Should The Horta make an appearance?

[PR109]

Devil in the dark will always be my favorite episode of TOS but I’m surprised Star Trek has never brought back this alien species with a new more modern design. Would anyone else enjoy an appearance of the Horta in SNW? I can see them keeping the colors and the shape but the texture of its silicone skin will look more real and less “propy”.

 

[NCC-73515]

There was a small one in Disco S3 or 4, IIRC

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/DSC-S4/S4E1/DSC-S4E1-175.jpg

 

[fireproof78]

No.

Now a Brikkar. Yes.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Can we have an all-encompassing thread called "Would it be cool if..."?

(in the spirit of this one: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/wheres-insert-character-or-ship-name-here.301430/)

 

[Tuskin38]

There was a small one in Disco S3 or 4, IIRC

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/DSC-S4/S4E1/DSC-S4E1-175.jpg

That's a tribble.

 

[NCC-73515]

didn't quite look like one (but it's disco so that's that XD)

at least one other source interpreted it that way:
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/star-trek-horta-starfleet.html

 

[Mudd]

Hortas are the anti-tribbles.

 

[fireproof78]

That's a tribble.

Definitely Tribble. Too fuzzy. Or a sentient coconut.

 

[Mudd]

Definitely Tribble. Too fuzzy. Or a sentient coconut.

Gomtuu is a sentient coconut.

Of some considerable size.

 

[the G-man]

I would greatly prefer the writers come up with new concepts, rather than recycling concepts and species that were supposedly first encounters when Kirk met them. There’s only so much “well, the records got lost,” or “this doesn’t count because it’s an offshoot race” I’m willing to tolerate

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well all their records were on these things. I can see how a few might get lost

 

[Noname Given]

didn't quite look like one (but it's disco so that's that XD)

at least one other source interpreted it that way:
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/star-trek-horta-starfleet.html

The creature in that picture has hair. Hortas don't have hair. Just because someone misinterprets it because they don't look at the picture close enough, and then writes an article about that incorrect claim...

 

[Tuskin38]

It was also rolling around, last I checked, Horta don't roll. Nor are they that small.

 

[Damian]

I would greatly prefer the writers come up with new concepts, rather than recycling concepts and species that were supposedly first encounters when Kirk met them. There’s only so much “well, the records got lost,” or “this doesn’t count because it’s an offshoot race” I’m willing to tolerate

Yeah I agree. I think "The Devil in the Dark" made it pretty clear that was our first encounter with the Horta. There was nothing there to indicate otherwise. Dr. McCoy thought it was fantasy for their to be a silicone based life form. And it seemed the miners never encountered anything like the Horta previously.

And I agree also the 'lost records' trope, and classifying things, and some of the others they have been using to justify things is starting to wear thin. SNW is my favorite of the Kurtzman shows, but I'm starting to get a little fatigued with all the original series aliens and characters popping up. I thought it might have been stretching things a bit to feature the Gorn. It always seemed to me that Kirk was unaware of the Gorn in "Arena." It just seemed to me that the crew didn't know anything about the Gorn and their capabilities (which seems unlikely since Spock was on the ship at the time of their initial encounters with the Gorn). Though that can be fudged a bit more than featuring a Horta.

 

[NCC-73515]

It was also rolling around, last I checked, Horta don't roll. Nor are they that small.

they changed the klingons, the tellarites, the ferengi, the andorians... but the horta has to stay as it was?

Yeah I agree. I think "The Devil in the Dark" made it pretty clear that was our first encounter with the Horta. There was nothing there to indicate otherwise. Dr. McCoy thought it was fantasy for their to be a silicone based life form. And it seemed the miners never encountered anything like the Horta previously.

And I agree also the 'lost records' trope, and classifying things, and some of the others they have been using to justify things is starting to wear thin. SNW is my favorite of the Kurtzman shows, but I'm starting to get a little fatigued with all the original series aliens and characters popping up. I thought it might have been stretching things a bit to feature the Gorn. It always seemed to me that Kirk was unaware of the Gorn in "Arena." It just seemed to me that the crew didn't know anything about the Gorn and their capabilities (which seems unlikely since Spock was on the ship at the time of their initial encounters with the Gorn). Though that can be fudged a bit more than featuring a Horta.

the tribbles were also pretty new in TOS, but ST then said nope, a starfleet guy created them much earlier... XD

 

[Tuskin38]

but ST then said nope, a starfleet guy created them much earlier... XD

He didn't create them, he just accidentally increased their reproductive rate too much.
We also see a tribble in Enterprise, Phlox fed one to one of his creatures. Though that Short Trek did contradict Enterprise as Phlox said they were rapid breeders in that.

Just because a handful of officers didn't recognize them doesn't mean they weren't unknown.

 

[fireproof78]

He didn't create them, he just accidentally increased their reproductive rate too much.
We also see a tribble in Enterprise, Phlox fed one to one of his creatures. Though that Short Trek did contradict Enterprise as Phlox said they were rapid breeders in that.

Just because a handful of officers didn't recognize them doesn't mean they weren't unknown.

Indeed.

Once again, fan assumption abounds that because it is the first time our delightful scamps of heroes encounter it it must be the first time ever!

 

[Nerys Myk]

the tribbles were also pretty new in TOS, but ST then said nope, a starfleet guy created them much earlier... XD

We've no idea how "new" they were in TOS. They were just new to the Enterprise crew. Jones could have been selling them from one side of the galaxy to the other. The bartender in K-7 certainly bought a few.

 

[GNDN18]

We've no idea how "new" they were in TOS. They were just new to the Enterprise crew. Jones could have been selling them from one side of the galaxy to the other. The bartender in K-7 certainly bought a few.

Perhaps, but McCoy had no clue about tribble physiology* or reproduction. You’d think that the duotronic 3XY phagrin level - mass computer database would have something on the creatures.

Retconning the Horta is even more problematic. McCoy again** was categorical about the impossibility of silicon-based life, accusing Spock of “creating fantasies.”

So what? The stories on SNW have been interesting enough that I haven’t cared about the retconning. So if a Horta is seen, I’ll live with it if the story is good.

*McCoy’s handle on physiology was never strong, at least where Vulcans and Klingons were concerned.

**That Jim Kirk was a remarkably well-read fellow, for he was aware of the theoretical possibility of silicon-based life. A stack of books with legs, actually.

 

[NCC-73515]

He didn't create them, he just accidentally increased their reproductive rate too much.

...creating the tribbles we've seen in TOS and DS9

Just because a handful of officers didn't recognize them doesn't mean they weren't unknown.

why would bones have to study something that's in the library computer already?