10 Best Star Trek Characters Only In One Episode
These Trek characters made a huge impression with only one appearance.
When people discuss their favorite Star Trek characters the main cast are generally expected to dominate. Seven of Nine, Worf, Dax and literally any of the captains will top most lists. But it's not uncommon for recurring guest characters like Q, Garak or Shran to be favorites as well.
These are all characters who the audience have gotten to know and love over many episodes. But many characters who stand out in our minds as some of the best that Star Trek has to offer have only made a single appearance. These characters spark the imagination of the audience and be it because of the boundless potential in a story or the sheer impact of a performance, they stick with us.
Due to the episodic nature of most Star Trek there will obviously be some memorable characters who just won't make the cut. But hey, hearing you complain about what we didn't include is half of the fun. Here is our list of the ten best characters to only appear in one episode of Star Trek and if you think we forgot somebody, you know where to comment.
11. Honorable Mentions
Before getting into the list, there are some characters who are worth mentioning. No less memorable than the others but who couldn't be properly included in a top ten list.
Morgan Bateson
Bateson is a character who certainly sticks out in the memories of TNG fans but more for the story potential that he represented than anything he said or did in the episode. In many ways his story would have been more interesting than the story which led to it but it's one we don't get to see. However as a character there just isn't very much to judge him on.
Gary Mitchell, Apollo and Trelane
This entire list could have been made up of only TOS characters. It's a series which lends itself to extremely memorable one shot characters and Gary Mitchell is most definitely one of them. However, to be fair to the rest of the franchise we keep it down to just a few original series examples. There are also a lot of godlike aliens in TOS like Apollo and Trelane, who really stand out but are for the same reason not included.