Greys and alien abduction in the Trek universe/s

[kwanzaabot]

Hey all, long time Trek fan and first time poster.

I was watching some Stargate a little while ago, and it got me thinking about the Greys (well, Asgard), those horrible little grey people with big black eyes that like to go around abducting people and performing medical experiments on them.

Do they exist in Star Trek, at all? Has there ever been an indication of "well, before the Vulcans came along, we did have aliens visit Earth, but most people just thought abductees were crazy people" or something similar?

If not, why not? I mean, yes, they creep me the hell out, but look at 'em! Who can say no to that face? :P

 

[The Wormhole]

They don't exist in Star Trek. In Trek, you're only an alien if you're human with a funny bump on your forehead.

 

[kwanzaabot]

Yeah, that's what I thought. So I guess alien abductees really were crazy people then?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Wasn't this guy kind of like a grey?

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Barash

 

[kwanzaabot]

Wasn't this guy kind of like a grey?

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Barash

Well, would ya look at that! Seems like an interesting fellow.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Just an FYI, as to whether or not Barash's species ever went to Earth, I don't believe Trek ever established that. But appearance-wise, he does seem like a grey.

 

[Sci]

There's a passing reference to a small, non-aligned planet that was conducting Human abductions/experiments in the 20th Century in the DS9 Millennium novel trilogy by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

 

[F. King Daniel]

IIRC, according to the Lost Series book, there was an episode written for the aborted Star Trek Phase II television series (the series was cancelled and the pilot episode was adapted to become TMP, the episodes "The Child" and "Devil's Due" were adapted to become Next Gen episodes) involving Klingons abducting humans from earth in the 60's using flying saucers.

I've seen an alien mask that resembles the greys that was made for STXI (it was either in the art book or one of scifinow's articles), but I haven't spotted it in the movie. It was probably one of the dozens of background aliens (along with a Gorn and a Salt Vampire) in the Rura Penthe deleted scenes.

Even if Trek came up with it's own version of the greys, they wouldn't be nearly as awesome as the Asguard!

 

[Tulin]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

But then, B5 beat ST in a LOT of things.

 

[Timo]

To be sure, Grey-style alien abduction is commonplace in the Trek universe. The Skags did it in ENT, the Briori in VOY, the Preservers in TOS... Apparently, it's economically viable to abduct primitive species for manual labor in shady enterprises - and indeed the existence of the transporter would make that a very appealing prospect for otherwise weakling species.

We never saw a Briori or a Preserver, so both of those species might be classic Greys. But we did see a Skagaran who was from the classic bumpyheaded human pool instead.

For the even more classical "catch and return" style Grey'ing, we have the creatures from the subspace realm in "Schisms" who engaged in mysterious medical probing. The appearance is not classic Grey, tho.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Solanogen-based_lifeform.jpg

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Badger]

The DS9 episode 'Little Green Men' had three Ferengi travelling back through time to Roswell, 1947. As far as I know that's the closest Trek has got to acknowledging the stereotypical UFO/alien abduction experience, at least in contemporary times.

Considering the number of times Roswell/Grey aliens/butt probing etc. has turned up in SF, I personally would like to see a series or movie where such things don't occur, even though people believe in them, just for a change.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The episode Schisms is an alien abduction for medical experiments episode.

And, of course, The 37s were abducted from Earth, but we never saw the aliens who did it.

 

[Satyrquaze]

I thought I read somewhere that the Bynars were supposed to represent Greys in Trek lore.

 

[Nerys Myk]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

But then, B5 beat ST in a LOT of things.

Wow and people wonder why I complain about B5s writing. I mean seriously thats what make B5 better?????

 

[-Brett-]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

But then, B5 beat ST in a LOT of things.

Wow and people wonder why I complain about B5s writing. I mean seriously thats what make B5 better?????

I didn't say anything because I didn't want to be the one to take the thread off topic, but now that it's started...

The scene in question wasn't clever, it wasn't funny, it wasn't interesting, it wasn't necessary, and it certainly wasn't an example of one of the very, very few areas in which B5 is better than Star Trek. Beyond fanboyism, I have no idea why it was even brought up.

 

[Sci]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

But then, B5 beat ST in a LOT of things.

Wow and people wonder why I complain about B5s writing. I mean seriously thats what make B5 better?????

No, that was just an amusing little anecdote from the show.

 

[Nerys Myk]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

But then, B5 beat ST in a LOT of things.

Wow and people wonder why I complain about B5s writing. I mean seriously thats what make B5 better?????

No, that was just an amusing little anecdote from the show.

I'm pretty sure Tulin meant it as an example of B5 being better than Trek.

 

[AstroSmurf]

We are not going down the "Who is better?" road with DS-9/B5 again. It only leads to the gnashing of teeth, screaming, blood-letting and ultimately tears so lets just stay on topic please.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

B5 had the right idea - there was a scene where some guy is suing a grey for his great great great grandfather's abduction and the social stigma and emotional pain it caused him.

That was brilliant.

That species was the Vree, I think. Their flying saucers showed up quite often, but we didn't actually see the aliens themselves very much.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Did someone mention the grays?

You knew the BolianAuthor was gonna get in on this one...

Well, they never really depicted the grays in Trek, and as indicated, Barash was the closest thing. But... in VOY the Briori are cited as the alien race that abducted the people from 1937 Earth in "The 37's", and if you go by standard UFO lore... you can assume the Briori are the grays, though there is no concrete proof of this.

The Babylon 5 version of the grays is the Vree, and Vree saucers were featured heavily in quite a few episodes.

And of course, my version is the Orvani, from the "Shades of Gray" story I'm writing.