Parasites of Conspiracy
- Thread starter Photon
- Start date
Very Gumby-like.
IIRC, we did see them again......kind of. If memory serves, they evolved into the Borg. The thought was to have an insect nemesis with a hive mind, but cost wise it was too unrealistic for production. So they reimagined the concept, made them humanoid instead, and introduced the Borg.
Weren't they discussed at some later point (maybe DS9?) as being somehow related to the Trill parasites? I am not sure where I recall that from, and I could very well be wrong about that.
I'm actually kind of happy that we didn't see them again. The reason I say this is because a lot of the popular villains from TNG became less and less interesting the more they appeared on the show. Lore and the Borg are probably the worst cases of this. Datalore and BOBW were terrific episodes, but none of the later episodes that featured these characters ever reached those heights again (with the exception of FC). The parasites worked for this episode, and that's really what counts, IMO. By bringing them back you risk cheapening them. I just don't think it would be possible for them to have the same creepy and scary effect that they had the first time around.
I agree, had they returned they would have been just another enemy that becomes lamer and less threatening every time. During Voyager they would have probably been turned into nothing but annoying bugs that are used for funny scenes of Harry suddenly enjoying Neelix' worm soup and are defeated by Janeway and a pair of stomping boots.
The thing is, the parasites were already defeated in their introductory episode. There's no way they could threaten the Federation again, not with everybody knowing to check for a snorchel at the neck of an oddly behaving superior or underling.
The interesting second episode on them would be the one dealing with their UFP membership application... How would a species like that fit in? It's the ages-old fantasy question - how do vampires, cannibals or the like become part of the society? Are they forever condemned to be enemies or perhaps prey because of a biological imperative?
Timo Saloniemi
The interesting second episode on them would be the one dealing with their UFP membership application... How would a species like that fit in? It's the ages-old fantasy question - how do vampires, cannibals or the like become part of the society? Are they forever condemned to be enemies or perhaps prey because of a biological imperative?
Timo Saloniemi
Sorry, you're wrong. They were never mentioned on televised Trek again.
They did pop in various tie-in literature, however. The DC TNG Annual #3 has Geordi taking them on.
I think I was thinking about the DS9 novels, perhaps, which I know isn't canon.
Not DS9 the show. It was in the novels, I believe.
I don't miss stop-motion too much. I always thought it looked cheesy and fake. Sure, there can be pretty bad computer effects but when they are done right, computer effects can be just about seamless.
It's a shame that the people that worked in the older special effects industries have nothing to apply their skills to today, though.
Audrid Dax and Christopher Pike encounter the "bluegills" in "The Lives of Dax: Sins of the Mother", a storyline picked up again in the 24th century, in "DS9: Unity" and "The Worlds of DS9: Trill: Unjoined".
I don't think the Federation would want those parasites as members, unless they can give a good reason why the Federation should trust them after their last encounter.
Many of the UFP members and allies seem to have started off as UFP enemies. As long as Roddenberry had any control over the writing of Star Trek, he liked to push the angle of "all hostility is just a communications failure". If Picard had sat down with the creature masquerading as Remmick, instead of phasering his head off, perhaps the superficial grievances could have been settled, and the issue of the parasites being, well, parasitic could have been tackled. The Trills do fine as UFP allies and possible members, after all...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I agree that the overuse of a character leads to a loss of its punch. That is what happened to the Borg, obviously. However, I think one question arises here: in order for an antagonist to become a notable one, don't they have to appear several times? If they are seen in one episode only, as is the case of the "Conspiracy" creatures, they are indeed scary, but they can't hold that great of an importance. So, I think it's sort of self-defeating to say that an enemy becomes lamer the more it appears, because it requires several appearances to establish a character as a feared enemy. Well, that was a more general comment there.
I loved the grim idea behind "Conspiracy", but the stop-motion animation used to render the parasites seemed a bit inappropriate to me because it appears more suited for comical productions. It makes it too obvious that the creatures are a fabrication.
I wonder if they will clean up any of this animation for TNG-R!?
Im not proposing all new cgi effects (though i wouldn't be opposed) but certainly something could be done to smooth out the choppy stop-motion fx footage shot, along the lines of how they smoothed out the 'morphing' of deformed Vina at the end of The Menagerie.
Im not proposing all new cgi effects (though i wouldn't be opposed) but certainly something could be done to smooth out the choppy stop-motion fx footage shot, along the lines of how they smoothed out the 'morphing' of deformed Vina at the end of The Menagerie.
I disagree. The Borg were pretty mental scary in Q-who, and would have remained so after if they weren't de-clawed later.
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