Horrific encounters with alien species?

[UnknownSample]

It's the shows' job to set up frightening situations. I think the point of the thread is, why don't more of those situations turn into disasters? Because they need the show to keep going of course, and the stars to stay alive, and not have the basic situation (Federation) changed... But yes, after hundreds of episodes in different centuries, the Federation has had a charmed life, just squeaking by, presumably not just on the ship we see, but on lots of other ships encountering these things. Humanity etc could have been wiped out by any one of these crises.

I think of the Sheliak, and think of how many other groups out there must also be more powerful and have no patience whatsoever for us. Others may not have the Sheliak's legal fixation. That's all that saved any human from them, and what if they came our way? That seems more realistic, relatively speaking. They won't all be at our power level and no stronger, our size, with similar comprehensive skills and values.

 

[Tim Thomason]

It's the shows' job to set up frightening situations. I think the point of the thread is, why don't more of those situations turn into disasters? Because they need the show to keep going of course, and the stars to stay alive, and not have the basic situation (Federation) changed... But yes, after hundreds of episodes in different centuries, the Federation has had a charmed life, just squeaking by, presumably not just on the ship we see, but on lots of other ships encountering these things. Humanity etc could have been wiped out by any one of these crises.

I think of the Sheliak, and think of how many other groups out there must also be more powerful and have no patience whatsoever for us. Others may not have the Sheliak's legal fixation. That's all that saved any human from them, and what if they came our way? That seems more realistic, relatively speaking. They won't all be at our power level and no stronger, our size, with similar comprehensive skills and values.

Well all the other groups would face the same harsh, cruel galaxy that our hero ships face. And five out of five series focused on exploring the unknown outer reaches of space. A key conceit of the TMP novelization (not necessarily gibing with later Trek) was that the Enterprise was the only ship to survive a five-year mission.

Space is scary and creepy and death lies at every corner. In TOS especially, we dealt with the cosmic, almost Lovecraftian horror of beings far more powerful and indifferent to our heroes' concerns.

For most of intergalactic history, it seems that large collections of polities are doomed to fail (Slavers, Iconians, Tkon, Hur'q, Promellians). At the time of Enterprise, the future Federation appear to be minor planetary governments not interested in expansion or exploration, possibly because of the inherent dangers involved.

It takes a common threat and a new player to get them to the table, and pretty soon safety-in-numbers and root beer-style insidiousness expands the Federation to the point where it can attempt to confront the challenges of the galaxy head on.

But things don't look good if we review history. Maybe time travel will protect the Federation going forward (or make things worse), or maybe the races won't splinter until they start Zalkonianing their way into the higher consciousness.

I'd love to imagine the fate of the Federation and others to be akin to the Mega-Federation from "Our Million Year Mission" (SNW 6), but the galaxy does not seem that kind.

 

[UnknownSample]

root beer-style insidiousness

Ha...

 

[MacLeod]

Well it's implied contact with the Klingons started from a bad point. Living Witness left a bad impression on the Kyrians.

I imagine by the 24th century Starfleet has protocols in place to ensure first contact doesn't end in a firefight or disaster every other Thursday.

No, they save that kind of thing for Tuesday's.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Landru (TOS "The Return of the Archons")
The Gorn (TOS "Arena")
The Vians (TOS "The Empath")

The Husnock (TNG "The Survivors")

 

[MAGolding]

The Galileo seven had a horrific experience with cavemen-like creatures on the planet that their shuttlecraft crash landed on. Deadly aliens can come in all forms, and they don't have to be technologically advanced in order to be dangerous and unwelcoming. They could simply be monsters.

The creatures on that planet reminded one Enterprise crew member, who was part of a search party, of aliens that he had encountered on another planet, Hansen's planet. So I guess, encounters with monsters by a Starfleet crew may be just as likely as an encounter with a smart but treacherous alien.

I hope the new Trek series would have an episode about this Hansen's planet.

Also, Kirk got a nasty bite from a white colored ape-like creature in "A Private Little War".

The Galileo seven humanoids were not monsters. They were clearly people. Primitive and hostile people.

 

[Voth commando1]

A lot of encounters we see throughout Star Trek aren't horrific but they are hostile.

Someone earlier mentioned the Talosians-I agree they were pretty frightening.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

My TrekBBS namesake has a suggestion.

I always thought the Argrathi’s punishment of O’Brien, i.e., implanting memories of a prison sentence, was pretty horrific.

 

[Refuge]

I second the Vidiians for horrific encounters. That scene in Faces where Sulan has Durst's face patched over his, is creepy. The way they stole Neelix's lungs.

Totally different kind of creepiness, so not really horror but Think Tank's "George Costanza" gave me the heebie-jeebies.

 

[Kilana2]

Armus. The entity that killed Tasha and absorbed Riker. Obviously he wasn't to its taste.

 

[johnnybear]

Gary Mitchell once exposed to the energy barrier at the rim of our galaxy was a pretty frightening fellow it has to be said!
JB

 

[Roundabout]

The creature in "Skin of Evil" was a horror. It was sadistic and had that creepy voice. It was the Creature from the Black La Goo.

 

[Kilana2]

The creature in "Skin of Evil" was a horror. It was sadistic and had that creepy voice. It was the Creature from the Black La Goo.

I was never fond of Armus and was glad the creature wasn't mentioned again. A whole lake of Armus creatures would have been to creepy....

 

[Kilana2]

No mention of the aliens from "Conspiracy" the Blue Gills? Seriously, they were trying to take over the Federation from the inside and introducing weird dietary habits to boot.

They returned in the novels, loosing their creepiness, at least a little bit. The novels didn't include horrific death scenes as opposed to Conspiracy.