The Top 20 most impactful deaths in Star Trek history

Copyright Paramount – Star Trek the Motion Picture Earth

17. Commander Sonak

Really, did he even speak two lines? How was his death impactful to anyone?

Quite right, we didn’t know  Star Trek: The Motion Picture‘s Commander Sonak well, we knew he was the science officer aboard the refitted Enterprise, he was fully certified on all ship systems, and that he was apparently a friend of Admiral Kirk’s.  (We also know he should have just taken the shuttle)

So how is his death impactful?  Quite simply without his dying the newly emotionally purged Spock would not have had a reason to return to the Enterprise, Sonak would have filled the position of first officer to Kirk once Captain Decker was out of the picture and none of the events that came after would have been the same… Ok so it might have saved us from Star Trek III: The Search fo Spock, but it was still a good thing for the franchise overall.