10 Most Pointless Deaths In Star Trek

Oh boy, this episode. In what is routinely cited as one of the worst episodes of the entire Star Trek canon, and the reason for its 12-year absence from television screens, comes what must also be the most pointless death of the whole franchise.

Following two seasons of mid to poor quality episodes, Enterprise finally seemed to be hitting its stride with Season Three, following the crew’s strained travels through The Delphic Expanse and conflict with the fractious Xindi, and Season Four seemed to be continuing this commitment to grander storytelling before being scuppered by cancellation.

Somehow, after all of this improvement, the writers managed to produce a nosedive of an episode that made Season One look like Shakespeare. Told in a holodeck simulation by TNG’s Commander Riker, the final ‘mission’ of the Enterprise crew, after years of stopping interstellar war, changes to the timeline, and genetic super soldiers, is to help recurring Andorian anti-villain Shran rescue his daughter. Despite the laughably low stakes on display for a series finale, the invasion of the ship by very few kidnappers is somehow all the motivation Chief Engineer Trip Tucker needs to sacrifice his life to save mildly inconvenienced Captain Archer.

Whilst many people rightly took issue with the show’s decision to turn the series finale into a TNG subplot, the real injustice was taking a character who had survived MUCH more perilous situations and choosing such an inconsequential moment to make the sacrifice play. Tie-in novels suggest that Riker’s holodeck simulation was a forgery, and Trip’s death was faked so that he could work for the clandestine Section 31 but, even if this is made canon, surely such a powerful organisation could come up with something a little more convincing.