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Written by William Satterwhite

July 22, 2016, featured | news.

From the very beginning, creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the world of Star Trek was an optimistic view of an Earth where humans had reached the pinnacle of understanding, a societal maturity where differences are not simply tolerated but embraced. A major part of this, from the very beginning, has been a diversity not only in major players but also supplementary characters. What follows here is a rundown of 10 non-starring black characters from the broad scope of the Star Trek universe who, each in their own way, represent the Star Trek vision.

Note- Only characters who are human or humanoid aliens virtually indistinguishable from humans were considered for this list.

Richard Daystrom

Imagine for a second a television show establishing that one of, if not the, most brilliant scientist in the world was a black man responsible for not just one, but two, of the greatest technological creations known to man. In 2016 with someone like Neil deGrasse Tyson well known as a foremost scientific mind this might not seem like a big deal but this isn’t 2016- this is March 1968; no one has ever seen Planet of the Apes , Lyndon Johnson is running for President, Robert Kennedy isn’t and both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Hutton are still alive (in less than a one full month all of these statements would be flipped).

Dr. Richard Daystrom, played by the legendary William Marshall, is introduced in season two of the original Star Trek series as creator of the computer system that helps run ships like the Enterprise and whose new system is capable of running a ship by itself, sans crew. While the latter creation doesn’t quite work out in the end, showing a black man as one of, if not the, greatest scientific mind in the world in the turbulent 60s was an obvious way to show Roddenberry’s dream for the future realized.

One of the few alien characters on this list, Guinan, portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg on Star Trek: The Next Generation , was an El-Aurian, a race of “listeners” scattered by The Borg. Serving as a bartender on the Enterprise, Guinan developed friendly relationships with many members of its senior staff, particularly Captain Picard. She also had great sense of style when it came to fabulous hats.

Captain Clark Terrell

In command of the starship Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Captain Terrell has the unfortunate luck of running into the vengeful Khan Noonien Singh. Simply described by his First Officer Chekov as a strong man, Terrell, played by the great Paul Winfield takes his own life instead of acting as as a pawn to take another’s.

Lily Sloane

Considered a legend in space exploration within the Star Trek mythos, Doctor Lily Sloane is another example of the Star Trek universe taking great care to show black scientific leaders playing a crucial role in the humanity’s reach for the stars. Played by Alfre Woodard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation film First Contact, Sloane is an aeronautical engineer who works on the development of the first warp drive on Earth.

Commodore Stone

Even before the original Star Trek series gave us a pioneering black scientist in it’s second season with with richard Daystrom, the first season episode “Court Martial” gave us another pioneering black Star Fleet official. In early 1967, the same year the United States Navy would see its first black Captain (Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., also to be the Navy’s first black admiral a few years later), classic actor Percy Rodriquez portrayed Commodore Stone, a top ranking Star Fleet officer who oversees the court martial of Captain Kirk.

Emory Erickson

Played by actor Bill Cobbs, Emory Erickson is another one of the Star Trek universe’s examples of great black scientists. Developer of the molecular transporter, Erickson appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise where he was shown to be something of a surrogate father to Captain Jonathan Archer, both having lost the corresponding figure in their lives.

Kasidy Yates-Sisko

As the name implies, Kasidy Yates-Sisko becomes the wife of Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Introduced by Sisko’s son Jake and portrayed by actress Penny Johnson, the multi-faceted relationship between Yates and Sisko is another example of Star Trek guiding the way in a world of sci-fi where fully developed relationships between a black and a black woman are few and far between.

Calvin Hudson

An old friend and Starfleet Academy classmate of Benjamin Sisko, Calvin Hudson was an experienced officer and leader who could inspire trust in his cohorts. Unfortunately that trust was misguided as Hudson, portrayed by Bernie Casey on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , was a double agent working with the rebellious Maquis.

Captain Silva La Forge

While perhaps slightly more prevalent than black romantic relationships in the world of sci-fi, fully developed black familial relationships in sci-fi are unfortunately also a rare sight. With Geordi La Forge a key featured member of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, we are allowed to see the exploration of his family relationships and the stresses of being in a military/service type family as both his mother and father are members of Starfleet.

The mother Silva stands out as Captain of her own ship, though it is in this capacity that she becomes lost in action. Notably, this role was the fourth time that the late actress Madge Sinclair played the on-screen mother of LeVar Burton.

Another standout from the initial Star Trek run, Don Marshall’s Lt. Boma represented another example of Star Trek being bold in its portrayal of black characters in the 60s by being just that- bold- as he engages in an episode long back and forth with Spock as the latter suffers through a trial of leadership while rescuing Boma and his shipwrecked crew.

Shown to be a highly competent and forceful officer, Boma was actually intended to be a recurring character but scheduling conflicts served to rob this character of an even greater role in the annals of Star Trek lore.

William Satterwhite is the creator of the superhero webcomic Stealth and a freelance designer, internet consultant and illustrator living in Douglasville, Ga. His professional website can be found at www.williamsatterwhite.info .

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield

Recap / Star Trek S3 E15 "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

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Original air date: January 10, 1969

While on route to the planet Arianus on a mission to decontaminate its polluted atmosphere, the Enterprise intercepts a Federation shuttle that had been reported stolen from Starbase 4. After disabling the shuttle, its alien pilot is brought on board: though humanoid, said pilot's skin is half ink black, half chalk white, right down the middle. Spock is extremely intrigued, claiming said coloration goes against all genetic theory and that the pilot might be one of a kind.

The captive pilot wakes up and introduces himself as Lokai (Lou Antonio), from the distant non-Federation planet Cheron. However, when asked as to why he stole the shuttle, he becomes evasive and refuses to explain further. After contacting Starbase 4 and informing them they will return the shuttle as soon as the Arianus mission is complete, the Enterprise is suddenly approached by an invisible alien ship on collision course. However instead of colliding, it disintegrates and its pilot suddenly appears on the bridge. Said pilot is apparently the same species as Lokai, having the exact same skin colors only reversed (so much for "one of a kind"). The alien introduces himself as Bele ( Frank Gorshin ), also from Cheron and Chief Officer of its Commission on Political Traitors. Bele claims Lokai is a fugitive convicted of treason and he has been sent to apprehend him.

The two aliens meet and get into a heated argument, with Lokai claiming Bele's race has enslaved Lokai's and planning on their genocide while Bele claims Lokai's people were "savages" that were "educated" by his own people, and that Lokai has caused his race to engage in violent revolution resulting in the deaths of thousands. Lokai asks Kirk for political asylum while Bele demands that Lokai be handed over to his custody. Kirk refuses to take sides claiming that Lokai is a prisoner of Starfleet (and thus ineligible for asylum) over the shuttle's theft and since Cheron is not a Federation planet Lokai cannot be extradited there. He adds that as soon as the Arianus mission is complete, they will have to make their case at Starbase 4. Bele is displeased at this and uses some mysterious power to take control of the ship, claiming he has been chasing Lokai for " fifty thousand of your terrestrial years " and he won't give up now.

After phasers prove to be useless, Kirk threatens to set off the Self-Destruct Mechanism if he doesn't return command of the ship. Bele thinks Kirk is bluffing to which Kirk responds by ordering the verification of the self destruct sequence by the vocal commands of himself, Spock and Scotty. Only a few seconds away from the end of the countdown does Bele release control. He adds that he will allow the Arianus mission to be completed and requests that he be allowed to bring Lokai to Cheron as soon as it's done. Kirk makes no promises but allows both to walk freely within the ship.

En route to Arianus, Lokai makes his case with the crew, claiming humans have no idea what it's like to be persecuted, and not being impressed when he is informed that persecution did occur in the distant past of human history but mankind has evolved past it. Meanwhile Bele is relayed a message from Starfleet command claiming that Lokai will stand trial on Starbase 4 and that it's likely that he will end up turned over to Bele's custody. Bele doesn't believe it, claiming Lokai will manage to manipulate everyone into releasing him and calling him "an inferior breed". When Spock calls him of the same breed as Bele, Bele points out the difference that Lokai and his "people" are white on the right side while Bele's race is white on the left . Spock's claims that Cheron's people can overcome such differences just like Vulcan once did are interrupted by the Enterprise arriving at Arianus.

The decontamination procedure goes without problems. However, as soon as the course is changed to Starbase 4, Bele hijacks the ship again, this time making sure to burn out the self destruct controls, leaving Kirk and the crew no choice but stand around helplessly while the ship is taken to Cheron. Lokai appears on the bridge outraged at this development and fights Bele, threatening to tear the ship apart though Kirk calms them down. Kirk is given control back once Cheron is in visual range. However, the surface scans pick up a grim sight: completely empty cities filled with unburied bodies, animals and vegetation encroaching on them. Every sapient life form on Cheron is dead, having wiped each other out in a giant race war. The shocked Lokai and Bele promptly turn on each other again, accusing the other's race of being responsible. Kirk pleads with them to stop fighting, claiming that their hatreds are pointless now and that they're welcome to live in the Federation. Kirk's pleas fall on deaf ears and Lokai and Bele take the fight down to the destroyed planet, leaving the crew to ponder on the pointlessness of it all:

Sulu : But the cause they fought about no longer exists. Does it matter now which one was right? Spock : Not to Lokai and Bele. All that matters to them is their hate. Uhura : Do you suppose that's all they ever had, sir? Kirk : No, but that's all they have left. [dejected] Warp factor 4, Mr. Sulu. Starbase...4.

Let These Be Your Last Tropes:

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg : With everyone on Cheron dead and the conflict rendered totally pointless, Kirk all but drops to his knees, pleading with Bele and Lokai to abandon the hate that has destroyed their world. It doesn't work .
• All for Nothing : Bele and Lokai's conflict is proven to be for naught when the Enterprise finally reaches Cheron: everyone on the planet is dead, and with them, any reason to keep fighting. Unable to face this, Bele and Lokai resume their chase on the now dead planet, consumed by the hatred that, as Kirk reflects, is all they have left.
• The audience is given very little information about the overall conflict on Cheron. Most of the details come from two obviously biased individuals whose information could be as much as 50,000 years out of date; that Lokai's people have been on the receiving end of racism and oppression is the only thing both of them agree on, and when the Enterprise finally reaches Cheron, everyone is dead, with no indication of how open warfare started or who did what.
• While Bele claims to have been chasing Lokai for 50,000 years, it's not made clear if they've spent all of that time in space, or if the pursuit started on Cheron before moving out into space. It's only established that they've been gone long enough for their species to be obliterated by war and for nature to start reclaiming Cheron's cities.
• How justified Bele's accusations against Lokai are is never made clear; Bele is obviously biased, provides no evidence to support his argument, and is suspiciously wary of Lokai getting a chance to voice his grievances, but Lokai never explicitly denies Bele's claims, insists that the Enterprise crew kill Bele, and when they first confront one another, Lokai notably promises revenge, not justice.
• Artistic License – Biology : Spock describes evolution as always being a move to a "more advanced" state. In reality, evolution simply tailors a species to better survive in its current environment.
• "Ass" in Ambassador : Bele does a poor job of representing his people with civility.
• Bottle Episode : Another one that only takes place on the Enterprise .
• Chewing the Scenery : Even when he's not shouting , Bele does this when commenting on the idea that humans are descended from apessssss .
• Coconut Superpowers : No budget for a spaceship model? No problem... it's invisible.
• Creepy Monotone : Scotty, when reciting his codes to activate the self destruct sequence.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance : Bele claims that his people are obviously superior because they're white on the left side and black on the right side, while Lokai and his people are obviously inferior because they have the reverse color scheme. He clearly expects Kirk and Spock to agree with him; instead, they both look at him like he's full of crap.
• Determinator : Bele says he has been pursuing Lokai for 50,000 years and not even the destruction of life on their planet stops him.
• Dirty Coward : Implied ; Lokai, despite later proving himself to be at least nearly as powerful as Bele, repeatedly insists that the Enterprise crew kill him rather than trying to do so himself (despite the fact that Bele has proven able to shield himself from their weapons), and he doesn't contradict Spock's remark that, while Lokai himself is alive, the same can't be said for many of his followers.
• Doomed Homeworld : Cheron.
• Downer Ending : A whole race gets wiped out, to the last man , and for once there's not a single thing the Enterprise crew can do about it. They are forced to let the last two survivors chase each other down to the planet to continue the senseless conflict for its own sake.
• Early-Installment Weirdness : Spock claims the differences in Vulcan society were resolved peaceably. Future installments and spin-offs would clearly demonstrate the Romulan exodus in the Time of Awakening were anything but.
• After being dismissive towards the crew of the Enterprise , Lokai is quick to insist on asylum when Bele comes around, entreats the crew for sympathy, and expects them to kill Bele when he demands it, angrily dismissing them when they refuse.
• Bele, despite providing no proof of his claims, expects the Enterprise crew to surrender Lokai to his custody and to prioritize his desire to bring Lokai to Cheron over their mission to save an entire planet.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave : Spock's flat delivery leaves no ambiguity in his finding that Bele and Lokai's people have been entirely wiped out: Bele : My people... all dead? Spock : Yes, Commissioner. All of them. Lokai : No one alive? Spock : None at all, sir.
• Everything Sensor : The ship's sensor can detect anything on Cheron down to corpses lying in the street. Makes you wonder why they need an away team most of the other times they visit a planet for research...
• Fantastic Racism : Not only do Bele's and Lokai's people have this for each other, but they also seem to have a low opinion of mono-colors like our heroes.
• Fantastic Slur : As they struggle, Bele and Lokai snarl that the other is a "half-white" and a "half-black" respectively.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse : Discussed between Bele and Lokai. Lokai defends his rebellion on the past oppression of his people. Bele explains that through that he killed innocent people including children just because of the pattern on their face. The Enterprise crew, refusing to take sides in the conflict, consider the entire issue ludicrous , and are ultimately just as disgusted by Lokai as they are by Bele.
• Grudging "Thank You" : Lokai takes a break from yelling at Kirk to thank him for the rescue — and goes right back to arguing.
• Half-Breed Discrimination : Somewhat literally.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat : Every time Lokai and Bele share the screen. Kirk makes it a verbal Mêlée à Trois .
• He Who Fights Monsters : Given that a mutual genocide was the end result of their conflict, this would mean Lokai's people eventually began slaughtering Bele's people indiscriminately thus forfeiting the moral high ground they once had. What started as a struggle for freedom became an excuse to kill based on guilt-by-association reasoning.
• Bele describes Lokai and his people as savages who cannot change. As soon as there is the vaguest question of getting what he wants, he jumps right to force and refuses to even entertain the idea that he and Lokai are functionally of the same race, or of abandoning the chase when there is longer any reason to keep going.
• Despite having suffered racism himself, Lokai has no problem with treating other people with disdain because of how they look, making sure to point out the Enterprise crew's mono-colored skin tone when he isn't trying to play for sympathy. He also considers Bele impossible to reason with, but rejects reason himself, insisting that the crew kill Bele and angrily condemning them when they refuse to, as well as refusing to listen to Kirk's pleas of abandoning his hatred for Bele and his ilk.
• Implacable Man : A 50,000-year lifespan and the ability to take control of a starship through willpower put Bele in this category.
• Inspector Javert : Bele's pursuit of Lokai is obsessive enough to make him an example of this trope, but we don't know how justified his accusations against him were.
• Invisibility Cloak : Bele's ship is sheathed in materials that make it invisible, although it still shows up on sensors.
• Bele's claim that Lokai goes looking for sympathy wherever he goes is supported by the fact that Lokai is shown doing exactly that with a gathering of Enterprise crewmen. His point about Lokai being unable to change, while based in bigotry and equally applicable to him is also proven true; when Kirk entreats the two enemies to give up their hate, Lokai rejects him as an "idealistic dreamer" and leaves.
• Lokai's attempts to garner sympathy with the crew are implied to be more about maintaining his own freedom than serving real justice, but he correctly points out that, having grown up on a world where bigotry among their own race has been consigned to history books, they lack the context to fully understand what he and his people have been through. He's also proven right about Bele being unreasonable; as soon as there's any chance that he might not be able to drag Lokai back to Cheron in chains, Bele jumps straight to the use of force, and Bele proves just as unwilling to abandon his hatred as Lokai himself .
• Jitter Cam : Every time a red alert sounds in this episode, the camera repeatedly zooms in and out at the flashing light. This was a Shout-Out to the Batman TV series, as Frank Gorshin (the Riddler) plays Bele.
• Kirk Summation : At the end of the episode, the good captain attempts to sermonize Bele and Lokai about the futility of their battle; pointing out that their entire planet, Cheron, as well as all of the entire rest of their people, have been completely and utterly devastated during their absence as a result of the bickering between the various groups... surely the two Cherons can find a common ground in the wake of this catastrophic event.
• Last of His Kind : Bele and Lokai discover at the end of the episode that they are the last two remaining members of their species, or (from their point of view) each is the last remaining member of his race.
• When they first meet face-to-face at sickbay, Lokai sits there smoldering at Bele until he smugly mentions how he sees how "quiescent" he is; at this, he starts up from the bed and Kirk restrains him...
• ...and at the other end of their back and forth, Bele, increasingly nettled, gets himself into it at "You're coming back with me to pay for your CRIMES!!! " and goes for him.
• Motive Decay : Discussed ; at the end of the episode, where Cheron is revealed as a dead planet, Uhura and Sulu wonder why Bele and Lokai are bothering to keep fighting, as the reason for their conflict is gone. Kirk and Spock solemnly reflect that it no longer matters; all they have left is their hate.
• "Not So Different" Remark : Kirk and Spock remark that, as far as they can tell, Bele and Lokai are clearly of the same race; not grasping what Spock means by seeing no significant difference between them, Bele remarks on the only obvious physical difference (which side of their body is black).
• Obstructive Bureaucrat : For once, Kirk gets to play this, insisting that both aliens go through the Federation first, and firmly staying out of foreign politics.
• Playing the Victim Card : Lokai shows a habit of doing this even before Bele gets involved; when Kirk takes him to task for stealing a shuttlecraft from Starbase 4, Lokai is angered at even being accused for a crime that he clearly committed and puts Kirk's accusations down to Fantastic Racism ( that Lokai himself shows , accusing all monotoned lifeforms of being racist towards him). Once Bele is aboard, Lokai is quick to ask for asylum and try to drum up sympathy from the crew.
• After Bele hijacks control of the Enterprise , Kirk makes it clear that he'll sooner destroy the ship than allow it to be taken over, initiating the Self-Destruct Mechanism ; as Kirk says, Bele's ability to control the Enterprise is moot if Kirk can simply blow it up. Subverted later on, as Bele proves that he can simply disable the ship's auto-destruct before Kirk can initiate it.
• Played straight with the episode's conclusion; while Bele and Lokai are both very powerful, with their final clash endangering the Enterprise before they beam down to Cheron, their conflict no longer has any purpose beyond mere hate, as their homeworld is dead along with anything they were ever fighting for.
• Profiling : Bele is guilty of this while pointing out he is black on the right side and stating, "All of his people are white on the RIGHT side" about Lokai.
• Really 700 Years Old : The aliens from Cheron have been chasing each other around the galaxy for 50,000 years.
• The second time Bele commandeers the Enterprise to get to his distant home planet, the trip is way too short; by the time our heroes have finished discussing the fact that the ship has been commandeered, they're there. Bele needn't have taken the trouble to disable the self-destruct mechanism; there wouldn't have been time to enter the activation codes anyway.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism : The Enterprise has one which requires three ship's officers to recite activation codes to the computer .
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness : Spock reports: "Cheron lies between 403 mark 7 and mark 9". So 403 mark 8, then? Maybe 403 mark 7.01?
• Shut Up, Kirk! : Both of the aliens ignore Kirk's appeal, choosing to beam down to their dead planet and finish each other instead.
• Silly Reason for War : How pretty much everyone on the Enterprise views a war being fought because one side is white on the left side and black on the right, while the other side has it the other way.
• Slave Race : Lokai's "people" are said to have been this. Notably, Bele doesn't bother to deny it, simply claiming that slavery had been abolished thousands of years prior (which, given the claim that Bele has been chasing Lokai for 50,000 years, might make it a fairly recent occurrence by their standards).
• Stealth Insult : After Kirk and Spock suggest that the people of Cheron must once have been mono-colored, Bele brings up the theory that some humanoids are descended from apes . Not missing a beat, Spock replies that the actual theory is that they evolved into more advanced lifeforms.
• Stealth Pun : Cheron is in the southernmost part of the galaxy, in other words, the Deep South .
• The close-up of Chekov's hand operating the decontamination of Ariannus is a recycled shot of Kirk's hand from " The Doomsday Machine ". (It was also used as Spock's hand in both " Obsession " and " The Immunity Syndrome ".)
• A shot of crewmembers buzzing around in a corridor during red alert is recycled from " The Trouble with Tribbles ".
• The footage of Lokai's shuttlecraft in space, then landing in the shuttlebay is lifted from " The Galileo Seven ", creating an error. While they state that the shuttle was stolen from Starbase 4, the designation "USS Enterprise NCC-1707/7" can be clearly seen on its side. This was corrected in the remastered version.
• Sufficiently Advanced Aliens : Bele flies an invisible spaceship, can commandeer the Enterprise without physically interfacing with the ship, and (along with Lokai) has a lifespan in the tens of thousands of years, if not more.
• When Bele will not release control of the Enterprise , Kirk activates the ship's self-destruct sequence and tells him that while Bele may control the Enterprise , the final order is Kirk's.
• Bele and Lokai then try to do this with each other.
• Title Drop : Not word-for-word, but at one point during Bele and Lokai's struggle on the bridge, Kirk does reference the Enterprise being "your last battlefield". Ironically, and tragically, it seems this will be true of their planet which was already devastated by their races' last battle.
• Tractor Beam : Used to bring Lokai's stolen shuttle aboard the Enterprise .
• Travelling at the Speed of Plot : The final chase scene depicting Lokai and Bele running through the corridors of the Enterprise is mixed with stock footage of burning cities filmed after WWII aerial bombing raids, as each visualizes the destruction of their shared home planet. Fred Freiberger stated, "We ran a little short on that show which is why it ended with a chase that went on forever. I thought it was a hell of a creative solution".
• Two of Your Earth Minutes : When Bele makes the claim that he's been chasing Lokai for 50,000 years, he specifies that he's speaking of "your Terrestrial years".
• Villain Has a Point : While he is clearly using it as a cop out to his own failings as an individual, Bele is right that it's unrealistic to expect utopia in a day, especially with so much bad blood still going on.
• White Man's Burden : Bele tries to invoke this.
• You Are What You Hate : Bele does not respond favourably to Spock's theory that his "people" and Lokai's "people" evolved from a common ancestor.

Video Example(s):

Enterprise self-destruct.

Kirk, Spock, and Scotty order the U.S.S. Enterprise to self-destruct.

Example of: Self-Destruct Mechanism

• Star Trek S3 E14 "Whom Gods Destroy"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S3 E16 "The Mark of Gideon"

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• Why Aliens Are So Important to <i>Star Trek</i>

Why Aliens Are So Important to Star Trek

Excerpted from TIME’s Star Trek: Inside the Most Influential Science-Fiction Series Ever . Available at retailers and at Amazon.com .

Since the time of the Greek philosopher Anaximander, humans have gazed up at the heavens and wondered: Is anyone else out there? For some, the idea that we might be the most advanced beings in all of creation offers a sense of supremacy. Others find it a lonely thought.

Reality has yet to offer a conclusive answer one way or the other, leaving our imaginations to run wild. If aliens do exist, what might they look like? How would they behave? And crucially: Would they be friend or foe? Thinkers no less great than the physicist Stephen Hawking have warned of the latter possibility. “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans,” Hawking remarked in a 2010 documentary on the subject.

Thankfully for the curious among us, science-fiction writers have stepped up to fill our imaginations with myriad possibilities.

Their creations have extended far beyond the archetypical “little green men.” H.G. Wells’s 1898 War of the Worlds, widely hailed as an exemplar of the genre, gave us terrifying Martian invaders and their tripodal death machines. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) offered Klaatu, who visited Earth to urge humanity to end our warlike ways. And of course there was E.T., the disarmingly cute alien simply in need of a ride home.

But nothing in science fiction has contributed to the depth of the extraterrestrial encyclopedia like Star Trek. From the Bajorans (a proud people struggling to recover from another species’s hostile occupation of their world) to the Tamarians (a seemingly incomprehensible race that turns out to communicate through mythology and metaphor), Star Trek’s writers have dreamed up nearly 300 different alien species and counting, according to the fan website Memory Alpha. And that’s just the humanoids.

How can one franchise spawn so many aliens—and so many memorable ones, at that? Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Science fiction typically uses spaceships, death rays and time travel as devices to offer ominous warnings about the ways humanity can go awry. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry flipped that script, introducing to a 1960s audience a future in which an interated cast of humans (and, just to drive the point home, one actual alien) work together to better understand their universe.

That utopian vision was essential to Trek’s DNA, but it was also a tremendous challenge for one group of people: Star Trek writers, who faced the daunting task of writing stories in which the main characters all got along just fine.

“Gene was very big on not wanting to create conflict among the characters on the show,” says Rick Berman, who led the Star Trek franchise after Roddenberry died in 1991 until 2005 and produced several series and feature films. “He felt that humans, especially Starfleet humans, had evolved to a point where he didn’t want to see conflict between them.”

Yet conflict is at the core of all great storytelling. So if the Enterprise crew couldn’t squabble with one another, Star Trek writers had to find friction elsewhere. Aliens came to the rescue. “Often we were telling stories of how humans had progressed, or not, in the far reaches of space,” says longtime Star Trek writer D.C. Fontana. “But sometimes the theme of the tale was better told by demonstrating how aliens approached or solved problems, or how they failed.”

Things got off to a rocky start. Putting aside Spock—a full-fledged member of the Enterprise crew—the first extraterrestrial to appear on Star Trek was a C-list monster that could have been pulled from any bad ’50s sci-fi flick. A shape-shifter with a serious salt craving, the nameless creature killed off Enterprise crew members by sucking the sodium out of them. The so-called “salt vampire” wasn’t a big hit. Thankfully, matters improved from there.

Humans are complex creatures, capable of being logical, tactical, aggressive, greedy and lustful all in a single one-hour episode. But Star Trek aliens are typically guided by one prime mover. Often it is some trait shared by many people. A desire for conquest, perhaps, or the pursuit of wealth or the urge to protect one’s offspring. That made them a thinly veiled stand-in for whatever driving force they represented, giving the writers a way to craft stories that were less about aliens and more about us. Simply put, Star Trek aliens are a mirror in which we see the best and worst of ourselves—and one in which we see that we’re not as different from one another as we might think.

“The concept of having aliens on a week- to-week basis, sometimes new, sometimes ones that the audience was familiar with, gave the writers the ability to represent all the different qualities of humanity,” says Berman. “Whether it’s avarice or whether it’s a hive-like mentality or whether it’s emotions or whether it’s a desire to be more human, these were all qualities that the aliens allowed us to play with. We could not have done the show without that.”

Case in point: In the third-season Next Generation episode “The Survivors,” Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his crew find a couple who appear to be the only survivors of an attack on a Federation colony. But when they are offered safe harbor aboard the Enterprise, they refuse, insisting they be left where they were found. It’s an odd request, given their situation. A series of other strange happenings, such as a warship appearing to drive the Enterprise away from the planet, convinces Picard that something is amiss with the pair, who are named Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge. Picard is eventually able to trick Kevin into revealing the truth: he’s not a human but a member of an all-powerful species called the Douwd. Kevin admits that he created a fictional version of Rishon after she was killed in an attack by a murderous race called the Husnock. What’s more, Kevin, who considers himself a pacifist, reveals that in his rage over losing his wife, he killed the Husnock. And not just the Husnock who attacked his world but all of them, everywhere in the universe.

Kevin’s reaction is perfectly “human.” Who hasn’t wished ill will on those who do us wrong? The difference, of course, is that Kevin has the power to satisfy his rage to a horrific extent. Picard, typically motivated by justice, admits that the Federation has “no law to fit” Kevin’s crime, instead letting him live in exile on the planet. The captain concludes, “We leave behind a being of extraordinary power and conscience. I am not certain if he should be praised or condemned. Only that he should be left alone.”

With the possible exception of Spock and the rest of the Vulcans, Star Trek’s best-known aliens are the Klingons. A ruthless warrior race obsessed with battle and honor, the Klingons originally served as a two-dimensional foil for Kirk and company. Many have viewed them as a bellicose stand-in for the great space-race enemy of the original series’ era, the Soviet Union. But so popu- lar have the Klingons become over the decades that theirs is the most widely spoken fictional language in the world, according to Guinness World Records. (Take that, Lord of the Rings fans.) There’s even an ongoing copyright battle over who owns the Klingon language, which has generated some of the more entertaining legal briefs of our time.

At least some of the credit for that popularity is due to actor Michael Dorn, who played the Klingon bridge officer Worf in The Next Generation. That series took the original, more-cartoonish Klingons and gave them depth and relatability. Klingons, as it turns out, are a lot like us. The Klingons are warmongers, like some humans. The Klingons are obsessed with rituals, like some humans. The Klingons are driven by a fierce dedication to their family, like some humans. One of Star Trek’s best Klingon stories came in “Sins of the Father,” a third-season Next Generation episode in which Worf’s late father is accused of treason. As much as it pains him to do so, Worf decides to shoulder the blame in accordance with Klingon custom, despite his father’s innocence, a move that will help preserve the Klingon Empire’s political status quo and keep the empire from spiraling into chaos that could ultimately harm millions. It’s a deeply human story, a meditation on family pride as much as it is a revealing look into the intricacies of Klingon politics.

If the Klingons were Star Trek’s original villains, the Borg were the show’s best. A technologically advanced race of cyborgs, the Borg are bound together into a hive mind called “the Collective.” Just looking at the Borg, a terrifying hodgepodge of man and machine, is enough to send shivers down your spine. But the real terror lies in their motivation: intergalactic racial purity. When the Borg encounter a new species, they either add it to the Collective through forced “assimilation” or simply kill it off.

It’s unclear which is the worse fate. In part, Star Trek is a celebration of humanity’s individuality. The Borg are everything Trek’s humans are not: obedient, robotic, conformist. So great is the fear of assimilation that in the Star Trek film First Contact, an Enterprise crew member who’s going through the horrific process begs Capt. Picard to kill him out of mercy. Picard—who had once been assimilated himself but was saved in a daring rescue by his crew—obliges. “The concept of being assimilated was terrifying, because it seemed like you had no control over it and no ability to combat it,” says Jonathan Frakes, who played Star Trek’s Cdr. William T. Riker and directed First Contact as well as Star Trek: Insurrection.

The Borg, who first appeared in a 1989 episode of The Next Generation, are typically considered a commentary on fascism and racial cleansing. But in a sense, they are aliens posing questions we didn’t even realize we would soon be facing. Can we real-world humans be addicted to constant connectivity through our smartphones, as the Borg are to the Collective? (Cut a Borg off from the hive mind, and the alien’s nonplussed reaction is not unlike that of a teenager stripped of an iPhone.) Does social media give us a platform on which to connect with others to enhance our common understanding, or does it create a hive mind that rejects unpopular opinions, as does the Collective? Should we enhance our physical and mental capabilities with technological implants, as the Borg do? Watch the Borg stories with these pressing questions in mind, and they only become more fascinating.

Given the prominence of races like the Klingons and the Borg, it might seem as if Star Trek’s aliens are almost always villains. That’s far from the case. The greedy Ferengi, introduced early in The Next Generation, were intended as such at first. But fans considered them too silly to be a serious threat. Instead, the Ferengi soon turned into walking, breathing commentaries on the advantages and flaws of unbridled capitalism. If Donald Trump were a Star Trek alien, he would be a Ferengi. They’re driven entirely by making money; they always want the better part of the deal. (They also happen to be some of the most sexist creatures in Trek: they outright ban women from business, though their society undergoes reforms as their story line progresses.) These characteristics put them in stark contrast with Star Trek’s humans, who work not for money but “to better ourselves and the rest of humanity,” as Capt. Picard once put it.

Star Trek’s quintessential Ferengi was Quark, a seedy intergalactic businessman and bartender who was brought to life by actor Armin Shimerman in Deep Space Nine, the franchise’s third television series. Quark often quoted from “the Rules of Acquisition,” a sort of Ferengi guidebook that could double as Gordon Gekko’s personal manifesto. Example rules include “Never place friendship above profit,” “Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity” and “War is good for business.” But Deep Space Nine’s writers went beyond using Quark as a mere punching bag for Wall Street. In the season-three episode “The House of Quark,” for instance, we see him use his business-like cunning to escape certain death in a duel with a Klingon. The lesson? Sometimes greed is good.

Star Trek writers were skilled at constantly adding depth to the aliens who reappeared through the series. Just as the Klingons’ belligerence was leavened with stories about their love of honor, the warlike Romulans turned out to be literally related to the Vulcans—a glimpse at Trek’s most logical race with the worked only in pairs, providing a lesson about the power of cooperation. And Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell” offered the history-alerting Annorax, who aimed to use his time weapon to restore his people’s empire to its former glory but killed his own wife in the process, revealing the cost of stubborn pride.

On one level, Star Trek is a science-fiction show about a group of intellectually enlightened humans exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, all to better their understanding of their world. But the show is really about us, back here in the present day, and the common ties that bind us. What better way to show us we’re all alike than through the lens of outsiders? “Aliens are really important in science fiction because they give a little distance character-wise and story-wise so that you can actually have stories about beauty and youth and racism, and on and on and on,” says John de Lancie, who played Star Trek’s godlike character Q. “It puts it on the character of an alien to be able to say things that sometimes you can’t say straight out. I think the aliens in Star Trek and the aliens in most science fiction have a lot of value in that respect.”

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Den of Geek

Star Trek: The 50 Best Alien Races

From Tribble to Andorians, we're ranking the 50 best alien life forms explored in the Star Trek universe...

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The crews of the various iterations of Star Trek boldly went where no one has gone before — and then boldly met a crap ton of alien species.

Star Trek may be the human adventure, but there have been countless non-human beings, critters, menaces, gods, and blobs that have been introduced in the Star Trek  universe. From The Original Series to The Animated Series , to The Next Generation , to Deep Space Nine , the Delta Quadrant and Voyager , to the early adventures of Enterprise , to the modern day films, Star Trek has gifted fans with unforgettable species after species as the five-year mission has turned into five decades of first contact.

There have been vile races bred for combat, omnipotent races that use humankind as puppets, and even a bunch of cute little furry things.  Star Trek just keeps on delivering the cool aliens show after show, film after film. Just imagine the species that will soon be coming to Star Trek: Discovery ! But now is the time to celebrate the past as we present the fifty coolest Star Trek aliens ever to appear in films or TV.

50. Arcturian

First appearance: star trek: the motion picture (1979).

The Arcturian didn’t have a great deal of Star Trek screen time, but this alien race that resembled melted wax (eww) makes our list because it stands as a prime example of the story richness of the Star Trek  galaxy. An Arcturian can briefly be seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the Mego toy company even made two versions of this blink and you’ll miss him creature (one 3 ¾ inch one 12 inch). But what intrigues us the most is this melty guy’s backstory…

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Star Trek costume crafters extraordinaire Fred Phillips and Robert Fletcher came up with a rich history for the Arcturian. According to Philips and Fletcher, the Arcturians were actually a race of clones that made up the bulk of the Federation’s infantry. While never seen on screen, there are legions of these guys running around, just waiting to be sent to some hostile planet to go to war. The Federation has always been portrayed as peaceful and benevolent, but it has the potential to unleash billions of melty looking monsters at a moment’s notice. Yikes.

Arcturians also appeared in the Star Trek daily comic strip and their back story continues to stand as a great example of the vast richness of the Star Trek galaxy, a place where billions of stories exist at all times. Including one about a race of wax soldiers that can be replicated and sent to do the Federation’s will. Eeep.

49. Edosian

First appearance: star trek: the animated series “beyond the farthest star” (1973).

Edosians are a tripedal species and are skilled at using their three arms and three legs in navigation and piloting. Lieutenant Arex, the loyal Enterprise navigator that first appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series , is a proud member of the Edosian species and was a recurring character during this era of animated Trek. Arex was voiced by Scotty himself James Doohan and was a standout character in the era between The Original Series and The Next Generation .

Arex popped up in comics and novels and took his place of honor among the original crew. Arex also was a character that fully utilized animation as the six limbs and distinct alien features of this character would have been impossible to pull off in live-action back in the day. But thanks to The Animated Series , the distinctive Edosians live on and prosper in Trek lore.

48. Excalbians

First appearance: star trek: the original series “the savage curtain” (1969).

Listen, any species responsible for bringing Abraham Lincoln into the Star Trek  universe has to make this list. The Excalbians are a silicon based life form that possessed the ability to shape shift. These rock beings, who honestly looked like something Steve Ditko would have designed for Doctor Strange, were fascinated by the human notion of good and evil.

So they did what anyone would do in the same situation: they made a recreation of Abraham Lincoln and teamed it with Kirk, Spock, and famous Vulcan goodie-good Surak and sent them up against four representatives of evil — Kahless the Unforgettable of Qo’noS, Genghis Khan, Colonel Green of Earth and Dr. Zora of Tiburon. How’s that for a traditional Survivor Series match?

For this wonderful bit of schlock and for making us believe that Ben Grimm could work in live action in 1969, we salute the ever curious Excalbians.

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47. Caitian

First appearance: star trek: the animated series “the survivor” (1973).

The cat-like Caitians were represented in Enterprise history by M’Ress, a feline female that served both as engineer and a communications officer during The Animated Series . M’Ress spoke in a purring voice and was a skilled operative that stood side by side with the more iconic members of the Enterprise.

Now, I would like to talk about how cool the Caitians were. I would like to talk about how M’Ress was the main character in the Power Records’ Star Trek book and record set Star Trek: Passage to Moauv (1975). I would also like to talk about how a Caitian also appeared in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home …

But I just can’t help but wonder if Captain Kirk did what he does and somehow at some point bed down with this cat woman. This would make Kirk’s TV sci-fi’s first furry and I’m sort of fascinated by this idea. I don’t want to focus on this idea because it kind of reduces M’ress as a character and the Caitian as a race… But then I read that the alien twins that Kirk hooked up with in the first Abramsverse film were confirmed to be Caitian and everything just stirs up again and I fell absolved of all responsibility.

Anyway, M‘Ress and the Caitians might be considered obscure now, but she was a pretty big deal to Trek lore during The Animated Series era. So this race is a purr-fect addition to our list. Did the Enterprise come equipped with a giant litter box? Okay, I need to stop now; this is going to some bad places.

46. Bolians

First appearance: star trek: the next generation (1988).

The Bolians have been a perennial background species since their first Trek appearance in 1988. The first Bolian fans witnesses aboard the Enterprise was an ambassador, but many other Bolians have appeared around the Trek verse since. They have been seen as barbers, manicurists, Federation troops, and high ranking officials.

Bolians are distinctive due to their blue skin and their ridge that bisects their anatomy. They are highly friendly individuals and compassionate. In fact, an episode of Voyager puts forth that Bolians were  supportive of assisted suicide. These deep seated beliefs make the Bolians an intriguing species ripe for future Trek exploration.

45. Lurian

First appearance: star trek: deep space nine “the emissary” (1993).

Lurians were a very rarely encountered species that possessed multiple hearts, lungs, and stomachs. Fans got to know this ellusive species through DS9 regular/bar fly Morn. Yes, Morn is an anagram for Norm, because, like the famed Cheers fat man, in Quark’s Bar, everyone knew Morn’s name.

Morn was a bombastic and talkative fellow who fans never got to actually hear speak. He was a former thief that barely moved away from his bar stool. Morn was also fiercely loyal to Quark and got his little Ferengi pal out of many a jam. But mostly, Morn just sat there and drank stoically.

Although we only ever met one Lurian, we will always remember his name because Morn was such a constant (and inebriated) presence on Deep Space Nine . He also once had a torrid love affair with Jadzia Dax but that is a tale for another time. Raise a glass to the Lurians!

First appearance: Star Trek (2009)

So far, the rebooted Trek films have not really given funs much by way of alien species. The only classic races to get good screen time in the reboots have been Romulans and Vulcans. But the films did give us Keenser the Roylan, Scotty’s diminutive engineering pal.

Keenser first appeared in the first Trek reboot film as Scotty’s ever present companion when Scotty was exiled on the Federation outpost on Delta Vega. When Scotty beamed to the Enterprise, he left Keenser behind which was kinda sad. JJ Abrams and company must have thought so too as Keenser was all of a sudden part of the Enterprise’s crew in Star Trek: Into Darkness .

Keensar is ever loyal to his pal Scotty as the two share one of the best bromances in the galaxy. The fourteenth issue of IDW Publishing’s Star Trek comic gifted fans with Keensar’s origin. It also revealed the name of his species — Roylan — for the first time.

In this issue, fans learned that Keensar was constantly mocked by his peers because he was so tall (heh). It also revealed that Keensar served with distinction aboard the USS Kelvin and was shipmates with none other than George Kirk.

Keensar the Roylan is a constant presence in the new Trek Universe and I’m sure this member of the Roylan species will have many adventures to come.

43. Mugato

First appearance: star trek: the original series “a private little war” (1968).

Because sometimes in space, there are giant, poisonous horned gorillas. What’s not to love about Mugato? He’s kind of cute, very fuzzy, and is as poisonous as the nastiest snake. Poisonous gorillas in space, this is why we love Trek. Sadly, Mugato only appeared briefly, attacking and poisoning Kirk before being disintegrated by Doctor McCoy.

But, remember: as you watch the hard sci-fi and techno jargon of Trek, as you witness the human adventure of Roddenberry’s galaxy, as you watch carbon-based life forms achieve full potential and enlightenment, remember , in this same world there are fuzzy, horned, albino gorillas that will poison the crap out of you.

42. Acamarians

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “the vengeance factor” (1989).

The Acamarians are an advanced race of humanoids that have found a peaceful existence very late in its history. For centuries, the tattooed Acamarians lived in rival clans and their planet was split apart by warfare. One of the clan wars lasted three centuries and wiped one of the combating sides out of existence. When Picard’s Enterprise encountered the Acamarians, the people finally almost found peace.

However, a splinter group known as the Gatherers could not overcome centuries of clan warfare and refused to negotiate, so Picard had to navigate the complex web of Acamarians politics and bitterness as well as the assassination of the Gatherer ambassador to finally forge a peace with the Acamarians.

Despite all these issues, the Acamarians have a rich culture and mirror many contemporary Earth societies that have been splintered by war. Sci-fi works best when it reflects reality, and through the Acamarians, Trek fans got to see some really effective social commentary about tribalism and societal bitterness.

41. Denobulans

First appearance: enterprise “broken bow” (2001).

A Denobulan served aboard the very first Enterprise as the ship’s doctor, thus making the species vital to the origins of the Federation. Our medic in question, Phlox by name, was one of the main protagonists in Enterprise and was a staunch example of the exemplary qualities of the Denobulan race.

Denobulans are loyal but quite hedonistic by human standards. Denobulan males can take up to three wives while the entire race embraces polyamory. As humanity headed off into space aboard the first Enterprise, Phlox served as a constant reminder of the varied belief systems and practices the people of Earth would encounter as space exploration began.

Phlox and the Denobulan held ethics in high regard as Phlox would never allow a sentient being to suffer. Even though the ridge faced Denobulans had fierce tempers, they also were gentle and kind, and valued knowledge and pleasure over confrontation and violence.

Denobulans also have the propensity to puff out their faces when they were threatened — so, yeah, there’s that. Plus, Denobulans have really long tongues. What was it that I said about hedonism and Denobulans? Anyway, these cunning linguists were great doctors as seen through Enterprise ’s first mayor of the sickbay: Doctor Phlox.

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40. Orions

First appearance: star trek: the original series “the cage” (1966).

The green Orion slave dancer that shimmied into the dreams of Trek fans has been an iconic bit of Star Trek lore since her Shakiraesque debut, but the history of the Orions did not stop there…

Although a cosplay staple, the slave girl was just one Orion. Others have appeared in The Animated Series , Enterprise , novels, comics, toys, and one even prominently appeared in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek timeline as Uhura’s roommate and an early romantic partner of one James T. Kirk.

Orions are a species with close ties to the Federation — ties that are explored in some of the better episodes of Enterprise . Although the Orions will long be remembered because of the grinding of the hips of a slave dancer, there is so much more to this green-skinned humanoid species that has been part of Star Trek lore since almost day one.

39. Ocampans

First appearance star trek: voyager “caretaker part ii” (1995).

The Ocampans carry an importance to the Star Trek  universe because Kes, a noted member of the Ocampan species, was a member of the lost Voyager crew for three years. Ocampans are a race with powerful telekinetic powers but, sadly, this race of elf-like humanoids only have a life span of nine years. (So… combine Jean Grey with a mayfly and you get the idea.) 

Ocampans are very accepting of their short life span and a rather enlightened species. Through Kes, the crew of Voyager learned a lust for life as the wide eyed Ocampan enjoyed every minute of her existance even though she was trapped with the Voyager crew. When Kes’ power grew out of control, she left Voyager and her friends, including her constant companion Neelix, and used her abilities to push the lost Voyager out of Borg space and a year closer to home. This sacrifice taught the crew of the Voyager and fans of the show the innate nobility of the Ocampan race.

38. Vidiians

First appearance star trek voyager “the phage” (1995).

While the Ocampans were a nice, little, Tinkerbell-like species that fluttered about Voyager , there were also these Wes Craven nightmares… The Vidiians suffered a disease known as the Phage. The Phage is kind of like a hardcore space Ebola that utterly destroys the infected’s body and organs. So, yeah, Bones McCoy was sort of right about space being a petri dish of death and pain.

The ravaged Phage would wander the galaxy and rob sentients of their organs and body parts. So there you are, doing warp three with caution around the Delta Quadrant, and, all of a sudden, a few Vidiians beam unto your ship and rip out your liver and intestines. Then, they use said liver and intestines to replace their own — whether you filled out your Federation organ donor cards or not.

The Vidiians were eventually cured by the crew of the Voyager, but you have to assume that in a galaxy so big there are still some Vidiians cruising around out there taking hearts and lungs from innocent travelers. Yeesh.

37. Breen

First appearance: star trek deep space nine “indiscretion” (1995).

First off, cool points for the Breen because the helmet that this species wears looks kind of like the helmet Princess Leia used to disguise herself as a bounty hunter in Return of the Jedi . But the space awesomeness of the Breen doesn’t end there…

The Breen’s fighting prowess and technology are so advanced that even the Romulons and Klingon talk about this mysterious species in hushed whispers. And, indeed, when the Breen made themselves known to the Federation during the Dominion War, things got intense. These mighty warriors allied themselves with the Cardassians and the Dominion to take on the combined might of the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulons.

During this conflict, the Breen destroyed the USS Defiant, the flagship of the Deep Space Nine space station, and managed to attack the Earth city of San Francisco. The Federation managed to develop counter weaponry to defeat the Breen, but many will remember these armored badassess as race of military specialists to be reckoned with.

The alliance with the Dominion cost the Breen, though, and — after the War — it wasn’t easy being Breen.

36. Hunters

First appearance star trek deep space nine : “captive pursuit” (1993).

Imagine a Trek alien that is pretty much Boba Fett mixed with Kraven the Hunter and you have these big game-tracking motherfuckers. The Hunters popped out of the Bajoran Wormhole and had their first contact with the Federation in the DS9 episode “Captive Pursuit.” In this stirring installment of this reporter’s favorite Trek show, fans were introduced to the Hunters and their chosen prey: the genetically enhanced Tosk.

The Hunters (whether this was the species name is unknown) would alter their Tosk prey in order to make the hunt more difficult. The pursuing of the Tosk was an obsession with the Hunters that rubbed members of the freedom loving Federation the wrong way.

The Hunters even gave the Federation a run for its money as the race of killers had advanced tech to assist them in their eternal hunt for Tosk. Sadly, the Hunters only appeared in one episode of Deep Space Nine , but their fighting skills and bloodthirsty rituals will be burned into the minds of Trek fans for a long time.

35. The Salt Vampire

First appearance: star trek: the original series “the man trap” (1966).

Old Salty here, or creature M-113, is a reminder that space can be a really, really dangerous place because there are things out there called Salt Vampires. And, no, this thing doesn’t just hang around a Pringles factory, it freakin’ shape shifts and then kills innocent people and drains them of their salt. Kirk and his crew first encountered this thing as it took the form of a number of the Enterprise’s crew. It almost killed Sulu, Yeoman Rand, Spock, and Kirk before being shot and killed by Dr. McCoy who had no time for such foolishness.

I suppose Kirk could have kept the Salt Vampire alive and just fed it Wetzel’s Pretzels (those things are like licking the ocean), but I guess Kirk felt that a shape shifting thing that looks like it was spat out of the ninth plane of hell that brutally kills people and drains them of sodium probably needed to be deleted from the universe. One has to wonder what special M-114 might be: Cinnamon Vampire?

34. Cheron

First appearance star trek: the original series “let that be your last battlefield” (1969).

When we first met the Cheron, there was only two members of this species left: Bele (played by the Riddler himself, the great Frank Gorshin) and Lokai. Bele was hunting Lokai whom Bele deemed a traitor after the planet Cheron was wiped out due to centuries of racial wars.

Apparently, some Cheron were black on the left and white on the right while other members of this advanced species possessed the opposite skin alignment. Due to this difference, the entire population — save Lokai and Bele — were eradicated. Bele hijacked the Enterprise and used his vast array of mental capabilities to hunt for Lokai.

The whole opposite was a thinly veiled, but powerful allusion to the destructive potential and sheer idiocy of racism — a message as powerful today as it was in the ’60s. Of course, you know I’m going to say that Mego made a Cheron doll, a toy I treasured in my childhood and called Oreo Man.

We should all have an Oreo Man during our most innocent years. But who knew my beloved Oreo Man was actually a genocidal racist madman that used his vast power to almost destroy the Enterprise? Oh, Oreo Man…

33. Nausicaans

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “tapestry” (1993).

One of the surlier races in the galaxy, Nausicaans are big hairy warriors that hire themselves out as mercenaries throughout the galaxy. A Nausicaan had quite the impact on the life of Jean-Luc Picard. When the future captain of the Enterprise was an ensign, he played a stirring game of domjot with some Nausicaan thugs (as one does). Picard and his pals accused the Nausicaans of cheating and the bad-tempered badasses stabbed Picard through the heart. This required Picard to get an artificial heart. (The more you know!)

The Nausicaans gave the crew of Deep Space Nine a hard time as well. This hairy race of pirates even encountered Captain Archer and the original crew of the Enterprise back in the day, proving that big hairy thugs that cheat at domjot remain big hairy thugs that cheat at domjot.

All that aside, Nausicaan fighting prowess is equal to the fighting prowess of Klingons and the only thing that keeps the Nausicaans from being more of a threat is their mistrust and their inability to come together as a species. Instead of being intergalactic conquerors, the Nausicaans have remained bullies, raider, and cheaters. But they do have killer 80s rocker hair, don’t they?

32. Kazon

First appearance: star trek: voyager “caretaker” (1995).

The Kazon were the first race that the crew of the Voyager encountered when they arrived in the Delta Quadrant, and — as far as d-bag, aggressive alien species go — the Kazon take the space cake (because when you put the word space in front of something, it sounds like you are in the future).

The Kazon race was separated into rival sects, which made negotiating with them as a whole almost impossible. They were once a slave race that served the Trabe, but the Kazon were a fractured species before and during its enslavement. Despite their disloyalty to each other, the Kazon were fierce combatants who were unwilling to negotiate a peace treaty with the Trabe or Voyager.

The Kazon had advanced technology and a back-stabbing blood thirst that introduced the crew of the Voyager to the Delta Quadrant and caused Voyager to be trapped in what was going to be a very hostile place, if the battle-hardened Kazon were any indication.

31. Metrons

First appearance: star trek: the original series “arena” (1967).

We do so love the Gorn. And what alien species was responsible for Kirk’s immortal battle with the Gorn? Why that would be the shiny and nigh omnipotent Metrons.

The Metrons possess tremendous mental powers and can control matter and energy. These human like aliens fiercely guard their sector of space and regard even the most minor intrusion as a great trespass punishable by death. When the Enterprise and a Gorn vessel find themselves in Metron space, the Metrons mentally teleport both Captains to a remote planet and force them to fight.

The Metrons are intensely xenophobic and regard other races as barbaric, so when Kirk spares the Gorn, the aloof Metrons are impressed and free both vessels. You see, a simple act of kindness was all it took to free the Enterprise from the Metrons’ wrath and impress a race of people that do not impress easily. Also, the Metrons wear sparkly evening gowns so they have that going for them…

30. Horta

First appearance: star trek: the original series “devil in the dark” (1967).

The Horta may look like a pile of bile soaked dog puke, but, hey, it was featured in William Shatner’s favorite Star Trek episode, so we have to give this blob of silicon its props.

The Horta was first encountered by a group of miners. After a miner was killed, Kirk and company were called to see what was up. They encounter the Horta, an extremely alien-looking beastie. After the creature is injured, Spock attempts a mind meld but the creature is in too much pain for Spock to connect with it. Soon, the crew of the Enterprise learns that the creature is the lone survivor of its race charged with protecting the eggs of the next generation of Horta. So Kirk and his pals dedicate themselves to protecting the thing’s little vomit eggs from the angry miners.

All jokes aside, the Horta was classic Trek alien: a semi-cheesy-looking beastie that stars in an episode with a powerful theme. The Horta was a prime example that all life has merit and even something that looks like a half-digested taco only wants to survive and thrive. By saving the Horta, the crew of the Enterprise shows that their most important mission is to contact and understand all life, no matter what it looks like. Thank you for that valuable lesson, Mr. Horta.

29. Greek Gods

First appearance: star trek: the original series “who mourns for adonis” (1967).

Wait, what? Oh, by the bristling beard of Zeus, the Greek Gods exists in the Star Trek  universe. 

The legendary deities of ancient Greece were actually super-powered aliens that lived on Pollox IV. They would visit Earth back in ancient times and bask in the worship of primitive humans. Well, the humans of the Enterprise were no primitives, and — when the Pollox IV alien that called itself Apollo trapped Kirk and his crew on the planet and refused to allow them to leave — Kirk and Spock fought back, kicking a god’s ass in the process.

Sadly, we never saw the other Greek gods. (Because could you just imagine Kirk versus Zeus?) But, it was established the other gods existed — and that they wore togas and laurel leaves like they were going to a frat party. The fact that this all exists in the same galaxy as Klingons and Borg just makes me very happy.

28. Hirogen

First appearance: star trek: voyager “message in a bottle” (1998).

The Hirogen are a nasty Delta Quadrant species of reptilian hunters that view any other sentient beings as prey. When the Hirogen chose a victim, the religious ritual of the Hunt began and all aspect of Hirogen culture centered on this blood sport. After the Hirogen tracked and captured its prey, they would remove the victim’s skeletal system, muscles, internal organs, ligaments, and tendons and keep these parts as trophies.

The Hirogen ran afoul of the Starship Voyager a number of times and Captain Janeway and her elite crew always found ways to defeat these hunters. In one of the Hirogen’s more bone headed moves, they created advanced holograms that could feel fear and pain. These thinking holograms quickly became more advanced than the Hirogen and turned the hunters into the hunted.

Despite this addlepated move, the Hirogen were always a feared species for those that traveled through the Delta Quadrant because they were essentially Predators dropped into the middle of the Star Trek universe.

27. El-Aurians

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “the child” (1988).

El-Aurian were a race of wise and peaceful people that transverse the galaxy to listen to the stories of others. When the Borg wiped out the El-Aurian’s home world, the galaxy lost a race of wise listeners… Or it almost did, because the surviving members of this race spread out across the galaxy.

Fans met the El-Aurians when The Next Generation introduced Guinan, the proprietor of Ten Forward, the bar of choice for the crew of the Enterprise. When Guinan came aboard, the members of the Enterprise had a kind and quick-witted being to bounce their problems off of, and Guinan listened. It was a shame that so many people like Guinan were lost to the Borg as the El-Aurians long lived goodness was a boon to the galaxy.

But not all El-Aurians were benevolent. Tollan Soran was an El-Aurian survivor that was aboard a ship of refugees with Guinan when the ships ferrying the El-Aurians refugees was lost to the fiery Nexus ribbon. It seemed that the legendary Captain Kirk was killed in this rescue attempt, but it turns out Kirk was trapped within the Nexus.

Soran became obsessed with returning to the Nexus and his Ahab like need for knowledge led to the first and only meeting between James T. Kirk and Jean Luc Picard. Soran was an anomaly to the El-Aurians species as most of the race used their centuries of wisdom to spread enlightenment wherever they went.

26. Tellarites

First appearance: star trek: the original series “journey to babel” (1967).

Along with Andorians and Vulcans, Tellarites were one of the first species to join the United Federation of Planets. A Tellarite first appeared in The Original Series episode “Journey to Babel,” where Sarek, Spock’s father, was framed for the murder of a Tellarite ambassador.

Sarek was able to solve the crime, freeing his name and forging a long-lasting peace with the Tellarities. Early contact with the Tellarites was recounted in Enterprise , but members of the specials also popped up in The Next Generation and even in a couple of films. Tellarites, with their distinctive beards, hooves, and stubbornness, have long been one of the backbone species of the Federation.

25. Tamarians

First appearance star trek: the next generation “darmok” (1991).

“Temba, his arms wide. Shaka, when the walks fell.” Who can forget these poetic, yet somewhat ominous phrases spoken by Dathon the Tamarian to Captain Picard when the two were trapped on a hostile world together?

Trek lore has it that the Federation and the Tamarians only had seven encounters over the years because the Tamarian language was so hard to comprehend. Well, if he was to survive, Picard would have to understand it (and fast) because Dathon beamed Picard down to the planet in order to teach the human captain a language that was as complex as it was beautiful.

It turns out Tamarians only communicate in metaphors (I’ve had grad school professors like that), and in order for the Federation and the Tamarians to build an accord, Picard would need to understand those metaphors. “Shaka when the walls fell,” has become quite a famous little moment of Trek myth as the Tamarians stand as a metaphor themselves — for cultural understanding and empathy.

24. Species 8472

First appearance: “star trek: voyager” part 1 (1997).

Species 8472 are so deadly that they even make the Borg poop their cybernetic underroos. (Hey, do you think when the Borg poops they all go at once? Or does one go make while the rest of the Collective just snickers? This is now the most ever written about Borg poop on the internet. Or is it? I’m not googling that.)

Anyway, Species 8472 existed in an extra-dimensional bit of hell known as fluidic space. When the Borg discovered the fluidic dimension, the ever deadly race of cybernetic killers busted through the dimensions and attempted to assimilate Species 8472. 8472 was having none of that and fought back, creating weapons that could slay the Borg with ease. In fact, 8472 was able to destroy the Borg Cubes in seconds. (Man, that’s like taking down the Death Star with a single bullet.) Sadly, Species 8472 also took out many innocent Delta Quadrant planets, which forced the crew of Voyager to get involved.

The Borg and Voyager had to form an unlikely alliance to drive Species 8472 back to fluidic space. 8472 was one of the closet things Trek fans ever got to Lovecraft-like cosmic horrors, as even the Borg could not stand up to these waling nightmares. This species appeared a few more times on Voyager until Captain Janeway was able to broker a peace with these terrors that exist behind the fabric of time and space.

23. The Gorn

Oh, the Gorn. Who doesn’t love Gorn? Of course, this rubbery looking and cold blooded reptilian monstrosity first appeared in the classic TOS episode “Arena,” where Kirk had to go mano-e-lizardo with the captain of a captured Gorn vessel. What followed was one of the most classic fights in Trek history as Kirk had to fashion a makeshift cannon to defeat this alien monster.

Despite its primitive appearance, future novels established the Gorn as a technologically-advanced race and, you just have to admit, Trek lore has not even scratched the surface of the Gorn. Imagine the spin offs. The Gorn Identity. Gorn to be Wild. Gorn on the Fourth of July. Fans were able to witness the Gorn home world for the first time in DC Comics’ Star Trek the Next Generation: The Gorn Crisis .

The Gorn were also one of the aliens made by Mego in its second set of Trek dolls. Fun fact: Mego’s Gorn looks nothing like the TV Gorn, as Mego just reused Marvel’s Lizard mold, painted it brown and decked old Gorny in the outfit used for the Klingon doll. Despite this lack of toy respect, and despite one of the cheapest prosthetic heads ever seen on TV, the Gorn’s battle with Kirk is still forever burned into Trek lore.

22. Tholians

First appearance: star trek: the original series “the tholian web” (1968).

Get a load of these psychedelic xenophobes. Yeah, the Tholians might look like a funky black light album cover come to life, but, really, they are brutal, territorial, hateful, and will do anything to keep other species out of Tholian territory. But, hey, they are known for the punctuality, so take heart in the fact that, when they kill you, it’ll be done in a timely fashion.

The Tholians cruise around their sector of space in geometric rainbow ships, making the aesthetic of the race more Yes album cover and less cool space despots. The Tholians first encountered the crew of the Enterprise when the USS Defiant flew too close to Tholian space.

Always protective of their borders, the Tholians phased the Defiant out of real space and into an interspace dimension. Kirk himself was phased out of time and space (for Shatner, it wouldn’t be the first or last time this happened), but Spock and the Enterprise were able to get their captain back and pimp-slap the Tholians.

The Enterprise under Jonathan Archer also ran afoul of these crystalline killers. The Tholians are a great example that in space, threats can come in any shape and even rainbows can kill you.

21. Talaxians

First appearance: star trek: voyager “caretaker” (1995).

One of the friendlier species of the Delta Quadrant, the Talaxians — or more accurately, an individual member of the Talaxian species — was pivotal to Voyager’s survival during the years it spent trapped in the Delta Quadrant.

Talaxians became dispersed throughout the Delta Quadrant after a devastating war with the Haakonian Order. Talaxians had no real home world, but that did not break their spirits. Talaxians are a very spiritual, upbeat, and whimsical race that — when confronted with two unpleasant paths to take in life — will find a third, happier path to traverse. This spiritual ability to find light and hope in any circumstance made the Talaxian Neelix indispensable to the crew of the Voyager.

Neelix was the cook and morale officer aboard Voyager and helped his friends out of many spiritual and literal crises. Throughout its wanderings in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager encountered many Talaxians that were always willing to lend a hand. Sadly, many aggressive species like the Borg also targeted the peaceful Talaxians — but, like Neelix, the Talaxians always found that third path.

Keep going, because we’ve got more aliens for you!

20. Organians

First appearance: star trek: the original series “errand of mercy” (1967).

When Kirk, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise first encounter the Organians, a non-distinct humanoid species, this new race appeared to be akin to an 18th century agrarian Earth society. Spock commented that his tricoder has more technology than the entirety of the Organians planet.

Sadly, the Organians home world became caught up in a war between the Federation and the Klingons. Kirk warned the Organians leaders that war was coming but the Organians were completely unconcerned… When the Klingons arrived and began to take Organians hostages, the Organians remained unconcerned — because, apparently, the Organians are millions of years more advanced than either Klingons or humans. The Organians mentally disabled the Klingon and Federation ships in orbit around their planet and calmly disarmed Kirk, Spock, and the Klingons.

The Organians have an advanced form of ESP and can predict future events. They also can possess the bodies of others. An Organian told Kirk that, one day, Klingons and humans would be friends — something ‘ol James T. couldn’t wrap his head around, but something Next Gen fans would know to be true. So here’s to the Organians, the Amish space gods of the galaxy.

19. The Traveler

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “where no one has gone before” (1987).

Now, let’s all be honest. Yeah, we love Wil Wheaton as he is truly nerd royalty and has done a great deal over the last few years as a sort of geek ambassador. But, real talk: no one really liked Wesley Crusher. We love Wesley’s mom, Dr. Beverly Crusher, but Wes was kind of the Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek . The Traveler freed us of all of that.

The Traveler is a member of a mysterious race of immensely powerful beings. The Traveler could transverse time, space, and heavenly bodies at will and could use his thoughts to manipulate nature and reality. The Traveler seemed to be second only to Q in terms of power and omnipotence.

When the Traveler first met ‘lil Wesley Crusher, he compared the lad to Mozart. This caused Captain Picard to promote Crusher to ensign. Later in his Starfleet career, Crusher began to have doubts about his lot in Starfleet. The Traveler convinced Crusher to leave Starfleet after Crusher began to develop powers similar to the Traveler.

As Crusher’s powers grew, the Traveler took him on as protégé, teaching the former ensign how to best use his vast powers to help the galaxy. Wesley left the Enterprise with the Traveler as his very own Yoda and, for this, Trek fans hold a great debt to the Traveler as he freed us from the oft times insipid Crusher.

You know, looking back, I wouldn’t mind a novel or two explaining what happened to Crusher later in life. So, I guess we can give the Traveler credit for not only freeing us from Wesley, but also for making Bev’s boy into an interesting part of the Star Trek universe.

18. Crystalline Entity

First appearance: star trek: the next generation: “datalore” (1988).

The Crystalline Entity is basically the Galactus of the Star Trek  universe. The Entity is a giant, electromagnetic engine of cosmic death that lives to consume organic matter. It goes from planet to planet, absorbing all organic matter and leaving dry husks of death behind. A Crystalline Entity destroyed the outpost where Commander Data was created, essentially making Data an intergalactic android orphan.

Despite its destructive power, the Crystalline Entity is a beautiful sight: huge and multi-faceted, colorful and shimmering — frankly, an artist’s dream. But, behind the beauty, lies a bite that can lay waste to entire species.

This giant snowflake of death was pivotal in the origins of Data and is one of the most feared species in the entire galaxy. There are other Crystalline Entities out there in the void of space, but, thankfully, encounters with them are very rare. As of yet, no Crystalline Entity has been seen hanging out with a silver guy on a surfboard… but we remain hopeful.

17. Betazoid

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “encounter at farpoint” (1987).

For seven seasons and a handful of films, Star Trek fans got to know a very special Betazoid: Counselor Deanna Troi. Troi was an exemplary member of the Betazoid race — a mostly peaceful people that possess empathic and telepathic powers.

Most Betazoids, including Troi, use their powers for the benefit of others. The Enterprise was saved many times thanks to Troi and her fantastic abilities as she served with honor and distinction about the Federation flagship. Betazoids are indistinguishable for humans except for their all black irises. It’s a very cool thought that there is a race of Charles Xaviers in the Star Trek  universe and, with more Star Trek coming our way soon, let us hope we have the honor to meet more Betazoids.

Fun fact: Gene Roddenberry wanted the Betazoid women to have four breasts. Can you imagine trying to take Troi seriously with four breasts? Thankfully, Roddenberry was talked out of this silliness and the Enterprise’s resident Betazoid counselor became the stuff of Trek legend.

16. Talosians

First appearance: star trek pilot “the cage” (1965).

You know we had to include the first aggressive alien species ever encountered in a Trek episode. And, yes, we’ll get this out of the way quickly: the Talosians’ heads look like asses. We know. ‘Ol fanny foreheads. Butt heads. Get it all out of your system. Okay, done? Good.

The Talosians were the sole survivors of a nuclear holocaust. The remaining Talosians manifested the power to create illusions. These beings grew addicted to the illusions and abandoned technology. Like the Lotus Eaters of old, their existence was now tied to their narcotic-like illusions. Soon, the Talosians grew bored. The buttheads lured alien races to their planet and fed off the psyche of their victims.

Captain Pike of the Enterprise and his science officer Spock were drawn to the Talosian home world. The Talosians tempted the Federation officers with everything they could desire, but — through the minds of both men — the Talosians learned that humans hated captivity. The Talosians showed compassion and let Pike and Spock go. Later, Spock would return to the Talosian planet after Pike was left paralyzed. The Talosians once again showed compassion as they allowed the broken Pike to live his life on the planet.

The Talosian story ends sweetly, but just remember that, somewhere in the galaxy, there are siren-like, androgynous aliens (the male Talosians were actually played by female actors), ready to lore victims into a life of captivity. The Talosians were Trek’s first encountered, named alien species and they are also some of the most memorable as these illusion-casting humanoids set the standard for all Trek species going forward. Not bad for a bunch of ass-heads.

15. Vorta

First appearance: star trek: deep space nine “the jem’hadar” (1994).

The Vorta were genetically bred by the Founders to be the perfect military commanders and strategists of the Dominion. Vorta are sly, cunning, and corrupt. Try to imagine an entire species of Littlefingers and you get the idea.

In addition to the strategic acumen baked into Vorta DNA by the Founders, Vorta are also programmed to believe that the Founders are gods — and the Vorta serve their gods in all things. The Vorta created the Jem’Hadar and could clone themselves so the Dominion would never be without its master strategists for long. Even after death.

But, like the Jem’Hadar, the Vorta were programmed to serve. Upon capture or defeat, a Vorta was programmed to commit suicide, and during the Dominion War, many Vorta pulled the trigger on their own demise. The Vorta was one of the most cunning and immoral races Starfleet ever faced, even if the immorality was inserted into their genetic makeup by another species.

14. Xindi

First appearance: star trek: enterprise “the expanse” (2003).

The Xindi are a collective of six subspecies — avian, arboreal, primate, reptilian, insect, and aquatic — that form a single race. As a whole, the Xindi posed a great threat to the early Federation.

The Xindi worship a race known as the Sphere Builders and, when this mysterious race warns the Xindi that they will be involved in a war with Earth, the Xindi preemptively strike, killing millions of humans. Jonathan Archer and his crew take the fight to the Xindi who provide the first crew of the Enterprise its greatest challenge.

The Xindi was one of the first warnings to humanity that not every race is benevolent as the six races of this advanced culture reined death upon an Earth that was still getting used to the idea of contact with alien life.

13. Trill

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “the host” (1991).

Trills are an advanced species of humanoid that are passionate and kind in most of their dealings. Some Trills are joined with wise Symbiotes that chose different member of the Trill species with which to share a mutual bond. The Symbiotes retain the personalities and memories of each host and pass these aspects on to the new hosts.

The first Trill Trek fans encountered was named Odan. Odan quickly struck up a romance with Dr. Beverly Crusher and, when Odan was tragically killed, the Symbiote was moved into the body of William Riker. Riker had long been friend-zoned by Crusher, so this began one of the most awkward romances in Trek history.

It also gave fans the legacy of the Trill, a legacy that continued into Deep Space Nine with the beloved Jadzia Dax. Through Dax, fans learned about almost every aspect of Trill life. It was a fascinating meditation of duality, sexuality, and identity and the character of Jadzia Dax was almost a dozen disparate characters in one. When Jadzia was lost, the Symbiote moved into Ezri Dax, a wonderful new character that continued the exploration into what it is like being many beings at once.

12. Tribbles

First appearance: star trek: the original series “the trouble with tribbles” (1967).

They’re fuzzy, they squeak, they can be deadly — who doesn’t love Tribbles? Ask any casual fan to name a Trek alien, and there’s a good chance Mr. Joe on the street guy will say Tribbles because these bundles of fur are just that darn famous.

“Trouble with Tribbles” — The Original Series  installment that first introduced these puff balls — allowed Shatner, Nimoy, and company to really flex their comedy chops. But, when you break down the threat the Tribbles represented, they actually are pretty terrifying… Imagine a species that reproduces so fast, a ship can be suffocating on the things in a matter of days. That’s a bit more Giger than Pokemon.

Despite the threat, the Tribbles also brought the laughs to generations of fans. Of course, the Tribbles were revisited in the classic DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” and also played a major role in the recent film Star Trek: Into Darkness . To quote a great man from a rival space franchise: “Not bad for a little fuzzball.”

11. Jem’Hadar

One of the greatest and most efficiently deadly militaries the galaxy have ever seen, the foot soldiers of the Dominion — the Jem’Hadar — are also one of the more tragic species that can be found in the Trekverse.

Jem’Hadar reach maturity in the span of about three days. They are genetically programmed to be the perfect galactic foot soldier by their masters, the Vorta. To insure control, the Vorta have withheld an essential enzyme from the Jem’Hadar genetic makeup. This enzyme is supplied to the Jem’Hadar in the form of The White, a liquid that the Jem’Hadar has filtered into their systems through a tube in their necks. Essentially, Jem’Hadar are drug-addicted soldiers unleashed upon the galaxy.

The Jem’Hadar were the main Dominion force that laid siege to Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War and were nearly unstoppable. The need for The White was a religion to the Jem’Hadar, who became one of the most feared species in any quadrant.

Jem’Hadar are incredibly resilient and possess keen minds that help them plan for battles. Despite all this, most Jem’Hadar die very young due to the fact that they are essentially cannon fodder for the Dominion. Yet, the Jem’Hadar value duty and loyalty above all else as they embrace their lot as pawns of the Dominion. All for The White.

The Top 10 Star Trek aliens await on the next page!

10. Changeling

First appearance: star trek: deep space nine “the emissary” (1993).

As we all know, life in the Trek universe can take many and varied forms. One of the most profoundly different races of the Trek galaxy are the Changelings, a race of intelligent liquid-based shape shifters that reshaped the political climate of the galaxy with the same ease that they reshape their bodies.

The Changelings were also known as The Founders and were the puppet masters behind the Dominion War. From their wormhole homeworld, the Changelings manipulated the universe. The Founders used entire races like chess pieces showing the Federation and its enemies that there are beings that exist within and behind the galaxy that are willing to go any lengths for power.

But not all Changelings were adversarial. Through Odo, Trek fans saw another side to this fascinating species. Odo was the constable aboard DS9 , a by-the-books cop who went to any lengths (literally) to solve crimes. He was a defender of his Federation friends, particularly Kira Nerys the woman he learned to love. When the Founders merged their liquid forms with Odo, they learned about humanity, and his love and bravery spread even to the hidden spaces of the galaxy.

Plus, The Changelings are an alien species that can easily disguise themselves as furniture. You can’t teach that!

9. Andorians

First appearance: star trek: the original series “journey to babel” (1968).

The Andorians are an aggressive yet advanced race that was one of the first alien races that formed the original Federation of Planets with humanity.

The Andorians have distinctive blue skin, white hair, and two protruding antennae. The blue skinned humanoids have an advanced armada and a long history of conflict with the Vulcans. This conflict was put aside as Andorians entered into the Federation and, with it, decades of peace. But peace wasn’t easy, as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise,  in which Federation Captain Archer and Andorian Captain Thy’lek Shran developed an adversarial relationship that, thankfully, culminated in a friendship based on mutual respect.

The Andorians are more than a bit xenophobic as they refer to humans and Vulcans as “pink skins” and have a long standing mistrust of everything not Andorian. In fact, the Andorians don’t even trust their offshoot race, the very rarely encountered, white-skinned, psychic Aenar.

Enterprise is a bit unfairly-maligned by some Trekkers, but it will always be the show that took the Andorians from background characters to a narratively-explored race with deep contradictions. Of course, I need to mention that the Andorian was also one of the final Trek dolls Mego produced. It is very sparkly.

8. Ferengi

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “the last outpost” (1987).

I would  tell you some facts about the Ferengi, but I’d have to charge you about ten bars of (snarl, drool) gold-pressed latinum first. Because that’s what drives the Ferengi race: cold, hard, glimmering, wonderful cash-money.

By the time fans met the crew of the Kirk’s Enterprise, most races in the galaxy had abandoned cash-based economies to focus on the improvement of science and technology for all beings. But not the Ferengi. These big-eared, fanged critters utilize science and technology to procure cash and heaven help any sentients that stand in their way.

Fans first me the Ferengi in Next Gen as the greedy race of miscreants became the first real adversaries Picard’s crew had to face. The Ferengi in Next Gen were vile and greedy, sort of like spacefaring Daffy Ducks. But, in Deep Space Nine , fans were introduced to Quark, Rom, Nog, and other Ferengi that had a streak of nobility. Oh, they were still as greedy as they come, but this Ferengi family, saved the DS9 space station more than once. Heck, Nog even became the first Ferengi to serve in Starfleet.

In DS9 , fans learned many of the finer points of Ferengi culture. For example, Ferengi women aren’t allowed to wear clothes. In addition to their odd dress codes, the Ferengi live by the Rules of Acquisition, an almost religious text that teaches the Ferengi the best ways to make money. Quark constantly had to choose between loyalty to his friends and his Ferengi impulses for cash and this often humorous double nature led to some fun dramas.

But, if you have a piece of latinum in your pocket, be warned that there are many Ferengi out there who would kill for it because that is the Ferengi way.

7. Romulans

First appearance: star trek: the original series “balance of terror” (1966).

All sentient races in the galaxy have a good, healthy fear of the Romulans — and with good reason. In many ways, the Romulans are like the anti-Vulcans. In fact, Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan race. Centuries ago, the Romulans rejected the Vulcan idea of repression of emotions and struck out on their own, finally settling on the twin planets Romulus and Remus and forging an empire.

Where Vulcans are cold, collected, and benevolent, Romulans are fiery, aggressive, and often power hungry. This passionate need to conquer led to the Earth/Romulan war, the first time humanity experienced total war on an intergalactic scale. Earth was eventually victorious and, during the conflict, no human ever actually saw a Romulan. Years later, it was the crew of the Enterprise that actually saw what Romulans looked like and it was Mr. Spock that postulated a common ancestry between Vulcans and Romulans.

The Romulans were based on the aggressiveness and culture of the Roman Empire, which is seen through the race’s military aggression and clothing. Despite years of ill will, the Romulans sided with the Federation in the Dominion War. A Romulan also changed reality, as fans of the new Trek films know…

A Romulan named Nero used a Red Matter device to destroy Romulus and punch a hole in time and space. Nero then went back in time and destroyed the USS Kelvin, causing a new reality to splinter off from the original Trek timeline — a reality Trek fans are currently enjoying in films.

Romulans have touched every part of Trek history and have even created a huge amount of it. They continue to serve as a counterpoint to the Vulcans and their name brings fear and respect throughout the Trek galaxy.

If you can imagine God in the Star Trek   universe, you understand Q. Q isn’t a kind god or an emotionally-distant god, hungry for worship. Q is a curious god that wants to test the intelligent races of the galaxy — particularly Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise.

Q is a member of The Q, a race of omnipotent beings that observe the universe from afar and interfere in the lives of mortals when it suits their whims. The Q are a force of nature, appearing when and where they want to bring gifts or utter destruction to lesser beings. It all depends on a Q’s whims. Q became a sometimes-ally, sometimes-antagonist to the crew of the Enterprise and even popped up on DS9 and Voyager . (And, really, how awesome would it be to see Q pop into J.J. Abrams’ Kelvin Universe?)

Q is everywhere and everything. Wherever Q went, great storytelling followed — mostly because of the deeply complex and often comedic relationship between Q and Picard. Whether it was TV, comics, or novels (most notably the eminently readable Q Continuum trilogy by Greg Cox), The Q’s force of nature omnipotence have made them one of the most feared and gloriously divine species in the Trek universe. Yes, in Trek, Q definitely stood for quality.

5. Bajorans

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “ensign ro” (1991).

It is apropos that the Bajorans and Cardassians are so close on this list because the two races are forever linked in the mind of Trek fans. Trekkers first met the Bajoran through Enterprise Ensign Ro Laren, a fiery and ultra-capable young Starfleet cadet.

Ro had everything it took to get ahead in Starfleet. She was loyal, dedicated, brilliant, and strong willed. Yet, the past of her people, the Bajorans, was filled with so much tragedy. The loyalty to her race led Ro away from Starfleet and into the waiting arms of the Marquis, a group that abandoned Starfleet to form a renegade fleet of rebels dissatisfied with Federation doctrine.

Ro’s discontent was expanded upon by the inclusion of the Bajorans in Deep Space Nine . In DS9 , fans learnt of the suffering that the Bajorans were forced to endure at the hands of the Cardassians. Bajorans were a race of freedom fighters, a highly scientific and artistic race that had to embrace militarism and xenophobia in order to survive.

In DS9 , fans learned almost every aspect of the Bajoran race. What began with Ro continued the Kira Nerys, the second in command of the Deep Space Nine space station and a woman who would do anything to keep her people free and punish her former oppressors.

DS9 introduced many Bajoran notables in its many seasons, and not all of them were benevolent. Of all the races introduced in Star Trek , the Bajorans might be the most tragically human as they had to see their own darkness in order to survive the unthinkable in order to survive the Cardassians.

4. Cardassians

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “the wounded” (1991).

Nowhere in the Trek universe have there been a race more troubling, more complex, and more narratively-interesting race than the Cardassians. Fans first met the lizard like, leathery Cardassians in the Next Gen episode entitled “The Wounded,” in which the martial struggle between the Cardassians and the Bajoran was introduced.

The Cardassians were first seen as Nazi-like war criminals that committed a horrible genocide against the Bajoran people. The anger against the Cardassians, amongst other points of discontent, caused a large segment of Bjorn sympathizers to break off from the Federation and form the Marquis.

Cardassians warred with both the Federation and the Klingon Empire and took both fleets to the absolute limits. When the Cardassian/Bjorn conflict ended with the Bajoran victorious, it was up to the Federation to help the galaxy heal. The Federation set up the Deep Space Nine space station to oversee this transition of power as Cardassians began to be tried for war crimes that were simply unthinkable in such an enlightened galaxy. 

At this time, fans met Gul Dukat and Garak. Garak in particular demonstrated that there was more to the Cardassians than violence. He became a DS9 wildcard who, for the most part, was loyal to peace and harmony.

However, both Garak and former Cardassian military leader Gul Dukat had spilled their fair share of blood and the Cardassians began to stand-in for any race that committed genocide. Parallels were drawn not only to the Nazis but to Imperialistic Europe and to America’s treatment of indigenous peoples as well.

The Cardassians were a difficult mirror to look into because they exposed many societal flaws of the contemporary world. Through rich, powerfully crafted characters like Garak, Trek reminds viewers that in all species, there is the capacity for tremendous good and unthinkable evil.

3. Borg

First appearance: star trek: the next generation “q who” (1989).

Throughout Trek history, the wonderful men and women who have crafted stories for Star Trek have often reminded fans that space can be a cruel and terrible place — but no race has represented the horrors of the Final Frontier more than the Borg.

The Borg is a race of cyborg drones that share a hive mind. Their only aim is to assimilate the universe and make all Borg. Borg are mindless automatons that answer to the Borg Queen and the Collective. They are unstoppable and fiercely efficient. The Borg roam the galaxy in their distinctive Borg Cubes and, when they encounter any organic race, that race is forcibly assimilated into the Borg. All hopes, history, art, passion, and individuality become part of the Collective while the individual becomes a living weapon, a husk dedicated only to the Borg. Famously, Jean-Luc Picard fell to the Borg and was transformed into Locutus. As Locutus, Picard came an eyelash away from assimilating the Enterprise.

Later, through characters like Hugh Borg and Seven of Nine, some humanity was given to the Borg. Hugh was an injured Borg healed by Picard’s crew, while Seven of Nine broke her programming and served on Voyager. Through both characters, more and more history was revealed about the Borg. Fans even got to meet the Borg Queen in the film Star Trek: First Contact  — and what an H.R. Giger nightmare that was.

Throughout the decades, Star Trek has been the most hopeful of sci-fi franchises. Trek is infused with humankind’s potential for greatness and a hope for an enlightened future. The Borg serve as a reminder that technology can lead to paradise, yes, but it can also lead to a cold future of pure horror where individuality is worthless and resistance is futile.

2. Klingons

When we first met the Klingons, they were classically humanoid aliens that mirrored the worst of humanity. In the earliest Klingon appearances, Klingon society was portrayed as brutal and despotic. They were slave masters that would do anything to crush any opposition.

The Klingons were constant threats. At times, the Klingons seemed to be analogous to the Nazi Third Reich. In other instances, they resembled Communist Russia. But whatever real world nightmare the Klingons represented at any given moment, whenever a Klingon Bird of Prey warped into a confrontation with the Enterprise, fans know that intense action would follow.

When the Klingons returned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , this brutal race’s appearance was altered. Suddenly, Klingons were shown to have deep forehead ridges and a more bestial appearance. The real reason this was done was because Trek now had a budget, but there has never been an in story reason for the Klingon alteration. This just adds to the mystique of the Klingon race.

Klingons take the next step of their story evolution in Star Trek: The Next Generation . Now, a Klingon served on the bridge of the Enterprise, and it could be argued that this Klingon — Mr. Worf — was the very model of what a Starfleet officer should be. Through Worf, Next Gen explored every aspect of Klingon culture and made it more like a race of honorable technologically-advanced Vikings or Mongols than an analogy to fascism. That exploration continued into Deep Space Nine and, through the half Klingon-half human engineer B’Elanna Torres, onto Voyager .

There is an actual a Klingon language that exists in the real world. A whole freakin’ language has been created inspired by these honorable and violent warriors of the cosmos. So, raise a glass of Klingon Warnog, grab your Bat’leth, and salute the Klingons — a race that started out as typical villains, but evolved into one of the most engaging and inspiring races in the galaxy.

1. Vulcans

Is there any race in genre fiction more beloved than the Vulcans? This race of logic-driven, emotionless, pointy-eared people have defined the Star Trek experience since day one.

In the Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” the world was introduced to science officer Spock, a cold, calculating yet brave and benevolent alien who loyally assisted his captain. Fifty years later, Spock is still the strong right hand of the Enterprise. The Vulcan’s lack of emotion serves as a perfect narrative contrast to human nature, with the interactions and differences between Spock, McCoy, and Kirk as the beating heart of Trek since Roddenberry first put pen to paper.

But the wonder of the Vulcans don’t end with Spock. Over the decades — through countless books, films, TV episodes, and comics — many Vulcans have taken center stage and have, in the words of the most famous Vulcan of them all, fascinated fans for generations…

There has been Sarek, Spock’s father who dared to follow his emotions and take a human wife. There has been Tuvok, the brave and able Vulcan officer who served on Voyager. There has been T’Pol, the sometimes cold but always loyal commander that served as the first officer of the first Enterprise. By being so alien, all these characters and so many more have shown the world what it means to be human.

Trek lore has delved deeply into Vulcan history, creating one of most fully-functioning and detailed fictional worlds in all of sci-fi. Sadly, in the latest set of Trek films, Vulcan has fallen and this magnificent race is endangered. But take heart that Spock, Vulcan and Earth’s favorite son, is endeavoring to rebuild the race that has long made Star Trek so awesome.

Marc Buxton

Marc Buxton is an English teacher/private tutor by day,and a super-hyper-uber geek by night. Marc spent six years on the frontlines as a comic retailer before…

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Published Jun 7, 2020

O Captain, My Captain: On the Importance of Ben Sisko

We're celebrating the anniversary of DS9's finale by looking back at the legacy of Commander Benjamin Sisko

StarTrek.com

[This essay was originally published in 2012 on Racialicious.com. It has been reprinted with the permission of the original author.]

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, is like The West Wing. But in space. With a Black president. Kind of."

That’s normally how I find myself trying to describe the show to the uninitiated, as I firmly believe that it’s the Trek series you have to use when trying to get people into Trek canon — especially Black nerds, before Discovery' s rise. Deep Space Nine causes a strange division in the world of Trekkies. I’ve always found (non-scientifically?—?I just spend a lot of time at cons) that people either love it or loathe it. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to show it to my kids.

DS9 has your aliens and spaceships, and characters do occasionally say things like “set phasers to stun.” But all of that is more often than not outweighed through the gravitas brought to the show by the intricately laid political, wartime thriller plot, its critisisms of 20th century history and race relations in America, and its lead actor, Avery Brooks, who stars as Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko ?—? the first and only African-American captain to lead a televised Star Trek franchise.

The Star Trek franchise has always featured Black actors and actresses, well-developed Black characters, and even featured the first televised interracial kiss in the TOS episode "Plato’s Stepchildren." On Trek , racism is often dismissed on Earth as being as outdated as using money. Instead, racial politics between alien species are highlighted, rather than humans.

This model may have continued through DS9 had they hired any other actor to portray Captain Sisko. However, Brooks —? a Shakespearean-trained actor, graduate of Oberlin College, and the first Black student to earn an MFA in acting and directing from Rutgers University, where he was also a professor ?—? brought much of himself to the role, and that included an emphasis in the importance of the African-American and Black American experiences. Even nearly 300 years in the future, whether Star Trek fans were ready for it or not, DS9 brought the topic of race closer to home.

While I suspect the show's direct tone is one of the reasons DS9 isn’t as popular as its predecessors? —? along with the heavy emphasis on backroom politics instead of “seeking out bold new worlds”? —? if you didn’t like TNG chances are you’re going to love a show that goes out of its way in the pilot to distinguish Sisko from Captain Jean-Luc Picard . In the premiere, we learn Picard (while under control of the alien species The Borg) has killed Sisko’s wife.

In a meeting between the two, Sisko speaks to the TNG captain in a tone he’s likely never heard from a non-superior officer before, and Sisko’s dislike of the man ?— ?and the Deep Space 9 station itself? —? is made apparent. With that, Sisko distinguishes himself immediately as one of the few people with the mettle to speak openly to Picard. While the scene was likely included to make the segue from TGN to DS9 as smooth as possible with familiar faces, Picard does not exist to emerge the hero of the scene or to bring Sisko back into line, so to speak. Sisko is allowed his outrage, an incredibly rare thing for a Black man on television in the 1990s.

The meeting also introduces what would be one of the series’ most important subplots: Sisko is a family man in a way that neither Picard or Kirk ever were. He’s left a widower with an 11-year-old son, Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton), who is one of Sisko’s main motivations for not wanting the Deep Space 9 assignment. In William Shatner’s documentary The Captains , Brooks said it was important to him to portray a Black father on television that plays a positive role in his son’s life.

“I read the pilot, and said 'Well, this is very interesting to me,'” Brooks said. “A man dealing with loss, having to raise a child ?—? indeed, a male child?—? by himself, and be brown as we spin this tale in the 20th century about the 24th century.”

The depiction of the black father continued to be an important dynamic to Brooks through the show’s finale, when he initially thought writers were going to have Sisko abandon his son and unborn child. Upset by this decision he’s quoted as saying, “The producers told me, ‘Look we thought you’d be thrilled…The difference, of course, is you have Sisko with another child on the way. You still have Sisko with a young man [Jake Sisko] trying to find his way… That wasn’t fair.” [Shortened for Spoilers]. This view on ‘Parenting While Black’ is unique in the sci-fi fantasy genre. Often, Black parents tend to die off or abandon their children early in their lives, leaving unhappy, lonely and revenge-hungry children behind. Robin Wood ( Buffy ), Kendra Young ( Buffy ), Charles Gunn ( Angel ), Bonnie Bennett ( TVD ), and Walt Lloyd ( Lost ) come to mind immediately.

Even with an intergalactic war raging around them, Sisko was always there for Jake. They’re often shown having dinner together and Sisko is always eager to read over and help edit Jake’s stories and articles. He supports Jake’s decision to become a writer instead of going to the Starfleet Academy, even though that’s perhaps what he would have preferred. Episodes like "The Visitor" (guest starring Tony Todd as an older Jake Sisko) and In the Cards (where Jake tries to acquire a 1950s baseball card to cheer Sisko up during a stressful week) highlight the strength of the bond and loving relationship between father and son.

With a highly educated and vocal actor in the lead it’s no wonder you get get seven seasons of a series that takes the Black American experience to heart; Sisko’s character is specifically written to acknowledge the implications that the color of his skin bring. Not only do they write him an African-American girlfriend, Kassidy Yates , there are there are references to his New Orleans heritage, soul food, his love of baseball (particularly players Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson), and the various bits of African art we see decorating his quarters are all acknowledgements of his background throughout the show. But they never shy away from the cultural history of racism either. Sisko is still acutely aware of his past.

When his crew becomes infatuated with visiting “Vic’s,” a holosuite program set in a 1960s Las Vegas casino and lounge, Kasidy asks Sisko why he doesn’t want to join in on this Away Team Rat Pack Cosplay. His response is telling:

S isko : You want to know … you really want to know what my problem is? I’ll tell you: Las Vegas 1962, that’s my problem. In 1962, black people weren’t very welcome there. Oh sure, they could be performers or janitors, but customers? Never.

Kasidy : Maybe that’s the way it was in the real Vegas, but that is not the way it is at Vic’s. I have never felt uncomfortable there, and neither has Jake.

Sisko : But don’t you see? That’s the lie. In 1962, the civil rights movement was still in its infancy. It wasn’t an easy time for our people, and I’m not going to pretend that it was.

Kasidy : Baby? — I know that Vic’s isn’t a totally accurate representation of the way things were, but… it isn’t meant to be. It shows us the way things could’ve been ?— ?the way they should’ve been.

Sisko : We cannot ignore the truth about the past.

Kasidy : Going to Vic’s isn’t going to make us forget who we are or where we came from. What it does is reminds us that we are no longer bound by any limitations ?—? except the ones we impose on ourselves.

It’s a small moment in a 45-minute episode, but the fact that it’s acknowledged is important. Sisko is initially displeased with his crew’s little Mad Men fantasy and he’s allowed to express it, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the viewer feel.

In season five, Avery Brooks would direct " Far Beyond The Stars ," an episode that spends an entire 45 minutes dealing with race relations in mid-20th century America. The episode reimagines Sisko as a science-fiction writer named Benny Russell working for a racist and sexist New York magazine in the 1950s, where racism is present, but somehow subtler; it's more deceptive and innocent as it casually rolls off the tongues of people that Benny considers friends and colleagues. The magazine refuses to publish his stories about the character Benjamin Sisko, a Black starship captain.

When Benny’s editor finally does agree to publish his stories, he insists that the stories must be revealed to be the dreams (not the reality) of a poor Black man in their present time ?— ?because everyone knows the idea of a Black sci-fi hero is that unrealistic. With that, "Far Beyond the Stars" also reminds the viewer that despite the inclusive attitude the Trek franchise has embraced, science-fiction is still very much a white man’s world. For every single Octavia Butler there are five Joss Whedons. More pointedly, for every one Captain Sisko, there’s a Captain Picard, Captain Kirk, Han Solo, John Carter, and… well, you get the picture. With Sisko in the lead DS9 is self-aware and capable of criticizing the flaws of its own genre, and that’s something to appreciate.

I’m struck by how much more I understand this show at the age of 24, compared to when I rewatched it at 17, and before that when I originally watched from 1993 to 1999. I was only 11 when the finale aired (and grounded for a good deal of the season, but that’s another issue entirely) and while I vaguely understood the significance of Sisko, I admit to taking his presence ?—? the presence of a starring Black man ?— ?on my screen as normal. I like to think that Brooks would have appreciated that, knowing that part of his reasoning for accepting the role of Sisko was his belief that, “Brown children must be able to participate in contemporary mythology.”

In some ways the 1990s were a better landscape for a kid of color to get into science-fiction and fantasy. Not only did I have Sisko, there was Carl Lumbly as M.A.N.T.I.S , Wesley Snipes was Blade , Spawn aired on HBO and was made into a film, Cleopatra 2525 starring Gina Torres debuted in 2000, my favorite book series, Animorphs , starred Black and Latino teens, and Will Smith was king of the Summer sci-fi box office. When one looks at the scope of white genre heroes this isn’t a large number in comparison, but because Sisko was always there and when I felt the burden of whiteness in other genre media, I could always come home to DS9 .

My First Contact: Kendra James

Kendra James is the Managing Editor of StarTrek.com. Follow her on Twitter @ KendraJames_.

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Everything We Know About The Husnock, One Of Star Trek's Most Mysterious Alien Races

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Survivors" (October 9, 1989), the U.S.S. Enterprise discovered a mystery. On the planet Delta Rana IV — otherwise uninhabited and whose surface was devastated by an ancient cataclysm — a single house sat. Beaming down, the Enterprise crew found a well-kemp lawn, a large white home, and a kindly elderly couple named Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge (John Anderson and Anne Haney). While polite and welcoming, the Uxbridges are cagey about their circumstances. How are they the only people alive on the whole planet, and how can they merely enjoy teatime and lawn mowing without acknowledging their utter isolation? 

Eventually, of course, the truth would come out. Kevin Uxbridge was, in fact, a member of a species called the Douwd, a species of pure energy, possessed of godlike powers. He transformed into a humanoid and fell in love with Rishon, living with her in connubial bliss for years. Many years ago, however, the colony on Delta Rana IV was attacked by a vicious species called the Husnock, who killed all 11,000 colonists, including Rishon. Kevin initially refused to fight the Husnock because his species lives by a strict code of pacifism, but the death of Rishon devastated him. In a moment of vengeful pique, Kevin used his powers to reach out into the galaxy and wipe out every single member of the Husnock race, 50 billion of them. He committed genocide. 

Kevin recreated his home and an illusion of Rishon, hoping to live quietly as penance for his unimaginable crime. Unable to punish or incarcerate a god, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) merely leaves Kevin in peace. 

What we never learn anything about is the Husnock. All Trekkies ever saw was a mysterious warship. What other information can we find?

The Husnock

Indeed, the mysterious warship that appears throughout "The Survivors" isn't even definitively identified as a Husnock ship. Audiences later learned that the warship was another one of Kevin Uxbridge's illusions, summoned to scare off the Enterprise and leave Kevin alone. We are left to infer that Kevin's illusion was extrapolated from Husnock warships, but that may be a foolhardy assumption. 

There are no pictures of the Husnock anywhere in "The Survivors," and there is no description as to what they looked like. In dialogue, they were merely called "a species of hideous intelligence, who knew only aggression and destruction." By extrapolation, Trekkies have found that the Husnock were killed off in the year 2366, only shortly before the events of the episode. The Federation seemed to have little information about the Husnock. 

The only information given about the Husnock has to be derived from the vast sea of "Star Trek" expanded universe lore. In the late 2010s, there was a series of tie-in "Star Trek" novels called "Star Trek: Titan," an anthology that followed the adventures of Captain Riker commanding the titular ship. In David Mack's 2017 "Titan" novel "Fortune of War," the Husnock were finally brought back in their own central story, albeit after their extinction.

"Fortune of War" is set 20 years after the events of "The Survivors" and follows the U.S.S. Titan on an exploration mission of all the abandoned Husnock technology that was abandoned when Kevin wiped them from existence. Husnock warships still possessed a great deal of destructive potential, and it was up to Admiral Riker, a new character named Captain Vale and the Titan crew to keep Husnick ships from falling into the wrong hands. 

'Fortune of War'

By the description in "Fortune of War," the Husnock were essentially evil octopodes. Or, more accurately septapodes. They walked around on four tentacles and used the other three as their arms. They had beak-like mouths and their blood was a dark blue color. They were also said to have multiple hearts, although an exact number was not given. They also seemed to oversee a vast portion of space called the Husnock Star Kingdom, implying that their government was a monarchy. 

"Fortune of War" also described the extinction of the Husnock as they personally experienced it, and it was similar to Thanos' mass murder in "Avengers: Infinity War," but a lot more painful. Evidently, Kevin Uxbridge projected himself into the minds of all 50 billion Husnock simultaneously to simply say "For Rishon" and show them all the image of Rishon being killed in the Husnock attack. He then essentially set them all on fire, burning them all into ash. 

It's a bit grim, but the Husnock warship appeared in "Star Trek Online," the popular 2010 video game. That game endeavored to include every single character and ship that ever appeared in "Star Trek," and to get the Husnock ships involved, a new narrative was invented. It seems that those Husnock ships that the Titan was trying to protect in "Fortune of War" had already been salvaged and put into combat by the Klingons, the Romulans, and even the Federation. That doesn't seem wise or even ethical, but it was a fine shorthand for a video game predicated on combat. 

Whether or not the Husnack will return remains to be seen, although one could see an enterprising screenwriter working a reference into "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

How The Sci-Fi Series Farscape Set Out To Do The Opposite Of Star Trek

A handsome American ends up stranded on an alien ship, manned by an unusual alien crew, where he falls in love with its resident warrior woman. It's not "Guardians of the Galaxy," it's "Farscape," the Australian-American sci-fi series! The series was created by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Brian Henson with alien designs courtesy of the Jim Henson Company, including several puppets that served as central characters. "Farscape" is funny, campy, and weird as hell, setting it apart from not only its television contemporaries but all other sci-fi shows. "Farscape" ran for four seasons from 1999-2003, and while it wasn't as popular as some of the other big sci-fi shows, it has a devoted cult following that really loves it. 

In a retrospective for the show's 25th anniversary at IGN , Henson shared his inspiration for the show and what he and O'Bannon were trying to do with "Farscape." With its wacky cast of characters and often goofy tone, "Farscape" was the anti-"Star Trek," and it turns out that was the point. "Farscape" was less interested in things like examining terrorism through different lenses  and more interested in the personal ramifications of surviving while traveling the stars, from some  very different perspectives. 

Read more: 15 Must-See Horror Anime Movies, Ranked

Farscape Set Itself Apart Through Its Characters

In the retrospective, Henson explained that in the late 1990s when they were developing "Farscape," they felt the need to break away from the biggest sci-fi shows on the air, especially "Star Trek":

"What we were trying to do back then was kind of break the mold. The biggest show was 'Star Trek,' for sure. And 'Star Trek' had taken a vision of the future where people are in much more control of their emotions, and they're more efficient in their communication. They feel like an elevated human being when you watch people interacting on the 'Star Trek' shows. We really wanted a completely different feel and tone."

Around the time "Farscape" was being developed, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager" were both on the air, with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" having freshly made the leap from the small screen to the cineplex. The crew aboard Moya in "Farscape" are pretty far removed from characters like the incredible military hero Ben Sisko from "Deep Space Nine" or the brilliant diplomat Jean-Luc Picard from "Next Generation." Despite most of them being aliens of some sort, they're all very relatable and very, very human. 

A Found Family Of Intergalactic Hot Messes

Each of the folks aboard Moya has their unique strengths and flaws, though none of them have the kind of "elevated" attitudes Henson describes save for maybe Zhaan (Virginia Hey), a telepathic empath, but even she's kind of (maybe) a terrorist. Human John Crichton (Ben Browder) is a smart-alecky pop-culture fanatic who is a total dummy as frequently as he is clever, like Captain Kirk without the political idealism or the excess libido, and he helps usher the audience through this bizarre, beautiful universe. "Farscape" is delightfully weird and silly and horny with regularity instead of only allowing itself that freedom in holodeck episodes, with characters who are often comedically flawed in some way. Even the character most generally competent and adept at surviving, Aeryn Sun ( the always incredible Claudia Black ), starts the series exceptionally cold and kind of xenophobic, though she grows over the course of the show. 

"Farscape" doesn't have the same kind of utopian idealism as "Star Trek," with characters who strive to be the best versions of themselves. Instead, everyone is simply trying to get by for another day and maybe find a bit of comfort in the cold dark of space. It's extremely relatable, even if the idea of staying aboard an organic, living ship that eventually gets pregnant is not. It's okay Moya, we love you and your lil' starfighter baby. Enterprise, eat your heart out. 

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 277 User reviews
• 99 Critic reviews
• 16 wins & 31 nominations total

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Photos 1999

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• Trivia In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN." These initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing."
• Goofs The deck locations for Kirk's Quarters, Sickbay and Transporter Room vary (usually between decks 4-7) throughout the series.

Dr. McCoy : "He's dead, Jim."

• Crazy credits On some episodes, the closing credits show a still that is actually from the Star Trek blooper reel. It is a close-up of stunt man Bill Blackburn who played an android in Return to Tomorrow (1968) , removing his latex make up. In the reel, He is shown taking it off, while an off-screen voice says "You wanted show business, you got it!"
• Alternate versions In 2006, CBS went back to the archives and created HD prints of every episode of the show. In addition to the new video transfer, they re-did all of the model shots and some matte paintings using CGI effects, and re-recorded the original theme song to clean it up. These "Enhanced" versions of the episodes aired on syndication and have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray.
• Connections Edited into Ben 10: Secrets (2006)
• Soundtracks Star Trek Music by Alexander Courage

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Back To Black First Look Image Reveals Uncanny Amy Winehouse Actress

Taylor swift’s the eras tour return ironically just reversed a great change she made in disney+’s movie, this 29-year-old denzel washington terminator ripoff also marked kaley cuoco's film debut.

• Back to Black, a biopic on Amy Winehouse, is set for a May 2024 release.
• The 2024 film will eventually make its way to Peacock.
• A PVOD release date for Back to Black is unknown.

The number of biopics centered around famous singers continues growing with Back to Black , a movie that chronicles the life and career of Amy Winehouse. The 2024 biographical drama film is named after Winehouse's popular 2006 album (and title track) of the same name, which was the British artist's second and last recorded studio album before her tragic death in 2011. Back to Black (the album) was critically acclaimed and received five Grammys at the 2008 ceremony, including Record of the Year (for "Rehab"), Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), Best Pop Vocal Album, and more.

Matt Greenhalgh wrote and Sam Taylor-Johnson directed Back to Black , while actress Marisa Abela stars as Winehouse in the biopic based on the singer-songwriter's life. The 2024 drama mostly focuses on Winehouse's rise to fame but also depicts her on-and-off relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, which served as a major source of inspiration for her music and, in particular, her award-winning album Back to Black . The film has been in the works for several years, and one year after the conclusion of production in early 2023, Back to Black will finally be released in the United States and other territories.

Back To Black Releases In Theaters On May 17, 2024

The movie already premiered in australia & the uk in april 2024.

Focus Features plans to theatrically release Back to Black in the United States on May 17, 2024. However, StudioCanal Limited (a United Kingdom-based production and distribution company) has already debuted the biographical drama in Australia on April 11, 2024, and in the United Kingdom the next day, on April 12, 2024. So, those located in the United States have to wait one month longer than those overseas to watch the biopic revolving around Amy Winehouse's tumultuous life and career.

Amy Winehouse won Best New Artist at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.

Find Showtimes For Back To Black

Theatrical showtimes from Friday, May 17, onward can be found via the links below:

• AMC Theaters
• Alamo Drafthouse

When Will Back To Black Release On Streaming?

Back to black will stream on peacock.

An official streaming premiere date for Back to Black is unknown, but one could estimate when the movie will arrive on streaming based on previous releases. According to Decider , the biopic chronicling Amy Winehouse's life and career will be available to stream on Peacock at a later date (since Focus Features, which NBCUniversal owns, is distributing it in the United States). If Back to Black follows the release strategy of previous Focus Features films, it might come to Peacock around 45 days after its theatrical premiere, meaning it could be streaming in late June or early July.

The upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black releases its first look at star Marisa Abela as the late singer, and the resemblance is uncanny.

When Will Back To Black Release On Digital?

It will be released on pvod at a later date.

Unfortunately, like the streaming release date, Back to Black 's PVOD debut is also unknown. The 2024 biographical drama will undoubtedly be available to rent or buy on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple, YouTube, and more following its theatrical run. But a set date for the movie's digital release has yet to be announced. Until then, fans can venture to theaters to watch Amy Winehouse's true story in Back to Black starting on May 17, 2024.

Back to Black

Back to Black is a biographical drama centering on the life of Amy Winehouse. The movie shows her rise to fame from a young age to adulthood and also covers her struggles with addiction. Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse, with Sam Taylor-Johnson directing the biopic.

Source: Decider

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A species or race was any class of lifeform that had common attributes and were designated by a common name .

• 1 Observations
• 2.1.1 By location
• 2.1.2 By evolution
• 2.1.3 By association
• 2.2 Noncorporeal
• 2.3 Artificial
• 2.4 Trans-dimensional
• 4 External links

Observations [ ]

According to Data , " in the game of military brinksmanship , individual physical prowess is less important than the perception of a species as a whole. " However, according to Worf , if " no one is willing to test that perception in combat [..] then the reputation means nothing. " ( TNG : " Peak Performance ")

Data also " observed that in most species, there is a primal instinct to perpetuate themselves. " ( TNG : " The Offspring ")

Classifications [ ]

Corporeal [ ].

Corporeal lifeforms have a physical body , usually composed of carbon- - or silicon-based cellular structures . Most corporeal species metabolize energy by consuming food or by photosynthesis , and have a finite life cycle consisting of distinct periods of growth, maturity, and senescence. Intelligent corporeal species frequently enhance their capabilities with technology .

By location [ ]

• Alpha and Beta Quadrant species
• Gamma Quadrant species
• Delta Quadrant species
• Extra-galactic species
• Spaceborne species

By evolution [ ]

• Anthropomorphic species
• Humanoid species
• Non-humanoid species
• Omnicordial lifeform

By association [ ]

• Borg species
• Dominion species
• Starfleet species

Noncorporeal [ ]

Non-corporeal species were composed of various forms of coherent gas or energy . Most noncorporeal species absorb and utilize energy directly from their environment. Generally, noncorporeal species do not utilize technology, compensating with intrinsic physiological capabilities. Some noncorporeal species have evolved beyond the need for sustenance, and wield substantial control over space and time .

Artificial [ ]

Artificial lifeforms were usually created by another species, and can be sentient by design or have attained sentience spontaneously. There are two general types of artificial life: The first is a machine constructed from mechanical components. The second is a software program, which is reliant on a suitable computer in which to exist. These programs may manifest themselves physically in the form of holograms , which sometimes developed self-awareness .

Trans-dimensional [ ]

Trans-dimensional beings were lifeforms originating from a reality outside the normal space-time continuum. They can take a variety of forms which may or may not be comparable to those in this universe, depending on the nature of their native realm. Some trans-dimensional species are unable to survive in this universe without assistance.

See also [ ]

• Civilization
• Joined species
• Master race
• Race (species subclassification)
• Shapeshifting species
• Species reassignment protocol
• Telepathic species

External links [ ]

• Species at Wikipedia
• Race at Wikipedia