When season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series premiered in September of 1967, viewers were introduced to some cast changes. Mr. Chekov, a young Russian, joined the USS Enterprise in the episode "Catspaw," although, in broadcast order, fans were introduced to the new navigator in "Amok Time."
Gone were hit-or-miss recurring characters Yeoman Janice Rand and Kevin Riley. Neither was particularly irritating, except for Riley belting out "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" in season 1's "The Naked Time." However, during season 2, it turned out that one of the most annoying characters was actually a series regular! With that in mind, check out Star Trek's most annoying characters from TOS season 2.
3. Dr. Janet Wallace ("The Deadly Years")
Dr. Janet Wallace, an old flame of Captain Kirk's, is aboard the Enterprise, as Scotty, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock, and an unfortunate Lieutenant Galway suddenly begin to age rapidly from a then-unknown radiation sickness.
Wallace doesn't waste much time reacquainting herself with Kirk. She chides him for not keeping in touch in this weird, breathy discount Marilyn Monroe voice, which becomes extremely annoying. As Kirk ages rapidly, Wallace seems to become more attracted to him, and this registers an ick factor of 20! This shouldn't come as too much of a shock, though, when one considers Wallace's husband, Theodore, was 26 years older than his wife.
2. Dr. Richard Daystrom ("The Ultimate Computer")
Dr. Daystrom is a walking midlife crisis when he and his M-5 computer board the Enterprise. Daystrom was once a young and trendy computer genius, and he believes that M-5 will return him to his former glory. Even when his ultimate computer starts to take over and reduces an engineering ensign into a puff of ozone, Daystrom tries to cover for it.
One aspect that makes Daystrom so irritating is his speech pattern. It almost rivals William Shatner's iconic line deliveries, but Daystrom sounded like Sidney Poitier trying to imitate 1980s Bill Cosby. Every time I revisit this episode, I always cheer when Spock takes Daystrom out with his Vulcan nerve pinch!
1. Captain James T. Kirk ("Obsession")
How can I add our legendary Captain James T. Kirk to this list, you may ask? Sure, he's done some questionable things, like discussing the hypothetical death of a servant of Vaal with Spock, Chekov, Yeoman Landon, and a redshirt in "The Apple." However, most other times it's some spore ("Shore Leave") or malfunctioning transporter ("The Enemy Within") that makes him act out. In this episode, though, Kirk really is a jerk.
Kirk realizes the cloud creature that attacked his men on Argus X might have been the same one that attacked and killed half the crewmembers aboard the USS Farragut, including Kirk's first commanding officer, Captain Garrovick, whose son is now on board the Enterprise as an ensign. After young Garrovick fails to fire his phaser, as ordered, Kirk treats him badly because he hasn't processed his own emotions after the attack against the Farragut 11 years earlier. Kirk needs grief counseling!
Kirk also takes his trauma out on the rest of the crew. He barks at Scotty and makes a comment about all his senior officers conspiring against him. Scotty's expression says volumes, but then he turns on poor Mr. Chekov, who only wants to please his captain with some new scanning reports.
Kirk harraungs him and then sends the slightly bewildered Chekov off to scan and rescan for the bloodsucking cloud. While it's important to understand that even heroes can have flaws, Kirk triggers annoyance instead of empathy.
Usually, we can count on annoying characters to pop up, cause trouble, and then vanish before the next episode begins. Other times, our favorites become annoying over time. Do you agree with our list? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.