10 Star Trek Characters With The Most Extreme Development
6. Dr. Julian Bashir
Dr. Bashir's arrival in Deep Space Nine saw, in the course of one episode, him go from a naive and arrogant officer to a competent Doctor, keeping a cool head on a battlefield. The rest of his journey in the show would offer shades of both of these - but that's not to say there was a risk that he was floundering as the show went into its fifth season.
Bashir had always been fun, but as the years went on, there was a slight risk of his friendship with O'Brien overshadowing other aspects of the character. They were a fantastic double-act, but O'Brien certainly seemed to stand better on his own. That changed with the shocking revelation that, for the better part of a few months, Bashir had been replaced entirely by a Changeling.
This was the start of a seismic shift for the young doctor. In one season alone, he was shown dealing with the repercussions of escaping the Dominion prison, and then barely a few weeks later, being outed as a genetically engineered human. This carried an automatic ban from Starfleet - something that was narrowly avoided in this case.
Alexander Siddig was just as confused by some of the changes in Bashir's character, as very little notice was offered to the actor before he had to make them work. His time with Andrew Robinson's Garak probably helped to prepare him, as well as his encounters with Director Sloane.
Bashir became the go-to innocent character to use when something truly shocking needed to take place, all the while displaying confidence, and more than a little brashness, to make the audience love the story.