Star Trek: 10 Underrated Villains

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.