There have been many different versions of Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) in the Star Trek franchise to date. First introduced in Star Trek: Voyager, Tom was a Starfleet Lieutenant and the helmsman aboard the USS Voyager while the ship was lost in the Delta Quadrant. Although not much has been seen of Tom in Star Trek since Voyager‘s series finale, he was a popular character on the show with an interesting backstory that went through some impressive development over the course of the series.

Tom was a member of Voyager‘s main cast of characters and, as such, involved in most of the show’s biggest storylines. Because of the nature of Voyager‘s premise, this meant that there were a number of episodes featuring Tom that showcased a different version of him than the standard. In addition to this, a behind-the-scenes twist in Tom’s backstory that connected him to a past Star Trek character caused a plot hole in the franchise that was only recently addressed by Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4.

10 Nick Locarno

Star Trek: The Next Generation and Lower Decks

Nick Locarno is technically his own character within the Star Trek franchise, but the character acted as the blueprint for Tom Paris when he was being developed for Voyager. Locarno was first introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 19, “The First Duty”, and made another surprise appearance in the Lower Decks season 4 finale. As a brash young man who was kicked out of Starfleet for lying about the death of a fellow officer, Locarno and Paris share a very similar backstory.

Although Voyager‘s creative team considered bringing Locarno back for the new show, they ultimately decided to create a new character with essentially the same history. However, the fact that Robert Duncan McNeill played both Paris and Locarno caused some confusion in the franchise since it only increased the similarity between the two. Locarno’s return on Lower Decks rectified this by making several tongue-in-cheek jokes about him and Tom having the same face. The Lower Decks season 4 ending also killed Locarno once and for all, putting an end to the confusion of having a Tom Paris lookalike somewhere in the franchise.

9 Tom Paris In Prison

Various Star Trek: Voyager episodes

Tom Paris’s stints in prison are noteworthy because audiences saw him locked up three times during Voyager‘s run. In fact, Tom’s introduction in Voyager‘s pilot episode, “Caretaker” took place when Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) came to recruit him from a Federation penal colony in New Zealand. Tom’s incarcerated status set the tone for his character as an arrogant, indifferent man who only looked out for himself.

Although this personality went through a dramatic change during Voyager‘s run, Tom found himself locked up on two other occasions. The first, in season 3, episode 3, “The Chute” was through no fault of Tom’s own, but left him and Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) trapped on a brutal prison ship. However, in season 5, episode 9, “Thirty Days” Tom was thrown in the brig by Janeway as a result of violating the Prime Directive. “Thirty Days” showed just how much Tom’s personality had shifted, placing him in the role of a rebel championing a cause rather than a man fighting simply because he was angry at the world.

8 Playboy Tom Paris

Star Trek: Voyager seasons 1-3

Unlike many other characters on Voyager, there was quite a significant distinction between Tom’s early personality versus who he became later. In Voyager‘s early seasons, Tom’s arrogant nature mainly manifested itself in his attitude towards women, causing him to be a notorious flirt in the first few seasons of the show. Although Tom was by no means the first ladies-man character in Star Trek, his relentless pursuit of women was mishandled, causing the character to come off as creepy and unpleasant. Luckily, Tom underwent a radical shift during Voyager‘s run and eventually stopped his womanizing ways.

7 Salamander Tom Paris

Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 15, “Threshold”

Perhaps the strangest version of Tom was his transformation into a salamander in Voyager season 2, episode 15, “Threshold.” During the episode, Tom attempted to break the Warp 10 speed barrier, but after succeeding, began devolving into a lizard-like creature who ended up abducting Captain Janeway and mating with her on an alien planet. The episode is notorious for being one of the worst of the whole Star Trek franchise, although it has arguably achieved cult-classic status precisely because of how strange the storyline is. Despite its flaws, “Threshold” is quite a memorable episode for Tom Paris and does feature some interesting backstory exploration and growth for the character.

6 Tom Paris Who Never Joined Voyager’s Crew

Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 5, “Non Sequitur”

Voyager featured several alternate timeline versions of Tom, and the first came in season 2, episode 5, “Non Sequitur.” When Harry Kim found himself thrust into a world where he was never posted to the USS Voyager or stranded in the Delta Quadrant, he began searching for a way to get back to his original reality. The version of Tom that Harry enlisted to help him was very similar to the one that had been featured in the pilot episode but began to display many of the more admirable traits he had begun to show on Voyager while he helped Harry determine how to get back to his original timeline.

5 Tom Paris Who Married Kes

Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 21, “Before and After”

Another alternate timeline version of Tom appeared in the season 3 episode “Before and After,” which saw Kes (Jennifer Lien) traveling back through time thanks to being knocked out of temporal sync. In the future Kes experienced, she was married to Tom, and the two of them even had a daughter together. Although Kes and Tom had flirted with each other in previous seasons, “Before and After” was the first and only time the two of them were depicted in any kind of serious relationship. Ultimately, the future Kes experienced never came to pass because of Jennifer Lien’s departure from Voyager at the beginning of season 4.

4 Captain Proton Tom Paris

Star Trek: Voyager seasons 5-7

One of Tom’s defining character traits was his love of ancient Earth pop culture, and Captain Proton was the clearest manifestation of this throughout Voyager‘s run. Tom created the holodeck program as an homage to classic 1950s and ’60s science fiction TV, an ironic nod to the genre given that the Star Trek franchise itself started out in the 1960s. The Captain Proton program made several appearances during Voyager, most notably in the hilarious season 5, episode 12 “Bridge of Chaotica!” Tom always played the program’s titular character, casting himself as the dashing hero archetype along with Harry as his trust sidekick, Buster Kincaid.

3 Other Holodeck Versions Of Tom Paris

Various Star Trek: Voyager episodes

Like other members of Voyager‘s crew, Tom was often recreated as a character on the holodeck in various episodes. Generally, these recreations of Tom were very true to life, since the programs they were a part of were meant to be accurate recreations of the ship and its crew. However, things strayed into more fanciful territory sometimes, such as the dark version of Tom in the inaccurate Kyrian recreation of Voyager in season 4, episode 23, “Living Witness,” or Tom’s hilarious caricature in the Doctor’s (Robert Picardo) daydream program in season 6, episode 4, “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy.”

2 Old Tom Paris

Star Trek: Voyager season 7, episodes 25&26, “Endgame Parts I&II”

The final alternate timeline version of Tom that Voyager depicted came in the show’s series finale, “Endgame.” During the episode, the future Admiral Janeway traveled back in time to help Voyager get home faster in order to prevent a series of tragedies that had befallen members of her crew. Before the Admiral’s actions in the past erased her future though, Voyager confirmed that Tom was still around in the year 2404, and still married to his wife, Engineer B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). Interestingly enough, Tom had become a full-time holonovelist in the future, although the franchise has since confirmed that the regular version of Tom stuck with Starfleet.

1 Animated Tom Paris

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 3, “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”

The live-action version of Tom Paris has yet to make a return to the Star Trek franchise, but Star Trek: Lower Decks did give audiences a chance to see Tom again in animated form. During Lower Decks season 2, episode 3, “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris,” Tom made a visit to the USS Cerritos as part of a handshake tour to boost morale, where he ended up having several hilarious encounters with Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid). Lower Decks not only provided the most recent version of Tom Paris that the franchise has depicted but also shed some light on what Tom had been doing since Voyager returned to Earth.