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Re-interpreting the God-like aliens

Sabataage

Commander
Red Shirt
Thinking about the antagonists that appeared week-to-week from the Original Series you see a lot of patterns emerge. The big one is just how many god-like super advanced non-corporeal aliens their are in the Universe. And it seemed that one thing they all had in common was thay looked down on humans as primitive but 'with potential.' Now with the reboot (yes it is a reboot) they have an opportunity to re-incorporate or re-imagine these creatures into a greater, more dangerous universe for the Enterprise to live in.

What I liked about the Narada from Star Trek XI was how completly out-gunned everyone was in dealing with it. The premise would be to recapture that sense of world ending terror without resorting to time-travel again to do find a good/formidable villain.

As a for instance, what if the Metrons from Arena weren't trying to teach Kirk and the Gorn a valuable lesson about compassion and non-violence by pitting them against each other? What if they interfered with these lesser aliens just for "shits and giiggles?" Violence and killing being the only things that interest them anymore these God-like aliens use their advanced technology to turn the galaxy into their own personal sand box.

What if the reason the Organians (the energy beings who single handedly put an end to the Klingon/Federation war) were never seen or heard from again not because they lost interest in our species or left our "plain of existence" but because they were actually at war with or keeping out something far far worse than anything our universe had ever seen before? Or for that matter the First Federation doing the same?

Imagine a whole swarm of Doomsday Machines moving through the Galaxy eating everything in their path.

What I'm proposing is definitely similar to the Vorlons and Shadows from Babyloin 5 but maybe not on that scale. In the same way that the Enterpise may defend a pre-industrial species from exploitation by, for instance, Klingons or Cardassians, the ancient aliens like the Organians or the Preservers protect younger races from larger and older threats we couldn't handle on our own.
 
I think it would be a better idea to have these aliens acting true to form and within their natures. I think they should test humans and see if they have moved up a peg or two since the last ST installment. That's what ST is about - evolving.
 
Here's the problem with "God like aliens" as antagonists.

If they're only interested in "violence and killing for shits and giggles" and making our heroes playthings, how in the hell are the protagonists supposed to deal with the threat? In a war between extra-galactic beings of incomprehensible power, how is the crew of one spacecraft supposed to interfere?

"The Test" by beings like Q, or the relative benevolence of beings like the Organians are the only things that enable our heroes to be able to have a give and take with these creatures, otherwise your story might as well be the "true" story about how the ant hill rebelled against the farmer who was pouring gasoline on them and lighting them on fire. In other words you'd have to stretch credibility and suspension of disbelief to unimaginable levels.

Imagine if Q was truly evil and self-serving: there isn't an amount of wit in the entire universe that would allow Picard to vanquish him. He could turn every planet in the Federation into a giant sack of potatoes!

This problem relates to any tremendously powerful alien race, it's the reason they had to "nerf" the Borg a bit when you think about it. Why did only one cube ever invade Earth? Because if more than one cube (and they have tens of thousands or maybe millions of them) invaded Earth we'd be screwed.
 
Thinking about the antagonists that appeared week-to-week from the Original Series you see a lot of patterns emerge. The big one is just how many god-like super advanced non-corporeal aliens their are in the Universe. And it seemed that one thing they all had in common was thay looked down on humans as primitive but 'with potential.' Now with the reboot (yes it is a reboot) they have an opportunity to re-incorporate or re-imagine these creatures into a greater, more dangerous universe for the Enterprise to live in.

What I liked about the Narada from Star Trek XI was how completly out-gunned everyone was in dealing with it. The premise would be to recapture that sense of world ending terror without resorting to time-travel again to do find a good/formidable villain.

As a for instance, what if the Metrons from Arena weren't trying to teach Kirk and the Gorn a valuable lesson about compassion and non-violence by pitting them against each other? What if they interfered with these lesser aliens just for "shits and giiggles?" Violence and killing being the only things that interest them anymore these God-like aliens use their advanced technology to turn the galaxy into their own personal sand box.

What if the reason the Organians (the energy beings who single handedly put an end to the Klingon/Federation war) were never seen or heard from again not because they lost interest in our species or left our "plain of existence" but because they were actually at war with or keeping out something far far worse than anything our universe had ever seen before? Or for that matter the First Federation doing the same?

Imagine a whole swarm of Doomsday Machines moving through the Galaxy eating everything in their path.

What I'm proposing is definitely similar to the Vorlons and Shadows from Babyloin 5 but maybe not on that scale. In the same way that the Enterpise may defend a pre-industrial species from exploitation by, for instance, Klingons or Cardassians, the ancient aliens like the Organians or the Preservers protect younger races from larger and older threats we couldn't handle on our own.

I love that idea!! That is so smart, and keeping with Gene's idea of the Trekverse.
 
I tend to agree with FordSVT. Fighting gods doesn't work well unless they are a) faking it (Ardra) or, b) not that bright (STV). Likewise, anything that could threaten them should be too much for our heroes to handle. It also goes against Trek's basic optimistic philosophy, which seems to suggest a sort of "angelic destiny" for humanity (the oft-repeated "one day you may evolve..." stuff.)
 
I tend to agree with FordSVT. Fighting gods doesn't work well unless they are a) faking it (Ardra) or, b) not that bright (STV). Likewise, anything that could threaten them should be too much for our heroes to handle. It also goes against Trek's basic optimistic philosophy, which seems to suggest a sort of "angelic destiny" for humanity (the oft-repeated "one day you may evolve..." stuff.)


Remember than angels-fighting-angels-on-earth-disguised-in-trenchcoats movie? "The Prophecy" or something like that. (Christopher Walken was in it) THAT is how you introduce mega-powerful entities into a small, human setting. You set up rules, and you stick to them. It helps if you make it a who-dunnit and keep everyone's motives murky until the end.
 
I also agree that the god like aliens should not be totaly unbeatable and I've noticed that most of them are either faking it or they are not as powerfull as they claim. I'd say that Q is the only one that can do just about anything , but even the Q recognize that civilizations should be allowed to advance on thier own and free will cannot be taken away . I mean Q could put you in any situatiion he wants, but you still have the choice to react to that situation hlowever you want. If you have a god like alien in Trek 12 then they have to haves some sort of flaw or The big E can never win even the god of the bible has a flaw or two
 
On TOS there were too many; Talosians, Metrons, Melkotians, a few others. It would have been more cohesive if there was one primary god-like species (like the Prophets from DS9) that was encountered in most of those episodes.

The ideal motivation for a god-like alien would be similar to that of Poseiden from Homer's Odyssey. There was great potential for Q to be a Poseiden type figure, but he ultimately came across more like Hermes.
 
I DO miss those all-powerful energy beings from TOS, but I have to agree it would be difficult to make them work in a future movie.

The only thing that might work, is something like in Corbomite Maneuver or Return of the Archons, where you start out thinking you're facing some overpowering or otherworldly threat... but it turns out it's really some little alien or super computer pulling all the strings.

Although I gotta say... it would DEFINITELY be fun to see Pine and Quinto go up against another Apollo or Trelane. :D
 
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