Star Trek: 5 Best & 5 Worst Crew Members Of All Time, Ranked

As far as sci-fi space operas are concerned, there are only two truly big franchises. One of them is Star Wars and the other one Star Trek. But only one of them came first, and that's Star Trek. Fans of both franchises like to argue which one is better but in the end, the best solution is to enjoy them both.

However, Star Trek offers a lot more material to enjoy since it has multiple TV shows and films. And it also included some amazing characters over the years but also a few bad ones. Some of them got the opportunity to shine while others turned to be less than stellar.

10 Best: Hoshi Sato

Hoshi could have been insecure at times and she was a bit of a loner and a perfectionist, so she wasn't perfect. But guess what? Neither were any of her fellow crew members. Hoshi may not have drawn too much attention to her remarkable successes but she still achieved plenty of those. She was the first human who learned the Klingon language and had the rare ability to master languages fast while other people just struggled with them and didn't get anywhere. Hoshi helped the crew make contact with many alien species which is one of the main reasons why they didn't fight even more often.

9 Worst: Janice Rand

Poor Janice Rand. The most remarkable thing about her - besides her somewhat eccentric hairstyle - is her unfortunate crush on Captain Kirk who barely paid attention to her most of the time. Janice could have been awesome but her character was so reduced she was barely more than a caricature. Luckily, she fared much better in the Star Trek films where she appeared only briefly but looked like she was ready to act and ride into danger if needed.

8 Best: Jadzia Dax

Jadzia Dax had centuries of experience on her side which might be one of the reasons why she remained calm even if the rest of the crew had the tendency to panic. Jadzia was smart and courageous, ready to take on her enemies in a battle and also to battle her friends in a game. She was well-educated and independent but also had a wicked sense of humor. And to top it all off, she was an excellent fighter. Unfortunately, she met her untimely end in the series and was replaced by Ezri who was nowhere as near as awesome as Jadzia.

7 Worst: Deanna Troi

Let's establish something straight away. Deanna Troi wasn't a bad character. Her Betazoid ability to read the emotions of others could have helped the crew a lot. Unfortunately, counselor Troi became the victim of the phenomenon known as the 'bad/lazy writing'.

She rarely ever got enough space and the most memorable thing about her are her funny disagreements with her mom Lwaxana, and not her work accomplishments.

6 Best: Odo

At times, Odo struggled to get along with people different from him since he felt isolated and alone from the rest of his species... who turned to be very different from him. Despite all of this, he turned to be the best security officer the Deep Space Nine station could have possibly asked for. Odo had a strong sense of justice and also was gracious enough to recognize when he was wrong. Plus, his love/hate chemistry with Quark remains legendary to this day, as well as the many quips these two frenemies shared.

5 Worst: Tom Paris

Again, Tom Paris wasn't all that bad. He was a capable pilot and helped the crew more than once when they needed it. Plus, he was a good friend to his fellow crew members. But he was also a bit too hot-headed and irresponsible which are character traits that are simply the worst for any Star Fleet officers. Especially the one on whose calm state of mind and rational thinking could save - or, alternatively, destroy, if he wasn't so calm and rational - hundreds of lives.

4 Best: Data

Science officers should be not only intelligent but also curious about science and life in general. Data fits both criteria well. He's super smart and often helps his Captain whenever Jean-Luc Picard needs it.

And as for his curiosity, Data is very intrigued by humans and their emotions and wants to be like them. But at the same time, he's interested in other areas of life as well and is constantly asking questions and improving himself, just like any good crew member should do.

3 Worst: Malcolm Reed

To be fair to Malcolm, he wasn't entirely bad at his job. In fact, his expertise has helped to save the day and his crew more than once. He even invented the Reed alert! Sorry, the red alert. But Malcolm's big fault was his personality. He was a bit of a pedant and liked to argue with people whenever he believed he was in the right and they were wrong... which happened a lot. Simply said, he wasn't very much user-friendly which made it difficult to get along with him. And Star Fleet officers should not only be good at their job but also good team-players which Malcolm wasn't.

2 Best: Spock

Whoever said that Vulcans don't have a sense of humor clearly never met Spock. Then again, he was only half-Vulcan and half-human but was still raised according to the Vulcan principles. Unless he lost his inhibitions, which happened very rarely, Spock was the voice of reason even in the most difficult situations. That sometimes made him seem too cruel and distant to some of the Enterprise crew members but his closest friends knew he wasn't like this. Spock was able to devise a strategy to overcome many problems and formed a great duo with the much more hot-headed Captain Kirk.

1 Worst: Wesley Crusher

Wesley Crusher popularized the term 'male Mary Sue' or rather 'Gary Stu' in Star Trek - and for a good reason. He's the prime example of the unfortunate type of character who knows everything best, does everything best, and leaves even much more experienced officers behind in the dust. Wesley was simply portrayed as too perfect so in the end, he just ended up being annoying and a bit arrogant too, to be honest. His mom Beverly Crusher was much better at her job as the ship's doctor.

Source: screenrant.com