Everybody's asking the question: "Who's going to serve as the villain or villains in the sequel to last summer's Star Trek?" Now that we're in an alternate Trek timeline, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are free to tell stories that incorporate familiar faces but combine them in new and interesting ways.

Which got us thinking: who's likely to make the short list, and what sort of possible stories/combinations might we see? Will the filmmakers choose to go the route of borrowing once more from canon...or will they elect to craft an entirely new story with entirely new antagonists?

Since new antagonists are impossible to predict, we decided to look to the original canon and have offered a list of possible villains from which Orci and Kurtzman could choose. We've divided the categories up into four groups:

THE HEAVY HITTERS
THE MIDDLEWEIGHT CONTENDERS
THE INDIVIDUAL NARCISSISTS

And finally:

IN A CLASS OF ONE

Basically, the less sarcastic our remarks, the greater the likelihood we see of said individual(s) appearing in a Star Trek sequel film. Simple, huh?

Well, let's see (and remember, we're anxious to hear your reaction to our thoughts, as well as offering any ideas of your own—we're sure there's lots of potentials we've missed)...


THE HEAVY HITTERS
These are perhaps 'Star Trek's' most recognized alien adversaries, three of which have already transitioned to the big screen, and one of which we've already seen in JJ Abrams' Star Trek last summer...

The Romulans
Knee-jerk reaction: been there, done that. While these "space Romans" are among Trek's two most famous protagonist groups (the other being the Klingons), they've never been the most colorful—full of potential that's never been fully realized. Abrams' Trek, and the truly forgettable Star Trek: Nemesis before it didn't really capitalize on the Romulans as effectively as they might have. The Vulcan's pointy-eared cousins have certainly been portrayed as having the intellectual chops, but we've never really been given a sense of the Empire's epic scale or intent. Perhaps Trek writers should extend the Roman inspiration further...

Meanwhile, we can't see the Romulans getting much more than an honorable mention or a support role in the next film...if that.


The Klingons
Here we have possibly the richest tapestry from which to draw. Far and away the most colorful and layered of Trek's villains; they're part Cold War Russians, part honorable Samurai Warriors...and a lot of Visigoth nastiness.

Any forthcoming 'Star Trek' film that utilizes them will, of course, have to find a way to integrate/reconcile the altered mythology from the original Star Trek to The Next Generation, which, of course, saw the Klingons get more money...and thus a more interesting physical look. By Next Generation's second season, the Klingons sported a more fully realized aesthetic first established in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and a far more realized cultural mystique.

One answer might be to further explore the story background detailed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's episode, "Trials and Tribblelations", where Worf explained that the early, "non-turtle head" Klingons are, in fact, Klingons, but that they "do not speak of it." This could even be an interesting subplot of a larger Klingon story, though it seems unlikely that Orci and Kurtzman will get too caught up in the sort of canon esoterica that keeps fans up at night.

Overall, a society dominated by a gothic warrior caste is tasty stuff, however, and while many felt that the Klingon's rich culture — largely fleshed out by Ron Moore during his tenure at 'Star Trek' — was perhaps a bit overplayed (and overwrought), we tend to disagree. It rocked then and it would rock in a movie today, especially if the filmmakers created a truly mesmerizing Klingon lead character. A reinterpretation of Kor, anyone?


The Borg
Duh. Best...Star Trek villains...ever. (Even William Shatner agrees.) Of course, there is that little matter of canon, isn't there? Or is there? The recent Star Trek film wasn't shy about bending those rules, so why should the next film worry about it?

These folks can't be reasoned with, bought off or defeated in any conventional way. A pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms who's only purpose is to assimilate and absorb everything in their path would look fantastic for another outing on the screen, but there's a problem here—and it doesn't have anything to do with canon, either.

It has to do with a group of collective automatons not providing a very colorful antagonist for a one-to-one battle with Kirk and Co. Sure, they'd look great and be cinematically cool, but you have to have a single, central villain for the dramatic structure to work. Hence, why Q first introduced Picard to the Borg...and why a Borg Queen was created for Star Trek: First Contact. Star Wars' storm troopers looked very cool when first we saw them, but without Vader, a leader, to command them, they're narratively inert.


The Dominion
Very unlikely to happen since the writers would have to cross two gulfs: the timeline (Bajor isn't yet discovered by the Federation during the time of Kirk and Spock) AND the discovery of the wormhole to the distant Gamma Quadrant. And without access to the Gamma Quadrant, no-one from the Federation can have a first encounter with the Dominion shapeshifters or the Jem'Hadar—the ruthless shock troops who protect their changeling masters.

That being said, next to the Klingons and the Borg, the Jem'Hadar are terrific baddies, with their Komodo Dragon-like bodies and their addiction to narcotics (used by the shapeshifters to control them). More than a match in hand-to-hand combat for even the Klingons, they're tough, aggressive, fearless and possess advanced technology.

Sadly, they probably also won't appear in any Abrams-produced 'Star Trek' film.

Next up: The Middleweight Contenders...