Star Trek is a franchise bereft of meaningful deaths. More often than not a character is killed off within the first five minutes of a cold open only to be revived by the end of the episode. However, on rare occasions, the series rises above the trappings of episodic television and presents a truly meaningful and heartfelt ending for a beloved crew member.
Despite featuring some of the most iconic send-offs in television history, the franchise just as often can fall flat on its face when it provides a character with a shallow and unearned ending. The following compiles the biggest flubs in Trek history when it comes to killing off fan favorites.
8 Data’s Life Was Cut Short
Star Trek: Nemesis failed to deliver the epic finale for The Next Generation cast that prior films like The Undiscovered Country were able to do for The Original Series. In an attempt to ape off the dramatic death of Spock from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan the film had fan-favorite character Lt. Commander Data sacrifice his life for the sake of the crew of the Enterprise-E. Outside of being a transparent attempt to copy the impact of Khan, the movie also cut scenes that better established Data’s arc and decision from the theatrical release. Thankfully Star Trek: Picard made up for this mishap in its own wonderful send-off to everyone’s favorite synthezoid, but many fans agree that a living Data had far more stories left to tell.
7 Kirk’s Death Was Anti-Climatic
Despite many a fakeout throughout The Original Series, The Animated Series, and the original six films, the good Captain Kirk finally met his death during 1994’s Star Trek: Generations. A movie that marketed itself off of the meeting of titans between Captains Kirk and Picard ended up barely having the two share much screentime and spending much of its plot focusing on the incoming Next Generation cast. Split between trying to be both a solid first outing for the new crew as well as a team-up for Trek fans, Generations remains one of the worst films from the franchise. No moment may best represent that moment than the anti-climatic death of Captain Kirk on a bridge. While killing the original Captain made sense from a passing-of-the-torch standpoint, it failed to deliver a proper finale for the man who battled Klingon, Romulan, and Gorn alike only to come out the survivor.
6 Kirk’s Death (Again) Was A Pale Imitation
Much like the previously mentioned Star Trek: Nemesis, 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness also tried and failed to reach the dramatic heights of The Wrath of Khan. This time going all-in on the alternate timeline concept first established in 2009’s initial reboot, the film saw Chris Pine‘s Captain Kirk come face to face with a whitewashed Khan played by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch. While the film presented many exciting actions scenes and some solid character work, it spent too much time chasing after the figurative white whale of its predecessor with a new death scene mimicking the original passing of Spock with now Captain Kirk being the one to meet his end.
What rips the emotional weight out of what could be a fantastic death (aside from the eye-rolling “NO!”) is the quick and immediate resurrection within the last ten minutes which invalidates the entire event. Simply removing the death would have been better than ever attempting it in the first place.
5 Christopher Pike Could Have Provided Many More Stories
Another solid recast for the Kelvin Timeline of Trek films was the choice of Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. Star Trek: Discovery has shown the breadth of stories to be told about first (depending on what you count as canon) Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, so it’s an honest shame that his time was cut short in the film series.
It obviously works as the classic death of a mentor trope, but between the classic TOS episode “The Menagerie” and the forthcoming Strange New Worlds series, there could have clearly been so much more.
4 Tuvix Deserved To Live
Despite his garish appearance and troubling origins, Tuvix was a living breathing sentient creature that deserved to live. Albeit fans generally laugh off the fusion as a bit of a meme rather than a beloved character. That said, Captain Janeway completely broke her Starfleet principles by deciding to separate the two back into Tuvok and Neelix. Besides, killing Tuvix meant that Neelix got to live and continue being an abusive and manipulative boyfriend to Kes so it’s a pretty clear loss all around.
3 Tasha Yar Was Killed By Bland Writing And Terrible Executives
Denise Crosby’s abrupt exit from Star Trek: The Next Generation while the show was still finding its feet remains a complicated topic. Between questionable actions by Gene Roddenberry’s lawyer, Leonard Maizlish, and bizarre power plays by Rick Berman, Crosby chose to leave the show rather than continue to fight for her bland and uninteresting character who, prior to her death in “Skin of Evil,” failed to have much use outside of a problematic sex object.
While her left-field death in the episode remains one of Trek’s biggest mistakes, she would eventually return in a variety of roles both as an alternate reality Yar in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and the Romulan Commander Sela in several stories.
2 David Marcus Meant Nothing In The Search For Spock
Few characters in the franchise embody the concept of wasted potential better than David Marcus, the short-lived son of Captain Kirk and his old flame Carol. The Wrath of Khan wonderfully played on the growing age of its cast in a variety of ways, but especially in the setting of the previously young and brash Captain as a middle-aged Admiral questioning his role in Starfleet. David was created to continue that theme, but by the time of Star Trek III: The Search For Spock he was unceremoniously killed off in a death so placid that the destruction of the Enterprise, an inanimate object, provides far more emotional impact for both the characters and audience. By Star Trek V: The Final Frontier the series had bucked the idea of Kirk being a wise and aged hero by displaying ludicrous feats of strength and dexterity. The loss of David not only harmed the third film in the franchise but set the movies off track once William Shatner got ahold of the director’s chair.
1 Jadzia Dax Was Another Victim Of Terrible Executives
Jadzia Dax, a major milestone for Trek’s LGBTQIA+ representation, would also see an untimely death brought about by the unprofessional and despicable actions of the higher-ups. Constantly belittled and critiqued for her body and breast size, Terry Farrell was subject to treatment undeserved for any actress much less a woman responsible for performing such a beloved and fan-favorite character. There is a great deal of discourse over why exactly Farrell left, or if she was instead forced out, but the sexist and disgusting behavior from the co-creator would continue for some time well into the early 21st century.
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