10 Fragile Star Trek Villains YOU Could Beat

The villain of The Survivor (TAS) is a Vendorian who has taken the form of a now-dead human named Carter and is allied to the Romulans. Being able to shapeshift into any animate or inanimate of a similar mass (including a deflector field) should make him a dangerous antagonist. Turns out Carter isn't very savvy about how to strategically use his shapeshifting.

When Carter tries to hide as an inanimate object he makes the bizarre choice of becoming an examining table in a room that normally has only two tables. This is obviously noticeable. When threatened with acid, the Vendorian doesn't think to turn himself into something immune to acid.

Sentient forms cause different problems for Vendorians. When they first take on a new shape they have only a vague idea of the personality of who they mimic. Spock and Captain Kirk are able to recognize a fake Dr. McCoy quickly. If a Vendorian stays in a sentient form for too long they begin to permanently take on the memories and emotions of the being they mimic.

This is the undoing of Carter. He recalls the romantic feelings, the human whose form he wears had for one of the woman aboard the Enterprise. Carter gives viewers an easy roadmap to defeating a Vendorian: just wait for them to inevitably make a stupid mistake that gives themselves away and then capitalizing on it.