Welcome to the Star Trek As We Know It Blogfest! I’m thrilled to be a part of celebrating one of SciFi’s most influential and fun franchises. With over forty years of content it is hard to choose favorites of anything, but here are my top five favorite characters.
5. Quark from Deep Space Nine
Quark is the Ferengi bar owner who started out as comic relief but became so much more. I think the thing that draws me to Quark is his very different worldview. One of the areas where Star Trek is weak as a SciFi show is that most of the aliens are just humans with make-up. Quark not only looks more strikingly different (gotta love those ears) from the humans, he thinks differently. You might not like the way he thinks, but you have to give him credit for cleverness and consistency.
4. Janeway from Voyager
For all I tease about Captain Janeway’s pink night gown and tumble-down hair from the first few seasons, I really love this Star Fleet officer. Of all of the captains, I think she is probably the most like the original Captain, Kirk. Not that she is a womanizer, but she is a spirited risk taker—often the individual who swoops in to save the day. They also did a good job of providing a lot of depth and layers for Janeway. Her love of science and exploration run consistently through the show’s seven seasons as does her determination to see her crew safely home.
3. Picard from The Next Generation
I loved TNG when it originally aired, but much of it doesn’t hold up well and comes across as campy when I watch it now. Picard, and Patrick Stewart, single handedly “class up the joint” for me. Imagine the casting director pulling a Shakespearean actor onto the cast and setting him at the helm of a campy crew. They also gave him lots of good meaty moral dilemmas. Have to love him and his memorable Earl Gray, make it so, engage!
2. The Doctor from Voyager
He started out as a hologram and outgrew his data matrices. I think I love him as a character because he is awkward and arrogant and earnest. Watching his growth through the series enthralled me. I loved watching him start out simply trying to learn some bedside manners, then claiming his sentient status, falling in love, exploring family life, and even dabbling with day dreaming—it was all fascinating and delightful.
1. Spock from Star Trek – The Original Series
For the top slot I have to go back to TOS. Spock was the ultimate straight man for Kirk. He also set the mold for a long line of Pinocchio characters in the franchise. Spock, Data, T’pal and even The Doctor are all characters who are struggling with their emotions and what it means to be human. They want to be a ‘real boy’ and that makes them lovable. Through his relationship with Kirk, Spock has also come to represent true friendship, sacrifice, and wisdom. With the latest movie he has grown so large that there had to be two of him. 😉 And I love how the character grew through the life of this powerful franchise.
Which characters are your favorites?
For more Star Trek goodness and over 45 bloggers’ favorite Star Trek characters, episodes, or movies; be sure to visit the Star Trek As We Know It Blogfest! Thank you to Ellie Garratt for organizing it.
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Comments
45 responses to “My Favorite Star Trek Characters”
Love the post, Charlie, but I gotta say, of all the Star Treks, I love TNG the best. I don’t think it comes across to campy, really, but to each his own…. 🙂 Great post!
TNG will always hold a special place in my heart. Many moments of greatness there.
I have to admit that I love the original cast more than any other, but Picard is the best of the newer casts.
I think it was very smart for TNG to have a Captain so different from Kirk. It allowed him to avoid some of the comparison.
I think of all the shows, I wanted to love Enterprise the most. Alas it was too flawed. But it had a dog. And I am prejudiced. 🙂
My favorite characters of all times have been Guinan and Q. There is so much about their back story that I wanted to learn.
I didn’t like Enterprise when it first aired, but when I went back later and watched it online it was much better than I remembered. I think this biggest problem with Enterprise is that it often didn’t ‘feel’ like a Star Trek franchise.
My list would pretty much match yours, with the exception of Quark. (DS9 is the only ST I just never did like.) I would add to the list the amazing Scott Bakula as Captain Archer in Enterprise.
Bakula is so dang loveable. 😉
Spock’s definitely the man — er, half-man. But I thought Quark was great, too. He always had kind of a Bogart/Casablanca vibe going.
Love the Casablanca reference! I agree.
TOS is definitely my third favorite series (behind DS9 and TNG), but Spock is hands down the best Trek character. There wouldn’t be Star Trek without him.
Dan
Spock is the man – but I struggled with leaving Kirk off the list. Kirk isn’t one of my tippy-top favorites, but it is the friendship between the two that allows Spok to shine.
I’d add Seven-of-Nine to the characters struggling to be human, or in her case, reclaiming their humanity.
The Doctor on Voyager is probably my fave. Great list!
Very true!
it was full strong list, like tribbles in a hatchback….
jeremy
LOL!
Good list. I think Jean Luc made an excellent Capt, really leading TNG. In a different way than Kirk, but still well done.
Fabulous choices, and I agree, Janeway was the most like Kirk!
Ellie – thanks for organizing the fest today. I’ve had tons of fun visiting the other blogs. nice to be among Trekkies. 😉
One of my favorite characters was Scotty, hey without that guy and his broken up accent the starship Enterprise would have never gotten anywhere. I think my favorite scene was in the movie “The Voyage Home” where Scotty beamed the whales on board and told Captain Kirk “There be Whales here, Captain.” I still love that movie probably more than I should. The funnest character in any of the original Star Treks was Chekov, gotta love the way he spoke and when they put the movie out in 2009 starring Chris Pine it was a hoot to listen to young Anton Yelchin speak. Thanks for the memories Charlie, you brought back some good ones from my long running TV series and the accompanying movies that starred the original cast. The only good thing I enjoyed about TNG was Jean Luc Picard and “Mr Data” or actor Brent Spiner because I love AI’s.
I love, love, love the new Chekov. Such fun. And I too love AI characters.
Yup, you’re right that Spock was the blueprint for Data and many of the others. It seems your focus is on brains and power…couldn’t get any better. And Quark was a conniving little thing. Don’t forget to rub his ears. 🙂
Ah…Spock and Seven of Nine. I like Kirk too, but he’s kind of a joke. Love the original Bones!
How can you say that about James T? Kirk….is no….joke. *grin*
I like Janeway, Picard, and Spock too.
You have excellent taste. *grin*
Great blogfest entry. Janeway like Kirk? Hunh. Makes me think. I like how you used the old Spock for your pic. Nice touch.
Spock was great from the start but he got even better over time.
The Kirk and Spock tie for my all time favorites. I enjoyed Janeway and Quark a lot.
All great characters you’ve got going here! I love them all–especially the Borg! 😛
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The Borg have added a great deal to the overall storyline. Some realy interesting stuff on them in Voyager episodes.
I agree with your list, didn’t get a chance to watch much of DS9 or Voyager, but hopefully I will soon. I did like Janeway, The only Captain I didn’t really like was Sisko, but I’ll give him another chance. And Enterprise is better the second, third, forth, fifth…Ect….time around.
Sadly, DS9 in not currently available online, but Voyager is. I’d like to see more of DS9. It was hit and miss viewing for me when it aired.
My fav character is Spock by far! 😀 I also like the Captain of DS9… in fact I think DS9 has excellent stories, may be on par with TOS
I really like your choices here. People are so lucky now to have the option to see things on cable, via DVD, or broadcast syndication.
Sometimes I miss the shared experience of the old network TV model, but I could never give up my online TV viewing now that I have it. And I guess it is good that we have more choices.
My favourite is definitely Q, even though he didn’t show up too often. For regular characters… that’s tough, but I’d probably have to say Capt. Kirk with his awesome campy-ness.
Great choices. You’re right about TNG – much as I love it, it hasn’t always dated that well. And thanks for not choosing Q!
Great choices. I couldn’t agree more.
The original cast is my favorite. I do have a soft spot for Picard though. And I know this might get me a lot of flack, but “Q” was always my least favorite. I think his role in the movie The Hand That Rocks The Cradle didn’t help.
Thanks for sharing in the Blogfest. I love all of your favorite character, but then, as you said, it’s so very hard to choose isn’t it?
If you get a chance, check out a fellow writer’s zombie story and help me make him wear an embarrassing shirt next year! It’s the ultimate grudge match between social media and the zombies. Details are here:
Hi, Charlie. *waves*
I love that you ended your post with Spock. I’m such a closed-minded purist, I know. *laughs* I just never really could get into any of the other shows. Perhaps one of these days…
-Jimmy
There is so much good story telling, definetly worth a try. Wondering what you think of the reboot?
Thanks all for stopping by!
Great list! It would be awfully hard for me to choose between DS9 and TNG. DS9 had far better story lines, IMHO, but I grew up watching TNG. My favorite main characters: Jadzia Dax, Data, Picard, Kira Nerys, and Odo.
All the Treks had great minor characters. My favorites are definitely Q and Lwaxana Troi.
Oh – great choices. I loved Jadzia DAx, too. I just didn’t see enough of DS9 to really fall in love with it. I’m hoping to catch on streaming or disk one day.