orion star trek

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Orion (Star Trek)

• View history
• 3 Canon appearances
• 4 Non-canon info

History [ ]

Orion females are known through the galaxy for their beauty and for releasing strong pheromones which make their attraction particularly hard to resist. In at least some occasions, the Orions have been able to take advantage of this to persuade others to do what they want. Orions are a cunning, dangerous and opportunistic species, frequently found involved with conspiracy, piracy and slavery of other species as well as their own. Up until the 23rd century, they tried hard to hide their criminal activities and present themselves as politically neutral. Orion pirates would go to the extreme of committing both murder and suicide in order to maintain the faux image of neutrality of their species.

This apparently changed after the failed incidents on way to the Babel Conference in "Journey to Babel", in which an Orion spy masquerading as an Andorian murdered the Tellarite ambassador in an attempt to prevent Coridan from joining the Federation; so that the Orions could continue to commercially exploit that planet. Decades later, the illegal activities of the Orions had become well known, and the Orion Syndicate was openly acknowledged as one of the most powerful and feared criminal organizations in the Quadrant. Dialogue from a few episodes (e.g. TOS - "What Are Little Girls Made Of"; TAS - "Yesteryear") appears to suggest that the Orion civilization was (possibly still is) a prosperous, scientifically advanced society.

It is further possible that, at least in the scientific field they have a nice relationship with other species; since an episode of Voyager makes mention of the Orion Institute of Cosmology which accepts Human students. At least for the 22nd century, the Orions operated in an area of space adjacent to the Klingon Empire.

In the mirror universe, they were one of the species conquered by the Terran Empire. In the alternative timeline introduced in J. J. Abrams' Star Trek quasi-reboot film it appears that Orions have somehow become members of the Federation.

Gallery [ ]

Canon appearances [ ]

• "The Cage" (actually an illusion)
• "The Menangerie, Part II" (flashback from "The Cage")
• "Journey to Babel" (disguised as an Andorian)
• "Whom Gods Destroy"
• "The Time Trap"
• "The Pirates of Orion"
• "Borderland"
• "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"
• Star Trek (2009 film)

Non-canon info [ ]

Non-canonical works set in the Star Trek universe have greatly expanded what is known about the Orion race, making such interesting claims as to the existence of several other color varieties other than green; the idea that the Orions would often absorb other humanoid species with their own within a single government; that Orion blood could be either orange or green and copper-based much like that of Vulcans ; and that their cells contain chlorophyll (indicating that they either are or evolved from phototrophic lifeforms) and are able to absorb light in the ultraviolet spectrum, which is consistent with the most well known stars in the Orion Belt being huge blue stars which emit highly energetic radiation.

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What are the Orion in Star Trek? Explained

It used to be that if a Star Trek fan talked about an Orion character, they then had to explain the concept of fetishization in sci-fi TV. The concept of the ‘Orion slave girl’ goes way back to Captain Pike sitting around with a bunch of sleazy guys as they leer at an undulating green woman.

Vina (Susan Oliver) was the first Orion ever introduced into Star Trek , but she certainly wasn’t the last. She was, however, the most influential. From The Next Generation to Discovery , the image of the half-dressed or ne’er-do-well Orion has persisted for years. Only recently has that started to change with new Star Trek TV shows .

Who are the Orion in Star Trek ?

They are a green-skinned race of otherwise humanoid beings from the planet Orion. The only thing more advanced than their society is the pervasive stereotypes about them as individuals. There’s the overly sexualized Orion walking around half-dressed, and there’s the stealing Orion with a passion for piracy.

The Original Series brought them in with an emphasis on their seductive nature. Shows like Voyager and Enterprise later gave them a dark edge of criminal tendencies. Newer shows, though, have allowed Orion characters to become more complex. Some like crime, some join Starfleet, and others just want to have a good time.

Related : What are the Trill in Star Trek ? Explained

Notable Orion Characters in Star Trek

Lower Decks has truly taken the cake with Lt. D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells). This newly promoted ensign is on the upward track of her Starfleet career and only time will tell just how far she goes. She’s also one of the first Orion officers that we see in a position of power. In season 4, episode 4, “Something Borrowed, Something Green” we even got a rare glimpse into Orion wedding rituals and their wild club life.

However, not all the new Orion characters deviate from the established norm. Osyraa (Janet Kidder) was the leader of the Orion crime syndicate in Discovery . Her favorite pastime was breaking rules and getting rich (as well as enslaving people). Further explanation of this crime group would require a completely different conversation and a rewatch of Deep Space Nine . Just know that they were bad to the bone.

Starfleet represents the social progress of Humans. At the same time, it often highlights just how much work is yet to be done for other alien races. The easiest explanation is that Orion characters will continue to evolve within Star Trek . They just have a lot of stereotypes to beat in the process.

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Published Dec 21, 2023

5 Things D'Vana Tendi Taught Us About Orion Culture

As one of the few Orions in Starfleet, this junior officer is determined to dispel the stigmas surrounding her species.

StarTrek.com

I just hate that you guys had to see the real me.

D'Vana Tendi, "Something Borrowed, Something Green"

Despite being a culture introduced over 50 years ago in The Original Series, the Orions have remained an elusive enigma, especially to Starfleet.

By the 24th Century, that changes with enlistment of junior science officer D'Vana Tendi. With Star Trek: Lower Decks , we begin to uncover more about the matriarchal society. Across the first four seasons, Tendi has done her best to downplay and conceal her past life as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations. However, while she sometimes feels anger when it comes to others' insensitive assumptions of Orions, she's proud of her culture, just a tad ashamed of her past criminal experiences as an assassin and pirate.

Here are five things we've learned about Orions from passing comments from Tendi to actually visiting the Orion planet with her.

A Matriarchal Society

"We'll Always Have Tom Paris"

In "We'll Always Have Tom Paris," Dr. T'Ana tasks Tendi with retrieving a family heirloom on Qualor II. Tendi invites Mariner on to the mission for a girls trip. Unfortunately, they break the Caitian libido post and end up on a series of detours to fix the escalating damages. They realize they don't know that much about each other after Mariner tells her to use her pheromones to grease their dom-jot game with a couple Nausicaans.

Tendi reveals how hard it was for her to join the Academy due to the stigmas that reduces Orions down to thieves and pirates. That said, Tendi believes her cousin D'Onni who works at a pirate outpost may be able to help them out. Because she turned her back on the family business, D'Onni is apprehensive to even talk to her, worried about the trouble he'd incur with the Orion Syndicate. When a far more confident Tendi puts him in his place, he immediately yields and kisses her boots. It's here that Mariner first hears someone refer to Tendi as the "Mistress of the Winter Constellations." Shocked by what she witnessed, Tendi explains to Mariner that her actions and D'Onni's response was specific to Orions.

The Prime Daughter

"Something Borrowed, Something Green"

When Tendi returns home for her sister's wedding in "Something Borrowed, Something Green," Mariner and T'Lyn accompany her for the triple-threat girls' trip so they can see the secretive planet closed off to outsiders and learn more about Orion culture.

Upon arrival, they learn that the Tendis are the fifth largest family in the Orion Syndicate. In addition to that, they discover that all Orion families have a "Prime," the responsibility and title of the daughter to train as an assassin and protect the family's honor.

We see Tendi's elite training put to the test in "Veritas" when Ransom, mistaking her for The Cleaner, recruits her to his highly classified mission in the Neutral Zone.

'Mone Heads Are a Thing

On the Orion planet, Tendi, Mariner, and T'Lyn find themselves at pheromone pleasure harem. From her years serving aboard the Cerritos with Tendi, Mariner came to realize how offensive it was to believe that all Orion women used pheromones to manipulate men. She ultimately believed it was Starfleet propaganda to uphold these insensitive stereotype to protect one of their own — Captain Scott Bakula (see: " Bound ").

Tendi clarifies not all Orion women control men through the pheromones they emit. Some do, just not her. In fact, Ingreeta, the Orion scentuary's madame notes, "It never mattered she didn't have the pheromones; she didn't need it. Men would simply fall at her feet, stricken!"

An Orion Science Vessel Discovered the Krulmuth-B

"Those Old Scientists"

In " Those Old Scientists ," The Cerritos is dispatched to the planet Krulmuth-B to run routine scans on a time portal located on its surface. Boimler expresses enthusiasm to be at the very spot Captain Pike's crew stood a century prior when they discovered it. However, Tendi counters that it was actually found by an Orion science vessel, the D'Var , which her great-grandmother served aboard, much to Boimler's disbelief.

When Boimler and Mariner accidentally find themselves stuck in the 23rd Century aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise , they disobey temporal protocols in an effort to change Captain Christopher Pike and his crew's perceptions towards Orions, noting how insensitive it is to assume all Orions are pirates, revealing in his time, Orions would serve in Starfleet.

The Enterprise crew also learns that when it comes to negotiations with Orions, it's best to offer a trade, which they view as a gesture of respect.

Barter by Combat

"Old Planets, New Friends"

In "Old Planets, New Friends," Mariner is trapped on the disgraced ex-Starfleet Academy cadet Nick Locarno's ship in the Detrion System, which is protected by a Trynar shield. Intent on saving her friend, Tendi heads back home to appeal to her sister D'Erika to let them borrow an Orion battleship.

Uninterested, D'Erika dismisses them, leading Tendi to invoke a "barter by combat," where each party selects a champion to fight for their cause in a battle arena. Tendi's fighter ultimately loses, forcing her to make good on her end of the bargain — leaving Starfleet to return to Orion and help D'Erika run their family's crime syndicate. An in true Orion fashion, D'Erika throws them a bone and gives them a battleship, except it's an inoperable one.

It's not all a lost cause as Starfleet Command praises Captain Freeman for opening diplomatic relations with the Orions for the first time.

We'll have to wait until Season 5 to learn more about the Orion planet and its culture, which series showrunner Mike McMahan promises a lot more of !

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• Orion culture
• Humanoid species
• Races and cultures
• Beta Quadrant races and cultures
• Klingon servitor species
• View history
• 1.1.1 Pheromones
• 1.1.2 Orion women
• 1.1.3 Orion men
• 1.2.1 Opportunism and egocentricity
• 1.2.2 Materialism and hedonism
• 1.2.3 Barbarism and decadence
• 1.2.4 Loyalty and leadership
• 1.2.5 Revenge and Cluros
• 1.2.6 Deception
• 1.2.7 Care and love
• 1.2.8 Suicide and life
• 1.3.1 Family and Caju
• 1.3.2 Class and slavery
• 1.5 Business and crime
• 1.6 Pirates and mercenaries
• 1.7 Diplomacy
• 1.8 Science and archaeology
• 1.9 Technology
• 1.10 Starships
• 1.11 Culture
• 1.12 Beliefs
• 1.13 Combat
• 1.14 Fashion
• 1.15 History
• 1.16 Language and names
• 2.1 Background
• 2.2.1 Appearances
• 2.2.2 References
• 2.3 External links

History and specifics [ ]

In their own language, they were referred to as Ur'eon [1] or Kolari . [2] The name "Orion" was derived from the Orion constellation . [3]

The Orions had a number of sub-races, including the Green Orions (covered here), the Ruddy Orions , the Grey Orions , the rare halfbreeds , and muni , or "blends," consisting of other colors and races. They absorbed a number of other races into their culture, also known as Orion, but of limited numbers or presence. [4] [5] These absorbed races might include the Etoshans and Duthulhiv , [6] [7] a gray-skinned reptilian variety [8] , and a slimy purple variety . [9]

Biology [ ]

Orions were humanoids that possessed the same size and build of an average Human , though they could range from slightly smaller to somewhat taller and more massive, [2] or more slender. Average heights ranged from 1.8 to 2 meters, with average mass ranging from 75 to 80 kilograms. [10] Males averaged at 1.7 meters and 70 kilograms, while females averaged at 1.5 meters and 60 kilograms. [4]

Their external physical characteristics were close to those of humans, though their features tended towards aquiline noses and sharp chins. However, Orion physiology and copper-based blood chemistry were more similar to that of a Vulcan , with skin tones ranging from emerald to dark-olive greens [8] [10] [11] [2] , due to both their copper blood and the chlorophyll in their skin cells. [10] This green skin darkened in strong sunlight. [4] They could have either green blood, [12] or orange blood. [13] [1]

Black was the most common eye-color, followed by lighter shades of green. Some Orions (called "erratics") had very different eye colors: blue, brown, gold, yellow, even pink and silver. [4] Orion women could have very distinctive bright blue eyes. [8] Ocular compounds to treat vision disorders, such as Retinax V did not work well on Orions. [5]

Some Orions tended to be hairy, with body hair common among both men and women, which was seen as a mark of distinction, though baldness in older men was not uncommon. Generally, they had thick black hair with metallic green highlights. [4] Hair was generally black or chestnut brown. [10] [2] However, a great many Orions were seen to be practically hairless, with even young men bald and lacking body hair. [14] [15] In old age, they developed white hair. [16]

The Orions evolved under a blue-white sun with a similar spectrography to Rigel , with that system possibly being their home system. Thanks to their chlorophyll, their green-pigmented skin absorbed ultraviolet radiation, keeping them relatively immune to its harmful effects and somewhat resistant to radiation in general. [10] [2] They were possibly naturalized stabilized against radiation, in the manner of a radiation stabilizer . [1]

They were also physically stronger than most other humanoid races (save Vulcans ), [4] [17] though their musculature and powerful builds may have been due in part to a life of manual labor. [4] They also had increased endurance. Though highly charismatic, they had reduced intelligence and capacity for psionics . [5]

They had metabolic ratios quite different from that of a human [18] and a 10 degree difference in body temperature [13] (whether higher or lower is not clear), and Orion gourmands tended toward obesity, with no member of the species enjoying the concept of being underweight. [2]

They lived about 90 standard years, [4] with the effects of old age setting in after 60. [5]

A pancreas was once successful transplanted between an Orion and an African Cape buffalo . [19]

Orions, or the women at least, needed a number of short sleeps, instead of one long one. [20]

Pheromones [ ]

Orions tended to smell, not due to lack of hygiene as some believed, but due to their natural skin oils. Distinctive, though not unpleasant, the scent was unnoticeable after a few minutes of exposure. However, it was heavily laden with pheromones that affected the subconscious of most humanoid races. The effect was soothing, and ten minutes in a sizable group of Orions drained tension. Orions found it hard to stay angry in a group, but a strong emotion, such as rage, fear or desire, altered the scent, and though it did not compel others, it did make them susceptible to that particular mood. Unless a humanoid was aware of this, they could find their emotions subtly altered. It was hazardous to be among a group of angry, frightened or panicky Orions, as their mood was literally contagious. [4]

Some Orion females also produced large amounts of a powerful chemical pheromone that generally acted like a love potion . [15] [21] It had a range of effects on different species and sexes. In a Human male (and likely in males of most humanoid races , including Orions), it accelerated the metabolism and increased adrenaline levels, inducing aggression and delusion, and generally making him highly suggestible to the Orion woman who produced it. In this way, they became enthralled to the Orion woman. Human females, on the other hand, suffered a different, more negative effect, experiencing headaches and lethargy. Denobulan males experienced interrupted sleep cycles and extreme tiredness while Vulcan women were immune to any effects. Human males that were telepathically linked to a female Vulcan could also become immune to the pheromone. [15] A Klingon male could experience a pheromonal shock due to the rush of hormones ; allegedly, this could potentially be deadly for a young male. [20] This made Klingons especially susceptible to an Orion woman's influence. [21] It should be noted that not all females have this ability, with Ensign Tendi of Cerritos expressing annoyance on more than one occasion of the stereotype that all orion females have this ability.

The effects of the pheromones were cumulative, such that a longer or more intense exposure resulted in more pronounced symptoms. Doctor Phlox postulated in 2154 that the pheromones acted as a defensive mechanism against competition. [15]

Orion males apparently had similar pheromones to the women, though they were much less pronounced. [22]

Orion women [ ]

Leata , an Orion woman.

Orion women were famously irresistibly sexually attractive, and though some of this reputation may have derived from marketing hype by dealers in Orion slave girls , most Orion women were considered beautiful and charming seducers. [10] They were known for their extreme "appetites" and very few men were known to be able to resist their approaches. [23] They had a heat cycle that drove their mating instincts, which increased when they were 'in heat'. [24]

Orion women had long, sharp nails, almost like claws, which they could use as weapons. They also had a much greater physical dexterity than Orion men. [25]

There was thought to be a subcaste of the Orion race that possessed animalistic qualities, giving rise to the legend of the "Orion animal woman". [11] They were claimed to be less intelligent and behaved in a semi-animalistic fashion. [25] It was unknown if these traits indicated a subspecies or a genetic alteration [11] or were simply a myth based on their legendary sexual appetites, violence and savage Orion behavior. [4] It may have derived simply from a lack of educational opportunities. [25]

Orion pharmacologists developed a pheromonal treatment that vastly increased the user's sexual appeal at the risk of some degradation of the superego and other higher brain functions (resulting in, for example, animalistic impatience, blood-lust, reduced intelligence, inability to concentrate, a vulnerability to psychic assault, or a decreased will). This only worked on Orions. It might have been the origin of the myth of the Orion animal woman, or it might been developed to fulfill the myth and satisfy the resulting market. [2]

Orion men [ ]

Orion males could shrug off a low-powered phaser hit (such as from a hand phaser or Phaser One ) with only minor injuries instead of death, unless a vital organ was struck. [8]

Psychology [ ]

The Orion mind was complicated and thought in complicated ways, making them difficult for others to understand. There were five basic facets to the common Orion’s way of thinking: opportunism, egocentricity, materialism, hedonism, and barbarity. [4] They also had four primary motives: profit, loyalty, revenge, and spite. [5]

Opportunism and egocentricity [ ]

Orions had a skill and reputation for finding advantages and comparing chances and risks, and the drive to seize an opportunity, no matter how unusual the means, and either profit or get away safely. This opportunism could make them very dangerous, but it was balanced by their flaws. [4]

Their egocentricity made them confident and proud of their abilities and plans, of their cunning, strength, wealth and connections, and they weren’t afraid to show off and let everyone else know about it. This extended beyond themselves, making Orions proud of and loyal to their families, their companies and other groups they belonged to, their ships if they were spacefarers, to their stations in Orion society, and to the Orion species in general. These attitudes however could lead to overconfidence and showing off more than they should. [4]

Materialism and hedonism [ ]

Materialism was a dominant factor. An important, never-ignored ethical principle of the Orions was that value had to be given for value received, or in other words, that one couldn't get something for nothing. Everything had a cost, not just in money, but in time, effort, reputation or blood. Everything gained had a purpose, whether it was for personal enrichment, the sake of one's leader, revenge or other motives, though in the 23rd century there was a growing trend for Orions to trade value for intangibles that had little to do with seeking profit. These habits made them quite efficient and practical. [5] Thus, material value was a universal language, a necessary standard to rely on and the foundation of business and diplomacy. This was comfort and sincerity to the Orions. They were talented at estimating value, and cared deeply for material things. Everything had a price, even things that most others took for granted – a common Orion joke was the value of sunsets, clouds and dust. Orion mothers even sold cookies to their children (albeit with a loving kiss). Meanwhile, Orion slaves bartered their labor for food, shelter and protection.

As a result of this materialism, Orions were a hedonistic race, who lived as well as they could within their means and aimed to enjoy life as much as they could afford. There was no virtue in being or acting impoverished. Orions pursued extremes of luxury, comfort, fineries, entertainment, indulgence, and great displays of wealth and used these things to outdo and impress each other. [4] They tended to delight in partaking in the more civilized vices. [2] Living well and letting others know about it was a point of pride, a display of their success and potential to help others achieve the same.

Barbarism and decadence [ ]

They were often called barbaric by members of other races, even Klingons , presumably for their practice of slavery, piracy and general hedonism. In return, some claimed to be merely decadent; they could not be barbarians after their long history , when they'd travelled through space when other races couldn’t cross their oceans. The Orions did not disagree with any negative portrayal of themselves; instead, they enjoyed their reputations. Being deceitful and treacherous had made them rich and helped them conquer worlds, and that was all they’d desired. They had no great racial destiny and thought it pointless to argue about it, even if they seemed stagnant and purposeless as a result. [4]

With a lost heritage, [5] an ancient history and a decadent culture, that both overshadowed and liberated them, [2] they were left cynical and materialistic, looking out only for themselves, seeking wealth and enjoying it, and leaving dreams of conquest, glory and utopian visions to others. The Orions called it being practical, [10] tending to be realists and pragmatists who scoffed at all ideologies [11] and felt that life was too short to waste on rules or morality. [2] Thus they were not bound by any set of restraints, rules, laws or codes of honor, [5] [8] nor did they have an overarching philosophy to justify their behavior. [11]

Loyalty and leadership [ ]

Orion customs and traditions encouraged group loyalty and mutual protection, [11] and they were loyal to family, company and anything else they were a member of. They believed that true friends could never be bought, and that loyalty was bound to blood alone, and that while money could not replace love and devotion, it was more reliable. [4] The strength of their loyalty was according to the responsibility and care the object of it took for them, the size of the group and the understanding its members had for one another. Greatest of all was one’s own family, which took total care of its members and demanded absolute loyalty in return, and small groups were almost as close-knit. Last was government, where loyalty and responsibility were both nearly nonexistent. In the middle lay companies and corporations. In general, the larger a group was, the less loyalty and responsibility was shared. [5]

Because of this loyalty-spectrum, Orions had a reputation for treachery, selfishness and deceit. But while Orion society was fast-paced, turbulent and filled with twists of fortune, such behavior was not random or only selfish, but followed certain standards of conduct, with specific goals and ideals, in which they frequently rearranged their limits and obligations to one another. [5] Orions did not work at being treacherous; it was a byproduct of their self-centered world-view. [4] However, they were not anarchists, nor completely uncoordinated and uncooperative, but had a fine and often-used sense of compromise, negotiation, and give-and-take. When (not if) arrangements changed, new arrangements were made to suit the new situation. [5]

Despite being individualists, Orions admired and respected talented and charismatic leaders, particularly tahedrin (patriarchs) and rhadamanen (captains and archexecutives), people who stood for an ideal, who could not be swayed, bought, or shamed, who proved their cluros . Such a person could undermine or even win over their foes, and get others to follow them. Orions trusted such a leader and would do almost anything for them, ignoring personal gain and ambition: workers and slaves labored hard for a good boss, pirates would die for a respected captain. Rather than surrendering their individualism or personal feelings to such a leader, they saw through them a greater goal, a shared profit, or a better future for everyone. But too many mistakes or too little gain would break the spell, and the leadership would collapse, with Orions reverting to plotting and selfishness – at least until the next great leader came along. Otherwise, Orions had little faith in government or impersonal authority. [5]

Whatever the group or their loyalty, wearing uniforms and badges was not common, and Orions did not ask for another's affiliation, family or employer, and if they were asked they were under no particular compulsion to reveal it. Orions rarely went even by their family names, unless they were particularly powerful. However, imposters falsely adopting a famous or powerful name risked a heavy punishment from actual members, who didn’t like being mocked and wished to protect their good name. [5]

Revenge and Cluros [ ]

Revenge and spite were important to the Orions, though they could go to great lengths to hide the depths of their loss, grief or rage from their foes, in keeping with their code of cluros , which encouraged self-control and a cool head. They could even join or become apparent friends with their hated target. All of this was to avoid alerting a foe until it was too late. Making an effort simply to spite another went against typical Orion greed and hedonism – there was no one word for 'spite' – but it held an attraction for that reason, and was easily rationalized. [5] Instead of treating these vendettas as matters of life and death, Orions played them as amusing games; only some held actual grudges. [2] Orions were known to swear vengeance oaths on their enemies, and could appreciate a desire for revenge in others. [1] They could also hire ganzu , or revenge societies, to get back at their enemies. [4]

Said by some to be the highest expression of Orion culture, the code of cluros , meaning 'cold' or 'coolness', was a code of conduct that encouraged self-control and a cool head, and attempted to curb their excesses. By cluros , an Orion would attempt to hide their hurts, stay calm and even grinning in the face of danger or loss, and remain charming and polite to even their enemies and victims, no matter the provocation, all while attempting to get another to break theirs. [4] Thus, Orions were typically known for their charm and influence, with a ready tongue and a good attitude, and they’d project a personality somewhere between a stylish devil-may-care humor and cheerful self-confidence at their best, and a tired cynicism and brash arrogance at their worst. They enjoyed mocking and taunting helpless foes while charming powerful allies. [2]

Deception [ ]

They also not above convincing foes to fight against each other instead, as they were always happy to risk others for their own cause. They were equally willing to run from a fight that they could not win. They watched others instead, plotted and waited to backstab the victor at the right moment. [2] They were also shrewd and savvy, good at sensing lies, motives and subterfuge while masking their own intentions. They had a talent for conspiracy, intrigue, and navigating a criminal underworld. [10] [2] No Orion who could still speak was considered powerless, and all were talented at wielding power behind the scenes, [4] as well as obeying the letter of a law while evading its spirit. [5] However, this did not mean that Orions necessarily lied, cheated, and stole to get their way, no more so than any other race, as getting caught was bad for their reputation. [4]

Few outsiders could say they understood Orions or knew the truth about them, and sources of information on them tended to disagree. This mystery was because Orions enjoyed puzzles, contradictions, and paradoxes, and liked to sow confusion among outsiders and to tell lies, [4] often misleading both each other and non-Orions about their true motives. They felt no need to clear up misconceptions about them. To the Orions, knowledge was power, and confusion and misconception a weapon. [5]

Care and love [ ]

A high ideal of Orions was to become so successful that they could care for others; this manifested in owning slaves, starting a family, founding a colony, and in a wealthy corporation taking good care of its employees. It was a mark of ostentation that one's people were well cared for; the better they lived, the better one looked. Such care and responsibility also earned loyalty, respect and trust. [5]

Orions believed that true love lasted forever, whether it was between friends, partners or life-mates. This love lasted past death or when another partner entered the picture, and was respected and honoured. When a friend or lover died, this continuing love honoured their memory. [26]

Suicide and life [ ]

Despite a general love of life and self-centeredness, Orions had a long history of committing suicide , either by doing it themselves or by provoking others into killing them. Their reasons could be to uphold their causes, to preserve the secrecy of their missions and their neutrality , to get revenge on their foes, to save themselves from being captured, and even at the order of a respected captain. Well-known examples of Orion suicide ranged from the legend of Lady Katam to the martyrdom of Julin Hyrax the Brave to the Laxala Incident , [5] and the common practice of destroying one's own ship and any nearby enemies, used by the Orion Space Navy , pirates , and desperate merchants alike. [5] [28] [29] [30] One particular form of suicide was Vyun-pashan . [27]

However, this did not mean that life and death were cheap to the Orions. Suicide was a last resort, when all other options had been exhausted, and it was intended for the good of one's people at the cost of oneself. It could be carefully planned, and preparations were both mental and physical, and took a great deal of courage. Even so, when even suicide would not meet their goals, they would choose to live. They had an essential respect for life, and would act to preserve it where possible. At heart, their morals were sound, even if the practice and face of them were not. [27]

Even pirates respected life, to a point. In an Orion pirate raid, compliant and unresisting crews were usually left unharmed. Pirates who took captives and hostages took cares not to mistreat them while they sought a ransom. If they could not get one, then they generally stranded them some place. Pirates who killed off innocent captives just to save some money horrified other Orions, who saw them as savage barbarians. Other pirates would even set a bounty on their heads to ensure that they were hunted down and killed for their crimes. However, crews that fought back after being boarded were free to be slaughtered. [4] [5]

Society [ ]

The Orions were, in general, a reclusive people who shunned contact with outsiders and stayed close to their home systems. They maintained their neutrality and avoided joining with any of the neighboring superpowers, though this could have been a cover for their illicit activities. [27] The Outer Dark characterized their fears of the space beyond their own, of unknown regions from which few returned. "Sensible" and "civilized" Orions stayed at home to make their fortunes, while adventurous pirates, merchants and explorers probed its edges, and new Colonies pushed it back, [4] but few liked to go too far into it. [9] However, they also tended to be semi-nomadic, at least between their Colonies. [5]

Family and Caju [ ]

The family model was the basis for all Orion society, their oldest and most resilient form of organization. Hierarchy in the family was determined mostly by seniority and gender. The tahedri , or patriarch, was the dominant authority figure in the family, respected for his age and position. He decided how members conducted themselves, arranged marriages, found jobs for their sons, found husbands and dowries for their daughters, organized care for the sick, and ran the family business if they had one. The tabadi , or matriarch, technically had only minimal say in these things, but could wield a great deal of influence, even if only by compromise and negotiation.

A retiring or dying tahedri appointed his successor, usually his eldest son or otherwise the oldest, most closely related male family member, preferably from amongst his descendants. However, depending on the size of the family and the capability of the immediate candidates, he could instead appoint a woman, a younger person, or even multiple replacements. However, no matter the respect for the previous tahedri , almost every new leader abandoned his predecessor's plans and style and chose a new path.

A tahedri took pride in a happy, healthy, prosperous, and unified family. Such a state did not come easily; maintaining a family over the generations meant never-ending struggle, compromise, and continual readjustment against constant changes. Most importantly, news of internal conflict could never reach the ears of outsiders. In divided families, members plotted to get around a still-respected tahedri' s commands. In the worst and rarest cases, children rebelled against parents, and even violence broke out. However, one’s own family was the very last place an Orion could expect to be betrayed.

Successful families attracted alliances, marriages and business deals with other families which sought to improve their fortunes by association. By linking in this way, they formed clans, webs of interdependent families, with thousands of members and one powerful family at its heart, wielding significant strength and influence. [4] [5]

The heads of these clans were the great families, or caju , and they loosely organized Orion society. Each caj functioned as a merchant house, operating primarily around trade but also managing Orion governments and various aspects of their civil life. The caju took care of their own. [2] They dominated local Orion politics, and entire planets were governed by one or a handful of ruling families whose name and word was law. [4] [10] Where government, law and other institutions were weak and disrespected, families were flexible and personal, and Orions admired individuals with authority and personality. The tahedri or tabadi of a ruling family was well known, much-loved and close to his or her people. [5]

Class and slavery [ ]

Ruddy Orions

Orion society was quite stratified and discriminated between its members based on color, gender, wealth, power, family and profession, and attention was paid to social class, ranks, titles and a person's "honor", with many fine distinctions. Those who had more were more respected and better off than those who did not. Having connections with those who did was also useful. The divisions were firm, but not absolute, and people could rise upwards with effort and skill. Those who rose from poverty and obscurity to riches and fame were greatly admired, but those who fell so low or consorted too much with their inferiors were scorned. Uppermost were the nobility, the leaders of industry and trade, and starship captains (characterized by Ruddy Orions ). Below them were the middle-class workers, the laborers, the soldiers and the slaves (mainly Green Orions), who comprised the vast majority of the population. [4] At the very bottom were the lower-class poor, the outright impoverished and those who lived on the streets, called "slime". Meanwhile outside and off the social scale altogether lay Grey Orion scientists and technical experts, slave girls and halfbreeds . [5]

The system was patriarchal and male-dominated at every level. Women only had a say in the home, and even there it was minimal, depending on negotiation and compromise. [4] Some Orion women were held in a state of semi-slavery by Orion men, [25] and were generally undereducated and semi-literate, helping to give rise to the myth of the "Orion animal woman". [25] [31] and the legendary Orion slave girls . [4] However, there were exceptions; it was not impossible for a woman to inherit a family and skilled women could rise to positions of authority, and were typically very good at what they did. Orion women were just as capable as their men, and they were just as talented at wielding power behind the scenes. [4]

However, although it appeared that Orion females were slaves to the males, the Orion privateer Harrad-Sar would claim to Captain Jonathan Archer in 2154 that the opposite was in fact true: it was the men who were subservient to the women, apparently due to the effect of their pheromones. [15]

These social classes affected an Orion's education opportunities and employment prospects. Those lower down typically had to work longer, while those higher up with the connections could call in enough favors to advance through the ranks quickly. Traders, diplomats, spies and starship captains, helmsmen, navigators, and tactical officers were more likely to be upper-class. Meanwhile, those in the fields of engineering, security, technology, communications, medicine, and science were more likely to be middle- and low-class – if they could get the education for their fields (thus, skilled work fell mainly in the middle-classes). Conversely, upper-class members were limited in such areas, and practically banned from security and medicine. These divisions were stricter in the Orion Space Navy . [5]

T'Pol being auctioned in an Orion slave market.

A fundamental component of Orion society was the practice of Orion slavery , which supported much of their economy and culture, and was governed by customs, contracts and laws. The practice dated back to their very earliest history, when the Orion species was a slave-race. Specific forms of slavery were Orion slave girls and Grey Orions . [5] They were also known to capture and sell alien slaves. [14]

The long history of their species meant that Orion merchants, criminals, mercenaries, pirates, and settlers had carried their kind across worlds through the Alpha and Beta Quadrants . [2] Space inspired the Orions, and exploration provided opportunities for wealth, power and fame. The spacefaring professions were highly respected [4] and coveted, whether they were merchants, pirates, or Space Navy . The actual work did not matter, only that it was in space. [5] Even the captain of a single small ship was held in high regard, with wealthy and powerful business leaders honored to be his acquaintance. For their adventure and resistance to foreign powers, even Orion pirates were cool and popular. [4]

But highest of all were the Explorers, the elite of Orion spacers. They were pure adventurers, opportunists who scouted for trade and resources, conducted their own business, interfered in primitive worlds and indulged in a little piracy when nothing better was available. They were not quite pirates or merchants, but a little bit of both and much more: they were Orions who had no restrictions, no bases, nothing to hold them down or stop them. They went where they pleased, even space claimed by another. Their activities usually went against the laws of other powers, and they risked death in the worst cases. The life of an Explorer was short but adventurous; the best knew to get out when they could.

A young Orion of age 18 could actually train to become an Explorer, through Explorer Basic Training . This was like a boarding school, and was the hardest training course of any spacefaring Orion group, teaching a wide variety of skills over four years with little time for leisure. Of course, being Orion, having the right connections was a great advantage. All this was considered worthwhile for the future glory. This did not necessarily bring them any more than that, however; Orion traders tended to have more wealth and power, and could even employ Explorers. [5]

Business and crime [ ]

Business was at the core of Orion society, and making money was its goal. Money bought authority, respect, comfort and funded their hedonistic lifestyles. [4] They sought any business venture, no matter how shady, to afford more of their vices, [2] and to avoid the terrible and shameful state of being completely broke. [5] On the other hand, they had a tradition of hard work for low wages (likely through slavery). [4] Generally, Orions advocated a total free market economy , with no restrictions or exclusions, in all areas of space. [32] Rather than pay taxes or the like, Orions preferred to keep their money within the family. [33]

Every Orion understood the importance of business and every Orion could be called a merchant, while their professional traders and businessmen were exceptionally talented. [4] [5] However, this made them run into the Ferengi on some occasions; the Orions considered them to be nothing more than ridiculous stereotypes with ludicrous habits and lacking class. Unlike the Ferengi, the Orions possessed no 'rules of acquisition'. [2]

Orions had a tendency to take the quickest and cheapest path to achieving their goals, even if it broke the law. This was not a matter of contempt or culture, but simple practicality. If sufficiently paid or restricted, Orions were quite capable of obeying a law, at least to the letter of it. [4] But, preferably, they would not be caught dead following any form of law. [2] Thus Orion business merged smoothly into Orion crime.

In Orion terms, the goal of business was to make people happy, both themselves and their clients and customers. They showed great courtesy to them, and made sure that were comfortable and happy, even when planning to betray or murder them later. Keeping the customer happy was their goal, even if it meant engaging in a criminal trade with them, even drugs, slave labor or weapons smuggling. [4] They found the idea of banning certain products incomprehensible, on the basis that someone, somewhere, was willing to pay for it. Merchant ships would carry anything if they could trade it, and didn't see smuggling as a crime. [10] In their defense, the Orions claimed never to force anyone into anything, only filling an existing need in the name of business.

This backfired, however, as Orion businesses tended to be distrusted and shunned by other races who knew of their reputation. It was hard to know what exactly what one was getting involved in when dealing with Orions. [4] Even an honestly legitimate business might trade with criminals, suddenly decide to engage in something sensitive or illegal, or be bought by another company with no qualms whatsoever. Then it was difficult to get out. [5] Avoiding them wasn't always possible, as Orions were the best choices in certain areas, usually quick, dirty and cheap. [4] They had a knack for deceit and criminal activity, and on many worlds, they soon settled into the local underworld to corrupt and co-opt black- and gray-market traders and other underworld figures for their own ends. [10] [2] As a result, Orions made up a significant proportion of the galaxy's criminal underworld, particularly in illegal gambling, smuggling, protection schemes, and so on. [4] However, Orions weren't all criminals; most were honest, ordinary people and merchants who minded their own business and even followed the law. [11] Legitimate Orion governments endeavored to disassociate ordinary Orions from the criminal reputation of their kin, but criminal organizations such as the Orion Syndicate were generally more powerful. [34]

The Orion Syndicate was one of the major criminal organizations of the galaxy.

Pirates and mercenaries [ ]

Some merchants supplemented their income with piracy against alien ships. [10] Telling a pirate from a merchant could be a difficult task and entirely depended on which way the weapons are pointing - if one was armed, then the Orion was a merchant. [2]

The great merchant houses and corporations commonly hired mercenaries and privateers in their feuds and wars over markets and trade routes. However, when the wars were over, these mercenaries and privateers turned to piracy until the next one. [10] Those Orions that became soldiers tended to drift into a career of piracy or mercenary work, as they possessed little patience for a regimented life, nor did they enjoy taking orders or wearing dull uniforms. [2]

Diplomacy [ ]

Opportunistic and with a skill for finding advantages and comparing risks, Orions made formidable negotiators and clever diplomats, who enjoyed matching wits with their opponents as if it were a game. Their politics were full of intrigue, bluffs, concealed motives, and outright confidence trickery, and delaying and being annoying for the sake of it. [4] They played games of double- or even triple-crosses to increase their own profits, and saw not a conflict of interest but an understandable compensation for their efforts.

Many diplomats served dual roles as spies, producing both real and invented secrets, and Orion women in the bedchambers of important officials on frontier worlds gave them an extra edge in information and influence. [2] Due to their neutrality , Orions could work as spies for the Klingons and other Federation rivals, for the Federation itself, or for both. [10]

Science and archaeology [ ]

Some of the more ancient Orion civilizations produced amazing scientific and technological wonders, but few Orions in modern times still practiced in the fields of science. There were however a number of archaeologists who scoured the ruins of other worlds. Most Federation archaeologists would call them tomb raiders, but either way they often had otherwise unobtainable information or artifacts from Tkon , Debrune or Iconian ruins. [2] Ancient Orion ruins were also a prime target, with no shortage of funding for an excavation, in the hope of recovering lost arts and technology. Rumors persisted of still-functioning machines lying in deep ruins. Unfortunately, these ruins were at the mercy of time and the elements, and fell prey to treasure hunters and art thieves who hacked and blasted their way through, obliterating records, archaeology and Orion history alike. [4]

Technology [ ]

The Orion habit of stealing the ideas of others and putting them to practical, profitable use was a survival skill from the very beginning of their history, and continued to be vital to their civilization. Almost all their technology and knowledge was copied from others now forgotten, including antigravity , antimatter manipulation, warp drive and terraforming techniques. Thus Orions were on par technologically with their neighbors.

However, most Orion technology and products tended to be cheap imitations, forgeries and knock-offs, with cut corners, inferior parts, falsified quality, and a complete disregard for durability, copyright or patent laws. It was cheaper and more profitable to do this, and surprisingly, the forgers were less expensive and in greater demand than genuine artisans. The very best forgers, when well paid, could produce excellent products indistinguishable from the originals, but most only wanted cheap, crude copies to make a bigger profit. Thus, Orions had a reputation for cheap, short-lived, low-quality, high-gloss products. This was tolerable in basic items, but vital components in life support, transportation and spacecraft were downright dangerous.

This was an irritating problem for the Federation , but not one easily policed by Starfleet . It had mixed benefits however; technology crossed the Klingon Neutral Zone between the Federation and the Klingon Empire , and potentially the Romulan Star Empire too, enabling each power to learn of the other technological advances.

Despite the close resemblance, Orion products were distinguishable by their over-wrought design, intended to catch a buyer's eye. They featured elaborate decorations, filigrees, stylish trim, showy ornamentation and racing stripes, all of it useless and tacky. There were native Orion designs as well, which over equivalent Federation technologies were notable for their simpler design, smaller size, and greater efficiency, as well as their high price, great rarity and nigh-uselessness. These curious novelties were designed for comfort, entertainment, and indulgence, and most such items tended to be closely guarded museum pieces, with only research value. These devices were surviving examples of techniques lost to modern Orions, and sometimes unknown even to 23rd century Federation science. Some were still in limited use and production, found in furniture and kitchens, implying that someone, somewhere, was still manufacturing them, but trading them only to Orions. These neat gadgets were rarely available to outsiders.

Examples of such gadgets included holo-movies , books that produced their own reading lights, unfading luminescent paste jewelry , dustless floors, musical fountains, holographic tapestries with moving figures, and living carpets that grew and smelled like grassy meadows. In the kitchens, there were knives that didn’t cut living flesh, stoves that didn’t use heat or radiation, and devices capable of turning raw ingredients into complete meals at the press of a button (possibly like a replicator ). A device in a privately owned Orion museum could polish any surface: soft plastics were easier than granite, but theoretically it could even do newly forged neutronium . It was hand-held, emitted no detectable radiation, and was yet to run out of power. And though Orion aircars used Federation antigravity units, there was Orion antigravity furniture using much tinier units that could not be examined without being broken, while in a ruin heavily guarded by a planetary ruling family there was an antigravity table that could not be moved without being destroyed by the force necessary to free it. [4]

Starships [ ]

The very first Orion starships were actually stolen from other races. Even when they finally built their own, the designs were taken from captured or thoroughly examined existing vessels. These were crude copies at first, but time and practice gave the early Orion shipwrights the skills to construct near-exact duplicates. Eventually these would be modified to suit their purposes, with stronger warships or disguised vessels designed to confuse or hide a piratical purpose. Eventually they would design their own, but in recent centuries they returned to copying others, such that most modern Orion vessels were of alien design (though Romulan vessels were rarely imitated for lack of opportunity to study them). These copies could be so exact that sensors could not tell them apart, and one needed to examine ship's papers and serial numbers instead. A number of used starships on the market were in fact new Orion imitations. [4]

Other Orion ships were pieced-together from salvage or bought whole from the surplus of other starfaring states, [11] and could be quite primitive. They could skimp on expenses and comforts, and used many cost-cutting measures instead, no matter how dangerous. Some still utilized nuclear fission of first-stage matter , as a power-source, calling it the time-honoured methods of their ancestors. Orion pirate vessels with such a power source left behind a distinctive trail of radioactive waste. [1]

Entirely new Orion starship designs were only made long after the Orion War , though timid architects continued to mimic aspects of others rather than deviate from standard practice. Their designs tended to be uninspired, unimaginative, and utilitarian. However, at their greatest, they possessed the records and technology of many civilizations, some older or more powerful, and they had even surpassed the impulse engine for the paragravitic drive , technology that the Federation had yet to discover by the late 23rd century . Much of this technology and knowledge was lost in the Reverse , with only pieces surviving in wrecks, lost records and ruins, waiting to be rediscovered by archaeological engineers.

What did survive consisted of ancient formulae, algorithms, and data tables to determine configurations of components, precise and comprehensive, based on centuries of experience with the capabilities of native Orion vessels and rarely applicable to Federation vessels. There were many instructions along the lines of "if you do this, you get that, so add these". Such designs had very little margin of error, and required a high quality and reliability that was no longer available in Orion shipyards. Maintenance was an expensive hassle, and exceeding the capabilities was even more dangerous than for Starfleet or Klingon ships. Therefore, there were few ships of native Orion design in operation, commissioned by only the wealthiest owners and trusted only to the best crews and officers.

Native-designed Orion civilian starships were commonly couriers, freighters, liners and the popular "Rigel yachts". Small and efficient warships were easier to build, so there were a few corvettes and elderly frigates, but none to overpower any front-line warship of local superpowers like Starfleet, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire . Starfleet Intelligence closely watched Orion shipyards in case an old-style, large and efficient warship was ever built. Only two out of three kilometer-wide colony ships remained in orbital museums. And of course there was a vast array of pirate vessels, but despite popular tales, there were (allegedly) no slave ships.

Like the rest of their counterfeit technology, Orion-made ersatz starships were equally lacking in quality, utilizing substandard parts, cheaper materials, and lower quality control and manufacturing standards. They required frequent repairs and overhauls. Orion starships were also often highly decorated, to the point of being ugly. They included unnecessary fins and masts, non-functioning antennas, racing stripes and complex geometric designs engraved on the hull. Intimidating pirates might have been the aim, but this did little good. Even starships closely copied from Federation and Klingon designs, including the sickbays, had fully Orion-style galleys and equipment. [4]

Orion courier vessels tended to have maximum speed for fast delivery, but only minimal cargo space. Such designs could include a ramscoop with a double compression chamber. [35]

Culture [ ]

Orion slave girls

Culture itself was a tool to the Orions. When contacting a new client or making a first deal, Orion traders and diplomats worked hard to be as similar to those they dealt with as possible and to know all they could about them. When dealing with another race or culture, they spoke the other’s language, adopted the correct customs and matched them for behavior, even to the smallest and even unconscious details. For an individual, they studied their habits, preferences, prejudices, strengths and weaknesses. They were careful not to let the image slip, in case it made the other party suspicious. Though the purpose of all this was to understand exactly what a client wanted, it also showed them what they wanted to see, and gave an Orion trader an edge in the relationship.

However, as each grew more familiar with each other, elements of Orion culture gradually crept in, beginning with simple furniture and ending with banquets complete with musicians and dancers. The Orions called this a lowering of their guard, to allow the other to see their ways. They showed off their opulent culture, charm and success, and made sure that their clients were comfortable and happy. It also shifted the initiative to themselves and placed a non-Orion under pressure, when they found such practices unprofessional.

And when the deals were completed, the Orion discarded the adopted culture as it soon as it had served its purpose. In their view, the only culture good for them was their own, with decadence, slavery and all. It had been stagnant for centuries and shielded against change, despite the many other cultures they’d pretended at.

Orion culture during their time as a slave-race had been little more than folk art and "gypsy" culture. Following their liberation , the New Days saw Orion culture blossom into hundreds of forms and entirely new schools of design, almost overnight, with music, literature, dance (including forms of ballet ), holovision and more. Modern Orion culture of the 23rd century echoed proudly back to this time, with themes and traditions of their mighty, majestic, graceful people coming into their own. [4]

A materialistic and hedonistic people, Orions – those who could afford it – spent all they could afford on luxury items, comforts and displays on wealth. These included expensive clothing and jewelry, ornate furniture and decorations, grand mansions and fancy vehicles, and any other way could to enjoy life. [4] Orions also tended to delight in partaking in the more civilized vices. [2] However, on the other hand, they also could not stand to go broke, and did all they could to avoid this terrible state. [5]

They also enjoyed entertainment on a large-scale, from concerts and holomovies to street circuses and festivals, all of which offered a chance to dress up and be seen in their finery. Wealthy and noble Orions took great pride in putting on grand banquets, with feasts of food from many worlds, and musicians, dancers, and other forms of entertainment. Such a banquet concluded every business meeting and deal, and every Orion corporation had an entertainment division for this. The purpose of all this was to impress and outdo each other. These banquets also played host to subtle wars of manners and etiquette between rival families and businesses, with continually evolving rules determined by seemingly-casual remarks and signals: they measured how much one could drink or smoke; what one could look at and for how long; the beginner of an applause, its volume and duration; and so on. The appearance of an Orion slave girl at a banquet was a high compliment to a guest and a test of their will-power.

Orion women, and particularly Orion slave girls, were legendary for their dances. These dances were commonly seen at grand Orion banquets, used as much for distraction of a rival as for entertainment. Their forms ranged from ballet [4] to belly-dancing . [36] Some dances were performed with daggers [37] and were apparently even blended into a martial art in dancefighting . [38]

Orion Colonies and other worlds they dominated often featured the distinctive Botchoki architecture of fluted and spiraled towers, minarets with bulging onion-dome shapes, knurled blocks of apartments with balconies, all built of colored stone and adorned with cloth hangings in a gaudy and riotous display. They were known for their bazaars, markets, cantinas clubs, [4] nightclubs [39] and grand pleasure palaces, which offered a range of services, including gambling. [40]

Orions enjoyed games of skill and cunning – even more so when only they knew the rules, not their opponents. Even a game of chance could turn out to be really a game of skill and cunning. [2]

A business contract was regarded as precious and secure, not something to be easily broken. Due to the Orion value system, a contract between them might not have even concerned money. A slavery contract was one example where labor was bartered for food, shelter and protection. [5]

Orion mothers sold cookies to their children, though they gave them with a loving kiss. [4]

Orion cooking was described as exotic, with a range of tear-inducing spices. [41] The Orion firepot was one special method of preparing food. [42] Orion foods were noted for treating wing-slugs as delicacies, a range of strong liquors, hot spices (some of which are classed as illegal drugs), and many things said to be aphrodisiacs.

Beginning in the mid- 22nd century , Orions experienced a craze for the culture of Earth 's 20th century , after the Earth trade ship UNSS Marco Polo opened trade relations with them, a huge commercial success. Orions fell in love with Westerns , historical pirates , fast food , baseball , rock and roll , The Three Stooges , the Kledani brothers and historical fashions such as Western wear and Levi's . Orions also adopted slang words from Earth, particularly American and Russian . Orions grew to like humans as a result, and considered them kindred spirits, but this was based on their practices of centuries before. This lead to cultural confusion, with Orions believing that Earth was ruled by Godfathers and Shoguns , where cowboys murdered Indians , while humans found all this an uncomfortable reminder. This was considered a fad for the young and impressionable, however. [4]

Beliefs [ ]

Orion myth resembles or distorts aspects of the history of the Rigel system , of the Rigellians and the Masters . One legend said that the gods once lived on Botchok , until they fought a war, changed their ways and left to protect other worlds from their folly. Others stated that the star Rigel was an ancient, powerful life-form, and that the Orions were created in the image of the Masters to take their place as rulers of the Orion Arm . Others thought of the Rigellians themselves as their Makers. These legends derived from the accounts of Talduk Sik and of faithful Orion servants allowed into the depths of Rigel IV to meet Rigellian elders or surviving Masters and being gifted with wisdom (mainly financial advice) or confused accounts of Rigel's history. These ideas formed the tenets of various Orion religions. [5]

One group, the Earthly Brothers even revered Humans as the natural and perhaps even divinely appointed successors of the Orions. [4]

Some Orions typically swore on the Thousand Gods but rarely bothered to worship them. [2] Others have prayed to and sworn by a Mother Goddess. [43] Some Orions even swore by particular concepts; for example, "Who in the name of plunder are you?" [42]

An Orion afterlife was the Dark Place . [27] Some Orions swore by nine hells , [44] there was an afterworld for the evil that was a scalding pit of torment. [45] Meanwhile others referred to "the veils of heaven's harem" and "the luminous veils" (though this was possibly a poetic reference to space itself). [1]

There were Orion sects that (in common with Clan Ru and some Native American tribes) considered only their own tribe to be the only life-forms with souls and thus others didn't exist morally. As such, laws, rights and supernatural considerations only extended to their own species. [46]

Orion mystics were known to make use of elaborate con operations, sometimes with advanced technology to give them supposed powers, in order to achieve their goals and lend verisimilitude to their words. [2]

There were ancient Orion sculptures that were considered religious relics. Two had been thought long lost, but turned up in the possession of the Romulan smuggler Achernar in 2281 . They were illegal to trade. [47] Scenes from Orion mythology could be found embossed on Orion firepots , a type of cooking cauldron. These could be crudely erotic. [42]

Some Orion commanders were apparently superstitious about killing the captain of a ship directly, if they were taken prisoner in a pirate raid. Instead they chose some other means, such as beaming them into a dangerous environment likely to kill them anyway. [48] It was also supposed that a face-to-face hand-off between two captains was for spiritual reasons. [27]

Disruptor pistols , concealed or otherwise, were often found in the hands of Orions, [37] [2] , particularly smugglers and pirates, as they were cheaper and easier to construct than phasers (which were only occasionally used). Sonic disruptors were usually of a Klingon design (the Mark 1 was a common trade item with them [25] ) but they were equally likely to be counterfeits. [4]

Knives were also popular melee weapons, from pirates to Orion Space Navy (OSN) enlisted personnel, who trained in their use. OSN officers meanwhile trained with swords. [5] [37] Even Orion slave girls carried small concealable blades, sometimes coated in a drug or poison, [25] [37] such as Cylanite . They could perform dances with a pair of knives as well. [37] One particular form of knife used by Orions was the dancerknife . [1]

Unarmed combat was also known amongst the Orions, with tatharoc [49] and dancefighting [38] . Slave girls were also known to grow their nails long, almost like claws, which were handy in a fight. [25]

Orion pirates favored body armor and protective helmets in battle. Circa 2359 , they developed a new form of armor that was light, as flexible as a stiff cloth, and able to absorb and diffuse phaser energy, such that a hand phaser kill-setting could be reduced to a minor stun. With this armor and their helmets, only a shot through the eye could kill them. [8]

There was also a strong tradition of duelling, between the upper-class Ruddy Orions to settle their disputes (at least between social equals), [5] and amongst the people of the Colony of Thirat to avenge insults. The Thiratin in particular were adept in martial arts and weapons training. [4]

Fashion [ ]

Orions of either gender were fond of dyeing or oiling their hair in unusual colors, and styling it accordingly, [10] though hair dyes usually remained subtle in order to highlight the glossiness of black or chestnut coiffures. They could also paint their lips, eyelids and other conspicuous body parts.

They typically enjoyed wearing jewelry, small daggers, and other ornaments. They preferred items that were elegant, beautiful, expensive and had tiny compartments to hide sensitive items such as poisons or black mail tapes. Almost no Orion would dress badly if they could help it. [2]

Some were quite fond of jewelry, from rings to earrings to gemstones studded in their teeth. [1]

Orions even sharpened their teeth. [42]

History [ ]

The Orions had an ancient history, filled with slavery, empire, and decay, and confused, contradictory and often false. Their origins were wrapped in mystery and alien interference, yet they outlasted almost all other interstellar civilizations, and survived being caught between superpowers.

Language and names [ ]

Throughout their history, the Orions developed several different languages , which included Orion [4] , Yrevish [50] , Kolari [2] and Trader's Tongue . [1]

They were good swearing languages. Lower forms had more base words and vile epithets, while higher forms had a sophisticated cursing case that could be used to deliver delicate and elaborate insults in ambiguous terms. These were sometimes in verse, and counted as works of art, but were rarely heard by non-Orions. [4]

Orions paid a great deal of attention to non-verbal communication as well, of body language, tells, tone of voice, importance of a subject and other minor clues to a person’s mood and intent. They found a lot to read and to conceal, and Orion activity involved a continuous exchange of a subtle, ambiguous code. Those who dealt frequently with Orions, or saw more of their culture, came to notice this and acquire the skill; some even had difficulty dealing with non-Orions or their own species, friends and even family afterwards.

Orion names typically came in three parts: a given name first, a family name second, and an honorific or nickname. The first name tended to be short; though older and prouder families might give longer names, they preferred names that were memorable and easy to pronounce. Unless very well-known and respected, family names were rarely mentioned in public, since they could identify relations, allegiances and enemies. As such, an Orion was typically known by their first name, plus any honorifics and titles they might have.

An Orion male, by the time he was an adult, would probably acquire a nickname that marked a prominent characteristic or accomplishment. A neutral or flattering honorific would generally follow the name (e.g. Nallin the Unconquerable , Hubin the Burned), while a negative one usually came first ( Half-a-Man Sooris , Crazy Drelk). Orions also enjoyed any titles and distinctions that they might have earned. [4]

In addition, an Orion might adopt other names as required, for local custom, an alias or pseudonym, a pet name, a false name, or just on a whim. [2]

Appendices [ ]

Background [ ].

• The FASA role-playing game represented Orions with a color-coded caste system, of which Greens were the worker caste, Ruddies the nobility and Greys an untouchable science caste. The original script for TOS episode : " The Cage " also implied that the Orions came in other colours than green. However, due to their prevalence in all other sources, this article assumes that Green Orions are the default variety. Information specific to other varieties is presented with those varieties.
• The pale blue Orions seen in TAS episode : " The Pirates of Orion " were a result of animation problems rather than deliberate choice.

Appearances and references [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• TOS episode : " The Cage "
• TOS episode : " The Menagerie "
• TOS episode : " Journey to Babel "
• TOS episode : " Whom Gods Destroy "
• DS9 novel : The Siege
• DS9 novel : The Long Night
• DS9 novel : Wrath of the Prophets
• DS9 novel : Abyss
• DS9 - Gateways novel : Demons of Air and Darkness
• DS9 - Mission Gamma novel : Twilight
• DS9 - Mission Gamma novel : This Gray Spirit
• DS9 - Mission Gamma novel : Cathedral
• DS9 - Mission Gamma novel : Lesser Evil
• DS9 - Worlds of DS9 novel : Ferenginar: Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed
• DS9 novel : Warpath
• DS9 novel : Fearful Symmetry
• DS9 novel : The Long Mirage
• DS9 eBook : Rules of Accusation
• ENT episode : " Borderland "
• ENT episode : " Bound "
• SCE eBook : Malefictorum
• ST - Typhon Pact novel : Plagues of Night
• ST - Typhon Pact novel : Raise the Dawn
• ST - The Fall novel : Revelation and Dust
• PIC novel : Firewall

References [ ]

• ST video game : Starfleet Command
• ST video game : Starfleet Command II: Empires at War
• ST video game : Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates
• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 TOS novel : Prime Directive
• ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 Decipher RPG module : Aliens
• ↑ Decipher RPG module : Worlds
• ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26 4.27 4.28 4.29 4.30 4.31 4.32 4.33 4.34 4.35 4.36 4.37 4.38 4.39 4.40 4.41 4.42 4.43 4.44 4.45 4.46 4.47 4.48 4.49 4.50 4.51 4.52 4.53 4.54 4.55 4.56 4.57 4.58 4.59 FASA RPG - The Orions module : Book of Common Knowledge
• ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 5.27 5.28 5.29 5.30 5.31 5.32 5.33 5.34 5.35 5.36 5.37 FASA RPG - The Orions module : Book of Deep Knowledge
• ↑ TOS novel : Spock's World
• ↑ TOS novel : The Romulan Way
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 TNG novel : Survivors
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 TOS novel : Wagon Train to the Stars
• ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 Last Unicorn RPG module : Star Trek: The Original Series Core Game Book
• ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Last Unicorn RPG module : Star Trek: The Next Generation Core Game Book
• ↑ ENT novel : The Good That Men Do
• ↑ 13.0 13.1 TOS novel : Death Count
• ↑ 14.0 14.1 ENT episode : " Borderland "
• ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 ENT episode : " Bound "
• ↑ TOS novel : Mind Meld
• ↑ TNG novel : A Time to Die
• ↑ TOS novel : Firestorm
• ↑ VOY novelization : Flashback
• ↑ 20.0 20.1 TOS novel : The Final Reflection
• ↑ 21.0 21.1 FASA RPG module : A Matter of Priorities
• ↑ SCE novel : Enigma Ship
• ↑ TOS episode : " The Cage "
• ↑ TNG novel : Double or Nothing
• ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 25.6 25.7 FASA RPG module : Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook
• ↑ SCE eBook : Spin
• ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 TAS novelization : The Pirates of Orion
• ↑ TOS episode : " Journey to Babel "
• ↑ TAS episode : " The Pirates of Orion "
• ↑ TOS comic : " All of Me "
• ↑ FASA RPG module : The Federation
• ↑ FASA RPG module : Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update
• ↑ Last Unicorn RPG module : Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Core Game Book
• ↑ CCG set: Second Edition , card: "The Orion Underworld"
• ↑ VOY novel : Violations
• ↑ VOY novel : The Black Shore
• ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 FASA RPG module : Orion Ruse
• ↑ 38.0 38.1 TOS novel : From the Depths
• ↑ DS9 novel : Antimatter
• ↑ Last Unicorn RPG module : Raiders, Renegades & Rogues
• ↑ TNG novel : Behind Enemy Lines
• ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 DS9 novel : Wrath of the Prophets
• ↑ TOS novel : Sarek
• ↑ ST novel : Excelsior: Forged in Fire
• ↑ TOS novel : First Frontier
• ↑ TOS novel : The Pandora Principle
• ↑ TNG novel : Requiem
• ↑ Last Unicorn RPG module : Star Trek: The Next Generation Player's Guide
• ↑ TNG - Double Helix novel : Red Sector

External links [ ]

• Orion article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 The Chase
• 2 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 3 Preserver (race)

Trouble Keeping Her Green: Creating the Orions

The Orions were among the first alien species introduced in Star Trek . A slave girl, or rather the illusion of one, was played by Susan Oliver in the ill-fated pilot episode “The Cage”.

The “green girl” was the creation of Fred Phillips, who also made Spock’s Vulcan look for The Original Series . Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry recalled in The Making of Star Trek how Phillips grew increasingly frustrated as three consecutive makeup screen tests, in which Roddenberry’s future wife Majel Barrett had been painted green, came back negative.

Now, Fred Phillips is an exceptionally fine makeup artist and recognized as a top pro in the business. He did a thorough job with the makeup and was quite satisfied with the results. Imagine everyone’s surprise, upon viewing the developed film the next day, to find the actress’ face just as normally pink skinned as ever! There was no trace of green.

Gene’s orders to Fred Phillips: “Paint her greener!” The following day, the test film again showed her as pink-skinned as ever. Even Fred was dumbfounded.

We did this three days in a row. We had her so green you couldn’t believe it and she kept coming back pink! Finally we figured out what was happening. The technician over at the film lab would receive the film every day and run it through the development solution. As the image formed on the film, he kept saying to himself, “My God, this woman is green!” And so he kept correcting the film developing process in order to turn her back to normal skin color again!

Whitfield and Roddenberry shared another amusing anecdote about the shooting:

The accomplished actress Susan Oliver later played the part of the alien woman in the pilot and was almost totally covered with green body makeup. During filming she became very tired and a doctor was called in to give her a vitamin B shot. The doctor arrived, but no one bothered to tell him what his patient looked like. He went over to Susan’s dressing room, knocked, the door swung wide and suddenly he was confronted with an all green woman! He was so flustered that it took him almost 5 minutes just to find a spot to administer the shot.

The Season 2 episode “Journey to Babel” featured another Orion, although he was disguised as an Andorian. It was not until “Whom Gods Destroy” that a genuine Orion female appeared on screen. The first Orion male appeared in “The Pirates of Orion” of The Animated Series .

While references were made the “Orion Syndicate,” a criminal organization, throughout Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , it wasn’t until the fourth and final season of Star Trek: Enterprise that the Orions reappeared. But they reappeared in plenty then.

I believe you’ve mistaken Phillips with John Chambers, who was the head makeup artist on Planet of the Apes , and who worked with him on The Outer Limits and on “The Cage” (designing Spock’s ears). Phillips wouldn’t have time to work on POTA anyways, as it was shot simultaneously with the second season of Star Trek .

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Star Trek: Who Are The Orions?

Who are these green skinned aliens, and how did they become an icon of Star Trek: The Original Series?

Of all the amazing creations to come out of the Star Trek franchise, one of the best features is the incredibly diverse array of alien races. Each contains their own distinct cultures and civilizations, often with complex political infrastructures and social dynamics, from the warlike Klingons all the way to the surprisingly fearsome Tribbles . However, potentially one of the most iconic Original Series creations are the Orions.

These green-skinned aliens were a massive hit when the first iconic series aired. While they may have been forgotten somewhat in recent years, they made a strong comeback in the animated Lower Decks series. So who are the Orions, and what role do they play in the larger Star Trek universe?

RELATED: Star Trek: Who Are The Maquis?

The Orions were first introduced in The Original Series during the episode “Journey to Babel” and made quite the impact with audiences. Of course, this may have had something to do with the dated way the late 60s production chose to portray the women of this race: scantily clad green women who were known for their incredible beauty. If looks were not enough, they also released a pheromone to make them even harder to resist. They often used this advantage to persuade others to do their bidding.

At the time of their introduction, the Orions were thought to be a neutral race, with no political agenda or nefarious nature about them. However, this was soon revealed to be a clever facade, a decision by the Orions over many years to hide their true nature from the rest of the galaxy. During the 23rd century, an Orion spy pretending to be an Andorian murdered a Tellarite ambassador in cold blood, all for the purpose of preventing Coridan from forming an alliance with the Federation, a planet rich with Dilithium . The Orions had secretly been exploiting the planet for its bounteous resources. For it to be included in the conditional love of the Federation would have put an end to their nefarious dealings and oppression of the planet.

After the open murder of the ambassador, it was revealed that the Orions were a race of pirates and slavers, oppressing others for years under the orders of the criminal organization The Orion Syndicate. Up until this point, they had carefully hidden their true nature from the Federation, going as far as ordering Orion suicide alongside murder to hide what they were really doing. At this point, though, the syndicate had grown so powerful that they no longer needed to reside behind the curtain. Only a decade or so after the murder of the ambassador, they were known across the galaxy as people to be feared. They pirated across the quadrant, got involved in political conspiracy, and practiced slavery (even of their own people) and piracy.

All this history and representation on the small screen made the Orions pretty susceptible for racial stereotyping over the years ( though not as bad as the Ferengi ). In the fictional world, when anyone came across an Orion ship, they feared being robbed or worse. The same thing is true of audiences familiar with the race. The Orions were not all bad, however. The idea that the syndicate was the official Orion government, rather than an illegal organization that ran powerfully in the shadows, was a misconception that permeated the fiction. The Orions maintained, in pockets, peaceful relationships with outsiders. One episode of the critically misunderstood Voyager series revealed they even had an institute of Cosmology that accepted human students, so things must not have been too bad on the Orion home world.

What really helped with Orion representation was the introduction of the much-loved Lower Decks character Ensign D’Vana Tendi, an Orion Starfleet officer. Not only is she the first official, prime-universe Orion to be seen as a Starfleet officer, but she is the first to be a primary character in a series. There is an entire episode dealing with the disconnect with her own people, and the theme of people judging her blindly for simply being an Orion is present throughout much of the narrative arc.

Ensign Tendi is an odd exception to the stereotype. While her character and personality indicates a loving, caring, non-pirating anti slaver, it is revealed that she does possess the skills and training typical with those more devious of her race. Interestingly, she becomes a beacon of not judging a book by its cover, as well as fulfilling some negative stereotypes. She has a history as a pirate, but she's eager to put it behind her.

With new shows being added constantly to the franchise, it would be nice to see more inclusions of the Orion people. Their culture is an untapped goldmine of potential. Future shows could explore both the Orion Syndicate, and the misconceptions and racial stereotyping of their members.

MORE: Star Trek: Who Was The Franchise's Most Hated Character?

18 Years Later, Star Trek Has Finally Fixed One Embarrassing Episode

Do all Orion women control men? Maybe not.

Although the Star Trek franchise is often praised for its progressive vision of the future, the very first Trek episode ever filmed, the 1964 pilot “The Cage,” did reference the idea that Orion “slave women” existed in a specific part of the galaxy, through a telepathic simulation where Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) is in a kind of outer space bordello with an “Orion Slave Girl.” This problematic plot detail remained somewhat dormant until the 2005 Enterprise episode, “Bound,” in which we learned that the “enslaved” Orion women were just pretending, and were in fact, controlling the men with their pheromones. This attempt to “fix” the whole Orion thing was arguably, not much better. Instead of one group dominating another, in a sense, Enterprise merely inverted the sexism of TOS in the other direction.

But now, it’s Lower Decks to the rescue! In the first-ever canonical visit to the Orion homeworld, the episode “Something Borrowed, Something Green,” fully explores Orion culture hilariously. But, in addition to the hijinks, this episode successfully retcons all the problematic aspects of Orion culture, without actually changing any of the wonky canon. Spoilers ahead.

The Lower Decks gang are carried by a group of Orion men.

Since the beginning, one mission of Lower Decks has not only been to mock certain silly Star Trek tropes but also unpack those tropes in a way that creates something better. In 2022, Noël Wells explained that she felt that her Orion, Tendi, was bringing new life into one of Star Trek’s broken tropes. From the beginning of the show, we’ve been told that not all Orion women have the infamous pheromones that allow them to control men, like we saw in “Bound.” This was one step toward dismantling the binary ideas of Orion culture. In fact, via Mariner’s perception, Lower Decks briefly floated the idea that perhaps, some of the pheromone stuff was actually just propaganda. In “Something Borrowed, Something Green,” Mariner says, “Tendi’s made it clear that Starfleet made those pheromones up, I mean they had to explain why a captain would get taken out by some Orion showgirls!”

This is a hilarious dig against the 2005 Enterprise Season 4 episode, “Bound,” in which Captain Archer and the crew nearly all were overrun by three Orion women. But, the twist in Lower Decks isn’t that the events of Enterprise were something that Starfleet invented to save face, but instead, 100 percent true — just not representative of all of the Orion people.

When Tendi, Mariner, and T’Lynn enter a club in which men seem to be intoxicated, T’Lynn notes: “The males appear to be under some sort of chemical manipulation, perhaps controlled by pheromones.” At this point, Tendi comes clean saying: “Technically, I said not all Orions control men with pheromones … some of us definitely do … just not me.”

Susan Oliver as the first Orion in “The Cage.”

This moment works on a few levels: First, it’s very funny that Tendi spends a good deal of the episode kind of apologizing for the sexist, and or, more dangerous parts of some aspects of Orion culture. But, the nuance here is she does acknowledge that these things exist. She’s just saying that it’s not biologically true of everyone, which helps to shatter the previous binary depictions of Orions in both “The Cage” and “Bound.”

With this exploration of the Orion culture, Lower Decks has allowed two things to be true: “The Cage,” and “Bound,” still exist, and totally happened in the real Trek timeline. However, what we saw in those episodes was just a small portion of what Orions are like in general. Metafictionally, T’Lynn is documenting all of her findings in this episode, since most members of the Federation have no clue what the Orion homeworld is really like. But, at the end of the episode, because Tendi doesn’t really consent to all of those findings being made public, T’Lynn throws her datapad out the window, literally.

In Lower Decks , the secrets of what Orions are really like were shared with viewers, for the first time. But the rest of the galaxy within Star Trek canon isn’t ready for those secrets. Yet.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 3 'Jinaal' is a slow but steady affair

Humans have evidently evolved beyond the need for stairs in the 32nd century as teleportation has replaced the simple act of actually walking to places

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 3

The latest installment of "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5 on Paramount Plus adds a little water – and possibly some fertilizer – to the various different story seeds sewn last week. 

Entitled "Jinaal," the primary plot revolves around a revisit to the planet Trill and as you may recall, the last time we spent any length of time here was the episode " Forget Me Not " (S03, E04), which was not terrible. In fact, it was undeniable highlight of the third season, which itself had some of the best we've seen from "Discovery." Incidentally, that was first look at the Trill homeworld since " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine " episode "Equilibrium" (bizarrely, also S03, E04). (If you need a recap on how to watch Star Trek: Discovery, check out our Star Trek streaming guide for Paramount Plus .)

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Curiously, in that episode "Forget Me Not," Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) was given a rare and welcome chance to shine and he does so once again in this episode as well. To briefly recap, Adira (Blu del Barrio) and her lover, a Trill named Gray (Ian Alexander), were aboard a generation ship way back when. They were both orphans, very much in love, and Gray had just received his symbiote when the ship was struck by an asteroid and everyone was ordered to evacuate. Unfortunately, Gray was fatally injured and the only way to save the symbiote was for Adira to join with it. And that's how it was for all of season three right up until the fourth season episode " Choose To Live " (S04, E03). 

Then, after all of that, Gray Tal has his consciousness transferred out of Adira and into an artificial synth golem before heading back to Trill to complete all that monk-style studying. And now you're all caught up. 

While a trip back to Trill is nice, you can't help but start to wonder if this fifth and final season will end up a 10-episode long epilogue as it ties up all its loose ends, almost like season five of " Babylon 5 ."  Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) pops up in this episode at last, which more or less just leaves Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril), whom we last saw in the episode " Rubicon " S04, E09, to make an appearance. Although Ancheril's IMDb page does currently say, "Coming up in 2024, Rachael will be seen again in 'Chucky' season three [and] 'Star Trek Discovery' for its final season," so who knows. 

The big highlight this week was, as we alluded to above, Cruz's chance to stretch his acting chops just a little bit and he does not disappoint. The two biggest grumbles however, are the dialogue written by a writer who just saw "Lethal Weapon II" for the very first time and that the notion of teleporting around the place instead of just walking, has been taken to ludicrous extremes. 

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"Star Trek: Discovery" seems to be at peace with lifting from other IPs, sci-fi or otherwise. We've seen a nice " Close Encounters of the Third Kind " reference with mashed potato and we've even seen a fun nod to "Scooby-Doo," but these were all subtle. Then there was the extremely unsubtle " Die Hard " thing and then in " Scavengers " (S03, E06) the writers went  way  beyond homage and practically lifted a set piece directly from the 1987 movie "The Running Man." The premise was the same, the effect was the same and even the setting was practically identical.

This week's insight into what classic movie the Gen-Z writers of "Discovery" have recently discovered comes from a legendary scene with equally legendary dialogue between Sgt. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) during a rescue attempt after the latter learns that the toilet he's been sitting on has been rigged with a bomb in the first "Lethal Weapon" sequel. Lest we forget, this underrated action extravaganza also gave us Leo Getz and immortalized phrases like "diplomatik immunitee." and "but, but...you're blick."

Still, at least it was just a line or two of dialogue this time and not an entire set piece. My other main grumble with this episode as we mentioned above is the carefree abandon with which transporters are used. And I've touched upon this before. Despite beaming becoming a very common part of everyday life of the 32nd century, to the extent that folk use transporters instead of stairs and even to just change outfits, like we saw in the season four premiere episode — but the thing is, transporters kill you .

The creators of " Star Trek " have never officially confirmed that transporters kill you. However, solely based on the science, transporters do kill you. In simple terms, these teleportation devices scan every molecule in your body and briefly store them in the pattern buffer, while at the same time, the original body is to all intents and purposes, disintegrated. The transporter then converts the scanned copy into energy and beams the data stream to the desired location, where the body is rebuilt, from a sub-atomic level, using technology similar to a replicator. It's comparable in principle to a fax, except this fax machine destroys the original, to prevent duplication, although that has been known to happen.

The issue is essentially an existential one. Since our bodies are made up of identifiable matter, why won't transference of consciousness occur? What makes our consciousness so unique? What's the difference between an identical copy and you? If you were to put your copy into a different room that you hadn't been into, would you be able to see it? No. It's a perfect copy, but it's not you. There is a good article on Ars Technica that really goes into detail on this.

Still, all of this banter aside, this episode is not ... terrible. It is very evenly paced and that, despite the not-exactly edge-of-seat storyline, makes it bearable. Every sub-story seems to be given equal time and brief-but-enjoyable interplay between Lt. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) is fun. Plus, of course, we get to see the Trill homeworld again, which is nice. 

In other "Star Trek" news, " Strange New Worlds " has been renewed for a fourth season, while " Lower Decks " will end with its previously announced upcoming fifth season, expected to air sometime this year. Creator Mike McMahan and executive producer Alex Kurtzman posted a statement on the Star Trek website: “While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it’s no exaggeration to say that every second we've spent making this show has been a dream come true. Our incredible cast, crew and artists have given you everything they have because they love the characters they play, they love the world we've built, and more than anything we all love, love, love Star Trek."

Meanwhile, "Strange New Worlds" is currently in production on its third season, which is set to debut in 2025. It seems that all of this combined with the fact that "Section 31" ended up as a movie , casts doubt over the future of the Starfleet Academy spin-off and hopefully signals the end of the idiotic idea of "Star Trek: Legacy." Perhaps Paramount should look to cancel other ludicrous endeavors like the proposed Picard movie instead of cancelling decent shows in their efforts to tighten purse strings. 

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" and every episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US while "Prodigy" has found a new home o n Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on  Paramount Plus  in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on  Paramount Plus  in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

 —   Watch the bittersweet trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery's final season (video)

 —  'Spaceman' sees Adam Sandler shine as a cosmonaut in crisis in Netflix's somber sci-fi film (review)

—  Star Trek's Seven of Nine returns in new novel 'Picard: Firewall' (exclusive)

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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A Star Trek origin story movie is officially on the way from Andor and Black Mirror director

It's set to take place decades before 2009's Star Trek

Paramount has officially announced a new Star Trek movie – but it's not Star Trek 4.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story was unveiled at CinemaCon, with J.J. Abrams set to produce (H/T The Wrap ). The film will take place decades before 2009's Star Trek, with Andor's Toby Haynes set to direct and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith set to pen the script. Plot details have yet to be released. Deadline first announced the film earlier this year.

Haynes directed the popular Black Mirror episode U.S.S Callister, which acts as a Star Trek parody. Black Mirror season 7 will feature a sequel to U.S.S Callister , though it has not yet been announced who will direct.

Paramount also stated that the origin pic would begin production later this year to make it in time for a 2025 theatrical release. Star Trek 4, the sequel to Abrams' 2009 flick, is still in development. WandaVision's Matt Shakman was previously attached to direct, but  left the project  in August 2022  around the same time he was announced as the new Fantastic Four director. Last month, Variety reported that Sucker Punch and Supernatural writer Steve Yockey would pen the fourth Star Trek film, which intends to bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the cast.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond, or, skip right to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates .

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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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Transformers One Will Have Younger, Messier Robots in Disguise

E arlier in the week, we got our first look at Transformers One , and it probably didn’t look like what you were imagining. The animated movie, which is meant to serve as an origin story for Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry)—here respectively known as Orion Pax and D-16—is sillier than expected, and predates the Autobot/Decepticon war that serves as the franchise’s foundation. If you’re on the fence after that trailer, director Josh Cooley’s here to assuage your concerns, and also give some more insight into how the movie will serve its characters.

Talking to IGN , Cooley explained that the trailer’s comedy focus was in part to help audiences “fall in love with [Orion and D-16] as brothers and friends” before things hit the fan. “They’re from the same generation and have a very tight relationship,” he continued, “[and] something happens on their planet that they both have two different reactions to. By the end of this film, there’s some serious stakes.”

In D-16's case, those stakes involve treating him like he’s not automatically booked to be a villain. Cooley described the future Megatron as someone who should be “very real and fully rounded. D-16 takes [things] to a place, just a lot of anger, but you understand why.” With Henry’s insight, the team ensured that audiences would relate to D-16 and get where he was coming from before an undescribed event changes his outlook on Cybertron in ways that lead to a “natural split” with Orion. Cooley hopes that before the credits roll, fans and newcomers will view D-16 and Orion’s conflict as a very real and tragic split between old friends.

As for Orion, he’s described by Cooley as someone who’s driven, but doesn’t always put the drive to its best use. He’ll have to discover how to earn the name Optimus Prime, and what being Optimus Prime really even means. “Like anybody else, there is a level of maturity that we don’t have unless we’ve gone through something. [...] We’re really taking these characters to heart and treating them with the respect that they deserve and knowing where they’re going to end up. It’s just seeing how they get there.”

Transformers One comes to theaters on September 20.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

For the latest news, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

D'Vana Tendi

• View history

D'Vana Tendi was a female Orion Starfleet sciences division junior officer who lived during the mid- 24th century .

• 1 Early life
• 2.1 Starfleet Academy
• 2.2 USS Cerritos
• 3 Anything but canon
• 4 Personality
• 5 Personal interests
• 6.1.1 D'Erika Tendi
• 6.2.1 Samanthan Rutherford
• 6.2.2 Beckett Mariner
• 6.2.3 Bradward Boimler
• 6.2.4 T'Ana
• 6.2.5 O'Connor
• 7 Memorable quotes
• 8.1 Appearances
• 8.2 Background information
• 8.3 External link

Early life [ ]

Tendi was born on Orion to B'rt and Shona Tendi . Her sister is D'Erika . At the time, the Tendis were the fifth-largest family in the Orion Syndicate and owned their own estate. ( LD : " Something Borrowed, Something Green ")

During childhood, D'Vana and D'Erika grew up close, and often snuck away from home as children to a ship graveyard of wrecked, stolen spaceships. One of their favored wrecks to play in was a Federation ship, and where D'Vana would make a drawing of herself as a Starfeet officer, and play pretend that she was exploring space – anything other than a pirate.

As she grew up and particularly in her teen years, Tendi was trained to be a prime, a Syndicate assassin. This particular duty of the Mistress of the Winter Constellations was the title 'Tip of the Moonlit Blade'.

She was once a pirate known as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations , and her relatives were members of the Orion Syndicate . Her great-grandmother, Astrea Tendi , had held the same title, while serving aboard the science vessel D'Var in the 23rd century . ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists ")

In leaving that life, she earned the Syndicate's ire. ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ") She was highly skilled in the use of the Orion multi-key , and her father , B'Rt , taught her that every ship has a security fail-safe. ( LD : " Hear All, Trust Nothing ")

Tendi decided to join Starfleet upon visiting a recruitment booth . ( LD : " Reflections ") Prior to her enlistment , Tendi had always wanted to go to the Adashake Center on Orion , but never made the time for it. ( LD : " Second Contact ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Starfleet academy [ ].

Tendi attended Starfleet Academy and graduated as a member of the sciences division.

Her admission to the Academy was very difficult for her, as the pre-existing stigmas surrounding Orions resulted in most seeing her as little more than a pirate or thief . This made her very sensitive, and prone to frustration when anyone would associate her with stereotypes surrounding the Orions, but also incredibly eager to prove herself as a valuable crew member. She was so focused on her studies at the Academy that she never left San Francisco to see other parts of Earth . ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ", " Grounded ")

She strangely never finished the required course unit at the Academy which trains cadets to space walk and was simply given a B grade regardless. Tendi never questioned this until much later, believing it to most likely have been a clerical error. ( LD : " Terminal Provocations ")

USS Cerritos [ ]

One of Tendi's early assignments was a stint at Outpost 79 prior to being transferred to the USS Cerritos in 2380 , where she was assigned as a medic under Nurse Westlake . On her first day, she met Ensigns Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner , who gave her a tour of the ship and introduced her to Ensign Sam Rutherford . When the rage virus broke out on the Cerritos , Tendi assisted Dr. T'Ana in treating the infected, and was even ordered to manually pump Lieutenant Commander Stevens ' heart with her own hands . ( LD : " Second Contact ")

Tendi would be assigned Bunk A12004 on Deck 11 in the LD sleeping quarters , on the wall opposite Boimler's bunk and underneath Rutherford's bunk, on beta shift . She had some skills in either engineering or programming, as T'Ana once requested a time estimate for repairing a biobed . ( LD : " Temporal Edict ")

Tendi showed a significant proficiency in genetics when she created The Dog , an artificially-created dog made from inert carbon , as a personal side project. She hand-edited The Dog's genetic sequences to make it 5% faster and 6% smarter than the average Earth canine and considered the work to be 'fun', even lying about going to the bathroom in order to use the time to edit the sequences. In addition, The Dog possessed augmented abilities lacked by the typical dog, including shapeshifting, hovering, and spitting lightning . These augmentations were at least partially due to the fact that Tendi had never encountered an actual dog. ( LD : " Much Ado About Boimler ")

When she was mistakenly tapped for a classified covert ops mission to Romulus , Tendi demonstrated her assassin training with advanced skills in unarmed combat. She stealthily incapacitated a two-man patrol with ease and took down multiple opponents face-to-face that were larger than her and armed with Romulan disruptor rifles single-handedly. In 2381 , she revealed that this was a result of her pirate past when she was forced into action once again to prevent a Karemma ship from leaving the Alpha Quadrant through the Bajoran wormhole . ( LD : " Veritas ", " Hear All, Trust Nothing ")

By 2381, T'Ana had become impressed and even a little "disturbed" at how Tendi mastered any task that was set before her. Determining that Tendi was being limited from reaching her full potential by remaining a medic, T'Ana had her transferred from Medical to senior science officer training, thus moving from sickbay to working on the bridge, doing a lot more experiments, and going on away missions . ( LD : " First First Contact ")

Anything but canon [ ]

Tendi with Arex, Scott, and M'Ress

A holo-duplicate of Tendi was in a holoprogram that was malfunctioning . This holo of Tendi watched a holographic program featuring Quark and Elim Garak talking about how to get the Romulan Star Empire into the war . ( VST : " Holograms All the Way Down ")

In another strange setting , D'Vana Tendi was present on the bridge of the USS Enterprise during their celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the year their cartoon show premiered.

Other people there was Montgomery Scott , Arex , M'Ress , William T. Riker , and Hikaru Sulu . At first things started to turn into a heated argument between Tendi and Scott, Arex, and M'Ress over the misunderstanding that Tendi was trying to make fun of their old cartoon. When Riker and Sulu entered the bridge they quickly settled down, and began playing a song in their unique style .

Personality [ ]

Tendi was known to be incredibly enthusiastic, and optimistic in almost everything she did. She valued her friends on the Cerritos and took interest in any task she was given. While others paid little heed for her positive nature, it very rarely ever bothered her, and only made her push herself even harder to do a good job at any given task. She was slow to anger, incredibly patient, and very rarely let others affect this attitude. She also valued the happiness of her friends over that of her own, though this indirectly made her hesitant to talk about herself much.

She was good at her duties in sickbay, but Dr. T'Ana noted that more often than not, she was not very assertive, and often let her crewmates walk over her. However, T'Ana was also impressed by Tendi's prowess for the job, and when she showed more confidence, she commended her for it. ( LD : " Mugato, Gumato ") Tendi considers archival cataloguing and hand-editing DNA to be highly enjoyable, tasks which others might find to be tedious.

While she was better known for her enthusiasm on the job, she was also quite sensitive when it came to stereotypes on Orions, but was also genuinely uncomfortable with the aggressive aspects of her native culture, which clashed with her personality. Her discomfort was a key reason for her eventual entry into Starfleet, and she did her best to distance herself from her connection with Orion culture and her past as a pirate. When it was brought up, she was noticeably uncomfortable with it and hesitant to talk about it. ( LD : " Crisis Point ", " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ", " Hear All, Trust Nothing ")

Personal interests [ ]

Tendi was fond of listening to Klingon acid punk rock music and bands of the genre, such as Gik'Tal , having commented on why anyone would wish to listen to Klingonese unless it was " punky or acidic ". She kept a personal collection of music files that included cover art that could be viewed when played back on a PADD . ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ")

Tendi loved archival cataloguing and liked to talk about it all the time. In somewhat of the same vein, she also found hand-editing DNA to be fun. ( LD : " Terminal Provocations ", " Much Ado About Boimler ")

Tendi was skilled in playing the drums , utilizing a portable electric drum kit. ( LD : " Temporal Edict ")

Personal relationships [ ]

D'erika tendi [ ].

During childhood, D'Vana and D'Erika grew up close, and often snuck away from home as children to a ship graveyard of wrecked, stolen spaceships. When D'Vana left to join Starfleet, D'Erika became very upset with D'Vana, believing her to have abandoned the family. While this would mean that D'Vana would forsake her title as the family prime assassin, leaving D'Erika to claim the title, D'Erika was intimidated by the legacy of her sister, and believed most would see her as a pale imitation to D'Vana.

When D'Erika was to be married, she temporarily vanished, leading the family to believe she'd been kidnapped by a rival family. They asked D'Vana to find her, and D'Vana was successful in tracking down her sister, who finally hashed out her frustrations with D'Vana in a brief hand-to-hand duel. D'Erika was successful in besting D'Vana in the duel and confessed her nervousness in not living up to the standard set by D'Vana. D'Vana reassured her that she more than deserved the title, and that her win against her proved she was more than capable, leading the two to reconcile their differences. ( LD : " Something Borrowed, Something Green ")

Friendships [ ]

Samanthan rutherford [ ].

D'Vana Tendi was quite fond of fellow ensign Sam Rutherford , with him being one of her first close friends on the Cerritos . When passing by the Trivoli pulsar , Rutherford attempted to switch jobs on the Cerritos so that he could watch the pulsar with her, and not be busy with maintenance in the ship's Jefferies tubes . However, when this didn't work out for him, Tendi offered instead to watch the pulsar with him on a PADD while he worked in the Jefferies tubes. ( LD : " Envoys ")

After Rutherford was seriously injured in a conflict with the Pakleds , which resulted in the loss of his cybernetic implant , Tendi stayed by his side, and often read engineering manuals to him while he was unconscious. His injury affected his memory, and he did not remember who Tendi was when he woke up. Despite this handicap, Tendi was simply excited, as she believed that they would both be able to become best friends again. ( LD : " No Small Parts ")

It's implied she may harbor feelings for him. ( LD : " Parth Ferengi's Heart Place ")

Beckett Mariner [ ]

Beckett Mariner was also one of Tendi's close friends, whom she met on the Cerritos on her first day, who gave her the tour of the ship, while Tendi helps her with her shore leave contraband. ( LD : " Second Contact ") During a mission to retrieve an heirloom of T'Ana's, the two learn new things about each other and found out things about each other, like Tendi learning that Mariner served on Deep Space 9 and Mariner learning that Tendi's first name is D'Vana. When the cargo was broken, they try several attempts to fix it, but it did not work. Tendi decides to tell Dr. T'Ana the truth, but Mariner said that her plan sucks. Mariner then declares they are friends before ramming the shuttle into the ship, later blaming the destruction of the cargo on the accident, which Mariner tells Ransom was caused by a bee. ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ")

Bradward Boimler [ ]

Boimler was Tendi's orientation liason, and becomes one of her close friends, whom she meets on the Cerritos on her first day. When Mariner shows Tendi the holodeck, and tries out different locations, Mariner insists that Boimler "take it for a spin", to which he asks the computer to show them the warp core, which he states is an impressive feat of engineering. ( LD : " Second Contact ")

While Tendi worked in medical, her relationship with T'Ana could at times be tumultuous. As Tendi was not very assertive when first coming aboard the Cerritos , T'Ana paid little attention to her, and her deeds, and often assigned Tendi tasks that she figured she would just give up on, or even small personal errands. Tendi would also find T'Ana intimidating to work for, and around often got nervous of letting T'Ana down in her work. It wasn't until 2381 when Tendi started to get the attention of T'Ana in better ways, and respect was given. ( LD : " We'll Always Have Tom Paris ", " Mugato, Gumato ")

Eventually, Tendi made such a huge impression in her work and accomplishments, that T'Ana made the decision that Tendi wasn't a right fit for medical, and instead recommended her for senior science officer training. This recommendation shocked Tendi so much, but while this ended their time working together, it cemented their friendship with one another. When her training started, despite being assigned Dr. Migleemo as a mentor, Tendi actually received far better advice from T'Ana when she was scared that she wouldn't be capable of becoming senior science officer, and Tendi looked to her as her true mentor. ( LD : " First First Contact ", " Mining The Mind's Mines ")

O'Connor [ ]

Tendi and O'Connor kiss

For a short time, Tendi became obsessed with Lieutenant jg O'Connor 's spiritual ascension . She eventually deemed themselves " best friends " and kissed just before O'Connor began his ascension process. ( LD : " Moist Vessel ")

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Ensign D'Vana Tendi, reporting for duty. I'm a transfer from Outpost 79. " " Deck 4. Follow the yellow line. Take the turbolift all the way down. " " Thank you so much! And can I just say that I'm really honored to be— " " Keep it moving, lower decks. Next! "

" Still uh, happy to be here? " " Are you kidding? I got to hold a heart! "

" Tendi, how long will it take to repair a biobed ? " " Oh, that would take about five... hours. " " Excuse me? That's great! "

" So, hey. Do you want me to call you 'Exocomp', or do you have an alpha-numeric name like 'T-T-3-0-3-1-1'? " " No, I didn't want to sound robotic, I wanted to be called something normal. So, I analyzed all Federation languages and calculated a mathematically perfect name. " " What is it? " " Peanut Hamper. " " Peanut Hamper? I LOVE IT! "

[Tendi removes the Karemma's latinum tooth] " Wait a minute, wait a minute, that thing has a tooth remover?" " Shh, I'm pirating. Let's go! "

" Guys, I have to come clean about something. I wasn't just a regular Orion teenager. I was trained to be a Syndicate assassin- " " Tendi, yeah. We know girl. You can't just say you're joking around when you kick-flip a knife out of the air. " " Your upbringing was quite obvious. " " I just hate that you guys had to see the real me. " " Tends, the real you is the one who geeks out about science on the Cerritos . " " But I'm a prime, you know? A... a trained assassin. It's the most piratey someone can be. " " Incorrect. You are who you choose to be. A Starfleet lieutenant, and a loyal friend. " " Don't worry, we know you're a big nerd and not some hot assassin. " " That is the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me! "

" Ahh! This stuff is great! All we have on Orion are like sharp little pebbles. "

Appendices [ ]

Tendi's signature

Appearances [ ]

• " Second Contact "
• " Temporal Edict "
• " Moist Vessel "
• " Cupid's Errant Arrow "
• " Terminal Provocations "
• " Much Ado About Boimler "
• " Veritas "
• " Crisis Point "
• " No Small Parts "
• " Strange Energies "
• " Kayshon, His Eyes Open "
• " We'll Always Have Tom Paris "
• " Mugato, Gumato "
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers "
• " The Spy Humongous "
• " Where Pleasant Fountains Lie "
• " I, Excretus "
• " wej Duj "
• " First First Contact "
• " Grounded "
• " The Least Dangerous Game "
• " Mining The Mind's Mines "
• " Room for Growth "
• " Reflections "
• " Hear All, Trust Nothing "
• " A Mathematically Perfect Redemption "
• " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus "
• " Trusted Sources "
• " The Stars At Night "
• " I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee "
• " In the Cradle of Vexilon "
• " Something Borrowed, Something Green "
• " Empathological Fallacies "
• " Parth Ferengi's Heart Place "
• " A Few Badgeys More "
• " The Inner Fight "
• " Old Friends, New Planets "
• SNW : " Those Old Scientists "
• " Holograms All the Way Down " (hologram)
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

Tendi is voiced by Noël Wells .

In developing the characters for Lower Decks , Mike McMahan described all four leads in an 10 August 2020 TrekMovie.com interview as a combination of other Star Trek characters, parts of himself, and people in his life. Tendi developed from a suggestion by Secret Hideout that the first episode feature a character's first day on the ship. From there, McMahan took to Tendi as a character that was "all silver lining," relating how he would act on a starship. Tendi was further described as " that voice of enthusiasm... who just wants to know everything and wants to consume all things about the ship and learn and grow... who we will also watch grow throughout the series. " [1]

Tendi appears as a duty officer in Star Trek Online .

Tendi is the first Orion Starfleet officer shown in the Prime Timeline, though the first Orion Starfleet officer shown overall was Gaila in Star Trek .

External link [ ]

• D'Vana Tendi at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Screen Rant

Star trek origin movie officially announced by paramount for 2025 release.

Paramount Pictures officially announces the next Star Trek movie at CinemaCon, which will arrive in movie theaters in 2025.

• Paramount Pictures announces new Star Trek movie for 2025, directed by Toby Haynes and written by Seth Grahame-Smith.
• Chris Pine-led Star Trek 4 remains in development, while the new film is an origin story set decades before Abrams' 2009 movie.
• Alongside the Star Trek origin movie, Paramount reveals a packed slate of exciting films for 2025-26 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Paramount Pictures officially announces the next Star Trek movie, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2025. As reported in January, the next Star Trek movie isn't the long-delayed, Chris Pine-led Star Trek 4 produced by J.J. Abrams, which remains in development at Paramount. Rather, the next Star Trek movie is an origin story directed by Toby Haynes ( Star Wars: Andor ) and written by Seth Grahame-Smith (A braham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ).

Screen Rant' s Rob Keyes (@rob_keyes) is at CinemaCon in Las Vegas where Paramount Pictures confirmed the next Star Trek movie , currently called Untitled Star Trek Origin Story , to be released in 2025. J.J. Abrams is also producing Untitled Star Trek Origin Story, which takes place decades before Abrams' Star Trek 2009 movie. See Rob Keyes' Tweet below:

Paramount also confirmed Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will begin production later this year for theatrical release in 2025.

Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Star trek's new movies in theaters and paramount plus explained, star trek is finally making movies again.

After nearly a decade, Star Trek i s back to making movies. Star Trek on Paramount+ has created a television renaissance for the franchise, but the theatrical side of Star Trek overseen by Paramount Pictures has languished in development hell since Star Trek Beyond bowed in the summer of 2016. Toby Haynes' Untitled Star Trek Origin Story is yet another prequel, but as it's said to be set decades before Star Trek 2009, it could very well be set after Star Trek: Enterprise 's mid-22nd century voyages but otherwise be an origin story for both Star Trek 's Prime and alternate Kelvin timelines .

Meanwhile, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 4 , which is the "final chapter" of the USS Enterprise crew led by Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock, has seen some movement with a new screenwriter, Steve Yockey ( The Flight Attendant ), tackling the long-delayed sequel. Pine and his fellow Star Trek actors, including Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and Sofia Boutella, have all expressed their eagerness to return if Star Trek 4 can come together.

It's a positive sign that Star Trek movies are finally coming back.

Paramount+ is making their own Star Trek movies, with the recently-wrapped Star Trek: Section 31 awaiting a release date. Starring Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, Section 31 i s the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie, and it is reportedly set during Star Trek 's "lost era" with connections to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Section 31 could get a sequel if successful, and the Star Trek: Picard spinoff dubbed Star Trek: Legacy may also become a streaming movie instead of a series. However all this shakes out, it's a positive sign that Star Trek movies are finally coming back.

Source: Rob Keyes Twitter