17. Hoshi Sato
An interesting step for Enterprise was the introduction of a linguist on the Bridge. With the series being a prequel, the Universal Translator had yet to be established, so Hoshi Sato (Linda Park), an expert in languages, was brought on board to help communicate with the new species the Enterprise was going to meet. She had a couple of interesting facets to a character when the show first started. Hoshi was claustrophobic so traveling in the confines of the starship wasnt ideal and she suffered from space sickness. Initially it made you feel sorry for her and drew you to her as she conducted her job under difficult circumstances. But soon all the character development was dropped, presumably because it became annoying to factor into the scripts each week and the result was that it turned Hoshi into a budget priced Uhura. Hoshi soon became another non-entity on the Enterprise Bridge although this was not the fault of Linda Park who did a great job playing the part, it was the writers who gave her nothing to do.
Most entertaining moment: Looking super sexy in the evil mirror universe.
16. Tasha Yar
Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) was one of the original Next Generation crew when the series started. In the role of security chief, Yar was feisty but both loyal and reliable. If there was a threat, you could bank on Yar putting herself in the line of fire. The problem with Tasha Yar was that she was also very boring. She had two modes to her personality, calm or very intense. Depending on the situation, you could usually figure out which Yar you were going to get. You could put it down to the series being new, and all of the actors were ropey in the first season, but there was very little in the Yar character that warmed you to her. Crosby famously quit the show after 22 episodes citing frustration with the way her character was developing. Her character was killed off but it was a decision Crosby went on to regret. She later convinced the producers to bring her back and made her surprise return in the hugely popular episode, Yesterdays Enterprise. Rejuvenated, this Tasha Yar came across as a much better character. A lot less vexatious. Crosbys acting appeared to have been stepped up a gear and you could have happily accepted her back onto the show. However, being dead that would have been difficult and Tasha Yar was only back for one special episode which ended with her traveling back in time in the Enterprise C to be captured by the Romulans. The shows writing got much better as the series went on, observable in the way Tasha Yar was written for her return. But it remains that the early Yar was a fairly two-dimensional character that most fans were happy to see the back off.
Most entertaining moment: Using Data as the ultimate sex toy.