10 Most Overrated Villains | Star Trek

A good villain can make or break a series, create the right one, and they'll be coming back for more

and more for seasons, years and decades to come. With all the best or worst intentions though

not every single enemy that has been encountered has proven to be as successful as fans might first

think. With the benefit of hindsight and a good rewatch, those troubles just don't appear anywhere

as evil as they were the first, second or tenth time. Here's our look at when your plans for

domination aren't so dominating. I'm Sean Ferry for Trek Culture and here are the 10 most overrated

Star Trek villains. Number 10. The Kazon. Based on LA gangs, the Kazon offered a tangible and

immediate threat to the crew of Voyager from their first day in the Delta Quadrant. Supposedly right

there with the worst of the worst, the Kazon sects popped up over the course of the first two seasons

to attempt to steal the technology that Janeway refused to share. They started out with the fairly

impressive Predator-class ship in Caretaker and the threat of more to come, yet the Kazon Ogla

never followed it up, leaving the way clear for Culla and the Kazon Nistrum in prime place. Their

only significant victory? The capture of USS Voyager in Basics, yes, they only ever achieved

something resembling their goal once and then only for a short time. Effectively, they were overcome

by a hologram and a murderer later assisted by a flyby pilot and the less than aggressive Talaxians

That road to defeat does tell you a lot about the Kazon. Even the Borg, and perhaps one of the

franchise's most cutting in jokes, deemed the Kazon to have no redeeming features. Although set up in

a similar fashion to the Ferengi in The Next Generation's first season, the Kazon were never

resculpted for another use and were forgotten once Voyager passed their territory. Number 9. Swarm

A dangerous new foe shows up on the scene in Voyager's third season, probably hoping to take

the recurring villain spot vacated by the fleeing Kazon only a few episodes before. Mysterious and

deadly, they were only ever identified as the Swarm, but featured in early season 3 promotional

materials for Voyager and were presented as the next thing for the crew to worry about. Undefeated

at the climax of their eponymous episode, the lack of finality indicated that they would be back and

in greater numbers. Nothing is really learned of them and it's more of a standoff than a succession

of intent. Much of the weight of the swarm comes from the ominous description of this new foe and

the indication of the danger Voyager faces by traversing their space. While the VAD war would

later benefit from similar single episodic build-up, the swarm were almost blink and miss

leaving them defanged in minutes. As long as a Voyager had another big bad on the horizon that

was mysterious, deadly and acted as though there was some form of hive mind. A collective, if you

will. If only they dressed all in black as well. Number 8 The Ba In the 32nd century the Ba coexist with the Kelpians and everything seems in balance if not harmonious but that not how it once was with the Kelpians subservient to the shadowy creatures In the short trek The Brightest Star viewers are transported to Kaminar where we experience

Saru's life before he joined Starfleet and the oppressive regime that his people were forced to

live under. It would be later in the second season that the audience would finally meet one of these

beings that seemed like the spawn of a Dementor and a Ringwraith and terrified the local populace

Maybe even a bit of Armus in there to spice up the mix? All of the build-up and establishing of Kaminar's past came to very little

and a one-shot resolution in The Sound of Thunder. It would take the defeat of only one of these beings by Saru

to change the equilibrium of Kaminar and usher in a new era. The speed at which their total rule comes to an end is alarmingly quick

and before you know it, the Kaminar borders are open and the Kelpians are chatting away to anyone and everyone in the universe

Number 7. Jat Vash A product of Star Trek Picard, the super-secret Jat Vash are swore to destroy all artificial life

Why? Because, thanks to the discovery of the admonition on the planet Aya

the Jat Vash were instilled with a life-changing and monstrous vision of the future which could turn them mad

Experiencing something that horrific that it could lead you to suicide is extreme at the least

but their operations do offer up a lot of questions about their abilities. The visions immediately cut their numbers and then during Picard we only see two of their number active

Commodore O and Nerissa. Both are fairly ineffective in their roles given the secrecy

and sense of impending doom that their name should cause. Nerissa allows Elnor to escape and is kicked

into touch by Seven of Nine while O flees with not even her pride intact after facing the Federation

fleet. Why would they not have sent more on such an important mission to eliminate Soji and why

were the Jat Vash not present a lot earlier in the Star Trek timeline to eliminate Data, Lore and B4

Number six, the Duras sisters. Appearing several times throughout the next generation and

Deep Space Nine, the sisters of the House of Duros, were, well, really only that kind of annoying

side character that turns up from time to time. Their first appearance in Redemption served to

start the Klingon Civil War, which wrapped up in about a hot afternoon. They were abandoned by their

Romulan friends and spent the rest of the next generation and their sole appearance in Deep Space

Nine limping through the quadrant, trying to take back what had been stolen from them, promising

those young rascals that, oh we'll have that Klingon council we will. Their big claim to fame

is that they did manage to effectively destroy the Enterprise D, which is no mean feat we will say

That said they did it by using a spy camera I mean where the honour in that They are fun in their appearances to be sure However at the end of the day they were never that much of a villain to contend with

Number 5. The Emerald Chain If the 1,000-year leap into the future wasn't enough for the crew of Discovery

there was a new menace on the horizon. Headed by the Orions, the Emerald Chain were the dominant

galactic power of the 32nd century. Taking advantage of the weakened, shrunken Federation

their control of dwindling dilithium supplies placed them at the top of the Peking Order

led by the acidic Orion Osyraa, there were few capable of standing against their tactics

Viewers watched their ruthless actions across the third season of Discovery. However, their swift

defeat in the finale certainly took away a lot of their power and presence. Coming down to a

hand-to-hand fight between the chain's leader and Michael Burnham and that inexplicable Turbolift

Bottle, the criminal powerhouse were crippled instantly. Season 4's opening episodes barely

make a mention of the chain, suggesting that they have truly fallen and disappeared into the background

of the Milky Way. Number four, the Borg post first contact. The Borg and the next generation of first

contact are unquestionably terrifying, unstoppable, adaptive, relentless, emotionless. From their first appearance in Q Who through to their sole movie appearance in the eighth big screen outing

there was always that dark possibility that they win and they nearly did once but Voyager changed

all of that with the introduction of Seven of Nine. Fans were chomping at the bit for the appearance

of the Borg all the way through the first three seasons of the show. The Delta Quadrant was their

their stomping ground and the final reveal of a Borg skeleton in blood fever ramped up the

anticipation to unbearable, but then they became a villain of the week whom fans knew would be

stopped in their tracks by Janeway, Seven and the crew. Hard to swallow when a good proportion of

the main star fleet, including Picard in the Enterprise D and E, struggled to contain their

malevolence on multiple occasions. An appearance from the Borg became more of a ratings poll than

a genuine threat and the Delta Quadrant's lions had their claws abruptly removed even more so with

the reveal of a mental safe haven in Unimatrix Zero. Number 3. Lore. If Star Trek is guilty of

one thing here, it's that Lore could well be the janitor in Scooby-Doo. He gets away with it on two

occasions, with the Enterprise failing to put in a lot of effort to track him down. The evil twin

scenario had been played out solidly in the original series, The Enemy Within, and to a degree

with Mirror Mirror, so it was only a matter of time before the very Roddenberry-influenced stories

of the first season headed in that same direction. Lore is a great character and opportunity for

Brent Spiner to set Chew when he can't normally do as the emotionally limited data yet his villainy

actually all comes from those already mentioned failings of the Enterprise crew. They are the ones

that reactivate him without a second thought as to why he was in bits in the first place They allow him to virtually access all of the ship and it is through their ineptitude that Lore is able to gain any kind of level of superiority Indeed his encounter with the Borg and the subsequent elevation to The One is down to the inaction of the Enterprise crew when handed

Hugh as their means to an end. Number 2. The Klingons. Established as one of the key antagonists

in the original series the Klingons appeared in a handful of episodes and proved to be a sharp

thick thorn in the side of Captain James T. Kirk. The structure of the Klingon Empire makes very

little sense. The destruction of Praxis in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country has a sizable

effect on their energy production and it's noted that a large portion of that goes into their

military. The overall focus on aggression might seem cool from the outside but from a financial

perspective they're utterly screwed. That and their armor is tragically ineffective in every episode

they ever appeared in. In the original series there was a good deal of bravado and posturing

from Kor, Koloth and Kang but each walked away from their dealings with Kirk no better off and in

one case loaded with tribbles. A few redesigns later and it looked as though the warrior race

were going to be a huge force to be reckoned with, even taking control of swathes of the

Alpha Quadrant in Discovery. Yet their fall required barely any real effort from external

forces and left them with a new chancellor and a serious strategic rethink. Number one, Q

Tacked onto the pilot of the next generation purely to flesh out the second half of the feature

length episode, Q became far more of an afterthought. Appearing across the next generation

DS9, Voyager, Lower Decks and Picard, the Omnipotent One has been the thorn in many a Captain's side

over the years. Or has he? If we look back at his exploits, Q began as a genuine threat to the

Federation in Encounter at Farpoint. He placed the crew in real danger during a courtroom trial and

proved to have something of a dark side by introducing viewers to the Borg, and even trying

to turn Riker by granting him similar powers. But for a good proportion of his time, Q was not much

more than a diversion, and that annoying child who continuously stabs his finger into your thigh

demanding chocolate at the supermarket till. He promises a lot, delivers some and produces

significantly underwhelming results. Actor John DeLancey is far better used when Q is

dealing with more serious affairs, such as the anti-time paradox or the mortality of

Death Wish when there is a higher goal at stake. As a villain Q doesn't amount to very

much, however as a contemplative partner on the journey that's where his strength truly

lies. Thank you very much everyone for watching along. Which of the Star Trek villains do

you think are overrated? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you so much to Clive Burrell

who wrote this article. You can find this article over on whatculture.com. Please follow us on the

various socials. I'm at Sean Ferrick. Make sure that you're following Trek Culture as well. Thank you so much everyone who has subscribed to the channel. Please do so if you haven't already

I'll be your friend. Live long and prosper my friends. See you soon