For characters who debuted in Star Trek: The Original Series, see Characters.Star Trek The Original Series
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Enterprise Crew
Lieutenant Valeris
Lieutenant Valeris
Played by: Kim Cattrall
Dubbed in French by: Laurence Crouzet
"Do you not recognize that a turning point has been reached in the affairs of the Federation?"
A Vulcan helm officer.- Famous for Being First: She was the first Vulcan to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy.
- Knight Templar: She thinks she's saving the Federation by sabotaging peace talks.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from Eris, the Ancient Greek goddess of strife.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: Being Spock's protégé and valedictorian of her class would certainly be admirable, if not for her turning traitor and joining a conspiracy to instigate a full-scale war between the Federation and the Klingons.
- Remember the New Guy?: Because Gene Roddenbery wouldn't have Saavik as evil.
- Sucksessor: A variation, since aside from the whole bit about being a traitor and a murderer she's actually an extremely competent officer.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Lt. Saavik from films II-IV, plus Commander Xon from the unmade Star Trek: Phase II TV series, in that they're both Vulcans who are set up to succeed Spock.
- Tempting Fate: She suggests serving Romulan Ale during the meal with the Klingons, which given the underlying tensions between the two peoples and the extreme strength of Romulan Ale, goes over about as well as you'd expect. Of course, this is part of a Xanatos Gambit to make it later look like Kirk attacked Gorkon's ship in a moment of drunken rage.
Yeomen Burke and Samno
Yeomen Burke and Samno
Played by: BJ Davis and Alan Marcus
Two lower deck engineering technicians.
- Fantastic Racism: Freely expressed when the main cast are out of earshot.
- Gas Mask Mooks: They wear engineering suits complete with face-concealing masked helmets when they board Kronos One for the assassination.
- Those Two Guys: Who assassinate Chancellor Gorkon.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Found dead after the assassination.
Crewman Dax
Crewman Dax
Played by: Michael Snyder
A redshirt on the Enterprise.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Nice feet, buddy!
- Fall Guy: One of the missing mag-boots was hidden in his locker to make him look like the killer. Too bad it won't fit on those feet of his.
- One-Steve Limit: No relation to any of the hosts of Dax over from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Klingons
General Chang
General Chang
Played by: Christopher Plummer
Dubbed in French by: Gabriel Cattand
"Now be honest, Captain, warrior to warrior. You do prefer it this way, don't you, as it was meant to be? No peace in our time."
A veteran Klingon officer serving as Chancellor Gorkon's Chief of Staff. He is opposed to peace with the Federation.
- Affably Evil: He is a Klingon officer vehemently against Starfleet and the architect of a conspiracy, but he respects Kirk for his valor.
- Bald of Evil: He was supposed to have long hair, but Christopher Plummer had liked his bald appearance, so Chang became bald.
- Big Bad: He fills the role of the film's main bad guy, but he's really part of a Big Bad Ensemble including Admiral Cartwright, Colonel West and the Romulan Ambassador.
- Chewing the Scenery: It's not enough that he's already a Large Ham. When reciting William Shakespeare he proceeds to shout it at the top of his lungs and spin in his captain's chair.
- Cultured Warrior: He is quite knowledgeable of Earth culture with a particularly fondness for Shakespeare, even quoting the bard's plays to his enemies during battle.
- Evil Counterpart: A bald starship commander who quotes Shakespeare? Never heard that one before.
- Eyepatch of Power: Bolted onto his skull, no less.
- Face Death with Dignity: Upon seeing the modified torpedo approaching his ship, he quietly says "To be, or not to be..."
- Incoming Ham: He has an impossible to detect ship. Rather than simply unload on the Enterprise he decides to open a channel and announce himself.
- In the Original Klingon: While it is Gorkon that names the trope, and references connecting the Klingons to Shakespeare have existed as far back as Wrath of Khan, Chang is certainly the Trope Codifier. Most of his Large Ham moments are direct quotes from some of the more brutal Shakespeare works, including Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Henry V.
- Invisibility Flicker: His Bird-Of-Prey briefly appears while firing its torpedoes.
- I Shall Taunt You:Chang: I can see you, Kirk... Can you see me?
- Large Ham: He quotes Shakespeare as a battle taunt.Chang: I am constant as the northern star!
McCoy: I'd give real money if he'd shut up. - A Nazi by Any Other Name: While dining with the Enterprise crew, he says that the Klingons need "breathing room" to survive, with Kirk immediately likening it to Adolf Hitler's calls for lebensraum prior to World War II. Chang gets the reference and is offended and only Gorkon's kindly intervention prevents an escalation.
- Obi-Wan Moment: When he realizes that Enterprise's torpedo is homing in on his ship, he simply waits for it while quoting Shakespeare.
- Treacherous Advisor: To Chancellor Gorkon.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Star Trek: Klingon Academy video game gives a better, more detailed look at his motives; basically, he's an honorable conservative who genuinely fears Gorkon's moderate policies will lead their race to their doom.
- Worthy Opponent: Despite all his efforts to have Kirk framed and killed, he makes it clear that he holds him in the highest regards as a skilled and accomplished warrior. And when he gets the chance to fight Kirk in an actual battle, he finds this much better than if everything had gone according to the original plan.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Kirk has the Enterprise surrender instead of defending himself when Kronos One threatens to fire at them, and he and McCoy beam aboard Kronos One to offer aid? Chang has them arrested and stand trial for the chancellor's death and prosecutes them himself. The sentence of death is commuted because of Colonel Worf's earnest defense in what was otherwise a show trial? He arranges for them to be killed while trying to escape the penal colony of Rura Penthe. Kirk still manages to escape prison? He flies his prototype Bird-Of-Prey over to the meeting location to intercept the Enterprise. Chang is nothing if not adaptable.
Chancellor Gorkon
Chancellor Gorkon
Played by: David Warner
Dubbed in French by: Jean Pierre Moulin
"If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it."
Abraham Lincoln meets Mikhail Gorbachev in space. The intellectual and soft-spoken chancellor of the Klingon High Council, who seeks peace with the Federation.
- Classy Cane: He uses the thigh bone of an animal he'd hunted as his walking stick.
- Due to the Dead: Star Trek: The Next Generation reveals that Starfleet named an Excelsior-class ship in his honor.
- Honor Before Reason: Many of his fellow Klingons were against his decision to present an olive branch to the Federation. It cost him his life.
- The Idealist: According to Azetbur, his countrymen saw him as this. Not that they were wrong.
- In the Original Klingon: The Trope Namer.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Chancellor Target and Chancellor Personable.
- The Pollyanna: He summarizes the disastrous state dinner aboard the Enterprise as saying that the two sides "have a long way to go". He doesn't take Kirk's distrust personally and sympathizes with Kirk over their generation's difficulty with the prospect of peace. And in his dying breath, he begs the same distrustful Kirk to save the peace process. His last plea succeeded, as Kirk was shaken out of his old hatred and was the final instrument to achieve peace between the Federation and Klingon Empire.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While his hand was largely forced by the explosion of Praxis, Klingon Academy shows that he had wanted peace with the Federation before he originally became Chancellor. He also doesn't take Kirk's lack of trust personally.Gorkon: You don't trust me, do you? I don't blame you. If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's killed off in the first act, but his actions get the film's main plot moving.
Chancellor Azetbur
Chancellor Azetbur
Played by: Rosanna DeSoto
"We are a proud race, and we are here because we intend to go on being proud."
Gorkon's daughter, who succeeds him as the Klingons' chancellor.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While her delivery is much harsher than neccesary (part of the discussion in general breaking down), her criticisms of the Federation during dinner are spot-on. Other than the president and a small minority of Starfleet officers the leadership of this supposedly multi-ethnic Federation (as shown in this movie) might as well be a human empire.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Refuses to invade the Federation or cancel the peace talks in response to her father's assassination and in spite of her earlier tensions with the Federation before the aforementioned tragedy, considering it sufficient to put the alleged assassins on trial. And when Captain Kirk, the man she believes to be the mastermind behind her father's assassination thwarts a second hit that would have destroyed the prospect for detente and then makes a heartfelt plea for peace, she states that Kirk "restored her father's faith".
- What the Hell, Hero?: However, everything is on her terms, and refuses to bend her knee at the Federation.Azetbur: "Inalienable human rights." Why the very name is racist.
Brigadier Kerla
Brigadier Kerla
Played by: Paul Rossilli
A high-ranking Klingon officer.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the film he's a fairly anonymous flunky to Gorkon and then Azetbur, to whom he remains loyal. In the official novelization of the film and other spin-off media he's actually in on the conspiracy, and after the destruction of Chang's ship is left as its highest-ranking member, which leads to a very nasty case of Death by Adaptation.
- Blood Knight: Tries to persuade Azetbur to declare war against the Federation.
- Undying Loyalty: He is dedicated to Gorkon. He is also just as loyal to Azetbur and as much as he really wants a war to avenge his beloved Chancellor, he respects her authority enough to back down and keep his Blood Knight tendencies in check.
Colonel Worf
Colonel Worf
Played by: Michael Dorn
Dubbed in French by: Benoit Allemane
"I wish to note, for the record, that the evidence against my client is entirely circumstantial. I beg the court to consider this when pronouncing its sentence."
A Klingon attorney who defends Kirk and McCoy at their trial.
- Identical Grandson: Confirmed by
Word of God to be the grandfather of his namesake in Star Trek: The Next Generation. This, incidentally, makes Dorn one of only two people — the other being Majel Barrett — to appear on-screen in TOS, TNG and DS9-related works. They do give this Worf a different rubber forehead, though. - Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Averted. Colonel Worf is portrayed as a dedicated legal advocate, but does not seem in his limited time on screen to be treated any differently because of it. This might seem unusual compared to how Klingons generally come across, until in one of the later seasons of DS9, where another Klingon lawyer is seen and gives the perspective that a legal proceeding is just combat of another form.
- Only Sane Man: During the trial, he is one of the true reasonable Klingons and does his best to defend his clients.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He retains the rank of Colonel and is a level-headed attorney whose ego is not attached to the trial unlike his fellow comrades.
- Spanner in the Works: During Kirk and McCoy's trial, he manages to poke many conspicuous holes in a lot of Chang's accusatory evidence, makes an inquiry that piques Spock's interest as he remotely watches the trial, and persuades the judge to sentence them to exile on Rura Penthe rather than giving them the death penalty. It's subtle, but you can see that Chang is not pleased by this development, and it allows Kirk to escape and foil the conspiracy.
Commandant Koth
Commandant Koth
Played by: W. Morgan Sheppard
Dubbed in French by: Jean Violette
"Work well, and you will be treated well. Work badly, and you will die!"
The officer in charge of the Rura Penthe penal colony.
- All There in the Manual: His name comes from the CCG.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Literally; his favored method of executing rebellious or lazy prisoners is to have them stripped naked and thrown out onto the surface of Rura Penthe, where they freeze to death in less time than it takes for him to give his big speech to the new arrivals. It's implied that he makes a point of making a demonstration of this every time new inmates arrive.
- Death by Adaptation:
- The film's novelization shows that Chang intends to have him executed for allowing Kirk and McCoy to escape, though leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not Chang actually gets around to putting this in motion before he himself is killed. In the movie he just angrily hangs up on him.
- His counterpart in the Star Trek (2009) timeline ends up predeceasing his prime reality counterpart by at least three decades, dying during Nero's escape from Rura Penthe.
- His Name Is...: Done word-for-word, just as Kirk and McCoy are beamed away.
- Just Between You and Me: Decides that since he's about to kill Kirk and McCoy, he can afford to give away the identity of the mastermind behind the conspiracy. In a subversion, he actually gets prevented from doing this by the Enterprise crew, who beam their crew-mates aboard before he can spill the beans.
- Leave No Witnesses: He gives this as his reason for killing Martia despite their deal, and is about to do the same to Kirk and McCoy before they get rescued.
Other Characters
President Ra-ghoratreii
President Ra-ghoratreii
Played by: Kurtwood Smith
Dubbed in French by: Philippe Peythieu
The President of The Federation.
- All There in the Manual: As with his predecessor, his name comes from source materials and not the film's dialogue. These sources also identify his species as Efrosian, who were once subjects of the Klingon Empire. In fact, it's considered significant that an Efrosian is willing to come to the Klingons' aid. In addition, he's supposed to be blind; the weird glasses he sometimes wears are actually an earlier version of Geordi LaForge's VISOR.
- Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Word of God says that the Federation President is blind, and that's why he wears pince-nez-style sunglasses. Word of God says that these glasses let him see akin to Geordi's VISOR on TNG later.
- The Fettered: He recognizes that Kirk and McCoy are being railroaded, but he won't break the law or start a war to save them. Partly because it's the only way to save the peace process."This president is not above the law."
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He flatly refuses to go to war over Kirk and McCoy and proclaims that he is not above the law.
- Unexpected Successor: Expanded Universe books have revealed that he won a special election to succeed Hiram Roth after Roth died in office from overwork after the Probe Crisis.
Martia
Martia
Played by: Iman (female form); Tom Morga (brute form); Katie Jane Johnston (young girl form); William Shatner (Kirk form)
A shape-shifting Chameloid being held prisoner at Rura Penthe.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: She initially greets Kirk and McCoy as an alien woman in order to gain their trust, seducing Kirk into the bargain. It's unclear what her Shapeshifter Default Form is, or whether she even has one.
- Compact Infiltrator: Transforms into a child in order to shrink out of her restraints during the prison break.
- Identity Impersonator: Despite her shapeshifting ability, the only time she actually impersonates a known individual is when she shifts into Kirk's form, shortly before she's killed.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Despite her being offered (and accepting) a full pardon in exchange for luring Kirk and McCoy to their deaths, the commandant vaporizes her anyway.
- Spot the Imposter: Is unwittingly forced into this situation when a Klingon search party catches up with her, Kirk, and McCoy just when she happens to have shifted into Kirk's form. Unfortunately for her (and fortunately for Kirk) the commandant never had any intention of taking her alive, and he vaporizes her simply for speaking up at the wrong time.
- Translator Buddy: She has to play this role to Kirk and McCoy in the Rura Penthe mines, as their universal translators have been confiscated.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can transform into seemingly any type of humanoid, even when they're much bigger (as with the "brute" form) or much smaller (with her form as a young girl) than the female form she initially poses as.
