Are the Kazon the worst Star Trek villains ever? They seem like bad knock offs the Klingons, only less threaten, less interesting and way less intelligent. No wonder they were never used after season 2.
They were meant to be a representation of LA street gangs. I can't say they're my favorite villains but I wouldn't call them the worst. Personally, I've grown less fond of the borg - they started out pretty cool but started going downhill with "First Contact".
The problem is LA gangs would not be much a threat to a bunch of armed professionals and even if Star Fleet isn't a military organization, the Maquis were. The Kazon simply do not provide any good opposition to Voyager and they do not make up for it by being interesting. Though the Borg suffered greatly from Villain decay, (they are type of the villains who should only be used once in a blue moon, not all the time like in Voyager) that doesn't changed the fact that borg were featured in some of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever, something that cannot be said of Kazon.
If the only way to keep a villain menacing is to only use them once ever few seasons, they're a lamely thought out villain. The Borg are totally dead-end and overpowered as a foe, VOY simple proved it. The Kazon might've worked out better if they didn't LOOK like Klingons and were more like the Raiders from "Road Warrior": An organized intelligent bunch who were using limited resources and tech, who desperately want VOY's own tech to propel them to dominance over their rivals and create (harsh military) order over emptiness. That way we get the inverse of the usual hero/villain dynamic: Instead of a powerful enemy vs a weaker hero who must outwit them somehow, we get a strong hero vs a weaker foe that must use cunning and trickery to hope to win.
Except not every villain needs to appear all the time, some villains do work better as epic threats that appear once and while. The Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians are villains that can appear all the time, have the Borg appear all the time and it ruins their mystique. Look at this way, in comics Superman has an arch nemesis and an epic threat, Lex Luthor is his arch nemesis who appears all the time, Darkseid is his epic threat villain who should appear only once and a while. Same deal with the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom is the arch nemesis villain who appears all the time, while Galactus has to be the epic threat who only appears once and a while. No one would say those are bad villains. There is nothing wrong with an epic threat villain. Except the raiders were better armed then Mel Gibson's side in the Road Warriors. Except the average Kazon came off as being about as smart as a dung beetle in Voyager. Speculation of the how the Kazon could have turned out is fun, but it doesn't change how they were presented in the show.
Frankly, that's less because of "Conservation of Epic" and more that the Borg are just a lame enemy. Enemies that are only good for once-in-a-while "Epics" are largely just lousy enemies in the first place that they're so hard to use. If the Borg had been thought out correctly, they could easily use them for both normal AND Epic stories. It helps that those guys are both interesting individuals who can be used in a variety of different stories. They can also be used via having their loyal minions who are weaker go off to battle the heroes in some way. The Borg are just a boring Hive Mind that's always the same, no emotions or interesting behavior or depth. So in those twos' cases it's not that they are too epic to use a lot, it's also because they are actual interesting characters that can be used in a variety of ways. Unlike the Borg. There is if they're as one-note as the Borg were. Even the 2-D Dominion was made up of individuals who could be used in a variety of interesting ways. Equally armed, and that's pushing it. Their advantage was their brutality and their numbers. Kazon who were less advanced and had to attack in large groups (but could still do damage) could still work out. Or laying traps, or anything beyond "shoot at them!".
One word description of The Kazon: "Duh." Seska was truly the brains behind them: once she was killed, they disappeared. I don't find misogynistic villains very appealing. Women were to produce offspring and smack around. Yuck. To call them cavemen is an insult to cavemen.
I always felt the Kazon could not be a huge or credible threat simply because of the way they were not organized... they did not have one cohesive society but some sort of clan system IIRC and those clans often fought among themselves instead of banding together against common enemies. They were also not very advanced as far as technology and came off like a dumber and less organized version of the Kligons ... they're even similar in appearance to Klingons. I actually get the LA street gangs metaphor, but I don't know if that type of villian translates well to ST. I'm trying to think if there were worse villians ... the Pakleds maybe? Then again, they were only used once ... do the Kazon get extra "crappy villian" points for being used repeatedly?
I think the Kazon were great villains. Some of the best Voyager episodes were the ones where Culluh and Seska were involved in some sinister plot to take over Voyager. In fact, I prefer the Kazon to the "velour Borg" we had to stand in Voyager and in the later half of TNG. As for the Kazon, I do find some realizm in the different sects and their in-fighting. Reminds me of the situation in many unstable countries today. The only thing which were a bit unrealistic were Voyager being chased by the same Kazon group of enemies for over a year. They should have stayed for a while on "the 37's planet" and most of the Kazon adventures should have took place during that time.
Loved, 'em, but mostly because Cullah reminds me of Harvey Korman. Every time I see them, I expect it to turn into a Mel Brooks movie.
They're just quasi-Klingons. lol.. Heck, they even LOOK like Klingons. The Kazon were the exception to the rule though, since the Hirogen, Voth (if only for one episode) and the Vidiians were capably written enemies.
For me, the Kazon were introduced in the same way that the maquis element was introduced - basically, it was an opportunity for the show to have some kind of recurring tenson in the event that being in an unknown part of the galaxy might make it difficult for the writers to create long term threat and intrigue alas, the writers obviously realised that both the maquis and the kazon were wholey inadequate for the task so they dropped both without making any real effort to resolve these elements it certanly didn't help that the kazon were rather lame though it was probably necessary to have a recurring enemy for the early seasons - could have been a lot better though (a phrase that sums up voyager in so many ways)
I thought the Vidiians were scarier than The Borg and Kazon put together! You met them, you DIED, that was it. They took out all your organs and harvested them. End of story. What's scarier than that? At least a very few managed to escape the Collective. With the Vidiians, you bought the farm.
I liked Voyager -- but the Kazons were not effective villians in my opinion. Their level of technology, competing factions, and horrible hair made them more laughable than engaging. Of course, I also wish that Voyager had been more like NuBSG -- a ship struggling to survive in a strange quadrant while facing ongoing attacks from real villians (e.g. the Viddians), dealing with the need to search for resources and fuel, etc...a real struggle for survival. Instead, we got TNGlite with the Hotel Voyager cruising the Delta Quadrant...complete with an endless supply of torpedoes and shuttlecraft.
I thought the Kazon/Trabe story had potential, but it never went anywhere. Y'know, even though Chakotay wiped it's computer, the Kazon did get a Federation shuttle equipped with a transporter. They should have figured out all it's technology by now.
I'd say the title of worst Star Trek villains should go to the Ferengi (who weren't that bad as a non-villainous race btw).
The Bajorans were the worst villains, IMHO. But yes, the Kazon weren't that cool. They didn't seem very inspired. They could have spent more time making all the sects different. But ultimately they were the "poor man's Klingons."
Does anyone remember the Ferengi who were so abysmal as bad guys they had to be changed to comic relief? They are the worst. The Kazon were good as bullies and if they had been explored more with Seska then they would have been, perhaps, a bit better.