- 2 days ago
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00Very few Star Trek foes are out and out one note monsters. Most antagonistes...
00:05...tend to have at least one saving grace. Sometimes, however, the deeds of a character...
00:10...organisation or even an entire species go so far beyond the pale that they...
00:15...airlock any chance at redemption they may have had, probably along with a few of their victims.
00:20Well, with that in mind, I'm Ellie for Trek Culture and these are the 10 most irredeemable...
00:25...Star Trek villains.
00:26Number 10. The Augments
00:28Very much a product of their time...
00:30...Kar Noonien Singh and the Augments, as they later came to be called, were Star Trek's exploration...
00:35...of the 20th century's most destructive set of beliefs, eugenics. These particular villains...
00:40...were the result of humanity's experiments with DNA re-sequencing. The double helix structure...
00:45...of DNA having only been discovered about a decade and a half before Space Seed was first broadcast.
00:50In the late 20th century, the Augments conquered and enslaved the world. The resulting...
00:55...eugenics wars between them and the regularly DNA'd had cataclysmic consequences...
01:00...for Earth. An estimated 35 million people were left dead before the dictatorial...
01:05...and Supermen were deposed. All remaining Augment embryos were put on ice and Karn and about...
01:10...80 of the other over-ambitious Clark Kent's were sentenced to death. They managed to skip town...
01:15...and the solar system, however, aboard the SS Botany Bay before execution day. The night...
01:20...the 20s were wild, man. In 2267, Karn and Co. made an ultimately unsuccessful...
01:25...attempt to commandeer the Enterprise, but Kirk let them off with little more than a slapped wrist...
01:30...tiny tiny terraforming project and one Marla MacGyver's. Afterwards, neither Kirk nor...
01:35...starfleet stopped by for a SETI Alpha high-five and things went from bad to worse on the...
01:40...planet. Karn, of course, would return to seek vengeance in the film that sports his name. In that...
01:45...movie, and not before a lot of ear-eels and Moby Dick, Karn and the other Augments went the way...
01:50...of the Old Testament. Knowing his death-slash-rebirth as a rock was coming, Karn's...
01:55...solidified his status as irredeemable villain by using his last moments to quote Melville...
02:00...relentless captain. From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my...
02:05...last breath at thee. Naturally, a couple of members of the Soong family were also involved in all this along...
02:10...the way, but more on that later. Number 9, Section 31. Perhaps the reason...
02:15...Section 31 is so beyond redemption is that they have never really sought it in the first...
02:20...place. More amoral than immoral, there is a certain unfeeling pragmatism to the...
02:25...organisation that just wants to get the dirty, but objectively necessary job done. Such cold rash...
02:30...the rationale and dubious use of Cicero can hardly hold water for long, however. There are...
02:35...rules in war and especially for peace. Chronologically speaking, the earliest we see of Section...
02:40...31 is through Malcolm Reed's involvement in the organisation. However, the shady group's first...
02:45...on-screen appearance was in Star Trek Deep Space Nine to spend time with Bashir on the holiday.
02:50Convinced the Doctor wasn't a Dominion spy, Director Sloane tried the recruitment pitch. Sure, it's...
02:55...a super dangerous job, you'll have to lie to everyone you know and love...
02:58...and check your principals at the door, but...
03:00...you get one of those cool black jackets just for signing up. Section 31 was an open secret once...
03:05...and Starfleet Command didn't deny denying it. After the Inquisition, the group appeared in DS9...
03:10...on a few more occasions. Oh, and there was that attempted genocide thing. I bet that'll never come up again.
03:15In Star Trek Discovery, almost everyone seems to have heard of Section 31. Far from operating...
03:20...autonomously of no fixed abode, as in Sloane's day, in the 23rd century...
03:25...Starfleet maintained at least a degree of oversight over Section 31, and the organisation had its...
03:30...own HQ. Starfleet Admiral submitted reports to Section 31's AI system control...
03:35...its operatives sometimes served openly aboard Starfleet vessels, and they weren't shy...
03:40...about showing off their fancy advanced technology, either. Ooh, comm badges! Section 31...
03:45...maintained its cruel streak all the same, hiring a former Terran Emperor and hunting down...
03:50...for Spock, just so they could scramble his neurons. Control almost wiped out all sentient life in the game...
03:55...of the galaxy, but that was probably nothing compared to what was on those pads in Sloane's...
03:59...slowly exploding...
04:00...mind palace. Soon we'll be getting a long trek look at all the clandestine goings on in a movie...
04:05...with Michelle Yeoh. Who else is excited for that?
04:08Number 8. Dukat. We were never...
04:10...going to warm to the guy. He was the last prefect to oversee the brutal occupation of Bajor...
04:15...for, much to his chagrin, Cardassian withdrawal in 2369. There aren't many...
04:20...ways to spin it. If it walks like a fascist dictator, talks like a fascist dictator...
04:25...then it's probably Mononymous Tyrant Dukat. And never forget, he killed Jadzia...
04:30...in Cold Blood. It was in Deep Space Nine's Waltz that, just in case you hadn't twigged before...
04:35...and Dukat's true depravity was revealed for all to see. As he descended into the madness of evil...
04:40...he ceased the slow dance around his feelings for the Bajorans. In the Season 6 episode, he...
04:45...poured out his vile hatred to Sisko, saying...
04:48...from the moment we arrived on Bajor...
04:50...it was clear that we were the superior race. I hated them. I should have killed every last one of...
04:55...I should have turned their planet into a graveyard, the likes of which the galaxy had never seen. In...
05:00...in spite of this sickening diatribe, the character retained a surprising level of popularity amongst...
05:05...fans. As related in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine companion, some fans on the internet...
05:10...went so far as to defend Dukat's actions during the occupation, and this apologia for Jadzia...
05:15...anicide shocked the show's writers and producers. They, as well as Mark Alaimo, who played him...
05:20...tried to make Dukat a fully rounded character. But there should have been no room for ambiguity in the fact that...
05:25...he was the despicable despot of the piece. By DS9's finish, Dukat had disguised himself...
05:30...as a member of the species he so despised in order to curry favour with the next miscreant on...
05:35...this list. Then, somewhat fittingly, he wound up in Bajoran hell.
05:38Number 7. Wynn Adal...
05:40Admittedly, this Ranjan, then Vedic, then Kai wasn't all bad. She had a few...
05:45...things going on for her. During the occupation, she risked her life and was imprisoned for preaching...
05:50...in her faith, and saved a number of lives. Once by bribing a Cardassian officer to divert...
05:55...the transport of Bajorans headed for execution. Plus, perhaps, if the Prophet's presumably because they'd already...
06:00...seen her entire career path, hadn't wanted her to end up siding with the Costa Mojin...
06:04...they might...
06:05...not let it go to Celestial Temple voicemail every time she tried to call. Still, in spite of...
06:10...the above, and after carefully considering her turncoat tactics in the fire caves...
06:15...the fishing sides really only because Ducat had gained the upper hand...
06:18...Wynn Adami remains a character...
06:20...past the point of redemption. She stabbed poor Solber quite literally in the back for profit...
06:25...sake, and did so in the more metaphorical sense to plenty of others who got in her way.
06:29Wynn shunned Sisko...
06:30...so from the very beginning, unwilling to accept until a lot later...
06:33...that a non-believer could be...
06:35...designated emissary of the prophets. She fought Keiko O'Brien for teaching science, which was...
06:40...still just a ruse to try to assassinate Vedic Ryle, further connived her way to becoming Kai...
06:44...took...
06:45...a credit where none was due, and sent in the militia over a few reclamators. Later, she interrupted the...
06:50...Reckoning, and then nearly set Bajor and the rest of the galaxy on fire by attempting to release the...
06:55...to par raids.
06:56Number 6, The Sphere Builders. This video isn't using Kill Count as a...
07:00...measure of everlasting evil, but still. This band of problematic aliens from another plane were behind...
07:05...an attack on Earth that cost 7 million lives, including the sister of one chief engineer.
07:10That was just their warm-up act, however. The Sphere Builders had convinced the Zindi to finish the job of...
07:15...humanity's eradication. Depending on how you think about time, none of this should have ever happened, but it did.
07:20One of the fiendish factions of the Temporal Cold War, the Sphere Builders had spied a future they...
07:25...didn't particularly like, in which they were sent packing back to their realm by the Federation...
07:30...in an alternate 26th century. As the crew of the NX-01 found out in the 22nd century...
07:35...the species' goal was to transform space in our universe into their own trans-dimensional...
07:40...layground, by using the gravimetric energy generated by a vast network of humongous...
07:45...spheres. Had they not been stopped, the spatial transformations in The Expanse would have grown to encompass...
07:50...hundreds of systems, with disastrous consequences for any inhabited worlds in their...
07:55...path. You can't really get more irredeemable than an attempt at galaxy-level genocide just so you...
08:00...can move into the neighbourhood. Number 5. A selection of Soongs. So far in Star Trek...
08:05...essentially all we've seen of the Soong Dynasty is a succession of scientists. One more zany...
08:10...than the last. In amongst the often endearing and inventive oddity lies the family's darkest...
08:15...side. A couple of songs whose dastardly deeds are greater than Noonien's penchant for puns.
08:20The first of the long lineage we've met is Dr. Adam Soong in the early 21st century...
08:25...in an alternate timeline where Rene Picard never brought back some clever bacteria from Europa...
08:30...it was Adam who saved humanity from the effects of climate change with his flying force field...
08:35...contraption. Nevertheless, he became a part of the sinister Confederation of Earth...
08:39...and even invented...
08:40...and it's racist slogan, a safe galaxy is a human galaxy. In the variant 2015...
08:45...the 15th century, this Soong had statues erected in his honour. After the La Sirena gang arrived...
08:50...in 2024 to fix the mess, Adam Soong teamed up with the still very resistance...
08:55...with his futile Borg Queen Jurati, sent off some soldiers for assimilation...
08:59...and then went to try to...
09:00...to murder Rene, killing Talyn the Traveller instead. Plus, he had been holding on to a little something...
09:05...called Project Khan. Just over a century later, the Soong family produced another doctor of genetics...
09:10...of dubious ethics, Arikson. Taking up his ancestors' interest in augments, Arikson...
09:15...stole some of the embryos that had been on ice since the 90s from Cold Station 12 to make some...
09:20...modifications of his own, and raised the result as his children. As adults, these augments were...
09:25...went on a murderous rampage to free the rest of their fellow Enhanced...
09:28...and Arik caught up with them to lend a hand.
09:30Number four, the Bluegills. They only ever appeared in one episode of Star Trek, aside from...
09:35...a mention by those butt-bug conspiracy theorists in Lower Decks, but they've had us check in...
09:40...the backs of our necks ever since. These terrifying nightmare-inducing parasitic creatures were...
09:45...permed their way into the highest ranks of Starfleet Command and turned dinner time into a horror show.
09:50An infected Admiral Quinn did get in some impressive high kicks, though, for his years, so perhaps...
09:55...it's worth giving them a try. And, uh, Admiral? Bit embarrassing, but your stunt double is showing. Thoroughly...
10:00...alien, it is the manner in which the Bluegills go about their villainy that makes them so irredeemable.
10:05They enter through the mouth and take complete control of the victim's mind and body. Yes...
10:10...still claim, we mean you no harm, we seek peaceful coexistence. Yeah, yeah, and we'll surpass-
10:15...the pacifist now. They also didn't hesitate to blow up an entire starship and crew once it's capped...
10:20...in was on to them. And let's spare a thought for poor old Commander Remick. He had to have their mother inside...
10:25...only for his head and chest to be phased off. Picard and Riker must have been in therapy for months!
10:30It's tough to see these little and one large Bluebuggers ever changing their ways. Number 3...
10:35...Maxwell and other Berks. Towards the end of the Star Trek Voyager two-parter Equinox...
10:40...Captain Janeway walks down the line of remaining reprobates from the now-destroyed ship of the...
10:45...episode title, citing their names as she strips them of rank. This time you'll have to earn...
10:50...to trust, she says. Dismissed. There are a few faces missing from this perp parade, however.
10:55Most notably absent, for the purpose of this list, is a certain Commander with Lieutenant Pips.
11:00I stalk my exes halfway across the galaxy, Maxwell Meatball Burrito Burke.
11:05He was slimy and sly from the start, getting arsey with Janeway when she wanted to make...
11:10...a stand on Voyager and giving us full-on facepalm cringe during his reunion with...
11:15...Alana. There was something just not quite right with this first officer. When his captain, Rudolf Rudi...
11:20...Ransom finally decided to stop committing murder to rev up the warp engines and surrender to...
11:25...Voyager, Maxwell mutinied and took a gaggle of fellow Barclays with him to the slaughter.
11:30In the end, the four-bridge insurrectionists try to escape to the Equinox's one remaining shuffle...
11:35...but the aliens catch up with them. The last we see of Burke is his rapid desiccation de-
11:40...and death as the wronged interspatial lifeforms take their nucleogenic vengeance.
11:44Number 2
11:45To be clear, and so as not to let Tendi down, we're not saying all...
11:50...Orions are wrong-ins. Just the ones who are. There are certainly a lot of femme fatale stereotypes...
11:55...out there about the species dating back to the first Star Trek pilot, and which have only recently been...
12:00...begun to be deconstructed. It's really the Orion syndicate and future rebrand that gives...
12:05...the rest the bad space pirate name. The Orion syndicate was one of the worst, or at least the...
12:10...most organised criminal gangs in the galaxy. By the 22nd century, when the NX-01...
12:15...had a run-in with them near Klingon space, thanks to the handiwork of two of the other entries on the...
12:20...this list, several members of Archer's crew were captured and auctioned into slavery before...
12:25...being rescued. If you'd like to poll though, you can always kick the syndicate in the Brussels sprouts.
12:30In the 24th century, the Orion syndicate had expanded its membership to include a smorgasbord...
12:35...of criminals of different species. Notably, Chief O'Brien was once sent undercover by Star Trek...
12:40...the Starfleet intelligence into a section of the syndicate on Fabius Prime to root out an informe...
12:45...the consequences of this mission would follow the Chief, leading him a year later to investigate the family...
12:50...of Ezri Dax, who had become embroiled with the nefarious organisation. In the post...
12:55...Byrne world of the 32nd century, the Syndicate got a makeover and a nodding...
13:00...and name change to become the Emerald Chain. Much like their forebears of the 24th century, the...
13:05...chain was a multi-species enterprise, with a green lady at its helm, the Orion Osyraa.
13:10Thorn in the side of the Federation and the Discovery, Osyraa and the Chain relied on the most brutal...
13:15...methods of control. Slave labour was enforced by explosive implants and anyone who...
13:20...tried to oppose or simply got in the way was either left without antennae or fed to an...
13:25...size worm. Osyraa did get her comeuppance, however, at the end of Michael Burnham's phaser rifle...
13:30...and never insult a man's cat. She's a queen. Number one, the Borg Queen.
13:35Given the events of the final season of Star Trek Picard, we've already discussed the Borg Queen quite...
13:40...a lot, but it would be difficult to do a list about irredeemable villains without including...
13:45...Her Majesty on it. In season two of Picard, we got a semblance of a hint that the...
13:50...or rather, a queen could mend her ways. Even then, it was only with the persuasive skills of Doctor...
13:55...Agnus Gervati that this alternate timeline queen could be convinced a kinder collective was the...
14:00...future. Moreover, in that queen's home universe, humanity was arguably the far greater villain. Back in...
14:05...our regular reality, and as the role requires, the Borg Queen has always been quite open in...
14:10...expressing just how awesome she thinks assimilation is. What makes the Borg and the Queen so terrifying...
14:15...after all, is that psychopathic absence of empathy as they make you one of their own. We did...
14:20...catch a glimmer of light for one incarnation of the Prime Borg Queen in the Star Trek Voyager...
14:25...feature-length episode Dark Frontier. When Her Royal Highness Rumble's Seven of Nines attempt to help...
14:30...a group of species 10026 escape assimilation, she at first tries to...
14:35...recapture the fleeing vessel. Strangely, Seven's subsequent pleas for mercy don't fall...
14:40...on deaf ears as the Queen lets the ship go. This may simply have been a scheme to win over her...
14:45...be protégé, or perhaps the spark of something a little deeper. Either way, for her return in season...
14:50...three of Picard, the Queen is all Borg business, seething with anger towards Starfleet...
14:55...and the Federation, and ready to get some high-end revenge. And that concludes our list...
15:00...now we are SO close to 300,000 subscribers, so if you've just watched this video...
15:05...if you realise you haven't yet clicked that subscribe button, then please go do it now...
15:09...and a big, big...
15:10...thank you to that nearly 300,000 of you who already have. Also make sure you're following...
15:15...us on the various social media platforms, and if you fancy giving this video a like, then I wouldn't...
15:20...say no to it. I've been Ellie for Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day and remember...
15:25...to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Comments