Favourite One-Shot Characters

[DevilEyes]

Well, Sito Jaxa was technically a two-shot character, just like my favorite Trek guest star character, K'Ehleyr, or Tekeny Ghemor or Lon Suder. As for actual one-shots:

TOS
Romulan Commander (Balance of Terror) - the no1 favorite one-shot from TOS
Dr Richard Daystrom (The Ultimate Computer)
Romulan Commander (The Enterprise Incident)
Miranda Jones and Ambassador Kollos (Is There In Truth No Beauty?), though the latter is a borderline case as he was played by Leonard Nimoy and a shiny box, but since the thread is about one-shot characters rather than actors...
Commodore Decker (The Doomsday Machine)
Zarabeth (All Our Yesterdays)
T'Pring (Amok Time) - not that I actually liked her, but she was an interesting character
Gem (The Empath)
Flavius Maximux (Bread and Circuses), but that might have been partly because he was hot
And finally, Horta deserves a mention

TNG
Alidar Jarok (The Defector)
Commander Toreth (The Face of the Enemy) - another great Romulan character
Roga Danar (The Hunted)
Elizabeth Shelby (The Best of Both Worlds)
Ira Graves (The Schizoid Man)
Gul Madred (Chain of Command) - the first complex Cardassian villain in Trek
Jellico (Chain of Command) - like him or not, brought some conflict to Enterprise
Kevin Uxbridge (The Survivors)

DS9
Aamin Marritza (Duet) - if I was to choose one performance of a guest star in Trek as the best, it's Harris Yulin in this episode
Sakonna (The Maquis)
nutty guy from "In the Cards"
Natima Lang (Profit and Loss), partly because I like the way they develop her story in Terok Nor books
Gilora Rejal (Destiny) - hilarious interactions with O'Brien
I'm tempted to say Curzon Dax in Facets, although that's another bortherline case since he was played by Rene Auberjonois... and technically we did see him in a flashback in The Emissary, but that was for a few seconds and non-speaking so it doesn't count

VOY
the Q who wanted to die (Deathwish)
the Vidiian played by Brian Markinson who stole the face of the crewman played by the same actor (Faces) - the guy was pathetic, creepy and even sort of sympathetic, at the same time
One (Drone)
Kashyk (Counterpoint)
Shannon O'Donnell (11:59) - another character played by a main cast member... Watching it, I realized that I knew her better - what she was like, what made her tick - after one episode than I knew Captain Janeway after 5 seasons. I'm not sure what it says about the VOY writers...
Also, I must be the only person who really liked Tuvix. On every 'was Janeway right' thread, there's always someone saying how annoying he was. I liked him better than Neelix for sure, and a little less than Tuvok, but I like Tuvok.

I'm sure there are lots of people I've forgotten to mention.

As for ENT... I'm only going through season 2 so it's a bit early to tell yet... so far, Mestral from Carbon Creek was quite likable.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Plenty that have already been mentioned, but also Captain Drennik from ENT Cogenitor.

 

[Timewalker]

I liked the young Vulcan female Starfleet Academy candidate in the episode where Wesley first took the entrance exam. It's too bad she never showed up again - she would have made a good character on Voyager.

 

[Greg Cox]

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, obviously.

I also liked Rain Robinson from VOYAGER. She and Paris had more chemistry than he and B'Elanna ever did, IMHO. (Plus, Sarah Silverman is a hoot.)

 

[euphorik]

klag from "a matter of honor."

 

[Sector 7]

Captain Edward Jellico (TNG, Chain of Command). Nice change of pace starship commander well played by Ronny Cox. Wish we'd seen more of him in the series.

I agree. Jellico, IMO, is the most realistic captain in all of Trek. I was thankful they did not turn him into one of the many psychotic/errant captains.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Technically he's a two-shot...but Tekeny Ghemor from "Second Skin" and "Ties of Blood and Water." My goodness, but he REALLY clicked with Nana Visitor, and the emotion between the two characters was very, very believable.

And when Tekeny died, I bawled my eyes out.

 

[euphorik]

the female romulan commander from "the enterpise incident."

kosinski.

 

[Danny99]

I would have liked to see more of Calvin Hudson.

Agreed!

Was I the only one that was completely underwhelmed by his character and the poor acting done by Bernie Casey?

I'll add my name to the lists of Jellico and Shelby. They were characters that were crucified in TNG because they tried to shake up the pleasure cruise.

 

[M'Sharak]

Two odd ones I quite liked:

'Clown' in VOY's "The Thaw"
'Alien Foreman' in ENT's "The Xindi"

 

[Arpy]

Commander Toreth from "Face of the Enemy."

 

[Admiral Shran]

ENT - Mestral from "Carbon Creek"

TOS - Anton Karidian from "The Conscience of the King"

TNG - Alidar Jarok from "The Defector"

DS9 - Chu'lak from "Field of Fire"

VOY - He wasn't a one shot, but I would have loved to see more of the Leonardo da Vinci hologram.

 

[DevilEyes]

I would have liked to see more of Calvin Hudson.

Agreed!

Was I the only one that was completely underwhelmed by his character and the poor acting done by Bernie Casey?

No. A lot of people name his poor acting as the thing that hurts the episode. Me, I was underwhelmed by the character and actor, but didn't care because of all the other goodness in the episode.

 

[Anji]

Bob Gunton who played Captain Benjamin Maxwell from TNG "The Wounded" did a fine job as the Captain who might have gone crazy.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Bob Gunton who played Captain Benjamin Maxwell from TNG "The Wounded" did a fine job as the Captain who might have gone crazy.

He did well, yes.

And while he reappeared for the character of Gul Dukat, I also thought that Marc Alaimo did a remarkable job as Macet. What's really cool to notice is just how much he changed his mannerisms later to play Dukat--the two of them don't speak or act the same in my opinion, at all.

I also give credit to Time Winters, too, in that episode for his portrayal of Glinn Daro. That scene in Ten-Forward...not a lot of lines spoken, but it gets me every time. I keep feeling like he was on the verge of saying something major, and that bartender and O'Brien never let him. The disappointment and, dare I say, grief are just palpable in the end.

 

[Isis]

A two shot character I loved was Kevin Riley, from TOS...

Agree!

 

[Good]

Lefler - Ashley Judd was a fantastic acting talent even back then. We could have used more of her.

 

[Red Ranger]

Of all time, for me, where Lokai and Bele from Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. The Les Miserables connection was quite strong. I also loved their bizarre half-black/half-white complexions. -- RR

 

[Dingo]

Personally I was a fan of Ashley Judd as Robin Lefler for TNG and Zoe McClellan as Tal Celes for VOY.

 

[thew40]

Metzger's Kolos from "Judgement" was great.