# Most vile STAR TREK characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534 "2010-08-17T16:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/1 "2010-08-17T16:23:41Z")
That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? And no, I don’t care which series you pick a character from, or for that matter what medium; in other words, the movies, animated series, novels, & comics are all fair game. All I ask is that identify the character and source by name so we know what the hell you’re talking about; that you talk about the character rather than the actor portraying him or her (in other words, this is not the\* bash William Shatner thread\*); and explain why, in your view, the character in question deserves to be locked in a room with a television that cannot be turned off, with Jane Velasquez-Miller, Nancy Grace, and Jenny McCarthy on every channel. I’m not looking for characters you think are boring as such; rather, ones whose behavior in the stories are outstandingly reprehensible. (In other words, this isn’t the _bash Wesley Crusher thread_ either.) Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll nominate Lieutenant Marla McGivers, from the TOS episode [“Space Seed.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Seed) She betrayed her crewmates and broke her oath apparently because she liked the way Khan’s fist felt when hitting her face, and then was shocked --SHOCKED – that he intended to start, you know, killing people. The fact that Kirk sent her into exile with Khan rather than the prison cell she so richly deserved proves that Kirk himself was something of a twit – but that doesn’t excuse her odiousness. Anyhow, that’s just me. Anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/2 "2010-08-17T16:38:27Z")
Captain Riley didn’t let Uhura have double portions of ice cream. racist ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/3 "2010-08-17T16:48:08Z")
It’s hard to beat people like Kodos the Executioner (TOS: The Conscience of the King), Luther Sloan (DS9, recurring), Gul Dukat (DS9, recurring), Ru’afo (Insurrection), or other mass murderers and genocidal maniacs. So, discarding that lot, my vote goes for John Gill, who introduced the concept of Nazism to the planet Ekos in TOS: Patterns of Force. He did it with the best of intentions, not intending the Ekosians to take it all the way to the Holocaust, but that level of short-sightedness, and the fact that it ultimately did lead to an attempted genocide brings him well up the ranks of reprehensible behaviour, despite his motives. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/4 "2010-08-17T18:11:49Z")
Dr. Tolian Soran from _Generations_. He was willing to destroy an entire civilized planet just to get his fix from the Nexus. I also nominate Kivas Fajo (from NextGen “The Most Toys”), who was willing to murder a “friend” in a horrible fashion, just to get Data to sit in a chair. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/5 "2010-08-17T18:13:32Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Dr. Tolian Soran from _Generations_. He was willing to destroy an entire civilized planet just to get his fix from the Nexus. That better be one HELL of a drug ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/6 "2010-08-17T18:14:53Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > Dr. Tolian Soran from _Generations_. He was willing to destroy an entire civilized planet just to get his fix from the Nexus. > > That better be one HELL of a drug I believe it was essentially eternal life in heaven, so yeah. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/7 "2010-08-17T19:13:29Z")
Can I nominate a group? (The Space Hippies, TOS “The Way to Eden”) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/8 "2010-08-17T19:15:44Z")
Soran, if for no other reason than that he was also STUPID! All he had to do was fly a shuttle into the Nexus. He didn’t have to do all the potential civilization killing to get his fix. And the members of the Selection Board that made Janeway a Captain. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/9 "2010-08-17T19:35:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Soran, if for no other reason than that he was also STUPID! All he had to do was fly a shuttle into the Nexus. He didn’t have to do all the potential civilization killing to get his fix. > > And the members of the Selection Board that made Janeway a Captain. In the first place, those aren’t characters, as we never see them. More importantly they were promoting her over Riker. Clearly that was God’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/10 "2010-08-17T19:39:27Z")
The idiots who drafted the Prime Directive. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/11 "2010-08-17T19:40:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > More importantly they were promoting her over Riker. Clearly that was God’s work. Now remember that Riker repeatedly turned down the Captain’s chair. It was his own fault… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/12 "2010-08-17T19:42:43Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > More importantly they were promoting her over Riker. Clearly that was God’s work. > > Now remember that Riker repeatedly turned down the Captain’s chair. It was his own fault… If Riker had gotten the Voyager captaincy, Troi would have gone with him. She would probably have survived the cataclysm that brought them to the Delta Quadrant, in which case the crew would have been trapped there with her AND Riker AND Chakotay AND Neelix. I don’t care what crimes the Maquis had committed. No one deserves that. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/13 "2010-08-17T19:44:50Z")
The Starfleet officers who betrayed their oaths to a) become “Roman” aristocrats (“Bread and Circuses”, 2) have a shot at extended life (“The Omega Glory”) are pretty vile. All the evil versions of Star Trek characters are pretty bad too, but evil Kirk stands out. And I’ll add Lord Garth (though he was insane). But the two I find most vile are Archer and Phlox, who find an alien race looking for a cure to a plague - Phlox finds a cure, but Archer and Phlox deliberately misinform the aliens, telling them that the disease is incurable and refuse to aid them in finding some other group that might be able to find a cure (and since there’s no Prime Directive at the time, the guilt falls directly on Archer and Phlox - they can’t blame regulations) ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/14 "2010-08-17T19:51:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > > > Now remember that Riker repeatedly turned down the Captain’s chair. It was his own fault… > > If Riker had gotten the Voyager captaincy, Troi would have gone with him. She would probably have survived the cataclysm that brought them to the Delta Quadrant, in which case the crew would have been trapped there with her AND Riker AND Chakotay AND Neelix. > > I don’t care what crimes the Maquis had committed. No one deserves that. I’d like to think Riker would have the sense to leave Tuvix in place. Boiling down two annoying cast members into one kinda cool one is not something you undo. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/15 "2010-08-17T19:53:33Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > It’s hard to beat people like Kodos the Executioner (TOS: The Conscience of the King). In defense of Kodos the Executioner, first, he was in an untenable situation there. There was only enough food for half of the people on the colony, and so if he didn’t kill the other half (and had the Federation relief force not come earlier than it had supposed to), everyone would have died, so it makes a utilitarian sort of sense. Second, the people in charge should have known better than to put somebody nicknamed “the Executioner” in charge of a colony in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/16 "2010-08-17T19:57:14Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > If Riker had gotten the Voyager captaincy, Troi would have gone with him. She would probably have survived the cataclysm that brought them to the Delta Quadrant, in which case the crew would have been trapped there with her AND Riker AND Chakotay AND Neelix. > > > > I don’t care what crimes the Maquis had committed. No one deserves that. > > I’d like to think Riker would have the sense to leave Tuvix in place. Boiling down two annoying cast members into one kinda cool one is not something you undo. Take that back! There was NOTHING wrong with Tuvok. Tuvok rocked. Also, he was totally doing Kes behind behind Neelix’s back. Till she left. Then, when Seven arrived, he was doing her behind Janeway’s back. And he was doing Janeway behind her own back the entire time. Black Vulcans are descended from Shaft. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/17 "2010-08-17T19:57:46Z")
Jean-Luc Picard, for failing to wipe out the Borg when he had the chance. Genocide, schmenocide…kill 'em all! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/18 "2010-08-17T19:57:57Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > [@Tengu](#): > > > > It’s hard to beat people like Kodos the Executioner (TOS: The Conscience of the King). > > In defense of Kodos the Executioner, first, he was in an untenable situation there. There was only enough food for half of the people on the colony, and so if he didn’t kill the other half (and had the Federation relief force not come earlier than it had supposed to), everyone would have died, so it makes a utilitarian sort of sense. This. Do you really let the entire colony die? He made a call. It didn’t turn out well. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/19 "2010-08-17T19:58:23Z")
No (un-) love for Crell Moset (VOY: “Nothing Human”), who seemed to be an obvious parallel to Dr. Josef Mengele (as the Cardassians themselves seemed to be parallels of the Nazi regime)? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534/20 "2010-08-17T19:59:06Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > > In defense of Kodos the Executioner, first, he was in an untenable situation there. There was only enough food for half of the people on the colony, and so if he didn’t kill the other half (and had the Federation relief force not come earlier than it had supposed to), everyone would have died, so it makes a utilitarian sort of sense. > > This. Do you really let the entire colony die? He made a call. It didn’t turn out well. Besides, his daughter was hawt! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-vile-star-trek-characters/550534.md?page=2)