There have been 12 Starfleet Commodores in the history of Star Trek, however, not every character to hold the rank has had the best of intentions. Placed between Captain and Admiral, Starfleet’s Commodore rank is the lowest ranking flag officer, who can be in command of a fleet of ships. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was the most recent officer to attain the rank for his work in overseeing the Athan Prime Fleet Museum’s collection of classic starships.
Sadly, not every Star Trek Commodore is as trustworthy and honorable as Geordi LaForge. Although the Commodore rank doesn’t attract nearly as many corrupt officers as that of Admiral, there have still been some villainous or misguided Star Trek Commodores. The worst crimes of Starfleet Commodores in Star Trek range from almost getting the USS Enterprise destroyed to overseeing a massive conspiracy that claimed the lives of over 92,000 people.
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12 Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita)
Star Trek: Picard Season 1
Star Trek: Picard‘s Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) was incredibly good at her job, so she’s technically better than some of her predecessors. However, Oh’s intentions were so villainous and genocidal that she is surely the worst Starfleet Commodore of all time. As a deep-cover Romulan Tal Shiar agent, Oh orchestrated the devastating First Contact Day attacks on the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, which caused the deaths of over 90,000 people. To continue her plan to outlaw synthetic life, she ordered the death of Dahj Asha (Isa Briones) and manipulated Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) into murdering Dr. Bruce Maddox.
11 Commodore Stocker (Charles Drake)
Star Trek: TOS, season 2, episode 11, “The Deadly Years”
Star Trek: The Original Series‘ Commodore Stocker (Charles Drake) wasn’t a villain, he was a man who was woefully out of his depth. In “The Deadly Years”, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise succumbed to a mysterious aging disease. A panicky and inexperienced Stocker assumed command of the ship and took the Enterprise dangerously close to the Romulan Neutral Zone in his attempt to reach Starbase 10 more quickly. Thankfully, Kirk was cured, retook command of the Enterprise, and avoided triggering another war with the Romulans. Kirk bore the inexperienced Stocker no ill will.
10 Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom)
Star Trek: TOS, season 2, episode 6, “The Doomsday Machine”
Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom) was a man driven to desperate action by grief and guilt. Decker was obsessed with destroying the titular planet killer in Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “The Doomsday Machine”. While Decker wanted to destroy the planet killer to protect the galaxy, he was more driven by avenging the crew that he lost while in command of the USS Constellation. In doing so, Decker risks the lives of Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, abandoning the commanding officer’s duty to protect their crew. After Decker sacrificed himself, Kirk preserved the Commodore’s reputation in his report.
9 Commodore Tafune (Russell Yeun)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 1, “The Broken Circle”
In his brief appearance in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 1, “The Broken Circle”, Commodore Tafune (Russell Yeun) questioned the judgment of his superior officer, Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes). During a meeting with Admiral April about the threat posed by the Gorn Hegemony, Tafune suggested that his superior had gone “too easy” on Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) for stealing the USS Enterprise. Given that Spock averted another Federation-Klingon War, Commodore Tafune should have given the Vulcan mutineer far more credit.
8 Commodore Chiv (Eugene Clark)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2, episode 2, “Ad Astra per Aspera”
Commodore Chiv (Eugene Clark) was a member of the judging panel in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ trial of Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn). As a Vulcan, Chiv’s thoughts on Number One’s Illyrian heritage and her failure to disclose her genetic enhancements were hard to discern. Given the final decision to grant Una asylum and allow her to continue serving aboard the USS Enterprise, it’s safe to assume that the inscrutable Commodore Chiv agreed with the benevolent judgment of Number One.
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7 Commodore Barstow (Richard Derr)
Star Trek: TOS, season 1, episode 20, “The Alternative Factor”
Commodore Barstow (Richard Derr) instructed Kirk’s Enterprise to continue its investigation into a galaxy-wide event in Star Trek: The Original Series, season 1, episode 20, “The Alternative Factor”. Unlike Commodores Decker and Oh, Barstow was acting for the greater good, believing that the magnetic disruption posed a serious threat to galactic safety. Barstow knew that the Enterprise crew was the best-equipped team in the Starfleet armada to fix the problem, which was why he ordered Kirk to continue his investigation while simultaneously ordering other starships to vacate the area around the mysterious planet.
6 Commodore Stone (Percy Rodriguez)
Star Trek: TOS, season 1, episode 14, “Court Martial”
In “Court Martial”, Commodore Stone (Percy Rodriguez) investigated accusations of a crime committed by Captain Kirk – the murder of a fellow officer. Stone never persecuted Kirk and instead followed the evidence as it was presented to him. Crucially, Stone decided to go down with the Enterprise during the court-martial when Kirk’s fight with the psychotic Lt. Commander Benjamin Finney (Richard Webb) endangered the ship. While he may have been putting Star Trek: The Original Series‘ hero on trial for a crime he didn’t commit, Commodore Stone did so with integrity and fairness.
5 Commodore Paris (Shohreh Aghdashloo)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Commodore Paris (Shohreh Aghdashloo) was the commanding officer of the revolutionary starbase, the USS Yorktown in Star Trek Beyond. Paris provided Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) with valuable, if subtle, advice on whether he should accept a promotion to Vice-Admiral. After he saved the Yorktown from Krall (Idris Elba), Admiral Paris told Kirk that the promotion was his, but also reminded him that Admirals don’t fly. Paris’ subtle nudge helped the Kelvin Timeline Kirk avoid one of the biggest mistakes of his Prime Timeline counterpart.
4 Commodore Bob Wesley (Barry Russo)
Star Trek: TOS, season 2, episode 24, “The Ultimate Computer”
Commodore Bob Wesley (Barry Russo) lost his crew when the M-5 computer created by Dr. Richard Daystrom (William Marshall) went rogue and turned the USS Enterprise into a weapon of mass destruction. Wesley’s entire crew was killed when the M-5 turned on his ship, the USS Lexington. While Wesley received permission from Starfleet Command to destroy the Enterprise and Dr. Richard Daystrom’s malfunctioning computer, he held his fire because he believed that Kirk would succeed in deactivating the M-5. Captain Kirk did eventually talk the M-5 into deactivating itself, meaning that Commodore Wesley never had to pull the trigger.
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3 Commodore José I. Mendez (Malachi Throne)
Star Trek: The Original Series, Episodes 15 & 16, “The Menagerie”
Commodore José I. Mendez (Malachi Throne) oversaw Starbase 11, and the overall care of Fleet Captain Christopher Pike (Sean Kenney) following his tragic accident. In the classic Star Trek: The Original Series two-parter, “The Menagerie”, Mendez and Kirk chased down Spock after he’d stolen the Enterprise and headed for Talos IV. While the Mendez that joined Kirk and conducted Spock’s court-martial was illusory, the real Mendez still briefly lifted General Order 4 to allow Pike to live out his retirement in an illusory paradise. Mendez was dedicated to Pike’s welfare right up to the end.
2 Commodore Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong)
Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 1 to 4
Admiral Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) was an integral part of Star Trek: Enterprise until his tragic death in the season 4 episode, “The Forge”. However, before Enterprise began, Commodore Forrest was responsible for the warp five tests that would ultimately lead to the birth of the historic NX-01. The earliest version of the starship Enterprise owed a huge debt to the work that Forrest did to mediate disputes with the Vulcans, and his early work alongside Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) effectively set in motion the founding of Starfleet and the Federation. It’s little wonder that Forrest was promoted to Admiral after completing the warp five program.
1 Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton)
Star Trek: Picard Season 3
Geordi La Forge is Starfleet’s best Commodore because, without him, the universe may have finally fallen to the Borg Collective. When he took over the Athan Prime Fleet Museum, Geordi began restoring the USS Enterprise-D, intending to install it alongside the other legendary starships. However, when Starfleet was compromised by Borg DNA and the problematic Fleet Formation Mode, the Enterprise-D was exactly the ship that could defeat the plot of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). Geordi even commanded the Enterprise on the final assault on the Borg Queen’s Cube, proving that he’s Star Trek‘s most multi-faceted Commodore and an incredible asset to Starfleet.
