Top 25 Star Trek Characters - IGN (2024)

Before we reveal our picks, a quick word about the selection process... We've made these choices based on overall fan reaction, impact on the franchise, character relevance to the best moments in the films/series, and significance in the Trek universe, as well as our own arbitrary favorites. You might be surprised that a few of your own faves didn't make the list. That's what the comments are for.

Now, join us in our ready room for this priority one Starfleet communiqué on our top 25 Trek characters...

Only the most diehard of Trek fans will recall Captain Ben Maxwell, but his importance to the franchise is unquestionable. He appeared just once, in the superb fourth season Next Generation episode "The Wounded," but it was in that segment that the duplicitous Cardassians were first introduced (who would go on to be among the chief baddies on Deep Space Nine) in the person of Marc Alaimo. He would later play the peerless Gul Dukat on DS9. But more on him later.

Maxwell is the captain of the U.S.S. Phoenix in the episode, which has inexplicably taken to destroying seemingly defenseless Cardassian cargo ships and outposts. Picard is instructed to find the Phoenix, which is flying under radio silence. It turns out that Chief O'Brien had served under Maxwell on the U.S.S. Rutledge during the Federation-Cardassian War years earlier, and while Maxwell's wife and children were killed in the infamous Setlik III massacre of that conflict, O'Brien is certain that Maxwell can't be taking out these Cardassian ships for no reason. Picard isn't so sure. It turns out that while O'Brien is right -- the Cardassians have been secretly transporting weapons in preparation for a possible new war with the Federation -- so is Picard in that Maxwell's emotional wounds from Setlik III have never healed.

Maxwell is an important Trek character not only because of his specific story, but also as a representation of all the fallen Starfleet figures of the franchise. He's also an early indication of the more complicated and nuanced dynamics we would find on Deep Space Nine, which would pick up the saga of the Cardassian War and its long-term effects on the people who fought it.

She's the preeminant female villain in the realm of science fiction. The Borg Queen is the brains behind the Borg Collective. She commands the legions of drones under her rule, guiding them on their mission of assimilation and galactic conquest.

The Queen's first appearance in the Trek franchise comes in First Contact as the Borg attempt to assimilate humanity by manipulating time. She captures Data in an attempt to obtain the encryption codes to the Enterprise, and while he ultimately betrays her, the two share a scandalous smooch as she tempts him with the pleasures of being more human.

Borg Queen's grand entrance, as she descends from the rafters of her lair and fuses her head, shoulders, and spinal column with the rest of her body, is one of the most stunning scenes in all of Star Trek. And the character's design, as well as Alice Krige's chilling portrayal makes her one of the prominent female villains in all of science fiction.

Captain Janeway and the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager later encounter a second Borg Queen (played by Susanna Thompson), formed after the destruction of the first. She's bent on reassimilating Seven of Nine, but Janeway will have none of it. Queen 2.0 is ultimately disabled when Janeway's future self introduces a neurolytic pathogen into the Collective which decapacitates the Queen and destroys Unimatrix One.

Captain Christopher Pike was always linked with tragedy. As James T. Kirk's predecessor as captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Pike was a cerebral, stoic commanding officer who longed for his ranch back on Earth as he endured the pain of losing men in battle. He was plagued by self-doubt, which he would voice over a stiff drink with his ship's medical officer, Dr. Boyce. A fateful mission to Talos IV would be declassified when Pike's former subordinate, Mr. Spock, was put on trial for mutiny. After his tenure aboard the Enterprise, Pike suffered paralyzing injuries and horrific radiation burns while saving the lives of cadets during a training exercise. It was this sad relic of a man that Spock rescued (or kidnapped?) and brought to Talos IV where the reality-altering alien inhabitants they'd encountered years before could provide Pike with the illusion of a full and happy life. Adding to the tragic legacy of Chris Pike was the fact that the actor who played him in the original Trek pilot, Jeffrey Hunter, died young.

J.J. Abrams resurrected the character of Pike for his new Star Trek reboot. As played by Bruce Greenwood, this Christopher Pike is a fleet captain who serves as mentor and role model for the young cadets he helps enlist in Starfleet, particularly the rebellious young Jim Kirk. Upon the cadets' graduation from Starfleet Academy, they serve aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike. But when a rogue Romulan named Nero takes Pike hostage, Spock and Kirk find themselves quickly rising through the ranks to assume command of the Enterprise.

Shocked to see Riker appear so early in our countdown? Don't get us wrong. We're fans of Jonathan Frakes' smarmy character in both his beardless and bearded incarnations. But c'mon! Towards the end of The Next Generation, Riker got stale. There was nothing to do with him other than shave his beard, have him marry Troi and save the Enterprise using a joystick. Yawn. But before that? He was a badass.

Though initially portrayed as a go-getting, by-the-book officer, Riker began to show a bit of a bold streak early on in the series. And by "bold streak," we mean to say that he is quite possibly the most arrogant character in the history of the Star Trek universe. But that's why we love him. His over confidence and willingness to occasionally disregard the chain of command are what makes Riker so endearing.

Riker is the ladies' man of the latter-day Trek universe. Much like old-school Kirk, he hooked up with numerous interstellar babes over the years, but his one true love, Deanna Trio -- he had met her years before the events of the series while serving on the planet Betazed -- bagged him in the end.

Women aren't the only thing Riker lusted after. He badly wanted command of his own starship. Ultimately, however, Riker chose the loyalty and friendship of the Enterprise crew, repeatedly turning down offers to become a captain.

Bonus: Riker kills on the trombone!

Charles Tucker III -- a.k.a. "Trip," since he's the third member of his family to be named Charles Tucker -- was the chief engineer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer, whom he had known for close to a decade going back to their NX-Test Program days.

A natural charmer, the Southern-born Trip's (played by Connor Trinneer) most extensive romantic relationship during the run of the TV series Enterprise was with T'Pol, the ship's Vulcan science officer. Their on-again/off-again romance eventually led to Trip's short-lived transfer to the U.S.S. Columbia.

During the series run of Enterprise, Trip was badly injured, then cloned in order to harvest the cells needed to save him, then he lost his sister in the Xindi's sneak attack on Earth, and ultimately died from injuries he received duping Shran in an effort to save Archer. Trip was many things: a top orbital engineer, a longtime friend to Captain Archer, a lover to T'Pol, an athlete, a photographer, and even the first human man to get pregnant.

Gowron, erstwhile Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, makes the cut here above many of his Klingon brethren for a couple of reasons. First of all, he was a recurring character who we first met on The Next Generation but who continued to show up throughout the run of Deep Space Nine, enabling us to follow his evolution -- or lack thereof -- as a character. Secondly, that very lack of character development was in many ways the truest representation of a Klingon that we could hope for. Gowron was always a mean, bloodthirsty, warrior king, and for that we love him.

While guys like Worf and General Martok were increasingly portrayed as human-like in their foibles, shortcomings, and insecurities, you always knew where you stood with Gowron. Whether he was a friend or foe to the Federation -- and he was both during his short tenure as chancellor -- this character was always true to the Klingon way.

We first met Gowron in the classic fourth season TNG segment "Reunion," where he was a political outsider on Qo'noS vying for the office of chancellor against Worf's mortal enemy, Duras. Though the Worf/Duras/K'Ehleyr storyline dominated the episode, Gowron already was making his mark with his bug-eyed, idiosyncratic take on the ridged-forehead race, throwing out classic lines delivered with an almost Shatnerian stilt (and a smile) like, "You will die. Slowly… Duras." By the end of the episode, he had become the unlikely new leader of the Klingon Empire.

From there, Gowron would often show up in Klingon-centric episodes. He led his people through three wars -- the Klingon Civil War, the Klingon-Cardassian War, and the Dominion War -- before being slayed by Worf in a political dispute at the end of DS9. And he was a son of a bitch throughout his run. Kahless bless him for it.

Tasha Yar is actually a hated character in some Trekkie circles, or at the very least a disdained one. There are a few reasons for this, not the least of which is the way she was underused in The Next Generation's first season, or how lame her death was when it came late in that freshman year of new Trek.

But the once and future security chief of Picard's Enterprise is an interesting character because of that death. While folks died all the time on the original Star Trek, the main castmembers' demises never lasted much beyond the next commercial break. Tasha, however, changed all that. Suddenly, after her passing on Vagra II at the hands of the evil oil slick Armus, all bets were off on Star Trek. Main characters really could die.

She became more interesting in death than she ever was in life anyway. Her memory continued to affect the crew of the Enterprise throughout the run of the show, as when her long-lost sister Ishara showed up and her presence rattled Picard and the rest, or how hints were dropped here and there about Data's secret love for Tasha. The character even returned for the series finale, All Good Things…, in an effective guest role.

Her best episode, however, was the ultimate alternate-timeline adventure Yesterday's Enterprise, which brought Tasha back to life so that she could, essentially, die again. Only this time it would be for a good reason -- saving the nascent Federation/Klingon alliance. Unfortunately, this episode led to a dubious recurring plotline involving Tasha's half-Romulan daughter… who for some reason looked exactly like Tasha, only with a funny haircut. That Tasha variation, Sela, rather belongs on a worst characters list.

We admit it. It took us a while to warm up to Kate Mulgrew's portrayal of U.S.S. Voyager Captain Kathryn Janeway. Maybe she grew into the role -- we do think she warmed up somewhat after a season or two. But you can't help but root for her tough-as-nails character on a desperate quest to get home.

During Janeway's adventures in the Delta Quadrant she successfully integrates the surviving Voyager and Maquis crewmembers, helps Seven of Nine reclaim her identity, advocates for the Doctor's sentient status, deals deftly with the Q Continuum, and makes first contact with more new races than any Starfleet captain since Kirk. Her greatest accomplishments are disabling one of the most powerful foes in the Star Trek universe, the Borg, and ultimately finding a way home.

What else do we love about Janeway? She likes her coffee black, and spends her downtime in the holodeck masquerading as a Gothic queen.

Janeway, we learn from her cameo in Nemesis, would go on to become Vice Admiral.

Who doesn't love the Irish? They've given us U2, a holiday which involves drinking green beer, that crazy Irish dancing, and House of Pain... wait, were they really Irish? Anyway! We like to think of the Star Trek universe's Miles O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, as the personification of all that awesomeness.

O'Brien was a sleeper when The Next Generation first premiered. His character didn't actually have a name until the writers decided to bring him to the forefront in season four's "Family." During his tenure on the Enterprise, O'Brien picked up a hot wife, Keiko (Rosalind Chao), had a daughter named Molly (delivered by Worf), and ultimately scored a transfer to Deep Space Nine.

Producers rightly saw O'Brien as an everyman character that fans could easily identify with, and the character was subsequently put through the psychological ringer because of this in episodes that the writers dubbed "O'Brien Must Suffer."

Montgomery Scott, the high-strung, Scottish chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, liked his ale and his technical manuals, but he loved his ship more than anything else. Dubbed a "miracle worker" by Captain Kirk, "Scotty" kept the Enterprise running and (generally) in one piece through space storms, time warps, rogue probes, troubles with Tribbles, Klingon torpedo blasts, Romulan sneak attacks, and numerous would-be invaders and hijackers, including the spirit of Jack the Ripper who nearly got an innocent Scotty convicted of murder. Scotty's technical savvy wasn't just used for the Enterprise, as his sabotaging of the U.S.S. Excelsior and retro-fitting of a hijacked Klingon bird of prey in order to carry two humpback whales proved.

Scotty would brook no insult about his beloved ship, such as when a drunken Klingon called her a "garbage scow." Scotty always gave her all she got, even when the much-needed dilithium crystals ran low or some celestial entity tried to destroy the Enterprise. The late James Doohan, a Canadian who fought at D-Day, immortalized the character. We watched Scotty age from a svelte, dark-haired red shirt to a gray-haired, mustachioed, and tubby veteran with a penchant for Starfleet-issue, girth-hiding vests. British comic actor and self-proclaimed genre geek Simon Pegg, who assumes the role of Scotty in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot, stands to give the franchise all he's got as the new chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Captain Sisko's ultimate nemesis, Dukat stands as Star Trek's majordomo Cardassian. And coming from Deep Space Nine as he does, he's also one of the most nuanced and textured characters in all of the franchise.

Prefect of Bajor, commander of Terok Nor, ruler of the Cardassian Union, disciple of the Pah-wraiths, madman… he did it all. We first met Dukat in "Emissary," the pilot episode of DS9 which depicted Starfleet's taking control of the titular Cardassian space station (known as Terok Nor by the Cardassians). The long-lasting dichotomy between Dukat and Sisko was established in that same episode, but interestingly he was rarely portrayed as simply a bad guy. Still, his conflicts with Sisko, and also Major Kira, made for some of his most memorable episodes, as when he and Kira freed his long-lost half-Bajoran daughter, Tora Ziyal, from a labor camp. Kira realizes during the course of the mission that Dukat's true plan is to murder the girl, as her very existence threatens his political future. Will he go through with it?

Ziyal would figure prominently in Dukat's story from that point on, eventually tragically so. And that's what we like about Dukat -- he is a tragic figure of almost Shakespearean proportions. His fate, battling with Sisko to his last breath as the two plummeted to their deaths in the Fire Caves of Bajor, was perhaps a bit disappointing in that the character reverted to mustache-twirling villain-hood, but that was the exception to the rule for the man known as Gul Dukat.

If Garak had been a protagonist in a John Le Carre novel rather than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine then that story might have been titled The Tailor of Cardassia. Elim Garak is a former member of the Obsidian Order, a Cardassian intelligence group. This ex-spy found himself exiled to DS9, where he worked as a tailor. He's the only Cardassian left at the station after they left their occupation of neighboring Bajor. His background and reasons for being exiled were always left vague (although more hints were dropped as the series progressed), but Garak proved his worth to the Federation when he helped them in their war against the Dominion.

Initially conceived as almost a throwaway character, Garak developed as a character and became more important to the series thanks to Andrew J. Robinson's performance. Many of the inhabitants of DS9 distrusted Garak, believing him to still be a Cardassian spy. This "plain and simple tailor" was instead a complex character: well-mannered, deceitful, an optimist and a liar often all at the same time. Garak's closest friendships aboard DS9 were with Dr. Julian Bashir and Odo.

As the father of the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock, Sarek was the model for the kind of Vulcan that Spock strove to become: coldly logical, a brilliant scientist and revered ambassador. Sarek and Spock always had a difficult relationship, primarily because of Spock's decision to forego the Vulcan science academy in favor of service in Starfleet. As seen in Star Trek V, Sarek initially rejected his son at birth as being "so human." But Sarek wasn't all stony-faced logic; his love for his human wife Amanda and his estranged son Spock became more apparent the more audiences got to know Sarek.

When Spock died, Sarek sought out his son's best friend and commanding officer Jim Kirk to bring Dr. McCoy, the custodian of Spock's katra , to Vulcan so that Spock's body and soul could be rejoined. The late Mark Lenard, who first played a Romulan commander in the classic episode "Balance of Terror" before being cast as Sarek in "Journey to Babel," portrayed the role on TV and in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Ben Cross plays Sarek in J.J. Abrams' Trek reboot, portraying him as a coldly austere patriarch whose son defies his plan for him in favor of following his own path in life.

She's a little bit Spock, a little bit Data, and a lotta bit sexy. Former Borg Seven of Nine, portrayed by the lovely Jeri Ryan, carries on the Trek tradition of an outsider who comments on what it means to be human.

Disconnected from the Collective by Janeway during an ill-fated attempt by the Borg to assimilate the Voyager crew, Seven has the majority of her cybernetic implants removed. She is subsequently mentored by Janeway, who helps her come to terms with her humanity and eventually deal with a direct threat when the Borg Queen tries to reassimilate her.

Seven's form-fitting silver catsuit is as iconic a costume as there has ever been in Star Trek. Sure, it was a blatant attempt by Voyager producers to lure male viewers with sex appeal, but we can't say we blame them.

Deep Space Nine brought all kinds of new concepts to the Star Trek universe, not the least of which was the notion that characters could actually -- gasp! -- not get along with one another. That and the whole ex-terrorist as second-in-command thing were pretty novel ideas back in 1993 -- and given where America is now, Kira Nerys' past is perhaps even more amazing today then it was when the show was actually on the air.

Kira grew up on Bajor during the brutal Cardassian occupation of that distant world, eventually joining the Bajoran resistance movement while she was still a young girl. Guerrilla warfare and terror tactics were the name of the game for the grossly under-gunned Bajorans, which meant that Kira saw -- and represented to the viewer -- a side of Star Trek that was typically glossed over on the previous shows. Life was hard on Bajor, where slave labor, war, and genocide were commonplace.

At the start of DS9, the occupation has recently ended and Kira is now a major in the Bajoran Militia, assigned as Commander Sisko's executive officer. An angry young woman in the beginning, she nonetheless proves to be a valuable part of the DS9 crew and eventually, thanks somewhat to her dealings with Starfleet, transcends the limitations and hatred of Bajor's past that many of her comrades from that time period can never quite bring themselves to do.

Kira is also an important character in the Trek mythos because of her strong religious beliefs. The notion of God, or the gods (or even the Prophets), was typically not dealt with in Gene Roddenberry's take on the franchise, but through Kira and DS9 we learned that science-fiction and faith are not mutually exclusive. Also, she was way hot in a Bajoran uniform, and those nose wrinkles of hers were damned cute.

The first Klingon to enlist in Starfleet came a long way from being that guy on the bridge who didn't really find his footing until Season 3. An orphan of sorts, raised by Russian parents, Worf, on the surface, is a character so motivated by honor and loyalty to the Empire that he risks coming off one-note. But if that were so, he would not have become such a fan-favorite, one worthy of being featured prominently on both TNG and Deep Space Nine.

While aboard Enterprise-D, Worf put Picard and company in the middle of a Klingon Civil War, while he went off to play warrior and drown himself in blood wine. He also kinda sorta hooked up with Troi, but the faster your brain un-thinks that the better. It took the latter half of DS9's seven-season run to fully develop Worf, to give him a complicated agenda, a purpose other than manning tactical and fielding some awful comic relief in the movies. While fighting in the war against the Jem'Hadar, Worf became a hero and a widow, and our appreciation for this complicated character became justified. Of all the characters on TNG, he was the only one who felt more at home on Sisko's space station.

Before Q, we had never seen a character powerful enough to put all of mankind on trial – twice. Most annoying villain ever, and the most omniscient, Q was like a hemorrhoid with arms and legs, albeit one who could occupy and visit multiple dimensions and timelines. Q became a significant blip on Picard's radar when he put the captain and his crew – all of humanity, actually – on trial for just being. Since then, he showed up frequently to make Picard come up with new ways to get pissed.

Q is a child with the power of a God, the mixture being more of the former and less of the latter, hence the annoying factor. The worst thing he may have done was put the Enterprise in the Borg's path, earlier than the two species were supposed to meet, if at all. Actually, that is the worst thing he ever did. But without his push, we never would have had "The Best of Both Worlds", or First Contactso it's kind of a win-win.

But in between granting Riker Q powers and transporting the Enterprise crew to play Robin Hood, something happened to Q. He still put the Enterprise-D's crew up to a test to make sure humanity was worth saving, as played out in the TNG finale "All Good Things…", but it wasn't so much for him to wipe them out but rather to kinda sorta help them to save themselves. A redemptive act like that makes up for all the headaches he caused. Well, most of them.

Let's get this out of the way: Once Sisko shaved his head and put on the goatee, then he became badass. And one of our favorites. A survivor of the Borg's attack at Wolf 359, a widow and a father, Sisko is charged with the seemingly "meh" task to take post at a space station in the ass-end of space, and play hall monitor between the forever-nemesis peoples of Bajor and Cardassia. The former consider Sisko to be the Emissary of their gods, the latter believe him to be a bigger thorn in their militaristic sides than they would like. And despite the religious role Sisko would eventually (and literally) fall into, DS9's commander was a man ready for war if it meant peace.

Kirk fired phasers first, Picard opened diplomatic channels always, and Sisko found a good balance between the two. And then he found his own way of command, especially when the Jem'Hadar war forced the Federation to use its peace-keeping armada as just an armada. Once Sisko assumed command of the Defiant, and lit up many an enemy ship, he truly became one of Trek's best men in the field, and one of its most dynamic. An explorer at heart, forced to raise a son and save the galaxy, one could always count on Sisko to surprise, not just us, but also himself. The character never became stale, his skill set constantly adapting to the situation. Quick tempered and even-keeled, all at the same time, Sisko never shied from doing the right thing, even if it was more of a necessary evil. Not even Kirk had the stomach to authorize the off-the-books murder of a few to save many. And admit, to camera, that he can live with it.

What seemed like the easiest of assignments became the most challenging Trek's ever created. And while we're not exactly sure we like how Sisko came to a very religious end, we do know that we wouldn't have the man any other way.

A shape shifter…who can shift into any shapes, but can't quite nail human. Yeah, that's about all we expected from DS9's surly constable. But Odo was much more interesting that just a guy playing sheriff. He was a consistent source of conflict for Sisko, in the early days of operations, and he managed to make Quark interesting with every one of their inspired rivalries.

Moreover, if anything defined Odo it was his sense of identity, or rather the search for one. His home was on the other side of the wormhole, far from the life he spent first being the subject of experimentation. It took a war that threatened all of the Federation to provide Odo with his origins, and the cost of that knowledge was almost more than he could bear. Odo learned that he was a Founder, a member of a race of changelings that were now bent on wiping humanity off the map. Not sure whether to side with his own people or those his people targeted for extermination, the character could have become predictable; he could have played it safe. Instead, Odo did the exact opposite, emerging as the war's Olive Branch, and as one of the more three-dimensional characters Sci-Fi has ever seen. Not bad for a guy who turns into goo, sleeps in a bucket and has a crush on Major Kira.

KHAAAAAAAAN!!!! Sorry, had to get it out of our system. We're actually writing this from inside Regula, to get the full effect.

A product of late 20th Century genetic engineering, a madman, a genius, a man who never met an outfit his man-boobs couldn't define, Khan is the best solo evil Trek has ever produced. The character began as a hammy villain in a one-off episode of The Original Series, a guy Kirk thawed out of hyper sleep only to have Khan return the favor by trying to straight-up murder JTK's ass. For whatever reason, maybe because deep down inside Kirk wanted an awesome second feature film, he marooned Khan on a planet where he and his race of super hair-band roadies could nourish.

But we know how well that worked out: Khan's planet was laid waste by the explosion of its neighboring world, the genius got real familiar with the art of Ceti Eel mind control and vowed to have his revenge served cold, on a silver platter, with a side of Shatner's head. Khan made revenge, and to some extent pride, the motive of choice for Trek villains to come. He is simply the most interesting two-dimensional character to ever rock a faux mullet, and to ever challenge Kirk to the ultimate no-win scenario. The character has made a lasting impact on both Trek canon and its fans. And word 'round the replicator is that he may get a Dark Knight-esque treatment in the sequel to Abrams' reboot. That suits us just fine – we'll follow his vendetta into the Mutara Nebula anytime.

Leonard McCoy, son of David, friend of Kirk and forever believer in Spock being a green-blooded SOB. The wiser, and grumpier, member of the classic three, Bones brought both balance and conflict to Kirk and Spock's relationship. He was never a third wheel, and always a welcome presence whenever Kirk needed a good kick in the pants, or whenever Spock needed a reminder that he was half-human, as well. His backstory was never as fleshed out as Kirk and Spock's, but it didn't need to be. DeForrest Kelley brought enough to the part to always make McCoy feel like a seasoned vet, and old friend.

The movies are arguably where McCoy received most of his deserved attention, taking on a much more significant role, especially in the events of Treks II through IV. It was McCoy who carried that which a reborn Spock would need to live again, and it was McCoy who wanted his emotion-deficient friend back almost as much as Kirk did. The friendly, often heated, rivalry between Spock and Bones came to a perfect end in the sixth movie, with the two teaming up to save the Enterprise from Klingon attack. And the good doctor also had a bit of business with Kirk during the final mission, once again being the balance each of his best friends need to be whole. As Kirk once said, he and Spock are both extremists. McCoy is that which keeps them level.

The Next Generation's Spock equivalent, the Federation's first android citizen and officer, Data could have been one-note; he almost was. co*ck head, find a way to react to and speak awkwardly of the human condition, and repeat. Instead, Data became Picard's most respected pupil and inspired ally, often teaching lessons of humanity to those more human than he.

The best thing to happen to Data, aside from a few kick-ass, fanboy moments in First Contact, was befriending Geordi La Forge. The two characters found their relationship at the heart of some of Trek's better dramas, with the exception of that whole emotion chip fiasco in Generations. (Damn you, Data, and your ridiculous Mr. Tricorder puppet!) Being front and center for many debates surrounding the notion of what it means to be human, Data managed to become a father by literally building a lifeform, only to lose her and gain the knowledge that death is nothing without life. He also evolved to be more than the sum of his programming, and into one of Trek's legendary mainstays. The comparisons between him and Spock are justified, but to say that Data supersedes Spock is just not right. While both "died" heroically, only one loss is still felt, while the other deserved a better movie for it to happen in. Data works best in small doses, for his best moments are what endear him the most.

Starfleet has many captains, but the attention is always on two: A farmboy from Iowa who only works in outer space, and a scholar from France who grew up to become the finest diplomat to ever take the center seat. The debate on the latter being better than the former is one without a winner (actually, we liked – Kirk, FTW!), but we present a few cases for why this captain could take the lead.

It's not 100% accurate to say Picard would rather talk than engage in Kirk's cowboy diplomacy, but rather that Picard's command began with a series of very black and white command decisions. The longer he captained the Enterprise, the more grey his missions became, and the more complicated his orders were to give. Once Picard was assimilated by the Borg, he exposed a vulnerability never explored by Kirk's character. Do go from being the Federation's hero to its near destructor took a toll on the man, and re-defined him from then on. Revenge got the better of him for a moment when the Borg attacked again, but Picard found a way to defeat his enemy without them taking anything else away from him. He also did it sporting a very John McClane wife beater and spine-snapping grip.

And while his last mission (on the big screen, anyway) proved to be less than worthwhile (and don't even get us started on Insurrection), we will always consider Jean-Luc Picard to be the finest Captain the last 20 years of Trek has ever produced.

Spock made the fictional Vulcan race a very popular element of our pop culture, to the point where even those who balked at the idea of Trek knew who he was (the pointy ears and "Live Long and Prosper" bumper stickers kind of helped, too.) His character is considered, after the space ship and ray gun, to be one of science fiction's best inventions. And without Spock, Kirk wouldn't be, well, Kirk.

Half-human, half-Vulcan, Spock is one of the few Trek characters to have very little blemishes on his record (but still stay in your shame corners, "Spock's Brain" and Star Trek V). His relationship with Kirk, one that went beyond friendship, beyond family, defined the core of Star Trek. The role he played in balancing Kirk's Kirkness, and in turn garnering many inspired racial epithets from McCoy, help define Trek as a character-first show, and cemented how other franchises would look at the relationship of their commander and first officer. To those still not convinced of Spock's impact, consider his death in Wrath of Khan. One of the best moments Trek has ever done, a scene that even affected those outside the fanboy sphere. For Spock to come back in the third film, and try to find himself in the fourth, are not cheats. They are the character's finest hours. And if Abrams thinks it's only logical to put Spock in the new movie, then who are we to argue with the new captain of the franchise?

You thought we were gonna say Quark didn't you? Actually, we should have, then we could have seen our real number one pick pull some Kirk-Fu on our Ferengi Sam Malone. (Double-fisted punch and flying sidekick for the win.)

When he wasn't being molested by Tribbles, or finding new ways to tear his tunic during CQC, James Tiberius Kirk was doing what he was born to do: Save the galaxy. And it's okay if you got the sense that Jim used "exploring strange new worlds" as an excuse to pick a fight. He did, sometimes – but never purposefully to put his ship and her crew in harm's way. That tactic earned him a lot of respect, and a lot of weird looks every time drama sent him into Kirk mode in that captain's seat (stand, sit, half-stand – pick one). It also gave him a reputation for not believing in the no-win scenario, cheating death at every turn and patting himself on the back for never facing true loss.

Until he lost his friend, brother, comrade. It made the man more human, and reminded us why Kirk is many things but never a superhero. He is fallible, mortal – he can't stop phaser blasts with his chest, or prevent gravity and rickety iron work from sending him to a "meh" death. But he can't look the trigger man in the eye and give as good as he gets; if he goes down, at least he can revel in the fact that he took his enemies down with him. (See Kirk giving the order to destroy the only home he has, Enterprise, if you dare to doubt it.)

He lost his son, he sacrificed his career and his ship – on more than one occasion. Hell, he even managed to survive playing Rachel Ray in the kitchen with Picard. Kirk may be buried on some Nexus cliff face, but his legacy is far from over. As younger Kirk prepares to boldly go where the Shat has gone before, we wish him well. He has some very shiny, very big Starfleet-issue boots to fill.

Did we leave out any of your Trek faves? Want your chance to be heard? Make it so in the comments...