The Next Creepy Big Bad

[TimeIsAPredator]

I loved the panto, sorry. A dash of camp is absolutely delightful.

It's Star Treks constant use of camp as evil I don't like not so much the camp itself.
I would have loved the good version of Angel as a regular cast member.
Maybe they could have a story that Angel actually took the real scientists looks so that way she could come back and play the good character.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Someone walks onto a holodeck and says, "Give me Starfleet's greatest Captain, but make him unimaginably evil and with the ability to defeat Data. And give him an army."

And watch the fun happen.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Someone walks onto a holodeck and says, "Give me Starfleet's greatest Captain, but make him unimaginably evil and with the ability to defeat Data. And give him an army."

And watch the fun happen.

Mirror Robou

 

[Timofnine]

I think that the next big bad should be more like a James Bond film villain rather than another Khan clone, with a comic book like plan to take over the galaxy or achieve some other untoward objective.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

How about a cult made up of many species members, which forms a Federation-like alliance of multiple worlds?

So basically the Typhon Pact?

 

[Unimatrix Q]

This got me thinking. Here's a throwback to Star Trek history... the Kelvans. They're presumably still out there in the Andromeda galaxy, and would still need to relocate. They may not have any idea that the Federation made peace with their scouting party, and may not respect that peace, even if they did know.

By their own admission, the Kelvans are conquerors. If they were to launch a full-scale invasion of our galaxy, that would certainly qualify as a big bad. And an advanced species who can shapeshift and blend in among the various races of the Milky Way, but whose true form is a large, multi-limbed tentacle monster? Well, there's your creepy. (Imagine what they could do with that with modern effects, which would have been impossible in the TOS days.)

All you'd need is some way to get them to Federation space quickly, without a 300-year travel time. Hmm... anyone know of a mysterious portal lying around that we haven't yet learned why it exists?

Yeah, would be great to see the Kelvans again.

But i would also like to see something really alien in Trek again.

Thinking back the only times it really happened were the Borg in "Q, Who" and to a lesser extend in BOBW, the Tamarians in "Darmok" and the Prophets in DS9.

Edit: Oops, forgot to mention Nagilum and the 10 C.

 

[Tallguy]

The next Big Bad will be rabid fan expctations.

"will be"?

 

[Commander Troi]

I was thinking more about this and most of our fears come down to The Unknown. It's why The Borg were initially scary but became less so the more we knew about them. Humans will always be scared of The Monster In The Dark. We're wired that way.

I think part of what makes Star Trek work is that these are people who willingly - even enthusiastically! - go out into The Unknown just to see what's there. It's makes Starfleet personnel quite unique and interesting. They boldly go and seek out. And not just "poke it with a stick to see what it does," but to learn and even make friends.

Doctor Who is good at this too (probably why there's so much fandom overlap). The Doctor wants to see *everything* there is to see while most of us would rather stay home with the familiar.

Deep down, we know we're safe with The Doctor or the crew of a Starfleet vessel because they're explorers. We don't have to be; we can just watch.

@Sketcher brought up The Silence and the Weeping Angels. Those are good ideas - things that mess with senses or memory. But the best bit about them is they still have a sense of The Unknown about them. Trek should try to keep that as long as possible with whatever they come up with next.

If Trek creates a new "Big Bad" species, I'd like to see something like the Krill from The Orville. They did a good job of making a race with a completely different viewpoint, religion, politics, etc. That's what I want - something that will be a challenge to deal with, or even find common ground with.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Perhaps a threat that embodies an old fear we thought we'd conquered long ago - something modern civilizations had eradicated. We're no longer equipped to handle it, because we've forgotten how.

 

[Farscape One]

The unknown IS a big reason for fear.

That would be a great villain... one who erases all knowledge of what's out there, making everything scary again.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That would be a great villain... one who erases all knowledge of what's out there, making everything scary again.

What if our heroes find themselves trapped in a simulation, and every time they run into some species/creature they think they know, it's an alternate version of them?

 

[XCV330]

Every time I see this thread I misread it as the next creepy big bird.

I just want to add to the discussion ok.

and Iconians.

 

[Farscape One]

What if our heroes find themselves trapped in a simulation, and every time they run into some species/creature they think they know, it's an alternate version of them?

That would be interesting. Sort of "THE DAEDALUS VARIATIONS" from STARGATE ATLANTIS' 5th season. (I always suspected they would have been the big bad for a 6th season, had they received one.

 

[Commander Troi]

What if our heroes find themselves trapped in a simulation, and every time they run into some species/creature they think they know, it's an alternate version of them?

Cool idea!

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

This got me thinking. Here's a throwback to Star Trek history... the Kelvans. They're presumably still out there in the Andromeda galaxy, and would still need to relocate. They may not have any idea that the Federation made peace with their scouting party, and may not respect that peace, even if they did know.

By their own admission, the Kelvans are conquerors. If they were to launch a full-scale invasion of our galaxy, that would certainly qualify as a big bad. And an advanced species who can shapeshift and blend in among the various races of the Milky Way, but whose true form is a large, multi-limbed tentacle monster? Well, there's your creepy. (Imagine what they could do with that with modern effects, which would have been impossible in the TOS days.)

All you'd need is some way to get them to Federation space quickly, without a 300-year travel time. Hmm... anyone know of a mysterious portal lying around that we haven't yet learned why it exists?

Actually, that works perfectly.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Every time I see this thread I misread it as the next creepy big bird.

Hey, we could have scary avians... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roc_(mythology)

 

[Farscape One]

Speaking of avians, what about the Xindi Avians?

They were said to be extinct by the others. What if they aren't?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Or the Skorr. Maybe they become warlike again.

 

[Tallguy]

The Skorr would be expensive but I'm all for it. OTOH I don't need to highlight to the folks that are rewriting old books that there is an episode of a Star Trek cartoon called Jihad.

Flip side argument: Other than being bird people, what's different about "warrior race" than the Klingons?

 

[JR TREK]

The Borg could probably be still scary if:

a) They divorce the Borg Queen from the Borg Collective and stick to solely representatives like Locutus

b) The Borg, if they insist on having a Queen, replace the Krige Queen with a new Queen. Why hasn’t a species that is always finding new ways to adapt and improve itself not figured out to get rid of their queen, considering how many times they have been defeated by the Federation? Matalas in an interview said he wanted to cast Emily Hampshire as the Borg Queen in S2, so maybe use that to re-imagine the Borg Queen

c) The Borg should have adapted cloaking tech by now and should use it more often. Maybe the Federation would develop anti-cloaking sensors (straight out of the Armada games), but at least it would be a logical progression.



There’s lots of possibilities. Vidiians. Species 8472. From the novels, the Kinshaya (who terrorize Klingons!). Even the Lihn Zhee (that unique skull in Picard’s trophy room in the Confederation timeline) could be developed into a serious threat.

In fact, if the Borg are gone, there should be a race for their technology in the Delta Quadrant and they all adapt it in ways different from the Federation that makes them scarier than before.

But the best would probably be one of the numerous races seen on Trek but never seriously developed or explored.

I was hoping Picard would end with the Borg having won, setting up Legacy to be about the Titan-A trying to rally the other Alpha/Beta quadrant races against a fully assimilated Starfleet and Earth. We could have Titan-A facing interesting adversary ships like the Enterprise-F and Endgame Voyager. I'd have Janeway escape "somehow" so she could see the assimilation of Earth/Starfleet as the consequence of her actions in Endgame.

All that is needed to make the Borg scary again is to see them win; to have a decisive victory that lasts.

It also wouldn't hurt to see them assimilate a few familiar races and actually "add their biological and technological distinctiveness." For example, the Hirogen; who would actively hunt anyone beaming onto a Borg cube.