Rank all the villians in the Star Trek movies

[JaxsBrokenHeart]

The more times I've watched Star Trek III, the more I've realized why I like Kruge and why stands out to me. In comparison to the others, he wasn't a a bitter enemy looking for revenge (Khan, Nero) a mysterious entity doing damage to Earth (V'Ger, Whale Probe), or even a damaged individual with tragedy in their past going to extreme measures (Shinzon, Soran). He's just a heartless dickhead who wants Genesis Device for its own sake. Its kind of nice to see a villain who you can just watch be an asshole without having to go into some deep backstory.

 

[Jeyl]

The more times I've watched Star Trek III, the more I've realized why I like Kruge and why stands out to me. In comparison to the others, he wasn't a a bitter enemy looking for revenge (Khan, Nero) a mysterious entity doing damage to Earth (V'Ger, Whale Probe), or even a damaged individual with tragedy in their past going to extreme measures (Shinzon, Soran). He's just a heartless dickhead who wants Genesis Device for its own sake. Its kind of nice to see a villain who you can just watch be an asshole without having to go into some deep backstory.

I also loved how ST3 played out like two separate stories that involve both Kirk and Kruge. I like how Kruge has no knowledge of Kirk except that he was involved with the project Genesis and that Kirk had no idea that Kruge was even there. Giving both of these characters screen time where they do some pretty important things (Kirk stealing the Enterprise, Kruge destroying Grissom and capturing David, Saavik and Spock) just made the build up to their confrentation all the better.

And when the two of them finally meet, it's dark, gritty and ruthless. Kruge really is one of the most unique villains of Star Trek.

 

[The Dominion]

What makes Khan so awesome, is that he's the perfect antagonist counterpart to Shatner's Kirk.

 

[cooleddie74]

I used to not like Kruge(ST III)that much because he was(obviously)Reverend Jim or Doc Emmett Brown in Klingon makeup. Even the voice was completely unchanged. I kept expecting him to sputter some line about not wanting to drive a cab tonight...or go "Great Scott!!!" But over the years he's grown on me. He's an acceptable and even semi-great villain in my eyes. He's not the prototypical Klingon warrior spouting tired lines about honor and duty. He's more like a TOS Klingon. Nasty, giving a rat's ass about some concept of honor and hellbent on acquiring a powerful weapon that he will decide how to use.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

"ONE MILLION GIGAWATS!!!"

Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway...

The probe and V'ger were also good concepts. I liked how the Probe wasn't wanting to kill, just wanted to send a message to Earth.

Kinda makes you wish humans would stop hunting whales too...

 

[cooleddie74]

V'Ger gets flak from some Trekkers for being "Nomad on Steroids," but the combination of then-cutting-edge and eerie visual effects, Jerry Goldsmith's creepy score and the sheer power displayed by V'Ger when facing the Klingons and the Enterprise just sold me on the concept. I could buy that V'Ger was a monstrous spaceship encircled by a dangerous energy cloud...and that it could lay waste to the earth at one fell swoop should it decide to do so.

While not a villain in the normal definition of the word and its motivations could hardly be called evil in a moral sense, it was one of the most intimidating adversaries to ever appear in *any* STAR TREK story...big screen or small.

 

[DarKush]

Just about every enemy in TFF should've gotten more explanation, really. Would've made up for a godawful (irresistable pun) storyline.

The novelization, which I read first before seeing the film, at least gives you more backstory for Sybok, and if I recall you get a little more development of Klaa but not much. It's because I regard the novelization so highly that I judge the film so softly.

 

[DarKush]

I used to not like Kruge(ST III)that much because he was(obviously)Reverend Jim or Doc Emmett Brown in Klingon makeup. Even the voice was completely unchanged. I kept expecting him to sputter some line about not wanting to drive a cab tonight...or go "Great Scott!!!" But over the years he's grown on me. He's an acceptable and even semi-great villain in my eyes. He's not the prototypical Klingon warrior spouting tired lines about honor and duty. He's more like a TOS Klingon. Nasty, giving a rat's ass about some concept of honor and hellbent on acquiring a powerful weapon that he will decide how to use.

I didn't care for Kruge first either. He didn't seem growly enough or something. But after watching his performance over the years, I came to appreciate Kruge as the forerunner of the TNG-VOY Klingons; heck even the ENT Klingons. Though I do think he talked about honor, perhaps not as much as the TNG on Klingons did.

 

[cooleddie74]

Shinzon had the genesis of being a very, very good villain...but his background was so poorly explained(where did the Romulans get Picard's DNA and when? The Empire was in a state of isolation from the Federation until 2364...are we to buy that Shinzon was only about fifteen standard years old but the product of some sort of accelerated maturation and aging process to get him ready as quickly as possible for insertion into Starfleet?)that he never came off as interesting and multi-dimensional as a clone of the great Jean-Luc Picard should have been. Shinzon had a few good lines and Tom Hardy was able to make him appropriately creepy in some scenes...but he could have been so much more. Much like the movie itself. One big collection of missed opportunities.

 

[Uxi]

1. Khan
2. General Chang
3. Kruge
4. Borg Queen
5. Dr. Soran
6. V'ger
7. "fake God"
8. Nero
9. Shinzon
10. Ru'afo

 

[Uxi]

Just about every enemy in TFF should've gotten more explanation, really. Would've made up for a godawful (irresistable pun) storyline.

The novelization, which I read first before seeing the film, at least gives you more backstory for Sybok, and if I recall you get a little more development of Klaa but not much. It's because I regard the novelization so highly that I judge the film so softly.

Agreed. I most like the Hall of Ancient Thought and the Kolinahru connections to STII-IV with the Vulcan stuff and also the connections to STVI Klingons.

None of which made it to the movie.

 

[cooleddie74]

Just about every enemy in TFF should've gotten more explanation, really. Would've made up for a godawful (irresistable pun) storyline.

The novelization, which I read first before seeing the film, at least gives you more backstory for Sybok, and if I recall you get a little more development of Klaa but not much. It's because I regard the novelization so highly that I judge the film so softly.

Agreed. I most like the Hall of Ancient Thought and the Kolinahru connections to STII-IV with the Vulcan stuff and also the connections to STVI Klingons.

None of which made it to the movie.

Plus we got an explanation as to how the Enterprise-A was able to reach the Great Barrier so quickly(warp modifications that Scotty found to be absolutely stunning). If you haven't read the Dillard novelization you'd think that the galaxy was much smaller than previously thought...or that the new Enterprise was a HELLUVA lot faster than anyone imagined.

 

[Uxi]

The novelization, which I read first before seeing the film, at least gives you more backstory for Sybok, and if I recall you get a little more development of Klaa but not much. It's because I regard the novelization so highly that I judge the film so softly.

Agreed. I most like the Hall of Ancient Thought and the Kolinahru connections to STII-IV with the Vulcan stuff and also the connections to STVI Klingons.

None of which made it to the movie.

Plus we got an explanation as to how the Enterprise-A was able to reach the Great Barrier so quickly(warp modifications that Scotty found to be absolutely stunning). If you haven't read the Dillard novelization you'd think that the galaxy was much smaller than previously thought...or that the new Enterprise was a HELLUVA lot faster than anyone imagined.

Also the shield modifications to survive the passage. I still think we'd be better off with a retcon that the prison world was something in the great barrier at the edge of the galaxy (already seen a couple times in TOS and established as dangerous and relatively accessible). They could have even tossed a reference to the "fake God" as having been the one to influence Gary Mitchell, if not shown a flashback or something...

 

[cooleddie74]

Agreed. I most like the Hall of Ancient Thought and the Kolinahru connections to STII-IV with the Vulcan stuff and also the connections to STVI Klingons.

None of which made it to the movie.

Plus we got an explanation as to how the Enterprise-A was able to reach the Great Barrier so quickly(warp modifications that Scotty found to be absolutely stunning). If you haven't read the Dillard novelization you'd think that the galaxy was much smaller than previously thought...or that the new Enterprise was a HELLUVA lot faster than anyone imagined.

Also the shield modifications to survive the passage. I still think we'd be better off with a retcon that the prison world was something in the great barrier at the edge of the galaxy (already seen a couple times in TOS and established as dangerous and relatively accessible). They could have even tossed a reference to the "fake God" as having been the one to influence Gary Mitchell, if not shown a flashback or something...

Agreed. When I first saw TFF in 1989 I thought for a few moments that the Great Barrier was the energy field we had already seen several times on TOS...it wasn't until a few scenes later that I realized it was something completely different, this one being at the center of the Milky Way rather than ringing the edge. It would have been a nice piece of continuity with the original show, but alas we got a new energy barrier and had to make do with it. And the crappy "swirling paint" f/x used to depict it didn't help matters any.

 

[Caligula]

1. Khan
2. The Borg*
3. Kruge
4. Chang
5. Soran
6. Borg Queen*
7. "God"
8. Ru'Afo
9. Shinzon

* - I consider the Borg, as originally conceived pre-"I, Borg" and more importantly in FC prior to the Queen's intro to be a much scarier villain than the Queen herself. Plus, she loses points for the retcon of her having "been there all along" in TBoBW and for contributing to the Borg's being downgraded as a credible threat to the Federation in her subsequent appearances (never mind that these appearances were on Voyager).

 

[cooleddie74]

* - I consider the Borg, as originally conceived pre-"I, Borg" and more importantly in FC prior to the Queen's intro to be a much scarier villain than the Queen herself. Plus, she loses points for the retcon of her having "been there all along" in TBoBW and for contributing to the Borg's being downgraded as a credible threat to the Federation in her subsequent appearances (never mind that these appearances were on Voyager).

Yet one more reason to rank VOYAGER as the weakest of all the STAR TREK series. The show managed to play a leading role in defanging and wussifying what is arguably the most threatening and the scariest alien race in TREK history. Voyager spends seven years in the very quadrant of the galaxy where the Borg originate...and a lot of the show's Borg episodes were supremely disappointing. B&B really dropped the ball on the Collective during their attempts to humanize individual drones like Seven and Icheb. They lost sight of the Collective itself and the pulse-pounding threat that Roddenberry himself intended the Borg to become.

 

[The Dominion]

1. Khan
2. The Borg*
3. Kruge
4. Chang
5. Soran
6. Borg Queen*
7. "God"
8. Ru'Afo
9. Shinzon

* - I consider the Borg, as originally conceived pre-"I, Borg" and more importantly in FC prior to the Queen's intro to be a much scarier villain than the Queen herself. Plus, she loses points for the retcon of her having "been there all along" in TBoBW and for contributing to the Borg's being downgraded as a credible threat to the Federation in her subsequent appearances (never mind that these appearances were on Voyager).

Exactly, she was no better than Sybok coming in without ANY preconceived relevance to Spock's development.

Voyager also dropped the ball majorly on the scariness of the Borg by having a little science ship being ably to repeatedly take on armored tactical cubes, where the Enterprise and whole fleets got the beat down by a vanilla cube no sweat.

And the Borg Queen was also just so out of character for the Borg it was ridiculous. First there's the creepy smiling (They're supposed to be machine like I thought?) And then there's her acting like a tyrant when the Borg were constantly emphasized on Voyager as being a force of nature. The TNG Borg would have fit that image perfectly, what happened? Voyager made them into a freaking empire, not a force of nature!

Besides, The Queen only originally existed to have a bizarre seduction scene with Data (again, how is this in character with the Borg?) and provide Picard with something to punch at the end of the movie. In FC and Voyager they could have just used representatives ala Locutus for her role and been more in sync with the concept. Heck, they could have had the Borg use Anika's assimilated parents for the reps in Voyager and wouldn't that have been more interesting?

 

[CoveTom]

I'm bewildered that so many rank Khan #1. Ricardo Montalban must have learned acting in the era of silent movies, that might explain the hilarious overacting. Khan a villain? Rather a comedian. While Space Seed had a plot that made still sense, the one of TWOK was absurd throughout.
The antipode is certainly General Chang, thanks to Plummers great performance and good writing probably the only truly menacing Klingon in all of Star Trek, and he had the good luck to star in a fine movie.

So... you think Ricardo Montalban's performance as Khan was hilarious overacting but Christopher Plummer's performance as Chang was great? Okey-dokey.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm bewildered that so many rank Khan #1. Ricardo Montalban must have learned acting in the era of silent movies, that might explain the hilarious overacting. Khan a villain? Rather a comedian. While Space Seed had a plot that made still sense, the one of TWOK was absurd throughout.
The antipode is certainly General Chang, thanks to Plummers great performance and good writing probably the only truly menacing Klingon in all of Star Trek, and he had the good luck to star in a fine movie.

So... you think Ricardo Montalban's performance as Khan was hilarious overacting but Christopher Plummer's performance as Chang was great? Okey-dokey.

Both were hammy as hell.

And both were awesome.

 

[CoveTom]

^ I don't argue with either of those assertions. I just can't understand how one could be considered overacting and the other a great performance.