Star Trek: The Original Series - Ranking Every Major Character Worst To Best

While Kirk gave the orders on the bridge, it was this guy that made sure the Enterprise got where it needed to go to.

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu is the senior helmsman on the Enterprise throughout the show's whole run. Played by Star Trek veteran George Takei, the character was envisioned by Roddenberry as someone who could represent the entirety of Asia on the ship. Sulu, of Japanese heritage, serves that purpose well - he is generally calm and quick to act, with a courteous sense of humour. He's not as brash as Chekov, but also has a personality, and he shows off a number of skills through the series, including gymnastics, botany and fencing.

Ironically though, Sulu's greatest moments are when he breaks out of this reserved character. On multiple occasions, the crewman finds himself possessed or infected by unknown forces, and that's when he becomes increasingly erratic. As Spock notes his behaviour in the season one episode 'The Naked Time' - in which he displays irrational tendencies after contracting a strange virus - he is described by the Vulcan as 'at heart a swashbuckler out of the 18th century'.

It also needs to be said that the Sulu of the Tehran universe in season two's 'Mirror, Mirror' is outright disturbing. While technically a different character, you can tell Takei is giving his all to this warped version of the lieutenant, and he comes off as genuinely frightening when attempting to assassinate Kirk.