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

7. Malcolm Reed

This may be controversial, but Malcolm Reed was someone I found very hard to like. He was the armory officer aboard Enterprise and took his job very seriously, maybe due to the fact he came from a family of Naval officers who served with the British Royal Navy.

That part is interesting but Reed was dry and rather uninteresting at times. You always knew what he was going to say.

While he was a part of the main cast of characters, like some of the cast, not a lot was given to him on his own. He was usually partnered with Charles “Trip” Tucker in all of the shenanigans and incidents that Tucker was involved in but he didn’t seem to have the same emotional depth that Trip had, despite being in many of the same scenes together.

That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t integral to the plot of episodes, he was, but it was rarely ever that he ever took center stage during them. Admittedly, the lack of depth in some of the characters is an issue the fans of the show and franchise constantly point towards, so it’s not just Reed.

Fans aren’t wrong about that critique, but while Reed was oftentimes domineering or argumentative, there was a charm that came forth through Dominic Keating’s portrayal. He added a bit of realism to the series, as undoubtedly there’d always be someone far more serious than they needed to be on a ship like the Enterprise, and in this case, Reed was that guy.