star trek race populations

Star Trek: Why Do All Of The Alien Races Look Humanoid?

It turns out there's an in-universe explanation for why Star Trek's alien life looks similar to life on Earth.

In the wonderful and diverse universe present within the Star Trek franchise there are nearly 300 different alien species, including the mighty Klingons, terrifying Borg , and the boisterous humans that dominate the federation . Each of these species is different, but each has a unique culture, history, personality, and arguably most importantly, design.

While the designs of some races are questionable, especially during the Original Series, they all vary enough to distinguish themselves from the others. They can look fairly similar, such as with the Romulans and the Vulcans, but the most important similarity that connects them is that most of them, especially in the early days, look humanoid in one way or another. The definition of Humanoid is to "resemble a human, or the shape of a human," so the question arises: why, in a universe so vast and varied as the one present within the Star Trek franchise, do so many of the alien races, including humans, look the same?

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The answer comes in two parts, one within the universe itself, and one outside. The short answer for the non-fictional explanation is that budget, CGI, and special effects were simply not good enough to create truly alien aliens in the Original Series. At the end of the day, adding an extra nose, ridged foreheads , or some funky-looking eyebrows were a lot simpler and cheaper than fashioning a completely different, non-humanoid figure. This is not to say the series never did this, but on the occasions they did, it often fell short or looked ridiculous. Two of the best examples were the Tribble, a vibrating fur ball, and Alfa 177 canine — which was literally a small dog with a horn fastened unceremoniously to its head. In the days before enhanced visual effects, TV producers often relied on prosthetics and animatronics to create variety onscreen. Even when it comes to modern portrayals of aliens, it is often simpler to create them as humanoid in some way or another, as it allows for an actual actor to play the part. This is present in Prometheus (2012), as the architects are basically big white, bald, humans. It also appears within more modern Star Trek iterations such as Discovery .

Ignoring budget reasons and feasibility, though, audiences might expect that there would be a little more diversity in the universe. The second, far more interesting explanation for why the majority of races look humanoid in one way or another is explained in two episodes: the Original Series episode “Bread and Circuses,” and in The Next Generation episode “The Chase.”

The former introduced the concept of Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development, which served as a writer's excuse to explain not only the use of humanoid aliens, but recurring props. The theory explains that similar planets (in this case, Class M planets, to which Earth belongs) with similar environments and populations often follow similar biological and cultural developments. This means that, after years and years of evolution, the outcome is a result similar to other planets of the same class across the galaxy. It can be likened to carrying out a science experiment with similar conditions: each experiment will conclude with a similar result, with only slight variations. This was used to explain why the crew of the Enterprise keeps running into cultures resembling societies from their own past; i.e. ancient Greeks or, in the case of this episode, ancient Romans.

The Next Generation episode “The Chase” elaborated on this, showing Picard discovering embedded genetic patterns that are present within various different species across the galaxy. It is believed that this genetic material, these blueprints for humanoid evolution, was spread across the universe by an advanced civilization lost billions of years ago. The episode concludes, in a very Assassins' Creed ancient civilization kind of way, with the crew reactivating a message hidden within the genetic pattern and translating it into a holographic recording. It shows a humanoid alien figure, who explains that they were the first civilization to explore the galaxy, billions of years ago. They discovered that there were no other humanoid-based lifeforms other than themselves, and thus found it hard to create common ground between them and the life that existed that was so unrecognizable and hard to comprehend. Thus, they decided to seed various planets with their own DNA in order to leave behind a legacy of life in their image.

This does not completely contradict Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development, as it still allowed for the environment to directly influence evolution, and keep each race within its specific humanoid blueprint, but it gave much more credibility to the similarities. What was most poignant about the message left by the ancient civilization was a hope that knowing that there was a common ancestry that linked these often warring species, would help bring them together, much like the knowledge of other life outside the safe ozone walls of Earth helped unite humankind into one race: human.

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Den of Geek

Star Trek: The 50 Best Alien Races

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

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

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

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

50. Arcturian

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

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

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

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

49. Edosian

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

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

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

48. Excalbians

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

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

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

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

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47. Caitian

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

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

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

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

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

46. Bolians

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

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

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

45. Lurian

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

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

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

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

First appearance: Star Trek (2009)

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

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

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

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

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

43. Mugato

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

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

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

42. Acamarians

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

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

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

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

41. Denobulans

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

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

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

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

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

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40. Orions

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

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

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

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

39. Ocampans

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

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

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

38. Vidiians

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

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

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

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

37. Breen

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

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

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

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

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

36. Hunters

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

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

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

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

35. The Salt Vampire

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

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

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

34. Cheron

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

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

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

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

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

33. Nausicaans

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

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

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

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

32. Kazon

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

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

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

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

31. Metrons

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

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

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

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

30. Horta

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

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

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

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

29. Greek Gods

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

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

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

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

28. Hirogen

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

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

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

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

27. El-Aurians

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

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

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

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

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

26. Tellarites

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

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

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

25. Tamarians

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

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

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

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

24. Species 8472

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

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

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

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

23. The Gorn

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

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

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

22. Tholians

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

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

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

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

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

21. Talaxians

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

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

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

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

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

20. Organians

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

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

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

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

19. The Traveler

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

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

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

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

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

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

18. Crystalline Entity

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

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

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

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

17. Betazoid

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

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

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

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

16. Talosians

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

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

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

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

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

15. Vorta

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

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

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

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

14. Xindi

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

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

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

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

13. Trill

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

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

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

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

12. Tribbles

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

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

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

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

11. Jem’Hadar

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

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

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

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

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

10. Changeling

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

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

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

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

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

9. Andorians

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

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

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

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

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

8. Ferengi

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Romulans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Bajorans

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Cardassians

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Borg

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

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

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

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

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

2. Klingons

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

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

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

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

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

1. Vulcans

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

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

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

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

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

Marc Buxton

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

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Star trek: the 15 deadliest races in the galaxy, ranked.

The universe of Star Trek contains a multitude of aliens, so check out the deadliest races, ranked in order of lethality.

There are near countless races of humanoid (and not so humanoid) extraterrestrial beings depicted in the Star Trek  series. Some are benign and helpful, joining with the United Federation of Planets in their pursuit to bring peace and harmony to the universe. However, others oppose the Federation's aims—seeking to destroy and conquer all that lies in their path. We've updated this list to include 5 more deadly races that Starfleet has thrown down with over the years, for a total of 15. Let's hope none of these baddies are lurking about in our real galaxy!

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Updated on July 5th, 2020 by Derek Draven: As mentioned in our updated intro, we've included 5 more alien races in the Star Trek universe which are extremely deadly and should be given a wide berth. Any one of them is sure to ruin one's day, not to mention the rest of the known galaxy (and beyond), as well.

This bipedal reptilian race made its first appearance in the original Trek, featuring a classic battle between Captain Kirk and a Gorn captain who were pitted against each other on a barren planet. Since then, the Gorn have made limited appearances in other spinoffs, but it has been established that their technological prowess is on par with Starfleet's, making them a credible threat.

The Gorn race is also extremely deadly, thanks to a combination of super-strength, physical resilience, and reliance on brutal weaponry including hand-held and ship-mounted disruptors. Though the Gorn have shown no true hostile ambitions towards the Federation, they would represent a significant challenge if the day ever came.

The Breen Confederacy

The Breen Confederacy was mentioned on numerous Star Trek series but didn’t appear until Deep Space Nine . A mysterious race with warlike tendencies, not very much is known about The Breen, who wear fully sealed refrigeration suits that obscure their physical from the outside world. In their most bloodthirsty moment, they allied with The Dominion to wage war against the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans, destroying Starfleet headquarters on Earth.

The Vidiian Sodality

One of the strangest and most repulsive species in all of Star Trek , they first appeared in Voyager and haven’t shown up much since. Suffering from a nasty, flesh-eating disease, the Vidiians amputate and graft body parts from other races onto their crumbling bodies.

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Aside from their brutal, patchwork visages, Vidiians are frightening because they view all other races as spare parts--mere resources to be mined from--carving up victims to use their bodies to save their own species and disregarding their right to life.

The Hirogen

The Hirogen were unique among many Star Trek species in the fact that their entire culture was built around the concept of the hunt. Indeed, all technological and societal progress was laser-focused on this one ideal. In essence, the Hirogen were the equivalent of the Predator franchise's yautja race in almost every way.

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So fine-tuned was their cultural need to hunt that the Hirogen were game for almost any kind of challenge, including holographic prey that learned from each encounter - eventually leading to a revolt. If the Hirogen ever decided to elevate their hunting culture to include galactic dominance, the results could be terrible.

It might seem odd to include these cute and cuddly pests on the list of the deadliest races in the Star Trek galaxy, but they've earned their reputation well. The galactic equivalent of rabbits with 1,000x the reproductive enthusiasm, Tribbles were capable of wiping out entire planetary ecosystems in very little time.

In their native habitats, Tribble numbers were kept in check by the local predator population, but when taken off their respective worlds, they soon became too much for anyone to handle, and the results could literally become life-threatening.

Changelings

Though not the most overtly threatening Star Trek race, Changelings are tough to kill, function as a hivemind, and have unmatched shapeshifting abilities, making them formidable adversaries. They do have a weakness in that they must return to their natural, liquid state in order to recuperate and regenerate. The most famous Changeling in the Star Trek universe is Odo from Deep Space 9 . Though he became an ally of Starfleet , many of his race were part of The Dominion, a group that sought to bring order to the universe through terror and domination.

The Tholians

In addition to being hostile and territorial in nature, the Tholians possessed unique forms of technological and biological weaponry to push their agenda. One of their greatest and most well-known weapons was the Tholian Web, an energy field that could trap starships and other entities, preventing them from exiting, lest they be shredded by the filaments.

The only saving grace of the Tholians is their withdrawn nature. While not an expansionist race, they have annexed territories along their borders in an effort to shore up their own security, but they seem to have no plans for galactic dominance.

Cardassians

Once a race of high-minded, cultured individuals, the Cardassians were forced to become brutal and militaristic to survive. They first appeared in The Next Generation , though they’ve been spoken about in Deep Space 9 and Voyager as being even more dangerous (supposedly) than iconic baddies, the Romulans. A clever and crafty race, the prejudiced attitude with which they regard other species and their totalitarian ways lead them to infamously conquer the planet of Bajor, an event which reverberates throughout the entire Star Trek universe.

Pah-Wraiths

Evil with a capital “E”, the Pah-Wraiths are the non-corporeal, eternal enemies of Bajoran prophets. According to Bajoran lore, the Pah-Wraiths are themselves excommunicated prophets who formed a cult to combat the Cardassian Occupation of their planet.

Though they physically resemble other prophets, they boast devastating fire abilities and can induce hallucinations in their enemies. They are also able to possess the bodies of others, as they did in Deep Space 9 when they resurrected the Cardassian Gul Dukat in an attempt to destroy the known universe.

The series' OG antagonists, the Romulans first appeared way back during the show's first season in 1966. Ever since, they’ve been a thorn in the sides of every captain from Kirk to Janeway and beyond. The polar opposite of the unfeeling, logical Vulcan race, Romulans are full of wrath and make knee-jerk decisions. The Federation has a complicated relationship with the cunning, militaristic race, and has had to tamp down their attempts to conquer other species wholesale time and again.

The Klingons were initially less prominent than the Romulans in Star Trek , but quickly subsumed them in popularity as the years progressed. A proud warrior species with deeply held beliefs, customs, and ceremonies tied to battle and honor, they began as antagonists before becoming members of the Federation in The Next Generation .

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Lieutenant Commander Worf became the most famous Klingon to ever serve in Starfleet, and though The Federation occasionally continues to butt heads with Klingon factions, they believe it better to have them as close friends than enemies.

The Jem'Hadar

The Dominion had an ace up their sleeve in the form of the Jem'Hadar, a race of genetically-engineered warriors with an accelerated growth cycle that allowed them to emerge from a birthing chamber and quickly mature into a front-line warrior in very little time.

With absolutely no interest in the concept of comfort or personal liberty, the Jem'Hadar were fierce both in rituals, and combat. In addition to their incredible physical strength, they were well-trained soldiers who could lance through enemy opposition, especially up close.

Perhaps the greatest and most recognizable of the more modern Star Trek villains, The Borg were instantly iconic when they first appeared on The Next Generation . A robotic humanoid race that grows its numbers by “assimilating” other species, The Borg are one of the most unsettling in the Star Trek universe. Their ability to tamp down individuality and absorb others into their collective brain makes them feared across galaxies, and they are one of the few races who actually succeeded in besting a Starfleet Commander when they successfully assimilated Captain Picard, albeit if only briefly.

Interestingly, later in the series, it was revealed that The Borg are able to return to their human state and reverse their assimilation. Voyager ’s Seven of Nine was one such example and was a valuable asset to her crew due to the unequaled level of knowledge she attained as a member of the species.

Species 8472

The only entity capable of striking fear into The Borg, Species 8472 is so formidable that it once forced a temporary alliance between Starfleet and The Borg in Voyager . Known only by the species serial number given them by The Borg, the creatures have an extremely hardy genetic makeup that makes them immune to assimilation, inspiring in the Borg (who view them as a genetically perfect species) both extreme admiration and terror

Species 8472 possesses biotech beyond what both Starfleet and The Borg could imagine, and for reasons unknown, they seek to wipe out all life in the galaxy. The only option available to the Voyager crew and their Borg allies was to use nanoprobes in a warhead to beat them back.

One of Star Trek ’s most popular (and occasionally irritating ) characters, Q is a member of an unknown, time-traveling species that frequently toys with the Starfleet Crews. Though he appears to Starfleet in human form, it is unknown what he truly looks like (or whether “he” is a he at all) and his motives are often shadowy and unclear. What is clear, is that he is likely one of the Universe’s most powerful beings , able to alter the fabric of reality and go anywhere he chooses with a snap of his fingers.

NEXT: Will Discovery's Secret Be Known In Star Trek: Picard?

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• Bizarre Alien Limbs : A rare three-legged alien species.
• Named After Their Planet : The planet Edos.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs : They have three arms and three legs.

• The Dulcinea Effect : Something about El-Aurians seems to make people implicitly want to trust them, even their con-men.
• The Empath : They are very good at reading situations and emotions, hence their reputation as "listeners". It's unclear whether this is a genuine psychic power.
• Homeworld Evacuation : Their homeworld was destroyed by the Borg in the late 23rd century. While most of their population was killed or assimilated, a handful managed to escape and scatter across the galaxy.
• Human Aliens : They are identical to humans in appearance.
• Immortal Procreation Clause : They're one of the longest lived biological races in Star Trek , and apparently their population was only in the millions when the Borg almost wiped them out.
• Long-Lived : Quite an extreme example by Star Trek standards, as an El-Aurian in the prime of their life can already be several centuries old.
• More than Mind Control : "Listening" sounds pretty innocuous, doesn't it? But then you meet someone who listens to everything you say, and understands, truly understands . You love talking to them, and even though just met them, you feel like telling them everything about yourself, even your secrets, because you know they'll listen . And if they're gently guiding the conversation to, say, your financial plans, that's fine, you've got some ideas for the future you're really proud of, oh boy you bet they'll be very impressed. And soon enough you're helping your new best friend with his investments or giving him a cut of yours. Because he listens. That's been the M.O. of at least one unscrupulous El-Aurian.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling : Guinan was able to "feel" when the Enterprise had traveled to a parallel universe, and also could be injured by the energy given off by time travel phenomena. Data once speculated that El-Aurians had a higher awareness of space-time compared to most other humanoids.
• Poor Communication Kills : Despite knowing full well who destroyed their civilization, the El-Aurian refugees apparently never told anyone about the Borg until the Enterprise was thrown smack-dab into their turf. (Then again, given Picard just ignored Guinan's warnings in favor of poking around the cube, one can see why they didn't bother).
• Really 700 Years Old : El-Aurians live for centuries, if not longer, and can control their rate of aging to a degree. Guinan looks exactly the same in the late 24th century as she does in the late 19th (though by 2401 she's started visibly aging to fit in with her human patrons).
• Space Nomads : They seem to have been a race of wanderers and explorers even before their homeworld was destroyed by the Borg.
• Unreliable Narrator : Much of what we know about El-Aurians comes from Guinan, who — judging from Q's reaction to seeing her on the Enterprise -D in " Q Who " — is not a "typical" El-Aurian. The only other named members of the species, Martus Mazur and Tolian Soran , are both more immoral and far less "above it all" than Guinan ever was.

• Abstract Apotheosis : Raw capitalism at its best. And worst. However, they never went as far as slavery or colonialism.
• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts : An entire culture based on that principle. You are expected to pay an entry fee just for entering another person's house (after which you are expected to recite a traditional Ferengi greeting stating you will not steal anything, so yeah, an RPG come to life). On the other hand, even police or government officials going into your house as part of an official inquiry have to pay the entrance fee. Theoretically, everyone is constantly making small micropayments to each other, which keeps the money flowing, and thus fueling the economy. Even worse is public facilities. Think a visit to the doctor's bad as it is? Now add having to charge not only just to get through the front door, but to just to stand in the waiting area. And the elevator?...
• Alien Blood : Their blood is yellow.
• Butt-ugly? Check. Obsessed with gold? Check. Untrustworthy? Check.
• As the species mellowed out in the nineties, they began to incorporate some hobbit traits, including their dome-shaped clay huts which definitely draw inspiration from Tolkien.
• Always Chaotic Evil : Originally portrayed this way on Next Generation , but this ceased to be the case later in that series and on Deep Space Nine .
• Believing Their Own Lies : They seem to genuinely consider themselves legitimate businessmen, and resent the fact that the whole Alpha Quadrant considers them a race of Con Men . Grand Nagus Zek : No matter where we go, our reputation precedes us! A reputation that has been tainted by the lies of our competitors, who maliciously spread the erroneous impression that we are not to be trusted!
• Big Bad Wannabe : A Real Life example. The Ferengi were built up as the over-arching Big Bad of TNG, a reflection of humans when they were still avaricious and violent — but they never came across as anything more than buffoons because Roddenberry insisted they were supposed to be enemies to be pitied, not feared or respected note  furthermore, it made the heroes look bad for struggling with them . The writers eventually wised up and stopped taking them seriously.
• Ferengi kids shed their baby ears , instead of teeth. Eek.
• They mention at some point also that Ferengi have ascending ribs (small near the neck and get larger towards the midsection).
• Their body chemistry is different from humans. Trying to inject them with sodium pentothal just gets you a screaming Ferengi (and sore ears).
• It repeatedly is brought up that their ears are erogenous zones. For Ferengi getting their ears stroked is basically the equivalent of a handjob for humans.
• The Ferengi value street smarts and business savvy over an honest transaction. They're known for slipping dubious clauses and disclaimers into their contracts (for instance, an obscure provision buried on Page 21, Subsection B, Paragraph 12 stated that Quark was entitled to feel up his Dabo girls). That said, they can justify cheating, tricking, and swindling their customers only within the confines of The Contract. Rule of Acquisition #17 sternly reprimands, " A contract is a contract is a contract. " Under Ferengi law, any Ferengi who breaks a signed contract with another Ferengi automatically has their assets liquidated by the FCA and is blacklisted within merchant circles. In a culture where profit-earning ability is everything, this is tantamount to capital punishment.
• The Ferengi and Federation are both at odds in terms of their senses of morality. The Federation believes themselves to have the moral high ground over Ferengi because of the fact that they abolished currency in favor of a society where the needs of the citizenry is met without fail, and everyone is treated as equal. Ferengi, on the other hand, feel superior to the Federation because they are at least honest in their greed and had never, in their history, practiced slavery over another sentient race, unlike humans during the darker periods of their history.
• As a mercantile race, the Ferengi judge everything by monetary value charged for it (the more expensive, the better it must be). As a result, a doctor who doesn't charge anything, not even for standing in the waiting room, must be terrible, even if they're one of those Federation doctors who can cure rainy days.
• The Ferengi don't see the point in racism, as that would deny them a potential new customer base. They also don't see the point in expensive, exclusive products, when you can make just as much profit selling a cheap product to the masses.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory : The Ferengi claim they invented warp drive before any of the other Alpha Quadrant species, including Vulcans. Actually, they bought it from somebody else. Quark : The speed of technological advancement isn't nearly as important as short-term quarterly gains! (Can't this thing go any faster?)
• Characterization Marches On : A race that originated as a caricature of the worst parts of capitalism ultimately became more rounded-off and sympathetic as time went on. When the time came to have a Ferengi as a series regular, Quark rejected the whole notion of his people being a 'backward' race. (After all, the Ferengi don't have anything resembling death camps in their history.)
• Children Are a Waste : The Ferengi consider pregnancy to be a rental, with the father being termed the lessee.
• City of Gold : The Ferengi afterlife is called the Divine Treasury, which is a treasury made entirely of latinum. Possibly; the only time we've seen it is in a dream sequence and the dreamer thinks it's tacky.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive : The more successful examples... (Quark's cousin bought his own moon.)
• On two separate occasions in Season 1 alone, the station was overrun with insanity viruses that affected everyone except for Quark and Odo (as a shapeshifter, he has nothing resembling the genetic materials a virus could infect in the first place). One was a virus that gave everyone aphasia, the other was a virus that over-wrote everyone's personalities with the minds of soldiers from a long-ago war. That being said, Ferengi do have their own diseases (an ear infection can be life-threatening), but their biology seems different enough that most alien diseases (natural or designed) don't affect them.
• For a race not known for militarism or technological achievement, the Ferengi D'Kora marauders are impressive vessels, with capabilities nearly equivalent to the Federation's Galaxy -class starships.
• The Dandy : When you're under five feet tall, you have to dress to impress. Ferengi take their wardrobe as another opportunity to flaunt their success; some even wear bars of latinum around their necks.
• Dirty Coward : Ferengi are cowardly by nature. Their official hand gesture looks suspiciously like an animal in submission.
• Do You Want to Haggle? : A Ferengi's idea of self-defense is to offer higher bribes. Not a bad strategy within the Ferengi Alliance. But the failure rate is quite high with Klingons, et al.
• The Dreaded : In the earliest episodes of TNG, the mere mention of the Ferengi made Picard extremely antsy. Then they appeared in person, and were quickly demoted to Harmless Villain .
• Early-Installment Weirdness : The original depictions of the Ferengi made them seem base, confrontational, and uncivilized approaching the point of feral in behavior. Armin Shimerman, portrayer of Quark and two prior Ferengi characters, later lamented his earlier character performances as a horrible thing to do to the Ferengi. Later depictions made them much more orderly and civilized, albeit still greedy.
• Energy Weapon : Ferengi soldiers are shown packing stun whips (!) on two occasions: Once in TNG and again on ENT. It's got great range and negates the height difference between them and their opponents. In real life, this would seems like a good way to electrocute yourself. Of all the weapons that should be combined with electricity, a whip is definitely one of the worst.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas : Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother. Rule of Acquisition #31. note  There is some debate as to whether or not it is followed with "Insult something he cares about instead."
• Racism is abhorrent to Ferengi: in Season 1 of Deep Space Nine , when mob opinion suspects Odo of a murder purely based on anti-changeling racism without hard evidence, Quark of all people is the only one who openly declares his disgust at everyone else. When it's pointed out that he is Odo's perpetual enemy, he bitterly says he is, but compared to everyone else, that makes him the closest thing Odo has to a friend .
• Oddly enough despite this they're the most sexist race in the series. They finally undergo a women's lib movement on DS9 .
• While they may not call it slavery, The Ferengi do practice indentured servitude. Quark explicitly says, with worry, that his mother will be sold into indentured servitude when he catches on that she's been earning profit illegally. Since Ferengi females are forbidden from taking any jobs other than child rearing, there can be only one interpretation to what the servitude is.
• According to Odo, the Ferengi abhor collaborators. He explicitly claims that they won't sell out their world for profit.
• Every Man Has His Price : Rule of Acquisition #98, word for word.
• They're extremely industrious, with their leader having worked non-stop for most of his lifetime, and Ferengi are nothing if not penny-wise. Every bar of latinum they spend is invested into further means of generating profit. In fact, going into debt is considered a mortal sin. Rom: You don't think we're in that... other place? Nog: The Vault of Eternal Destitution?? Quark: Don't be ridiculous! (terrified) The bar was showing a profit!
• Their belief in "The Great River" (That basically, if you need something, there's someone out there waiting to trade something for it), makes them pragmatic, opportunistic and, despite their reputation as cowardly, brave. Ferengi will take risky deals on the gamble that further down the line they can capitalize on them. And they will entertain risks or possibilities other races will not. Nog best shows this when he does a Chain of Deals for Chief O'Brien that at first all look like carreer enders but ultimately score the chief all he needs to finish a time critical job.
• Exotic Equipment : A Ferengi male will invariably try persuading a female of another race to massage his ears. They frequently leave out the part about Ferengi ears being sexually stimulating. This practice is called Oomox , and there are entire Kama Sutra -sized tomes dedicated to it.
• Fantastic Arousal : Stroking their ear lobes turns them on. They even have a name for it: oo-mox.
• Fantastic Fragility : The sensitivity of the ears, while providing great sensual pleasure, also makes them vulnerable to pain (just biting a Ferengi's ear will immobilize them with pain) and other problems, including some life-threatening infections
• Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity : They mainly use plasma whips.
• Fantastic Slur : To the Ferengi, " Philanthropist! " is tantamount to calling someone a Nazi.
• To hew-mons in DS9 . TNG meant them as more of an Evil Counterpart , but that... didn't work.
• Out of all the bawdy races of the Alpha Quadrant, Ferengi are the ones Vorta seem to despise the most (Eris, Keevan, Yedrin). It's as though the Vorta resent their inability to con such a streetwise race.
• Foreign Queasine : Ferengi are big insectivores, and the jingle for their version of Pepsi is about how slimy it is because it contains algae. Most of their diet consists of things you'd expect to find in the swampy climate of their homeworld: insects, worms, and slugs. Human foods they find the most palatable are shellfish & squid, and they don't have a problem with Klingon gagh (serpentine worms eaten live ) as humans do.
• Fridge Logic : Invoked by Ishka in her bid for equal rights for Ferengi women. A culture which focuses so heavily on profit, yet which doesn't allow an entire half of its population to participate in the generation of it, makes no sense.
• Averted. Gene Roddenberry's initial concept for the Ferengi gave them gigantic penises and wore bulging codpieces to depict that but was eventually dropped.
• That said, Ferengi do judge a man by the size of his lobes. Lobe extensions and lobe enhancement products ( fraudulent, naturally ) are available for the right price.
• Inverted. Like most races in the Alpha Quadrant, they accept gold-pressed latinum as barter, but the latinum carries real value.
• Predictably, their religion is based on the principles of capitalism: they offer prayers and money to a "Blessed Exchequer" in hopes of entering the "Divine Treasury" upon death, and fear an afterlife spent in the "Vault of Eternal Destitution". Several expanded universe sources mention that the Ferengi see Earth's now-defunct Wall Street as some kind of holy site.
• Good with Numbers : Even those without the lobes for opportunity will probably be good at math, as evidenced by Rom's engineering skills.
• Harmless Villain : In TNG season 1 the script literally calls for them to "jump around like excited hamsters".
• Hiss Before Fleeing : Not a very intimidating bunch, these Ferengi.
• Honest John's Dealership : Most of them come across as being this, as it seems impossible for them to not cheat their customers in some way. Starfleet instructors specifically warn their fledgling officers about Ferengi hucksters they may come across in ports. Just don't mention this fact in front of them, unless you want to get swindled by an outraged Ferengi, as nearly befalls poor, dumb Harry Kim.
• Humans Are Ugly : The very first comment made by a Ferengi upon seeing humans for the first time is that reports of our ugliness were clearly not exaggerated. Although it seems this attitude only applies to human males .
• Hyper-Awareness : They might be terrible soldiers, but the prized "lobes" are super-sensitive, making them really good scouts. This grants them incredibly acute hearing, strong enough to cut through electronic interference and sensitive to the point of being able to measure the volume levels of a room in decibels. Similarly, their inner ear is also able to detect minute changes in air temperature and pressure levels, such that they can tell changes in altitude.
• I Am a Humanitarian : Early press about the race before The Next Generation debuted was that they were the new Big Bad , and among other things, they ate humans, literally (which is why their design included sharp, pointy teeth.) However, after their debut, they were Too Funny to Be Evil and it was Retconned that it was a rumor.
• Ideal Illness Immunity : They possess extremely strong immune systems that can fend off most diseases: when a genetically-engineered virus outbreak struck DS9 in "Babel", Quark was the only humanoid aboard (excepting Odo ) who was completely unsusceptible to its effects.
• I Gave My Word : Rule of Acquisition #17 - "A contract is a contract is a contract ... but only between Ferengi."
• Immune to Mind Control : Due to their uncommon four-lobed brain configuration, Ferengi are immune to telepaths. They're apparently not immune to strong empaths though, on the more general level of emotional influence.
• Intimidating Revenue Service : The Ferengi Commerce Agency (FCA). These bozos have jurisdiction over any Ferengi business anywhere in the universe . They police Ferengi ideologies, such as union-busting, with zeal seldom seen outside of the mafia.
• Jerkass : Even the nicer (or at least more tolerable) Ferengi can come across as this. It is telling that a traditional Ferengi greeting involves telling someone not to pinch your stuff ("My home is my home." "As are its contents.").
• Klingon Promotion : As a rule, Ferengi don't encourage this. A man must get into power via the strength of his greed, so that he may be a shining example to others. But there are exceptions. Grand Nagus Zek mentions having had several attempts on his life over the years, and one prior Grand Nagus was assassinated while in office, after having screwed up in an incredibly spectacular fashion. He was, in fact, the only Nagus to be assassinated while in office.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect : The Ferengi value mercantile skills over all else, and look down on those who can't directly go into business and sales. Heartbreakingly lampshaded by Nog, who explains to Sisko that his father Rom, in the Federation, could have wound up the chief engineer of a starship, but in Ferengi society has wound-up an exploited mechanic scraping to survive in his own brother's relatively low-value bar. This is what pushes Nog to try for something better for himself by joining Starfleet.
• Language Equals Thought : In a reference to the old "Eskimos have 200 words for snow" gag, Quark mentions in the episode "Let He Who Is Without Sin" that due to the Perpetual Storm that lashes their home planet, the swamp world of Ferenginar, Ferengi have 187 words for "rain" (he uses the word "glemmening" to describe the rain on the resort world he's currently visiting). He also mentions that they don't have a native word for "crisp", because the high humidity makes all their food naturally mushy.
• Variations are used across Asia, ultimately all distortions of the word Frank , i.e. somebody from France, mistakenly interpreted to mean all Europeans.
• "Ferengi" was also the name of a princess in the Persian Shah Nameh , in keeping with the Star Trek practice of naming races after mythological figures.
• Meet the New Boss : The ultimate goal of any underpaid Ferengi worker, being exploited and swindled by their boss is to one day get his job and become an exploitive swindler himself.
• Money Fetish : Ferengi ears are said to tingle whenever they sense opportunity. Indeed, you can see them involuntarily stroke their ears when large sums are read aloud... wait, how does one perform Oo-mox again?
• Mr. Vice Guy : On their better days. As Jadzia put it, they're plenty of fun once you accept you can't turn your back on one for a second. Armin Shimerman : The Ferengi are a number of those old seven deadly sins stuck together.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits : Rule of Acquisition 112: Never sleep with the boss's sister.
• Named After Their Planet : The planet Ferenginar.
• Persona Non Grata : Ferengis who violate the law may have their business license revoked by the FCA, leaving them legally disallowed from associating with other Ferengi or returning to the homeworld.
• Pint Sized Power House : Ferengi are shorter than the average human, but there are subtle hints that they have Vulcan-level Super-Strength — in one DS9 episode, Quark is shown snapping a bar of gold in half with his bare hands, whilst in another, a startled Sisko finds himself picked up and thrown several meters by a ticked off Ferengi, who did so effortlessly. " Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places " seems to indicate that despite their smaller size Ferengi are physically perfectly capable of going toe-to-toe with Klingons in melee combat, but simply lack the combat training or fighting spirit to do so normally. Even in their first appearance in The Next Generation , the Ferengi Leader somehow managed to judo-flip Data while being Neck Lifted by him.
• Professional Butt-Kisser : Rule of Acquisition 33: It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
• Proud Merchant Race : The most extreme example in Star Trek. Their entire society is based around the pursuit of wealth and conspicuous consumption, with even the most mundane interactions often mediated by the exchange of currency.
• Psychic Block Defense : Data says that Ferengi are naturally immune to Telepathy , perhaps because of their four-lobed brains, and Betazoids have been unable to properly read them on a number of occasions. Interestingly, they are not immune to Emotion Control , as Lwaxana Troi, while suffering from Zanthi Fever, unintentionally affects Quark with her powers the same as humans, Bajorans and Trill.
• Read the Fine Print : Rule of Acquisition no. 8; "Small print leads to large risk." Ferengi businessmen like to use it on employees, hiding obscure rules and clauses in Ferengi deep in the contract, but they know it giveth and taketh away.
• Reconstruction : After being introduced as Big Bad Wannabes, DS9 showed how they could function as an actual society.
• The Rich Want to Be Richer : No matter how much wealth a Ferengi amasses, the Rules of Acquisition demand that they continue building greater and greater fortunes. Rule of Acquisition #18: "A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."
• Roswell That Ends Well : Turns out it was Quark's contraband-carrying shuttle which crashed in New Mexico, sent back in time via an accident. ( DS9 :"Little Green Men"). Quark actually gets called out by the hew-mons he meets for sounding like an Honest John's Dealership in the process as well.
• Rule #1 : The Rules of Acquisition, which range from harsh ("A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all. ") to pragmatic ("You can't make a deal if you're dead.") to Pet the Dog ("Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.")
• Scary Teeth : Ferengi teeth are quite horrible looking, almost like the fang equivalent of British Teeth . Angular, uneven upper jawlines, snaggle-toothed tusks and similar twisting of the teeth are quite prominently displayed amongst the Ferengi cast.
• Screams Like a Little Girl : The Ferengi have no shame and their scream is very high-pitched.
• The Scrounger : Many Ferengi believe in a "Great Material Continuum", likened to a river that can be navigated through wheeling and dealing to obtain the desired product. Nog, the first Ferengi to join Starfleet, demonstrates that even in a moneyless society, good business sense can be a very useful trait to have.
• Sentient Cosmic Force : The Great Material Continuum! Ferengi visualize it as a great river flowing throughout the cosmos, bartering goods and services between those that need them. A good Ferengi knows how to "navigate" this river to turn a profit. (O'Brien compared it to rough water rafting when Nog roped him into a risky deal.)
• Serious Business : Defraud a business on Ferenginar, and be thrown into the sulphur mines! Understandable, given the perpetrator is lying to scam someone out of their hard-earned money.
• Show Within a Show : The Ferengi have their own television shows (ad-supported, of course). These range from a Buddy Cop Show to a mix of Work Com and Rom Com .
• Shrine to the Fallen : Ferenginar has a memorial to the financial losses of the Dominion war.
• Single-Biome Planet : Ferenginar is comprised exclusively of swamps and wetlands, constantly lashed by a Perpetual Storm that rages across the entire planet.
• The So-Called Coward : Whilst it's true that most Ferengi are relatively cowardly; if you do manage to piss one off they are extremely cunning, are perfectly fine with fighting dirty and at least a few possess strength equal to that of a Vulcan (Quark once snapped a gold brick in half using nothing but his bare hands and another one effortlessly threw Riker several meters). They also have an impressive navy, with starship weapons capable of taking out a Galaxy class given the right circumstances, and the best shields money can buy.
• The writers were so aware of this trope that they specifically had Data compare them to Yankee traders , to try to deflect any accusations of anti-Semitism. It didn't work.
• Space Pirates : Their original characterization when they were planed to be serious villains. Implicitly Retconned to be just a few who couldn't make it in "legitimate" business. After years spent getting away from this idea, we meet some Ferengi Space Pirates in an episode of Enterprise.
• Stay in the Kitchen : Holy freaking yikes . Ferengi women aren't allowed to earn a profit. Or talk to strangers. Or go outside. Or wear clothing at any time. Their job is to prepare and chew their childrens' food for them, and teach them the Rules of Acquisition. That's it. Any woman that does earn profit is put into indentured servitude. As Deep Space 9 goes on, Quark's mother manages to kick-start a revolution allowing them to become independent. They do apparently have some property rights however, since Rom's backstory apparently has him losing most of his money in a messy divorce.
• Strange Salute : Ferengi bow and point their palms outward, like a possum. They also clap by tapping the back of one hand against their palm.
• Straw Character : Straw Capitalists to be precise. While later series rounded them off, their "hat" remained firmly in place.
• Stupid Crooks : The Ferengi Space Pirates in TNG frequently prove to be no better at crime than DS9 would imply that they were at mercantile pursuits.
• Super-Senses : The Ferengi have highly sensitive ears, allowing them to hear sounds outside the range of other species' hearing. In one Deep Space Nine episode, Sisko chooses Nog to relay his commands to the Defiant crew because Nog's Ferengi hearing will allow him to hear Sisko over the din of battle. In another episode, Quark hears a noise coming from a ship's compartment, allowing him and Odo to discover a hidden bomb.
• Super-Strength : They're not militant enough to use it, of course, but there are subtle hints that Ferengi are at least as strong as Vulcans .
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics : The females of their species have (relatively) smaller earlobes. This was revealed in an episode where a Ferengi girl wore prosthetic ears to fool the boys' club (and nearly got away with it, too!).
• Turned on its head a little though, if Quark can be trusted, in that while Ferengi are greedy as a virtue and sexist/xenophobic as a culture, they've also never taken it to the same extreme that humans have, citing that the Ferengi never had concentration camps, slavery or massive-scale warfare.
• Verbal Tic : For whatever reason, Ferengi seem to have severe difficulty saying "human", instead calling us "hew-mon" most of the time.
• In particular, Quark states that the Ferengi would have hammered out a mutually beneficial deal with the Dominion (and given them a little something for their trouble, say Betazed), as opposed to the Federation's "independence at any cost" stance. Though in the episode Quark says that in, he guns down a Jem'Hadar soldier who was coming to kill his nephew . This serves as a possible microcosm into Quark's attitude, in that negotiation only works if the other side doesn't find killing you and taking your stuff easier than negotiation.
• In "The Maquis". Quark reasons the Maquis are better off agreeing to a cease-fire than continuing to shoot down the Cardassians' weapon freighters. The logic goes that the Central Command, caught with their hand in the till, will back off on arming their settlers, who in turn will be more open to peaceful coexistence with their Terran neighbors. In essence, the Ferengi are using Game Theory to work out the best possible outcome for all parties; Quark even manages to convince a Vulcan guerrilla fighter that his logic is sound.
• War for Fun and Profit : Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34 states "War is good for business". However, Rule of Acquisition #35 rebuts " Peace is good for business ." note  "It's easy to get those two mixed up." - Quark Basically, this entitled Ferengi to sell guns to both sides of a conflict, but also notes that it's a bad idea to lose a customer, and that any war that goes on for too long will have a negative impact on commerce.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks : The Ferengi's preferred currency is gold-pressed latinum. The gold itself is absolutely worthless to Ferengi beyond its use in containing latinum.

• Anti-Villain : The first time we see the Gorn, they attack a Federation colony and kill everyone present, but as Kirk and co. note they were responding to what they thought was a territorial violation by an unknown aggressor. Doesn't excuse not bothering to check first, but Kirk is still ultimately driven to show mercy.
• Big Bad : For Strange New Worlds , as the primary recurring threat whose each appearance signifies a sharp swing to terror .
• The Bus Came Back : Aside from a brief appearance in the animated series, they didn't make an appearance in a Trek series after "Arena" until Star Trek: Enterprise .
• Cerebus Retcon : In TOS, the Gorn were depicted as Anti Villains who, while unfriendly to the Federation, are otherwise a civilized race with a government, diplomatic relations, etc. In Strange New Worlds , they're a race of Always Chaotic Evil Social Darwinists who raid ships and colonies for prisoners to use for reproduction or kill for sport. Admittedly, Strange New Worlds is set eight years earlier in the timeline, where formal first contact hasn't occurred and the Gorn are still Inscrutable Aliens , but it's still hard to reconcile these two depictions of the species.
• The Dreaded : In Strange New Worlds , the Gorn are a largely-unknown race of boogiemen who raid ships and colonies but refuse all attempts at communication, and give even experienced Starfleet personnel the spooks. Even after proper First Contact is made, they maintain a reputation of both ruthlessness and ruthless cunning , and nobody — not even Mirror Archer — relishes the idea of getting into a fight with them.
• Explosive Breeder : Judging by a comment Bones makes in Into Darkness , Gorn give birth to multiple young at once. And they're apparently born with teeth already grown out. Strange New Worlds confirms this, with an added dose of Chest Burster traits, that makes Gorn offspring more deadlier in aspects than their adult counterparts.
• Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong : They reproduce by spraying other sapient beings with some kind of venom that infects them with Gorn eggs. Within a few days, depending on the host species, these eggs produce hatchlings that chew their way out Chestburster-style.
• Genius Bruiser : Arguably their species' hat . The Gorn are far more intelligent than their appearance suggests, capable of exploiting the weaknesses of their "prey" with deadly effectiveness and setting elaborate Batman Gambits to trick their opponent into a vulnerable position. For example, in one encounter the Gorn wiped out a colony but left a handful of survivors on a damaged freighter, correctly predicting that the Enterprise would dock with it to rescue them, at which point they'd be unable to maneuver or raise shields when the Gorn returned guns-blazing. Even their children, not long after emerging from gestation , show a frightening amount of intelligence and—when not trying to murder each other to prove which offspring is the strongest—can cooperate to take down larger prey with far greater ease than expected for something born just mere hours ago.
• In their first appearance, the Gorn captain was slow-moving (partly because of the constraint of the actor's costume) and didn't speak during their initial brawl. Kirk was in for a rude awakening, which he lampshades with the quote above.
• Slar, trapped on an abandoned ship filling with hostile Terran boarders, was able to pick off his enemies Xenomorph -style while also being smart enough to set booby traps such as bombs.
• In "Memento Mori", the crew believes they've tricked a Gorn vessel into following it into a trap inside a brown dwarf by using their relentless single-minded hunting drive against them. It turns out there were other Gorn vessels using it as bait to determine their location.
• Lizard Folk : Think a humanoid Komodo dragon, but with brains and a bad attitude.
• Made of Iron : They're tough lizards. Kirk threw a huge rock at the Gorn captain and it barely fazed him. It took multiple shots from phasers for Mirror Archer and his minions to kill Slar.
• Mighty Glacier : Kirk notes in "Arena" that the Gorn Captain has vastly superhuman strength and durability, but is lacking in agility. Slar in Enterprise is more of a Lightning Bruiser .
• Poor Communication Kills : In Strange New Worlds , their refusal to establish proper first contact with the Federation to at least ascertain their respective agendas and instead blindly attack outlying colonies for breeding and blood sport causes tensions to rise drastically between the two factions. This is somewhat downplayed only in the fact that the Gorn at the time see the Federation as an unknown aggressor engaging in "territorial violations" with their rapid expansion and would be understandably hesitant to make a more respectable opening stance to an another civilization but their extremely hostile reaction is still widely considered a bit of an overcorrection .
• Raptor Attack : Slar, the Gorn seen in Enterprise , is far more dinosaur-like than the one in TOS, and Mirror Phlox directly compares him to a velociraptor.
• The Social Darwinist : They've been known to cull the "weak" from their own ranks to strengthen the whole.
• Standard Alien Spaceship : Their ships, seen for the first time in Strange New Worlds , are very organic-looking, and green and orange in color.
• Translator Microbes : Natural Gorn speak consists of hissing and snarling, with translators putting it into something we can understand.
• Xenomorph Xerox : The Gorn as seen in Strange New Worlds take quite a few cues from the classic xenomorphs. They reproduce by infesting others with their offspring, who then explode out of the host in classic Chest Burster fashion. The hatchlings then go through a period of molting and rapid growth, during which they hunt each other and potential prey by traveling through vents and skittering along walls and ceilings. They also have prehensile tails, More Teeth than the Osmond Family , and can spit acid that infests the unfortunate target with more eggs. "All Those Who Wander" is a blatant Whole-Plot Reference to Aliens , with a trio of Gorn hatchlings standing in for the xenomorphs.

• Applied Phlebotinum : Their "tetryon" weapons are unfamiliar to Starfleet. Their ships also have "monotanium" armor plating. This plating has the added effect of scattering phaser blasts. (VOY: "Hunters")
• Awesomeness by Analysis : Hirogen culture required a hunter to study his prey to understand its abilities.
• Not only for bragging rights, but also an instrumental part of their mating ritual. Female Hirogen are attracted to hunters in possession of rare or unique trophies acquired during a hunt.
• One of them threatens to remove Seven of Nine's intestines as a trophy, as "Unusual relics are prized. Yours will make me envied by men and pursued by women!" Seven, who rivals the Hirogen in the big ego sweepstakes, is unimpressed.
• Egomaniac Hunter : Inverted. The Hirogen, as a rule, do not empathize with their prey. However, in keeping with the Native Americans themes, they prefer to kill their targets quickly and painlessly.
• Flanderization : In "The Killing Game," the Alpha, Karr, recognizes that this has happened In-Universe ; the Hirogen have become so obsessed with the hunt that their entire civilization has began to fall apart, and Karr resolves to bring them back from the brink of extinction.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game : Their species' hat is hunting down and killing dangerous aliens (sentient or otherwise) for sport. In "The Killing Game" two-parter, a pack of Hirogen ships trapped the crew in a vast WWII holoprogram to better study their battle capabilities.
• Lack of Empathy : The Hirogen alpha in "Demons of Air and Darkness", who, like most Hirogen, relates to other sapient beings only as prey. At one point, he reflects on how one of his victims cried that she had a husband and children, "as if the family structure of prey was of any relevance."
• Noodle Incident : The Picard episode "No Win Scenario" reveals that at some point following Voyager 's return to the Alpha Quadrant, a Hirogen found their way there and encountered the crew of Picard's Enterprise - ultimately being defeated when Worf builds a trap for them.
• Proud Hunter Race : The Hirogen are nomadic hunters who are especially well known for having created high tech suits of powered armor they use on their hunts. Being called " worthy prey " is the highest compliment one can receive from them. One Hirogen character laments that it's effectively destroyed their culture; they basically don't have a civilization beyond roving hunting parties anymore.
• Predator Pastiche : The Hirogen lack most of the Predator 's overt features, but have the hunting culture down pat. To the point it's shown to be slowly leading to the decline and eventually potential destruction of their civilization.
• Putting on the Reich : "The Killing Game" featured the Hirogen capturing the Voyager crew and forcing them to re-enact WWII, with the Hirogen taking the part of the Nazis in occupied France. They wore their Nazi uniforms when outside the holodeck too. Somewhat averted, in that only one of them is truly enamored with the Nazi philosophy— the leader is ready to strike a deal with Janeway in exchange for the holodeck technology.
• Space Nomads : Nobody knows exactly where the Hirogen come from, or even if their homeworld is located in the Delta Quadrant. They don't seem to be interested in planets, preferring to roam the stars in small packs in search of worthy prey.
• Triage Tyrant : In "The Killing Game", when a crewmember with life-threatening injuries and a Hirogen with minor burns are both brought in, the Hirogen medical officer orders the Doctor to treat the Hirogen patient first. The Doctor protests that this goes against the rules of triage. The Hirogen replies "your rules, not mine" and switches him off when he refuses to comply.
• Turned Against Their Masters : In "Flesh and Blood" the Hirogen are using holograms to train for the Hunt. Unfortunately they get smarter and smarter after being hunted down and killed constantly until...
• Victory Is Boring : Hirogen have been known to express disappointment when the species they're hunting proves to be unchallenging. (VOY: "Hunters") As a result, being called " worthy prey " by a Hirogen was meant as a great compliment.
• Worthy Opponent : Calling an alien "worthy prey" is the closest thing to a compliment you'll hear from a Hirogen hunter.

• Acid Attack : The Horta produce incredibly powerful acid within their bodies, which they normally use for tunneling.
• Bizarre Alien Biology : McCoy was able to improvise medical treatment for the injured mother Horta using construction materials.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction : After fifty thousand years the whole race dies out except for one female who tends to the millions of eggs who will become the next generation of Horta.
• Humans Are Ugly : The one Horta we meet thinks humans are revolting, though she does like Spock's ears.
• Last of Their Kind : Only one Horta remains alive in the interval between generations.
• Long-Lived : They live for over fifty thousand years.
• Mother of a Thousand Young : Adoptive mother, at least.
• Out with a Bang : We don't exactly see how Horta reproduce, it seems to be similiar to fish who spawn and then die.
• Super-Toughness : They shrug off blasts from Type-1 phasers, though Type-2s do a bit of damage.
• Tunnel King : Thanks to the powerful acid they secrete, Horta move through rock as easily as humanoids do through air, leaving tunnels behind.

Homeworld: Earth Also known as Terrans note  not to be confused with Mirror Universe humans, who go by "Terran" almost exclusively , humans are a founding member of the United Federation of Planets and the backbone of Starfleet. Following a century of internal strife and social collapse, Earth became warp-capable on April 5th, 2063 and caught the attention of other Alpha Quadrant races, who had previously dismissed it as an Insignificant Little Blue Planet . All in all, humans are pretty cool.

• Only the best of the best can attend Starfleet Academy (even Wesley Crusher failed his first exam), and out of those hand-picked cadets, only a couple dozen join Red Squad. They only show up 3 times in Star Trek , and it always means trouble. Picard and Sisko, both Starfleet Captains, had no knowledge of a secret clique called Red Squad at the Academy; they had to find out about it second-hand, from other Red Squad hopefuls, which suggested that it was a new addition. In "Paradise Lost", Admiral Layton tapped them to carry out his attempted coup d ' état . Layton knew that Red Squad were too overzealous to refuse an order, however treasonous.
• The storyline of "Valiant" strongly suggests that Watters intentionally hid the location and status of a Defiant-class starship from Starfleet. After his commanding officer was fatally wounded, he was given a field commission as (acting) Captain, which he promptly used to promote the remaining Red Squad cadets to officers. By resuming his "mission", he had an excuse to avoid returning to Starfleet and becoming a mere cadet again.
• On TNG, it was made clear by the Cardassians that any planet which resides outside of the Federation (like say, Bajor or other Cardassian colonies) has the right to turn away their help. Starfleet at least recognizes that Bajor's plight should be heard even if their non-interference policy means they can do nothing about it. Picard wants to address the situation with the Cardassians quietly and behind the scenes, meaning that Starfleet will excuse so long as he doesn't appear to be doing so.
• The Assimilator : In-Universe , the Federation is often accused of this by detractors, being a " Homo-Sapiens Only Club " that masquerades as an inter-species alliance and who makes peace with enemies , simply to get them to take their " rightful place " in the Federation council. Eddington : You know, in some ways you're even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You're more insidious. You assimilate people and they don't even know it .
• After ages of peace and literal paradise on Earth, humans have convinced themselves that they truly are free of the vices and flaws of the past. During the Dominion War, when humanity is pushed ever further, many of those old vices start bubbling back up. When they do, the humans don't take it well.
• This exact matter is taken by the nose during Star Trek: First Contact , when Sloane accuses of Picard of wanting revenge against the Borg, he repeatedly insists that humans have evolved beyond such perspectives. Eventually, after being pushed further and further, Picard breaks down, and admits Sloane's right.
• Beware the Nice Ones : Quark had some choice words to say about hew-mons in wartime , suggesting that if you take away their creature comforts, fancy technology and put them through the wringer, they've got the potential to be even more frightening than Klingons .
• Boldly Coming : It seems that a lot of Federation citizens are fans of Risa . No to mention the several human / alien relationships seen throughout the many series, and the offspring of some of those relationships.
• Cloak and Dagger : There exists an obscure provision in the Starfleet Charter, Section 31, which allows for this kind of activity.
• Crapsack World : 21st century Earth wasn't good for anyone. After the Eugenics War, society clearly tried recovering, but by the 2020s, unemployment and homelessness in America was so bad that the entire country decided the best solution was to cram all of them into "Sanctuary Districts" (read: Ghettos with none of the charm or comfort) and forget all about them, which somehow didn't work out. Thanks to a seismic event, a large chunk of California (L.A. included) was sunk. Meanwhile, Europe was having its own problems, with mention of "Neo-Trotskyites", and terrorism resurgent in Ireland. Then World War III came along, with six hundred million killed just by the war alone.
• Earth Is the Center of the Universe : The first Federation President was human, the legislature is located in the Presidio of San Francisco, and Starfleet HQ is a bit further south. At least two Presidents in Star Trek were aliens, but they still conduct their business on Earth.
• Feudal Future : At its peak, the "Great Khanate" covered more than a quarter of the plant's surface, from Australia to Asia to parts of the middle east. The "Eugenics Wars" were highly destructive and plunged the planet into a new dark age, which the Third World War exacerbated.
• Future Food Is Artificial : The food replicator is perhaps humanity's crowning achievement, singlehandedly ending world hunger. It is very rare for people on Earth to have food that isn't replicated.
• Good Is Not Soft : Despite being physically weaker than Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons and a variety of other alien species, they can be a force to fight when push comes to shove.
• The Federation can't interfere in the politics of non-member states, but they will often step on their own weaker worlds in the interest of peace. To avoid breaking their treaty with Cardassia and starting another war, the Federation forcibly evacuated settlers in the (Cardassian-owned) Badlands, giving rise to the Maquis terrorists.
• The initial appearance of the Cardassian Union exposes the naiveté of the Federation (Troi states that they have to trust the Cardassians because they are their allies now) and the hypocrisy of it, too (Worf says that their trust has to be earned). The trouble is, neither of them is especially right but there is a grain of truth in each opinion. This tension will come to a head in TNG's "The Wounded", the Maquis struggle and later the Dominion War.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management : The Federation values peace above all else, even if it's just the appearance of such. Sisko at one point lampshades that the Federation insists on abiding by a treaty the Cardassians are actively breaking , simply because even that was preferable to war.
• Hegemonic Empire : An in-universe point of criticism many races have towards the humans, with some claiming that the Federation is functionally dominated by the humans, and the other races are just "pet" races used to further humanity's own ends.
• Humans Advance Swiftly : Lampshaded in Enterprise , where Vulcan Ambassador Soval freely admits that the reason they've been trying to keep them back is because humans are advancing so fast, they are literally scaring the crap out of a race that actively suppresses their emotions. Q echoes the same concerns in the first season of TNG. Humanity jumped into the interstellar community at least a fair bit behind the other major powers, and in just a few centuries Starfleet and the Federation became a military force equal to any of them.
• Humans Are Diplomats : One of the founding four races who established the Federation, alongside the coldly logical Vulcans, the emotional Andorians, and the stubborn Tellarites. In addition, the first Federation President, Jonathan Archer, was a human. Made more impressive since these species had been traditionally at each other's throats for hundreds of years, especially in the case of the Vulcans and Andorians. Humanity managed to make earn enough points with each species to unite them into a loose Coalition of Planets by 2155, leading to the Federation officially being founded six years later.
• It's been argued that this trope is Star Trek's defining philosophy. At its core the franchise is meant to depict a utopic future for mankind free of vice, meaning that the writers tend to use alien races to examine (and at times embody ) societal ills that exist in the modern world. In practice this means that humans tend to look almost comically perfect in relation to other alien species, being unfailingly generous, progressing impossibly fast in scientific endeavors, achieving breakthroughs in all forms of art and social development, being unparalleled leaders in diplomacy, and commanding a formidable standing military force. The only consistently-mentioned flaw of humanity is that they performed violent and barbaric acts against each other in the past (which they're quick to remind you they've evolved beyond) and that they tend to be sort of patronizing. It's worth noting that humanity's more egregious Utopia traits relative to other species really only came to the fore in Next Generation and after; in Kirk's day, humans were at least as likely to walk away from an encounter with Sufficiently Advanced Aliens like the Organians, Metrons, or even Balok feeling humbled by the experience.
• It's suggested in The Next Generation and then confirmed in Deep Space Nine , that humans aren't as above these vices as they claim to be , being just as capable of backstabbing, deception, and xenophobia as the other races. The primary difference being that humans can be a bit slower to admit it.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation , "Home Soil": The ship is taken over by intelligent microscopic crystals that call humans (and every other sentient being on the Enterprise) "UGLY BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER".
• Averted with most other species. The Ferengi pretend to find humans below their standards, but are such deviants that they can't help themselves. Lwaxana: They're as bad as humans. Look at that leer on his face. Daimon Tog: Actually, his is a look of revulsion. But it is not a feeling that I share. (stares at them pervertedly)
• The first lines we hear from a Ferengi (whose ugly face is filling the viewscreen) is that the hideousness of humans has clearly not been exaggerated!
• Even in Star Trek: Voyager , when a Cardassian double-agent fell in love with her human mark, she still expressed relief that their love-child took after his momma. "Thank goodness he doesn't look too human; you all have such weak foreheads."
• And in Star Trek: Enterprise , although humans aren't aesthetically unpleasing to Vulcans, they do smell terrible.
• Humans Are Warriors : Starfleet is an exploratory organization first and a military second, but that doesn't mean they should be underestimated. Starfleet outguns or breaks even with most of its neighbors using ships that are not designed to be combat vessels, and should they find themselves outmatched, their ability to adapt under pressure is second to none.
• Insane Admiral : It does have to be pointed out nearly all Federation admirals to engage in paranoid campaigns to get rid of all presumed traitors in Starfleet (including those who think they've gone too far), attempt coups d'etat, mess up the timestream or otherwise wreck the place have been human.
• Interservice Rivalry : The Federation would like nothing better than to bury the hatchet and let Cardassia/The Dominion join them, but Starfleet (and Section 31) has other ideas. Vreenak (Romulan Senator): The Dominion is resolved to win the war at any cost. You and I both know the Federation has already put out peace feelers.
• Monumental View : Starfleet Academy enjoys a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, which unfortunately would place it in the middle of a mountain range. Star Trek VI retconned it satisfactorily: an establishing shot of Starfleet H.Q. shows it is built into the mountains on stilts.
• Most Writers Are Human : Which is why most Star Trek series to date have centered around a human main character.
• No Poverty : A central part of the setting, humanity solved this problem after meeting the Vulcans.
• No Transhumanism Allowed : Transhumanism was considered the new frontier of science and humanity's great hope, until Khan Noonien Singh and similar warlords cropped up. Following a ghastly Eugenics War which enveloped the whole world in chaos, genetic engineering was outlawed, and mankind turned to the stars to find a slower path toward evolution. These days, genetic engineers find work on the black market , performing augmentation on mentally-disabled or otherwise challenged children. While Dr. Bashir turned out fairly normal (although he had to hide the truth from Starfleet Academy), "Statistical Probabilities" showed us three individuals who could have lived perfectly productive-if-simple lives had their parents not tried to play God. The result? Social maladjustment, sadistic behavior and a life behind bars (or as good as ).
• Oddly Small Organization : For an organization that patrols a vast section of the quadrant with the average number of personnel on a starship being in the hundreds, it's rather bizarre that Starfleet can entirely staff their fleet from a single academy headquartered on Earth.
• Several characters have commented on how relatively fast humanity expanded compared to other species and how quickly humans tend to pick up a skill or job. Humanity's hat is its adapability: The Vulcans are scared of how humanity was able to recover from a total nuclear war in one tenth the time it took themselves, Quark is terrified at how an average human can become more bloodthirsty than a Klingon if driven to the edge, and individuals such as Eddington ( who is a human himself , by the way) draw chilling comparisons of humanity to the Borg. In turn, the Borg have taken quite a special interest in humans, whilst humans are one of only two races (the other being Species 8472 ) to be able to repel repeated direct attacks from the Collective.
• Society is clearly moving in that direction though; nearly every time Star Trek humans end up in modern or near-modern America the amount of cultural diversity freaks them out. This actually comes up subtly in several Expanded Universe novels. Scenes taking place during the Enterprise era tend to explicitly mention different human characters' nationalities in the narration more than scenes set later in the future. This isn't as noticeable in the Enterprise novels themselves, but the flashbacks to that era in Star Trek: Destiny are rather jarring when compared to the 24th century scenes.
• Planet Terra : Used a few times (the Mirror Universe has the Terran Empire; the original series occasionally contrasts "Terrans" with "Vulcans").
• Psychic Powers : Extrasensory perception is well-known enough among humanity for Starfleet to test and rate its human members on several ESP quotients. It's also heritable, as Gary Michell's ancestors stretching generations back were known espers. However, even espers admit that at best they get flashes of insight (which may explain a few Eureka Moments ), and so far there's been a grand total of one confirmed telepathic human in the whole franchise.
• Puny Earthlings : Humans are generally portrayed as weaker, less intelligent, and shorter-lived than other major species in the Alpha Quadrant. Vulcans and Romulans, in particular, are downright patronizing in their dealings with humans, whom they regard as dim children.
• Terra Prime in the 22nd Century, a Xenophobic group that objected to alien nationals being on Earth and experienced a massive surge in popularity after the Xindi Incident.
• Section 31, a rogue Black Ops group within Starfleet, dedicated to keeping Earth a paradise by any means .
• Science Hero : Since the Federation mines research from throughout the Alpha Quadrant, and they haven't despoiled their territories like the Romulan or Cardassian empires, by the 24th century their tech is considered some of the mightiest in the galaxy.
• Swiss-Army Weapon : The Starfleet phaser rifle is bulky, loaded with tacti- cool targeting systems and features, and useless as a field weapon because too much can go wrong with it. Insert Federation joke here.
• Took a Level in Badass : Even with the Vulcans supposedly delaying their warp program, Humanity still managed to go from being survivors of a nuclear war, to one of the founders of an interstellar alliance in just under a century. The latter only ten years after the launch of their first Warp 5 vessel, which brought them properly into the interstellar community. In just a few centuries, they jumped from a single planet outgunned by pretty much everyone to the equal of every local power around them.
• The Federation is often presented as a perfect society. In "Time's Arrow", the trope is examined in a rare moment of criticism about the Federation, its lifestyle and principles when Mark Twain struts around the Enterprise-D and is distinctly unimpressed by the future. Conquering this corner of the galaxy with politeness, luxury to the point of indolence, no personality and a lack of any vices... he declares the future a very bland place to be. Perhaps on TNG; had he wound up on DS9 he would be trading raucous stories and getting drunk with Morn.
• Discussed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , where it's revealed that some races consider the Federation to be too much of this. Quark and Garak have some fun comparing it to Root Beer, apparently the favourite drink of people from Earth. * Quark offers some root beer to Garak, who tries it and gags * Garak : It's vile! Quark : I know. It's so bubbly and cloying... and happy. Garak : * Greatly amused * Just like the Federation? Quark : And you know what's really terrifying? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it. Garak : It's insidious! Quark : Just like the Federation ...
• We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future : Zigzagged, but usually played straight. From a 21st century point of view, yes, most of the big diseases of the here-and-now are gone (though whether they're gone completely or not varies), and with more advanced surgical techniques, things are better... but neurological conditions and congenital defects are still around, and Picard recalls senescence hitting his grandfather pretty hard.
• Averted as the Federation has abandoned money-based economics, at least within its own borders. There apparently is some form of currency used when trading with other races outside the Federation. Note that the "moneyless economy" concept first appears in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and there is nary a hint of it before that; and indeed, the TOS episodes "The Trouble With Tribbles," "Mudd's Women," and even "The Devil In the Dark" make no sense if you ignore all the references to money. Whether this represents an in-universe change in the Federation's economic policy (perhaps coinciding with the development of replicators) or a Retcon meant to change the meaning of those TOS episodes depends on which fan you ask.
• Parodied in the DS9 episode "In The Cards", where Jake actually can't give Nog a justifiable reason why they don't use money anymore, aside from abandoning it when they adopted their philosophy of "working to better ourselves and the rest of humanity". Nog : What does that even mean? Jake : It means... ( Beat ) ... it means, we don't need money!
• The DS9 "Explorers" episodes relates the existence of transporter credits, though it is uncertain if it means that transporter use is rationed, or if the use of transporters by Starfleet cadets is intentionally limited.
• Played straight in the TOS episode The Trouble With Tribbles , as Uhura casually makes an offer to purchase a tribble from a Federation citizen on a Federation station. Kirk also mentions docking Scotty's pay in another episode, so clearly money of some form is in use during their era, though many often just chalk this up to Early-Installment Weirdness .
• Revived on Voyager , after a fashion, due to their perpetual energy shortages before the writers got tired of having to remember they were stranded decades from resupply. In order to conserve their ship's power supplies, the crew are issued periodic replicator rations, which serve as a form of credit and even an impromptu medium of trade among them.
• World War III : An atomic war broke out in the early 21st century, with a death toll of 37 million. After that came a period in which victims of the nuclear fallout were shunned. A few zealots, led by Colonel Phillip Green, attempted to the cleanse the species of impurities.

    Iconians  "The victors invariably write the history to their own advantage. There is an unfortunate tendency in many cultures to fear what they do not understand. It's possible that their enemies, confronted with this technology, were driven to attack the Iconians out of fear." Debut: TNG , " Contagion "

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot : A relatively simple Iconian probe was dangerous enough to destroy a Federation starship, and almost did the same to the Enterprise-D and a Romulan Warbird.
• Archaeological Arms Race : These tend to kick off whenever their Lost Technology is rediscovered.
• Clarke's Third Law : Their technology was so advanced that it's repeatedly compared to magic even by 24th-century humans.
• Higher-Tech Species : They were this, and envy or fear of it may have led to their downfall.
• Lost Language : Iconian is one, though it has enough similarities to Dinasian, Dewan, and Iccobar for an extremely rough translation.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast : They were known as "Demons of Air and Darkness", though it's ambiguous whether this nickname was deserved or not.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood : Possibly. Contemporary records show them as dangerous conquerors, but another theory has come to light that they may have been simply demonized by envious, less-advanced species who were fearful of their technology.
• Portal Door : Iconian Gateways seem to work like this, allowing the users to literally walk between different locations instantly, regardless of distance.
• Precursors : Whether they're Abusive Precursors who conquered a massive territory and were subsequently wiped out by their abused victims banding together, or Benevolent Precursors who were the victims of envious species greedy for their advanced technology is deliberately left open to interpretation. They left a few potentially dangerous Iconian Gateways lying around, but that seems to be due to their being attacked and wiped out before they could do anything about it.
• Story-Breaker Power : Iconian Gateways are seen as this in-universe, to the point where even the Dominion will destroy them rather than try to reverse-engineer them for themselves - though that's largely because the first Jem'hadar squadron to find one promptly went rogue and tried to assert their independence using it.
• Unusual User Interface : An Iconian console is manipulated by tapping differently-colored pieces of various symbols.
• The Virus : Iconian software inadvertently functions like this with more modern tech. If it finds something new it spreads, and starts causing severe malfunctions as it attempts to rewrite whatever system it's gotten into. Fortunately, an easy solution is just... turning everything off and on again.
• Early-Installment Weirdness : Their first "official" appearance, in ENT " Damage ", depicts them as fairly standard Rubber-Forehead Aliens . SNW " Ghosts of Illyria " retconned them into Human Aliens with an aptitude for genetic engineering. (It's worth noting that the species is not identified by name in "Damage" outside of the script , and the genetic enhancement could explain the chance in appearance as well.)
• Fantastic Racism : Often on the receiving end of this due to the Federation's ban on genetic enhancement.
• Human Aliens : By default, they look completely human. It's implied that their appearance varies depending on the extent of their modifications.

• Abnormal Ammo : Their phaser weapons also act as some sort of anticoagulant, causing their target to bleed out if they manage to limp away.
• Always Chaotic Evil : A rather tragic justified example. Thanks to the Founders' genetic programming, every Jem'Hadar is a bloodthirsty, xenophobic killing machine, and whilst some have moments of nobility and honour, they're still incapable of entirely going against their nature. A Jem'Hadar may refrain from brutally murdering you once, but once is all you're ever going to get. And, sadly, they're still the most moral Dominion core race by human standards.
• Armor-Piercing Attack : Their polaron beam weapons completely ignore standard Alpha Quadrant shields. It takes a good year or two for the Federation to adapt their shields to deflect Dominion weaponry.
• Badass Creed : "Obedience brings victory. Victory is life!" They are required to recite a loyalty oath in exchange for more white. Subverted by the rote nature of the exercise, as well as the constantly looming threat of having your head torn off should you accidentally run out of the drug. First : (solemn) We pledge our loyalty to the Founders, from now until death. Weyoun : (bored, reciting) Then receive this reward from the Founders, may it keep you strong. *Sigh*
• Bad Boss : The First, and by necessity when your underlings are perpetually bad-tempered super-soldiers barely kept under control at the best of times. If they're so out of control they won't do as they're told, the First hasn't really got any other choice but to snap their necks.
• Battle Cry : "Victory is life!"
• Battle Trophy : At least one Starfleet commando was spotted wearing a necklace made of Ketracel-white vials, one for each Jem'Hadar he'd killed.
• Blood Knight : This is the race's entire hat. They're imbued with a taste for violence from their creation. Fighting is literally a need for them.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality : Jem'hadar soldiers, by and large, place loyalty to the Founders, service to their First, and completion of their missions above all else. Any that would jeopardize these is dealt with swiftly and decisively. In the DS9 episode " To the Death ", this is demonstrated among a group of renegade Jem'hadar when the First's subordinate and Worf get into a brawl. The First executes his subordinate for violating his orders, while Sisko has Worf confined to quarters while off-duty, with the Jem'Hadar first being astounded that Sisko doesn't eliminate what he believes to be a threat to Sisko's command, while Sisko argues back that killing Worf would rob him of the chance to learn from his mistakes and cost the loyalty of his crew.
• Cannot Tell a Lie : To the extent that Sisko completely disregards anything the Vorta say, and only negotiates with their messengers.
• Cannon Fodder : They're superb soldiers, but their uniform characteristics, short lifespans, and the ease of replacing them renders the Jem'Hadar disposable in the eyes of Vorta/Changelings.
• Chameleon Camouflage : Jem'Hadar use a personal camouflage ability known as a "Shroud" to sneak around and confound their opponents, not unlike that of actual chameleons. It's not as effective as a cloaking device, but it can conceal them in most environments long enough for them to launch a surprise attack. However, they lose this ability if they're suffering from Ketracel-white withdrawal.
• Church Militant : They are simply instruments of their gods' wrath, nothing more. In "The Jem'Hadar", one of their ships rammed a retreating Galaxy -class starship (the same class as the Enterprise-D ), destroying it. All to send a message. O'Brien : (baffled) We were retreating. There was no need for a suicide run. Sisko : They're showing us how far they're willing to go.
• The Dreaded : As the mailed fist of the Dominion, the Jem'Hadar are among the most dangerous and feared military forces in the galaxy, fearsome enough to make even Klingons wary of facing them. It's occasionally suggested that even the Founders themselves, although confident that the Jem'Hadar's ingrained loyalty and addiction to Ketracel-white keep them in line (indeed, keeping them under control was the entire point of addicting them to the white), fear what could happen if they ever lost control of the Jem'Hadar. Sisko: The Jem'Hadar are the most brutal and efficient soldiers I've ever encountered. They don't care about the conventions of war or protecting civilians. They will not limit themselves to military targets. They'll be waging the kind of war that Earth hasn't seen since the founding of the Federation.
• Even Evil Has Standards : A group of Jem'Hadar forms an Enemy Mine with Sisko in order to take out a rogue group of Jem'Hadar who had stumbled upon an Iconian Gateway. Using a piece of long lost technology which allows the user to literally travel anywhere in the galaxy instantly was too powerful (and too unsporting) for anyone to use, even by the Jem'Hadar's standards. They knew they could instantly invade and take over Earth with it, but it's just not who they are.
• Evil Counterpart Race : To the Klingons. Both are Proud Warrior Race Guys who make fighting a big part of their lives. However, the Jem'Hadar have none of the Klingons' Joie de vivre , their passion for aesthetics, or even their taste in liquor . All they do is fight and kill. As a result, the Klingons come to regard them almost as boogeymen, and General Martok became nigh phobic of them during his tenure in a Dominion internment camp. For their part, the Jem'Hadar relish the opportunity to fight with Klingons, considering them Worthy Opponents .
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good : First Omet'iklan cannot, for the life of him, understand why Sisko intervenes when a rogue Jem'Hadar was about to kill him, after Omet'iklan had previously threatened to kill Sisko.
• Fantastic Diet Requirement : The Jem'Hadar don't need to eat per se , but they need IVs of a drug called ketracel-white, or "white" for short, to survive. This was done on purpose by the Founders them to make them dependent on a resource only they can provide, enforcing their control and dooming rebellions.
• Functional Addict : Although genetically engineered like the Vorta, Jem'Hadar loyalty is not as reliable, so all Jem'Hadar are addicted to a drug called Ketracel-white, which only the Dominion can provide.
• Genius Bruiser : An unnerving blend of Klingon brutality and Romulan discipline.
• Iconic Item : The only distinctive marking on their uniforms is a little pocket for Ketracel-white vials. The drug funnels through a tube which is plugged straight into their necks. Unlike the Borg, making a grab for their neck-tubing would not work since Jem'Hadar can carry on for at least 24 hours without a fix.
• Once the Dominion realizes that they aren't getting reinforcements from the wormhole, they design a generation of Jem'Hadar specifically bred to fight Alpha Quadrant species. These Alphas believe themselves superior to "Gamma" Jem'Hadar, who beg to disagree.
• Though they will usually serve them as commanded by the Founders, they also tend to dislike the Vorta, with at least one Jem'Hadar First killing a Vorta who questioned the loyalty of his men.
• Killer Rabbit : Jem'Hadar children look like human infants with a small horn crest on their forehead, and are incredibly cute. Their distinct reptilian armored carapace doesn't grow until they hit the human developmental equivalent of puberty. Once it does, however (a process which only takes a couple days from birth) you've got a fully grown Super Soldier with a genetically programmed hatred of and desire to fight anything that isn't a Jem'Hadar, Vorta, or Founder.
• Meaningful Name : Related to the ranking system in Kipling's Finest . Jem'Hadar do not have ranks with flashy or self-aggrandizing terms. The highest-ranking in a group holds the rank of "First" (roughly analogous to "Captain", if he commands a ship). The rank below "First" is "Second", behind "Second" is "Third", and so on down to at least "Seventh". Individual Jem'Hadar actually do have names, so we have examples of First Omet'iklan, Third Remata'klan, and Second Ixtana'Rax (an Honored Elder). But while the Jem'Hadar do refer to their squad-mates by name, their Vorta overseers will basically point at them and say "you there, Fifth, make a suicidal charge on that sniper's nest". It emphasizes how replaceable and expendable the Jem'Hadar are to the Vorta.
• My Master, Right or Wrong : A loyal Jem'Hadar is perfectly willing to get himself killed following orders that he knows are stupid, wrong or cruel, because that is "the order of things". Sisko: Are you really willing to give up your life for "the order of things"? Remata'Klan: (resigned) It is not my life to give up, captain. It never was.
• The Needless : They do not sleep and require no nutrition other than Ketracel-white.
• Nightmare Fetishist : When Dr. Bashir treats a wounded Vorta on the battlefield, he gets crowded out by the military escorts who are forming a little operating threatre of their own. The Vorta reacts with weary resignation, but not surprise: They've never seen what the insides of a Vorta look like .
• Noble Demon : They're violent and fanatically loyal to the Founders, but they have their moments of honor and respect for their opponents and care enough about their fellows that they'd rather kill themselves than become a burden to them. Even if this is a response programmed into them by the Founders, the Jem'Hadar still see this as a Necessary Evil . Sisko gains enough respect for them that he tells Remata'Klan that the Vorta don't deserve their loyalty.
• No Social Skills : Jem'Hadar are intrinsically hostile. They're occasionally shown shooting the breeze with each other, as long as there are no Vorta around, but their relations with other races remain uneasy.
• One-Gender Race : The Founders reproduce the Jem'Hadar through cloning, so they have no need to sexually reproduce. It is directly stated that there are no female Jem'Hadar (and that the males have no sexual desires). The Founders apparently genetically engineered the Jem'Hadar from some pre-existing stock (similar to how the Vorta used to be primitive ape-like animals before they were uplifted), so it is possible that the original species had binary sexes of male and female. That is, the modern Jem'Hadar are not technically sexless neuters, they are an all "male" race (they use male pronouns), they just don't have female anymore .
• Phlebotinum Dependence : Ketracel-white is the only nourishment they need, but in turn, lack of it causes severe withdrawal symptoms, reducing them to berserk rage against friend and foe alike before they eventually die. This dependence further ensures their engineered loyalty. In rare cases, a mutation will cause a Jem'Hadar to lack this addiction.
• Poisoned Weapons : Their firearms prevent clotting. Without advanced medical technology to deal with it, you'll eventually bleed out from even a relatively minor wound.
• Proud Warrior Race : Like the Klingons, they only feel truly alive when fighting and pride themselves on their discipline and ferocity in combat. Unlike the Klingons, who are Boisterous Bruisers who've given their name to the practice of Klingon Promotion , they indulge in few pleasures and are uncompromisingly loyal to the Founders and the chain of command, making them more of a Proud Soldier Race.
• Rapid Aging : They can reach their full growth in a few days. Among the ranks, certain Jem'Hadar that have reached the age of 20 are known as "Honored Elders."
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent : They're drug-addicted religious zealots who look like humanoid ceratopsians (or possibly Jackson's chameleons). Despite this, however, they're still probably the most pleasant out of all the Dominion races... which really says a lot about the Dominion.
• Scary Black Man : They look more or less like human children of African descent for the first few days of their existence before they begin growing their iconic pale green armored scales. This is largely due to the writers briefly trying to use them as a metaphor for the crack epidemic.
• The Scapegoat : The "order of things" states that the Jem'Hadar commander (or "First") disciplines his own men, and the Vorta leader disciplines the First. Since Vortas have no jurisdiction over troops of lower rank, they tend to come down especially hard on the First.
• Seppuku : Entire platoons have been known to kill themselves if a Founder dies under their watch, as seen in "The Ship".
• Servant Race : Moreso than the Vorta, who at least have some degree of autonomy.
• Smarter Than You Look : They're the quiet, obedient muscle for the Dominion. Doesn't mean they're stupid, as demonstrated in "Rocks and Shoals" when Remata'Klan reveals to Sisko that he knows of Keevan's treachery. But even when they know they're being played, their intense loyalty will usually cause them to obey suicidal orders anyway, because the Founders have dictated that they're to obey the Vorta in all things. "Despite what Keevan may think, the Jem'Hadar are often one step ahead of the Vorta."
• The Stoic : They don't emote often. In their dealings with other species, their manner is polished and no-nonsense. Very rarely, they smirk (as one Jem'Hadar did when anticipating a duel with Worf. )
• Suicide Attack : Dominion troops love using their ships as homing missiles, making an already-chaotic space battle even worse. During the Battle for Cardassia you can see them zig-zagging and smashing into Klingon and Romulans ships left and right.
• Super-Soldier : An genetically-engineered race of them, with enhanced vision, resilience, and strength as well as chameleon-like camouflage, mentally conditioned to be fanatically loyal to the Founders even before birth.
• Tragic Villain : The more is learned of the Jem'Hadar, the more it becomes apparent that creating them may have been amongst the Founders' most utterly evil acts. They're completely dependent on a drug that kills them painfully if their supply runs out. They're built to revel in violence and hate non-Jem'Hadar to the point where long-term cooperation with other species is an utter impossibility. Their average life expectancy barely reaches into the double digits (this might not be biology, but due to a stunningly high attrition rate and "fight till you die" set of orders). Perhaps the worst thing is that despite all of this, they're hard-coded to love and obey the creatures responsible for their miserable state, and to see it as the greatest of gifts to serve them.
• Tyke Bomb : Created to fight for the Dominion. They age to maturity quickly and can't be dissuaded from seeking out their people and fighting for the Dominion
• Undying Loyalty : Zigzagged. The Jem'Hadar are genetically engineered to be utterly loyal to the Founders, but even with the White, the control is not always absolute, something Weyoun begrudgingly lets slip. Occasionally, some Jem'Hadar have gone rogue (in one episode, Weyoun mentions that if the rogue group of Jem'Hadar had gotten access to the Iconian Portal, they'd have been able to convince enough of their compatriots to overthrow the Dominion within a year). That said, the average Jem'Hadar is perfectly willing to do as they told.
• Uterine Replicator : Vorta are hatched fully-grown from their cloning pods. Jem'Hadar are grown in birthing chambers, reaching adolescence in only three days, and awakening with all the skills they need to pick up a gun and fight.
• Victory Is Boring : These fellas deal out beatings so often that it gets tiresome for them. If the occupying Jem'Hadar are met with meaningful resistance, they compliment the survivors. If the battle is short and sweet, they complain.
• Villain Decay : They seem rather easily disposed for such a lethal warrior race, which is explained by Elias Vaughn as the result of those mostly fought being only a few weeks or months old at best with no training and only relying on instinct, whereas the older ones are much bigger threats. Their main strengths are their unbreakable morale and endless reserves; with their supply lines cut during most of the war they could never really bring their numbers to bear in the Alpha Quadrant like they had in early engagements.
• Villainous Valour : They take pride in their discipline and prowess and are generally treated tragically rather then as faceless mooks. If they were more chivalrous they would be considered Worthy Opponents . As it is, they are perfect foils for the Klingons.
• Because Jem'Hadar can find themselves "promoted" at any time, they lack any rank insignias or other extravagances on their gear. In fact, it's impossible to tell at a glance who's in charge (apart from the Vorta hanging safety in the rear).
• We Have Reserves : Jem'Hadar military approach. Because they do . Short-lived, rapid aging, and insatiably violent means they'll gleefully throw themselves into the meatgrinder to serve their gods, who couldn't care less about them.
• You Are Number 6 : Designated "First", "Second", "Third" and so on. They do have birth names, however.

Homeworld: Karemma A Gamma Quadrant race of tall humanoids with large foreheads who are subjects of the Dominion. While they are a Proud Merchant Race not unlike the Ferengi, the Karemma abhor dishonesty in business transactions. This quality, along with their pacifistic tendencies, makes them worthwhile trading partners to the Federation, despite being within the Dominion's sphere of influence.

• Alien Hair : Their hair is combed back, often parted in the front to reveal their foreheads.
• Gentle Giant : Tall, slender, and pacifistic.
• Honest Corporate Executive : In stark contrast to the Ferengi, who regularly cheat and swindle their customers according to the logic of market value, the Karemma strongly believe in fair value, selling their wares at prices approximating the costs of labour, production, and transport, with a modest margin for profit. Their philosophy is that cheating others will lead to reduced profits in the long term.
• Hufflepuff House : Despite being the only named, recurring Dominion race other than the Founders, Vorta, and Jem'Hadar, they only appear sporatically and play no real role in the overarching Dominion War. Justified in that they're merchants who seem to be partly responsible for the day-to-day upkeep of the Dominion, and play no role in military matters.
• Named After Their Planet : The planet Karemma.
• Proud Merchant Race : Whereas the Ferengi are at best comparable to used car dealers and the Bolians generally represented as waiters and barbers, the Karemma are more like luxury goods salesmen.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Their foreheads are taller than those of most humanoid species.
• Token Good Teammate : They're the only race associated with the Dominion whose interactions with the Federation have been entirely peaceful.
• Unusual Ears : Their ears closely follow the contours of their jaws to the back of their heads.

• Alien Hair : Provides the page quote. Kazon hair grows in leaf-shaped chunks, rather than individual strands. It's supposed to resemble an afro, but it just looks like they weave rocks into their hair.
• Always Chaotic Evil : A rare completely straightforward example in modern Trek series'. Unlike the Borg or Jem'Hadar, who are given In-Universe justifications for their unbending ways, the Kazon appear to be simply evil on purpose . The fact that they're never given much characterization beyond this accounts for much of their unpopularity.

• Big Bad Wannabe : Michael Pillar, who co-created the Kazon, was the major driving force in making them VOY's main adversaries. Jeri Taylor was the first writer to abandon the idea of making them viable villains, later followed by Brannon Braga.
• Bond Villain Stupidity : After such a skillfully laid out scheme to hijack Voyager , seems a little remiss for the warlike Kazon to dump the crew on a habitable planet. Must have been an "off" day for Seska.
• Disaster Scavengers : Early on, they turn their attention to the Caretaker's Array, but when Janeway destroys it, the Kazon vow to capture and dissect Voyager instead.
• Divide and Conquer : One of the Trabe's tactics in keeping the Kazon in line was to encourage in-fighting amongst the clans, or "sects." However, the sects learned to put aside their differences and rose up against the Trabe. In doing so, the Kazon took the Trabe's ships and technology, forcing them to become a nomadic species, and never allowed them to settle on a new world.
• Dumb Muscle : The Kazon are big, boisterous, and dumb. A cunning Cardassian agent, known as Seska, was able to insinuate herself into the Nistrum sect in no time flat.
• Evil Counterpart Race : As the Jem'Hadar are to DS9 and the Gamma Quadrant, the Kazon are to VOY and the Delta Quadrant. The Kazon are no Jem'Hadar, though... (Or Klingons, for that matter.)
• Expy : Of the Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune . Both the Fremen and the Kazon are warrior races of formerly oppressed people who live on inhospitable desert planets and value water above all other commodities.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy : A Kazon prison is a line drawn on the floor that the prisoner is told not to cross. Sigh.
• Their attempt to reverse-engineer something as mundane (at least to the Federation) as a food replicator causes big problems and wipes out an entire Kazon crew. The image of Kazon melted into the bulkheads and floors is quite macabre.
• The Borg found the Kazon so utterly unremarkable that they refused to assimilate them, on the grounds that it would add nothing to the Collective.
• Low Culture, High Tech : The Kazon don't exactly inspire confidence with their technical abilities. However, they only recently acquired it, namely by overthrowing their Trabe conquerors.
• Meet the New Boss : Not content with looking like the Klingons and acting like the Klingons, the Kazon also have moodily lit ships adorned with weapons… like the Klingons. They were intentionally modeled on the Klingons right down to their makeup, so this comes as no surprise.
• No Blood for Phlebotinum : Somewhat bizarrely, in VOY, the Kazon, an oxygen-breathing species traveling in hydrogen-powered ships, will kill, steal, or trade hostages for water . When he first arrives on the ship, Neelix is similarly shocked by Alpha Quadrant species' ability to synthesize water.
• Not Worth Killing : The Kazon are so low tech and idiotic, the Borg refused to assimilate them because it would detract from their perfection.
• Planet Looters : Basically, the Kazons' advancement as a civilization has come entirely from piracy. They are a primitive people with no understanding of the technology they steal, or how to reverse-engineer it.
• A Real Man Is a Killer : In another VOY episode, a Kazon boy wishes to become a man by killing Chakotay. He then explains that killing a person is the rite of passage for the Kazon; apparently, killing a clansman is also acceptable in some cases. Chakotay tries his damdest to find common ground between him and Kar, but the real difference between his uniform and Kar's name is that one is earned in an air-conditioned building and the other is earned by putting one's life on the line to protect territory. That's a bridge that can never be built between these two. At the end of the episode, instead of killing Chakotay, he turns the weapon onto his maj, becoming the new maj in the process .
• Space Jews : The marriage of the three sects resulted in an arrangement not unlike the Arab League. According to invoked Word of God , they're also based on white Californians' conception of LA street gang members.
• The Spartan Way : When given the chance to kill Chakotay, the children reach for a phaser like kids in a sweet shop. It goes to show how quickly they breed fear and bloodlust in their young.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized : The Kazon were once a subjugated race, used as slave labor by the Trabe, who had conquered their homeworld.
• The Usual Adversaries : For a nomadic tribe of brigands, they sure do seem to control a huge diameter of the Delta Quadrant. By season three, even Exec. Producer Rick Berman had had enough: "If you think about it, traveling for a year-and-a-half through a part of space dominated by one group is pretty amazing! I think traveling at warp speed for a year-and-a-half you would pass through the Federation, the Klingon Empire and a few other places."
• Would Hurt a Child : The idea of the Kazon killing their young if they fail in battle, but only after honoring their return , is obscene. The drama works particularly when Kar holds back tears at his reunion with his father.

Homeworld: Kaminar A self-proclaimed 'prey species'. The Kelpiens are sapient livestock to a technologically-superior species called the Ba'ul and are universally skittish as a result.

• Alien Sky : Kaminar is pretty Earth-like, but has a thin ring system and two moons.
• Cowardly Lion : A pre- vahar'ai Kelpien's first instinct is to run and hide whenever danger presents itself, but when forced into a fight their Super-Strength and Super-Speed make them deadly combatants. Post- vahar'ai , they lose their threat ganglia and with them, the contant fear.
• Early-Installment Weirdness : In season one of Discovery , Saru describes Kaminar as a Death World with no food web: one is either predator or prey, and the Kelpiens are constantly being hunted by apex predators, hence their Super-Strength and Super-Speed . Season two retcons this into a fairly different situation: Kaminar is an idyllic world, where the Kelpiens live in total harmony with their environment but are ritualistically culled by the technologically superior Ba'ul species when they begin a maturation process called vahar'ai .
• Had to Be Sharp : Assumed to be the reason for their Super-Strength , Super-Speed , and excellent reflexes. It turns out that in reality, the Kelpiens are themselves apex predators, and the Ba'ul (their former prey) have been preventing them from maturing past their Cowardly Lion stage.
• Horde of Alien Locusts : The Ba'ul claim that post- vahar'ai Kelpiens become this if left unchecked, hence the need for the regular cullings.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling : When a Kelpien feels threatened, their threat ganglia stand out. This sixth sense borders on precognition, to the point where at one point Saru is confident that Discovery will survive a Suicide Mission because his ganglia aren't reacting at all beforehand.
• One Head Taller : Kelpiens are much taller than humans.
• People Farms : Kelpiens are periodically harvested by the Ba'ul, supposedly for food. The Kelpiens generally accept this as a necessary part of preserving the "Balance of Kaminar". Its gets played with slightly in Season 2, where its revealed that the Kelpiens were originally the predators to the Ba'ul, and they came dangerously close to wiping the latter out. The Ba'ul managed to turn the tide with their superior technology, and prevent their extinction, and began the process of culling any Keplien that went through vahar'ai .
• Planet of Hats : Planet of Cowardly Lions .
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Kelpiens have bald and boney faces with threat ganglia at the back of the head and hooves in place of feet, but otherwise appearing totally human.
• Spike Shooter : Post- vahar'ai Kelpiens have these where their threat ganglia used to be.
• Super-Speed : Kelpiens can reach a speed of around 80kmph.
• Super-Strength : Capable of crushing a Starfleet communicator in their bare hands.
• A Kelpien who survives vahar'ai becomes far more powerful and aggressive.
• The entire species takes a level in badass when Discovery induces vahar'ai over all of Kaminar. This eventually allows them to strike a new balance with the Ba'ul, which then leads Kaminar to join the Federation.

Homeworld: Qo'noS (or Kronos) The textbook Proud Warrior Race Guys : Huge, bumpy-headed Space Pirates with unlimited strength, and very little in the way of patience . Originally a recurring villain for Kirk's Enterprise , they became wildly popular and have since appeared in all live-action spinoffs, along with obligatory appearances in most of the films. Though technically an ally of the United Federation of Planets in the later series, Klingons aren't entirely housebroken , and are always itching to make war with some body. Protip: If you're a bartender, it's unwise to try cutting off a Klingon's drink.

• Alien Blood : Though Klingon blood usually appears red, there are a few works (specifically Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , Star Trek: Discovery , and Star Trek: Lower Decks ) that show it as a bright, bubblegum pink.
• Alien Sky : Qo'noS has a much greener sky than Earth's, and as of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country its only moon, Praxis, is a Shattered World .
• Always Chaotic Evil : Klingons are generally portrayed this way in Kirk's time, but not so much in the others. Even in the 24th century, the Klingons walk that very fine line between being a warrior poet and complete child; the politics in Qo'nos comes down to little more than playground shoving (the blue bloods vs. the rank-and-file) and the military structure isn't much better. It proves that despite their fighting prowess and instincts they are still prone to childish tantrums.
• Always Someone Better : In Star Trek , Humans Are Special , but Klingons are ass-kickers. Every time the Federation gets into a straight-up, all-out war, the Klingons are winning. In Discovery , the Federation nearly resorted to outright destroying Qo'noS to win, and in TNG an alternate timeline has the Federation on the losing end of a twenty year long war. The only times humanity is depicted as outright besting the Klingons is when they resort to being as ruthless as their enemies. The Terran Empire in Discovery destroyed Qo'noS (that being where the Federation got the idea) to cripple the Empire for a generation, and the Confederation of Earth in the alternate timeline of Picard likely prevailed for similar reasons.
• Arch-Enemy : While their feuds with the Federation are perhaps of greater galactic import, it's actually the Romulans that the Klingons generally hate most. Most Klingons will grudgingly acknowledge Starfleet officers as Worthy Opponents who keep their word; the Romulans, by contrast, have a tendency toward secrecy and espionage, which is completely antithetical to Klingon notions of honor and integrity. (Not that the Klingon High Council is immune to that themselves, but still.) Thanks in part to numerous Romulan sneak attacks on Klingon worlds, most notably Khitomer and Narendra III in the mid-24th century, the Romulans are widely hated across the Klingon Empire.
• Artistic License – Martial Arts : The consensus among weapon enthusiasts is that the Bat'leth is an extremely terrible weapon. On top of holding it two handed, with the blade out, not allowing much use of Kinetic Linking to maximize power, using it otherwise basically just turns it into a giant, curvy axe.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership : Political candidates seeking to be elected Chancellor must first duel each other to the death. (Well, that's one way of making the election cycle exciting.) This weeds out any chickenhawks from the election pool; the Chancellor can't blithely declare war without prior field and hand-to-hand combat experience.
• Back from the Brink : In the mirror universe, the Klingons were nearly exterminated when the Terran Empire blew up Qo'noS. A century later, they've not only rebounded but have become an equal partner in the Alliance , the dominant power of the Alpha Quadrant.
• Badass Bandolier : Gold in TOS, chainmail in TNG. And they're actually baldrics, not bandoliers.
• Battle Couple : Klingon Mythopoeia is about the first two Klingons pillaging the heavens. Later legends tell of Kahless and Lady Lukara. And Klingon couples are often found fighting side by side.
• Big Bad : For TOS era, they are the most reoccurring foe encountered by Kirk and his crew in both the television series and the movies, as well the biggest enemies to the Federation in the 23rd century (along with the Romulan Empire).
• Bizarre Alien Biology : Klingons are loaded with redundant organs.
• Bling of War : From TNG onward, the Chancellor wears a resplendent overcoat with humongous lapels, each weighed down with medals, and a sash.
• Brawn Hilda : As shown above, even the most refined Klingon women are still very hairy (particularly their eyebrows).
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" : Targs are similar to boars but with spikes on their backs. They are not hunted, but rather used as bloodhounds by Klingon hunters.
• Characterization Marches On : The original series had the Klingons as being mostly warlike with few redeeming traits. Gene Roddenberry didn't like them being the "Black Hats" of the saga so in The Next Generation he made a Klingon a regular cast member and established the "honor" aspect to their society.
• Cleavage Window : Female Klingon uniforms often have these.
• Combat Pragmatist : In war, Klingons can be just as underhanded as they are ruthless. In Discovery , their use of the cloaking device allowed them to destroy Starfleet's war infrastructure and drive them to the brink of defeat, which was only reversed by a desperation threat that could have destroyed their homeworld. It also helped that each Klingon house was acting independently, so Starfleet couldn't mount a unified defense against what was effectively a couple dozen enemies all attacking with no rhyme or reason.
• Conlang : Provided one of the earlier examples of a completely fictitious language, and Klingon holds the distinction of being the most widely spoken fictitious language on Earth (with Tolkien's Elvish coming in second). If you're going to any Star Trek convention worth its salt you'll see at least a few Klingon cosplayers conversing in the tongue.
• Cultured Badass : Klingons are passionate opera lovers.
• Death of the Old Gods : According to their legends, Klingons slew their own gods . According to some other legends, they did so about five minutes after being brought to life. Worf: They were more trouble than they were worth.
• Death Wail : For the Klingon death ritual, it's traditional for those on hand to howl into the sky as a warning to the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive.
• Democracy Is Bad : The Klingons' brief foray into representative government is treated by their historians as a kind of Dark Age. Jadzia: ... but , it's interesting to note that this first and only experiment in Klingon democracy actually produced several reforms that— Lady Sirella: You are straying from the saga!
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? : The mythological first Klingon Battle Couple sacked the heavens. They read the story at weddings. That's what Klingons consider romantic.
• Dies Wide Open : The Klingon Death Ritual involves holding the eyes of the deceased open to allow their soul to exit the body, then let out a loud howl to alert the warriors in Sto-vo-kor that a new warrior is on their way.
• The Drunken Sailor : And even the greatest of Klingon heroes are not allowed to receive their honors until they have proven that they can hold extreme amounts of Blood Wine.
• The most obvious "weirdness" is their early appearance, which consisted mainly of a spray tan and evil hair .
• When they are first introduced , they are described as a military dictatorship, with conquered planets being strictly controlled and dialogue even suggested the presence of a Secret Police to ensure loyalty and compliance. Later works softened the Empire as a collection of mostly autonomous satellite planets, and the Secret Police concept (along with others exclusive to Errand of Mercy) was instead pushed onto the Romulans as the Tal Shiar.
• Klingon women were far more passive in the original series. In later installments, the role of women in Klingon society was considerably more egalitarian, as Klingon mythology included Kahless and his mate Lukara slaying 500 warriors together.
• While Kor seems like a fairly typical Klingon retroactivly, in the Orginal Series he seems more of the exception to the rule. While the other Klingons rib the Federation for laking a martial culture, they come off as "all bark, no bite" more than not. Usually the Klingons are sneaking around abusing the terms of the peace treaty to get more worlds on their side rather than fighting directly. Far from the warriors that would rather face death than dishonor, they become uneasy when the odds aren't in their favor.
• Enemy Mine : Their own riff on the book of Genesis had the first Klingons, Kortar and his mate, dueling to the death with bat'leths. Kortar's adversary had him at swordpoint, but chose to spare him because, "If we join together, no force can stop us." And thus the Gods speaketh, " Oh, Crap! ".
• Even Evil Has Standards : Klingons and Romulans once shared an alliance for a number of years. Big mistake. A number of disasters — including the Khitomer Massacre, the result of failed encroachments on Klingon colonies — led the Klingons to develop a deep-seated hatred for the Romulans. The Romulans are probably the species that Klingon society in general despises most of all. (TOS: "The Enterprise Incident"; TNG: "The Neutral Zone") They hate the Romulans so much that a single Federation starship coming to their aid against a Romulan attack meant the difference between a lasting friendship and all-out war with the Federation. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise") Worf once angrily berated Alexander for being a school bully on the Enterprise -D, as it is the lowest form of dishonor for a warrior to bully those weaker than he is. Worf : They have no honor! They consider Klingons and humans to be a waste of skin!
• Evil Is Hammy : Veteran Klingon Robert O'Reilly told all neophyte Klingons that the most important part was to say their lines with utmost belief, and " go all the way. " Qapla'!!
• Exotic Equipment : Guess what Klingon males have two of... and now imagine what their females must have two of...
• Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity : Klingons are proficient with multiple kinds of bladed weapons, but they're mainly seen wielding the batl'eth, a kind of crescent-shaped, pronged blade held from a hilt placed in the middle of its outer curve.
• Fantastic Slur : Crossing one's arms across the chest outside of a discommendation ceremony is a grave insult in Klingon culture.
• The Farmer and the Viper : Ironically for an honor-minded society, Klingons find excuses to kill each other and steal their land, or betray their Federation allies. It's less to do with greed than the Klingon propensity for violence: Chancellors are constantly directing hostilities outward , rather than face civil war at home.
• The Ferryman : Klingons who die without honor aren't allowed into Sto-vo-kor (esssentially the Klingon version of Valhalla), but are instead sentenced to Gre'thor, their version of Hell. The Barge of the Dead is the mythological ship to Gre'thor, captained by Kortar, the very first Klingon. When Kortar became more powerful than the gods who created him, he destroyed them, and, as punishment, he was condemned to ferry the souls of the dishonored for all eternity.
• Feudal Future : The culture of the Klingons is a hodgepodge of western stereotypes of the samurai, the Zulu, the Vikings, and various Native American nations — a proud, warlike and principled race. Klingon society is based on a feudal system organized around traditional Great Houses of noble lineage, to which various parts of the population owed fealty. The Great Houses are represented in the Klingon High Council, which is led by a Chancellor. Unusual for Trek , Klingon women aren't treated as equals (except as soldiers in the field). They are prohibited from serving in the High Council and can't inherit control of their Houses unless they have enough money — and no male successors. On other hand, women have a tremendous degree of clout regarding what goes on within the Houses. (This was Ron D. Moore's concession in DS9 , as he felt there was next-to-zero Klingon women being represented in the series.)
• Fire-Forged Friends : With the Federation, first predicted by Ayelborne and then fulfilled by Gorkon and Azetbur after the Praxis explosion. According to Crewman Daniels , the Klingons will eventually join as full-fledged Federation members.
• Lampshaded in Enterprise , where 22nd Century Klingon doctors and lawyers comment that they're finding themselves increasingly under the thumb of the Warrior Caste. By the 24th Century, the Warriors are all that's left.
• Foreign Cuss Word : " PetaQ ! ", the go-to Klingon cuss word. Exact translation never given in the show, but evidently somewhere equivalent to "bastard".
• Live, squirming racht and gagh! (Gesundheit.) Served fresh, of course. Interestingly, gagh is actually more palatable to humans than Klingons, who hate the taste but love the feeling of something dying inside of them. Jadzia: You haven't touched your racht. Arjin: No, I have. It's (gags) interesting. Jadzia: No, you've been moved it around your plate to make it look like you've touched it. Arjin: I didn't have to move it. It moved itself.
• There are actually 51 different types of gagh, each with its distinct taste and texture, including Bithool gagh (which have feet), Filden (which squirm), Meshta (which jump), Torgud (which wiggles), and Wistan which is stuffed with targ blood. Yum yum.
• Sins of the Father suggests that Klingons in general don't see the point of cooking their food, so their bodies might naturally imitate the sorts of processes that unlock additional nutrition when humans cook theirs.
• God-Emperor : The Klingon treatment of Kahless the Unforgettable, whom they have canonized as the pinnacle of Klingon society, and whose deeds have become legendary.
• Glory Seeker : As a rule, the Klingons seek glorious battle and glorious death above nearly all else, reveling in the notion of dying in battle to join the honored dead in Sto-vo-kor.
• Hand Cannon : The visual design of Klingon Disruptors is based on an antique flintlock pistol.
• A canonical reason was given for the change on Star Trek: Enterprise , revealing that it was caused by a failed attempt to create Klingon Augments , due to their fear that Starfleet were creating super soldiers after encountering some relics from the Eugenics War. Due to one of the test subjects having an alien form of flu, it mutated into an airborne plague that swept across the Empire, killing many until it was finally cured, but causing them to lose their ridges as a side-effect.
• Hard Head : It's repeatedly been shown that being whacked in the face with a sword is no more harmful to a Klingon than being whacked in the face with a staff. Those bony ridges seem to be pretty impressive natural armor. They're much more vulnerable to being stabbed in the gut.
• Honorable Warrior's Death : The greatest goal of any Klingon warrior is to die a glorious death in battle. Problems start when Klingons go around causing fights just so they can get there.
• Informed Ability : Perhaps unsurprisingly, thanks to The Worf Effect , their status as mighty warriors is this, seeing as they're routinely defeated in hand to hand combat by Humans, who are supposedly several times weaker than Klingons and have no redundant organs. This is particularly noticeable in the Deep Space Nine season 4 opener "The Way of the Warrior".
• Inverted in a TNG episode, when Riker joined a Bird of Prey as part of an officer exchange. As part of his hazing, he wolfed down some gagh.
• Kick Them While They Are Down : Painstiks are also used in the "Sonchi" ceremony to confirm the death of an old chancellor: Contenders seeking to become the new chancellor take turns jabbing the corpse with a painstik while issuing verbal challenges. The lack of response to these insults is taken as confirmation.
• They're the Trope Namer and Trope Maker . In one episode, Dax explains the intricacies after hearing O'Brien and Bashir talk about the trope. Only a direct subordinate can make the challenge, and only after a severe infraction (cowardice, extreme failure, dereliction of duty). To be clear: you can't simply "assassinate" your superior officer, you have to challenge him to a formal duel.
• The Imperial High Council is more civilized, but not by much. Gowron was once challenged by a member of the High Council while he was in the midst of a civil war against the Duras sisters. They have a duel to the death right there on the council floor, which Gowron wins. After which...
• We actually see this work during the birth of Molly O'Brien, in ten forward. Worf acts as the midwife, blandly announcing the cervical dilation and getting agitated by Keiko's screaming. Worf (to Keiko): "You may now give birth!"
• Lampshaded in Enterprise , where 22nd Century Klingon doctors and lawyers comment on being increasingly overruled by the Warrior caste and worry about the flanderisation of their species. Towards the end of the show, in "Affliction", it's bemoaned that Klingon science suffers from the warrior mentality.
• Apparently, by the 24th Century that philosophical social problem was resolved in Klingon society: as long as you can frame your profession as a battle in at least some abstract way, such as a lawyer working in his case against an opponent in court, that's good enough for a true Klingon.
• One episode of Enterprise has an elderly Klingon lawyer explain that the obsession with honor through combat is actually a recent cultural shift, telling Archer that when he was a boy honor was earned through "integrity and acts of true courage, not senseless bloodshed." Given how long lived Klingons are, this would put their cultural revolution roughly around the early 2000s. note  Coincidentally, this coincides well with that episode's original air date.
• Klingons Love Shakespeare : Trope Namer , first seen in the sixth movie. You can see why they'd enjoy his work, given the many plays that deal with wars and nobles, and the poetic language used.
• Lady of War : Klingons have Bridge Bunnies , too, but they tend to be a little more butch. Klingon noblewomen are tough cookies, also.
• Life of the Party : According to Jadzia and Worf, at least, Klingon women are actually pretty good fun at parties. Though probably so long as you don't try to cut off the bloodwine.
• Long-Lived : Klingons seem to have comparable lifespans as Vulcans, living two or three times as long as humans do. Many of the Klingon commanders that Kirk tangled with back in the day were still alive and kicking and only in the begin of their old age by the time of Deep Space Nine a hundred years later.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase : Much like Vulcans and their endless permutation of "logic", it's impressive just how many things Klingons will dub honorable or not honorable. Even some Klingons think it goes a little far sometimes. Ezri: It's very sweet. Worf: Not exactly a Klingon word. Ezri: It's very... honorable? Worf: Better. Albeit a little obvious.
• Martyrdom Culture : The greatest glory for a Klingon solider is to die in battle. Ritual suicide is often preferred over living life as a cripple, especially if you're a veteran. Even if you aren't a cripple, to allow oneself die of natural causes is a profound disgrace for a military family. No wonder Klingons are constantly hungry for the next big war. A key point, however, is that a Klingon must die by the hand of (or with the assistance of) another . Unassisted suicide is considered completely honorless , and a one-way ticket to Gre'thor (hell).
• Men Don't Cry : Spock said once that Klingons lack tear ducts; however, Klingon myth states that Kahless once filled the ocean with his tears, and at least one Klingon, Kurn, has produced tears.
• Also the Mek'leth , a short sword curved inward.
• Honorable mention goes to the "Painstik," which is self-explanatory . Unlike the Bat'leth, the painstiks are used mostly for ritualistic purposes. During the Rite of Ascension ceremony (essentially the Klingon bat mitzvah), a young Klingon must walk between two lines of Klingons prodding him with electrical shocks.
• Nay-Theist : As the Klingons believe it, their creator gods were destroyed by the first Klingons.
• Never Gets Drunk : Downplayed. While Klingons certainly can get drunk, and a few drunk Klingons have been seen onscreen, they take a lot longer to get drunk than humans. Perhaps this is because, as stated once, they have two livers.
• Noble Demon : While their society is cruel, vicious and violent by human standards, Klingons also value Honor, Courage, Honesty and Loyalty above all else.
• No Indoor Voice : Klingons consider it a sign of disrespect to speak softly. They like to make their presence felt.
• Persona Non Grata : Klingons who dishonor themselves gravely may be "Discommendated", wherein their status in society is reduced to the point where they are barely considered living, sentient beings.
• Prefers Raw Meat : When a Klingon comes aboard the USS Enterprise as an exchange officer, he says "I will try some of your burned replicated bird meat".
• To prove why they fit this whenever it's not an Informed Attribute making them more a race wide version of Miles Gloriosus , consider the fact that the Klingons utterly embarrassed the Cardassians during their war, enough to make the arrogant Gul Dukat admit that they'd been reduced to a "third rate power."
• They also are shown to have the Federation on the ropes in one bad alternate universe, have conquered its imperial counterpart with the Cardassians in another, and for a period of the Federation-Dominion War, bore the vast brunt of the fighting.
• Real Life Writes the Plot : Klingons became the primary antagonists of Kirk's crew, in part because the makeup necessary to make Romulans was too time-consuming and costly.
• This is scaled back by a wide margin in the second season in giving them their hair and (for the males) their beards back. Burnham explains (via convienient Hand Wave ) that since the Klingons are no longer at war, they've decided to grow their hair out... though that never seemed to bother them before or since .
• Ritual Suicide : A Klingon who is unable to fight, and hence is unable to live as a warrior anymore, has the traditional obligation of committing the hegh'bat . Tradition dictates that the eldest son or a close personal friend must assist. That person's role is to hand the dying Klingon a knife so that he can plunge it into his heart, remove it, and then wipe the blood on his own sleeve.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Not at first, as Star Trek: The Original Series showed them as Human Aliens . The rubber foreheads came with the movies and TNG-era shows. Star Trek: Enterprise (a prequel to TOS) would include the rubber foreheads and then explain the difference as a genetic-engineering experimant gone horribly wrong. Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: Discovery came up with different rubber foreheads.
• Shoot the Medic First : Klingons are notorious for targeting field hospitals and doctors in their raids. From a Klingon's perspective, they are rewarding their wounded enemies with an honorable death. So it's not uncommon for Klingons to go around a ward stabbing each patient with bat'leths one-by-one.
• Sins of the Father : A serious issue for dishonorable Klingons, because their dishonor is passed down for generations, at least until their grandkids, or until someone atones. And it cuts both ways - a parent can be sentenced to Gre'thor for the sins of their children.
• Skyward Scream : Klingon death rituals include holding open the eyes of the recently deceased, then letting loose a mighty roar to the sky, warning the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is on their way.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss : Klingon foreplay... is energetic. When choosing a mate, it is traditional for a female Klingon to bite the male's face, allowing her to taste his blood and get his scent. Actually, the male comes out looking the worse for wear. Worf once tells Wesley Crusher that per the Klingon mating ritual, "Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects." Of men, Worf says "He reads love poetry. He ducks a lot."
• In Star Trek: The Original Series , espionage is a specialty of the Klingons (influenced as they were by Cold War-era Russia). Of course, this was prior to the dramatic shift in depiction that saw them portrayed as the Proud Warrior Race we know today.
• Subverted in Star Trek: Discovery , where espionage and infiltration turns out to be the specialty of House Mo'kai, the leading faction of the Klingon Empire, rather than a species-wide hat.
• Soldier vs. Warrior : An interesting mix of both. Like warriors, Klingons devote their lives to preparing for battle and way of life. They place a strong emphasis on individual achievement and individual glory. Like soldiers, they devote themselves to a greater cause namely the empire. Individual glory or goals are second to the greater good of the empire. They are willing to retreat when necessary and not waste resources on individual glory that could jeopardize the war effort. Disobedience and stupidity is punished with a dishonorable death. Generally, they consider themselves soldiers first and warriors second especially in times of war. After all, the Klingons have a saying, "Only a fool fights in an burning house", though at least one Klingon found it "exhilarating".
• Space Orcs : Classic aggressive, warlike aliens with a culture focused entirely on war and Might Makes Right . They've even gone through a similar arc as orcs have in fantasy, from the Tolkien-orc-like nearly- Always Chaotic Evil antagonists of Star Trek: The Original Series through their softening and fleshing-out in various films and ultimately to the Blizzard-orc-like sympathetic Proud Warrior Race of Star Trek: The Next Generation and later.
• Spare Body Parts : There is a good deal of multiple redundancy in their organs, a novelty they call brak'lul . This allows Klingons to survive severe injuries in battle. They have twenty-three ribs, two livers, an eight-chambered heart, three lungs, multiple stomachs, and even redundant neural function . It's best not to wound a Klingon unless it kills him outright, although the episode that introduced this concept also noted that having so many biological redundancies has the drawback that it also means extra chances for something inside the body to go wrong . Funnily, Klingons are comparatively ignorant about their own biology as their medicine is poorly developed. This was largely due to warrior tradition: a wounded Klingon is expected to use the last of his strength to slay the enemy, or to kill themselves honorably.
• Strong as They Need to Be : Though they're stated to be somewhat stronger than humans, their strength varies wildly throughout the franchise; often they don't seem any tougher than any other Mook, though Worf often performs one-handed Neck Lifts against people who displease him and Kruge clearly came across as much stronger than Kirk when the two of them fought at the end of The Search for Spock .
• Theme Naming : Klingons love the letter K. The Original Series gave us the iconic triumvirate of Kang, Kor, Koloth, and Kahless; and the movies have Kruge, Klaa, Koord, and Gorkon. And on the Enterprise, there's Worf . In the Expanded Universe, their home planet used to be called Klinzhai, but the official canon later renamed it Qonos (pronounced with a K sound).
• Used Future : In contrast to the sleek and cutting-edge feel of Federation ships, Klingon ships tend to feel industrial with dingy colors and little emphasis on crew comforts. This is often paired with cloaking abilities, making a ship analogous to an attack submarine.
• Vestigial Empire : They went through a period of this between the 2150s and 2256, as the Great Houses' in-fighting reached a breaking point and left the Empire in a state of perpetual civil war. T'Kuvma eventually snapped them out of it via a Genghis Gambit against the Federation, which is what sets the events of Star Trek: Discovery into motion.
• War Is Glorious : The whole point of Klingon society.
• Warrior Heaven : Sto-Vo-Kor, where Kahless awaits those who die honorably in battle.
• Warrior Poet : It turns out many of William Shakespeare's works (particularly the histories, which are quite bloody and violent) are quite popular throughout the Empire, which ends up becoming the Trope Namer for In the Original Klingon .
• Wild Hair : Most Klingons, especially those seen in the TNG-era, allow their hair to grow long and wild. That Worf combs or ties back his hair drives home his reserved nature and the effects of growing up around humans.
• With Friends Like These... : When allied with the Federation, they are an awesome ally! Unfortunately, their government system is incredibly violent and possibly even unstable, with transfers in power occurring often with outside intervention for the sake of maintaining a modicum of order in the Alpha Quadrant.
• Oddly, the Klingons typically fill the Dirty Communists role, with the Romulans standing in for China. This became more apparent on TNG, when the Romulans adopted more severe hairstyles while the Klingons took up drinking , not to mention the series' Token Heroic Orc being literally adopted by humans in Minsk.

• Alien Blood : Their blood is bright green.
• Blade Below the Shoulder : They have sharp blades growing from their forearms, which they can tear out for use as weapons.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game : Their ritual hunts can and will target intelligent beings, although in these cases they make a point of only going after aware and consenting targets.
• Predator Pastiche : They're heavily based on the Yautja , being intimidating eight-foot-tall animalistic aliens whose culture revolves around finding prey to hunt using advanced harpoons and boomerangs, changed just enough to avoid copyright.
• Proud Hunter Race : They're hulking sapient predators with a deep-seated urge to hunt that becomes deeply frustrating if left unaddressed for too long. However, they also respect life above all else, and as such use ritualized, non-lethal "catch and release" hunts to sate their instincts by pursuing willing sapient prey, subduing it non-lethally (although they have no particular qualms about causing reversible injury, which in the 22nd Century can be quite a lot), and taking a few pictures to commemorate the occasions before releasing it. The hunt's setup is an involved affair where the prey is given an hour's head start while the Kromsapiod undergoes a ritual, paints their face, and inhales vapor from special candles.
• Serious Business : Hunting is everything to them, to the point that they'll go mad if they don't hunt every so often.

Homeworld: Kwejian

• Detonation Moon : Their homeworld is destroyed in "Kobayashi Maru" when a gravitational Negative Space Wedgie shatters their moon and sends the debris raining down on the planet's surface.
• The Empath : Some Kwejian have psychic powers, focused through a kind of ritual, to communicate with plants and animals.
• Human Aliens : Identical to humans. The first one we meet even has a human name, but that turns out to not be his birth name.
• Leonine Contract : Their deal with the Emerald Chain. In return for exporting their already-endangered trance worms to the Andorians and Orions, the Chain provides repellant for the sea locusts devouring Kwejian's crops. Said repellant is toxic in the long term, but it beats starvation.
• Named After Their Planet : The planet Kwejian.
• Nature Hero : The Kwejian have a strong affinity for nature, and consider themselves the stewards of their planet rather than its masters.
• Power Glows : Empathic Kwejian have glowing yellow runes on their foreheads while using their powers.
• Trauma Conga Line : Hoo boy. First, their moon's orbit shifts following the Burn, disrupting their tides and unleashing hordes of sea locusts onto the surface, devouring their crops and threatening mass starvation. Then the Emerald Chain shows up and offers them a Leonine Contract , demanding the Kwejian hand over their trance worms in return for pesticides. And then, a few months after both problems are solved , their moon gets blown up by a Negative Space Wedgie , showering the planet in debris and stripping it of life, Kwejian included. The only survivors are those who happened to be off-world at the time, and given their level of technology, that's not many.
• World Tree : Their homeworld has one, with a root network that spans much of the planet. Kwejian who come of age will take a small sample of sap, add a drop of their blood, and wear it in a vial around their neck.

Homeworld: Kzin

• Always Chaotic Evil : From what little we see of them, they're constantly on the lookout for anything they can use to go to war with humanity again. Sulu : The Kzinti fought four wars with Humankind, and lost all of them. The last one was two hundred years ago , and you haven't learned a thing since!
• Big Bad Wannabe : For all their tough talk, they've been almost completely demilitarized since their last war with Earth, meaning they can't really back it up with force.
• Bizarre Alien Biology : For a start, they've got different rib arrangements from humans. They also have telepaths, and the females of their species aren't even sentient note  though if female Kzinti are anything like female Caitans, that last fact may actually be a lie .
• Canon Immigrants : From Larry Niven's Known Space novels.
• Cat Folk : In a different way from the Caitans. They don't purr at the end of sentences, for one. This is different from the novels they're from, where they're not actually feline, they just look sort of like them.
• Continuity Snarl : Their introductory appearance is, even by early Trek's shonky continuity, difficult to reconcile with what's established elsewhere. Apparently they fought (and lost) four interstellar wars with Earth in the late 21st century, mere years or decades after humanity's first warp flight in 2063.
• A Dog Named "Dog" : According to Known Space , that Kzinti are not named at birth; they must earn their names through advancing the interests of their government. Unnamed Kzinti have lower status, and are referred to by the name of their profession, such as 'Telepath'. While "The Slaver Weapon" doesn't explicitly confirm this, it does appear to remain consistent with it.
• Early-Bird Cameo : Before being officially introduced in the Slaver Weapon , the Kzinti were namedropped by Keniclius 5 as one of the great threats of the universe in Infinite Vulcan , and a Kzin appears as a member of the Elysian Ruling Council in the Time Trap .
• Fantastic Racism : Taking Does Not Like Spam to its heights, they hate vegetarians. Even thinking about vegetables can give their telepaths a case of the screaming oojahs.
• Great Offscreen War : Apparently got into several rumbles with humanity in the late 21st century, which the fuzzballs lost decisively. It's worth noting that, as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact , humanity was barely warp-capable at the time.
• Lean and Mean : Kzinti are tall, and have gangly arms and legs compared to humans.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy : So much so that if a Chuft-Captain gets beaten in a fight by a veggie , he won't dare call for back-up, because what sort of proud meat-eater gets beaten by someone who eats spinach? (At least, not before he's made sure the veggie-lover won't tell anyone what they did.)
• Stock "Yuck!" : Like toddlers, the Kzinti hate vegetables.
• Telepathy : Some Kzinti are capable of this, though it seems to take a lot out of them. Particularly if the person whose mind they're reading starts thinking about eating vegetables.
• To Serve Man : They will eat humans, given half a chance.

• Genius Bruiser : The mental projection a Lethean can insert into another's mind draws upon the victim's own memories and fears to become a brilliant, taunting juggernaut, even if the Lethean in question is Dumb Muscle (like the real Altovar was).
• Glass Cannon : As mentioned, a Lethean's mental projection is dangerous, but if their victim can regroup and remember that a mind under attack is still their own mind it goes down like a socially-inappropriate simile.
• Horned Humanoid : As you can see from the picture, they've got a bunch. And since they're jerks, it counts as Horns of Villainy .
• Lightning Can Do Anything : The scripts describe and the finished episodes demonstrate the Letheans mental attacks as electrical discharges.
• Mind Probe : One aspect of their mental powers.
• Mind Rape : Lethean mental attacks plunge their victims into nightmare scenarios, and their Mind Probe doesn't look too fun either.
• Only in It for the Money : The only Letheans we've seen so far were greedy opportunists who've been shown to be willing to use their powers to make money unscrupulously.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning : They've got red eyes, and they're pretty nasty customers.
• Shock and Awe : They appear to have the ability to produce bioelectricity from their hands, which is tied to their mental powers.
• To the Pain : The above quote describes the way Letheans destroy minds.
• Your Mind Makes It Real : Most people don't survive the Mind Rape experience, but Bashir managed to by recontextualizing his situation in a way that allowed him to wipe out Altovar's mental projection. Apparently that's the trick.

• Amusing Alien : Their appearance and demeanor are often played for laughs, even though they don't have any lines.
• Named After Their Planet : Their homeworld is called Luria.
• Perpetual Frowner : Justified; that's just how their face is shaped.
• Retcon : In "Who Mourns for Morn?", Quark comments that Morn has lost his hair. Every Lurian we've seen since is as bald as he is.
• Spare Body Parts : Two (apparently metal-resistant) stomachs, more than one heart, and at least four lungs.
• Spear Carrier : The only regular Lurian character is Morn, Quark's best customer on Deep Space 9. Others appear in background shots but don't do much of importance on their own.
• The Voiceless : A Running Gag in Deep Space Nine is that Morn the Lurian is a chatterbox, but never actually speaks on-screen. Discovery continues this tradition with other Lurian background characters.

Homeworld: Malon Prime Fat, leprous waste extractors hailing from Malon Prime in the Delta Quadrant. Sporting the most noxious line of ships NOT named Exxon Valdez , and the social responsibility of Looten Plunder , the species lags far behind other civilizations in their handling of starship by-products; namely theta radiation, the cause of their skin problems.

• Always Chaotic Evil : Their first two appearances ("Night" and "Extreme Risk") portray them as bog-standard bad guys who pollute space just because they want to. Subverted , however, with "Juggernaut", which fleshes them out a bit and shows that at least a few of them are sympathetic.
• Captain Ersatz : Taking inspiration from a certain David Lynch film, eh? ...Ah, Eraserhead , of course!
• Dangerous Workplace : Waste disposal is one of the most lucrative jobs in their society, because all that radiation is not good for your health. It's even worse for the core laborers. Their deaths are practically guaranteed, but they make in one run what the grunts make in a year, benefiting their families.
• Evil, Inc. : Evidence suggests the Malon could recycle their energy if they so desired, but technological advancement is being stonewalled by giant energy companies, et cetera. After all, the Waste must flow....
• Evil Redhead : Chalky-looking gingers, in oversized rubber suits.
• Green Aesop : Ah, the subtleties of late-90's environmental messages.
• Landfill Beyond the Stars : Malon Prime is supposedly the jewel of the Delta Quadrant. It's kept that way because they have an entire industry dedicated to dumping their waste output in other star systems.
• Named After Their Planet : Yep, Malon Prime.
• Things That Go "Bump" in the Night : The Vihaar is a bogeyman in waste exporter parlance: A foul creature who skulks around Malon garbage scows and is undetectable to sensors. The myth was proven to have some basis in reality when a core laborer become theta radiation-resistant (a rare occurrence), went mad and started picking off his co-workers. His resistance to the radiation allowed him to soak up so much of it that he couldn't be distinguished from the ambient radiation.

    Medusans  "While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite." Debut: TOS , " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "

• Bad Powers, Good People : The two Medusans who've appeared in the franchise are fairly amiable and non-malicious, even though their very existence is highly dangerous to corporeal beings.
• Brown Note Being : Their most famous attribute. Looking at one without a filter of some kind will drive most humanoids mad. Even glimpsing a reflection of one can induce Laser-Guided Amnesia of the event.
• Energy Beings : Medusans are non-corporeal and resemble a swirling ball of energy.
• Hive Mind : Their society consists of numerous hive minds, although they do have individual personalities.
• Informed Deformity : Everyone on the Enterprise refers to Medusans as being so ugly it drives people insane, but as Miranda Jones points out, it might as well be insanity-inducing beauty.
• Meaningful Name : Named after the gorgon Medusa , who is similarly dangerous to look at. Presumably that's not the species' true name, just one coined by humans.
• No Biological Sex : Medusans, being non-corporeal, are genderless.
• Telepathy : Medusans can read the minds of humanoids around them, and presumably communicate this way among their own kind.
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The Shuttle Pod Crew Discusses The Audience Demographics Of Star Trek

| April 24, 2020 | By: Shuttle Pod Crew 50 comments so far

Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on  iTunes ,  Google Play Music , and  Pocket Casts ! Like what you hear? Please leave us a review on iTunes/Apple Podcasts.

Based on a question from a listener (and Shuttle Pod patron), Brian, Matt, and returning guest Anthony discuss the business of making Star Trek — appealing to advertisers and the consumer public from TOS to the new CBS era. They discuss why Hollywood is interested in the younger market demographic (people in their 20s), and ponder if there’s room for more niche Trek shows that aren’t trying to chase both new and existing fans all at once.

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Ironically it is a Pike series that could benefit the most from today’s demographics. Eye catching visuals, action, adventure, frontier and they know has something to do with that Kirk movie they watched. In the young demographic (those born after 2010) I bet there are more TOS fans than TNG fans now thanks to the action/adventure and the Kelvin movies combined with the rewatchability of the original series, the cartoon series and original movies (I know I watched Wrath of Kahn and they actually stopped to watch, I’d change the channel if a TNG movie came on which thankfully doesn’t happen.). I see the TOS Enterprise surprising a lot these days, even in a Twizzlers commercial (I kid you not!!!) way more than Ent-D and E now if only because it’s golden triangle ratios get it plugged into images to draw your attention. I think DS9 has great re-watchability but hard for kids to stop and watch. TOS had that magic where for kids it’s bad Doomsday Machine vs. good guys even when it has a complex message concerning weapons of mass destruction. Alternatively I could see a future for Trek but 20 years from now when the young TOS fans (who kind of watched and wanted more but didn’t invest in the canon) want to see more and you can reboot and go back to relatable crews. Or I hear that Marvel is looking at doing a SWORD series which would be Avengers meets Enterprise…. and they are free of canon and already have some pretty strange aliens…. (aren’t the Kree like the TOS/FASA Klingons with hybrids?).

I don’t know too many ppl in their 20s currently watching Star Trek; I would say it’s hardly in the cultural consciousness at all. I think we look to TNG as our parents’ Trek, and TOS as our grandparents’. There was renewed excitement a decade ago, prompting some people to actually consider looking into old Trek, but by and large I think ST09 was a flash in the pan of Trek interest among my generation, which quickly moved on to other things. There was little substance in the JJ films to really attach people to them, and there are plenty of other big, flashy action films in the market with compelling stories we’d rather watch. So CBS certainly has their work cut out for them if they’re gonna attract a younger demographic to Star Trek.

I’m in my 20s.

Well I think Into Darkness self destructed the franchise but hopefully the seed was planted before they crashed that bird into San Francisco (a total loss). I think a real Marvel style reboot would do the trick say 5-10 years from now if you double down on the action/adventure/frontier (especially if SpaceX is flying its Starship class rockets). Rockets are back in and the space transport system (shuttle) has finally been recognized for being an epic failure wasting countless capital and resources. Space exploration is back on in a way it hasn’t been since the 70s and that should bode well for rough space-is-hard-yet-we-go-anyway space exploration shows. It is my hope that you still hear people in their 20s going “KAAAAAHHHHHNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!” that when they are in their 40s the door is open for a total reboot.

I have a nephew who watched all the Kelvin movies and generally liked them but unfortunately that didn’t translate to all the other shows. He literally laughs at TOS because it comes off very cheap and outdated to him and don’t like the acting and hate the music. He’s never tried the movies though yet. The other shows like TNG and DS9 he just think they are too slow and boring (but he likes Sisko a lot). He has no interest in watching Discovery and Picard. The ONLY show he seems to somewhat like is Enterprise out of all of them because it felt a bit more grounded and relatable. He’s watched a few with me and liked everything we watched but I don’t think beyond that. But that’s the only show that at least interested him. But he is only 16 years old.

So yeah sadly watching the films don’t automatically get people to watch other things. MAYBE if he was a little older it would be different.

And while he seen the Kelvin movies, he’s not a ‘fan’ in the sense he’s waiting for another to come out. He was only 12 years old when Beyond came out and at that age it was a lifetime ago lol. So I agree, I think for a lot of younger people who started with the Kelvin films, most have probably moved on at this point if they never got into the other shows or movies.

I too have it where was at first hard to get kids to watch TOS because it looked cheap. For a while it was just TWOK, movies and some TAS. / But if you are watching TOS I find it draws in the really young because of all the different colors on the bridge. I don’t know why but that TOS set with the red, yellow, green blinking lights (I think because they had color TV now and damn it they were going to show it off) really catches the eye. Also for my daughter it was Saavik which to me was a surprise since she was only in two movies. They should definitely bring that character in if they do anymore Kelvin reboots. I wish they gave Uhura more to do in TWOK, I love her voice on the comms “Enterprise to Reliant, surrender and prepare to be boarded”. You watch TWOK once and her voice is etched into your brain (maybe because she is always trying to hail Regula One over and over and over again?). My guess is that when you are 40 you might have only seen TWOK but you’ll still have Uhura over the comm ingrained into your brain like “KAAAHHHHNNN!!!” that they are groomed for I don’t know, a Pike series? A reboot (of ENT or TOS)? Also, don’t tell anyone this, but whenever I hear Amazing Grace at a funeral I think Star Trek II: TWOK that your kind of feel something is missing, first with no bagpipes and then ultimately when they don’t bring in the full instrumental at the end (with an exterior shot of them firing off a photon tube into the sunset). LOL

WAit a sec, who doesn’t like TOS music?? I was born 81 and loved Trek by six in part because of that music. I do see a downside, you end up mentally humming the music for every situation. “But we need those resources.. today or we are all screwed!” DDAAAA… DA DUM DuM DUM DA DA!! “Ack COVID-19!!” dum dum…. dum dum… DUM DUM DA DUM DADA DUM DUM!!” “We all live another day, see you guys!” Dee da dum, dum dum de de da!!!

Well he wasn’t born in ’81…his mother was. ;)

To him it just comes off really cheesy.

No downside to playing the full score of THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE in your head to mark events of the day, I do it a whole lot (more often lately, since I’m not doing much driving and so don’t have the CD going.) Shoot, I used to have the part of GENESIS COUNTDOWN from TWOK playing in my head on the job as I had to clean off the plastic dividers that were supposed to keep the meat and ice cream somewhat cold in the Bill’s Drugs food section in Fall 82.

I guess it was the first drugstore — albeit a SAFEWAY-sized one — in the country that had frozen food and meat, and therefore became the first drugstore to cease operations because of the electrical cooling costs. But man, they had a brand of Banana Fudge ice cream I’ve never found again and it was indescribably tasty. Also kind of put me off Unions, because while the Union got everybody else there a job at a sister store when it closed, they went on the basis of seniority and at 9 months on I was considered too junior, so even though I kept paying dues for another year, they never even found me an interview to go on. Now that I think about it, I am freshly PO’d … that job paid amazingly well, double minimum wage.

Plus I used to get hundreds of castoffs (stands for holding battery cases, discarded displays for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and old Hallmark card racks, all of which made for great spaceship sets when properly painted and threaded with twinkle lights) for my super-8 movie projects. I had more production value tucked away in storage than some TV series, by the early 90s I could have covered a decent hunk of the DS9 promenade with my hallmark rack collection (and it actually looks like they used something very much like them in the crew quarters corridors.)

Isn’t the Amok Time music still played in some movies and comedy shows (Family guy) during fight sequences etc? What I don’t get is why it would seen as iconic in the 90s say 40 years from now but wouldn’t be seen as iconic in the 2020s or even 2100s? I mean 30 years is a long time already. It was cheesy in the 90s but it was still known. Better to be cheesy and relevant than forgotten no?

When I hear Amazing Grace I think the 1978 BODY SNATCHERS remake, which also had it with the bagpipes. In fact, that is what I thought of when first seeing TWOK (it always got laughs in the theater in 1982, every time I saw it. The sound of Spock’s hand touching the glass in the scene before got small laughs too.)

If you see composer Horner’s comments about GRACE back in STARLOG, he didn’t like being stuck with the bagpipes at all, and I don’t think he even wanted to carry the tune ‘outside’ as the torp was fired; I think he said he wanted something more etherial, like the ‘spock’ cue he uses in Spock’s quarters and during his death.

I always find it funny that color was such a big draw for TREK, because I first saw and fell in love with it in syndication, I was watching it in black and white, on what must have been a 9″ portable. I don’t think I was genuinely impressed with the color on TOS till the laserdisc era, or maybe only a little before that when 35mm prints started circulating in syndication (was that mid to late 80s?)

I’ve talked fairly often about our kid’s trajectory as Trek fans.

They’re now heading out of middle-grade into teens. I’m quite fascinated that their viewership has followed a similar progression to others in their teens and twenties who didn’t have Trek parents (and grandparents) as fans. Our family case study seems fairly representative.

Both started with the TAS DVD set that we bought up for them in primary grades. After that, I tried out a carefully chosen selection of TOS and TNG episodes from the remastered DVDs available from our public library.

Live-action TOS was didn’t catch their interest at that age as much as TAS. (And I noted that the bright remastered TOS colours looked nothing like they did on a high end mid sixties television that I originally viewed them on.)

TNG though was a hit. Very soon we were letting them watch TNG on their own on BellMedia’s premium cable and let the parental controls filter out the odd episode that rates 14+ here.

Once they had access to Space (now Sci-fi channel) and it’s 25 hours a week of all 5 live-action series, they very quickly found Voyager on cable and one mainly showed over to Voyager until they’d viewed it all. The other worked through both TNG and Voyager in tandem. (When a parent was available to watch with them we unlocked the 14+ episodes like Contagion.)

Rewatching Voyager with them, I really gave me a greater appreciation for the series. It stands up very well on its own, and is a lot more than ‘TNG light’ as Frakes and others have labeled it. Our kids really found the science and technology compelling, and one found Janeway a real hero and role model. I’m fascinated to hear how well it’s doing on streaming services compared to the other series. If I were doing the strategic planning for the franchise, I’d do a deeper dive to find out just what makes Voyager so successful with today’s audiences.

I note that our kids had access to TOS, DS9 and Enterprise, but would only occasionally try the odd episode. It’s only in the last 6 months that they’ve really looked at either TOS or Enterprise systematically. DS9 still seems not to grab them.

They’ve had access to all the TOS and TNG movies on DVD and seen them at least once (although Nemesis was left out of the collection until recently). We don’t get requests to replay them, which I didn’t expect.

The Kelvin movies are not appealing to them at all. They each watched ST 2009 with me last year and completely refuse to look at more. The opening scene with the birth of Kirk while his father gave his life completely put them off. (They aren’t big on the classic Disney killing of parents trope either.)

In terms of Discovery and Picard, as parents we were fairly careful about which episodes we let them see. One has watched with a fair amount of enthusiasm, the other has bailed on both series midseason. (I haven’t been able to get them past Project Daedulus or Star City Rag.)

”I’d do a deeper dive to find out just what makes Voyager so successful with today’s audiences.” Yes! Shuttlepod crew you’ve found your next topic of discussion. Make it so.

I’m surprised someone re-watches Voyager. I mean no one I know, kids, adults,even knows who Captain Janeway let alone Tuvok is anymore nor have I even seen the ship in like at least a decade (more?). I’m kind of glad, I mean, I don’t like Voyager but I’d hate for it to be totally forgotten by everyone.

Voyager is reportedly the most streamed Trek series on Netflix globally.

I hadn’t expected that either, and I wouldn’t have rewatched it other than to join in with our kids viewing. But it stands up better when it’s viewed apart from the rest of 90s Trek.

So, there’s something there that makes it a good entry point to the franchise.

Yes, but i am sure those are people who saw Voyager just re-watching it again and again as opposed to “Hey, I want to watch some TV”. And quite frankly Netflix Lost in Space (the new one) pretty much does TOS for kids, has kids it and way better SFX. I was in shock when post episode 3 you realized it was less cheesy than any Trek outside the movies.

“Yes, but i am sure those are people who saw Voyager just re-watching it again and again as opposed to “Hey, I want to watch some TV”.”

Actually quite a bit of people on Reddit who is new to Star Trek watch Voyager for the first time like they do TNG and the others. That’s why places like Reddit is a better place for new fans. Here it’s basically people 40 and over whose been watching it for decades and seem to think everyone should think like them. ;)

Maybe because Netflix or Amazon pushes it so hard. It seems to come up as something the streamer (never can keep them straight) suggests no matter what I choose to watch, and it has been that way for the last couple of years.

(Though it’s funny, I actually watched VOYAGER for the first time since giving up on it back in the 90s a couple weeks ago, EQUINOX, and since then, it hasn’t been popping up as a preferred choice on their part.)

A promotional push might get someone to try Voyager kmart, but a large number of people trying one episode and then bailing won’t generate those kinds of numbers. It’s hard to explain it as a statistical artifact alone.

Even if people are rewatching multiple times, one has to ask “Why do they rewatch Voyager more than other live-action Trek series?” And if Voyager was a successful entry point, but other series have more enduring appeal, “Why don’t they move on to those instead of rewatching Voyager?”

It’s a thing. TOS, TNG and DS9 fans can doubt, but it doesn’t make it less a fact. I think we just need to respect it.

Erin MacDonald, the physicist who is the new Trek science consultant, says unabashedly that Voyager’s science pulled her in. Our kids say Voyager has the best technology absolutely. It definitely speaks real STEM through all the technobabble. It may be that what others deride is what makes Voyager work for others.

Yeah, unfortunately TG47, I’m not trying to be mean here as I like and respect a lot of these people, but it sort of proves just how stuck in their ways old fans can get. Voyager is watched by old and new fans alike. I know it’s shocking for some people here to understand that, but you have to get beyond one site with a dozen regulars on it whose been watching it since the 60s, 70s or 80s. .

Yeah, its flawed, so are all the shows to a degree. Some are just less flawed than others. ;)

I watch Voyager just as much as I do TNG and DS9 these days and crazy I’m enjoying it more than I have in a long time. I’m glad your kids love it. It’s nice to see the next generation of fans raised right. ;D

Appreciate the point Tiger2.

On Voyager, I’d argue that it’s not just old fans, but the talent involved in the other Berman era shows who are stuck in a negative view. The fact that Frakes feels free to say he has always viewed Voyager as TNG-light really says something.

It appears that the diagnostique of the downward audience trends of 90s Trek has taken a life of its own and gets in the way of appreciating that each series may have strength in its own niche – Voyager, with its 25th anniversary this year, deserves much more respectful consideration – if only because it is successfully standing the test of time, much like TOS did.

We regulars really do need to work harder to welcome new, younger viewers on this board who can challenge our views.

I’m glad Faze Ninja is energetically joining in.

Unfortunately, it seemed on the other hand that, during the recent first run of Picard S1,a whole new group of gatekeeping people (or new aliases) jumped on this and other boards at the same time to spew unfiltered negativity on the new shows. (You could tell it was the same person in some cases because the same post was cut and pasted across multiple boards.). What a way to turn off new fans and new viewers coming to independent boards to discuss a new show!

I think the Pike show would be more successful if it had self-contained episodes that still contributed to the overall story of the season, like DS9 used to do or the Mandolorian. The Picard show kind of did that, sort of.

As they said in the podcast, shows like Voyager are more rewatchable because a person can pull single episodes to enjoy. I really hope the Pike show does that.

I think the best is the hybrid. You have episode stories, you have arc stories and then you have the grand arc. Only don’t be like X-Files and have it where your grand arc which everyone thought was some big lead up (black oil, bee virus release, kid, etc) was just throwing darts at a wall and going with whatever stuck.

Yeah, that was just a lack of any planning on Chris Carter’s part.

But I totally agree that a mixed approach is best. Have standalone stories for each individual episode, but that also tie into the overall arc (either through B stories or the background for the episodes, etc.).

I really enjoyed ST:Picard’s approach of introducing a major character in each episode and giving them a story focus that tied into the overall plot. I also felt Discovery’s best episodes were more singular with ties into the rest of the story: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man go Mad”, “New Eden”, and “An Obal for Charon”.

You got a lot of good points there. A Like show should have more standalone stories. Similar to The Mandalorian from Star Wars. Star Trek could fill out every niche in a articulate manner.

I’m 18 and I watch Star Trek. I saw TNG and Voyager when I was 16. Star Trek has diverse demographics for sure. The new shows are not for everyone but that could change.

It ranges from young people to people in their 50s. Looking forward to Lower Decks as a TNG fan. I watched TOS when I was 17. Star Trek is still pretty new to me.

Star Trek fan for life.

So pleased to hear this Faze Ninja! This warm an old Trekkie’s heart! :)

Tiger2 I appreciate your generosity. You are the kindest person on this website.

Your presence warms my heart as a fellow young Star Trek fan. ^_^

I’ll second that.

Tiger2 is optimistic about Trek, but doesn’t stan. It’s very appreciated.

We often but don’t always agree, and I can’t say how often I get reading a thread thinking “someone really needs to balance this” and then see Tiger2 weighing in to calm things down.

Really glad you’ve joined us too Faze Ninja!

Appreciate that man! I just love Star Trek to death…even when I don’t sound like I do. ;D

And double that, glad to see Faze Ninja has joined the ranks! Especially someone who enjoys and appreciates it all like so many of us do.

Dear Shuttle Pod Crew

I’ve been enjoying your podcasts for the last few years and in particular have found them to be a wonderful companion piece to each “Star Trek: Discovery” episode. I also greatly enjoy your retrospectives on the movie series and wondered if you would consider doing a podcast on “Star Trek: The Animated Series”?

I’ve just discovered this series on Netflix having not watched since I was a boy when it first aired in the early 1970’s. It’s great to hear the voices of the original cast again and I note that some the episodes were written but writers from the original live action series. Overall, I’ve found it to be an interesting and entertaining watch and I’d love to hear what all of you think of it.

If I have a gripe, the music composed for the series is not to my taste and in my opinion, doesn’t come close to the classic scores written for the original series by Alexander Courage, Fred Steiner, Sol Kaplan and Gerald Fried et al, by that is of course a personal opinion.

I’d be up for a retrospective on TAS.

To be honest, I think Star Trek works the best for people when they are a little older and can understand the philosophies and messages of the show better. This is why when compared with Star Wars it doesn’t have that good vs evil, black and white clash that makes it easier for younger people to relate to it. To put it in food terms, Star Wars is like the fast food, while Star Trek is that main course that is prepared much more carefully and makes us full much easier. Saying this, I don’t think Star Trek should stop trying to catch that younger age demographic but while doing this mustn’t necessarily talk down to them as well. Don’t turn it into Star Wars to get these demographic, continue doing what it was and people (even younger ones) would appreciate it more, because if you try to turn it into something like Star Wars or any other generic science fiction show, the younger ones will dismiss it off hand as another generic sci-fi or Star Wars clone. So try to appeal to the youngsters, but with what made Star Trek unique in the first place.

I’ll just say that Star Trek captured me from an early age. Why? My dad worked on the space program and was also way too serious about religion. So… I started going shopping.

You never know where your relief comes from.

Of course, this is quite possible, but I was actually kind of talking about my own experience, as I was a Star Wars kid first (in fact Empire Strikes Back remastered was the first time I ever went to a cinema I believe) and then became a late comer to Trek. I was already at university when I got really into Trek and being a little more mature I think kind of helped me to get into it because I could understand the science and the philosophies much better.

Star Wars for me was a lot longer than Star Trek. I’ve only known Star Trek since my early teen years. Let’s talk about science fiction as a whole, not just Star Wars and Star Trek.

Both influenced me from a early age.

My very first experience with Star Trek: TOS was in 1983 at the age of 6. Loved it upon first site. Once the movies started popping up, I dragged my dad to the theater. Trek has always spoken to a wide audience. Discovery is very focused on a young generation. Picard, despite its issues, has the potential to grab a wider audience.

Star Trek “doesn’t have that good vs evil, black and white clash” — someone tell Alex Kurtzman, cuz literally every Trek production in the past 10 years has had that evil villain at the center of the conflict. Nero = dressed in black. “Khan” = black. Lorca = black in mirror universe. Commodore Oh = decked out in black villain suit in Picard finale. Like it was comically over the top, her costume. There is NO subtlety from this new Trek.

Deep Space 9’s Gul Dukat.

I think it varies from person to person. My brother and I were 10 and 5 respectively when we discovered Star Trek shortly after coming to America in 1970. We didn’t even speak English at the time but the visuals of the show really resonated with us, so much so I remember that first episode to this day.

I also think that for fans your first Trek is sort of like your first girlfriend, in that you probably have fond memories about it that maybe trump any rational arguments about the actual quality of the show. TOS is obviously visually dated compared to later shows, but for me it is still the most entertaining Star Trek to this day.

Yes, please do the podcast about the streaming-wars, corporation-combining, inside-baseball stuff. That’s what makes the Shuttle Pod different from the million other Trek podcasts out there. Everyone does retro-reviews. Barely anyone talks about the behind the scenes industry mechanics. This is right in line with the Trek Movie website and what makes you stand apart.

There should be a podcast about the streaming wars. HBO Max is coming out next month in May. Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Apple, CBS… Streaming is taking over.

The corporate combining is another topic entirely. CBS and Viacom, Disney Fox merger are one example of that.

The media landscape is rapidly changing and these companies need to adapt or go out of business.

Star Trek’s overall demographic ranges from 16 to 65 years of age. CBS All Access’s Trek is attempting to focus on the 21 to 35 demographic. Once you add in the swearing, incest, and sex, the demographic skews towards adolescence and young adults. Trek has always explored sexuality and gender through moderation.

Swearing was used as comedy relief in The Voyage Home. During the movie Voyage Home, Kirk explains that swearing is a primitive and outdated form of communication. Swearing was used to express impeding doom in Generations. Again, swearing and sexuality were approached in moderation, so the brand was able to maintain a sense of class, sophistication, and innocence. Larger demographic.

As competition started to arrive, Trek’s form of storytelling had changed. Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis took Rodenberry’s formula and created a conundrum. Stargate modernized The Next Generation and DS9 formula; thus, they won over Trek’s remaining demographics. People stopped watching Trek in favor of Stargate.

Stargate: Universe and Star Trek: Picard/Discovery are built upon the Galatica formula. Dark dystopian themes that focus moreso on drama rather than science. So, hammering down the new demographic is complicated. Teen and young adult storytelling told in a dystopia world? Hunger Games demographic? I liked the Hunger Games. I would not be surprised if the new demographic is similar to the Hunger Games.

I disagree with you slightly. Swearing always existed in Star Trek In TOS: Dr. McCoy said “damn” all the time. Kirk used “hell.” They would have used the f-word if they could, I believe.

Tam’Onari, while it’s true that some of the Trek audience may have been engaged by Stargate (or Farscape, Firefly or new BSG) it’s too much to claim that it took the audience demographic or that Picard/Discovery are built on the formula.

Paramount pushed both Voyager and Enterprise to carry a strategically flawed cable network. I really wish fans seeking to explain the declining audiences of 90s Trek would keep in mind that the later series weren’t syndicated the way TNG and DS9 (and Stargate) were. You can’t make an assessment without considering the platform.

Frankly, I see elements of all of these later series, and even moments of Lost, being experimented with in both Discovery and Picard. The trippiest moments often have echos of Farscape (a Hopepunk series to the end).

A number of writers have asked why series can’t get back to the happy medium of long arcs, stand-alone episodes and occasional 2 or 3 parters that we saw in the early 00s.

I’m wondering if it may have something to do with writers rooms not wanting to have to accept spec scripts. If a show is totally serialized, then the WGA doesn’t require the showrunner to accept spec scripts, but as soon as there are any stand-alone episodes, they have to accept a minimum number of spec scripts per year.

I’ve never heard of WGA rules about accepting spec scripts for different kinds of shows. Definitely interesting. Do you have a link to a page that explains it a little more?

It’s reportedly covered in the WGA Guide to Writing for Episodic TV.

Once a series has a certain number of stand alone episodes, it comes under the episodic TV criteria in the contract and a certain minimum number of scripts have to be accepted from freelancers.

Can you guys please do a podcast about the streaming wars? That was one of the most interesting parts of your discussion.

There are many topics I hope this podcast can dive into. Here’s a couple I thought about:

–The Science of Star Trek. From Roddenberry’s reach in the beginning to the Rand Corporation and NASA to get the science right, technobabble (it seems that TOS used more correct wording of values such as scientific notation than current Trek), and Trek’s biggest science faux pas (my vote goes to “supernova threatening entire galaxy”). And also how Trek inspired many people to enter a career in science, myself included. –More “inside baseball” in to the business of Star Trek. –Merchandise. The show “The Toys that Made Us” on Netflix had a great episode about Star Trek. I’d like a deeper podcast about the merch. –Favorites among the podcasters. They could go into favorite Trek show, movie, characters, Starfleet uniforms, starships, aliens, episodes, and more.

thanks guys!

Thank you all for the feedback – you’ve given us some great ideas!

Everything to Remember Before Star Trek: Discovery Returns for Its Final Season

As the show that launched star trek into the streaming age prepares for its long goodbye, here's everything you need to know heading into season 5..

This week, Star Trek: Discovery boldly goes for one final adventure . After years of waiting—and knowing that this fifth season would be its last—the Trek show that launched the franchise’s current renaissance will begin its victory lap. But before that, it has been a while since Discovery was last on our screens—so here’s everything important to remember.

The 32nd Century Is Here to Stay

This one depends on how long you’ve been away from Discovery , really, but I’m sure there’s someone out there intrigued by the final season of a Star Trek show who’s maybe either not watched since the early days or wants to jump in on the last leg. So, if that’s you ... well, go watch the rest of the show first. It has its moments.

But if you insist: Discovery has not been the pre-original- Trek show it started out as for a long while now. At the end of season two, the crew and the Discovery itself were flung far, far into the future in order to close the loop on a potential galaxy-ending threat that meant they could never return to their original timeline in the 23rd century. Ever since, they have been at the furthest point a Star Trek show has ever consistently gone to, even beyond the far future glimpsed in Enterprise ’s Temporal Cold War storyline: the 32nd century.

Things are, to be clear, not 100% great at this moment in time, state of the galaxy-wise. Before Discovery showed up, the Federation’s myriad member worlds and Starfleet had been completely torn apart by a cataclysmic event called “The Burn,” the simultaneous detonation of dilithium across known space which rendered warp travel—and thus the existence of interstellar society as it had existed for over a thousand years—extremely difficult.

Discovery helped solve that problem, slowly but surely allowing Starfleet to rebuild, but not before it faced another cataclysmic threat called the Dark Matter Anomaly, or DMA, a not-so-random “random” gravitational event that kept showing up and destroying entire worlds in storms of debris and chaos. Turns out the DMA was actually the product of an extra-galactic race known only as the Ten-C, which, once again, Discovery helped solve the problem with after successfully making First Contact with the beings. Hopefully things calm down a bit in terms of existence-threatening cataclysms in season five!

The Vulcans and Humans Just Nearly Lost Their Homes

Speaking of that, Discovery ’s fourth season climaxed with both Earth and Ni’Var—the rechristened homeworld of the Vulcans and Romulans, who have been re-united as sibling peoples by the 32nd century—under the direct threat of the DMA, necessitating the almost total-evacuation of the worlds as they faced destruction from showers of debris. Thanks to Captain Burnham and the Discovery crew’s intervention, the DMA was stopped just before all this happened—and most of the populations of Earth and Ni’Var, but not all of them, had been evacuated by Starfleet.

We don’t know quite how much time has passed between the events of season four and five (it’s been over two years in reality, hence why you’re reading this catchup post), but don’t be surprised if at least some of this doesn’t get mentioned in early episodes as the universe and our heroes continue to deal with the ramifications. One of which being...

Earth Is Joining the Federation (Again)

One of the final scenes of Discovery ’s fourth season saw Captain Burnham and various Federation dignitaries play host to the arrival of the President of United Earth—as the world seeks to rejoin the Federation, as a show of thanks for Starfleet’s aid during the DMA crisis. It turns out that after the events of the Burn in the time between Discovery season two and three, Earth was one of the first member worlds to secede from the Federation, transforming itself into an isolationist, inward-looking, paranoid militaristic society that remained increasingly skeptical of the Federation’s capacity to survive over the course of seasons three and four. At least, until it got to see first-hand what unity and co-operation could still do in this changed and put-upon galaxy.

Also, this probably won’t come up in season five, but we should note that the President of United Earth who engages in this process to rejoin the Federation is played by famous Georgia Democrat (and avowed Trekkie) Stacey Abrams . Please do not try to think about squaring that with everything I just said about United Earth’s political attitudes, because Discovery sure as hell didn’t.

Michael and Book Are Parting... But Not for Long

One of the more emotional fallouts of season four’s plot with the DMA was the anomaly’s destruction of the planet Kwejian—the homeworld of Cleveland “Book” Booker, played by David Ajala, the smuggler turned paramour of Captain Burnham over the course of Discovery ’s third and fourth seasons. The loss of his home drove Book to surreptitiously betray Burnham and Starfleet to work with the rogue scientist Ruon Tarka, as they worked on a way to completely dissipate the DMA even after its true nature and extragalactic origins were discovered.

Booker saw the light by the end of the season, and nearly died in the process alongside Tarka, but after being saved by the Ten-C he turned himself over to the Federation to pay for siding with Tarka—pulling from Burnham’s side and from the home he’d made with her on Discovery , and assigned to community service, aiding Federation relief efforts on Europa for families impacted by the DMA’s fallout.

Good for You, Saru

Speaking of romantic dalliances, season four played up a lingering connection between Michael’s trusted friend and first officer, Saru, and Ambassador T’Rina, Ni’Var’s representative to the Federation—and after much invites to tea and will-they-won’t-they, finally made their feelings for each other clear in the finale of season four. Presumably that means we’ll get to see a lot more of the pair together in the final season—and the interesting romantic struggles of what happens when a senior officer on a starship and a Federation ambassador start courting. Hopefully there’s a happy ending for our put-upon Kelpian hero.

One of Discovery ’s Most Unique Technologies Is No More

One of the major technological aspects of Discovery introduced from the very beginning was its use of a “Spore Drive”—an unprecedented method of FTL travel that allowed the ship to avoid typical warp travel and issues and instead navigate its way along a mycelial network across subspace, allowing everything from long range travel to precise realspace jumping across. The Spore Drive made Discovery unique as a ship, both in its original time when the technology was first being secretly developed and even far into the 32nd century—especially after the events of the Burn made regular long-distance FTL through warp drives impossible at scale.

But during the events of season four’s finale, both the known Spore Drives in existence—the Discovery ’s and the one implemented into Book’s ship—were sacrificed in the attempt to stop Dr. Tarka’s plans to destroy the DMA. Discovery still has traditional warp drives as a back up for the Spore Drive, but still, the loss of what became a key defining part of Discovery ’s worldbuilding will no doubt come up in season five.

Tilly’s Back

The beloved former cadet (now Lieutenant JG, by the time of season four) Sylvia Tilly shocked Discovery fans when she seemingly left the show early into the last season , when she took an offered teaching position at the re-building Starfleet Academy. While Tilly was absent for much of season four, she did return for the finale, helping Starfleet command in the evacuation of Earth, and celebrated with her former crewmates. Just how and why remains to be seen, but we do known from Tilly actress Mary Wiseman that she does indeed return to the Discovery during season five, but whatever happens, it may not be the last of Tilly we see, even as the show ends, because...

The Journey Never Ends

Star Trek ’s future is wide open right now , as the franchise navigates the ends of Discovery and Picard and looks to a future that balances together streaming shows, made-for-streaming movies like Section 31 and a potential Picard continuation, and multiple attempts to bring Trek back to theatrical superstardom. But one key part of that is crucial to Discovery : its exploration of the 32nd century won’t end when it does.

The one brand-new show we know is definitely still part of Trek ’s future at the moment is Starfleet Academy , set to begin filming this year, and will follow the prestigious institute during the 32nd century time period, rather than going back to the Trek eras established in other shows. That’s all we know at this point—we don’t know if Mary Wiseman could potentially be a key star for the series, or anyone else affiliated with Discovery , or even which students will be the focus of the series. But it does mean that even as Discovery bids farewell, the world it has established will keep boldly going beyond it.

Star Trek: Discovery season five premieres April 4 on Paramount+.

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 2 sows the seeds of seasonal plot threads (Under the Twin Moons recap)

So far, this fifth and final season hasn't exactly exploded out of the starting blocks, but there's still time, so we remain hopeful

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 2

So, as you will have gathered from watching Star Trek: Discovery's episode 1 of season 5 ,  it would appear that the primary plot is based on a past episode of "The Next Generation" (TNG). Yes indeed, no new "Star Trek" show is safe from nostalgia — and very specifically — TNG-era nostalgia. Any storyline, from any previous incarnation of " Star Trek " could've been used, but it cannot denied that it feels like we're being given what Terry Matalas and the other executive producers who are still obsessed with living in the past want, which is to relive their teens. 

The thing is, there's nothing wrong with TNG and if you watch the episode that all of this seems to be stemming from, "The Chase" (S06, E20) it's actually a pretty good installment. And in fact, it has a " Babylon 5 " quality and uses dialogue and straightforward set pieces to tell an interesting, nuanced story. (Aside from at least from one significant plot hole that is not explained.) But that was then — April 1993, to be precise — and this is now. And while it might have been fun to revisit this in a TNG-era movie for example, this ship really has passed. If you're need a refresher on how to watch Star Trek: Discovery, you can check out our Star Trek streaming guide for Paramount Plus .

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Get all the Star Trek content you can possibly handle with this free trial of Paramount Plus. Watch new shows like Star Trek: Discovery and all the classic Trek movies and TV shows too. Plans start from $4.99/month after the trial ends.

The episode "The Chase" is a fun explainer as to why all the humanoid aliens look the same. Obviously, it's all to do with budget in the real world, but in the Star Trek universe it's because a super-advanced race of aliens — unofficially referred to as Progenitors — opted to scatter different parts of our DNA across the galaxy, which when fully evolved over millions of years time, came to form humans, Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans and the rest. When DNA strands from all of these races are combined, it unlocked a ancient holographic message. 

Related: 5 things Star Trek: Discovery season 5 needs to fix

"Life evolved on my planet before all others in this part of the galaxy. We left our world, explored the stars, and found none like ourselves. Our civilization thrived for ages, but what is the life of one race, compared to the vast stretches of cosmic time?" the unnamed humanoid alien said. "We knew that one day we would be gone, that nothing of us would survive. So, we left you. Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy ... The seed codes also contained this message, which we scattered in fragments on many different worlds. It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message."

The potential of this was pretty big, but it was never followed up. It was rumored there might even be a connection to the Changling race and it was talked about in chat groups ... 15 years ago . And while this was a certainly an opportunity left open-ended, ready to be revisited after having been found by writers scrambling for ideas, it's also interesting to note that "The Chase" was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who as we know, is still very much involved with Nu-Trek.

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Back to "Discovery" season 5, episode 2 and possibly the biggest single, burning question is, will Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) met a death as utterly pointless as Captain Shaw, Huw and Cristóbal Rios? And now with Captain Saru (Doug Jones) leaving the USS Discovery and Raynor taking his place as first officer, Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) now at least has an antagonist close by for this adventure.

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

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This second episode feels a little less lost than the season premiere, although it relies rather heavily on the classic bureaucracy trope, something, you'd have to believe we'd really been able to get past in the 32nd century. Guess not. Staying with Rayner though, if his appointment to become the new First Officer of the USS Discovery just turns out to be another underused, Tarka-style antagonist, it will be a spectacular missed opportunity. But, "Discovery" does keep us guessing, that much is certain. Who'd have thought an socially awkward alien would cause all the dilithium in the galaxy to explode ? 

There are some interesting set pieces in this episode, but let's hope we don't dwell on the whole breadcrumb-trail to alien artifacts theme too long. Also, where the blazes does the energy and the matter come from to instantly form replacement phasers? Just wonderin' like. But, on the plus side, Grudge is back and so is Zora.  

In other "Star Trek" news, production on the new "Star Trek: Section 31" television movie starring Michelle Yeoh has started principal photography. Paramount Plus posted a pic on Instagram and Variety released a still. In addition to Yeoh, the cast includes Omari Hardwick ("Powers"), Kacey Rohl ("Hannibal"), Emmy Award winner Sam Richardson ("Ted Lasso"), Sven Ruygrok ("One Piece"), Robert Kazinsky ("Pacific Rim"), Humberly Gonzalez ("Ginny & Georgia") and James Hiroyuki Liao ("Barry").

However, the most interesting news is that the story appears to be set in the "lost era" of "Star Trek" — between the events of the Kirk-era movie, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and the TV series TNG. Arguably the most underused and interesting field of opportunity within the "Star Trek" franchise...and Kacey Rohl ("Arrow") has also joined the project as a young Rachel Garrett, the future captain of the USS Enterprise-C, from the epic TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" (S03, E15) where the character was previously portrayed by Tricia O’Neil.

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.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

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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• View history

The Klingons ( tlhIngan in Klingonese ) were a humanoid warrior species that originated from the planet Qo'noS (pronounced Kronos ), an M-class planet in the Beta Quadrant . One of the major powers of the galaxy , the Klingons were a proud, tradition-bound people who valued honor and combat. The aggressive Klingon culture had made them an interstellar military power to be respected and feared.

• 1.1 Parallel universes
• 3.1 Origins
• 3.2.1 Anatomy
• 3.2.2 Augment virus
• 3.2.3 Hybridization
• 3.2.4 Physiology
• 4 Religion and tradition
• 5 Science and education
• 6.1 See also
• 8 Klingon space
• 9 Food and beverages
• 10.1 Appearances
• 10.2 Background information
• 10.3 Apocrypha
• 10.4 External links

History and politics [ ]

A clone of Emperor Kahless

Recorded history begins with the story of the creation of Kortar and his mate , who were recognized as the first Klingons. Together they were responsible for destroying the gods who created them. ( VOY : " Barge of the Dead ")

Kahless the Unforgettable founded the Klingon Empire some time in the 9th century through the performance of many heroic feats. He unified the Klingon people when he killed the tyrant Molor . Kahless came to be revered in Klingon society to the point of near-deification, and many aspects of Klingon culture came to revolve around an emulation of Kahless' life. ( TNG : " Rightful Heir ")

The warrior ethos had been an important aspect of Klingon society since the time of Kahless, but the warrior aspects became much more dominant beginning in the early 22nd century . Over time, the warrior caste gained greater prominence to the point where the Klingons widely came to be regarded as a "warrior race." ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Judgment ")

A Klingon's cranial ridges dissolving

The Klingons' relationship with Humans and the Federation was rocky at best. Following the disastrous first contact between the two species during in the Broken Bow Incident , tense rivalries and unavoidable conflicts often developed between the two races. ( ENT : " Broken Bow "; TNG : " First Contact ") In the year 2154 , the Klingons gained access to the genetic material of Human Augments and tried to adapt this genetic engineering to improve themselves. The test subjects did gain increased strength and intelligence, but then, their neural pathways started to degrade and they died in agony. One of the subjects suffered from the Levodian flu , which was modified by the Augment DNA to become a fatal, airborne, mutagenic plague that spread rampantly through the Empire, from world to world. In the first stage of this plague , Klingons lost the ridges on their foreheads and began to look more Human. With the help of a Klingon scientist named Antaak , Dr. Phlox of the Earth starship Enterprise was able, using the DNA of Captain Archer , to formulate a cure that halted the genetic effects of the virus in the first stage. This retained the changes in appearance, along with some minor neural re-ordering. The neural ordering caused changes in the emotional make-up of the Klingons. For example, the infected started to feel fear. Even though the infected did not develop any stage-two characteristics – such as enhanced strength, speed, or endurance – they did not die from it. This left millions of Klingons changed. These alterations were even passed on to their children. ( ENT : " Affliction ", " Divergence ")

In the 2250s and 2260s , groups of Klingons with and without ridges had been encountered by the Federation. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello "; TOS : " Errand of Mercy ") By the 2270s it had become more commonplace to encounter Klingons with forehead ridges than not. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , et al.) Klingons did not discuss the circumstances of this mutation with outsiders and, by the 24th century , the reason for smooth-forehead Klingons was not widely known outside the Empire. ( ENT : " Affliction ", " Divergence "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

By 2223 , relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire degenerated to a point of relentless hostility, which lasted for several decades. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; TNG : " First Contact ")

T'Kuvma , a Klingon leader in 2256

The lingering tensions between Klingons and Humans continued to rise, eventually leading to the Battle of Donatu V , near Sherman's Planet in 2245 and the Battle of the Binary Stars in 2256 , which was provoked by T'Kuvma in order to unite the squabbling Great Houses against the Federation. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; DIS : " Battle at the Binary Stars ") This resulted in the first Federation-Klingon War , where the Klingon Empire successfully invaded and occupied nearly twenty percent of Federation space. ( DIS : " The War Without, The War Within ")

Later, another conflict erupted into the Federation-Klingon War of 2267 . The Organians quickly intervened and ended the war after only four days of fighting. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ", " Errand of Mercy ") Over the next several decades an uneasy peace developed, broken only by brief but fierce skirmishes and conflicts. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ) A true and lasting peace finally came in 2293 , with the signing of the Khitomer Accords , thanks to the efforts of Chancellor Gorkon and the Human Starfleet officer James T. Kirk . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; TNG : " Unification II "; VOY : " Flashback "; DS9 : " You Are Cordially Invited ") Since then, despite several periods of rocky relations (see Federation-Klingon War (2372-73) ), the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been steadfast allies, especially in the face of Dominion aggression in the 2370s . ( DS9 : " The Way of the Warrior ", " By Inferno's Light ")

Qo'noS on fire during the Civil War

The Klingon relationship with the Romulan people was extremely erratic. The Klingons typically regarded the Romulan Star Empire as a "blood enemy" since at least the 23rd century . Sporadic Romulan attacks against Klingon colonies , such as the Khitomer Massacre , and interference in Klingon affairs, including the Klingon Civil War , continued to sour relations between the two peoples. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident "; TNG : " The Neutral Zone ", " The Enemy ", " Sins of The Father ", " Redemption II ")

Parallel universes [ ]

In the mirror universe , the Klingons were one of the races subjugated by the Terran Empire . ( DIS : " Vaulting Ambition ") By the 24th century Klingons and Cardassians founded the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance and eventually defeated their Terran occupiers. ( DS9 : " Crossover ")

In the alternate reality , in 2233 , the crew of the USS Kelvin briefly considered whether a particular lightning storm effect, observed by the Kelvin near the edge of Klingon space, might be Klingon in origin. Starfleet discarded this possibility. The phenomenon preceded the arrival of the Romulan mining vessel Narada from the prime universe . The Narada attacked and obliterated an armada of 47 Klingon warbirds in 2258 . ( Star Trek )

Klingon patrol officers

By 2259 in the alternate reality, after Starfleet's first contact with the Empire, the Klingons had conquered and occupied two planets known to the Federation and fired on Starfleet ships half a dozen times. Tensions between the two powers were high and an all-out war was considered inevitable. During that year, before surrendering to the Federation, Khan Noonien Singh destroyed three D4-class patrol ships on the Klingon homeworld, killing the crews of the vessels. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

According to Daniels , the Klingons joined the Federation by the 26th century in one possible timeline. ( ENT : " Azati Prime ")

Society [ ]

Klingon society was extremely complex. Before its decline in the mid-22nd century and again in the late 23rd century, Klingon society was based on a feudal system organized around traditional Great Houses of noble lineage, to which various parts of the population owed fealty. The Great Houses are traditionally represented in the Klingon High Council , which was led by a Chancellor , replacing the heredity leader of Emperor .

The decline of Klingon culture was demonstrated in the acts of the Klingons themselves. They stopped caring about their weapons to the point that they let them rust and even stopped caring for true honor. ( ENT : " Marauders ", " Judgment ") Sometime after the augment virus took hold of the Klingon Empire , a new regime took control, turning the Empire into an authoritarian state that kept tabs on all who served. ( DIS : " Battle at the Binary Stars "; TOS : " Errand of Mercy ") The old ways returned in the latter 23rd and early 24th centuries respectively.

Males traditionally dominated public life in the Empire, assuming the leading roles in politics and the military with only rare exceptions. ( TNG : " Redemption ") There were three notable exceptions to the prohibition of women serving on the High Council. In 2257 L'Rell rose to High Chancellor and Dennas served on the High Council. The third instance occurred in 2293 when Azetbur became Chancellor of the High Council after her father, Gorkon, was assassinated ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ). Women traditionally dominated the household and the management of the family's affairs. ( DS9 : " You Are Cordially Invited ") Klingon women were treated as equals, except in politics and matters of inheritance. Law prohibited them from serving in the High Council and they could not take control of their Houses unless they had the money and no male successors of the lineage. Otherwise, Klingon women were expected to exhibit the same physical prowess and lust for blood and honor as the men.

Klingon society functioned through a system of family reputation and honor. Tradition was an integral part of their lives and breaking from observances was considered a grievous insult to society, an insult not forgotten easily. An offense usually brought shame to the offender's name for several generations. The highest shame was discommendation , an action by the High Council to officially strip a Klingon of his personal or family honor. Bloodlines and relations were also taken very seriously by any "true" Klingon. Lines comprised more than mere family members. ( TNG : " New Ground ")

The military was integral to Klingon society, as it provides opportunities for warriors to die in battle. For the same purpose, the Empire often seeks to expand through conquest. Discipline was strictly enforced, by one's superiors and subordinates both; the latter may assassinate his superior and take his place. This gives Humans the false impression that there are no rules, but in fact, this can be done only under certain conditions, dereliction of duty and cowardice among them, and the challenge can be made only to a direct superior. ( TNG : " A Matter Of Honor ", " Sins of The Father ")

An integral part of tradition was the various rituals that marked milestones in a Klingon's life or the history of the Empire. Most notable of the rites was the Rite of Succession , which a future leader of the Empire had to complete with a valid Arbiter of Succession ( Captain Jean-Luc Picard , in the case of Gowron ) overseeing the proceedings. Before the Rite could begin, there was another elaborate ceremony needed to confirm the death of the previous leader. This was known as the Sonchi ceremony . ( TNG : " Reunion ") Individual Klingon warriors were expected to go through the Rite of Ascension to be recognized as a full adult. ( TNG : " The Icarus Factor ") If the house that an individual Klingon belonged to was dissolved or fell into dishonor, he could be adopted into another house through the R'uustai or alternative ceremonies that symbolically marked the joining of kinship and allegiance. ( TNG : " The Bonding "; DS9 : " Sons of Mogh ", " Soldiers of the Empire ", " Sons and Daughters "). The Right of Vengeance , allowed Klingons to seek redress for the deaths of their family members by engaging the one responsible in single combat. The right was so important, that even the discommended could claim it against important political figures, as the discommended Worf was able to challenge Duras (a candidate for the title of Chancellor. ( TNG : " Reunion ")

Klingons were extremely territorial. According to the first known Klingon linguist, there was no such thing as an "insignificant corner of Klingon space". ( ENT : " Bounty ")

Evolution [ ]

Origins [ ].

Worf's transformation into a de-evolved Klingon

Like their Human, Cardassian , Vulcan , and Romulan counterparts, Klingons and many of the Milky Way's species all shared a common ancestry back to the ancient humanoids and the DNA code they produced and seeded across the galaxy. Though each evolved under separate conditions from each other, their shared DNA allowed these species to remain roughly compatible and viable with each other. ( TNG : " The Chase ", " Genesis "; VOY : " Distant Origin ", " Threshold ")

Possessing extreme strength and speed, early Klingons were quite large, weighing up to 200 kilograms . They were armored with an exoskeleton , with spines and bony plates protruding from their sides, upper arms, and back, arms ended with clawed pincers. On their face were venom sacs , filled with bio-acidic compound and spitting glands inside their mouth that were used for defense and to mark territory. Along with these sacs, these early Klingons had two mandibles protruded from their lower jaw. ( TNG : " Genesis ")

These prehistoric males used vocalizations to frighten other predators , mark its territory, and commence its mating process. These early Klingons mating rituals involving biting its intended mate, to induce pheromone production in the sebaceous glands . Once the mate was ready, the pheromones drew the male Klingon back to its location. ( TNG : " Genesis ")

The Modern Warrior [ ]

Modern Klingons developed a varied line of physical attributes, ranging from well pronounced cranial ridges to what was best described with the dysphemism "pointy-headed", as coined by Harry Mudd .

Anatomy [ ]

Like most humanoids, the essence of the Klingon anatomical form consisted of a head , neck , torso , and four limbs .

Internally, the Klingon anatomy was markedly different from that of other humanoids. There was a great deal more multiple redundancies in their organs, a principle they called brak'lul . This allowed Klingons to survive severe injuries in battle. They had twenty-three ribs , two livers , an eight-chambered heart , three lungs , two urinary tracts , and even redundant neural function as well as multiple stomachs . Some geneticists believed that the extra organs, notably the third lung, evolved to give Klingons greater stamina on the battlefield. Klingons had relatively little knowledge of their own biology and their medicine was very poorly developed. This was largely due to their warrior traditions – a Klingon who was wounded was expected to be left to either survive through his own strength, die, or undergo the hegh'bat , a form of ritual suicide. ( TNG : " Ethics "; VOY : " Lineage "; DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? ") Conversely, their society having dueled and killed each other for generations taught them what is immediately lethal for their species. ( TNG : " Reunion "; DS9 : " Tacking Into the Wind ")

The most distinctive feature of the modern Klingon was a sagittal crest, beginning on the forehead and often continuing over the skull. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , et al.) Klingons head shape differed between individuals, with some having skulls that extended backwards into an elongated cone shape. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ", " Choose Your Pain ", " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ") The cranium, itself, was encased in an exoskeleton, which possessed a feature known as the tricipital lobe . ( TNG : " Descent ")

The lower half of the face tended to follow a familiar humanoid appearance, and even the ridges on the back of their heads if any tend to be less pronounced and slight, leaving the general shape as Human skull and covered in more skin than bone (see Chang for example), it was in these regions where hair was most likely seen to grow. Eyebrows tend to grow in a more diagonal direction than other humanoids, but also had noticeably diagonal suborbital ridges where eyebrows otherwise existed.

Klingons ears included both external auricle and pinna and recessed pinna. External auricle structures tended to be rounded, and the recessed pinna tended to come to a point before forming into the back of the head, Klingons of the alternate reality had pointed auricles of a similar size and shape to the recessed pinna, with slight ridges along the top. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

Klingon eye

Klingon eyes were generally round in size and shape (consisting of varying shades with white sclera). They may flash more white of their eyes which they use to intimidate a rival or enemy. ( TNG : " Reunion "; DS9 : " Tacking Into the Wind ") Other Klingon eyes had large corneas, pink sclera, and almost gem-like reflective quality to them. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ", et al.) Klingons, especially females, were said to lack tear ducts . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ) However, for males Klingon myth stated that Kahless once filled the ocean with his tears, and at least one Klingon, Kurn , produced tears. ( TNG : " Birthright, Part II "; DS9 : " Sons of Mogh ")

They also had more physically pronounced cheeks, and a vertical ridge that went down their chin into their neck which expanded into ridges on their upper chest and shoulders and between the breasts of at least the females. The neck structure varied from smooth flesh to flesh containing pits and bony structures that led up the side of their head, and down the back of their head and spine.

Klingon nose

Klingon noses tended to vary having between several slight horizontal ridges on the brow of their noses, or a single vertical ridge or crack from the top of the brow to the tip of the nose to being wider and flatter, nearly flush against the forehead. They also had heavier ridges over their nostrils, compared to the two minimally ridged or un-ridged nostrils. The nose tended to lay flatter on the face than in other Klingons as well and wider. ( TNG : " Heart of Glory "; DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ")

Klingon teeth typically consisted of two sharp fangs (incisors) with crooked or sharpened teeth (it was said they sharpen their teeth, often before going into battle). ( VOY : " Unimatrix Zero "; ENT : " Broken Bow "; DS9 : " Apocalypse Rising ") However, not exclusive, others had pronounced thick lips with sharp teeth, with each tooth being considerably larger size. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ", et al.)

Klingons of both sexes usually had hair on their heads while male Klingons often had facial hair as well. ( TOS : " Day of the Dove "; TNG : " Redemption ") Hair was usually long, curly and wavy, described as thick and luxuriant. ( TNG : " Schisms ") Accelerated hair growth was often experienced by Klingons during puberty, or jak'tahla , along with severe mood swings and unusual aggressive tendencies. ( Star Trek: Insurrection ) Klingon hair greyed with age. ( DS9 : " You Are Cordially Invited ") Other Klingons were completely bald , lacking facial hair. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ", et al.) For Klingons with hair, cases of receding hairlines or full or partial baldness existed during 2160s , and later in the 2260s through 2290s ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; Star Trek Into Darkness ; ENT : " Divergence "; TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ", " Day of the Dove "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ") Klingons as young as those who had reached the Age of Ascension , typically did not wear beards. ( TNG : " Birthright, Part II "; DS9 : " Sons and Daughters ", " You Are Cordially Invited ", " Penumbra ") Klingons of the alternate reality vary from balding and no facial hair, to those with long hair and beards. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

Some Klingons also had sharp thick talons on their hands that make up the end of their digits.

The chest of the Klingon males appeared to be largely smooth and slick, while the females had a large chest area with ridges that came down to the top of their breasts across their shoulders. The backs of these Klingons were highly covered with ridges from shoulder to shoulder and across the small of their back radiating from highly defined and thickly ridged spines. The sides of the abdomen of at least the females appeared to be highly defined with rib-like ridges as well. The buttocks region was even heavily ridged. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ", " Battle at the Binary Stars ", " Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum ", " Into the Forest I Go ")

Klingons had ridged spines, chests and feet (though these ridges and other armor like structures extend out covering almost the entire back, sides and abdominal region on the 'pointy-headed' Klingons). ( TNG : " Ethics "; DS9 : " Sons of Mogh "; ENT : " Broken Bow ") After birth, some Klingon infants experienced a pronounced curvature to the spine, a form of scoliosis, which was correctable by surgery. This "defect" tended to run in Klingon families, especially among females. Federation medicine, fortunately, advanced beyond that, allowing an additional choice of treatment involving genetic modification of the fetus. ( VOY : " Lineage ")

Augment virus [ ]

The anatomy of a Klingon male afflicted with the Augment virus

Klingons afflicted with the augment virus , propagated by a mutation of the Levodian flu was inadvertently created by Klingon researchers who were attempting to bio-engineer enhanced warriors using DNA from genetically-modified Human embryos left over from Earth 's Eugenics Wars . These Klingons lost their cranial ridge features, and were in essence, remarkably similar in appearance to modern Humans. ( ENT : " Affliction ", et al.)

Though the cure for the virus had been distributed throughout the Empire, the afflicted Klingons' DNA had been altered by the virus, and condition was passed onto the descendants of the infected. Initially there were millions of Klingons who had to live with the disfigurement for well over a century. ( ENT : " Divergence "; TOS : " Errand of Mercy ", et al.)

Though Human in appearance and distinguishable primarily by tricorder readings alone, Tribbles were still able to single out and identify these Klingons. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")

Hybridization [ ]

Klingon pregnancies normally ran thirty weeks, but with mixed species, gestation times were shorter. As early as seven weeks (at which point a Human fetus doesn't even have legs) a fetus with a single Klingon grandparent was already able to kick the uterine wall hard enough to be felt externally. ( VOY : " Lineage ") Klingons were said to have a different, not fully compatible number of reproductive organs than Humans. ( DIS : " Choose Your Pain ") However, basic anatomy does actually appear to align between Humans and Klingons. ( DIS : " Into the Forest I Go ") Whenever Klingons interbred with other species they showed characteristics of both species.

The odds against Klingon-Human conceptions were rather high. However, when successful, Klingon and Human metabolisms sometimes clashed, causing biochemical fluctuations in the mother, which may lead to fainting. Klingon traits remained dominant for several generations, even with a single ancestor; therefore, a child even ¼ Klingon still possessed forehead ridges. It is possible to see the eventual phenotype of a hybrid while the fetus is still gestating using a holographic program and projection. If early enough in development, genetic manipulation can be taken to remove Klingon DNA from the developing fetus. ( VOY : " Lineage ")

Hybridization revealed that Klingon DNA tended to be more dominantly expressive in the physical appearance of their offspring .

This was found to be especially true in the case of hair color and appearance of cranial ridges, especially with Humans. ( VOY : " Lineage "; TNG : " Reunion ", et al.) In the case of Romulan -Klingon hybridization, the ears were the only visible telltale indication of their non-Klingon heritage. ( TNG : " Birthright, Part II ")

Physiology [ ]

Skin colors ranged from olive, brown, and black to pearlescent/metallic across the entire spectrum of the rainbow, varying from purple, pink, burgundy red, yellowish tan, dark orange, umber brown, grey, blue, dark green, coal black, and chalky white. Their skin had a shimmery slick metallic semi-reflective sheen to it. Albino Klingons were often considered outcasts in Klingon society. ( DIS : " Battle at the Binary Stars ")

Klingon children matured far more quickly than Human children. At the age of only one Earth year, a Klingon child had the appearance a Human child had at about four. By the age of eight Earth years, a Klingon attained the maturity a Human did not reach until about age sixteen. ( TNG : " Reunion "; DS9 : " Sons and Daughters ") Rop'ngor was a common childhood disease among Klingons. ( TNG : " Up The Long Ladder ") When Klingon children began growing into adults, they went through jak'tahla , a Klingon form of puberty. ( Star Trek: Insurrection ) Like other mammalian species, Klingon females were capable of lactating to breast-feed infants. ( TNG : " A Matter Of Honor ")

Klingons tended to live for over 150 years. Even into advanced old age, Klingons were usually still strong enough for combat, but were still susceptible to various mental conditions associated with old age. ( DS9 : " Blood Oath ", " Once More Unto the Breach ")

Klingons were notably stronger than most humanoids, at least as strong as Vulcans. They might have even been stronger, as the half-Klingon B'Elanna Torres was able to wrestle with the Vulcan Vorik on equal grounds and eventually defeat him, despite the fact that he was larger than her. However, despite their endurance and general robustness, Klingons had a considerably lower tolerance to the cold than Humans. ( VOY : " Blood Fever ", " Displaced "; DS9 : " Change of Heart ", " Take Me Out to the Holosuite ")

The Klingon sense of smell was notably acute; in fact, it was powerful enough to be used effectively to track down prey during a hunt. Their sense of smell was also suggested to play an integral role in their mating practices. ( TNG : " Birthright, Part II ", " Genesis ")

Doctor Julian Bashir once sarcastically noted that the natural odor produced by Klingons was comparable to an "earthy, peaty aroma with a touch of lilac ." ( DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ") To Humans and Vulcans alike, Klingon ships smelled bad. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; ENT : " Sleeping Dogs ") For example, Leonard McCoy once referred to the environment of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, operated until recently by Klingons, as having a "stench." ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Klingons such as Kurn had the instinctive ability to sense the decision to kill by looking into the eyes of their opponents. ( DS9 : " Sons of Mogh ") Worf despite being raised by Humans on Earth, retained this ability when he sensed Martok's warrior spirit returning enough to win their duel without killing Worf. ( DS9 : " Soldiers of the Empire ")

Klingon blood floating in zero gravity

Klingon blood could contain ribosomes that were compatible for transfusion with a Romulan. ( TNG : " The Enemy ") Klingon blood varied in color from dark red to more of a lightish pink. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , DIS : " Point of Light ")

Klingon nutritional requirements were typical of most humanoids, whereas, Dr. Pulaski once noted that, while their food was considered by most to be unpalatable, usually, "what kills us, kills them." ( TNG : " A Matter Of Honor ") One exception of this observation was the tea used in the Klingon tea ceremony , which was toxic to the point of being deadly to Humans, and capable of seriously sickening Klingons, as it did. ( TNG : " Up The Long Ladder ")

Religion and tradition [ ]

Klingon death ritual

Ritual was a very important element in Klingon society.

Klingons did not believe in fate; however, they did appear to believe in some form of luck . ( DS9 : " Rules of Engagement ", " Tears of the Prophets ")

A Klingon who was unable to fight, and hence unable to live as a warrior anymore, had the traditional obligation of committing the hegh'bat , which was the Klingon ritual suicide. Tradition dictated that the eldest son or a close personal friend must assist. That person's role was to hand the dying Klingon a knife so that he could plunge it into his heart, remove it, and then wipe the blood on his own sleeve. ( TNG : " Ethics ")

Klingon rituals included the R'uustai , a bonding ceremony which joined two people together in a relationship similar to brotherhood. ( TNG : " The Bonding ") Klingon tradition held that "the son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade." ( TNG : " Ethics ")

If a Klingon warrior struck another Klingon with the back of his hand, it was interpreted as a challenge to the death. Klingon warriors spoke proudly to each other; they did not whisper or keep their distance. Standing far away or whispering were considered insults in Klingon society. ( DS9 : " Apocalypse Rising ")

According to Worf, taking hostages was considered by Klingons to be a cowardly act. Although, there was an incident in which a Klingon aimed his disruptor at the Enterprise-D's warp core, thus taking the ship hostage, in effect. ( TNG : " Heart of Glory ")

When choosing a mate, it was traditional for a female Klingon to bite the male's face, allowing her to taste his blood and get his scent. Males were also known to bite the face of the female they were interested in. ( VOY : " Blood Fever ", " Prophecy ", " Infinite Regress ")

A Klingon can divorce their mate by backhanding them across the face and saying “N’Gos tlhogh cha” which means “our marriage is done”. (Star Trek Adventures: “the Klingon Empire Core Rule Book)

Worf once told Wesley Crusher that, per Klingon mating rituals , " Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects. And claw at you. " Of men, Worf said, " He reads love poetry. He ducks a lot. " ( TNG : " The Dauphin ") Klingon daughters traditionally were given a piece of jewelry called a jinaq when they became old enough to select a mate. ( TNG : " Birthright, Part II ")

Long hair was important part of the ancient traditions of Klingons as told in the legend of Kahless ; it was said he took a lock of his long hair thrusting into the caldera of the volcano of Kri'stak, where it began to burn, and then after plunging it into the lake of Lusor, he molded and twisted into his legendary Sword of Kahless , which he used to kill the tyrant Molor, and then gave it the name Bat'leth, the sword of honor. ( TNG : " Rightful Heir ") To grow a beard was an ancient tradition, to Klingons in the 24th century especially it was a symbol of courage, which they were against shaving (though they were okay with a trim). Klingons did not like having too much hair removed either, letting it continue to grow, and only a little bit of trimming. ( TNG : " The Quality of Life ", " Schisms ", " Family ").

Science and education [ ]

As of the 2150s , the warrior caste had a dominant role in Klingon society, causing science and education to be neglected virtues. Nevertheless, Kolos ' father was a teacher and his mother a biologist at a university . Antaak , on the other hand, was disowned by his father when he chose to become a " healer ", i.e., a doctor. In 2149 , he was an expert in metagenic research and attended an Interspecies Medical Exchange conference, albeit in disguise, as the Klingons were not invited. By 2151 , Klingons possessed technology to encrypt intelligence data within an operative 's DNA . ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Judgment ", " Affliction ")

As of 2154 , medical research was not considered "a priority" for the Klingon High Council, which was why the Empire did not possess the medical expertise to confront the Augment virus without assistance . ( ENT : " Affliction ")

By the late 23rd century , the Klingon Empire sent out expeditions, one of which made first contact with the Ventaxians in 2297 . Hired Klingon craftsmen went on to construct homes on Ventax II . ( TNG : " Devil's Due ")

As of 2365 and onward, Klingon vessels had dedicated science stations . ( TNG : " A Matter Of Honor "; DS9 : " Soldiers of the Empire ")

In 2369 , Kurak was a warp field specialist from Qo'noS. While she was a brilliant expert in the field of subspace morphology , her efforts went unappreciated by her fellow Klingons. ( TNG : " Suspicions ")

Although the concept of a healer tending a warrior's wounds after a glorious battle was considered sufficiently honorable to be mentioned in songs (e.g., Dr. Bashir and Worf at Internment Camp 371 ), Klingon medical expertise kept having a bad reputation in the 24th century . In 2367 , Lt. Cmdr. Hobson of the USS Sutherland remarked that no one would ever suggest a Klingon to be a good ship's counselor , as he considered them unsuited for such a position. In 2374 , Klingon General Martok preferred to be treated by the Human Dr. Bashir, opining that "Klingons make great warriors, but terrible doctors." In 2376 , when Lewis Zimmerman was faced being treated by an "obsolete" EMH Mark I , he claimed he would be "better off being treated by a Klingon field medic ". In one particularly extreme case, the crew of Kohlar's battle cruiser , a Klingon generational ship, lived with the Nehret , a fatal virus, for over a century, without ever even considering it might be an actual illness, instead believing it was simply " old age " that kills those unlucky enough to not die in combat. ( TNG : " Redemption II "; DS9 : " By Inferno's Light ", " A Time to Stand "; VOY : " Life Line ", " Prophecy ")

In the year 2404 of an alternate timeline that diverged in 2378 , Klingon scientist Korath created the chrono deflector , a time travel device. ( VOY : " Endgame ")

Technology [ ]

According to Quark , Klingons achieved warp drive sometime after 1947 . By the year 2152 , Klingon vessels were capable of warp 6 . ( DS9 : " Little Green Men "; ENT : " Judgment ")

As of the early 2150s , Klingon vessels were comparatively advanced. In contrast to their Earth Starfleet counterparts, Klingon ships were equipped with photon torpedos , deflector shields , tractor beam emitters , and had thicker hulls reinforced with a coherent molecular alloy . However, as of 2151 , Klingons had no knowledge of holodeck technology. ( ENT : " Unexpected ", " Sleeping Dogs ", " Judgment ", " The Augments ")

By 2256 , cloaking screens began to be used on Klingon vessels, such as the Sarcophagus , but Starfleet was quickly able to penetrate them. As of 2268 , the Klingon D7 class battlecruiser design was used by the Romulans. In 2269 , Starfleet assumed at least Cmdr. Kor's IKS Klothos to possess effective cloaking capability against their sensors, a technology thought to be uniquely Romulan the previous year. Kor would later reminisce that, when his ship was equipped with a cloak, it was still a new piece of technology for the Klingons, understood only by a handful of engineers in the Imperial Fleet. By 2285 , at least one more Klingon ship was definitely using a cloaking device. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello "; TOS : " The Enterprise Incident "; TAS : " The Time Trap "; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; DS9 : " Once More Unto the Breach ")

As of 2367 , Klingon transporter systems had a range of 20,000 kellicams , which was a common Klingon unit of length measurement as early as 2285 . (e.g., Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; TNG : " Redemption ")

See also [ ]

• Klingon starship classes
• Klingon starships
• Klingon blade weapons
• Klingon language
• List of Klingons
• List of unnamed Klingons

Klingon space [ ]

• See : Klingon space

Food and beverages [ ]

• See : Klingon foods and beverages

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

A list of all appearances of Klingons (excluding the regular appearances of Worf and B'Elanna Torres).

• " Errand of Mercy " ( Season 1 )
• " Friday's Child " ( Season 2 )
• " The Trouble with Tribbles "
• " A Private Little War "
• " Elaan of Troyius " ( Season 3 )
• " Day of the Dove "
• " The Savage Curtain " ( Excalbian recreation only)
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles " ( Season 1 )
• " The Time Trap "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact ( Borg drones )
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• " Hide And Q " ( illusion only) ( Season 1 )
• " Heart of Glory "
• " A Matter Of Honor " ( Season 2 )
• " The Icarus Factor " ( holograms only)
• " The Emissary "
• " Shades of Gray " (archive footage only)
• " The Offspring " (hologram only) ( Season 3 )
• " Sins of The Father "
• " Ménage à Troi "
• " Reunion " ( Season 4 )
• " Future Imperfect " (hologram only)
• " The Drumhead "
• " The Mind's Eye "
• " Redemption "
• " Redemption II " ( Season 5 )
• " Unification II "
• " Unification I "
• " New Ground "
• " Cost Of Living "
• " Imaginary Friend "
• " Rascals " ( Season 6 )
• " A Fistful of Datas "
• " Birthright, Part I "
• " Birthright, Part II "
• " The Chase "
• " Suspicions "
• " Rightful Heir "
• " Gambit, Part II " ( Season 7 )
• " Firstborn "
• " Preemptive Strike "
• " Past Prologue " ( Season 1 )
• " Dramatis Personae "
• " Invasive Procedures " ( Season 2 )
• " Playing God "
• " Blood Oath "
• " The Maquis, Part II "
• " Crossover "
• " The House of Quark " ( Season 3 )
• " Visionary "
• " Through the Looking Glass "
• " The Way of the Warrior " ( Season 4 )
• " The Sword of Kahless "
• " Return to Grace "
• " Sons of Mogh "
• " Rules of Engagement "
• " Shattered Mirror "
• " Broken Link "
• " Apocalypse Rising " ( Season 5 )
• " Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places "
• " Nor the Battle to the Strong "
• " Trials and Tribble-ations "
• " In Purgatory's Shadow "
• " By Inferno's Light "
• " Soldiers of the Empire "
• " Children of Time "
• " Blaze of Glory "
• " Call to Arms "
• " A Time to Stand " ( Season 6 )
• " Sons and Daughters "
• " Favor the Bold "
• " Sacrifice of Angels "
• " You Are Cordially Invited "
• " In the Pale Moonlight "
• " His Way "
• " The Reckoning "
• " Tears of the Prophets "
• " Image in the Sand " ( Season 7 )
• " Shadows and Symbols "
• " Treachery, Faith and the Great River "
• " Once More Unto the Breach "
• " The Emperor's New Cloak "
• " Chimera "
• " Strange Bedfellows "
• " The Changing Face of Evil "
• " When It Rains... "
• " Tacking Into the Wind "
• " The Dogs of War "
• " What You Leave Behind "
• " Flashback " ( Season 3 )
• " Real Life " (hologram only)
• " Day of Honor " (hologram only) ( Season 4 )
• " The Killing Game " (hologram only)
• " The Killing Game, Part II " (hologram only)
• " Infinite Regress " ( Borg drone) ( Season 5 )
• " Someone to Watch Over Me " ( photo only)
• " Barge of the Dead " ( dream only) ( Season 6 )
• " Unimatrix Zero " (Borg drone)
• " Unimatrix Zero, Part II " (Borg drone) ( Season 7 )
• " Flesh and Blood " (hologram only)
• " Lineage "
• " Prophecy "
• " Endgame "
• " Broken Bow " ( Season 1 )
• " Unexpected "
• " Sleeping Dogs "
• " Marauders " ( Season 2 )
• " Judgment "
• " The Expanse "
• " Borderland " ( Season 4 )
• " The Augments "
• " Affliction "
• " Divergence "
• " The Vulcan Hello " ( Season 1 )
• " Battle at the Binary Stars "
• " Context Is for Kings "
• " The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry "
• " Choose Your Pain "
• " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad " (as Ash Tyler)
• " Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum "
• " Into the Forest I Go "
• " Despite Yourself "
• " The Wolf Inside "
• " Vaulting Ambition "
• " The War Without, The War Within "
• " Will You Take My Hand? "
• " Point of Light " ( Season 2 )
• " Perpetual Infinity "
• " Through the Valley of Shadows "
• " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 "
• ST : " The Escape Artist " ( Season 1 )
• " Envoys " ( Season 1 )
• " Temporal Edict "
• " Kayshon, His Eyes Open " ( Season 2 )
• " We'll Always Have Tom Paris "
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers "
• " wej Duj "
• " The Least Dangerous Game " ( Season 3 )
• " Mining The Mind's Mines " ( nightmarish illusions only)
• " Room for Growth "
• " Reflections "
• " Hear All, Trust Nothing "
• " The Stars At Night " ( sculpture only)
• " Twovix " ( Season 4 )
• " The Inner Fight "
• " Kobayashi " (holograms only) ( Season 1 )
• " Crossroads "
• " Preludes "
• " The Broken Circle " ( Season 2 )
• " Under the Cloak of War "
• " Subspace Rhapsody "

Background information [ ]

• See : Depicting Klingons

The Klingons are the only non-Federation species to have appeared in twelve films. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture , they attempt to attack V'ger and are vaporized. They appear in the simulation of the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . They are the primary villains after the Genesis technology in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the primary vessel is a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and the Klingon ambassador appears early on, to have Kirk extradited . In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , a Klingon ambassador is featured again, on Nimbus III , and they also appear as secondary villains, as a young brash Klingon officer chases Kirk for the glory of defeating an infamous enemy of the Empire. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , General Chang is the primary villain as a Klingon and they also appear throughout the film during the peace process of the Khitomer Accords .

In all TNG movies, Worf appears despite his commitments to Deep Space 9 , and the Duras sisters appear in Star Trek Generations . At least three Borg drones seen in Star Trek: First Contact are also of Klingon origin.

Star Trek: Picard is currently the only series in which no Klingons appear (though an image of Klingons from a TNG episode does appear in first episode during a news report). Martok ’s skull appears in season 2; and Worf appears in Season 3.

The Klingon ships once again appear in the Kobayashi Maru scenario in the film Star Trek . Their full appearance was cut from the film, their prevalence up to then leading Damon Lindelof – who worked on the movie as a producer and a writer of the film's screenplay – to remark, " What Trek film would be complete without Klingons? The answer is... ours. " ( deleted scene "Klingons Take Over Narada" audio commentary , Star Trek  (Special Edition and Three disc Blu-ray) ) Klingons were shown on Ketha Province of Qo'noS in Star Trek Into Darkness . Klingons do not appear in Star Trek Beyond however in Star Trek Beyond - The Makeup Artistry of Joel Harlow , it is revealed a Klingon was intended to appear in the film, but ultimately cut.

Alex Kurtzman has explained that if Worf is ever introduced into Star Trek: Picard , he would look the same as he did in previous shows, and explained that Discovery Klingons differences are regional racial differences like the differences between Romulans is explained in Picard.

Apocrypha [ ]

In the novel Summon the Thunder , part of the Star Trek: Vanguard series, the Klingons who had a Human appearance (descendants of the victims of the Klingon Augment virus) are referred to as " QuchHa ", or "the unhappy ones". They usually served in their own units although they also were known to mix with the rest of the fleet on occasion.

" Against Their Nature ", the first installment of " Star Trek: Klingons - Blood Will Tell ", an IDW Comics series which tells the stories of " Errand of Mercy ", " The Trouble with Tribbles ", " A Private Little War ", and " Day of the Dove " from the Klingon point of view, suggests that, while Phlox and Antaak's cure removed Augment strength and Augment intelligence, those affected retained the superior ambition of Augments, and as such these Klingons were largely responsible for the Empire's expansion in the century between Star Trek: Enterprise and TOS , eventually becoming powerful enough to achieve a majority on the High Council.

In the novel Pawns and Symbols , Klingons are discovered to be color blind in the Human sense, unable to distinguish red from black. It is also discovered that their vision extends into the ultraviolet, to 32,000 Ångströms .

In the novel Ishmael , the Klingons are described as having been economically conquered and uplifted by the Karsid empire. The Klingons then rebelled and overthrew the Karsids, obtaining their high technology. This was given as one reason for why the Klingons were the way they were, and also how they could have developed star-faring technology given their current social structure.

In Star Trek Online , most Klingons are once again enemies with the Federation by 2399, having taken advantage of the Romulans by conquering much of their territory in the wake of the death of Shinzon and then the destruction of Romulus . The Klingons have also conquered the Gorn , the Orions , and the Nausicaans . Evidently, Klingons are seen joining Starfleet, if unlocked. The Federation-based mission "Past Imperfect" gives a possible answer to how the Augment virus' alterations was eventually cured by revealing that the mad Klingon Admiral B'Vat had kidnapped Miral Paris and brought her to the past, where they used her Klingon/Human DNA to manufacture a cure.

In the online game Star Trek Timelines , includes all three types of Klingons appearing from their various respective eras accurately portraying each character's respective and different physiological differences in appearances. Kor , Koloth , Kang appear reflecting the 23rd century TOS era "Human-augment" part of the history, T'Kuvma appears representing the 23rd century era Klingon/Federation war, characters such as Chang, Kruge, Colonel Worf representing the 2270s-90s period, characters such as Gowron , Worf , Martok , Alexander , B'Elanna Torres , and Duras Sisters appear reflecting the 24th century.

The Discovery related event which introduces T'Kuvma and involves Katherine Janeway (including a 24th century Klingon variant Janeway) is described as such " The USS Shenzhou has arrived in the 24th Century, engulfed in a destructive temporal anomaly. Starfleet has yet to make contact with the crew, but the anomaly has brought all manner of things from the Shenzhou's time into the present day... " [4]

External links [ ]

• Klingon at StarTrek.com
• Klingon at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Klingon at Wikipedia
• The Evolution of Klingon Foreheads  at Ex Astris Scientia
• KlingonSearch.com – dedicated Klingon search portal
• 1 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 2 Star Trek: Discovery

Latinx Files: Why does everyone suddenly hate Jennifer Lopez?

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Periodically, the Latinx Files will feature a guest writer. This week, we’ve asked De Los contributing columnist Alex Zaragoza to fill in. If you are not subscribed to our weekly newsletter, you can do so here.

It was a seemingly innocuous moment. Jennifer Lopez is seated, sweaty and somewhat breathless, in her home gym. She lets out her hair and shakes its wild waves out with her hands — a move as intrinsic to womanhood as taking off your bra under your shirt after getting home from work.

“I like taking my hair out like this,” she says in the 13-second clip that’s gone viral on TikTok . “It reminds me like, when I was 16 in The Bronx running up and down the block. Crazy little girl who used to be f— wild. No limits, all dreams and s—.”

The scene comes from Lopez’s Prime Video documentary “ The Greatest Love Story Never Told ,” which focuses on the multi-hyphenate’s storied relationship with actor Ben Affleck, her checkered history with romance, her journey of self-healing when it comes to love and the making of “ This Is Me…Now: A Love Story ,” a long-form music video of sorts (though do NOT call it that in manager Benny Medina’s presence) that takes us through a vaguely fictionalized version of Lopez that explores all these topics in an acid trip of feverish self-involved theater. There is also an album , but I’m already too overwhelmed to even think about it.

The gym scene set off a wave of fresh vitriol for Lopez, a celebrity who is often on the receiving end of an online firing squad for reasons ranging from her talent to her unwavering commitment to being so unabashedly JENNIFER LOPEZ , carrying herself in all-caps, bold-font fashion. As writer Hunter Harris put it in her newsletter , “Hung Up,” “The doc is 90 minutes of J.Lo speaking candidly and emotionally about the gargantuan effort it takes to, at every single moment, choose to be J.Lo.”

Being Jennifer Lopez has come to mean a few things, like being the encapsulation of the early ‘00s term “bling bling;” an alleged disdain for virgos ; proclamations of being “real;” loving big, loudly and often; and defying the aging process through a stringent disciplined lifestyle (aided by chefs and trainers and nannies, etc.) that us wrinkling, Taco Bell-eating normies can’t touch.

But arguably the biggest element of J.Lo’s persona is being from the Bronx. She’s “Jenny from the block,” proclaimed in song , in interviews she’s done over the last 30+ years of her career and the Super Bowl Halftime show. It’s the latest reminder of her lore as a simple Bronx girl who made it big that has now called into question her authenticity.

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TikTok users came out hard in the comments section and in response videos. She was called a “ delusional chaos demon ” and the clip was seen as a failed attempt by the megastar to prove her humility and force a connection to her hometown.

“I understand that you’re trying to milk this whole ‘I’m humble, I’m from the hood.’ This story doesn’t really work for you anymore…” says TikTok user cillaminian in a video . “This whole story of her trying to seem relatable and more, you know, ‘normal,’ it’s not really gonna work for you. Just stop.”

The clip opened up a rehashing of other instances where Lopez mentioned her block roots in ways that critics say proves a tenuous, forced connection to her hometown, like a 2022 Vogue 73 Questions home tour where she says her go-to bodega order was a “ham and cheese on a roll with an orange drink, adding “if you know you know” at the end to prove her bona fides.

The “if you know you know,” some say, is doing some heavy lifting, with many questioning if her order is a true Bronxite bodega order.

Authenticity is a tricky land mine, however, and online, both engagement-seeking trolls and genuinely annoyed or upset people end up policing someone’s personal experiences because it doesn’t align with their own.

The need to examine and re-examine ourselves can sink us into a mirrored cave where we believe everything we experience is happening for the first, or most important, time ever. Lopez certainly has a penchant for navel gazing. But is she inauthentic? Isn’t anyone who has to live their life publicly to a certain extent?

Authenticity and personal narrative have long been a part of the fame machine, and performing authenticity is a razors-edge walk for anyone in the spotlight. Audiences turn on you as soon as you become too annoying, too present, too cute, too anything , particularly if you’re a woman. (Truly not something men in Hollywood have to deal with.)

Since the early days of Hollywood, movie stars were made by studios and creating an authentic persona was top of mind through the star system , said Claire Sisco King, associate professor at Vanderbilt University and author of “Mapping the Stars: Celebrity, Metonymy, and the Networked Politics of Identity.”

“Celebrities are praised for seeming authentic and giving their audiences a sense of intimacy and familiarity with them,” she added. “Such authenticity is often linked to stars’ backstories, particularly tales of humble beginnings or triumph over hardships. Audiences don’t find the appeals to authenticity to be credible in the context of Lopez’s extreme wealth and privilege. These reactions relate to the tension within celebrity culture between artifice and authenticity, and Lopez seems to have been caught in that contradictory space.”

The documentary might have hurt Lopez’s appeal to authenticity, Sisco King says, because it lays bare “the extent to which she is playing a part and building a brand.”

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But that is part of Lopez’s job. That is the system she works in. And besides, aren’t we all Jennies of different types of blocks if we rely on audience approval for our work?

All women celebrities have higher expectations of authenticity placed on them, according to Sisco King, and that derives from cultural expectations about women as “highly emotional, nurturing, and relational” individuals. The standard is even higher for women of color since they also are expected to serve as representatives for their communities.

Lopez’s backstory is certainly a defining part of her narrative, especially because her lore is the kind of rags-to-riches, bootstrap story that inspires, especially coming from a working-class Latina. She carries herself in many ways as the underdog constantly overcoming adversity and doubts. It’s there in “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” her Netflix doc “Halftime” and in countless interviews.

But she is also massively successful, incredibly rich and inarguably powerful. She could drop $20 million of her own money to finance a movie about her complicated love life. Lopez is deeply committed to her hero’s journey, even if she’s repeating the story arguably too much.

Lopez’s performance of authenticity by way of her connection to her roots feel less exploitative or fake as much as it’s the far less criminal act of being cringey. To her credit, Lopez has never let possible embarrassment stop her from living the “ lets get loud!” life . You have hand it to her because most of us couldn’t handle the heat.

More than anything, this entire backlash comes with the realization that one day, if you’re too successful or moved away from home, that place and its people may reject you. Staying connected to your roots while also chasing after something bigger is hard, and can mean losing something meaningful to you, unless you’re making investment into that place a priority regardless of where you’ve landed. But even that’s not a guarantee. It’s the premise of basically every Hallmark movie. While sometimes we need to be humbled, authenticity can only mean what it means to you.

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