12 Star Trek Characters Who Changed The Most
10. T'Pol
T'Pol, on her introduction in Enterprise's first season, was something of a cardboard cutout Vulcan. She was emotionless and seemingly always at odds with the human (and Denobluan) crew around her, preferring to rely almost entirely on logic to serve all circumstances.
She warms as time goes on but the character that straightens Archer's collar before he walks into the foundation of the Federation is an entirely different character altogether. There were several factors that led to this, more in fact than just exposure to humans.
First, there is the mind meld that was forced upon her. This assault by an emotional Vulcan they discover along the way led to a slightly hamfisted AIDS allegory in the show, turning T'Pol into a victim of ongoing stigma. This adds to her departure from her Vulcan teachings.
However, in the show's third season, the constant attacks that Enterprise suffers during the Xindi conflicts forge a stronger relationship between her and the crew. It is this, at her core, that changes her from the 'pure' Vulcan officer we meet in the beginning. Jolene Blalock had the unenviable task of bringing this character to life.
T'Pol was not an easy role for her, one that was further bogged down in attempting to make her the next Seven of Nine in terms of fulfilling a certain category, for a certain demographic of viewer. It is a credit to her performance that T'Pol becomes one of the deeper characters in the show, arguably deeper than almost all of the other characters.
This author hopes very much to see a T'Pol cameo in Strange New Worlds - one perhaps furthering the teachings of Surak on Vulcan.