The characters of Star Trek: The Original Series are some of the most recognizable in pop culture, and here are the best of the best.
In 1966, Star Trek aired its first episode on NBC. Created by Gene Roddenberry and set in the year 2266, Star Trek followed the crew of Starship Enterprise, who were on a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new civilizations, and go where nobody had gone before. While the series only lasted three seasons with 79 episodes airing, Star Trek endured as a piece of pop culture and generated a massive, passionate fanbase in syndication that kept the show going in the public consciousness long after it aired. The show's popularity eventually led to a series of high-profile films that reunited the cast of the original series, which started in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and ran for six films until the release of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991.
One of the major appeals of Star Trek was its characters. While it was a science fiction series and promised audiences wild adventures, the budget and technological limitations made the Star Trek rely heavily on its characters to carry the series. From an adventurous captain, a half-alien science officer, and a crew who represented the diverse culture and ethnicity Earth had to offer, Star Trek: The Original Series had something for everyone; the characters became pop culture icons, with the actors reprising their roles in feature films even when movie stars were getting younger. The characters were so popular that telling the team's origin story and recasting them was a major selling point of restarting the franchise in 2009's Star Trek. These are the best characters from Star Trek: The Original Series.
Christine Chapel was the ship's nurse and was an important part of the crew for the series' three seasons often used to contrast Spock's Vulcan nature. Played by Majel Barrett (who was originally cast as the role of Number One in the first Star Trek pilot), she went on to marry Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and was the voice of the Enterprise computer. Sadly the character was reduced to small minimal roles in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and was completely absent from the Kelvin reboot films (with only two off-screen mentions); however, the character is set to return to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and will be played by Jess Bush.
Introduced in season two as a way to appeal to a younger audience, Pavel Chekov is a Russian-born navigator of the ship and is 17. The series cast Walter Koening in the role and gave him a hairstyle reminiscent of The Beatles and The Monkees to show his youthful charm. Including a Russian character on television in the 1960s, during the height of the Cold War, was a big move and one that speaks to the overriding optimism of the Star Trek franchise that the future can and should be better than the present.
The ship's helmsman, Gene Roddenberry created Hikaru Sulu to represent all of Asia in an attempt to show the peace of the future that Star Trek takes place. Sulu was played by the larger-than-life actor George Takei, whose signature voice gives the character's dialogue a great deal of weight and helps sell the reality of the series. One of Sulu's most defining features is his large list of hobbies, establishing a well-rounded character with a life outside his job. Sulu has an interest in botany, gymnastics, and fencing.
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After the series, Sulu rises through the ranks over the course of the films as he is promoted to lieutenant commander in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and eventually Captain of the USS Excelsior in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Montgomery Scott aka Scotty is the ship's engineer, third in command, and has a close connection to the Enterprise, often taking care of it the way a parent would a child. Played by actor James Doohan, Scotty is often a source of comedic relief across the original series and films. Scotty often provides a sense of warmth and charm to the stories' events, and throughout the original series and original six films, he stays as the lead engineer for the ship, showing somebody who is truly doing what he loves.
Though only appearing in one episode of the original series, Khan Noonien Singh (played by Richardo Montalbán), there is a reason this one-off character was brought back to be the main villain in a Star Trek film. A genetically-powered superhuman who controlled more than a quarter of planet Earth in the 1990s, Khan and his crew were frozen in suspended animation, only to be awakened by the crew of the Enterprise in the future.
After attempting to take control of the Enterprise from Kirk, Khan and his crew are marooned on Ceti Alpha V to start a new colony of their own. The character makes a return in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, looking for revenge against Kirk, and ends up sticking a critical blow to the crew by indirectly causing the death of Spock. Khan is the most dangerous foe the Enterprise Crew ever faced, and even after just one episode it was clear the character had more stories to tell, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing him prominently in the reboot films, and the character having a connection to Strange New Worlds.
The ship's leading medical officer, Bones is one of Kirk's best friends and often someone Kirk can talk to and seek advice from. His status as a doctor means Bones typically advocates for courses of action that could reduce harm. Played by DeForest Kelly, Bones created part of the series' central triangle of character dynamics between the central leads. Bones is defined by his emotions, sardonic wit, and his compassion, which often comes into conflict with Spock's cold logic. Bones and Spock may differ in approach, but the two have a strong mutual respect for one another, and it is because of Bones that Spock is able to return to life in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Related: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know
Bones also may have the two most popular lines in Star Trek. "He's dead Jim" and "I'm a doctor, not..." are not just popular in terms of Star Trek, but in the wider popular culture lexicon as well. Bones is a character who heals but provides a great source of comedy and levity in some of the series' more intense moments.
Uhura is the ship's translator and communications officer, and the character, played by Nichelle Nichols, was a major leap in terms of representation on television. Uhura was one of the first major starring roles for a Black woman on television, and the kiss between her and Kirk in the 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren" was one of the first major depictions of an interracial kiss on television. Uhura's importance extends outside the series but into the larger world, as seeing a Black woman in a major role on a television series being treated as an equal to her peers was the promise of the utopian future Star Trek promised its audience.
It was a major source of inspiration for stars like Whoopie Goldberg (who went on to play Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, and even President Barack Obama. When Nichols considered quitting Star Trek, one important fan convinced her not to: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Uhura made a statement that television could be a place for everyone.
The captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk is one of the most popular characters in all science fiction. He is a man of action who will solve a problem with his fist, but also is an academic who can negotiate peace. Kirk is a ladies' man, but also someone with a rich soul who deeply cares for others. Surprisingly, the character was not originally in the original series pilot. Yet the character, and the acting of William Shatner in the role, is what helped launch Star Trek into the franchise audiences know and love today, as Kirk and Shatner are the perfect blend of melodrama and camp that gave Star Trek the energy it needed.
Kirk became the model archetype of a science fiction hero for young audiences, very much in the vein of pulp heroes like Doc Savage of Flash Gordon. Kirk's characterization is so well-defined in popular culture, he has been parodied and referenced outside of Star Trek extensively over half a century, and Shatner's status as Kirk eventually led to him at the age of 90 being flown to space in the Blue Origin sub-orbital space shuttle, making him the oldest person to fly in space. Every subsequent captain in Star Trek media is defined by how similar or different they are to Kirk. With Captain Kirk at the helm, audiences were fully on board for the adventures of the USS Enterprise.
Kirk may be the captain, but ask any random person and the first thing they think of when they think of Star Trek is Spock. The half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the Enterprise, Spock is the ship's second in command and Kirk's best friend, and while the character is often known for using logic to solve issues, Spock is defined by his humanity and grows over the course of the franchise the more he embraces it.
Perfectly played by Leonard Nimoy, the character was originally rejected by the network for appearing to be satanic. Yet Spock has become the face of the franchise, as the character appeared in all six original films with the crew and was featured in an important episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation; the return of Leonard Nimoy in the role in the reboot films after years away was considered a passing of the baton to the cast of the 2009 Star Trek. Spock's numerous memorable quotes from "logical," "live long and prosper," and "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one," have helped define the franchise. Spock is the best that Star Trek has to offer.
Richard Fink is a writer who graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 with a degree in Film and Media Production. He loves the finer things in life, like cold Diet Coke on a hot summer day. Richard is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Film History.