10 Most Hated Star Trek Characters

6. Barclay

Star Trek Reginald Barclay
CBS/Paramount

Reginald Barclay has had some fantastic moments throughout his run in Star Trek. His best moments came in Star Trek: Voyager, with his relationship with the Voyager crew (or their holograms) being a particular highlight of his character. However, despite these stronger moments, Barclay was never truly a great character on The Next Generation.

His first appearance brought some great comedy to the series. Seeing the main cast dressed up as swashbuckling duellists was a treat, though Barclay himself was less interesting. His next episode, The Nth Degree, was certainly a step up in terms of the writing and the acting quality. It is possibly one of his best episodes.

Realm of Fear was then a step down, simply teasing out his neuroses again, this time about the transporter. While the idea to explore the nature of the transporter was a highly interesting take, seeing it from Barclay's point of view lessened the impact of this story considerably.

Genesis is still responsible for some of our greatest nightmares.

Dwight Schultz, much like his character, never seemed to truly fit with the Next Generation crew. Over on Voyager, both he and the character seemed to have a better time, forgiving some of the past crimes made with this character.

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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"