10 Star Trek Characters With Wasted Potential 

Without spoilers, I immediately love how quickly aspects of this list didn't age well

I would add Elizabeth Shelby to that list. What I find I like about Pulaski, Ro and Shelby was that she shook up the other characters a bit and introduced a degree of conflict that made them and those around them more interesting. I was happy having Beverly back, but I still think Pulaski got the short end of the proverbial stick and would love some references to her here and there.

Who would have thought that Ro Laren would make a comeback 2 days AFTER you posted this!? Terry Matalas sure is trolling (or satisfying) us!

WOW!! did not see this aging so badly, so quickly, for one of these characters!!!!!

Gotta love how you did this the same week as one of the characters made a comeback 😂

Thank you for the T'Rul love! I've always thought her just disappearing was such a loss for the myriad storylines a Romulan character could have brought to the show. Plus, Martha Hackett is fabulous.

I have never seen a Trek culture video age so fast… “those answers may never come”…. 😂😂😂

Travis and Hoshi were so underused that Shran called humans "Pinkskins,"and nobody called him out on it!

Wow. Just 3 days until your "Numba One" was completely paid off. That's timing!

Dr Pulaski might get at least a mention in Picard seeing as how Dr Moriarty seems to be in the trailer for season 3 and he did promise to give her tea and crumpets when they last met so he might remember her. Bit of a long shot, I know...

I'd add Hoshi Sato to the list. For a "main character" she really got less development than some guest characters throughout the franchise.

Trying to recreate the Spock-McCoy dynamic with Data and Pulaski was a huge miscalculation. Unlike Data, Spock was not an innocent with no life experience or knowledge of how life worked, so he could give as good as McCoy, whereas whenever Pulaski gave data a hard time, it was seen like she was kicking a puppy.

When I was a teenager watching Deep Space 9 I always wondered what happened to the Romulan. She would have been a great addition to the crew just like Martok the Klingon. Too bad.

Honestly thought Sela should somehow have been involved in Nemesis. It really is otherwise a mystery why the Romulans would clone an otherwise random Starfleet Captain serving on a run-down ship decades before the Romulans would return to the galactic scene during the season 1 finale of TNG. Perhaps whatever information the Romulans got from the survivors of the Ent-C might have been what compelled them to do so. Could be why the project got shelved as well as Sela's regard in the Romulan hierarchy wavered due to her misadventures. Might have also informed their development of the D'deridex if they thought the near "future" Galaxy class battleship would be a relative giant of local space.

I reckon Worf has been spending time with Pulaski in his time away from the Enterprise, hence why he's back on the camomile tea.

Solid list, if I had to add an addendum to it I'd possible place the borg kids in voyager and K'Ehleyr, Worf's baby mama :P

While the character of Pulaski wasn't my favorite, I really liked the set up for her story arc with Data.... It would have been really great if we got to see her journey from dismissing Data as just a tool or appliance to being his greatest champion as a fully sentient life form. We ended up with a couple of the best episodes of TNG and the first season of Picard exploring that question, but it would have been really cool to see it build up throughout the whole series in small ways

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln are greatly used in the Eugenics War books by Greg Cox. I listened to the audio book versions and got a great dose of those two characters.

Besides the ones you guys mentioned in the video, I'd say Thomas Riker springs to mind. And Prime Universe Lorca!

I definitely agree one of Discovery's shortcomings was the semi anonymous bridge crew. I'm glad they started getting a little more time in the past two seasons. While I do love Discovery, I hope future series avoid the Burnham "responsibility hoarding" type of character. Nana Visitor was so amazing as Kira that I don't really think too much about Ro being on DS9. And if there is a spinoff for Captain Shaw w 7 of 9, I hope they assign Elnor to the Titan. He was one of the most lovable and unique characters in Picard. I get that it was probably impossible to include him in the final season of Picard, but I seriously hope they find a spot for him in a future series.

And at Number One: It's Travis Mayweather. Poor Travis. Kid just can't catch a break.

Sela's potential is not wasted in Star Trek Online. In fact she's one of the major staple villains and she's directly behind kicking off the Iconian War story arc, which is one of THE best campaigns in the entire game.

I actually liked Dr. Pulaski. I never truly understood what people didn't like about her. I felt that her character grew through out season 2. Unfortunately we will never know how DS9 would have turned out if Michelle Forbes had reprised her roll as Ro Laren. Both her and Nana Vistor are entirely different actors.

Still makes me sad that Airiam died in season 2 of Discovery. I would've love to see her evolution in the 32nd century, she's probably gonna used Borg technology to restore her some of her skin organ. Hemmer death also makes me sad, I really loved to see him as a regular character in Strange New Worlds future seasons.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Grace Lee Whitney appeared in Star Trek VI but not in Star Trek V.

I laughed way too hard at your edit with them dragging Pulaski out of the room...'and we never heard the slightest mention of Pulaski ever again'

You can always get Sean to go find the Bajoran Orb of Time and have him go back to the past and tell the show runners to fix their grievous errors. 😉

I still have very fond memories of the times I got to interact with Ms. Grace Lee Whitney at Tulsa's Trek Expo. She was fun and delightful.

Doctor Pulaski was a badass! Her interactions with Data were perfect!

Empress Sela (STO) and Ro Laren had such awesome potential that it's one of my few gripes about TNG outside of the first season.

Lt. Leslie (Eddie Paskey) from TOS is the most significant omission from this list, he's in over 50 episodes and even sat in the center seat a few times, yet we know very little about him. Why did he keep changing jobs? how did he get resurrected after being killed on an away mission?

Agree 100% with #1, one of my favorites. Here’s one you didn’t mention: Dr. Helen Noel, arguably Star Trek’s first female badass, with a spunky and refreshing, endearing persona. She had the potential to become a fantastic major character in the cast…and sadly, we only met her once. Easily one of most underutilized Star Trek characters of all time. Absolutely love her.

it's funny you ask what Sela was up to when the Romulan home world was destroyed, because the Star Trek Online game answers that spectacularly. it actually expands on the character a quite a bit. that game is really awesome for it's writing and the way it blends all the canon Star Trek shows into one cohesive universe.

I highly recommend watching an episode of The Outer Limits called - A Stich in Time. ??? Staring Michelle Forbes and someone named Amanda Plummer. Yes. Watch it! Forbes can absolutely play a leading character. And someone else still likes to use po. . . (Watch it!) Props for putting Ro first.

Kes had so much potential they just didn't know what to do with.

Regarding the Disco bridge crew - 55 episodes of Discovery are just about equivalent to two seasons of earlier series. We definitely did not receive that level of characterization for Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu during all of TOS, and I'd argue that we got just as much from Owosekun and Detmer than, say, Dr. Crusher or LaForge during the same length of time.

Shouldn't Uhura from TOS be mentioned? Probably even as number 1? A character so underused, the actor Nichelle Nichols threaten to leave and had Martin Luther King talk her into staying... and that didn't even get a first name until way after TOS was finished. Her only "character trait" was, that she can sing, since this is something Nichols did as well.

I believe that Exidor (From Mork & Mindy) was actually a Vulcan who got stranded on Earth and went crazy. He clearly has the Vulcan face going, and his hair hides his ears.

I really loved Capt. Rios from Picard. I would’ve loved for him to stick around with Picard, Raffi, and the bunch for more story and development.

I liked Ro Laren's line to Riker in Conundrum: "You don't strike me as a man who needs a Holodeck to have a good time."

Im still hoping that Matalas is just straight up lying to us and that Sela is, in fact, in the show

Troi was another character that wasted her potential.

I'm here after seeing the season 3 episode 5 of Strek Trek Picard. Number one hits differently after that

The DS9 novels set post "What We Leave Behind" have Ro on DS9, right alongside Kira.

I liked Polaski. She stood her ground when she knew she was right and was willing to concede when was was wrong.

That thumbnail just took on a whole new meaning.

I often wondered what happened to Ro Laren. We last see her near the end of TNG joining the Maquis, and we know they were decimated by the Jem’Hadar in DS9. So was she killed, or did she survive?

Hear me out, the Female Q from Voyager, the sass alone is on point, just with the puppy comment 😂

You missed out on not mentioning Ensign Sonya Gomez. (I think she's a captain in a couple of Lower Decks episodes) Really liked Lycia Naff in the part. Thought it was great to include a mexican crewman.

Thanks for the nice pictures of Dr Pulaski. She is always my favourite!!

Well, Ro came back...and left forever.

Came here to say the last entry on this video aged like curdled milk in a very good way! Haha

T'Rul wanted to stay on the defiant but was having issues carrying out her duties wearing a giant oven mitt.

Headcanon: Gary Seven is Seven of Nine's son.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who doesn't know the bridge crew of Discovery

19:53 I think it's safe to say that she bit the big one during that conflict as Chakotay referenced the "fate" of the Maquis was one of complete and utter defeat! IF and I premise IF Ro Laren survived then it was out of cowardice.. something this character is not known for. Therefore I say, she died a hero saving people from the Dominion so they could escape to safety.

Well at least we got closure on Ro'Laren with Picard "Imposters" episode.

While I agree with Ro Laren as #1, I could also argue for Thomas Riker as #1 as the most wasted potential in Star Trek

Great timing with this video

As a local radio personality and podcast host, I can assure you that no one notices when you’re sick. You don’t need to admit it. Sounds great! 😉👍

I'm convinced that Pulaski and Worf were intimate after the tea ceremony. All the dialogue suggests that.

...well. I think this list holds the record for going from accurate to outdated.😅

Even Trek Culture admits that's Discovery is basically the Michael Burnham show

Deanna Troi absolutely deserves to be on this list. As an empath and professional therapist on a series the routinely explored the question "What does it mean to be human?" her potential was completely squandered. Her entire character arc can be summed up as Pretty girl, love interest, victim, unreliable psychic, stand-in mother figure, Picard's secretary, officer only valuable when doing things out of her scope of expertise, and now in Star Trek: Picard; stay-at-home mom and neglected wife.

At least we finally found out what happened to Ro Laren in the latest episode of Picard (S3 E5).

boy ...... are you going to be pleased with the 5th episode of picard ;)

Sela did get the fan recognition in Star Trek Online… she’s part of a few large storylines in the mmo

Another good video. 👍 Thanks...

harry kim

Hi TrekkieBrie!!! Great Job!!!

Two characters that I truly hope don't end up on this list are Chief Kyle from Strange New Worlds and Agnes Jurati/Soji from Picard. In Strange New Worlds Chief Kyle bearly appears in the first season and we only really ever here other people talk about him rather than any real character or development. Hopefully season 2 fixes this. And while Agnes did get an arc in becoming the new Borg Queen, I'd still like to see whats next for her. It would be interesting to see if she starts making synth Borg as a way to avoid the need for assimilation of other cultures and what road that would take her down. Speaking of Synths. Soji was the center of season 1 of Picard but then she becomes an ambassador and nothing more develops. She is the daughter of Data and still has his memories as a part of her. They could have her struggle to live up to his legacy and a longing for her to get to really know her father. Since de-aging tech is actualy getting better you could do a holodeck scene where she gets to have an actual conversation with the hologram of her father. And who doesn't want to see Star Trek: Doctor Who with Wesley and Kore off on time hopping shenanigans lol

I much preferred Pulaski to the sugary, sometimes vacuous, Crusher. Pulaski was a crusty individualistic ship's doctor in the tradition of McCoy or the EMH Doctor. Likewise, Hemmer. He had so much potential. If a main character had to die - and I'm fine with that - why did virtually the only Aenar in the entire franchise have to go? Again, he was a bit different to the rest of the crew. I always found TNG main cast a bit bland, with the exception of Picard. Likewise, the SNW main crew became a bit smiley/bland post-Hemmer.

I'd add Ensign Suder on Voyager to this list as the Patron Saint of underused Voyager guest stars. If any show was begging to have a deep bench of interesting recurring characters, it's the one about a crew of 150 people lost in an unfriendly part of space. Suder was immediately fascinating and some sort of stop and start redemption arc for him could have been played out for longer than what we got - he easily could have bene Voyager's Garak. As it was, most of the recurring guest cast was killed off by "Basics, Part 2" and after that an actor would be lucky to get a line as a crewman and not be dead within a month of uttering it.

I've always wondered what the feelings of the Maquis crewmembers of Voyager when they got home to learn the Maquis was destroyed.

Great video. Thanks

🖖😎👍Very nicely well done and well executed indeed.

As usual stellar performance Bree

Don't forget SHELBY. Giving Ryker a protagonist. But like Dr.Polaski a character that push to hard and becomes devicesive..Creating character that is to confrontational that fans were left with a bad connection to.A school teacher you liked but didn't want to be around This like hate relationship was inevitable to end with a whimper or just disappear entirely 🤔 .Good Video 😎

A character I was looking forward to seeing again on ST: TNG was the Vulcan Dr. Selar played by Suzie Plakson. This character appeared in only one episode and was mentioned by name in a later episode but that was it. Although Ms. Plakson was playing an emotionally restrained Vulcan as expected, she none the less exuded an incredible sensuality in that role that quickly caught my attention. She played other aliens in the franchise, but the character of Dr. Selar was indeed an example of wasted potential !

About Ro... This video was made before Picard Season 3 Episode 5, right? 😂😂

I just laughed out loud over your wesley warp bubble joke

“Those answers may never come”, 2 days later Terry Matalas: “We got you,Trek Culture”

I agree with Ro Lauren but probably safe to say she died during either the Cardiassian war or when the Federation finally took care of them. If the actress was willing, Ro could have shown up in Voyager and continued trying to fit back into Starfleet.

One I've long thought could have been used better was Thadin Okanna. He cold gave been the new Harry Mudd.

I think if the TNG crew gets a revisit followed by DS9 getting a series, Ro would be a great character to be brought back into canon given the importance of Bajor.

Killing off Hemmer was criminal! That's like killing off Spock at the end of the first season of the original series, or Data at the end of Next Generation season one. Such a good character.

"those answers may never come" ...... 2 Days later 😂

I would add Thomas Riker to the list. How Kira was critiquing his attack plan, I think he was supposed to be more than just another unhappy member of Starfleet running away to join the Maquis.

Well, at least the last one has been revisited

There was the lieutenant that was supposed to become G. LaForge's main love but then disappeared after two or three episodes never to be seen ever again. The killing of Alexander's mum while Worf was still TNG before he was moved over to DS9. As well as the romance between Worf and Jadzia could've been explored more before Jadzia was killed by Dukat. Lastly, a love triangle between Worf, Ezri, and Bashir I think might have been interesting to have seen. Plus Leela was severely under utilized in my opinion.

I am extremely glad that the exact person I was thinking about when I saw this list (Aside from two characters played by Denise Crosby) was the first person mentioned. I really wanted them to play her exactly like you said, similarly to T'pol and growing on the human crew. Could also have given her some time with Garak since they're both outsiders who are forced to stay on a federation station.

Good list Bree, hope you're feeling better soon.

In that episode Face of the Enemy when Troi was disguised as a Romulan on the Romulan ship the Tal Shiar that was something for sure between the Romulan Empire & the Federation & Starfleet.

My biggest criticism of Discovery is that we got so little of the bridge crew beyond a handful of characters, the show really missed out on some great storytelling, but that's the sacrifice you make when you tell a highly focused story.

I liked Dr. Pulaski. Her character was growing slowly and surely. They did her dirty by making her vanish and then acting like she never existed to begin with. I enjoyed the episode with Professor Moriarty and her saving Picard's life.

And now Ro's Story has come to conclusion

This list aged interestingly.

I always had trouble with the idea that the Romulans would allow Starfleet to use their tech, and it’s even worse that their supervisor was dropped off. Surely a Klingon cloak would have made more sense?

Glad Trek fans got Nana Visitor’s Maj./Col. Kira Nerys instead of Ro Larsen.

I liked Pulaski, to be honest. She was like a female version of Bones in her own way. And though she doesn't care for Data at first, she's surprisingly quick to defend his friendship with the young alien girl (know her name but not going to risk butchering the spelling) in "Pen Pals".