Star Trek: The Original Series/Characters

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner)



 * A Father to His Men
 * Acting for Two: In three episodes (Id!Kirk, Android!Kirk, and Mirror!Kirk) and in the sixth movie.
 * AI Is a Crapshoot: Kirk went up against malevolent computers so often that it became something of a Running Gag in the Fandom.
 * Always Save Spock
 * Anti-Hero: Sixties sex symbol or not, Kirk stumbled into Type I in The Wrath of Khan where his mid life crisis wears heavy and some poor choices cost the lives of many recruits (and a bulging waistline and receding hairline didn't do him any favors...) Type II in The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek 2009.
 * Badass
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: The Trope Namer, by omission. No, he never said it. (No, not even in Star Trek the Animated Series - there he says "Beam us up, Scotty".)
 * Berserk Button: Do not hurt his crew. Not when he is The Captain of Starfleet's flagship, with all the genius and heavy weaponry that implies.
 * Boldly Coming: Although not nearly as much as his reputation suggests.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: The things Kirk got away with...
 * The Captain: The Trope Maker.
 * Companion Cube: Kirk's strongest love in the TV series is for the Enterprise herself; this may vary between Happily Married and The Masochism Tango. The movies have this become overshadowed by loyalty to his Nakama, culminating with his painful decision to self-destruct the original 1701 in Star Trek III the Search For Spock.
 * The Chains of Commanding
 * The Charmer
 * Chivalrous Pervert: May very well be the anti-Bond. Except for a very few times where he used his charm to further a greater purpose, Kirk almost always developed sincere feelings for the Girl of the Week, and was just as often badly hurt when they were separated or she met with an unfortunate end.
 * Determinator
 * His is the Trope Namer.
 * Embarrassing Middle Name:
 * Ethical Slut
 * Former Teen Rebel: Inverted. Unlike his alternate counterpart, Cadet Kirk was something of a humorless swot as an underclassman, only later developing into the Military Maverick we see in the series.
 * Four-Star Badass: In the movies. And everyone knows it. Uhura is Genre Savvy, she is.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric.
 * Gunboat Diplomacy: One of his favorite diplomatic techniques seems to be threatening to blow up a planet that doesn't do what he wants. Somehow he gets away with this. He's Kirk.
 * Hazel Eyes
 * The Hero
 * Heroic Willpower
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Spock.
 * I Can Still Fight
 * Improbable Age: Minor example in-universe. Background material states that, at 30-ish, he is the youngest man yet to command a first-rate Starfleet ship.
 * The Kirk: The Trope Namer.
 * Large Ham: He's played by William Shatner, after all.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * The Not Love Interest: For Spock.
 * Not So Different: From the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror".
 * Officer and a Gentleman: In addition to judo-throwing aliens and romancing Green Skinned Space Babes, he finds time to be well-versed in classical literature and offer aid to space-borne refugees.
 * Papa Wolf: Hurting his people causes him much Angst. And more anger.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Kirk does this quite a bit. Hell, if he were anyone else other than James T. Kirk, he'd have been toast long ago.
 * Shirtless Scene: It's not quite to the level of Walking Shirtless Scene, but Kirk appears shirtless a lot in the original TV show. Mostly famously, it's caused by Clothing Damage during action sequences, but he also tends to just lounge around his quarters without a shirt and such.
 * Smart People Play Chess: Spock's opponent of choice in chess games.
 * Smart People Play Chess: Spock's opponent of choice in chess games.

Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy)


"Spock: Within range of our sensors, there is no life, other than the accountable human residents of this colony beneath the surface. At least, no life as we know it."
 * Always Save Jim Kirk
 * Arranged Marriage: Betrothed by his family as a child. His intended bride has other ideas, and doesn't mind sacrificing Kirk for them...
 * : In the third movie.
 * Badass
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: He never said "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"; that's from Star Trekkin'. The closest he ever came in canon was the episode "The Devil in the Dark":

"McCoy: Spock, you are the most cold-blooded man I've ever known. Spock: Why, thank you, Doctor."
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Principally his green blood and the fact that his heart is where a human's liver would be. The latter enables him to survive being shot in the back with a flintlock rifle in "Friday's Child".
 * Blue-Green Blood: Not explicitly stated, but his father is a prestigious Federation Ambassador, and T'Pau, one of the most powerful people on Vulcan, officiates at (what should have been) his marriage. He also notes that the large estate where the ceremony takes place has been in his family for over two thousand years.
 * Blunt Metaphors Trauma
 * Boomerang Bigot: Is half-human, but most of the time solely embraces his Vulcan heritage and is scornful of human ways. This was later explained in Backstory due to his relationship with his father and growing up on Vulcan, and he mellowed in his later years.
 * Catch Phrase: "Fascinating", accompanied, of course, by...
 * Fascinating Eyebrow
 * The Creon: Spock is this, almost to the letter. He only takes command of the Enterprise once Kirk has been Kicked Upstairs, and gives it back almost immediately when the opportunity arises. And, being already a captain and in command of the Enterprise, Spock never gets his own commission: he keeps his position as first-officer under Kirk for several more movies!
 * Surprisingly, Spock's mirror-universe counterpart is exactly the same on this - and even explicitly states his reasons (in "Mirror Mirror").
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Deuteragonist: A natural result of his popularity with fans; originally, the show was intended as having plots about "Kirk and X", where "X" would be a different character each week; many of the early first season episodes follow this formula, but gradually "X" and "Spock" became interchangeable.
 * Fantastic Racism: A victim of this Trope, as well as a mild subscriber (towards humans).
 * Forgets to Eat: Occasionally. While never shown, in "Amok Time", McCoy uses the fact that Spock hasn't eaten for three days in an attempt to convince Kirk that something is wrong, and Kirk dismisses it as simply being Spock in one of his contemplative phases. Another example is "The Paradise Syndrome", where Spock hardly eats for weeks while studying the obelisk.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic.
 * Good Is Not Nice: He's rude, tactless and completely cold hearted but he always has the best interests of the ship and crew in mind.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Kirk.
 * Hidden Heart of Gold
 * Insult Backfire:


 * Ludicrous Precision
 * Minored in Asskicking
 * The Not Love Interest: To Kirk.
 * Number Two
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to McCoy's red
 * Rubber Ear Alien
 * Sarcastic Devotee
 * Smart People Play Chess: Three-dimensional chess.
 * The Spock: The Trope Namer.
 * The Stoic
 * Not So Stoic
 * Straw Vulcan: At times.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Token Non-Human
 * Verbal Tic: His endless permutations of the word "logic", and his unfailing ability to fit them into sentences, border on this.

Doctor (Lieutenant Commander) Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley)


"(After Kirk informs a man that he will be taken from his planet with or without his cooperation) "Should I get the butterfly net?""
 * Actor Shared Background: Both DeForest Kelley and Bones are natives of Georgia and have Irish sounding names.
 * Badass Pacifist: He's a doctor and takes that very seriously. However, that doesn't stop him from doing extremely dangerous things to save lives.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Catch Phrase: Two:
 * "He's dead, Jim."
 * "I'm a doctor, not an X!"
 * Chivalrous Pervert: Is notable for being more open about his skirt-chasing than Kirk... and less successful at it.
 * Cool Old Guy: Kind of; Cool Middle-Aged Guy doesn't sound as good.
 * Deadpan Snarker: This Side of Paradise has a couple gems.


 * Determinator: Where Scotty wouldn't roll over and die on keeping the ship together, this man refuses to just let his patients die if he has any means to save them.
 * Fake American: In the reboot.
 * First-Name Basis: With Kirk.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Sanguine.
 * Good Is Not Nice: He's not hesitant about expressing his dislike for people or his refusal to suffer fools but he is most often the one who suggests doing the right thing.
 * Good Old Ways
 * Grumpy Bear
 * The Heart
 * He's Dead, Jim: Trope Namer.
 * Honor Before Reason: And proud of it.
 * Hospital Hottie
 * I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Trope Namer.
 * In-Series Nickname: "Bones" is actually short for "saw-bones", an archaic term for a surgeon. It was originally intended as the nickname of Dr. Boyce from "The Cage", but was never used in that episode, making it available for McCoy.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Knight in Sour Armor: He's grumpy, sarcastic and has little respect for authority (With the exception of Kirk). But when the chips are down, You can always count on him to do the right thing.
 * The Medic
 * The McCoy: The Trope Namer.
 * More Hero Than Thou: In "The Empath" when aliens offer Kirk the choice of sacrificing McCoy or Spock, McCoy takes out Kirk with drugs. Spock is glad; since this leaves him in command, he can make the sacrifice himself. McCoy proceeds to drug him as well and sacrifice himself.
 * Promotion to Opening Titles
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Spock's blue.
 * Resignations Not Accepted: At the beginning of the first movie, has retired to private practice, and is called back into service against his protests on Kirk's request.
 * Renaissance Man
 * Sarcastic Devotee / Sour Supporter: He will follow Kirk into the pits of Hell and back, but he'll grumble about it first.
 * Southern-Fried Genius: One of the most respected doctors in The Federation -- straight out of Georgia.
 * Southern Gentleman
 * Strawman Emotional: At times.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kirk.
 * The Watson
 * What Could Have Been: An episode exploring his Backstory was planned and shelved at least twice. One of the main points (that he joined Starfleet as an established MD after a nasty divorce) finally saw the light of day in the 2009 movie.

Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan)



 * Badass
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Scotty is universally remembered as complaining that the engines "cannae take much more ah this, Cap'n", for fear that "she's gonna blow", or some variation thereof. He's also known to protest that "ah doon have th' pow'r, Cap'n!" He never used any of those phrases on the show; they're cobbled together out of a dozen different lines from different episodes, and have become ubiquitous in parodies ever since.
 * He also said "Ah cannae change the laws of physics", and not "Ye cannae". That's from Star Trekkin'.
 * Berserk Button: If you insult the Enterprise, you better take his hint (said through gritted teeth) of "Don't you want to rephrase that..."
 * Bonnie Scotland
 * Companion Cube: If Kirk saw the Enterprise as a demanding wife, Scotty saw the ship -- particularly her engines -- as no less than a child ("My bairns! My poor bairns!").
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Whenever he was left in command of the Enterprise. There's "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me," and of course the time that he receives a word message from "Kirk" and the first thing he does is run it through a voice analyzer which proves it wasn't really Kirk. Do not fuck with Scotty.
 * "Aye, sir. Queen to Queen's level 3."
 * A Day in the Limelight: "Wolf In The Fold", "The Trouble With Tribbles", and "By Any Other Name".
 * The Engineer
 * Fake Nationality
 * Father Neptune: Though as he is Recycled in Space perhaps he would be Father Jove or Father Apollo but you get the idea.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Phlegmatic.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Can MacGyver just about anything on his own, but particularly shines teamed with Spock. The two of them could turn the most obscure theory into a way to save the day.
 * Grease Monkey
 * Mr. Fixit
 * Scotty Time (Trope Namer)

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)



 * Action Girl: In "Mirror, Mirror."
 * Bridge Bunny
 * Canon Immigrant: Her first name "Nyota" was used in the non-canon novels for decades before finally being made official. Very early Trek guides suggest that "Penda" was considered a possibility by the fans.
 * The Cast Showoff: Nichelle Nichols got to show off her singing ability a couple times.
 * Catch Phrase: "Hailing frequencies open."
 * The Chick
 * Communications Officer: One of the most famous examples.
 * A Day in the Limelight: "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Trouble With Tribbles".
 * Fake Nationality: Uhura is from the "United States of Africa", but Nichelle Nichols is American (as is Zoe Saldana in the reboot).
 * Meaningful Name: "Uhura" is derived from "Uhuru," which means "freedom" (which carried a strong Reality Subtext in the 1960s), while "Nyota" means "star".
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Ship Tease: She shares a kiss with Kirk in "Plato's Stepchildren," although it was under Mind Control.
 * Also appears to show an interest in Spock in a few episodes. Yes, long before the prequel.
 * Twofer Token Minority

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (George Takei)



 * Absentee Actor: Missing for much of the second season because George Takei was filming The Green Berets.
 * Badass
 * Cultured Badass: Capable of handing much bigger opponents their asses.
 * Took a Level In Badass
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: Don't expect to ever hear Sulu say "Oh, my." That's George Takei's personal Catch Phrase. Sulu himself was the only regular who lacked a memorable Catch Phrase or Verbal Tic, one of the reasons he didn't show up in too many parodies (and when he did, he was usually the Straight Man). More recently, given Takei's predilection for Adam Westing, parodies of Sulu are basically parodies of Takei (including the Camp Gay antics - see below).
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Again, "The Naked Time".
 * Canon Immigrant: His now-canon first name "Hikaru" was given to him in the non-canon novels by Vonda Mc Intyre. Very early Star Trek guides suggest that "Walter" was considered as a possible first name during the show itself, but never officially used.
 * A Day in the Limelight: "The Naked Time" and "Mirror, Mirror".
 * Evil Is Hammy: Every Mirror Universe character was hammy, but Takei was a particularly rich, dripping slice.
 * Fake Nationality: Averted, for the only time in all series. Sulu is Japanese-American from San Francisco, and so is George Takei. Played straight in the 2009 Film.
 * In some of the non-canon novels, Sulu explains that his background is mixed, but primarily Filipino and Japanese.
 * Fan of the Past
 * Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Including fencing ("The Naked Time") and botany ("The Man Trap").
 * Generation Xerox: In Generations, we meet his daughter Demora, who is (where else?) at the helm of the Enterprise-B.
 * Genius Bruiser: Just happens to be an expert in botany, swordsmanship, French history, flying ancient aircraft.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: His Mirror Universe counterpart has a big nasty scar on his face.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Averted in "The Naked Time". Sulu was originally supposed to go on his rampage with a samurai sword, but at Takei's request to do something less stereotypical, it was switched to an epee.
 * Sadly played straight in the reboot movie - it's not exactly a normal katana, but it seems clearly intended to invoke this trope.
 * Shirtless Scene: In "The Naked Time".
 * Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Initially the show's creators couldn't make up their mind what to do with Sulu and he featured prominently as a botanist of all things before becoming the helmsman.
 * Word of Gay: Inverted. After Takei came out of the closet, many people assumed Sulu was also gay. Takei has denied that in interviews, claiming Sulu was/is straight.
 * As an interesting coincidence, Sulu is the only one of the six male regulars who never had an on-screen love interest, so there's no "proof" either way (Mirror Sulu, on the other hand, is obviously attracted to women, as Uhura can attest).
 * Sulu has a daughter named Demora Sulu in Star Trek Generations, which would seem to confirm it, unless...

Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig)



 * Ambiguously Jewish: An idea with some popularity in the Fandom, partially since Koenig (and Anton Yelchin, who played him in the 2009 reboot) are Jewish.
 * Chekov's Gun: Often seen with Chekov, especially on landing-party duty. Like Chekhov's Gun, if it makes an appearance, it will most likely be used by the end of the episode or movie.
 * Cultural Posturing: What didn't Mother Russia invent?
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Chekov's constant references to Mother Russia appear to only make sense in his mind.
 * A Day in the Limelight: "Mirror, Mirror", "The Trouble With Tribbles", and "The Deadly Years".
 * Mr. Fanservice: Really. Brought in specifically to appeal to younger FanGirls, complete with hair straight out of The Monkees.
 * The Intern: Much is made of his relative inexperience and impulsiveness.
 * Lzherusskie
 * Plucky Comic Relief: Particularly as the films progressed.
 * Running Gag: "It vas inwented in Russia."
 * Russian Guy Suffers Most: Oh, yeah.
 * The Scream: Walter Koenig had a good one, which is why it's Chekov who always gets stuffed in the agony booth.
 * Sixth Ranger: Subverted. Chekov didn't appear on the show until Season 2, but apparently served on the Enterprise long before he appeared, because in the second movie, Khan recognizes Chekov, apparently having met him in the Season 1 episode "Space Seed".
 * Walter Koenig's explanation for how they met is that Chekov actually was serving aboard the Enterprise but was on duty during the night shift, and he and Khan met off-screen. The circumstances of their meeting were thus: Chekov was using the bathroom and he was taking an inordinately long time, and Khan approaches that very same bathroom, needing to use it. Finding it occupied, he soon loses his patience and pounds on the door. When Chekov finally emerges, Khan grabs him and fixes him with a Death Glare, and says "I will never forget your face!"
 * This is further compounded by the fact that he expended all the toilet paper.
 * What Could Have Been: Was originally planned to be a British character. Apparently Roddenberry changed it after having a letter from the Soviet Union which praised the show's message but criticized the lack of a prominent Russian character.

Head Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett)



 * A Day in the Limelight: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
 * Hospital Hottie
 * Mad Love: Most of her personality (well, all of it, really) centers around her unreciprocated crush on Spock. Think of her as an in-universe Spock Fan Girl. Unlike many of her real-life counterparts, she doesn't seem to be a Yaoi Fangirl.
 * No Rank Given: In the series, Chapel was always addressed by her position rather than her rank. She is formally promoted to Lieutenant later on in the five-year mission, and by the time of the first movie, has an MD under her belt, and is prepared to assume the role of Chief Medical Officer. We can therefore assume that, especially given her position as Head Nurse, she was a junior officer (probably a mustanged Ensign, given her backstory).
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Majel Barrett was the girlfriend and eventual wife of Gene Roddenberry, which may explain why we saw Nurse Chapel so much.

Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney)



 * Beehive Hairdo
 * Bridge Bunny: The Trope Codifier.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Vanished halfway through the first season due to off-screen issues.
 * The Bus Came Back: She became the Transporter Cheif in the first film.
 * Distressed Damsel
 * Hello, Nurse!
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Implied--there are several references to her ability to keep Kirk from being swamped in paperwork, and one to improvising with a phaser when the food systems won't provide hot coffee.
 * Ms. Fanservice: The original media package described her as having "a strip queen's figure that a uniform can't hide." Not that those uniforms hide much, but whatever.
 * Satellite Character: Has no significant interaction with any character other than Kirk.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Kirk.

Lieutenant Kyle (John Winston)



 * The Cameo: He's a bridge officer on the Reliant in Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan.
 * Mauve Shirt: Because he was the only recurring Red Shirt not played by an extra, he usually had much more dialogue than other redshirts, a consistent name and position on the ship, and was allowed to play an active role in the Plot (see "The Doomsday Machine" or "Mirror, Mirror" for examples).
 * Only One Name
 * Teleporters and Transporters: Contrary to popular belief, he was the Transporter Chief, not Scotty. Like other redshirts, he was occasionally seen on the bridge, though usually he was explicitly pinch-hitting for someone else (as in "Who Mourns For Adonais?" when Spock has taken command and Chekov is in the landing party, and Kyle mans the science station).

Kevin Thomas Riley (Bruce Hyde)



 * Ascended Extra: Actor Bruce Hyde was cast as a crewman with a significant part in "The Conscience of the King" without anyone realizing he had also played uber-Irishman Riley in "The Naked Time". When the producers finally realized this, the script was hastily re-written so that Hyde played the same character in both episodes.
 * Dreadful Musician: "Iiiiii'll taaaaake you hooome again, Kathleeeeeen...."
 * Oireland: Got his "Irish" up when under the influence of the mind virus in "The Naked Time."
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: The reason Riley never returned after "The Conscience of the King", despite being very popular with fans, was that the actor left to become a hippie. Yes, really. Remember, this was 1967.

Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd (Roger C. Carmel)


"Stella: Harcourt! Harcourt Fenton Mudd!... Mudd:: Shut UP, Stella!"
 * Affably Evil
 * The Aggressive Drug Dealer: "Mudd's Women".
 * Carpet of Virility
 * Con Man
 * Full Name Ultimatum:


 * Henpecked Husband
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: By the Stella androids at the end of "I, Mudd".
 * Honest John's Dealership
 * Loveable Rogue
 * Recurrer: He holds the distinction of being the only non-Starfleet character in the entire series to appear in more than one episode.
 * Trickster

The Enterprise

 * Cool Starship