TMC
02-22-2023, 10:50 PM
https://whatculture.com/tv/10-star-trek-characters-with-wasted-potential-2?rf=homepage
There's the right way, and then there's the Ro way.
BY JACK KIELY
FEBRUARY 22ND, 2023
"STAR TREK is… " are the words that began the franchise all the way back in 1964 in Gene Roddenberry's first pitch for the show, and writers, producers, and fans alike have been trying to fill that ellipsis ever since. Roddenberry's treatment for Trek did make some things clear: there would be "strong central characters" at its core, and the story would emerge through their travels to "meet the action-adventure-drama" on distant, but terribly familiar, worlds. Differently named in the pitch (except for a certain then "half-Martian" with "semi-pointed ears"), The Original Series quickly settled on the triumvirate of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock around whom most of the plots focussed.
Other series in the franchise took readily to the ensemble approach, of which Deep Space Nine is almost certainly the finest example. With a vast cast of main characters, some could have easily fallen by the wayside, but, in general, most were almost unrecognizable by the series' end when compared to our first glimpses of them in Emissary.
The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise also tended to have strong arcs for its central characters – B'Elanna and Tom Paris from outlaws to in-laws, for example. Certain characters, however, came bursting onto the screen with such dazzling potential only to dim into the background or disappear completely. The most recent incarnations of Star Trek, some more character-based than others, have also had varying degrees of success in this regard.
Here are 10 such characters whose initial promise was ultimately wasted.
There's the right way, and then there's the Ro way.
BY JACK KIELY
FEBRUARY 22ND, 2023
"STAR TREK is… " are the words that began the franchise all the way back in 1964 in Gene Roddenberry's first pitch for the show, and writers, producers, and fans alike have been trying to fill that ellipsis ever since. Roddenberry's treatment for Trek did make some things clear: there would be "strong central characters" at its core, and the story would emerge through their travels to "meet the action-adventure-drama" on distant, but terribly familiar, worlds. Differently named in the pitch (except for a certain then "half-Martian" with "semi-pointed ears"), The Original Series quickly settled on the triumvirate of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock around whom most of the plots focussed.
Other series in the franchise took readily to the ensemble approach, of which Deep Space Nine is almost certainly the finest example. With a vast cast of main characters, some could have easily fallen by the wayside, but, in general, most were almost unrecognizable by the series' end when compared to our first glimpses of them in Emissary.
The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise also tended to have strong arcs for its central characters – B'Elanna and Tom Paris from outlaws to in-laws, for example. Certain characters, however, came bursting onto the screen with such dazzling potential only to dim into the background or disappear completely. The most recent incarnations of Star Trek, some more character-based than others, have also had varying degrees of success in this regard.
Here are 10 such characters whose initial promise was ultimately wasted.