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Published Mar 9, 2023

The Evolution of 'The Devil in the Dark'

In honor of the anniversary of its first air date, we're taking a look back at this classic episode.

StarTrek.com / Rob DeHart

When “ The Devil in the Dark ” first premiered on March 9, 1967, it demonstrated why Star Trek was different from most other science fiction programs on television.

It was a monster story, to be certain, but instead of the monster being simplistically evil and being destroyed in the end, the Horta was instead an intelligent individual with understandable motivations and one which cooperation was possible. In that way, “The Devil in the Dark” is a quintessential Star Trek episode thematically.

Star Trek History: The Devil in the Dark

One of the most fascinating aspects of our research of the Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Collection at UCLA is learning the “what could have beens,” and discovering what the original ideas were for characters and episode in the early story proposals and drafts. For “The Devil in the Dark,” there are some fascinating differences between the episode’s original conception and its final form.

It was writer and producer Gene Coon who drafted the November 29, 1966, story outline that first charts the Enterprise crew’s experiences with the Horta. The episode that would eventually air begins with a miner named Schmitter attacked by something then unknown to the viewers.

It is a unique opening because it is the only one of The Original Series episodes to not feature at least one member of the Enterprise crew. Originally, according to the story outline, the episode was to open with a teaser set on the Enterprise , in which Scotty informs Kirk that the ship is in serious danger. There is a faulty “varanium plug in the antimatter accelerator” that will explode and the ship has no replacement.

In subsequent story outlines, the name is changed to the more familiar “pergium.” The only nearby source is the mining colony of Thetis Six (again, later changed to Janus VI). Unfortunately, upon contacting the colony, Kirk learns from their leader Colton that the miners are being attacked by a creature. The name Colton will be changed to Vanderberg in the next story outline, dated December 5.

As originally designed, the first act includes Colton in his communication headquarters giving instructions and safety orders to his miners. One of the miners on guard duty is attacked by a creature described as “shadowy, obscure... but in a moment, the shaggy thing is gone, and there is only a blackened lump where the guard had been.”

Interestingly, the outline has no scene where Spock picks up a silicon nodule (revealed to be Horta eggs) which inspires him in the aired episode to begin formulating some early ideas and theories. This is because that scene in the outline takes place not at the colony, but on board the Enterprise in the outline, with Kirk, Spock and McCoy meeting with Colton. In the early version of the story, the miners are not directly destroying and collecting what they think are nodules, rather the eggs are being destroyed by falling rocks disturbed by the mining.

The Chamber of the Ages , where the eggs are stored, is referred to as the Room of Tomorrow . Another difference is that the Horta steals a transformer and not a main circulating pump.

The biggest difference between the original story outline and the final episode is that Spock does not use a mind-meld to communicate with the Horta. Instead, Kirk and Spock both use a device called a "transicator." Spock’s telepathic abilities allows him to focus the transicator more effectively.

The line “Pain! Pain!” does not come from Spock, but rather the Horta itself through the transicator. In the December 5 outline, the mind-meld is a part of the story, with it being described as “a Vulcanian technique of empathy... extremely difficult, quite painful... and horribly embarrassing to such guarded creatures as the Vulcanian, since it entails a complete lowering of mental barriers, a complete mental exposure.”

One of the great aspects of reading Coon’s original outlines is that it reinforces the important role he played in Star Trek ’s history. Among his many contributions, it was in Gene Coon’s story outline for “The Devil in the Dark” that he invented one of Star Trek ’s most enduring memes — the “I’m a doctor, not a...” line, which is first used in this episode. In fact, the story outline reveals the line typed by Coon to describe McCoy, “He is a doctor, not a bricklayer,” which would eventually be reformatted and used by the good doctor himself in the script as dialogue.

What is also revealing is that no matter which draft we researched, and no matter how specific details of the story changed, the main theme of understanding through communication was always there – something about Star Trek that always makes it special.

This article was originally published on March 9, 2019.

Maria Jose and John Tenuto are both sociology professors at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois, specializing in popular culture and subculture studies. The Tenutos have conducted extensive research on the history of Star Trek, and have presented at venues such as Creation Conventions and the St. Louis Science Center. They have written for the official Star Trek Magazine and their extensive collection of Star Trek items has been featured in SFX Magazine.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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Recap / Star Trek S1 E25 "The Devil in the Dark"

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Original air date: March 9, 1967

The Enterprise is called to a mining planet, where the personnel are being killed by an invisible creature. Said creature turns out to have a point of view too; she is the Horta, the mother of her race, and the human miners have been carelessly destroying her eggs, thinking they are nothing but a curious mineral formation. These facts are established by Spock through a mind meld. The miners — to their credit — are appalled at what they have unknowingly done, and the Horta is presumably equally distressed to discover the aliens she's been killing are not deliberate child murderers. Happily, both sides are willing to let bygones be bygones and Kirk is able to negotiate a peace treaty and alliance that makes the human miners — and presumably the Horta — "embarrassingly rich".

The Tropes in the Dark:

• Ambiguous Syntax : After the Horta etches "No Kill I" into some rock, Kirk comments to Spock that he wonders if it means that either the Horta doesn't want to be killed, or it's pledging not to kill them .
• Antagonist Title : Subverted. The "Devil in the Dark" turns out to be an intelligent being acting in defense of its brood. The true Devil in the Dark turns out to be the miners who killed the baby Hortas by damaging and destroying the mother Horta's eggs.
• Anti-Villain : The Horta is revealed to be protecting her species' nest, filled with millions of Horta eggs endangered by clueless human miners.
• Arbitrary Skepticism : Spock interacts with aliens that have somehow all evolved to look almost exactly like his own species on a daily basis, and yet it's the idea of a Silicon-based lifeform, something that is indeed scientifically plausible (if thought to be quite rare), that makes him incredulous.
• Being Watched : At one point, while Kirk and Spock are in the underground tunnels hunting the monster, Spock is able to tell when the Horta is watching him and Kirk. It isn't made clear how he knows (possibly Vulcan telepathy ).

• Character Catchphrase : The first ever use of McCoy's "I'm a doctor, not a [XXX]" catchphrase (in this case, "bricklayer").
• Chekhov's Gun : The silicon nodules turn out to be Horta eggs. Their destruction was what caused the conflict.
• Chromosome Casting : Not counting the Horta (depicted as female, but portrayed by male János Prohaska) and a briefly-seen female extra, the episode has an all-male cast. This is the only Star Trek production to have no female speaking parts.
• Dug Too Deep : That's what inadvertently caused the conflict in the first place.
• Eat Dirt, Cheap : The Horta, being a silicon-based lifeform, eats minerals. Its palate is apparently so refined it can easily identify different minerals and ores, making them, as the episode states, "the finest natural miners in the galaxy."
• Easily Forgiven : Once the Horta is able to communicate through Spock's Mind Meld, she is able to tell the miners that they destroyed thousands of her eggs. When she realized they didn't know that, a peace is formed and the Hortae go to work for the miners. Both sides forgive the other for the mistake.
• Fantastically Challenging Patient : The episode has a mining colony terrorized by an unknown creature. Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock explore the mine, and find the creature - a Horta. When it advances, they fire their phasers at it, creating a wound and causing it to retreat. However, once Spock conducts a psychic rapport with the creature, he and Kirk realize it's a brood mother defending her egg clutch. Doctor McCoy is brought in to heal the creature, which he does with silicon-based spackling compound. This ad hoc bandage works well, to the doctor's surprise.
• Green Aesop : What the story becomes when Kirk and Spock learn of the Horta's motivations and the fact that her species is at an extremely tenuous period in their natural history with a very real possibility of extinction because of alien encroachment.
• Hollywood Acid : The Horta dissolves a miner and a security guard , leaving them "burnt to a crisp".
• Hourglass Plot : A compressed example; originally Spock wants to protect the Horta because it's the last of its kind and Kirk intends to kill it because it has been killing dozens of miners and one of the Enterprise 's security guards. Over the relatively short time the hunt takes place, Kirk begins to doubt his previous position when the Horta passes up a chance to kill him and Spock becomes more hostile out of protectiveness towards his friend.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters : Downplayed. While the miners earned the Horta's wrath by breaching her nest and destroying hundreds to thousands of her eggs, it was an act of ignorance, not malice . The human miners are appalled when they realize what they've done, and that they've been trying to hunt down an intelligent creature that's only protecting her own home.
• Humans Are Ugly : The Horta calls the humanoid shape "repulsive", though Spock claims Vulcan ears are an exception.
• Hypocrite : Spock attempts to defy Kirk and have the Horta brought in alive, despite the fact that it's been killing lots of miners and could kill more people if they try to capture it rather than shooting to kill. However, when he finds out Kirk is facing it, he starts urging the captain to shoot it immediately. Kirk has to order him not to attack it.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder : A bricklayer, in this case. But McCoy still managed to cure the injured Horta, making an Improvised Bandage out of the the silicone concrete used for building emergency shelters. Bones : [ quite pleased with himself ] By golly, Jim, I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day!
• Involuntary Group Split : While Kirk and Spock are hunting the Horta deep underground, the creature causes a collapse that splits them up. After the Horta appears to Kirk, Spock eventually reaches him.
• It Can Think : The Horta steals a piece of machinery from the life-support system, revealing that it's not just a mindless beast. When Spock establishes contact with the Horta, he learns it's highly intelligent and it burns the message "No kill I" on the ground.
• Large Ham : A rare one for Mr. Spock, who goes all out in the mind-meld sequence.
• Last of His Kind : The Horta. Except there are thousands of eggs, some of them hatching by episode's end.
• Let's Split Up, Gang! : With the security guards and miners having headed off in two teams, Kirk and Spock head off together, only for their path to split into two, with tricorder readings indicating the tunnels meet up again further on. Kirk decides they should each investigate one tunnel, despite Spock pointing out the risk in going on alone. Of course, Kirk promptly runs into the Horta; however, his Plot Armor naturally ensures that things don't go as they normally do in these situations.
• Ludicrous Precision : According to Spock, the odds of both he and Kirk being killed in the search for the creature are "2228.7 to 1."
• Mama Bear : The Horta. She’s quite upset that her eggs have been taken and she’s attacking the people responsible for the destroyed eggs. Fortunately, she is a very reasonable one and open to an acceptable compromise.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read : Spock feels incredible mental pain when he first tries to establish a Vulcan Mind Link with the Horta. He tells Kirk that she's in agony — she was seriously injured by the earlier phaser blast. He does better on the second try, probably because the creature is more trusting, and he might be using Vulcan mental disciplines to get past the pain (we see him do this in "Operation Annihilate").
• Monster Is a Mommy : The Horta's motive for killing the miners — it's trying to protect its nest.
• More Expendable Than You : Kirk tries to make this argument, saying that while individually both he and Spock can be replaced, if both of them are killed it would be a grievous blow to Starfleet. Spock ignores him.
• Mother of a Thousand Young : Momma Horta. Good thing she and her young reach a peace agreement with the miners.
• My God, What Have I Done? : Both the miners and the Horta react this way when the truth comes out — the miners are horrified to have unknowingly almost-slaughtered an intelligent species, and the Horta is dismayed that it was killing people for a crime they didn't even know they were committing. This helps both sides reach a truce.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Turns out that monster you shot? It was an alien nanny who was only acting in defense of the nursery. And those weird stones that you've been trying to crack open? They're the babies.
• No-Sell : One of the miners shot the Horta with a hand phaser (Phaser 1), which didn't even slow it down. Kirk surmises that using phaser pistols (Phaser 2) may be more effective, and he and Spock actually inflict damage with their phasers.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood : A rare double-sided case. The Horta was mistaken for malicious because it was acting in self defense to protect its eggs. Likewise, the Horta thought the humans were invaders trying to take its eggs, but they were just harmless miners who didn't realize that they were stealing eggs.
• "Not So Different" Remark : When the miners come to kill the creature, Kirk threatens them if they proceed. One of them protests that the Horta has been killing their men, and Kirk retorts that they've killed thousands of her children. The sides' mutual horror at the destruction they've been causing while attempting to protect their own helps them come to an agreement, and the two end up coexisting very happily.
• Not So Stoic : Spock begins to panic when the Horta causes a cave-in near Kirk, and it only heightens when Kirk reveals that the Horta is right in front of him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Spock, the pacifistic scientist of the group, takes aim at the Last Of Its Kind Horta with a phaser when he catches it near Kirk.
• Off-the-Shelf FX : The unbroken Horta eggs were toy bouncing balls painted gold.
• Red Shirt : The poor schmuck at the beginning, as well as several more before the episode's started. One of Kirk's men also bites the dust. note  The page image for the Red Shirt Army is from this episode; none of them perish.
• Shaming the Mob : Kirk and Spock tell the Horta's motives to the angry personnel after Spock's mind-meld turns up some interesting facts. The miners, having been ignorant but not malicious, back down.
• Silicon-Based Life : The Horta is a life-form based on silicon instead of carbon. It lays eggs that are almost pure silicon, with a few trace elements.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes : Even after The Reveal , the miners are crestfallen when they realize that the presence of an intelligent lifeform means they'll most likely have to abandon their mining operations. Then Kirk reveals that the Horta is willing to let bygones be bygones and help the miners get access to even more minerals as long as they don't kill any more of her young.
• Tempting Fate : When leaving Schmitter alone on guard duty, Chief Vanderberg assures him "You'll be all right." No, he won't...
• Tunnel King : The Horta, due to the acid secreted from its skin. In Kirk's own words, its species "moves through rock the way we move through air, and it leaves tunnels. The greatest natural miners in the universe."
• What Measure Is a Non-Human? : One of the best episodes to point this out, as the Horta is the most alien-looking lifeform we ever meet on the series... and one of the most popular non-humanoids in the franchise .
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious : When a cave-in occurs in Kirk's area, Spock begins to call "Jim" rather than "Captain" into the communicator.
• You No Take Candle : When trying to communicate its lack of hostility to Kirk and Spock, the Horta carves "No Kill I" into the rock. The potential double-meaning is acknowledged: either the Horta doesn't want them to kill her, or she doesn't want to kill, but feels she has no alternative.
• Star Trek S1 E24 "This Side of Paradise"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek S1 E26 "Errand of Mercy"

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Flashback | Recap | Star Trek: The Original Series S1E25: The Devil in the Dark

Season 1 – The Devil in the Dark

What happened?

The mining operations on Janus VI have been terrorized by something in the dark. It burrows “through solid rock as easily as we move through the air,” and it’s killed fifty people. So, the Enterprise must investigate what devilry hunts the miners of Janus VI.

Another Confession…

This is an episode I’ve been both excited and nervous to write about because I’m afraid I won’t be objective about it. I’m writing this paragraph here before rewatching. This is one of the episodes that I watched and rewatched endlessly as a child.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve last seen it, but my memories of it are vivid. Spock crying out in pain as he mind melds with the creature. The Horta, even though it looks like Pizza the Hut from Spaceballs , was simultaneously terrifying and absolutely engrossing to me as a kid. I knew it was fake, but I also knew for a fact that it was real. Spock touches it, speaks for it, and it speaks for itself. Nimoy sells that scene more than anything else in his career – more than his final scene in The Wrath of Khan . It’s brilliant and has stayed with me my entire life.

There. Those are my unfiltered thoughts. Now, I’ll rewatch and comment accordingly.

Let’s Dig Deeper

If Star Trek dipped its toe in the waters of horror with “The Man Trap,” it jumps headlong into that genre with “The Devil in the Dark.” The trope I discussed there of the misunderstood monster is seen clearly here. And even knowing the ending – I never remember not knowing the ending – I still watch this episode with trepidation (and I’m a horror movie lover ! The first thing I wrote for Ready Steady Cut! was a Halloween retrospective!). But this episode still gets me, and its point is still as pungent as ever: just because they don’t look like us doesn’t mean they’re evil. Sometimes, we’re the ones that start the problems, and we reap the consequences.

This is what I’d like science fiction shows to do more often: really deal with otherworldly, non-humanoid creatures. I get why they don’t – budget, storytelling, to name a few. However, I’m going to assume that, if there were really aliens out there, they wouldn’t just look like humans with forehead bumps and funny makeup.

The miners didn’t mean to attack the creature, didn’t know that they were killing its offspring. This puts everyone in a quandary: whose life matters more? The humans or the creature killing them? It’s easy to just see the Horta as the Other, the object to be killed. However, it demonstrates intelligence and dexterity. It has built tunnels, stolen a reactor, hunted the people of the colony. Yet its consciousness is hidden from view by the danger it poses to the Enterprise crew.

I never noticed before that, in the mind meld, Spock speaks for the Horta and calls the colonists devils and monsters. Even more, he says cryptic, tragic things: “Murder. Of thousands. Devils! Eternity ends. The chamber of the ages. The altar of tomorrow! Murderers! Stop them. Kill! Strike back! Monsters!… The end of life. Murderers… It is the end of life. Eternity stops. Go out into the tunnel. To the chamber of the ages. Cry for the children. Walk carefully in the vault of tomorrow. Sorrow for the murdered children. The thing you search for is there. Go. Go. Sadness. Sadness for the end of things. Go into the tunnel. There is a passageway. Quickly, quickly.” This is the last creature of its species mourning the death of its future. There will be no more Horta if it dies.

What works best is that, finally, when presented with the creature’s intelligence, its conscious thought, and its desire not only for self-protection but for the preservation of its race, Kirk does the right thing. That’s to be expected: he’s our enlightened hero. What’s better is that Vanderberg ( Ken Lynch ) also chooses to make a deal with the Horta. It reminds us that not only is Kirk our idealistic, civilized hero, but the regular guys, the average joes, can make the right decisions, too.

What else stands out?

Leonard Nimoy is superb throughout, whether he’s debating with Kirk on the need to kill the Horta or when he’s in the mind-meld with it. I still get chills when he yells “Pain!”. Imagine what it must have been like to watch that scene actually be acted out. I know that it’s a dude in a carpet and another guy with fake pointy ears, but that doesn’t come through. The Horta is pulsating and vibrating and twitching, and Nimoy is so earnest and intense. The voice he uses when speaking through the Horta is so eerie; I can’t easily get it out of my mind.

Random Thoughts from The Devil in the Dark

If this thing is so dangerous, why are they only sending one man at a time to walk through the dark? Why not teams of two or three, at least if one person is attacked they could team up on it. I know that the type-1 phasers they’re using barely scratch it. But still. Bad planning, guys.

Memorable Quotes

Mccoy: “i’m a doctor, not a bricklayer” kirk: “you’re a healer. there’s a patient. that’s an order.”.

–McCoy, creating a cliche.

Venderberg: You know, the Horta aren’t so bad once you’re used to their appearance. …SPOCK: Curious. What Chief Vanderberg said about the Horta is exactly what the Mother Horta said to me. She found humanoid appearance revolting, but she thought she could get used to it. MCCOY: Oh, she did, did she? Now tell me, did she happen to make any comment about those ears? SPOCK: Not specifically, but I did get the distinct impression she found them the most attractive human characteristic of all. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that only I have KIRK: She really liked those ears? SPOCK: Captain, the Horta is a remarkably intelligent and sensitive creature, with impeccable taste.KIRK: Because she approved of you? SPOCK: Really, Captain, my modesty KIRK: Does not bear close examination, Mister Spock. I suspect you’re becoming more and more human all the time. SPOCK: Captain, I see no reason to stand here and be insulted.

–This is another  TOS motif that this episode really solidifies: the wrap up joking conversation. Remember, kids and families were watching this – they wanted to have a light ending, maybe even a moral or two. I love the interchange between our trio of heroes.

Coming up next…

After this brilliant, emotional episode, we’ve got a new iconic race on our hands. It’s the KLINGONS! These guys are the best. While The Original Series didn’t do the Klingons justice that later series and films would, the groundwork is all laid in “Errand of Mercy.”

Article by Tyler Howat

Tyler Howat joined Ready Steady Cut in November 2017, publishing over 100 articles for the website. Based out of Wenatchee City, Washington, Tyler has used his education and experience to become a highly skilled writer, critic, librarian, and teacher. He has a passion for Film, TV, and Books and a huge soft spot for Star Trek.

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Star Trek 's 10 Cheesiest Classic Creatures

To celebrate, we're reliving the glory of 10 of the best monsters and creatures to stomp, ooze or float across the screen in the groundbreaking TV series. Thanks to the magic of high def, and a painstaking digital remastering effort, you can now see these monsters in more detail than ever before – although, to be fair, that doesn't make them look any more convincing.

Vote on our picks (and nominate your own favorite Star Trek aliens) on the Underwire blog.

Left: Salt Vampire

Episode: "The Man Trap"

Description: Looking like a cross between a lamprey and a troll doll, this creature needs salt to live. Rather than just hitting the Wendy's drive-through, it starts jumping Enterprise crewmen and sucking the salt from their bodies. It can change shape, or maybe just make people think it's changing shape. Either way, Bones totally had the hots for it.

Powers: Shape changing, salt sucking, standing up to Spock's hammer punch.

Weaknesses: Phasers, chastity.

Image: Courtesy CBS Home Entertainment

Episode: "Arena"

Description: A big lizard guy who sounds like a cross between a leaky steam pipe and a constipated pirate. He's strong and tough, but so slow-moving you'd think he worked for the DMV. Kirk fights him on the Asteroid of Unlikely Mineral Deposits, defeating him by inventing gunpowder and blasting him with a diamond the size of William Shatner's ego.

Powers: Strength, imperviousness to fake-looking Styrofoam rocks, flint knapping.

Weaknesses: A diamond to the gut, godlike aliens.

Episode: "Devil in the Dark"

Description: The single remaining example of a race of practical-joke vomit piles, the Horta protects the unhatched next generation by killing miners with acid. In spite of being silicon-based rather than carbon-based, Spock can mind-meld with it, Bones can heal it, and Kirk can seduce it. OK, I'm guessing on that last one.

Powers: Acid baths, rapid tunneling, iffy grammar.

Weaknesses: Type 2 phasers, an implausible life cycle.

Episode: "Operation – Annihilate!"

Description: Looking – and moving – like a half-digested Frisbee, these creatures are part of a large organism that takes over humans' nervous systems and forces them to infect other planets, kind of like Borg without the fashion sense. This is also the episode where we learn that Spock has nictitating membranes. That doesn't have much to do with the monster. It's just creepy.

Powers: Flight, mental possession, nigh-invulnerability.

Weaknesses: Light, Spock's impressive yet ill-defined mental abilities.

Episode: "Wolf in the Fold"

Description: As it turns out, Jack the Ripper was actually a swirling pool of colorful clouds that traveled with humanity into space, killing ever more women and taking on ever more stupid names. It takes control of the Enterprise 's computers, and is defeated by a combination of Bones injecting everyone with happy juice and Spock telling the computer to calculate π to the last digit.

Reece Rogers

David Gilbert

Scott Gilbertson

Andy Greenberg

Powers: Serial murder, fear eating, starship control.

Weaknesses: Drugs, math.

Episode: "The Trouble With Tribbles"

Description: The most insidious invaders ever to threaten the Enterprise , these fuzzy little low-budget infiltrators first win Lt. Uhura's affections, prompting her to take one aboard. From there they sneak into the air vents, storm the bridge and drink Kirk's coffee. Only one thing keeps them from taking over the Enterprise and from there, the galaxy: No hands, man.

Powers: Eating, reproducing, making Klingons edgy.

Weaknesses: Poisoned grain, hammers (presumably).

Episode: "The Immunity Syndrome"

Description: This giant glowy amoeba looks like something a go-go dancer should be writhing in front of, but it's actually a massive single-celled organism that sucks all the energy out of the immediate vicinity, just like your Uncle Louie. It tries to destroy the Enterprise , and we all know how well that generally goes.

Powers: Energy sucking, starship stealing, grooviness.

Weaknesses: Antimatter, elaborate metaphors about viruses and antibodies.

Episode: "A Private Little War"

Description: This white gorilla with a horn and spines has the curious habit of randomly appearing and attacking people whenever the plot starts to drag, injecting victims with a powerful toxin that can only be cured by a primitive Cher wannabe. Luckily, once you stop worrying about protecting the natives from forbidden knowledge, phaser fire takes it down pretty good.

Powers: Poison, brute strength, surprising stealth.

Weaknesses: Women in bright-orange fun fur, blatant flouting of the Prime Directive.

Episode: "The Spectre of the Gun"

Description: These sort-of-telepathic brain-reptile space creatures with light-bulb eyes sent Kirk and pals into a re-creation of the Old West so that they could be shot to death by Wyatt Earp. This is a surprisingly roundabout form of execution, and one might suspect that the Melkotians have a bunch of leftover props from television westerns that they want to reuse.

Powers: Telepathy, historical re-enactment.

Weaknesses: Skepticism, Spock's ego.

Episode: "The Savage Curtain"

Description: These sedentary rock creatures are yet another race that makes the crew of the Enterprise fight with archaic weapons to prove some nebulous point. They create the illusion of Abraham Lincoln, or turn into Abraham Lincoln, or re-create Abraham Lincoln or something. It doesn't really matter – the important thing is Space Lincoln!

Powers: Matter control and manipulation, making guys fight.

Weaknesses: None, unless you count the phenomenon that one of them apparently changed into Abraham Lincoln and got killed by a pointy stick.

Jennifer M. Wood

Angela Watercutter

Eric Ravenscraft

Makena Kelly

Star Trek's 10 Best Monster Episodes

• Star Trek embraces peace but also explores monster movie elements for some thrilling episodes.
• Shows like Voyager & Next Generation weave classic monster movie themes with sci-fi twists.
• Even as monsters take center stage, empathy remains a core theme in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek has a message of peace and tolerance and seeing beyond the surface, but it's not above doing an all-out monster movie from time to time. From its inception in 1966, Star Trek has taught audiences not to judge alien species by appearances . For example, Star Trek: Voyager villains Species 8472 were terrifying, Alien -inspired creatures, who turned out to be benevolent aliens that had been driven to violence by the actions of the Borg Collective. Earlier episodes like Star Trek: The Original Series ' "Devil in the Dark" revealed hidden emotional depths to a creature that was ostensibly a disgusting rock monster.

Despite Star Trek 's message of empathy, sometimes the writers can't resist creating scary monsters and super creeps. Star Trek has always drawn on the history of science fiction, and the big monster movies popularized by studios like RKO are no exception . Over nearly six decades, Star Trek TV shows have drawn on classic monster movies like The Thing From Another World and King Kong , giving them a Gene Roddenberry-style twist.

10 Times Star Trek Went Full-On Horror And Gave Us Nightmares

Star trek: voyager, season 2, episode 15, "threshold", story by michael de luca, teleplay by brannon braga.

Star Trek: Voyager 's notorious salamander episode , "Threshold" begins as an exploration of theoretical transwarp barriers and becomes something more akin to The Phantom of the Opera or King Kong . When Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) breaks the transwarp barrier, he begins experiencing some bizarre side effects. Breaking the transwarp barrier has triggered a strange evolution in Paris' body, which turns him into a salamander, who decides they need a mate in the form of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).

...the monster movie elements ensure that "Threshold" is never boring.

There are some obvious monster movie parallels in "Threshold", from the way that the reptilian Paris carries an unconscious Janeway like the Phantom of the Opera to the body horror of the Voyager helmsman's transformation. The climax of the notorious Star Trek: Voyager episode, in which the "monster" that is now Paris fights off the crew to take Janeway as his mate, is pure King Kong . It's a Voyager episode that is rightly panned for its lack of narrative cohesion, but the monster movie elements ensure that "Threshold" is never boring.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 7, Episode 19, "Genesis"

Written by brannon braga.

Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, episode 19, "Genesis" is essentially The Island of Dr. Moreau set aboard the USS Enterprise-D. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) return to the Enterprise to discover that the crew has devolved into various terrifying monsters. For example, Lt. Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) is de-evolved into a spider-like creature, while Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) devolves into a savage proto-Klingon that tries to kill Picard. The cause of these transformations is a mistake made by Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) while reactivating a cell that would have given Barclay immunity to the flu.

Gates McFadden injects what could have been a very silly story with genuine tension.

Although the science is just as dubious as Star Trek: Voyager 's "Threshold", Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, episode 19, "Genesis" has the benefit of being much more atmospheric. Interestingly, "Genesis" was directed by Dr. Beverly Crusher actor Gates McFadden , who injects what could have been a very silly story with genuine tension. The climax, where Picard tries to fend off an attack from a prehistoric Worf, while Data tries to concoct a cure using the DNA of Nurse Ogawa's unborn baby, is well directed by McFadden, giving this daft TNG outing an exciting monster movie vibe.

"Genesis" was the only episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation to be directed by Gates McFadden.

Star Trek: Every Actor Who Also Directed Episodes Or Movies

Star trek: the original series, season 1, episode 26, "the devil in the dark", written by gene l. coon.

"The Devil in the Dark" is a classic Star Trek monster episode , because it hinges on Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Lt. Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley) learning to understand a creature beyond their understanding. Investigating a supposed monster that is attacking a mining operation on Janus IV, they soon discover that the titular " devil in the dark " is no monster, but a mother protecting their young. It's thanks to Kirk and Spock's open-mindedness that the miners manage to avert the destruction of the entire Horta race .

The scene in which Kirk has to reason with the baying mob invokes images of the villagers with torches and pitchforks in the climax of Universal's classic monster movie, Frankenstein .

From a visual effects perspective, the actual Horta in Star Trek: The Original Series may look hokey by today's standards , but it tells a story about the need for empathy. TOS' cave monster isn't able to communicate with the miners, and so has to resort to violence. Similarly, the miners want violent recriminations from the "monster" that killed their colleagues. The scene in which Kirk has to reason with the baying mob invokes images of the villagers with torches and pitchforks in the climax of Universal's classic monster movie, Frankenstein . Thanks to Kirk, however, the Horta has a happier ending than Frankenstein's monster.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 2, Episode 12, "The Alternate"

Teleplay by bill dial, story by jim trombetti and bill dial.

In one of Constable Odo's best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes , a mysterious monster stalks the corridors of DS9 late at night. It's believed to be the mysterious sample that Odo (Rene Auberjonois) and scientist Dr. Mora Pol (James Sloyan) brought back from the Gamma Quadrant. However, in reality, it's Odo, who is under the influence of mysterious alien toxins, and the stress of seeing his "father" again. "The Alternate" is a fun Star Trek spin on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde , that has some genuinely unnerving moments of horror.

Odo's monstrous alter-ego is less Mr. Hyde, and more like the titular Blob from the classic 1958 sci-fi monster movie.

Odo's transition into the monster toward the end of the episode is horrifying to watch as he rants and raves while struggling to remain in a solid state. Odo's monstrous alter-ego is less Mr. Hyde, and more like the titular Blob from the classic 1958 sci-fi monster movie. Interestingly, Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) doesn't categorically confirm it's the alien toxins that caused the transformation, suggesting another cause. As the gelatinous monster bears down on Dr. Mora Pol, it becomes clear that the real cause of the transformation is Odo's father issues.

All 4 Star Trek Characters Played By James Sloyan

Star trek: voyager, season 3, episode 12, "macrocosm".

Star Trek: Voyager has many creepy episodes , but "Macrocosm" is the most overt monster episode. Like Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Genesis", also written by Brannon Braga, "Macrocosm" has a silly concept that is realized like a survival horror movie. The monsters faced by Captain Janeway and the Doctor (Robert Picardo) are effectively giant viruses that become airborne, infecting those they come into contact with. To repel the viral infection of the USS Voyager, the Doctor created an antigen which Janeway eventually detonated inside the holodeck, killing the assembled macroviruses.

"Macrocosm" finally gave Captain Janeway her Ellen Ripley moment.

"Macrocosm" got a wryly funny sequel in Star Trek: Lower Decks ' season 4 premiere, "Twovixed", but the episode itself is a decent homage to the Alien franchise. As the Star Trek franchise's first female captain, it's great to see Janeway getting to be an action hero like Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series , or Picard in Star Trek: First Contact . While the monsters themselves weren't anywhere near as terrifying as Alien 's Xenomorph, "Macrosm" finally gave Captain Janeway her Ellen Ripley moment.

Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1, Episode 3, "Context is for Kings"

Teleplay by gretchen j. berg, aaron harberts, and craig sweeny.

The disgraced Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is given a second chance after her mutiny aboard the USS Shenzhou in a Star Trek: Discovery monster episode. "Context is for Kings" explores what happened to the USS Glenn, the second of Discovery 's crossfield-class starships . Following a catastrophic accident while experimenting with spore drive technology, the ship's entire crew were killed, save for the tartigrade creature they had captured and wired to the spore drive. Freed from its shackles by the accident, the creature rampaged through the Glenn, killing a Klingon boarding party and turning its attention to Burnham and her away team .

The true monster in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 3, "Context is for Kings" is Starfleet themselves.

The true monster in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 3, "Context is for Kings" is Starfleet themselves. The cruelty that the crew of the USS Glenn had shown to the tartigrade was unbecoming of Starfleet, and showed how far they were willing to diverge from their principles to defeat the Klingon Empire . Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) hammers this point home by having the tartigrade brought aboard the USS Discovery, taunting it as it tries to break free from the forcefield.

Jason Isaacs 10 Best Acting Roles (Including Star Trek: Discoverys Lorca)

Star trek: lower decks, season 4, episode 2, "i have no bones yet i must flee", written by aaron burdette.

Star Trek: Lower Decks introduced Moopsy into the canon in the season 4 episode, "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee". Visiting an alien menagerie, newly promoted Lt. junior grade Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell) had to conted with Moopsy, a soft fluffy creature that also happened to drink bones . Mariner and Ransom came up with a suitably irreverent Lower Decks solution to their problem, by punching out Ransom's teeth and using them as treats to lure the Moopsy back into its cage.

Moopsy is basically a monstrous Tribble, unable to control its base urges.

Moopsy was the sort of creation that could only feature in the irreverent world of Star Trek: Lower Decks , and yet it plays on existing creatures in the canon. Moopsy is basically a monstrous Tribble, unable to control its base urges. However, Mariner and Ransom don't kill the creature to save themselves, they find a humane - if slightly painful - solution to their situation. Not only that, but Mariner also unmasks the truly dangerous monsters - greedy humans seeking to bulk up their business portfolios , in this case by staging a hostile takeover of an alien menagerie.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 1, Episode 9, "All Those Who Wander"

Written by davy perez.

"All Those Who Wander" combines the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena" with Alien to provide a terrifying episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . The vicious Gorn babies that are encountered by the Enterprise away team are relentless, rampaging through the ship and killing everything in their path. It's through the noble sacrifice of Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak) that the away team is able to get back to the safety of the USS Enterprise. However, the scars of the terrifying encounter between the Enterprise and the Gorn carry over into Strange New Worlds season 2 .

The Gorn infants move like raptors, drawing comparisons with the climax of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park

Because there's genuine dramatic stakes and a cost to life, Star Trek: Strange New World 's Gorn survival horror movie is the best version of the subgenre after the classic movie, Star Trek: First Contact . As an hour of television, it wears its genre influences on its sleeve, particularly the similarities between the icy crash site with the colony in Aliens . However, it's not just the Alien franchise that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds riffs on in "All Those Who Wander". The Gorn infants move like raptors, drawing comparisons with the climax of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park .

Complete History Of The Gorn In Star Trek

Star trek: the next generation, season 1, episode 23, "skin of evil", teleplay by joseph stefano & hannah louise shearer.

Armus (Ron Gans) in Star Trek: The Next Generation , is a truly monstrous creation, and even refers to himself as " evil " . Unlike the Horta in Star Trek: The Original Series , Armus isn't attacking the Enterprise away team to protect its children, he's doing it because he's a monster. A black, oily mass of everything impure and evil rejected by a " race of Titans ", Armus was abandoned on the planet Vagra II . There, he fantasized about torturing any visitors to the planet, but he quickly got bored after killing Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby).

Tasha Yar was no red shirt, and her death at the hands of the monster of the week makes "Skin of Evil" an impactful entry in the TNG canon.

"Skin of Evil" is one of Star Trek 's best monster episodes because, like "All Those Who Wander", it takes a toll on the characters. Star Trek: The Next Generation loses Tasha Yar to this monster, which proved that it would be a very different show to Star Trek: The Original Series . A TOS version of "Skin of Evil" would have played out in a similar fashion, but with the deaths of some disposable red shirts thrown in . Tasha Yar was no red shirt, and her death at the hands of the monster of the week makes "Skin of Evil" an impactful entry in the TNG canon.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 5, "The Man Trap"

Written by george clayton johnson.

Star Trek 's best monster episode is also its very first, setting the tone for those that would follow . Star Trek: The Original Series , season 1, episode 5, "The Man Trap", features a Salt Vampire that feeds on salt, which can also shapeshift to take the form of anyone that can help it achieve its goals. In essence, "The Man Trap" is Star Trek 's take on the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World , later remade by John Carpenter as The Thing . Both the Star Trek episode and the Thing movies center on a shapeshifting creature that feeds on the human characters.

"The Man Trap" was chosen by the network as the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series to air due, in part, to its strong monster-of-the-week.

Both iterations of The Thing and Star Trek: TOS season 1, episode 5, "The Man Trap" also play on paranoia and being unable to trust your own eyes . In "The Man Trap", the Salt Vampire has the ability to take the form of the woman most desirable to each of the male characters. For example, Dr. McCoy believes it to be his former lover, Nancy, driving a wedge between him, Kirk and Spock. "The Man Trap" was chosen as the first episode of Star Trek: TOS to air in 1966, and its influence can be felt in Star Trek 's monster episodes nearly 60 years later.

All these episodes of Star Trek are available to stream on Paramount+.

‘Star Trek’ 101: The Weirdest Episodes, From Tribbles to The Rock (Videos)

Tribbles, holodeck fantasies and Abe Lincoln are a part of the goofy side of the “Star Trek” universe

“Star Trek” has become known as a series filled with serious examinations on ethics and philosophy. But with over 700 episodes over five series, there are bound to be some that… to put it charitably… are completely insane. Here are the weirdest “Star Trek” episodes ever, ranging from fun classics to writer-room monstrosities.

“Spock’s Brain” — The quintessential weird “Trek” episode. An alien race steals Spock’s brain so they can use its logical abilities to run their dying planet. What’s the Enterprise to do? Dr. McCoy hooks up a device to his head so they can move his body with a video game controller until they can get his brain back.

“The Way To Eden” — A mad scientist and his cult of followers hijack the Enterprise so they can use it to find a mythical paradise planet. That’s right. Kirk has to take on space hippies. Welcome to the Trekkie spin on the Summer of Love.

“Arena” — This episode is considered to be one of the original series’ classics, and features Kirk entering a trial by combat against a reptilian monster called the Gorn. It makes this list for featuring a showdown between Kirk and the Gorn that… shall we say… looks silly by modern standards. Still, those who suspend their disbelief and modern perspective will be rewarded.

“The Trouble With Tribbles” — This is arguably the funniest “Trek” episode ever made. Lt. Uhura receives an adorable tribble as a pet for the Enterprise. Things get crazy quickly when the tribble starts multiplying and eating all the food onboard, leading to the hilarious sight of Kirk getting buried in the fuzzy critters.

“The Naked Truth” — Another goofy classic. A strange disease infects the Enterprise crew and destroys their inhibitions, causing them to start acting irrationally. George Takei calls this his favorite episode of the series, as he paraded around as a shirtless, sword-wielding Sulu.

“Spectre of the Gun” — As punishment for invading the territory of a reclusive alien species, the Enterprise crew is sentenced to death via a reenactment of the O.K. Corral. Why the O.K. Corral? Who knows?

“The Savage Curtain” — In a similar episode, Kirk and Spock are forced by some rock aliens to take part in an experiment of good versus evil. Their tag team partners on the “good” team are the legendary Vulcan leader Surak… and Abraham Lincoln.

“A Fistful of Datas” — “Trek” returned to the Wild West in “The Next Generation” with an episode in which a power surge causes all the characters in Worf’s cowboy holodeck simulation to look like Data. Once the kooky charm of seeing Data in 1880s attire wears off, this episode is just a confusing mess.

“Hollow Pursuits” — Frustrated with his lot on the Enterprise, Lt. Reginald Barclay becomes addicted to his holodeck simulations, in which the main cast acts horrifically out of character. This makes the list thanks to Barclay’s creepy fantasy of Troi as “the goddess of love and compassion.”

“Fair Haven” — Romantic holographic fantasies aren’t just for beleaguered lieutenants. They’re for the captain of the Voyager, too! In this episode, Janeway enters a simulation of an Irish town and falls in love with a simulation named Michael Sullivan. She even starts editing the program to make Sullivan into the kind of guy who’s more her type.

“Manhunt” — Back on “TNG,” Counselor Troi’s mother, Lwaxana, wants to find a new husband. Whom does she set her eyes on? Captain Picard. Of course, the fastidious captain is able to make a clean getaway.

“Take Me Out To The Holosuite” — “The crew of Deep Space Nine forms a baseball team.” That’s not the premise for some wacky fan fiction. That is an actual episode of the darkest “Star Trek” series in which Captain Sisko rallies his crew to take on a team of Vulcans.

“Move Along Home” — Quark is forced to play a complicated board game with hidden rules, and his game pieces are Sisko, Kira, Dax and Bashir. How are the heroes of “Deep Space Nine” going to get out of this deadly game? By playing alien hopscotch!

“Tsunkatse” — “Star Trek: Voyager” had its initial run on UPN, which at the time had another major ratings magnet: “WWF Smackdown.” This episode was the network’s attempt to merge the two for ratings, with The Rock making a cameo appearance as one of the gladiators Seven of Nine is blackmailed into fighting.

Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

• Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series 5 days ago
• ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Star Sonequa Martin-Green on the Show’s Unexpected Final Season, the ‘Pressure’ of Representation and Taking the ‘Trek’ Cruise 6 days ago
• Jerrod Carmichael Was Terrified of Being Seen, So He Made a Reality Show: ‘This May Be Unhealthy. It Is a Little Dangerous’ 2 weeks ago

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 5, Episode 1 of “ Star Trek : Discovery,” now streaming on Paramount+.

By the end of the episode, however, the mission has pushed Burnham and her crew to their limits, including slamming the USS Discovery into the path of a massive landslide threatening a nearby city. Before they risk their lives any further pursuing this object, Burnham demands that Kovich at least tell her why. (MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.)

Kovich’s explanation evokes the classic “ Star Trek: The Next Generation ” episode “The Chase” from 1993 in which Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) — along with teams of Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians — learn that all humanoid life in the galaxy was created by a single species that existed billions of years earlier, and seeded thousands of planets with the DNA to pass along their legacy. (Along with presenting a profound vision of the origins of life, the episode also provided an imaginative explanation for why almost all the aliens in “Star Trek” basically look like humans with different kinds of forehead ridges.)

Kovich tells Burnham that the Romulan scientist was part of a team sent to discover exactly how these aliens — whom they call the Progenitors — made this happen; the object they’re seeking winds up being one part of a brand new “chase,” this time in the 32nd century, to find the Progenitors’ technology before it can fall into the wrong hands. 

“I remember watching that episode and at the end of it just being blown away that there was this huge idea where we all come from,” Paradise says. “And then they’re going to have another mission the next week. I found myself wondering, ‘Well, then what? What happened? What do we do with this information? What does it mean?’”

Originally, Paradise says the “Discovery” writers’ room discussed evoking the Progenitors in Season 4, when the Discovery meets an alien species, the 10-C, who live outside of the galaxy and are as radically different from humans as one could imagine. “As we dug deeper into the season itself, we realized that it was too much to try and get in,” Paradise says.

Instead, they made the Progenitors the engine for Season 5. “Burnham and some of our other characters are on this quest for personal meaning,” Paradise says. Searching for the origins of life itself, she adds, “feels like a big thematic idea that fits right in with what we’re exploring over the course of the season, and what our characters are going through.”

That meant that Paradise finally got to help come up with the answers to the questions about “The Chase” that had preoccupied her when she was younger. “We had a lot of fun talking about what might’ve happened when [Picard] called back to headquarters and had to say, ‘Here’s what happened today,’” she says. “We just built the story out from there.”

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Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

The USS Discovery is on a mad chase across the galaxy for one of Star Trek’s biggest secrets

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Calling back to a single 30-year-old episode of television is a time-honored Star Trek tradition , one that’s led the franchise to some of its most fascinating detours. And in its two-episode season premiere, Star Trek: Discovery seems to be kicking off an entire season calling back to one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

And not just any episode! The 1993 installment of Next Gen in question delivered a revelation so seemingly earth-shaking that it should have rewritten galactic politics on a massive scale. But then, as was the way in the 1990s era of episodic TV, nobody ever mentioned it again.

At least until now.

[ Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.]

Writer Michelle Paradise and director Olatunde Osunsanmi lay out the connection at the end of the first of two episodes released this week, “Red Directive.” Discovery’s mission is to follow a series of ancient clues leading to a cache of ancient technology, and to get there before a couple of professional thieves, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), do.

The technology, as Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg) explains, belongs to the so-called Progenitors, a barely understood ancient spacefaring species that “created life as we know it […] every humanoid species in the galaxy.” Presumably such tech holds the key to understanding how the Progenitors did that, and how that power could be used again.

The Progenitors are from the Star Trek episode “The Chase”

Kovich also calls up a helpful video presentation of the moment the Progenitors were discovered by an assembled group of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian captains, including Jean-Luc Picard. But you don’t have to be a Star Trek lore nerd to know you’re actually just looking at clips from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Specifically, from the 20th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s sixth season, “The Chase,” in which Picard and crew discover pieces of a computer program hidden inside the DNA of species from dozens of different planets. Questions abound: What does the program do? And what kind of entity could have been so ancient and powerful that it had determined the genetic legacy of most of the known galaxy before sentient life had even evolved here — and then left no trace of its existence except the genetic codes themselves?

In a nutshell, the mysterious death of Captain Picard’s old archeology professor (did you know that if he hadn’t gone into Starfleet, Jean-Luc was studying to be a space archeologist? Well, now you do) sets the captain and the Enterprise on a search for the missing DNA fragments necessary to complete his unfinished work.

The action of the episode becomes a grand chase, as Klingon and Cardassian captains come to believe the program must be a great weapon or dangerous secret. Eventually Picard and his rivals all discover the lonely planet with the final DNA strain — and when they get there, some Romulans who’ve been secretly following all of them show up, too, just to make things even more tense.

In the end, the program isn’t a weapon or a secret, but a message from an ancient race of humanoids that apparently created sentient life in our galaxy as we know it.

Actor Salome Jens appears as a Progenitor hologram, and delivers a speech that’s stirring by any standard of Star Trek monologues, telling the story of a race of sentients that took to the stars and found them empty. They had evolved too early to meet other forms of sentient life, and knew that their time was too limited to ever expect to.

“We knew that one day we would be gone; that nothing of us would survive, so we left you,” Jens’ Progenitor explains. The Progenitors seeded humanoid life across the galaxy in their own image; life that tended to evolve into bipedal, tailless, largely hairless creatures with two eyes and two arms and five fingers on each hand. And they left clues in the genetic signature of their work, broken up among the stars.

Wait, was this really all about lampshading the limits of Star Trek’s alien design?

Kinda, yes! The writers of “The Chase,” Ron Moore and Joe Menosky, were inspired by elements of Carl Sagan’s Contact , but also by Menosky’s pet fascination creating an in-universe explanation for why all the common alien species in Star Trek are basically shaped like humans (albeit with latex on their faces).

In other hands, it would be hokey and trite, but even under heavy makeup, Jens sells the hell out of her single scene on voice and stance alone — it’s no wonder she was asked back to the Trek fold to play a major antagonist role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

“It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message, and if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled,” the Progenitor hologram concludes, with gentle compassion. “You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish: That you, too, would know life. [...] There is something of us in each of you, and so something of you in each other.”

But though “The Chase” carried a sweeping revelation, nothing ever really panned out from it. You’d think that a message of togetherness that fundamentally rewrote the origin of life in the universe would have to have tweaked Star Trek’s galactic politics a bit, right? Seems like this would give the Star Trek setting a radically different understanding of the origins of life than we have in the real world — this is literally intelligent design! At the very least there’d be some other characters talking about how humans and Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi and Cardassians and Trill and Bajorans, all share the same genetic ancestor.

But nope: The Pandora’s box of Progenitor lore remained closed. Gene Roddenberry’s successor and Trek producer Rick Berman seems to have been disenchanted with the episode’s reveal — and you can’t really blame him for not wanting to rock the whole cosmology of Star Trek in an episode that’s mostly about explaining how if you turn the DNA snippets like this they make a cool spiral. Now look at this computer screen with the spiral :

Except now, Star Trek: Discovery is opening the box and rocking the boat. This new mad, puzzle-box chase around the galaxy promises to expand on the Progenitors, an idea so big that not even The Next Generation was willing to touch it. It’s a tall order, but Discovery has never been more free to shake up Star Trek continuity than it is right now — we’ll have to wait for more episodes of the show’s final season to find out how free it intends to be.

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

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Vasquez Rocks

• View history

Vasquez Rocks was a location on the planet Earth .

In 2399 , Raffaela Musiker was living there when Jean-Luc Picard came to pay her a visit. ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ", " The End is the Beginning ")

• 1.1.1 History
• 1.1.2 Star Trek
• 1.1.3 Appearances in Star Trek
• 1.1.4 Other related appearances
• 1.2 External links

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Vasquez Rocks in southern California

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a county park in Agua Dulce, California, roughly thirty miles north of Los Angeles. The area has been used in the filming of numerous Star Trek productions, including at least ten television episodes and two movies.

History [ ]

The familiar jagged rock face from "Arena", where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn

Vasquez rocks in "The Alternative Factor"

Filming "Who Watches The Watchers" at Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks is named after notorious bandit Tiburcio Vásquez , who used the rocky region to elude capture from California law enforcement in 1873 and 1874. On the television series Stories of the Century , Vasquez was portrayed by Anthony Caruso . Since 1928, nearly two hundred other film and television productions have been shot at Vasquez Rocks, including many westerns. The park was acquired by Los Angeles County in 1970.

Classic television shows such as Gunsmoke , Maverick , Bonanza , The Wild Wild West , and Kung Fu have all utilized Vasquez Rocks for filming, as have more contemporary hit shows like Airwolf , Alien Nation , Sliders , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (the rocks were used for the location of the Power Rangers' Command Center, which was in fact the House of the Book at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute used for Camp Khitomer in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ), Roswell , 24 , and CSI .

Films that have been shot at the region include the 1931 classic Dracula , Mel Brooks' 1974 western comedy Blazing Saddles , the 1991 science fiction comedy film Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey , the cult 1993 horror film Army of Darkness , the hit 1997 comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery , Tim Burton's 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes , and Nick Cassavetes' 2006 drama Alpha Dog .

Star Trek [ ]

The first episode to be partially filmed at Vasquez was " Shore Leave " (in which it depicted the Shore Leave Planet along with, Africa, USA ), spending two and half days on location, on Monday 24 October 1966 , Tuesday 25 October 1966 and Wednesday 26 October 1966 . In the next month, another two Star Trek episodes were shot there, " Arena ", spending two days at Vasquez, on Wednesday 9 November 1966 and Thursday 10 November 1966 , and " The Alternative Factor ". The latter also spent two days filming on location, on Tuesday 22 November 1966 and Wednesday 23 November 1966 . Star Trek returned to Vasquez for the second season , to film " Friday's Child ", which also spent two days on location, on Wednesday 24 May 1967 and Thursday 25 May 1967 .

For " Arena ", the destroyed colony at Cestus III was also filmed near Vasquez, at an outdoor fortress set, originally built by Screen Gems for the series Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers . Filming there took place on Friday 11 November 1966 .

Vasquez was seen again almost twenty years later in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , when some of the Vulcan scenes were filmed there. Three years later, in August 1989 , the Star Trek: The Next Generation third season episode " Who Watches The Watchers " was also located at Vasquez. Star Trek: Voyager also filmed scenes at Vasquez, including the barren moon surface for " Initiations " in July 1995 and the desert for " Gravity " in September 1998 . In late- July 2001 , Vasquez portrayed the Xyrillian homeworld in the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode " Unexpected ".

In late- 2007 , director J.J. Abrams shot the Vulcan scenes of 2009 's Star Trek at Vasquez Rocks as an homage to its use in previous Trek productions. [1]

In January 2012 , Abrams filmed some scenes at Vasquez for Star Trek Into Darkness . [2]

Star Trek: Picard also used Vasquez as a location, filming the exteriors of Raffi Musiker 's home there for " Maps and Legends " and " The End is the Beginning " in early- May 2019 . For the first time, the Vasquez Rocks were portrayed as themselves instead of as a stand-in for a different location.

Appearances in Star Trek [ ]

• " Shore Leave " (as the Shore Leave Planet )
• " Arena " as (as the Metron planet )
• " The Alternative Factor " (as Lazarus' planet )
• " Friday's Child " (as Capella IV )
• " Who Watches The Watchers " (as Mintaka III )
• " Initiations " (as Tarok )
• " Gravity " (as Subspace sinkhole planet)
• " Unexpected " (as Xyrillian homeworld )
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (as Vulcan )
• Star Trek (as Vulcan)
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• " Maps and Legends " (as Vasquez Rocks, Earth )
• " The End is the Beginning " (as Vasquez Rocks, Earth)

Other related appearances [ ]

• Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
• Free Enterprise
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (A diner in a scene filmed at the location was named "The Arena Diner", as an homage to the episode "Arena").
• Brandeis-Bardin Institute's House of the Book, digitally edited atop, to create the Command Center/Power Chamber for the first five seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
• The Big Bang Theory , Episode "The Bakersfield Expedition".
• Monk , Episode "Mr. Monk and the UFO".
• Bring Back... Star Trek
• How William Shatner Changed the World
• Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

External links [ ]

• Vasquez Rocks at SantaClaritaGuide.com
• Vasquez Rocks at Wikipedia
• Re-Uses of the Vasquez Rocks Location  at Ex Astris Scientia
• List of productions filmed at Vasquez Rocks at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Reaction control thruster

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s tng connection explained - "the chase" & who are the progenitors.

The Progenitors were one of Captain Picard's most profound discoveries in Star Trek: The Next Generation, now Burnham resumes the chase in Discovery.

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episodes 1 & 2!

• Star Trek: Discovery season 5 continues the story of the Progenitors discovered by Captain Picard 800 years ago.
• Captain Burnham embarks on a treasure hunt to uncover the Progenitors' technology with potential for peace or conflict.
• The legacy of the Progenitors in Star Trek: Discovery raises questions of power, unity, and morality in the 32nd century.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is a surprising sequel to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Chase", continuing the story of the enigmatic Progenitors 800 years after they were discovered by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). As Discovery is set 800 years after the TNG era, it can often feel forced when the show tries to marry up these two ends of the Star Trek timeline . However, the magnitude of Picard's discovery about the Progenitors justifies the secret being hidden for centuries, and it could have fascinating implications for the future of Star Trek 's 32nd century.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 1, "Red Directive" opens with Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) exploring an 800-year-old Romulan scout ship at the behest of Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg). Kovich was less forthcoming than usual with information about the USS Discovery's "Red Directive" mission , forcing Burnham to seek help from Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) in learning more. Tilly uncovered recordings left by the Romulan scientist Dr. Vellek (Michael Copeman), revealing Discovery 's links to Star Trek: The Next Generation 's original Progenitor treasure hunt, led by Captain Picard.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Picard’s original progenitor treasure hunt in tng explained.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 20, "The Chase", Picard's former archeology teacher, Professor Galen (Norman Lloyd) asked the Enterprise captain to join him in solving a 4.5 billion-year-old mystery. Picard initially declined Galen's offer, but circumstances forced him to reconsider when his mentor's shuttle was attacked. Galen left behind files that contained huge blocks of numbers that were indecipherable without further information . Picard had the Enterprise retrace Galen's journey in the hope of finding out more about the archeology professor's strange code.

"The Chase" was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who returned to direct the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Eventually, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) discovered that the numbers refer to DNA strands of multiple different alien species. The combined strands form a shape that resembles an algorithm, a program implanted in the DNA of multiple species, for reasons unknown . It quickly became clear that Picard was not the only person seeking answers about Galen's mystery, as the Cardassians and Klingons also sought to understand what this ancient program could be. Negotiating a truce between the two factions, Picard and Crusher gained enough information to lead the Enterprise, Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans to the planet Vilmor II, where they make a monumental discovery.

TNG’s Progenitors Created All Humanoid Life In The Star Trek Universe

The treasure on Vilmor II was knowledge about life itself, delivered via a holographic message left behind by an ancient humanoid species. The sole humanoid species in the universe, these aliens wanted to leave a lasting legacy after their own extinction. And so, 4.5 billion years earlier, the ancient humanoids seeded their DNA across multiple planets in the Star Trek universe , influencing the evolution of countless species. Star Trek: Discovery reveals that since Picard revealed his findings, Starfleet have been calling the ancient humanoid species The Progenitors.

The Ancient Humanoid in Star Trek: The Next Generation was played by Salome Jens, who would go on to play the Female Changeling in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

Not unlike the broken treasure map from Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2, "Under the Twin Moons" , the Progenitors' message was broken into fragments and contained within multiple alien species' DNA. The Progenitors' intention was that, upon coming together to piece the fragments together, the disparate alien races would unite under their common origins. Sadly, this wasn't the case in Star Trek: The Next Generation , as the Klingons and Cardassians refused to believe that they could possibly originate from the same species . However, the Romulans were more thoughtful, setting up Discovery 's season 5 premiere.

Star Trek: Discovery's Huge Season 5 TNG Connection Explained By Showrunner

Discovery’s romulan scientist and his tng link explained.

At the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "The Chase", Captain Picard discusses the Progenitors' message with a surprisingly open-minded Romulan commander. The message has had an effect on the Romulan, who tells Picard that he hopes to one day stand alongside humanity as friends. Star Trek: Discovery reveals that one of the members of TNG 's Romulan landing party, Dr. Vellek, continued to research the Progenitors and eventually found where their ancient technology was hidden. However, Vellek was very aware that such technology could be as deadly as it is profound, and went to extraordinary lengths to hide his findings .

Both the crew of the USS Discovery and intergalactic outlaws Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) have access to Vellek's journals. However, both parties have very different intentions for the Romulan scientist's life's work. Captain Burnham hopes that recovering the Progenitors' technology will provide a sense of meaning, while Moll and L'ak are attracted by the price tag . Vellek remained hidden for 800 years, until his corpse was discovered in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, which proves just how desperate he was to keep the location of the Progenitors' technology a secret.

What Does Star Trek: Discovery’s Progenitor Link Mean For Its Final Season?

In Star Trek: The Next Generation , the Progenitors had hoped the truth about humanoid life in the galaxy would bring a new era of peace and understanding . However, rather than become inspired by their commonality, the Klingons and Cardassians instead feud with each other, disgusted that they could be somehow genetically related. 800 years later, and in the wake of the hostilities caused by The Burn, the Progenitors' message could be the very thing that finally unites the galaxy in Star Trek: Discovery 's finale . However, it may not be that simple.

For one thing, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will continue the story of the 32nd century, and the Progenitors' message of commonality will dramatically reduce any sense of conflict in the universe. More interestingly, Dr. Kovich seems to want to get his hands on the technology, not the message. The Progenitors' technology would allow Starfleet to influence the evolution of other species , power that would set them up among the gods. This feels like too much power for a shifty character like Kovich to possess.

Whoever possesses the Progenitors' tech in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has the very building blocks of life itself. In the right hands, that could lead to profound discoveries that lead to renewed peace and prosperity for the Federation in the 32nd century. In the wrong hands, enemies of the Federation could use those building blocks for their own nefarious purposes. That's a huge concern as Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery continue their treasure hunt. Sooner or later, Captain Burnham will have to make a choice about how she deals with the legacy of Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Progenitors.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+

Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

• Episode aired Oct 20, 1966

Nurse Chapel is reunited with her fiancé; but his new obsession leads him to make an android duplicate of Captain Kirk. Nurse Chapel is reunited with her fiancé; but his new obsession leads him to make an android duplicate of Captain Kirk. Nurse Chapel is reunited with her fiancé; but his new obsession leads him to make an android duplicate of Captain Kirk.

• James Goldstone
• Robert Bloch
• Gene Roddenberry
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• Michael Strong
• 39 User reviews
• 14 Critic reviews

• Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

• Mister Spock

• Dr. Roger Korby

• Christine Chapel

• (as Vince Deadrick)

• Lieutenant Leslie
• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In Robert Bloch 's original script, a wealthy socialite named Margo hired the Enterprise to look for Doctor Korby, whom she greatly admired. In his script re-writes, Gene Roddenberry felt the role would be better filled by Korby's wife or fiancée, which would play well with the doctor's alleged intimate relationship with Andrea and his emotional coldness. Finally, he wrote the part to feature Christine Chapel, who was previously featured in The Naked Time (1966) (and was played by Roddenberry's lover, Majel Barrett ). In any case, money is no longer widely used, certainly not by the Federation, so it is hard to see how someone could hire the Enterprise.
• Goofs One close-up of Kirk during his last conversation with Ruk is flipped. Notice that his hair is parted the opposite way and the colors of the costume are reversed.

Ruk : THAT was the equation. EXISTENCE!... SURVIVAL... must cancel out... programming!

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song
• Connections Edited from Star Trek: The Man Trap (1966)
• Soundtracks Theme From Star Trek Written by and credited to Alexander Courage

User reviews 39

• Jun 26, 2006
• October 20, 1966 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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