Where Are the Rogues and Scoundrels in Star Trek?

[HotRod]

I’ve been thinking about how Star Trek doesn’t really have many of those roguish, independent types you see in other sci-fi shows. You know, the Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds kind of character. The smuggler or scoundrel flying a beat-up freighter, taking odd jobs, living outside the law. Basically the total opposite of Starfleet.

Has Trek ever really had anyone like that? The first one that comes to mind for me is Thadiun Okona from TNG. He’s probably the closest thing the franchise ever had to that kind of character. Maybe Harry Mudd or Vash too, and I guess Rios from Picard fits that mold a bit as well. But it still feels like that side of the universe never really got explored much.

Do you think a show or story about a small crew scraping by on the edge of Federation space could actually work in Star Trek? Or would that kind of thing clash too much with what Trek’s supposed to be?

And who would you say comes closest to being Trek’s version of Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Sooner or later, any character like that either a) becomes sucked into the Starfleet fold and punched out of their cookie cutters, b) disappears into the ether, never to be heard from again (at least by our heroes), or c) is obliterated to restore the status quo and becomes a cautionary "Starfleet is superior and here's why" tale.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Starfleet proper doesn't deal with such riff-raff unless it can't be avoided.

Section 31 on the other hand, well...

 

[Farscape One]

STIII has two examples: the freighter crew in the beginning and the alien who McCoy was hiring to take him to the Genesis planet.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Kassidy Yates.
Most of Quark's associates.

 

[Shawnster]

Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Cyrano Jones
Thadiun Okona (mentioned above)
Kassidy Yates (as mentioned)
Beverly Crusher might qualify (PIC)
Seven might qualify (PIC)

Trek simply hasn't depicted smart, likeable rogues, scoundrels, or the independent sort. Mudd and Jones are comic relief. Crusher and Seven had their adventures off-screen and abandoned those ways once teaming with Picard. Yates we mainly only saw on DS9 and didn't much follow her adventures.

Okona is the closest we get.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Kassidy Yates.
Most of Quark's associates.

Indeed, Quark was a smuggler for a least one episode, with his own ship and contraband. And he ended up being a UFO.

Eta: in another episode, he's an inter-universal smuggler.

 

[Cyfa]

Do you think a show or story about a small crew scraping by on the edge of Federation space could actually work in Star Trek? Or would that kind of thing clash too much with what Trek’s supposed to be?

And who would you say comes closest to being Trek’s version of Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds?

~ There was a little taster of this in Lower Decks with Petra Aberdeen. Although, she was not really scraping by as she had Picard as her benefactor. However, it was a good look at how at least one non-Starfleet crew (if just her and Mariner could be considered a crew) worked in the Star Trek universe, and I'd really like to see more of it.

And speaking of Mariner, I think she's Trek's closest version of Han or Mal. (Well, Seasons 1-4 Mariner, anyway)

 

[1001001]

Tom Paris started out like that a little bit.

Running a gambling ring, bit of a ladies’ man.

Not a full rogue, but kinda of.

 

[BillJ]

Do you think a show or story about a small crew scraping by on the edge of Federation space could actually work in Star Trek? Or would that kind of thing clash too much with what Trek’s supposed to be?

My question is always: why chain yourself to the Star Trek universe?

I’d rather explore something new than keep going back to the Trek well.

 

[HotRod]

My question is always: why chain yourself to the Star Trek universe?

I’d rather explore something new than keep going back to the Trek well.

I love the Star Trek universe. I also enjoy the Star Wars universe, the Mass Effect universe, the Stargate universe, the Firefly universe, the Marvel universe, the DC universe, the Alien universe, and so on. But in this particular case, I’m interested in a part of the Star Trek universe that is rarely explored.

 

[BillJ]

But in this particular case, I’m interested in a part of the Star Trek universe that is rarely explored

I think the problem, for me, is it would just invariably lead back to something totally dependent on nostalgia porn.

 

[HotRod]

I think the problem, for me, is it would just invariably lead back to something totally dependent on nostalgia porn.

But would it? If it had little or nothing to do with Starfleet?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

If for no other reason than reminding viewers, "yes, this is Star Trek. Look! Stuff you recognize!"

 

[BillJ]

But would it? If it had little or nothing to do with Starfleet?

How couldn’t it? The whole point of making the show would be to make money. Most of their current writers couldn’t make a living writing without nostalgia porn and CBS would demand it.

We’ve went to the Delta Quadrant with a partial band of rebels and the 32nd century with little changing.

 

[HotRod]

If for no other reason than reminding viewers, "yes, this is Star Trek. Look! Stuff you recognize!"

How couldn’t it? The whole point of making the show would be to make money. Most of their current writers couldn’t make a living writing without nostalgia porn and CBS would demand it.

We’ve went to the Delta Quadrant with a partial band of rebels and the 32nd century with little changing.

Of course, it is going to have the things that make it Star Trek: warp drive, phasers, transporters, Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, oh my.

But if we look at the other side of Trek, the dark, seedy underbelly, it could open the door to something almost entirely new.

I am not saying I want this; it is more of a thought experiment.

 

[BillJ]

But if we look at the other side of Trek, the dark, seedy underbelly, it could open the door to something almost entirely new.

Section 31 told me all I needed to know about the underbelly of Trek.

 

[HotRod]

Section 31 told me all I needed to know about the underbelly of Trek that I needed to know.

Fair point.

 

[BillJ]

And we’d find out that Spock had an illegitimate kid.

 

[Farscape One]

I think a show, or at least a season of one, entirely from the perspective of those outside the Federation but are dependant on them for trade, defense, or whatever else would be interesting.

We got some of that with Quark and others on DS9. Dealing with the Federation may look great to those are members, but to those who aren't might find it too restricting or culturally invasive.

The root beer scene as a series would be quite interesting.