Star Trek's 5 Best First Officers (Not Counting Spock), Ranked

The first officer is one of "Star Trek's" most important roles, not just within the universe's many crews, but also for us as entertainment. The first was dear old Spock, both science officer and first officer under Captain Kirk. A shame that he won't be making this list, as he really is quite excellent, despite the damage to his on-screen reputation in recent character appearances on "Strange New Worlds." Sometimes it sounds like the writers are trying to turn him into Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory."

However Spock is being treated, his contemporaries throughout "Star Trek's" massive timeline are major players in their own right. William T. Riker of "The Next Generation," or "Voyager's" Chakotay. The characters that make up the first officer role are often as important as the captain, able to go on adventures and bring certain experiences to the table that can change the tide of how the crew is handling a situation. Brilliant, smart characters that have surpassed the original in some regards, so let's dig into some of the best first officers of "Star Trek," but leave your Spocks at home.

Like other characters that have been forgotten, T'Pol was "Enterprise's" Vulcan first officer, joining Captain Archer and his crew on one of the first major expeditions into deep space. Much like Chakotay and Kira who came before, T'Pol is a little antagonistic at the beginning, with the humans not entirely trusting her. Considering the Vulcans had kept interstellar travel secrets locked away from them, delaying this kind of exploration, you can kind of get it.

T'Pol eventually begins to open up, and even stays aboard the Enterprise after its first successful mission, even ignoring Vulcan's call back home. Much like Spock, she was assigned a different role, science officer, but due to rank, she is actually also first officer too. Her inability to not be Vulcan is what makes her so interesting, with the series being a prequel to the entire franchise, showing how inexperienced these alien beings are with Vulcans at this point.

During the first series, T'Pol wasn't especially well written, and there's been criticism that she wasn't taken as seriously, almost eye candy for the viewer. Even the actress, Jolene Blalock, was known to push back on some scripts, aiming to get a more fleshed-out Vulcan character on screen.

Something from the new era of "Star Trek" making this list is also a shock here, but "Lower Decks" clears the bar for a genuinely good comedy based in the "Star Trek" universe. Jack Ransom is the show's boisterous, overtly macho character, with an underlying deep understanding of what the Federation is for. Despite being a complete goon, Ransom is regularly the highlight of whatever episode he appears in. He does walk a fine line, as too much Ransom can be bad for you.

Ransom just highlights how well "Lower Decks'" writers understood and loved "Star Trek." Every major ridiculous trope or fan in-joke about one of the other first officers makes some kind of appearance here, and it's always played to great effect. As with most other cartoons of its kind, there's a deeper layer that the show inevitably begins to roll out as "Lower Decks" draws to a close, with Ransom's time on screen tied up quite nicely, if a little too sickly sweet. In fact, he has one of the last lines in the show, as he makes a workout joke.

Ah, Chakotay, the Maquis commander turned makeshift Federation commander after his crew is forced to join forces with the now-stranded Voyager crew. His time on "Voyager" is slightly hamstrung by the initial idea of two very different groups having to learn to work together, and the struggles of being trapped in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay eventually loses some of that Maquis rashness and, by the end, falls in line with most other first officers. That's not to say he's boring, just that the show did him a little dirty by throwing out the basis of the series almost immediately.

His background is best on show during the first season, where on occasion he and the crew, including Captain Janeway, butt heads as the natural order begins to solidify. Ordering engineers to do stuff without Janeway's permission, or dealing with potential mutiny the "Maquis way" (It's a punch to the face). While Chakotay never has his potential realized as other "Voyager" characters did, he does have his moments, such as traveling through time in "Shattered," a fun, quick whiz through the show's history, or confronting the Voth Minister in "Distant Origin," when tradition begins to oppose the people's progress.

A non-Federation first officer, Kira Nerys is a Bajoran ex-freedom fighter who fought against the Cardassian occupation, only to wind up with the Federation being "invited right in." Assigned to the Federation's rechristened Deep Space Nine after Commander Sisko asked for a Bajoran first officer, Major Kira is brash and unshackled. Unlike other first officers, Kira isn't part of the Federation and, at first, is rough with the crew aboard the space station.

As with every character within this trope, she softens up as the show goes on. That said, Nerys always carries that indomitable spirit of the freedom fighter around with her. She's been called one of the most complicated characters in "Star Trek," with her background as a freedom fighter essentially being syndication TV phrasing for "terrorist." Kira has many excellent moments throughout "Deep Space Nine," but in Season 1, she confronts an apparent Cardassian war criminal disguised as a file clerk. As the episode progresses, Kira lays everything out in the open, expressing regret, but never once flinching from her position. Her breaking points, where she rebounds back into the room to try to have the final word with the disguised villain, show that her and her cohorts' actions impacted a lot more than just military personnel.

The episode "Duet" ends with a heartfelt bang, hinting at what was to come for the character. She is like a microcosm of "Deep Space Nine" in and of itself, a show that, on the surface, is rugged and thorny, but underneath, might be one of the most emotionally charged of the three "The Next Generation" era shows.

We all knew he'd be Number One, and as Picard's Number One, Riker is maybe the ultimate first officer in "Star Trek." The more inquisitive and playful of the more important staff aboard the Enterprise, Riker is a get-his-hands-dirty kind of guy. Unlike Picard, Riker is more than happy to dive into the more unsightly bits of culture, but is also Picard's connection to the rest of the crew. For most of "The Next Generation," it becomes clear that Picard keeps his crew at arm's length out of a sense of professionalism, while Riker is the beating heart of the crew.

Some of the best moments come from his time exploring different cultures. Being assigned to be the first officer on a Klingon ship in an exchange program in "A Matter of Honor," he shows his capabilities to establish himself as Number One amongst the more ferocious Klingon crew. Even when the benevolent Q torments the crew, he simply shuts him down after conjuring women, with a simple "I don't need your fantasy women." Another killer shutdown is when, while being tortured in a simulation of the Enterprise, he tells the fake Picard to "Shut up."

Riker's various misadventures and funny little moments are what modern sci-fi shows are missing. When everything is crammed into eight episodes or takes several years to see a season, you never get time to explore characters like Riker, who in a modern world would likely be the suave but unquestioning subordinate. Instead, remember when Riker played the trumpet? These moments cement his ranking.