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10 Most Overrated Star Trek Villains
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00:00A good villain can make or break a series, create the right one and they'll be coming back for more
00:04and more for seasons, years and decades to come. With all the best or worst intentions though,
00:08not every single enemy that has been encountered has proven to be as successful as fans might first
00:13think. With the benefit of hindsight and a good rewatch, those troubles just don't appear anywhere
00:17as evil as they were the first, second or tenth time. Here's our look at when your plans for
00:22domination aren't so dominating. I'm Sean Ferry for Trek Culture and here are the 10 most overrated
00:27Star Trek villains. Number 10, the Kazon. Based on LA gangs, the Kazon offered a tangible and
00:34immediate threat to the crew of Voyager from their first day in the Delta Quadrant. Supposedly right
00:38there with the worst of the worst, the Kazon sects popped up over the course of the first two seasons
00:42to attempt to steal the technology that Janeway refused to share. They started out with the fairly
00:46impressive Predator-class ship in Caretaker and the threat of more to come, yet the Kazon Ogla never
00:52followed it up, leaving the way clear for Culla and the Kazon Nistrum in prime place. Their only
00:57significant victory? The capture of USS Voyager in Basics, yes, they only ever achieved something
01:01resembling their goal once and then only for a short time. Effectively, they were overcome by a
01:06hologram and a murderer later assisted by a flyby pilot and the less than aggressive Talaxians.
01:11That road to defeat does tell you a lot about the Kazon. Even the Borg and perhaps one of the
01:15franchise's most cutting in jokes deemed the Kazon to have no redeeming features. Although set up in a
01:21similar fashion to the Ferengi in The Next Generation's first season, the Kazon were never
01:25re-sculpted for another use and were forgotten once Voyager passed their territory.
01:29Number 9. Swarm. A dangerous new foe shows up on the scene in Voyager's third season,
01:35probably hoping to take the recurring villain spot vacated by the fleeing Kazon only a few episodes
01:39before. Mysterious and deadly, they were only ever identified as the Swarm, but featured in early
01:44Season 3 promotional materials for Voyager and were presented as the next thing for the crew to worry
01:48about. Undefeated at the climax of their eponymous episode, the lack of finality indicated that they would be
01:54back and in greater numbers. Nothing is really learned of them and it's more of a standoff than
01:58a succession of intent. Much of the weight of the Swarm comes from the ominous description of
02:03this new foe and the indication of the danger Voyager faces by traversing their space. While
02:07the Vadwar would later benefit from similar single episodic build-up, the Swarm were almost blink and
02:13miss, leaving them defanged in minutes. It's not as if Voyager had another big bad on the horizon that
02:17was mysterious, deadly and acted as though there was some form of hive mind. A collective, if you will.
02:23If only they dressed all in black as well. Number 8. The Ba'ul. In the 32nd century,
02:29the Ba'ul co-exist with the Kelpians and everything seems in balance, if not harmonious. But that's not
02:34how it once was with the Kelpians subservient to the shadowy creatures. In the short trek,
02:39The Brightest Star, viewers are transported to Kaminar where we experience Saru's life before
02:43he joined Starfleet and the oppressive regime that his people were forced to live under. It would
02:47be later in the second season that the audience would finally meet one of these beings that seemed like
02:51the spawn of a Dementor and a Ringwraith and terrified the local populace. Maybe even a bit
02:55of Armas in there to spice up the mix. All of the build-up and establishing of Kaminar's past
03:00came to very little and a one-shot resolution in the Sound of Thunder. It would take the defeat of
03:05only one of these beings by Saru to change the equilibrium of Kaminar and usher in a new era. The
03:11speed at which their total rule comes to an end is alarmingly quick and before you know it,
03:15the Kaminar borders are open and the Kelpians are chatting away to anyone and everyone in the universe.
03:20Number 7, Jat Vash. A product of Star Trek Picard, the super-secret Jat Vash are sworn to destroy all
03:26artificial life. Why? Because, thanks to the discovery of the admonition on the planet Aya,
03:31the Jat Vash were instilled with a life-changing and monstrous vision of the future which could turn
03:36them mad. Experiencing something that horrific that it could lead you to suicide is extreme at the
03:42least but their operations do offer up a lot of questions about their abilities. The visions
03:46immediately cut their numbers and then during Picard we only see two of their number active,
03:50Commodore O and Nerissa. Both are fairly ineffective in their roles given the secrecy
03:54and sense of impending doom that their name should cause. Nerissa allows Elnor to escape and is kicked
03:59into touch by Seven of Nine while O flees with not even her pride intact after facing the Federation fleet.
04:05Why would they not have sent more on such an important mission to eliminate Soji and
04:09why were the Jat Vash not present a lot earlier in the Star Trek timeline to eliminate Data,
04:13Lore and B4? Number 6. The Duros Sisters. Appearing several times throughout The Next
04:19Generation and Deep Space Nine, the Sisters of the House of Duros were, well, really only that kind of
04:25annoying side-character that turns up from time to time. Their first appearance in Redemption served to
04:31start the Klingon Civil War which wrapped up in about a hot afternoon. They were abandoned by their
04:37Romulan friends and spent the rest of The Next Generation and their sole appearance in Deep Space
04:42Nine limping through the quadrant, trying to take back what had been stolen from them, promising those
04:48young rascals that, oh, we'll have that Klingon council, we will. Their big claim to fame is that
04:53they did manage to effectively destroy the Enterprise D, which is no mean feat, we will say. That said,
05:01they did it by using a spy camera. I mean, where's the honour in that? They are fun in their appearances,
05:08to be sure. However, at the end of the day, they were never that much of a villain to contend with.
05:13Number 5. The Emerald Chain. If the 1000 year leap into the future wasn't enough for the crew of
05:18Discovery, there was a new menace on the horizon. Headed by the Orions, the Emerald Chain were the
05:22dominant galactic power of the 32nd century. Taking advantage of the weakened, shrunken federation,
05:27their control of dwindling dilithium supplies placed them at the top of the pecking order.
05:31Led by the acidic Orion Osyraa, there were few capable of standing against their tactics. Viewers
05:36watched their ruthless actions across the third season of Discovery. However, their swift defeat
05:40in the finale certainly took away a lot of their power and presence. Coming down to a hand-to-hand
05:44fight between the chain's leader and Michael Burnham, and that inexplicable Turbolift battle,
05:49the criminal powerhouse were crippled instantly. Season 4's opening episodes barely make a mention of the
05:54chain, suggesting that they have truly fallen and disappeared into the background of the Milky Way.
05:59Number 4. The Borg post first contact. The Borg and the next generation of first contact are
06:04unquestionably terrifying. Unstoppable, adaptive, relentless, emotionless. From their first appearance
06:09in Q Who through to their sole movie appearance in the 8th big screen outing, there was always that
06:14dark possibility that they could win, and they nearly did once. But Voyager changed all of that with the
06:19introduction of Seven of Nine. Fans were chomping at the bit for the appearance of the Borg all the way
06:24through the first three seasons of the show. The Delta Quadrant was their stomping ground,
06:27and the final reveal of a Borg skeleton in Blood Fever ramped up the anticipation to Unbearable.
06:32But then they became a villain of the week, whom fans knew would be stopped in their tracks by Janeway,
06:37Seven and the crew. Hard to swallow when a good proportion of the main Starfleet, including Picard
06:41and the Enterprise D and E, struggled to contain their malevolence on multiple occasions. An appearance from
06:46the Borg became more of a ratings poll than a genuine threat, and the Delta Quadrant's lions had their claws
06:51abruptly removed even more so with the reveal of a mental safe haven in Unimatrix Zero.
06:56Number 3. Lore. If Star Trek is guilty of one thing here, it's that Lore could well be the
07:01janitor in Scooby Doo. He gets away with it on two occasions, with the Enterprise failing to put in a
07:06lot of effort to track him down. The evil twin scenario had been played out solidly in the
07:10original series The Enemy Within, and to a degree with Mirror Mirror, so it was only a matter of time before
07:15the very Roddenberry-influenced stories of the first season headed in that same direction. Lore is a
07:20great character and opportunity for Brent Spiner to set Chew when he can't normally do as the
07:26emotionally limited data, yet his villainy actually all comes from those already mentioned failings of
07:31the Enterprise crew. They are the ones that reactivate him without a second thought as to
07:35why he was in bits in the first place. They allow him to virtually access all of the ship, and it is
07:39through their ineptitude that Lore is able to gain any kind of level of superiority. Indeed, his encounter with the
07:44Borg and the subsequent elevation to The One is down to the inaction of the Enterprise crew when
07:48handed Hew as their means to an end. Number 2. The Klingons. Established as one of the key
07:54antagonists in the original series, the Klingons appeared in a handful of episodes and proved to be
07:58a sharp thick thorn in the side of Captain James T Kirk. The structure of the Klingon Empire makes
08:03very little sense. The destruction of Praxis in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country has a sizeable
08:07effect on their energy production, and it's noted that a large portion of that goes into their military.
08:12The overall focus on aggression might seem cool from the outside, but from a financial perspective
08:17they're utterly screwed. That and their armour is tragically ineffective in every episode they ever
08:21appeared in. In the original series there was a good deal of bravado and posturing from Kor, Koloth
08:26and Kang, but each walked away from their dealings with Kirk no better off, and in one case loaded with
08:31Tribbles. A few redesigns later and it looked as though the warrior race were going to be a huge force
08:36to be reckoned with, even taking control of swathes of the Alpha Quadrant in Discovery. Yet their fall
08:42required barely any real effort from external forces and left them with a new chancellor and a
08:46serious strategic rethink. Number 1 Q. Tacked onto the pilot of the next generation purely to flesh
08:53out the second half of the feature length episode, Q became far more of an afterthought. Appearing
08:58across the next generation, DS9, Voyager, Lower Decks and Picard, the omnipotent one has been the thorn in
09:03many a captain's side over the years. Or has he? If we look back at his exploits Q began as a genuine threat to
09:09the Federation in Encounter at Farpoint. He placed the crew in real danger during a courtroom trial
09:14and proved to have something of a dark side by introducing viewers to the Borg and even trying
09:18to turn Riker by granting him similar powers. But for a good proportion of his time Q was not much
09:24more than a diversion and that annoying child who continuously stabs his finger into your thigh
09:28demanding chocolate at the supermarket till. He promises a lot, delivers some and produces
09:33significantly underwhelming results. Actor John Delancey is far better used when Q is dealing with more
09:37serious affairs such as the anti-time paradox or the mortality of Deathwish when there is a higher
09:42goal at stake. As a villain Q doesn't amount to very much however as a contemplative partner on
09:49the journey that's where his strength truly lies. Thank you very much everyone for watching along.
09:53Which of the Star Trek villains do you think are overrated? Let us know in the comments below.
09:58Thank you so much to Clive Burrell who wrote this article. You can find this article over on
10:01whatculture.com. Please follow us on the various socials. I'm at Sean Ferrick. Make sure that you're
10:05following Trek culture as well. Thank you so much everyone who has subscribed to the channel. Please
10:10do so if you haven't already. I'll be your friend. Live long and prosper my friends. See you soon.
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