Where did all the dangerous races go?

The Conspiracy Aliens, the Sheliak, the Zalkonians...

We got introduced to theese one-episode wonders who proved more than a match for the Enterprise and/or Federation in terms of technology and power, but are never seen or referenced to again.

Where did they go after the writers decided never to bother with them again? I always assumed they were all bulldozed by the borg.

Post your theories here!

 

Weren't the Sheliak an isolationist species? It could be possible that while they were more advanced, that they didn't bother to expand due to those tendencies, and the Federation's territory just expanded to space that surrounded it, and the Sheliak didn't particularly care. Major supposition, but it's one theory.

 

Absurd. The Sheliak would never allow an inferior species to encroach upon their territory without the proper authority granted by the Corporate, pursuant to paragraph 2845, subsection 146 of the treaty or Armens.

 

TNG is episodic by nature - I never really expected a consistent use of races from week to week; they were there to highlight interesting conceptual themes rather than to create a new race to build multiple stories around. The Sheliak representing a legalistic/bureaucratic worldview, the Conspiracy aliens represent how an organisation can rot from within, etc, etc.

I guess I never really cared about why they don't appear again.

 

I only wish they'd never used the Borg again after TBOBW.

 

Aside from the Borg, the only really dangerous folks were the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Cardassians! C'mon! -- RR

 

As far as I'm aware the races that were mentioned aren't particularly warlike. The Zalkonians were just objecting to the fact the Enterprise had someone they wanted, and the Sheliak to the fact that a world that they saw as theirs was inhabited by non-Sheliak. They had no reason to attack the Federation.

 

They went up.

 

Maybe Worf killed them

 

They ticked off Kevin Uxbridge?

 

Star Trek sold them to Farscape?

 

I think that's just one of the downsides of Television. Writers make the episodes as they go, they aren't written into one solid script that combines in advance like movies are, so you often end up with loose threads like this.

 

Yeah, I would have loved to see the Sheilak again.

 

Seriously, another way to look at this is the galaxy is HUGE! It's extremely plausible that they can go years without seeing the same race again. It doesn't mean they don't exist any more.

I liken it to a modern TV show. According to the past 5 shows I've watched, the state of Delaware doesn't exist. They have shown nobody from that state, and no one on the shows have traveled there.
If we can accept that we can go weeks, years, etc. without hearing about Delaware (appologies, by the way to those from the good state of Delaware. It's just an example) why can't we accept that in a much larger area - i.e. the whole galaxy, we may not hear again from the Sheliak or something?

 

Personally, I think they all went back in time to 21st century Earth where they are now running the governments and the economy. (It would explain a few things.)

 

Conspiracy aliens? As in those...weird things that stick in people's neck?

Yeah. DS9...They and the trills hate each other.

 

I was laughing at this all day when I first read it.

 

^It is a good joke.

I always half-expected to see the Sheliak in DS9, joining sides with the Dominion. An anti-humanoid league would have been fun.

 

Really, the only one of the three cited that matters at all is the Conspiracy aliens, as the episode left a huge, dangling promise of a follow-up. The real-world answer is the idea for the conspiracy alien plot morphed into the Borg one, pretty much. The other races might have been nice to see again but given their agendas there was no compelling need to.

 

Maybe. And that shows them -- you don't mess with Worf.