Top 10 Underutilized Aliens in Trek

I'm wrapping up Star Trek Week with a question humanity has been asking since the dawn of civilization: Which Star Trek aliens deserved better than they got? Hundreds of alien species have been featured on the many iterations of the show, and only a few have been allowed to truly develop. The Klingons are probably being the biggest success story of the lot, though the Vulcans, Cardassians and Bajorans certainly don't have anything to complain about. Some species-of-the-week didn't deserve to ever be seen again - or even that first time (the Bringloidi); others were used sparingly, but in a way that left you satisfied (Tellarites); a few were overused (the Kazon). But which are the ones I would have liked to see more of?

10. ShroomiesThese unnamed aliens from Enterprise's Silent Enemy had kickass ships and were left a complete mystery. Who were they? What happened to them when Starfleet expanded its space? The end of Silent Enemy seemed to promise something. I'm not asking for much, just for stories to keep their promises. (The same could be said of the parasites from Conspiracy, but really, I don't care to see those uglies ever again.)

9. Ithenites
Think back to Journey to Babel where we meet various members of the Federation. The one thing many of them have in common is that they were then oh so rarely seen. While Andorians and Tellarites returned for limited engagements, the diminutive "copper-skinned aliens" never did. A scene planned for Enterprise's Terra Prime would have showed them, but was cut. I'm not saying they're the best thing on toast or anything, but I'm interested in Federation history, and these guys obviously played a role.

8. Gallamites
Star Trek perversely liked to mention alien races they would never show. We eventually got the Breen, but never the Gallamites with their transparent skulls. Its most famous member is Captain Boday, one of Dax's many former lovers. The artist's rendition above (based on a fish species with a transparent skull) neglects the "toothy smile". So when I ask for more Gallamites, all I want is a proper look.

7. Jarada
And the same goes with the Jarada from The Big Goodbye (here played by a Xindi). We hear their voice, we know they're insectoids, but we never see them or hear from them again. The novel Imbalance does a good job of sketching their culture and society, and had TNG had the resources, I would have loved for a tense relationship between the Feds and their neighboring BEMs.

6. Children of Tama
In Darmok, the Tamarians are shown to be at least the technological equivalent of Starfleet AND have one of the coolest cultures in all of Trek. Sure, they're hard to write for and probably not viewer-friendly, but having their ships turn up in the Dominion War would have been really neat. But no. Shaka, when the walls fell.

5. Andorians (modern)
For decades, the Andorians were given short shrift. How could Federation founders never be assigned to Starfleet ships or play any significant role. Thankfully, Enterprise righted that immense wrong. But where are they now? The Andorians' absence in the TNG era is the cause of great sadness. At least they cast one in the DS9 relaunch.

4. Sheliak
The lawyers of the galaxy were probably prevented from ever showing up after The Ensigns of Command by their rather unattractive look. Still, every time there are legal issues, I kept expecting them to show up or at least be mentioned. Law & Order - Sheliak: Untangling Ferengi contracts, drawing up the Dominion treaty and keeping Tom Paris out of jail!

3. Tholians
Like the Sheliak (and let's face it, the Andorians too), Tholians were handicapped by their look. The people responsible for The Tholian Web probably didn't realize their creation would capture the imagination, else they wouldn't have made them polygons living in extreme radiation. After the Breen were unveiled, it fell to the Tholians to become the catch-all "mention aliens" as detail upon detail was heaped on them without our ever seeing them. Finally, Enterprise dared show one's bottom bits, but that's it. And only in the Mirror Universe.

2. Nausicaans
When Enterprise early on decided to use the Nausicaans as a recurring threat, I was stoked. These are the guys who stabbed Picard through the heart and who use each other for dart boards for fun. Unfortunately, their make-up was revamped to give them more articulated mouths. Net result: They now looked ugly and lost everything that made them special (that odd delivery in Tapestry and their bird-like look). As if to acknowledge that failure, the Nausicaans didn't show up beyond a couple episodes. They could have been the next Klingons.

1. Orions
No-brainer. TOS invented them in the very first pilot, but until Enterprise, they wouldn't show the males of the species (ok ok, the animated series did) and hardly any slave girls. To add insult to injury, the TNG era turned them into a Syndicate of all sorts of aliens and humans, BUT NO ORIONS! Of course, I probably didn't have to do much more than show that picture for you to agree they belonged at the top of this list.

Or perhaps you have other favorites?