10 Star Trek Characters With The Most Extreme Development
From zero to hero, who are the Star Trek names and faces that truly went where no one expected.
Before we begin, characters do not necessarily need to appear in every episode to receive the most development. We actually have a list that concerns the characters who appear in multiple series here - so don't be expecting a rehash of the crossover episodes today!
There are those characters who can receive more development in forty minutes than many do in forty episodes. Some Star Trek series are guilty of taking talented performers and effectively casting them as a pair of legs to stand behind the captain's chair (looking at you, The Next Generation/Tasha Yar).
One thing that does seem to be vastly improving, for the most part, is how the franchise handles its supporting players. There are still those shows that struggle with this - one in particular that doesn't have a lot of time left to rectify it - but across the board, if there is something Star Trek is known for, it's giving the bit and day players some real juicy material to work with.
Perhaps there are few characters who will receive the development of those with the pointed ears, but let's see what Trek has offered us to date.
10. The Doctor
First appearing in Caretaker, Robert Picardo's Emergency Medical Hologram was presented as rigid, suffering from a very artificial manner - one that could hardly be called a decent bedside manner. The first season of Voyager concentrated on having the crew treat the Doctor a little poorly - though the stand-out episode Heroes And Demons goes a distance to improving this.
Over the course of seven years, the Doctor becomes an integral part of the crew. But, more than this, he quickly grew from a colder medical technician to one who strove for more, to then becoming an artist, performer, teacher, and confident.
The Doctor that the audience sees by the time Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant is a totally different interpretation to the one we were introduced to in the pilot. This is thanks in no small part to Robert Picardo's performance. He took the character brief - lightbulb with a hypospray - and helped develop that into one of the most endearing, engaging characters in the entire franchise.
As it stands, we have yet to see his return to Star Trek, but this is a hologram who is seemingly ageless. The smart money says he'll be back, perhaps with a song sheet or two in hand.