Star Trek: 10 Underrated Villains
A great hero is nothing without a great villain, some of whom deserve more credit.
The Star Trek universe is filled with individuals who are, simply put, up to no good. Sometimes it's individuals who cause problems for the heroes of each series. Other times, it's entire races who just can't help themselves. Their status even changes from series to series.
Back in the era of The Original Series and Enterprise, the Klingons were straight up villains. By the time of The Next Generation, the Klingons had become allies of the Federation. For the most part, at least. Nefarious Klingons like Lursa and B'Etor, as well as the House of Duras in general, were still causing problems.
Other species like the Romulans seem to consistently be a thorn in the Federation's collective sides. Even when they team up with Starfleet, the Romulans are still plotting against their temporary allies. That might seem paranoid to some, but it's only paranoia when someone isn't out to get you. In the case of the Romulans, they should probably be more concerned about the Klingons.
But when you step back from well known villains like Klingons, Romulans or the Q, there are others who maybe haven't gotten the respect they deserve. Some of those villains have had more impact than others but were still incredibly memorable.
10. Professor James Moriarty
Star Trek has never been afraid to dip into literary history from time to time, particularly when a holodeck was involved. After Data solved a Sherlock Holmes mystery without any issue, Geordi LaForge challenged the computer to make an adversary tough enough to give his android friend a hard time. Naturally, that didn't pan out well.
The computer responded with Professor James Moriarty, the greatest nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. But the computer also upgraded this hologram to the point that he understood he was a hologram and was able to take control of the Enterprise-D from the holodeck. They didn't so much beat Moriarty as they successfully begged him to stop and eventually tricked him into a box.
Moriarty appeared in two episodes of The Next Generation but he's never quite gotten his due. He dominated the legendary crew of the Enterprise on both occasions, with a higher success rate against them than almost any other enemy they had. That's not bad for someone who wasn't technically a real person.