Enterprise 20th: Ranking every major character from Star Trek: Enterprise

8. Dr. Phlox

John Billingsley brought a lot to love to Dr. Phlox, the Denobulan doctor who oversaw the health and wellness of the Enterprise crew. He was warm, inviting, charming and a perfect mix of sweet and sincere. The character popped the most in episodes involving Jonathan Archer, most notably the episode “A Night in Sickbay” when he jokingly tells Archer that Porthos, Archer’s pet dog, will end up taking on traits of a chameleon after Pholox used a specific medical treatment to save the dog’s life.

He was very whimsical and stood his ground firmly and admirably when it came to his ethics as a physician. He worried about the health and wellbeing of everyone on board, even if it came at a cost to himself. He developed a solution to negate himself if the nanomachines injected into his system by a Borg drone started to take over.

The problem with Phlox was, essentially, that he was way too open about his life. The whole Denobulan race felt really shoe-horned, unnecessary, and at times creepy. They were a species that had several mates, who themselves had several mates, and so on, but only ever saw them every so often. They also had faces that puffed out like a pufferfish, and oh yeah, they were a genocidal race of murderers.

While the episode that featured this specific Denobulan revelation was a very good one (“The Breach”) it further showed just how bizarre of a race the Denobulan’s were. At one time they were an entire race of Dr. Mengele’s.

Phlox was cheery and interesting when he was a side character but most of the Phlox-centered stuff wasn’t all that impressive and often times quiet icky. If I never have to see a Denobulan spine again it’ll be too soon.