Important Women in Star Trek

The fame and grandeur of Star Trek series not only rest upon the premises of its futuristic possibilities of scientific and technological advancement but also on its diverse casting performing the roles and materializing the mythological characters.  The role of women in this regard is significantly important. The series portrayed multiple main lead and other vital characters that were performed by women. These characters held pivotal importance in the whole series.

As the series advances and evolves throughout the years in the form of its successive series, animated movies, and feature films, the role of women too evolve and undergo changes that aid to the splendor of the whole Star Trek show.  Moreover, the important characters performed by women occupy highly influential positions in the series. These characters display commitment, dedication, leadership, intellect, emotions, sympathy, loyalty and determination.

The important women throughout the series who portrayed the most empowering and iconic roles are introduced as follows along with their respective contribution:

1. Nyota Uhura

This character can be termed as original female lead role in Trek series. The character belongs to the Original Series that was aired from 1966 t0 1969. The character transcends to later sequels as well and therefore two different women has performed this role. In Original Series, this character is performed by Nichelle Nichols and Zoe Saldana portrays it in Star Trek into Darkness. The character of NyotaUhura display toughness, smartness, wit and sarcasm and therefore resulting into a perfect amalgamation of amazement, action and serious contemplation at the level of Trek. Throughout the series, her character acts as an expert communicator and always ready to assist her crew members.

2. Beverly Crusher

The iconic character of Beverly Crusher is an excellent doctor who is a curious scientist, a loving mother, a good friend, and a principled woman resolute in her views. Beverly Crusher displays strong will and outspoken nature, boldly sharing her beliefs. The character of Beverly Crusher can be called as perfect Renaissance woman of 24thcentury.

3. Guinan

The official job of Guinan is ship’s bartender but her role surpasses its assigned position by speaking truth and being the only member of the crew to frighten the omnipotent Cue by stabbing him with a fork. The character does have the guts to lay an emboldened impression. She belongs to a long lived alien race but with her unique wisdom and sincerity, earns the support of Crew and trust of the commanding officers.

4. Kathryn Janeway

The character of Kathryn Janeway appears in Star Trek: The Voyager. She is the first Star Trek female main lead character. Her character shows compassion for her crew and toughest attributes as a commanding officer. She faces the toughest hurdles in the history of Star Trek series that include being stranded 70,000 light year away from earth, handling a diverse crew maintaining a peaceful environment and dealing with alien races to survive. For bigger cause and survival, she shows no hesitation to build an alliance with alien races to tackle a greater enemy.

5. Carol Marcus

The character belongs to The Wrath of Khan (1982). She is an accomplished scientist who builds the genesis device. The character of Carol Marcus is principled and wonderful that further enriches the story. She also shares relationship with Kirk and becomes mother of his son. The interesting thing is that we get to see her younger version in Star Trek into Darkness (2013). She can perfectly find out the implicit intentions of her father and therefor helps the crew to stop him.

6. Seven of Nine

The Character of Seven of Nine gets assimilated as a child by Borg and then she is rescued by Captain Janeway. The character appears in Star Trek: The Voyager. While growing up she has to struggle as a drone to overcome the harsh memories of Borg inflictions. Not only had she overcome her hive mind rather she also becomes a member of Voyager crew with more tactical and technological intellect than anyone on the ship.

7. B’elanna Torres

The character of B’elanna Torres appears in The Voyager (1995-2001). She is half human and half Klingon. Obviously, she struggles with her dual sides of nature. She overcomes her darker side and becomes expert at engines and technology and becomes a true warrior. Later, she becomes Chief Engineer. She is a dedicated character with fiery temper maintaining sarcastic humor too. Her character depicts resourcefulness, brilliance, bravery and kindness.

8. KiraNerys

The character appears in Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Former terrorist turns Second Officer on a space station run by Federation. She gets promotion and becomes Colonel by the end of the series. She prefers greater interest in her commanding affairs and works accordingly. Despite her firm religious beliefs, she never overshadows her behavior while dealing with other members and races.

9. T’Pol

She accomplishes what no other Vulcan specie does by serving the longest term on a human starship and that too even before the establishment of Federation itself. Undoubtedly, she surmounts this challenge with distinction. Her loyalty gets sandwiched between Enterprise Crew and Vulcan High Command. Instead, she prefers her loyalty to truth and logic. Her character depicts stoicism and display of emotions. As a Vulcan, she is not expected to have emotions but she does have them and ultimately expresses them at the time of her mother’s death in the series. She is an expert fighter, being clever in command too.

10. Deanna Troi

The character appears as a Ship’s Counselor in Nemesis (2002) and The First Contact (1996). She is half human and half Betazoid. She is beautiful and enjoys her sexuality owing to her romantic relationships. She handles aggressive aliens perfectly in the series. Later in the series, she gets kidnapped and then altered surgically. Further, she is forced to impersonate another intelligence officer of Romulan.

11. JaziaDax

The character’s appearance depicts her as a 28 years old woman in the series but she is much more. In reality she is a 300 years old Symbiont that aid to her charisma and attire a perfect depth and strength. This further increases her character’s grandeur and makes it the most fascinated character of Star Trek: Deep Sea 9. Her character displays kind nature and compassionate soul. However, she never hesitates to fight bravely in wartime. Through the amalgamation of her courage, will power and bravery she executes her attributes at her best. She proves herself to be a true lover and brave warrior.

12. Tasha Yar

The character first appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Despite her tragic past, her character displays toughness, agility and commanding attributes. Her parents get killed when she is a child. Picard shows trust in Tasha Yar with her courage and excellent tactical knowledge implicitly.

13. Captain Rachel Garret

She is the only female Captain of U.S.S. Enterprise and appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation. She truly exemplifies the Starfleet principles by choosing her own loss and defeat for the sake of peace and thousands of lives to pave the way for better and peaceful future.

14. Ro Laren

The character appears in eight episodes of The Next Generation and becomes very famous.

Conclusion

In the above list, all of the significantly important woman characters are introduced. This portrayal shows a wide range of backgrounds and context that lays a unique foundation for each of the characters. The overall women characters in the Star Trek series portray leadership qualities, resourcefulness, diversity, intellect, humor and bravery.

Whats cool is today we have many men AND WOMEN who have gone into space.  The future is ahead of us!  Check out this amazing graph by IlluminatingFacts.com on the number of earth orbits done by the Space Shuttle and its astronauts.  Click here to see even more interesting facts about the Space Shuttle program.

Earth Orbits by Space Shuttles