Janeway - Mulgrew again.

SNW
Ortega - short straw, sorry !

 

[maneth]

TOS
Chekov: Last in, first out. I was tempted to say Chapel, but there are so few women in significant roles in TOS that I can't do it.

TAS
No comment, as I haven't seen it.

TNG
I'm going to cheat and say Pulaski, she replaced Dr. Crusher for a whole season, after all. But I never liked her.

DS9
O'Brien's the one I'd get rid of. There were a lot of O'Brien-centric episodes, but none of them were really significant, IMO.

VOY
Neelix, no question. The guy's a creep.

ENT
Mayweather. He was the pretty boy who never had anything significant to do on the show.

I can't comment on the more recent shows because I haven't seen them yet.

 

[Oddish]

You have Rios listed, but not Jurati, when they were in PIC for the same amount of time. And you don’t have Georgiou, Book and Adira listed for DIS even though they were mains for back-to-back seasons.

That's why I asked you guys to suggest any characters who I left out who should have been included. Especially for Discovery, which I haven't watched much of.

 

[Oddish]

Raffi - I like her more than most but I could still live without her. If you’d listed the entire cast I’d probably have picked Agnes, who literally got away with murder.

Another player suggested including her, since she was a regular for two of the three seasons. So she's on the list now.

 

[Brennyren]

TOS
Chapel. Sorry, even in the 60s the woman hopelessly in love with the aloof guy who didn't notice was already a cliché. (Dr. Julia Hoffman sends her regards.)

TAS
Arex was mainly just a bit of alien visual color; there was nothing unique about his personality.

TNG
Riker. Frakes has grown on me in recent years, but his character always struck me as Commander Whitebread.

DS9
Dax, I think. But to be fair, this was a pretty strong core group. I don't think she was a bad character, but the others were better.

VOY
Kes. She could have been an interesting character if properly developed. But she wasn't.

ENT
Archer. Bakula plays a great everyman, but he was miscast as a starship captain.

DIS
I just find Tilly irritating.

PIC
Picard. I think Cyfa said it best with the words "self-indulgent." And this does not feel like the captain I used to love.

LD
I can't pick; I really can't. If you held me at phaser point, I guess maybe (throws dart at board) T'Ana.

PRO
I feel like Murf is more of a plot device than a character.

SNW
Chapel, because if she wasn't there we wouldn't have to deal with the soap-opera backstory of her feelings for Spock.

 

[fireproof78]

TOS
Chekhov-could have been used far better, as a security chief, or other specialist. Instead tries too hard as a comedy foil.

TAS
Chapel

TNG
Troi-sadly, just poor realized character, with a very surface level understanding of mental health counseling in any form. Like Spock, powers seemed to come and go and never really solidified.

DS9
Quark-despite being handled better later on, early on Quark was a scoundrel, with no redeeming qualities to make him appealing. A foil against Odo and not a fun one.

VOY
Chakotay-walking stereotype of misinformation.
ENT
Reed-hate to say it, because he is my favorite character of this crew, but really could have used that time with other characters to develop them.

DIS
Book-underwhelming at times.

PIC
Jurati-at times poorly defined, but often just felt like a tagalong character until plot needed.

LD
Ransom-just an odd character. Probably on purpose.

PRO
Zero-not my favorite character. Dal close second though.

SNW
La'an-this character had potential and it was squandered.

 

[Jedi Marso]

The rules of the exercise are simple... the game is that you must choose a primary character from each series that if you ABSOLUTELY HAD to get rid of one character (either they leave in the first season of just have them never there to begin with), that's the one you'd choose.

- You may choose to have no opinion for a series you don't know well, but assume for the sake of this argument that if you don't present a character, one will be deleted at random.
- Note that characters in streaming series who were not in every season have not been included. Hence the short lists for DIS and PIC. However, characters in classic series have been included.
- If you delete Dax, you delete both versions.
- You can remove Worf from one series but not the other, if you choose. Or both, if you really don't like Klingons.
- You may explain your answer as much or as little as you choose.
- Since ST and VST are unique and don't have recurring characters, I saw no point in including them.
- I'll post my answers later; I'm on a library computer..
- If there's a major character I've forgotten, or one I left out but you feel I should have included, feel free to let me know.

Here are the options...

TOS

Chapel

TAS

Chapel

TNG

Wesley

DS9

Jake


VOY

EMH

ENT

Reed


DIS

No preference (Don't watch)

PIC

Raffi


LD

No preference (Don't watch)

PRO

No preference (Don't watch)

SNW

Uhura (Love the actress but the character's appearance is 'too early')

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm waiting for someone to suggest that both Tuvok and Neelix could be combined, eliminating to arguably weak characters.