Star Trek: 10 Hated Characters You Grew To Love
5. Bashir
Dr Julian Bashir was a challenging character to love in his earliest appearances. Though Siddig El Fadil played him with a youthful innocence, this was also countered by the character's ignorant arrogance. Oh, he meant well, there was no question there. But did he act it?
He spent the first year dogging Jadzia's every move, earning him the reputation of a bit of a sex pest. The character wasn't connecting with audiences, leading to questions over his future - something Rick Berman directly intervened in to save.
His friendship with Garak helped the character grow, though it was the third season before he really started to come into his own during Past Tense. The making of him was genetic and, though there had been no groundwork to build up his modified reveal, it served as a blessing for the character.
His was a journey of the full seven years, from an idealistic 'frontier' explorer to a friend, a lover, a war hero, and a surprisingly effective spy.