This is what I came here to say. In this same vein Seven had to mercy kill him, luckily her story is only getting better, and she is getting what she deserved.
The backstory behind that decision is extremely petty, too-the actor who originated the role on VOY made a mistake, but he apologized for it to the people that mattered. There was no need to twist the knife, as it were.
:) While I agree with giving "all the redshirts" an honorary first place in this list, and that Trip earns his place by virtue of the circumstances (both on screen an off) of his death...There is NO way that Hemmer doesn't earn the true Number One spot over that entitled brat Lt. Carey!
Even in the show, that was a (bad) holoprogram, and one that Riker was making numerous changes to as it went on. He was there to work through his issues, not worry about historical authenticity. Even Picard’s 3rd season, with the NX-refit present at the Fleet Museum, ignores that episode. 😎
Shaw was here for two reasons. The first one was to be ignored or made fun of by any other character and the second one was to die so that Seven could become captain. He was no character, he was a plot device
Given the behind-the-scenes stuff we learned in Picard Season 3, There may very well be a chance that Ro Laren is still alive, having been beamed off of the shuttle by the Intrepid moments before it made impact with the nacelle and held in the brig until the plot concluded.
Quite a lot of them when you look at the entire franchise. In Discovery though, all the people that survive are wrong in my view lol. Lorca was fantastic and we should have seen a prime timeline version of him get rescued and returned to the prime universe, and Georgiou was fantastic but why oh why the evil empress version of her was allowed to roam the Federation was a bit, well, un-Federation.
also the ensign who gets attacked by the tiny Gorn in the episode where Hemmer dies she only dies because the stupid little brat doesn't warn her what's about to happen if she had known she could have hid from them and lived
As far as the Hoshi thing goes, my rule of thumb is that if it wasn’t in the finished product, it doesn’t count. Kind of like how the theatrical release is the official cannon and directors cut are just anecdotal
I would add all of the returning Legacy characters from TNG/VGER that didn't survive the Picard series.. Ro was mentioned of course, but also Shelby, Hugh, Icheb, Maddox, and anyone else I overlooked. As much as I loved PICARD, it seemed unless you were part of the main 7 cast, if you were brought back, you got killed off. 😢
For me it's 1) Jadzia Dax 2) Hemmer :( 3) Weyoun 6 4) Tucker (I think this shouldn't be considered Canon anymore) 5) Hoshi Sato 6) Tasha 7) Kes 8) K'Ehleyr 9) Robert and Renee Picard 10) Tora Ziyal
@StephenLeGresley , what the HELL are you gibbering about??? Kirk CHOSE to fall off a BRIDGE, yeah, RIGHT and NO, I'm NOT talking about RETRO Trek: Strange ALTERNATE Universe's Stefano SALVATORE!!! 😂😂😂
No hate for Ezri, just the opposite. A Trill who had not undergone the rigorous training and vetting required for symbiosis and was therefore more neurotic than the patients she was trying to counsel... a character with that kind of potential deserved WAY more than the half a season we had for getting to know Ezri. They should have just given Terry whst she wanted. Ironically, Trek's failure to do more with Durst and Carey actually hurt Torres and Kim worst. By giving Carey more play, they could have forced B'Elanna to grow more slowly, instead of having her go from rogue to model chief engineer in ONE EPISODE. And Durst could have been Voyager's intended chief of operations, and his demise could have forced his assistant (Harry) to take over the top spot, and forced him to learn on the fly.
The one thing I found interesting was touching on Tasha's death in season 1, yet upon mentioning her return it isn't mentioned that Tasha died again when her infant daughter screamed as she was trying to save her. Tasha also was taken advantage of by the very Romulan captors who took her, aka baby daddy. So yeah it is kind of gross and not warranted how the character was treated on that series. True she was given an out to possibly live, but, at what cost? Honestly at the end of the day Denise Crosby deserved better and while yeah she got to play the half romulan/half human daughter of her character, Tasha was a well beloved character with potential and I am sure there are essays out there entailing the tragic fate of a character but to cut this short, apart from losing Tucker in the series finale of Enterprise the overall arc of Tasha's character needed to be handled better and is a permanent stain on the Next Generation's card and yeah it just boggles the mind why they couldn't let Tasha live in the end. Who knows she could've even been part of Picard the series.
Voyager did a good job forgetting characters for years only to bring them back to k them off. It a was so bad I had thought Samantha Wildman had been k'd off too that I was surprised to do a full watch through and find her still alive at the end
I will always say the one of the biggest FU deaths was Kirk at the end of Generations. All just to ‘prop’ up the Pickard character in a ‘passing the torch’ cliche for the future films. Pickard didn’t need that. He was his own, well developed character achieved results in a manner fitted for his era of Star Trek. This made the death of Kirk beyond pointless. And on a slightly off topic note, in the novelization the problem with Genesis was not David’s fault. He did not incorporate proto-matter. So not only did he get an unnecessary death but took the fall for a shortcut he did not take.
Brannon Braga, to his credit admitted in an interview years later that it was a mistake to kill off Kirk as he and Rick Berman never anticipated the sheer level of hostility from fans and that he wouldn't kill him if they had the chance to do it all again. That interview is no longer available on any social media platform, I wonder WHY??? 🫢
Agreed that Hemmer should not have died, but not for the expected reason. I'm legally blind myself; it seemed to me that he was shoved aside without a second thought. The new show runners don't seem to value disabled characters.
Here's a deeper point... Le Var Burton isn't blind in real life. Bruce Horak is legally blind in one eye and completely blind in the other. By ditching Hemmer so quickly, they're disrespecting the actor and the disabled fan base at the same time.
@henrikharbin5521 , Wasn't aware of that. Thanks for sharing. BTW, you also share the name of one of my all-time heroes, the Glasgow Celtic legend Henrik LARSSON. 😊
Rarely does a beloved character die, that fans won't say that was wrong or a mistake. I'd love, please, to see not a part two. Could a list of "good deaths" be made? How about a list of died, but came back? As always thank you all so very much for the videos. And thank you for respect to Ezri (Nicole de Beer)
I like the idea of honoring those who consciously made the ultimate sacrifice for a just cause. Sito Jaxa comes immediately to mind, as well as One in the Voyager episode "Drone". The entire doomed crew in "Yesterday's Enterprise". I'm sure there are many others! I am ignoring Data's death in Nemesis because THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED and has now been retconned. Maybe he and Trip are playing poker somewhere...
I watched voyager 3 times and alle times I start to cry a little at the scene where janeway and chakotay siting in Carey’s quarters and she says to him that Carey always joked that his model of the voyager wouldn’t be done before they returned to earth and that just a single nacelle was missing to finish the model!😢
Fate can include non-deaths, so John Harriman -- known as the captain who got James T Kirk killed within the very FIRST day of being a captain of the Enterprise.
If one actually counts the deaths by shirt color as appeared in TOS, the Red Shirts actually have a lower death rate than the other shirt colors. I'll try to find the article so I can post a link.
I suspect they left her off the initial list as a hedge against this Thursday. It would be pretty wild for Jaxa to still be alive (Shannon Fill also hasn't acted in decades), but it's not out of the question.
I hated what happened to jadzia and I hate what they did to ezri. I loved bashir all the way up until he and ezri hooked up. She had only just really started to figure out who she was apart from her previous symbiont host and then she is put together with the same guy that chased after jadzia for four yrs and gave up only cuz worf came around then work out the picture he jumps in like a simp.
So my prediction for the 2024/25 version of this video: Hoshi gets dropped because its conjecture, everyone after her drops 1 rank and the new number 1 is unfortunately Erika Ortegas.
I say this as I’ve said many times, reasons for a character leaving should be something a bit more thought out. Most of them being killed off is really a lame way to send them off. I really disliked all the deaths that were written into any of the series…oh, and we didn’t mention Spock, even though he was brought back. Hehe. So as you mentioned, a lot of the characters left due to too many hours, not enough lines, bad character development, etc….what it boils down to is the execs bad decision to just kill a character off. Or not giving way to the betterment of the franchise canon. In the case of Terry Ferrel, they should have let her do the cameo for one season if they knew in advance they would be doing only one more season. I mean they just didn’t even give it a chance. Oh well, here we are hashing over what was…. I totally agreed with everything you included in this video. RIP to all the characters who bit the dust.
I agree. I’ll forever be a bit bitter about how they treated Denise Crosby. I don’t think Roddenberry wanted to shock the audience. I think he had Tasha killed in the worst and most pointless way he could think of and get away with out of spite. The actress who played Beverly Crusher got to have her character merely transferred to another ship. Unless I misremember Pulaski didn’t die either and was just transferred. They could have done the same with Tasha. Admittedly I don’t know if Crosby wanted to return full time but the alternative version of Tasha would have been a great storytelling opportunity. Imagine if she had survived the change of timeline intact? Her difficulty adjusting to Word’s presence and a far less aggressive, peacetime Starfleet would have made for interesting stories regardless of whether she was a main cast member or recurring character. Such a spiteful and unnecessary way of writing her character out.
Hemmer's death still stings the most for me I think. It's not because of the fact that he died, or how he died, but when he died. Had they killed him off in the exact same way towards the end of SNW's run it would have worked 100% for me. Still could have been impactful on a young Uhura going forward and all. But to make such a unique and well rounded character and kill them off before the first season is over just to impact another character's growth was a waste. It's still one of only two things that I've really not liked about SNW.
Sito Jaxa in ST:TNG Lower Decks. Girl was just getting her mojo back after the training accident that nearly got Wesley kicked out of the Academy. She was straight out murdered for no reason at all.
You know, finding characters who didn’t deserve what happened to them is comparatively easy, in a series as long-lived as this. How about a list of ten characters who DID deserve their fates? 😉
I KNEW that Hoshi died at the hands of Kodos the Executioner. I had read it somewhere, but I did not see anything about it on the Memory Alpha site. Thanks for this!
A possible companion piece to this would be "10 Star Trek Characters You Mistakenly Thought Were Dead." #1 would almost certainly be Samantha Wildman. Ah, ah, no, I can hear you typing, but no. Go watch Once Upon A Time again. Yeah. You forgot she survived that didn't you? That's okay though. So did the writers.
Trip should be number one, Jadzia number two (even though I actually like Ezri better). Both were killed the way they for seemingly petty reasons behind the scenes. EDIT: oh and don’t forget Icheb. Another character mutilated for seemingly petty reasons behind the scenes.
I saw a tally once of all the gold, blue and red shirts that went on away missions in the original series, and while the red shirts had the most KIAs, it was actually a smaller percentage of the total number of red shirts sent than either the blue or gold shirts. So if you weren't a main character and wore a blue or gold on an away mission, your chances of dying were MUCH higher.
Jeremy Aster, both parents killed in the line of duty and then he gets brought into Worf's family only to be forgotten by Worf. Kurn as well, Worf could have made plans to leave the station and carry out the honor killing of Kurn, instead he wipes Kurns memories and gives him plastic surgery, Martok would kick Worf out of his house if he ever found out about the fate of Kurn.
Ya' know who didn't deserve his fate? Tuvix! He spent the whole episode (or his whole life) arguing against being sacrificed to get Tuvok and Neelix back (a foregone conclusion)! Also Lal (Data's daughter). But mostly Tuvix!
Yeah, that episode and the one where Tom transforms into a lizard should never have been made. And honestly it’s better for me if I pretend they don’t. 😉
Honestly I think Tasha Yar got done wrong doubly wrong. Her death was already bad enough but when she’s given another chance to go out on a more honorable note we later find out that she didn’t die in battle. She was taken prisoner and then made a concubine to a romulan commander. And then when she tried to escape with her daughter she dimed her out and Tasha was executed. To me that’s worse. At least in SOE it can be said she died in the line of duty.
Agreed. I think killing Tasha off was done out of spite, not to shock the audience. Can you imagine how much easier and simpler it would’ve been to just write Tasha out by having her transfer to another ship? You know, like they did with Beverly? Or alternatively, have the alternate timeline Tasha survive the episode without going back in time. Having that Tasha adjust to Worf and a less aggressive peacetime Starfleet would have made a better story than “Sela.” And it would have given Crosby the choice between rejoining as a full cast member or as a recurring character by having Tasha transfer to another ship.
One time I took an online personality quiz called "Which Star Trek character are you?" I'm sure you've seen quizzes like that. Anyway, there was one question, I forgot what it was, but it had two really good options, and it was difficult to decide which I thought was the better answer. After some deliberation, I picked one and finished the rest of the quiz. It said, "You are Captain James T. Kirk!" Then I went back and took the quiz again, answering all the questions the same way except for that one problematic one, which I answered the other way than I had previously. At the end, it said, "You are an Unnamed Redshirt!" Anyway, that shows just how fine the line is between being an immortalized hero and being an anonymous corpse. Chilling life lesson...
You all forgot Ryn the Andorian from Discovery. His character had more depth as a walk-on than most of the regular cast. Btw, is there an unspoken rule at Trek Culture not to mention ST:Discovery unless absolutely necessary?
I'm actually more upset about them killing Osyraa than Ryn. Woman had a lot of valid points, and when she had the Federation by the subspace bubbles... she sued for peace. Vance was totally unreasonable.
Honorable mention: Weyoun Yeah he’s one mean Vorta behind the smile and he needed to be accountable for the atrocities he committed during the Dominion War, but c’mon we can always use a whole lot more of Jeffrey Combs and Weyoun didn’t deserve to be shot at point blank range by Garak.
Aye it would have been far better to see Wayoun face his crimes alive. It might’ve been an interesting scene where the Federation, Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians and the Dominion all had different ideas about how to punish him for his crimes and having to compromise.
I always thought Tora Ziyal could've been an awesome regular on the DS9 crew if they didn't kill her. Also, Llawaxana Troi's valet, Mr Homm, died offscreen. I loved that guy!
I have to 100% disagree with you on Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III, yes his death was 100% heroic and if it didn’t happen Archer would be dead and the Federation as it’s supposed to be as shown in all other series and movies wouldn’t have been formed. Thus he had to die; Trip was the only 100% logical choice to die for he knew the engineering aspects of the Enterprise NX-01 inside and out and that meant what things he could turn into a weapon and cause an explosion to kill those “kidnappers” (who were after Shran and took his 6 year old daughter) and also save Archer as well from getting killed as they (the hostage takers/kidnappers) had intended since they left one behind to kill him if they hadn’t returned at a certain point. Thus this is 100% a death that needed to happen and shouldn’t be in your list whatsoever for all the 100% LOGICAL REASONS behind it that made it purely practical. It wasn’t rushed at all, it clearly was 100% thought through by who the Producers and Writers decided to fill that role going with Archer at that point since he knew Enterprise inside and out as the ship’s Chief Engineer. So the only good thing is he’s the beginning one on your list and NOT #1 or anything close to it for it shows the dignity of the person who wrote the list actually understands the true practical aspects of the death unlike Marcus presenting it clearly can’t do. Just because a person or a group of people likes a character doesn’t mean their death wasn’t justified or has practical meanings to it when you look at the Greater Picture as a whole!
1.) Yar´s death was clever. It showcased in a no-nonsense fashion that being in Starfleet and out in space isn´t for the timid, as Q would later put it. And while the rest of the main cast was protected most of the time by plot armor and Yar´s death really was the "simplest" way to write her out of the show it sure got not only several points across but also, unbeknownst at the time for everyone, laid the ground work for Crosby´s return later on and subsequently the creation of one of Treks more... shall we say "troubled" characters: Sela. 2.) Durst is NOT the first crewmember of Voyager to die after arriving in the Delta Quadrant, heck he´s not even the first to have voice lines before dying. The only, though quite major, difference is the way he died. As for the first casualties: recommend you re-watch "Caretaker" and pay attention to the moments immediately after Voyager arrived in the Delta Quadrant.
Wait did you just tell me that Picard (show) killed Ro too. I've only seen season 1, but I was not happy with what they did to Echeb and Hugh. What's the point of bringing a character back, having a great plot with them only to kill them off quickly.
Never liked Tucker. Annoying and irritating. Never professional or respectful to his captain. They should have taken him out after the first season. And he wasn’t good enough for T’Pol!
Tasha Yarr. Oh how she didn’t deserve her fate. Pointlessly killed off in a useless way because Denise Crosby wasn’t happy with her limited role. Brought back as an alternate timeline version and given a heroic death… only to be undone by the writers deciding that instead of dying the Romulans captured her. One abused her while she was captive thus Sela was born. Killed while trying to escape with her. I mean, if they really wanted Crosby on a recurring role it wouldn’t have been that hard to enable the alternative timeline Tasha to survive and arrive in the proper timeline intact. Imagine the possibilities that could have created. That Tasha would have had to adjust from being on a bitter war time footing with Klingons into a timeline of peace. Imagine how she would have had to adjust to Worf, and to fitting in with a far less aggressive Starfleet. Okay if Crosby didn’t want to return as a full time main character then that version of Tasha could transfer to another ship and appear periodically as a recurring character. It could have been done. Beverly Crusher’s actress was allowed to have her character simply transferred to another ship then come back. Also, honourable mention of Tora Ziyal in DS9. Her character was interesting and didn’t deserve her fate.
I found the death of the Tamarian Captain Dathon to be very frustrating. The way he ends up inadvertently dying due to the Enterprise crew thinking they were helping Picard was tragic.
Yar was y far the worst. Trip and Jadzia tied for 2nd. Hemmer 4th. The others follow but special mention to Sito with all the red shirts following that long trail of dead, beloved trek heroes.
Hemmer and No 1 suffered from the prequel curse. They needed to go in order to make space for the original cast members so the timelines could add up. This means Dr. MBenga's secret is likely also to be discovered so he'D be removed from Enterprise before the series ends. Singh in turn might be save as she could maybe blend in with the other redshirt securities on enterprise after that first trip and as there is no iconic security officer in the original series. But then again being a redshirt would likely mean death for her as well as we've seen in your video.
The only problems with Trip Tucker's death is first that it took four whole seasons and second that beta canon undid it. No disrespect to the actor but the character instantly got on my bad side and never left it.
The biggest death in Star Trek history was the loss of the Duras Sisters cleavage . Lost to another bird of prey that just sat around thinking it was a battleship
Surter was not voyager first person to die after going to the delta quadrant I mean what about voyager helms officer or first officer or chief engineer or entire medical staff
