THE BAD GIRLS OF THE TREK UNIVERSE

[Meadowmorph]

A week or so ago, I posted a new thread discussing The Women of Star Trek focusing on the evolution of the female gender and how it changed. Now we get to the fun stuff.

Almost every villain worth their television salt has been a woman. Think about it....I'll wait. Except for the evil blob of tar that killed Yar (who's actor returned as an evil half-Romulan) has been female. I'm not dissing it, If I were an actor, I'd LOVE to play a bad girl. We have the con artist who pretended she was the goddess of chaos in order to claim a planet and its occupants (including Picard) as slaves. We have Riker's red-headed plaything who introduced "The Game". Culminating in the height of evil was....dum dum dahhhhh...the Borg Queen. Even the Cardassian judge who presided over a court to sentence poor Miles to death was...a woman.

Now, I'm not saying there weren't evil Male villains. Q pops into my mind. However, Q ended up being more a a Puck-ish character (I loved Q's character arch) than evil.

I do want to point out that many of the bad girls were written so that they were messing a male character by leading him around by his little head (Seska and Chakotay, for instance). This is the only thing that bothers me about it. Most bad girls are written as manipulative. But NOT the Borg Queen, so I can sort of forgive this. Let's consider that quarter-Betazoid who lead Troi around by the heart strings, and why....why, when men are being manipulated by women do we say they are being "lead around by their little heads", but Troi was "being lead around by their heart-strings? LOL! But this subject is for another thread.

I'll hand this thread over to you. Whadda ya think?

 

[johnnybear]

Nancy Crater was just an illusion while Dr.Elizabeth Dehner retained some of her humanity even when transformed into Godhood! Vina was as much a victim as her Talosian captors while Lenore Karidian was definitely unhinged! Areel Shaw was just doing what her job implied and as for Marla McGivers, she was in love! Mea 3 too just did what she was told while Leila Kalomi was in the moment and enjoying it! T'Pring wasn't evil but knew what she wanted and didn't care who suffered to get it! The real bad girls of Trek are Sylvia, a creature that was thrilled to be humanoid and enjoyed the senses she achieved from that and torturing the poor little earth men too! Eleen too did what she needed to to survive on Capella IV even if that meant sacrificing her baby and the lives of three Starfleet officers! Shahnna had been trained for combat since childhood so knew no better, Nona on the other hand wanted power from her husband Tyree on Neural and when he seemed ineffectual she courted the Kirk! Thalassa wanted to keep her new body even if it meant the death of Dr.Ann Mulhall, but Sargon showed her the error of her ways! Kelinda too seemed to be enjoying being human even if her Kelvan mind rejected theose feelings! Kara stole Spock's brain but to her it was a necessary thing so that she and her race could continue on her icy world. The Romulan commander had a sense of duty too even if that meant she needed to seduce Mr.Spock in the course of her duty! Mirana Jones was very jealous of Spock's ability to mind meld with Kollos, the Medusan Ambassador and refused to aid the Vulcan even if it meant his death at first! Natira also had to protect her people from the outsiders and obey the Oracle but Philana was a real bad girl by forcing the two members of the Enterprise to amuse her and her court when they refused to allow McCoy to stay with them and Deela too, although not really malevolent, used her technology to save her race by trapping healthy human males for breeding purposes in an accelerated frame of existence! Marta was just plain nuts!!! Odona tricked Kirk but in the hopes of saving her race as a species and Losira was no longer human but a computer projection! Lt.Mira Romaine just couldn't help herself after her experiences with the Zetarian life essences! Reyna wasn't human despite what everyone thought and Vana just wanted rights for her workers in the mines! Zarabeth wanted Spock to stay with her in her icy prison no matter what and Dr.Janice Lester was driven crazy by her need to prove she was better than Kirk by hijacking his body!
So that's the Bad Girls of TOS all in one block!
JB

 

[Delta Vega]

Nancy Crater was just an illusion while Dr.Elizabeth Dehner retained some of her humanity even when transformed into Godhood! Vina was as much a victim as her Talosian captors while Lenore Karidian was definitely unhinged! Areel Shaw was just doing what her job implied and as for Marla McGivers, she was in love! Mea 3 too just did what she was told while Leila Kalomi was in the moment and enjoying it! T'Pring wasn't evil but knew what she wanted and didn't care who suffered to get it! The real bad girls of Trek are Sylvia, a creature that was thrilled to be humanoid and enjoyed the senses she achieved from that and torturing the poor little earth men too! Eleen too did what she needed to to survive on Capella IV even if that meant sacrificing her baby and the lives of three Starfleet officers! Shahnna had been trained for combat since childhood so knew no better, Nona on the other hand wanted power from her husband Tyree on Neural and when he seemed ineffectual she courted the Kirk! Thalassa wanted to keep her new body even if it meant the death of Dr.Ann Mulhall, but Sargon showed her the error of her ways! Kelinda too seemed to be enjoying being human even if her Kelvan mind rejected theose feelings! Kara stole Spock's brain but to her it was a necessary thing so that she and her race could continue on her icy world. The Romulan commander had a sense of duty too even if that meant she needed to seduce Mr.Spock in the course of her duty! Mirana Jones was very jealous of Spock's ability to mind meld with Kollos, the Medusan Ambassador and refused to aid the Vulcan even if it meant his death at first! Natira also had to protect her people from the outsiders and obey the Oracle but Philana was a real bad girl by forcing the two members of the Enterprise to amuse her and her court when they refused to allow McCoy to stay with them and Deela too, although not really malevolent, used her technology to save her race by trapping healthy human males for breeding purposes in an accelerated frame of existence! Marta was just plain nuts!!! Odona tricked Kirk but in the hopes of saving her race as a species and Losira was no longer human but a computer projection! Lt.Mira Romaine just couldn't help herself after her experiences with the Zetarian life essences! Reyna wasn't human despite what everyone thought and Vana just wanted rights for her workers in the mines! Zarabeth wanted Spock to stay with her in her icy prison no matter what and Dr.Janice Lester was driven crazy by her need to prove she was better than Kirk by hijacking his body!
So that's the Bad Girls of TOS all in one block!
JB

You know too much, dude

 

[The Old Mixer]

all in one block!

Yes, thank you for the morning eyebleed.

 

[Tosk]

Q was evil?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Q was evil?

He was according to the next-episode announcer back when TNG was originally broadcast.
THE EVIL Q RETURRRRRNS!

 

[johnnybear]

You know too much, dude

Cheers, Delta!
JB

 

[at Quark's]

Almost every villain worth their television salt has been a woman. Think about it....I'll wait.

….

Now, I'm not saying there weren't evil Male villains. Q pops into my mind. However, Q ended up being more a a Puck-ish character (I loved Q's character arch) than evil.

Right. In DS9, Dukat wasn't worth his salt as a villain. Weyoun wasn't. In Voyager, the alien from persistence of Vision wasn't, Kashyk neither. In TNG the Cardassian that tortured Picard wasn't, nor Tomalak, Lore, or Kivas Fajo (though I'll agree that the last one was a relatively petty criminal, but still one of the characters with the fewest redeeming features in the entire history of Trek). Harry Mudd from TOS. Those are just a few names that first pop in my mind (arguably, perhaps TNG has the weakest male villains).

 

[Kor]

He was according to the next-episode announcer back when TNG was originally broadcast.
THE EVIL Q RETURRRRRNS!

Next time, on Starrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Trek: Thenextgeneration!

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Kor

 

[marlboro]

Korrrrrrrrrrrrrr

fyp

 

[The Old Mixer]

Next time, on Starrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Trek: Thenextgeneration!

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

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Kor

Is that guy still around? If they could get him for the Picard Show, it'd be glorious.

On Starrrrrrr Trek: Picarrrrrrrrrd!

Every day's September 19 with him around.

 

[J.T.B.]

Is that guy still around? If they could get him for the Picard Show, it'd be glorious.

Unfortunately the great Ernie Anderson died 22 years ago.

 

[Jayson1]

How do we not know if Q was a lady? Actually Q might have been both or neither. Who knows what's up with the Q. I guess I will now list my top 5 female Trek villians.

1 Mirror KIra=She turned into a cartoon even if she wasn't so much at first. Lorca before we had Lorca.

2 Carylon Seymour as the Romulan Commander in the TNG ep "Face of the Enemy." One of the better Romulan characters we ever had.

3 Seska=Great baddie. "Voyager" should have never killed her off. She could have been either their Dukat or their Garak.

4 Valeris=I really liked her so when she turns out to be traitor it means something. Granted it still would have worked better if they had used Kirstie Alley Saavick but she wasn't so bad.

5 Captain Janeway=Poor Tuvix. He never stood a chance!

Jason

 

[Tim Thomason]

Right. In DS9, Dukat wasn't worth his salt as a villain. Weyoun wasn't. In Voyager, the alien from persistence of Vision wasn't, Kashyk neither. In TNG the Cardassian that tortured Picard wasn't, nor Tomalak, Lore, or Kivas Fajo (though I'll agree that the last one was a relatively petty criminal, but still one of the characters with the fewest redeeming features in the entire history of Trek). Harry Mudd from TOS. Those are just a few names that first pop in my mind (arguably, perhaps TNG has the weakest male villains).

Hence the almost.

 

[Velocity]

Were the Duras sisters evil/bad or just regular ambitious Klingons?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Were the Duras sisters evil/bad or just regular ambitious Klingons?

I'd classify them as evil, yeah. They openly conspired with Romulans in their plan to take control of the Empire.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

I'll try not to get into an argument about what "evil" actually is (partly because I can't be bothered with it), but I tend not to like it as word to describe most villains ( though some clearly are).

However, in respect of qualifying as baddies/villains:

Were the Duras sisters evil/bad or just regular ambitious Klingons?

Yup, they were villains as far as Klingons to ( to both sides). They certainly count as bad girls of Trek in this context. Albeit badass entertaining ones. I probably wouldn't use evil, as such, but I'd probably only ascribe the word in even more exceptional circumstances. (Otherwise it loses it impact on me).

 

[johnnybear]

It's a shame they never included the trailers for TNG, DS9 and VOY on the DVDs like TOS isn't it?
JB

 

[Sareesataka]

2 Carylon Seymour as the Romulan Commander in the TNG ep "Face of the Enemy." One of the better Romulan characters we ever had.

Interesting. I never thought she was an evil character at all. She might have been pitched as the TNG villian of the week, but I felt she was fairly complex. Her line, "People blame the military for the wars that we are asked to fight. But I think it is your kind, Major, that will be the death of us all," put her in a different light for me. She was perhaps a loyal and obedient soldier who will fight when asked but she strikes me as being weary of war and the toll it exacts.

 

[Jayson1]

Interesting. I never thought she was an evil character at all. She might have been pitched as the TNG villian of the week, but I felt she was fairly complex. Her line, "People blame the military for the wars that we are asked to fight. But I think it is your kind, Major, that will be the death of us all," put her in a different light for me. She was perhaps a loyal and obedient soldier who will fight when asked but she strikes me as being weary of war and the toll it exacts.

I don't think she was evil either. But she was a adversary to our hero in the story in Troi so I think that kind of counts.


Jason