The Least Disliked Introduction Of Recurring Alien Antagonists

[Brennyren]

60's costuming sinks the Gorn, who will never not look like a man in an alligator suit. Sliding away from "Arena."

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
THE MAQUIS: “The Maquis, Part 1”, DS9 Season 2
THE ALLIANCE (MIRROR UNIVERSE KLINGONS/CARDASSIANS/BAJORANS): "Crossover", DS9 Season 2
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
BREEN: “Indiscretion”, DS9 Season 4
SECTION 31: "Inquisition", DS9 Season 6
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6
THE XINDI: “The Xindi”, ENT Season 3

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll remove The Breen. They were fun to look at, and they were the maguffin when they pushed the Cardassians into rebelling against the Dominion. Other than that, we know nothing about them which was a shame.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
THE MAQUIS: “The Maquis, Part 1”, DS9 Season 2
THE ALLIANCE (MIRROR UNIVERSE KLINGONS/CARDASSIANS/BAJORANS): "Crossover", DS9 Season 2
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SECTION 31: "Inquisition", DS9 Season 6
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6
THE XINDI: “The Xindi”, ENT Season 3

 

[Sakonna]

I'll get rid of The Xindi, for all the ridiculous workarounds they had to resort to to deal with the fact that 2/5ths of them were CGI. The actors in those council chamber scenes really struggled to play the scene coherently. Nice idea to have these more alien aliens, but they shouldn't have been so overly ambitious if they didn't have the budget to execute.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
THE MAQUIS: “The Maquis, Part 1”, DS9 Season 2
THE ALLIANCE (MIRROR UNIVERSE KLINGONS/CARDASSIANS/BAJORANS): "Crossover", DS9 Season 2
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SECTION 31: "Inquisition", DS9 Season 6
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

Taking out "HARBINGER" and the Sphere Builders. Given how advanced they were, they should not have been defeated. It was great having everyone work together to bring them down, but the 22nd century tech really should not have been a match. This is why I was never quite impressed with them.

The thing that drives me nuts about the Sphere Builders is how frequently the cutaways to them were -- "the number of timelines where the humans win is increasing!" Cutaways to the villains should be used to INCREASE the tension, not reassure us that the outlook is ever brighter for our heroes.

 

[BlueStuff]

The Maquis is out. Unfortunately I was never much interested in them. While a few of the TNG/DS9 episodes focused on them were decent, the VOY outings were totally tedious. This two-parter takes the blame here for introducing them. Also Chakotay was a former Maquis, and Chakotay sucks.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
THE ALLIANCE (MIRROR UNIVERSE KLINGONS/CARDASSIANS/BAJORANS): "Crossover", DS9 Season 2
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SECTION 31: "Inquisition", DS9 Season 6
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Seven of Five]

Allow me to remove The Mirror Universe Alliance. I quite liked it at first in the the first episode or two of DS9's MU stories, but by the end it became a bad self-parody.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SECTION 31: "Inquisition", DS9 Season 6
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Cyfa]

Section 31 has to go. An ill-thought through addition to the Star Trek Universe, plus they have snowballed into a despisable, illogical, cliche. Plus, I thought those black leatherette "uniforms" were overkill. I liked the concept of the episode, though.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
AUGMENTS: “Space Seed”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Farscape One]

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
VIDIIANS: “Phage”, VOY Season 1
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

I will remove "SPACE SEED", with the Augments being introduced. Honestly, my reason is because all the episodes left are REALLY good. This one is slightly weaker in comparison. It's getting tougher to eliminate now.

 

[NovaStar]

I'm going for the Vidiians next. Faces did a much better job with them than in Phage.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE PROPHETS & THE MARKALIANS: “Emissary”, DS9 Season 1
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Takeru]

Removing The Prophets & Markalians because I didn't remember the markalians at all, I even looked them up on memory alpha and all I could think was "random backround aliens" so they clearly didn't leave an impression.


ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
HIROGEN: “Message In A Bottle”, VOY Season 4
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Sakonna]

Oh man, I like all of these so much!

I will reluctantly eliminate the Hirogen, which I thought were an astounding visual design. Their consecutive episode arc was one of Voyager's best ideas, and something they should have done significantly more of. I also was so over warrior-type races at this point, so I was surprised the Hirogen won me over.

But, it annoyed the hell out of me that they're all men. Star Trek was just so overloaded with patriarchal races at that point. So, kicking them for that offense...

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3
THE OVERLOOKERS: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, VOY Season 6

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll get rid of The Overlookers. I did quite them, they were quirky and perfect in the comedy role they were in in that episode. The others have a more lasting legacy.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
ANDORIANS & TELLARITES: “Journey To Babel”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3

 

[Takeru]

Andorians & Tellarites because Journey to Babel is remembered for introducing Sarek and Amanda, Andorians and Tellarites just happened in the episode and where then pretty much ignored until Enterprise.


ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll take Species 8472. Scorpion is one of my favourite episodes of Voyager, as is Prey. I like them but the others have more episodes to develop more.

To be fair it was a toss-up between them and Tholians.

 

[Rahul]

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
THOLIANS: “The Tholian Web”, TOS Season 3
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3
SPECIES 8472: “Scorpion”, VOY Season 3

I'ma throw out the JEM’HADAR & VORTA: “The Jem’Hadar”, DS9 Season 2

Not because I don't like them - quite the opposite actually. But because the Vorta in this episode were obsolete already the next appereance (no more "mind-powers" - which was a good decision), and because I really don't like that early Jem'Hadar design of the Beta-quadrant Jem'Hadar - especially that round noses always looked goofy. I think the make-up from the Alpha quadrant ones was far superiour, looks more aggressive, and is usually the one that is shown on book-covers or posters.
So this one goes because of the appearence of each those species in that specific episode.

 

[BlueStuff]

The Tholians are gone. I like the episode but they were never really set up as an important antagonist the way these others were.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4
THE FOUNDERS: “The Search, Part 1”, DS9 Season 3

 

[drt]

Goodbye Founders, your episode simply isn’t as memorable as the remaining (all of which i’ve watched in the last two months, but haven’t bothered with The Search in maybe twenty years).

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
TERRANS: “Mirror, Mirror”, TOS Season 2
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4

 

[Farscape One]

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
VULCANS: "Amok Time", TOS Season 2
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4

All episodes left are great ones. I am eliminating "MIRROR, MIRROR" only because all the others had a far greater impact on the franchise than the introduction of the Terran Empire.

 

[Takeru]

Vulcans are out, the episode isn't as good as the others and the vulcans themselves are douchebags and not even in an entertaining way.


ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
BORG: “Q Who”, TNG Season 2
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll eliminate the Borg. Q Who is one of my favourite episodes, but the Borg became overused by VOY and lost their mystique, compared to the other two species left.

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1
CARDASSIANS: “The Wounded”, TNG Season 4

 

[BlueStuff]

The Cardassians, by way of The Wounded, are out. I love this episode and although the Cardies do later become one of the more complex species in Trek, this debut episode just doesn’t do enough to truly distinguish them as a unique foe. That leaves the winner as:

ROMULANS: “Balance Of Terror”, TOS Season 1