The Wrap released their 39 classic Star Trek characters.
To say the Wrap has a controversial list for the 39 classic Star Trek characters would be an understatement. Granted, it’s subjective so it’s hard to say for certain that they’re wrong, after all, it’s just an opinion but we certainly disagree.
The author of the list is clearly a fan of specific Star Trek shows and not a fan of others. That’s more than obvious in the list at hand. Most of the characters in the Top 20 are from the original series, the Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. Only Trip Tucker, Seven of Nine, and Kathryn Janeway make it that high. Not even Scott Bakula’s Jonathan Archer cracks the Top 20.
Why? Because the author clearly didn’t like Voyager and Enterprise. He states it in the opening paragraph.
"The worst — we’re looking at you, “Voyager” and “Enterprise” — leave fans wondering if there’s a point to their existence."
The Wrap’s 39 Classic TV Main Characters Ranked
- Jean-Luc Picard
- Spock
- James T. Kirk
- Data
- William Riker
- Leonard “Bones” McCoy
- Benjamin Sisko
- Odo
- Worf
- Kira Nerys
- Geordi La Forge
- Montgomery “Scotty” Scott
- Kathryn Janeway
- Beverly Crusher
- Julian Bashir
- Charles “Trip” Tucker
- Miles O’Brien
- Seven of Nine
- Hikaru Sulu
- Nyota Uhura
- Pavel Chekov
- The Doctor
- Tuvok
- Tasha Yar
- Quark
- Jadzia Dax
- Phlox
- T’Pol
- Jonathan Archer
- Deanna Troi
- Malcolm Reed
- Harry Kim
- Tom Paris
- Chakotay
- B’Elanna Torres
- Neelix
- Hoshi Sato
- Travis Mayweather
- Wesley Crusher
It’s hard to take this Star Trek character list seriously with the obvious bias
It’s one thing to admit you don’t like the show, and to not include it to rule out any bias. That’s fair. If you don’t like pizza, and someone asks you to judge a pizza tasting contest, you’d exclude yourself from the judge’s panel.
The writer even did just a bit with this list by excluding the “duds” as he calls them in Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks. So clearly he didn’t feel he could accurately judge those shows, so he opted not to.
A fair thing to do.
Yet, if you’re going to judge characters from shows you don’t like, make sure you exclude all the shows you don’t like.
Both Voyager and Enterprise are far from the jokes some fans would lead you to believe and deserve better, more accurate context than they’re given. For me, no Top 10 can be complete without Archer or Janeway, and to even concoct a list without them is already heresy.
But that’s just my opinion.