Highlights
- The Talosians were the first villains in Star Trek, but they were more tragic than evil, kidnapping the crew to save their dying civilization.
- The Ferengi were often portrayed as harmless or ridiculous, but they could be formidable enemies if done right, like in Star Trek: Enterprise.
- Gul Madred, a Cardassian interrogator, was a chilling villain who was humanized by his family, making viewers wish they could see more of him.
Star Trek has created a remarkable amount of characters, both heroes and villains. Yet when people ask others what villains they remember from all the Star Trek movies and TV shows, only a handful of names is likely to be repeated over and over again.
Some villains have become more prominent, either for their role in the story or the actor's performance. But for every such villain, there is at least one that was underused and would have deserved much more space to show the audience members what they could do if given the chance.
5 Talosians
The Talosians hold the privilege of being the very first villains who ever appeared on Star Trek. It happened in the original pilot, "The Cage," with Captain Christopher Pike, which was later replaced by a new pilot episode with Captain James T. Kirk. Just like some of the best villains, the Talosians weren't evil just for the sake of being evil. Instead, they kidnapped the crew to save their dying civilization.
In the end, they came across as more tragic characters than genuine villains. It would have been interesting to see how they've been doing since the time Pike visited them, but even though Star Trek has made several references to them, there is still very little the viewers know about the Talosians and their subsequent fate.
4 The Ferengi
The case of the Ferengi is complicated. As a species, they got a fair amount of space in Star Trek, especially in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine since the Ferengi bartender/businessman Quark was one of the main characters. But as antagonists, the Ferengi weren't so lucky and when they tried to be scary, they ended up as harmless in the best case and ridiculous in the worst case, as their appearance in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "The Last Outpost" proves. Yet the Ferengi could make for formidable enemies if done right.
In Star Trek: Enterprise, a crew of several Ferengi manages to take control of the ship in the episode "Acquisition." If it wasn't for Archer, Trip, and T'Pol who managed to trick them in the end, the Ferengi would have absconded with everything valuable, including some of the crew members. Seeing them from a different perspective, those of unknown and potentially dangerous aliens worked well, but whether Star Trek could repeat the recipe in series taking place in later centuries than Enterprise is open to discussion.
3 Gul Madred
It wasn't until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that the Cardassians gained a bigger space in Star Trek. Before that, the fans of this cunning and often ruthless alien species had to make do with their sporadic appearances. Other than Deep Space Nine Gul Dukat, one of the most notable Cardassian characters, was Gul Madred, who appeared in the two-part story "Chain of Command" and interrogated Captain Picard after Picard and Doctor Crusher were kidnapped.
Gul Madred was intelligent, and chilling, and he knew what he was doing when he got his hands on Picard. At the same time, the show successfully managed to humanize him by giving him a family and a daughter he cared about. It was this contrast between the efficient interrogator and a loving father that made Gul Madred so interesting to the viewers and made them wish they could have seen more of him.
2 Gary Mitchell
Even though Star Trek profiles itself as a space science fiction story and on paper, at least, has nothing to do with superhero comic books, it featured several episodes in which people had or got superhero-like powers - and usually used them for evil. The very first one was the first episode with Captain James T. Kirk. After a freak accident, his best friend Gary becomes inhumanly intelligent, and as his powers develop, so does his disdain and lack of respect for humans. In the end, Kirk is forced to fight and kill his friend.
While it would be difficult, if not impossible to bring Gary back, seeing someone dealing with the same or a similar set of powers under different circumstances might make for an intriguing story. Especially since no two captains solve a crisis the same way. Kirk chose to clobber at Gary until he defeated him, but another captain might have chosen a different approach.
1 Tribbles
Tribbles have appeared in multiple Star Trek episodes but never as pure villains. The closest they got to this position was when they ate the grain that was to be used for humanitarian purposes... only to discover that the grain was poisoned. As such, the Tribbles unknowingly saved countless lives. However, there is one species that sees the Tribbles as actual villains: the Klingons.
The feeling is mutual as the Tribbles aren't fond of Klingons and based on Worf's words, the Klingons fought the Tribbles until they got rid of them all. This war between the two species wasn't included in Star Trek, but it might make for a rather bizarre and remarkable story of the Klingons fighting against little, furry Tribbles.