The Star Trek Franchise is filled with examples of leaders who serve as role models. These include Captains Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). However, over the years we have definitely seen plenty of terrible leaders as well.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, here are four bad leaders from across the Star Trek Franchise. Did we include your (least) favorite? Be sure and let us know, either in the comment section or over on our Bluesky page.
Landru
In Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1’s “The Return of the Archons,” Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his U.S.S. Enterprise crew visit Beta III. The planet appears to be peaceful.
But the crew soon discovers that they are controlled by an unseen ruler. This dictator’s edicts are executed by cloaked “Lawgivers” who do his bidding. And the dictator, Landru (Charles Macaulay), commands the Betans to take part in “Festival,” a night of violence. Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Doctor McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are taken to Landru . McCoy is placed under his mental control. However, Spock and Kirk are rescued by a member of the planet’s underground resistance.
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Ultimately, Kirk discovers a hidden truth about Landru. He’s actually a computer programmed by the original Landru, who died 6,000 years earlier. Using logic, Kirk and Spock argue with the computer. Landru eventually breaks down and is destroyed.
However, in the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 finale “No Small Parts,” Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos visit Beta III. There they learn that the Betans returned to worshipping Landru after Kirk freed them from its rule. “This is literally the exact thing Captain Kirk taught you,” Freeman gripes. “Maybe write it down this time?”
Quinn
It isn’t exactly Rear Admiral Gregory Quinn (Ward Costello) who is the bad leader, but rather, the parasitic alien that uses him as a puppet. Quinn appeared throughout the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In The Next Generation Season 1’s “Coming of Age,” Quinn sent Inspector General Officer Dexter Remmick (Robert Schenkkan) to the U.S.S. Enterprise-D to ascertain whether or not an alien invasion was underway. In that episode, Remmick found no evidence of such an invasion. He left the Enterprise on friendly terms.
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But in the penultimate episode of The Next Generation Season 1, “Conspiracy,” such an invasion is revealed. However, it isn’t taking place on the Enterprise-D (yet), but rather at Starfleet Command. In “Conspiracy,” the Enterprise-D returns to Earth. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew soon grow suspicious of Quinn’s behavior. A medical investigation by Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) reveals that Quinn has a parasitic alien in his brain.
As the episode continues, Picard discovers many Starfleet admirals have been compromised by the alien invaders. They share their plans to infiltrate the Enterprise-D and continue their takeover. However, Picard and William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) team up and phaser the lead alien to death. This causes the aliens that answered to the lead alien to die as well. While Remmick is killed in the process, Quinn survives and recovers.
Annorax
Star Trek: Voyager Season 4’s two part episode “Year of Hell” sees Janeway and the crew of the U.S.S Voyager facing off against an adversary who manipulates time. Annorax (Kurtwood Smith) is a scientist who has created a “time ship” for his people, the Kremin Imperium. This ship can cause “temporal incursions” that can erase people and societies from history.
Over the course of the episode, the Kremin succeed in destroying several civilizations. When Voyager runs afoul of them, they become entangled in the conflict, as well. Over the course of months, Voyager sustains heavy damage and significant casualties to the crew.
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As it turns out, Annorax is motivated by the death of his wife (Lise Simms). An earlier temporal incursion created a plague, which resulted in her death. In other words, Annorax is motivated by a tragedy for which he himself is responsible. However, in spite of his efforts to restore her — through which he has ruined countless innocent lives — he has not been successful in achieving his goal.
At the conclusion of “Year of Hell, Part 2,” Janeway crashes Voyager into the time ship. This essentially “restarts” the timeline, including restoring Annorax’s wife to life. At the conclusion of the episode, Annorax puts aside his work on the timeship to spend time with her instead. Whatever gets rid of the bad leader is a win for all, right?
Les Buenamigo
Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo (Carlos Alazraqui) was first introduced in Lower Decks Season 3’s premiere episode, “Grounded.” In that episode, we learn Buenamigo is a longstanding friend of the Freeman family.
Buenamigo continues to appear throughout Lower Decks Season 3, as when he issues a change in orders to the Cerritos in “Hear All, Trust Nothing.” But in the penultimate episode of the season, “Trusted Sources,” Buenamigo’s plan is partially revealed. After the Cerritos crew is nearly destroyed by the Breen on Brekka, one of Buenamigo’s AI powered Texas class ships arrives to save the day. This is all part of Buenamigo’s plan to secure a promotion and gain more personal power.
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In the season finale, “The Stars at Night,” the full extent of Buenamigo’s machinations is revealed. He plays to shutter the California class and assign their Second Contact missions to the Texas class. Freeman challenges him to prove the efficacy of the Texas class by participating in a “Second Contact race.” Sadly, the Texas class emerges victorious. But fortunately, Freeman realizes that it prevailed due to an overlooked technicality, proving it isn’t ready for service.
Enraged by this revelation, Buenamigo gives the U.S.S. Aledo autonomous control and orders it to destroy the Cerritos. However, the Texas class uses the corrupted AI code created by Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). In order to hide this fact, Buenamigo installed Rutherford’s implant without Rutherford’s consent. But it also means that the Texas class is patricidal, and immediately kills Buenamigo once autonomous. Meanwhile, the California class is left to overcome the AI antagonists that outlived this power-hungry creator.
All four series discussed in this article are currently available for streaming on Paramount+.
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