Anyone ever notice how TV villains always seem more complex than movie villains? I dunno. It seems that way to me sometimes. To me, movie villains always come across as those one-dimensional and their motivation rarely extends beyond one of three things: revenge, power/money (could be considered the same thing), or just for shits 'n giggles. Maybe it's because a main villain in a TV series has a longer amount of time to develop their character. A major TV villain could have anywhere from one episode (half an hour or an hour in length each) to several seasons to develop their motives and personality, whereas the movie villain gets maybe an hour or less of screen time to show the audience all the facets of their personality while also moving the plot along at a fast clip.
I'm going to fall back on an old standby. Star Trek. Beginning with the movies.
I'm skipping TMP. It barely even counts.
2: Khan is a pre-established character, so no time is wasted on his background and therefore you can get right into the deeper parts of his character. Doesn't really count.
3: Kruge was the stereotypical Klingon commander that decided to take advantage of the Federation's 'weapon' and got himself shoved into a pit of lava for his troubles. No big mystery there.
4: The main villain was a space probe that pwned Earth on accident. Really can't blame it.
5: What does God want with a starship? I don't know. God who really isn't such a nice god. Rather typical.
6:Chang was more complex than Khan in many ways I think, because he was very similar to Kirk. But that's really it. He's a mirror for Kirk, and it doesn't go too much farther than that. He enjoys quoting Shakespeare.
7: I think Soran was about on the same level as Chang in complexity given that he too is not a pre-established character like Khan. Soran is that guy that's found paradise and will do anything to get back there. At first appears as shallow, but once Picard begins to fall for the allures of the Nexus, you find out Soran isn't as shallow as it looks. Evil still, because he's willing to kill 300,000,000 people for happiness, but not so shallow anymore.
8: Borg Queen. She a Borg. She assimilates stuff. And gets it on with Data. Frankly, who wouldn't? But she's like the essence of Borg. Very predictable.
9: Ru'afo: Probably the flattest villain of them all. He wants revenge because he got pwnzed my his Mummy and Daddy and he's having rejection issues. So he decides to destroy their planet with the help of the Federation. GG Berman.
10: Shinzon. Oh god, I don't wanna even talk about him. It's so bad I think I'mma go tear my eyes out. Picard's clone...ARE YOU KIDDING? Raised by Reman-retard slaves in a CAVE. Look what he built with a box of scraps! And his ship got owned by one shot from a HAND PHASER. The lameness is so thick it's palpable.
Moving on to the TV villains. I'm afraid I'm going to have to skip over Enterprise because I don't know the series' villains very well other than Arik Soong (Pro-villain? Anti-hero? Both?). I don't know Voyager very well either, or at least I have yet to come across a good villain, recurring or otherwise. Q doesn't count.
TOS: In reality, the only recurring villain that TOS had was Khan, but his recurrence was in a movie. However, there are many villains that showed a surprising amount of depth in a single episode. Apollo from, "Who Mourns For Adonais?" for example. Or the Romulan captain from "Balance of Terror".
TNG: Moriarty's character, though only a hologram inside the holodeck, managed to evolve from physical representation of the Moriarty made by the ship from Doyle's specifications into, what could arguably be called a sentient being. He learned, through archaic means, to control parts of the Enterprise, and eventually engaged in a debate with Picard about his rights as a sentient being, very reminiscent of Data's struggles to be recognized as a living machine. Moriarty appeared in only two episodes, but could arguably be considered more complex than half of ST's movie villains.
DS9: Damar, in my opinion, is one of the greatest villain turns anti-hero of the entire Star Trek series. He was in a multi-episode arc so I won't get into messy details, but in a nutshell, Damar fought for something he thought he believed in. When he realized he really didn't know what to believe in, he thought about, threw a coup, and became the prime candidate to lead Cardassia from under Dominion rule. And then he died. So it goes. Interestingly enough though, Damar's struggle parallels Worf's as he battles the knowledge that the Klingon Chancellor is corrupt and ill-suited to lead with his Klingon duty to support his superiors in times of war.
All in all, or at least in this case, TV has superior villains to movies. But it is late...or early. I will continue this rant some other time. But in the meanwhile, think about it.
