Favourite "Star Trek" Villain (individual, duo, or trio)

[Too Much Fun]

This sounds like an idea for a thread that has already been before, but I looked for a similar thread before starting this one and couldn't find one. The favourite character thread inspired me to make a similar one about villains. I'm not too familiar with Voyager and Enterprise, so I limited the choices of villains to ones from the first three Star Trek series. I was going to do one thread for all of the villains in Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but there were too many between them, so I split this topic into different threads. As always with threads like this, there will likely be characters people like that are overlooked, so I apologize in advance for that. I've tried to remember and include as many as I can think of.

When looking over the episode summaries, I saw that in the original Star Trek, there was a villain every week for some periods, and if I included every evil doctor ever on that show, the poll would be too long, so there are a few intentional omissions, like Dr. Roger Korby and Dr. Tristan Adams. I offer a heartfelt sorry to their fans. There may also be some original Star Trek omissions due to the fact that I haven't seen every episode yet, but I think with help from memory alpha I was quite thorough. Regarding Gary Seven, I guess he's not such a bad guy after all, but I included him because he seems to be at first and I know he's popular.

From the original series, my favourites are Khan and Koloth. Like Roddenberry, I think Khan was just a little bit cooler and more fascinating in his youthful, energetic performance in "Space Seed" than he was in "Star Trek II", but I enjoyed both performances. While one may have been a little more polished than the other, they both radiated captivating passion and conviction. I love Koloth just because in "The Trouble with Tribbles" he was the most cordial and polite Klingon ever. Watching him act like a 24th century Klingon in "Blood Oath" was weird...I can understand why William Campbell was uncomfortable playing the role that way after the way it was originally done. All right guys, go crazy.

P.S. Holy crap, I forgot Khan even though he's my favourite! Oh well, it gives other people a chance since he probably would have dominated the poll. Also didn't include Kruge and General Chang even though I like them a lot, but that just makes this more of a TV villains poll.

 

[kitsune]

I voted for Mirror Spock because he was by far the most memorable (at least for me). Although I did like the female Romulan commander too.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Subject matter of this poll notwithstanding, I have no doubt that someone is eventually going to vote for Helen Noel.

 

[The Academic]

Where the Hell is...

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN?

However, since he's not here, I'll go with Gary Mitchell (I couldn't stand him even before he was 'possessed'. He probably reminded me too much of my cousin)...

 

[JustKate]

I voted for Mark Lenard's Romulan commander, even though I have a hard time thinking of him as a "villain." He's so fabulous and it's one of my all-time favorite episodes, though, so he gets my vote.

Personally, I never found Khan compelling, and I really dislike that episode of TOS, but...I believe I'm the exception, Too Much. So don't be surprised if you get some flak from Khan-ites.

 

[The Academic]

Personally, I never found Khan compelling, and I really dislike that episode of TOS, but...I believe I'm the exception, Too Much. So don't be surprised if you get some flak from Khan-ites.

Why should anyone get any flak? We are all mature, grown-up and considerate people here, aren't we?

 

[JustKate]

^ Um, yeah! Of course! What was I thinking!

 

[BillJ]

The Pro-counsel from Bread and Circuses.

Captain Ron Tracey from The Omega Glory. "We killed thousands and they still came!"

 

[Gary7]

Gary Seven is a villain? He was an unknown at first, but he was never a direct threat to the crew.


I know you tried to keep the list small, as listing every villain would be long. You did leave off a few good ones, though... like Harry Mudd. Nomad. The Vians. The Talosians. The Tholians. Apollo. Charlie X. Landru. Flint. M5.

 

[JustKate]

^ Maybe he had a secret life of debauchery and crime?

 

[Hambone]

I would vote Khan (if he were an option) because not only was he dastardly; he was interesting and had motivation. Lots of TOS villains were one-dimensional (especially the Klingons...what was their problem, anyway?).

I never considered the Romulan Commander (Mark Lenard) a villain; just the antogonist. The part was well-written enough that I cared about what was going to happen to him. Stiles was more of a villain in "Balance of Terror" than the Commander was. In fact, when I've watched that episode with friends who've never seen it, they almost always believe (early on) that Stiles is actually the "Romulan Spy" he's trying to warn Kirk about.

 

[scottydog]

The Balok puppet. How could you not love that puppet's deep booming you-have-two-minutes voice?

 

[Gary7]

Stiles was more of a villain in "Balance of Terror" than the Commander was. In fact, when I've watched that episode with friends who've never seen it, they almost always believe (early on) that Stiles is actually the "Romulan Spy" he's trying to warn Kirk about.

I'm at a loss as to how you could consider Stiles a villain. He is never a threat to the crew. One could suggest the phaser coolant leak was his own doing, a kind of suicidal act of sabotage, but we never see any evidence of it. The Romulan commander is a direct threat. He destroyed several starbases along the Romulan Neutral zone, killing all life (sensors found no survivors). Remember? Stiles killed no one.

Remember, there was a treaty in effect. The Romulans, under the direction of their commander, proceeded across the Neutral Zone and destroyed those Federation outposts. No declaration of war had been made. I'd say that makes this commander a full-fledged villain.

 

[Cakes488]

LOL you forgot Khan! Thanks for including Evil Kirk...that one vote he got so far is mine!

 

[sbk1234]

I'm not surprised that Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander is leading the pack. His was the textbook great villain: A threat to the good guys, motivated, and three dimensional.

It is actually nice to see that there really were some excellent villains in TOS.
As a fan, I'm glad we don't have too many who would sink as low as Tobar the Carrot Man.

 

[blueshirt]

I almost picked Balok because "The Corbomite Maneuver" is one of my favorite episodes, but the First Federation turned out to be good guys.
It was a toss-up for me between Koloth and Mark Lenard's commander, but I picked the Romulan.

 

[QuasarVM]

Kor

 

[simmsbc]

I liked Koloth because unlike the other Klingons he actually appeared to have a little class, and even though he obviously had a history with Kirk, he was able to be civilized to him and when his spy was caught he actually knew it was time to leave, and did.

 

[LadyPenelope]

Lord Garth Master of the Universe!!!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

MU Spock with nods to Evil Kirk and Gary Seven (tho not really a villain).