055 - Creature Feature

[00:00:02] 5 Year Mission The Podcast Episode 55 By now you figured out that this is a 5 year mission, the podcast. Welcome to 5 year mission the podcast. I am one of your hosts, Andy Fark tonight. We're delving into a quick little creature feature if you will, parentheses and aliens.

[00:00:45] So I'm going to be joined by Mike Rittenhouse who's looking down at his phone right now. And also by Chris Bergen. Creature Feature. And last but not least with the flurry of what looks like bees in the background of his zoom meeting.

[00:01:04] Noah Butler, did you just drink take a drink of a martini? I did. Are you are you living in 1953 all of a sudden? In my mind. How long have you known Noah? Not Martin. Why does this come as a surprise? Martini Noah though? Yeah.

[00:01:24] Well, I guess teeny isn't is in the name. So there's he has many facets of Noah. Mike is holding up a picture of himself on his phone. But it looks like it's actually just him on the zoom, even though it's his phone.

[00:01:42] I wonder how long his arm can hold it up. It looks like he's smelling his finger in the photo that he's holding up to. He's not very strong. I can't imagine this would last very long. That's what she said. To Mike. What are we doing tonight, Andy?

[00:02:03] Oh, well, we are going to be covering our favorite creatures and aliens of the Star Trek universe. But the first stuff I would like to invite everyone to like and subscribe all over where you get future podcasts, YouTube, Apple music and Spotify and all that. Write and review.

[00:02:23] Make sure, you know, because that's how people other people will find us. So let's get that business out of the way. Also, check out our Patreon. You'll hear a commercial for it at the end. We do fun stuff over there. Fun stuff. Go over to Patreon.

[00:02:40] Flash five year mission. That's right. But number five. Your mission. So we are going to take a little trip around the Star Trek universe tonight and the things that creep us out, the things that make us laugh.

[00:02:59] The enemies we make the friends we make in creatures and aliens, they may be humanoid, but that doesn't mean that we can't get along. So which one of you dummies wants to start us off? I will. I'm going to start with Noah, the one,

[00:03:23] the one that we only got two of his suggestions before we started recording. So one of them is definitely going to be a surprise. That's all right. At least six minutes before I logged on to zoom, I picked the other two.

[00:03:36] Without a single word to us so that we could prepare. Exactly. I'll start with. I'm going to start with the Horta. And most of my picks tonight are based on. The most interesting and strong, visceral memories of watching.

[00:03:55] Star Trek as a young person as a kid or adolescent. And so starting with the Horta is one that was, that. Was both. Funny because I remember watching it with, with a friend and. I remember. You know, you know,

[00:04:15] dubbing it the pizza monster and always kind of calling it the pizza monster from, from that point forward, because it did seem. Hokey even. Even in the early 80s when I was watching it, it's still, you know, it's kind of this hokey thing.

[00:04:31] But that episode, which to me is one of my favorite episodes. And it's just so good. Like. You know, it's just so good. And it was, it was just so good. And then it was sort of, we called it the pizza monster.

[00:04:44] And it was this kind of hokey alien looking thing. It was just such a brilliant, brilliantly written episode. Such a great character in the Horta itself and the mother Horta. And, and you know, I just, it had ever that episode had everything. I mean, I mean, I mean,

[00:05:09] I mean, I just, I mean, I just, I mean, I just jumped suit people who died more than red shirts die with the more orange jumpsuit people died. Just a tunneling in the, in the. Spock doing the, the mind meld with the creature and kind of

[00:05:26] the tension of the whole episode. Just really made that creature stick out to me in my brain is just one of the great. Creatures of Star Trek. And I think it's a great thing to be able to create a character

[00:05:38] and have a character and character and character and character and character and character and character and character and character and depth to it enough that it just became. Just one of my favorite things, even as a kid. I even think we tried to recreate it.

[00:05:49] One point at one point is like a Halloween costume. When you were little. Yeah. When I was a kid. Because me and my next door neighbor, my buddy Justin. Who live next door to me. Like we loved Star Trek so much.

[00:06:04] And we were like, you know, and, and tried to draw. The panels and controls of, you know, the helm at the enterprise, you know, and then pretended that we had these little plastic jewelry cases that we would like flip open like communicators.

[00:06:19] And so like, we just play acted it a lot as a kid because we were always watching it and reruns it like dinner time. And the Horta was one that was just great. And I remember we, we tried.

[00:06:31] I don't know what I forget what we use like a blanket or a sheet or something and tried to like kind of recreate the big red splotches all over it. And the hairiness thing, I don't remember if it worked all that

[00:06:44] well, but, but it was the same way. So that's just one of my like very strongest and earliest memories of Star Trek. And I think still stands the test of time as far as a great creature, when a great character, even though it didn't speak except to Spock.

[00:07:04] I just think it's a great character and a great, great creature for Star Trek. Well, I mean, it's a, it's definitely from one of the most iconic TOS episodes to Devil in the Dark. So it's like they started off thinking it was just a

[00:07:18] killing machine that had like zero mercy or anything like that. But then they come to realize that, you know, it's protecting its kids, which they were just like tossing, tossing the eggs out of the airlock and destroying them and everything.

[00:07:33] And then finally they come to realize that like, you know, this is a living creature who's just protecting their children who were, you know, and this thing was here first. So no, it wasn't, it wasn't a killing machine. They started, they started off thinking it was.

[00:07:48] And I remember showing that episode as one of the first Star Trek episodes I showed to my daughter just about a year ago when she was nine or eight or nine. And I remember after it was sort of revealed that those were

[00:08:02] the eggs, like I could just see this look on her face that I know in her brain she was just like, think of all the eggs they killed. They were doing this and they were doing that to them and

[00:08:15] they were, you know, like I could just see the shock, you know, they're like, oh my God. And so I think it was effective even though it was, you know, it's a old show from the 60s. It was even effective on a modern little girl watching that.

[00:08:32] You know what I think might be the most effective thing about the Horta is that it shouldn't work. It's basically this modeled rubber lump that rolls around and doesn't talk. It doesn't really do much, but the way I think the effectiveness

[00:08:54] of this character relies on the characters around it. So with Spock and Kirk and the way they interact with it and the minors that are down there. The story is really good. The creature itself is really, I mean, it doesn't really do

[00:09:12] much, but the story that is wrapped around it makes it a really cool character, you know? So I think that's what makes it so effective because if it was just this thing, this monster rolling around that they had to kill, it wouldn't. It would be very underwhelming.

[00:09:31] Yeah, definitely. Didn't we actually see somebody had made like a motorized version of the Horta in Vegas? Yeah, no, that was in a Trek Fest, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, you're right. I remember seeing that. I don't remember where we were, but somebody did have one.

[00:09:51] Yeah, I'm fairly certain that was for the parade in a Trek Fest one year. Okay, because I couldn't remember the size or the scale of it or anything like that. It seemed like it was a much smaller version. Somebody might have had something where they had like,

[00:10:03] they were wearing it and then they would get down on the floor and they would look like the Horta. Yeah, that sounds familiar to me. You might be thinking it was a Rock Lords, Noah. Well, a lot of those things travel too.

[00:10:18] You know, we'll see them at some random convention and then we'll see them pop up elsewhere the same people. So that happens pretty often too. True. Yeah, it's definitely an ambitious cosplay to try to pull off.

[00:10:35] I mean, it's not the kind of costume that you wear and you can see through, see out of or communicate through. So I think the one we saw was remote control on wheels and just kind of rolled around.

[00:10:48] I think that's really the best way to go with that one. Oh, well, Mike, you want to give us your first creature pick? Sure. My first choice is going to be the Paw Race from Space Nine. Let me preface this by saying that I recently discovered that

[00:11:08] Noah has watched Zero Star Trek other than the original series. So let me preface this as each one of you tell me whatever creature you're talking about. I will be looking it up as you say. Oh, okay. That's interesting. Okay. Yeah.

[00:11:29] So I purposely chose all my picks as stuff that Noah has no idea what I'm talking about. So can I just, can I just look it up and do a Google image search and then try to guess what it is based on the Google image? Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:11:44] Sure. Let's see what your Google image brings you. So your Paw Race is some sort of action figure. Some sort of like little chess, chess figure that spits out fire or something. That's what I'm getting from the three images that I see here. Does that make any sense?

[00:12:10] Man. Is it a totem? Is it a... Explain it to him. It's a wraith, so it must be some sort of ghost-like creature. That's closer. All right. All right. So in these Space Nine, one of the main storylines through the entire series is that

[00:12:27] the wormhole has these wormhole aliens in it that they call the prophets. They are some kind of omnipotent beings that live in the wormhole. And a millennia ago, they expelled these other beings, basically I think of like the same race, but they're evil.

[00:12:49] And those are the Paw Rates. They're like the evil wormhole aliens. And they sealed them in these caves on Bejor. And so over the course of the series, they're mentioned several times. There's a couple of moments throughout where we actually get to kind of see one.

[00:13:12] There was an episode where Keiko O'Brien returns from Bejor, and she's possessed by a Paw Rate. And there's another episode where Paw Rates take over Jake Cisco and I think, I think Kira. Yeah. And they're fighting. On the promenade. Yep. And then of course, you know,

[00:13:42] there's a big storyline at the end of the series that kind of wraps it up with the Paw Rates. And there's a group of team members, a couple of the Paw Rates. And they're going to be playing some of the Goldicottes trying to release them

[00:13:59] from the Fire Caves so that he can help them take over Bejor and the wormhole. And Kai Wynn is sort of involved and there's some, some gross scenes and. You know. But you know what? In the end, Kai Wynn, you know, she,

[00:14:18] And the very end, last possible second. Right, right. I mean, like at the very end she... It's kind of a, oh no! Yeah, she redeems herself a little bit, just, you know, a little bit.

[00:14:32] But yeah, so the paw rates, they're kind of a cool thread throughout all of D-Space 9. I know Andy knows what I'm talking about. What do you think of the paw rates, Andy? Oh my God. It's definitely one of the more interesting parts of that whole storyline with Golducott

[00:14:50] in that final season. But Noah, I would probably... You remember the scene in Ghostbusters when all the ghosts are getting out of that containment unit at the firehouse? I do. That's basically the paw race. They're going out and their main goal is to just f*** it up.

[00:15:10] Right, so the dude from the EPA that shows up and shuts off the containment unit. Empower. That's basically Golducott. Yeah. Like he's trying to... He's like, it's like he's from the EPA and he's trying to shut off the containment unit in the fire caves.

[00:15:29] Is it true that that man has no dick? Yeah, yes. Tell him about the Twinkie. What about the Twinkie? I never really liked the paw rates. For obvious reasons, but they were too intangible and overpowered. They're those creatures, these enemies that are really, really difficult to defeat.

[00:16:01] But also, again, they're just intangible. I wasn't a huge fan. Yes, it did help drive a storyline, but I'm not a fan. I just kind of like the wormhole aliens that we never really learned a ton about until like the final three seasons really.

[00:16:24] Really just two seasons, last season on a half really. They kind of had that little counterpart thing. And so they were like, oh, these... They come from us, but they were like... They represented the worst of us. So we had to get rid of them and the whole...

[00:16:41] Thanks, wormholes. Yeah. What a bunch of wormholes. But the fact that Kai Nguyen was driving herself insane trying to figure out where the paw rates resided and how to utilize their power and everything like that. That whole thing when Gilducat was manipulating her in the full, I guess,

[00:17:07] like Bajoran cosplay was a pretty awesome storyline to wrap up the whole paw race thing. And then Kai Nguyen's redemption when she tackles Gilducat into the flames and the caves and the fire caves was pretty baller.

[00:17:29] And it's like, OK, maybe she wasn't so bad after all, but she still was. Didn't Kai Nguyen flood the station with the Kronatan radiation before that battle was completed? Wow. I just want to make sure I'm remembering it right. Remembering it exactly. So that is correct, Noah. Thanks.

[00:17:55] The dominant third image that keeps popping up in Google search, which is what was confusing me, I finally found a caption for it and it says, an ancient Bajoran artifact containing a paw race. Oh, OK.

[00:18:10] That just keeps popping up as one of the Google images when you search it. So that's what that was. That's why I said it looked like a chess piece. That makes way more sense. All right, Chris, what you got? Yeah.

[00:18:27] Well, let's talk about the Mugato for a minute. It's probably no way. Let me look this up, Chris. I want to get an image. Probably no secret that I am a fan of the gumato. We'll get there. So this is some kind of some sort of rhino ape.

[00:18:47] It's what I'm seeing in Google images. I don't know. I don't know why I like this thing so much, but it just entertains me to know and not only because of what it is, but also kind of how it just kind of the history of this thing.

[00:19:04] And originally in the original script, so this is a beast. It is like you said, it looks like a rhino ape. It's this ape like creature with a horn on its head. It's covered in fur. Yeah. It has a song.

[00:19:19] It has. I didn't know this, but it has serrated teeth. And so it not only does it bite you, but like, you know, rends the flesh and the bite is poisonous. It can only be the only known cure for the poison is the maker root,

[00:19:32] which apparently the Kanu too, which is kind of a medicine woman has to be involved for some reason with her sweet orange vest. Yeah. So this this creature is from the planet Nuro. And it was originally called the neural great ape,

[00:19:51] but then they changed the name to the gumato. But for us to Kelly couldn't say gumato for some reason. And then in the episode, they call it Mugatu. This is private little war almost the entire time. And I think someone might actually call it the gumato as well.

[00:20:08] So they had it all somebody whoever was working continuity that day was was fired. Yeah. So, you know, it has the strength of 10 men. It's it's it's just a bad ass creature. But I just think it's so funny because it's it's really super territorial

[00:20:31] and it just comes out of nowhere and attacks people for. Yeah. I mean, you'd think that if you lived on a planet full of these these beasts that you would have some kind of contingency plans and defenses set up.

[00:20:45] But no, it just jumps leaps off a cliff onto your back and bites you. I don't know. And we it also originally was in private little war. It also showed up in Lower Decks. It's Mugatu gumato. Is that the name of the episode? Some like that.

[00:21:07] And in that episode, we find out that they're endangered and a couple of fun facts about the Mugatu that I didn't know that I think they're hilarious. One, that phaser fire to the Mugatu gen genitals renders them sterile. That's all. Yeah. So this can in fact come from.

[00:21:33] This is this. This is it's from our Galileo seven video. Yeah. Yeah. So since they're in danger, you got to watch out for that. No phaser fire on the genitals. The other thing that I found out, which might even be funnier,

[00:21:50] they like to watch it exactly if a male Mugatu encounters a couple Mugatu in the act, the Mugatu because it's territorial, it will either fight the male to win the female or it will just watch until they're done.

[00:22:11] And then they just hang out and go to sleep like a movie. Where are you getting this information, Chris? This is directly from Lower Decks. I don't know if this is canon. Oh, it's canon now. Oh, it's there. Thanks to the thanks to.

[00:22:23] I don't I don't know about the phaser fire to the groin thing. But yeah, yeah, I don't know where that stemmed from. I don't remember hearing that in any of the episodes. Well, I got all my information from I mean what I didn't know already.

[00:22:36] I got from memory alpha. So, OK, Chris, did you also see in memory alpha something I saw very quickly that was really hilarious was that the person who created the costume that was created and performed by this person named Janos Pro Haska. Janos Janos.

[00:22:57] And and appeared on season one, episode 22 of Here's Lucy. And so there's this picture of the Mugatu without a horn hugging Lucy O'Ball. That's pretty hilarious. You look that picture up, it's quite funny. I had not seen that one.

[00:23:16] I just again, I don't know what really draws me to this thing. I just think it's really funny. I have a couple Mugatu action figures. When we got to Private Little War and I got the episode. I didn't, you know, the first song.

[00:23:34] I mean, I had a couple songs that I wrote for that. But I really wanted to do a Mugatu song. I didn't but I didn't I had the first song in the album. So I didn't want it to be a Mugatu song.

[00:23:45] Yeah, I didn't want to be wanted to be jokie. And then so that's why I made that as kind of a B side. But I really like that song and I like playing it. So but that's why it's because I knew I had this episode

[00:23:59] and I had to write a Mugatu song. And we still technically have one of my favorite that Mugatu song. Have we? It's not been officially released in any way. Have it? I don't remember. It was it was a Kickstarter download bonus.

[00:24:15] Yeah, I think it was from year four. It is. OK. Yeah. OK. I don't know what else I can say about the Mugatu. It's just I remember. One of my favorite. Yeah, I remember as a kid again,

[00:24:29] watching Star Trek for the first time and anytime a creature showed up, it, you know, instantly made the episode better. No matter how hokie the creature was, it was just like as as like an eight year old kid, it was just, you know,

[00:24:45] yes, bring on the creatures, bring on the aliens, bring on any of the weird stuff in that even if it's Glenn Howard. Even if it's Glenn. I don't know. It definitely is Glenn Howard. That was that was great. Especially Baylock. Yeah, especially they like.

[00:25:00] But I mean, I think that made that episode to me as a kid like sort of worth watching, whereas otherwise, I think it would have been a kind of a boring episode as an eight year old kid watching that. I think the Mugatu made it like

[00:25:18] and the Mugatu not been in it. I don't know how much it would have held my attention as a kid. Kind of two different stories going on there because there's the one story where the Mugatu takes a bite out of Kirk.

[00:25:32] And so he's he's kind of down for the count and the kind of two is is helping him out. And then there's the other story about the two warring factions on this planet and they intertwine, but I kind of agree. I like both stories, but the the Mugatu,

[00:25:53] especially the second time we see the Mugatu where it kind of chases chase chase them around in the trees. You know, first it jumps down and it's they're kind of in these hills and then they're in these trees. It's just such a random, goofy thing in that episode.

[00:26:09] But I like it. What about you, Andy? What's your first? Let's go ahead and stick with the theme of no one not knowing about it. So let's go ahead and cover the the race that likes to that likes to make things go.

[00:26:30] And they are smart, even though, you know, you think they are not smart. The pac-led. Oh, man. How do you spell that, Andy? P-A-K-L-E-D. Back lead. Oh, it's the dudes with the big eyebrows that you got on your background in my background right now. Yeah.

[00:26:52] The pac-led to me are absolutely fascinating that they are even still alive, like just as a race in general, because they are just dumb as hell. And the only reason they are able to even travel in space is because they keep on somehow fooling people

[00:27:14] to think that they're dumb with the way they look and they talk and they act and they just steal their technology from them. And that's just amazing to me that they've had a like a planet full of pac-led that hasn't just somehow

[00:27:30] the entire planet hasn't slipped on a banana peel and fall fallen down some stairs somewhere out in the universe. It's the stupidest thing in the world to me. And I did not realize how many times the pac-led actually appeared in just Star Trek in general.

[00:27:48] Like there's like a ton of DS9 episodes so far even like one, two, three, four, five, six. They appear in some form in seven episodes of Lower Decks so far. Yeah, that's where I mainly know them from, I think. I looking at your background with the pac-leds

[00:28:08] their years in background, I recognize those. And I remember the makeup being. It's as I recall it was rather immobile. I just remember it looked really goofy. Oh, yeah, it was definitely goofy makeup. It doesn't look like a rubber mask to me.

[00:28:27] It looks like a just looks like it's just a big dumb guy with goofy eyebrows. You're goofy eyebrows. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't realize that they appeared in any other episodes after this Samaritan snare. Yeah, so I didn't realize that they appeared in anything other than that

[00:28:46] until Lower Decks. So they were in several episodes of DS9. Yeah, let's see. Like I assume just like background characters like more or less. Yeah, they'd be like hanging out in quarks and stuff. And like they OK. Yeah, the the one where we first met Lursa and Baytour,

[00:29:10] the Duros sisters, they were in that episode too. OK. They were in preemptive strike with the because they were they were delivering vaccines. Yeah, it was weird. And then they were in like a couple episodes like a couple episodes of DS9 here

[00:29:28] and there. But I mean, other than that, we didn't really see a ton of them, which is why I was glad that Mike McMahon decided that he loved the paclates so much that he wanted to give them like

[00:29:38] some front and center attention on Lower Decks just because they were such an absolute cartoon character already. I love how they call every ship the Enterprise. Yeah, and in everybody's Janeway. Yeah. I think that they're they've been used really effectively on Lower Decks

[00:30:00] because they're actually kind of a prominent enemy that keeps popping up and yet they are so inept that some you know, somehow they they they managed to get away with what they're doing and it's just yeah against all odds it works. Yeah, oh, absolutely.

[00:30:19] Well, like I said, they made for the perfect like cartoon character because they remind me of do you remember the old Looney Tunes monster that would be like, oh, I'm going to love him and pet him and I'm going to George. Yeah.

[00:30:32] So yeah, that's basically like an entire race of those things. And I love that when we first met them on TNG in order to get because they they kidnapped Jordy LaForge to have him like work on their ship

[00:30:45] and to show them a Picard's whole idea to like scare them into giving them back was like, we're going to do a do a show of force with the Enterprise and like fire to fire at their ship. But it wasn't even like missiles or anything.

[00:30:58] They basically shot fireworks at them and it scared the Pac-Led so much that they gave LaForge back. Oh, it's so good. Noah, what do you got for your next pick? My next pick was a creature that I, of course, wrote a song about

[00:31:18] that we sometimes refer to as the salt vampire from the titular episode, The Man Trap. Actually, I don't think they ever say them. They don't ever say The Man Trap in the episode. So it's not a there's no titular line. They don't actually say salt vampire either.

[00:31:37] No, I'm not sure where that even how did it even they say salt vampire in Lower Dex? Yeah, but I bet they do. What's what is it called? It's like from what I'm looking at. I think the M117 creature or something like that. M113. 113.

[00:31:58] Is it yeah native to planet M113? But they say, you know, it still calls it like it's still called salt vampire and memory alpha. So salt or or apparently a salt succubus. Oh, this is another one that burned

[00:32:20] place in my memory, I should say when I was a kid. But this was not like I remember it was it didn't seem hokey to me like when I was watching as a kid, like it seemed genuinely creepy and and freaky and and cool and scary.

[00:32:40] And even even when it was in its sort of you know, McCoy's ex girlfriend is lady form is lady form just her sort of weird sort of dead eyes that she would have. Sometimes just creepy. It was creepy.

[00:33:02] Like it was all around creepy watching it as a kid. There was just like a lot of tension in that episode and and it was just cool. It was a cool looking creature and it was just cool how it left the suction cups all over their faces.

[00:33:17] And I just I just loved it as a kid. I just absolutely loved it. Now, as I've rewatched it again as an adult many times, the like sort of slow motion agony that the Kurt has when he's

[00:33:38] like getting attacked by it and just like the delayed reaction is just so hilariously terrible, like just so hilariously, you know, badly acted and, you know, that it's that it's funny. But when I was watching as a kid, like it was just everything

[00:33:57] with everything about it was cool. Like the only thing that was not cool about it was like they did not show that creature enough, like there was just yeah, they didn't show it enough. Like they really only kind of really revealed its full form there

[00:34:09] at the end of the episode and and it was like, oh, yeah. In Kirk's quarters. Yeah. And remembering right that spot came in and punched it. I think he slapped her and then in like in the human form,

[00:34:23] like the woman, like I think he just like nailed her like two or three times. And she just didn't, you know, didn't react at all. Which is pretty cool that she didn't react just like she's like, yeah, that will be at this point. Do I shot Vulcan?

[00:34:40] Do we know how strong Spock is? Because I know later episodes we see him crumple metal objects like paper. That's a good point. We really know how strong his slap would be. No, that's this is super early. Yeah. Right? It's like they didn't know yet.

[00:35:00] It's like track two on the on year one, right? Yeah, it's the first episode to air. Yeah. But it was it was I think it's like the eighth episode they filmed or something. Yeah. Yeah. And now something about the salt vampire is that it's

[00:35:18] it's actually a really tragic story because this creature, it's the last of its kind, isn't it? I believe something like that. And it's trying to survive. And the only way it can survive is to is through the consumption of salt.

[00:35:36] And so they are this this guy that lives on this planet with with with her gets salt there, but they they're out of it. And so it starts attacking people just out of survival, not because it's trying to kill people or just has to survive.

[00:35:53] And so it's a really tragic story because in doing this, obviously the crew is put on the the defensive at first and then the offensive and they end up killing it. But yeah, you know, had they been able to get at what it needed,

[00:36:08] maybe it would have survived and maybe they could have. It's it's one of those examples, early examples in Trek before, you know, the Prime Directive was really established where you see them kill something that they don't know anything about.

[00:36:26] And they just, you know, attack it because it's attacking them. Right. Yeah. It's it's interesting because I kind of wonder if they would have handled it that that way had it's been later on a later episode, you know, the card wouldn't have killed it. No, no, no.

[00:36:43] You are correct, Chris, that it was the last surviving individual on that planet. OK, species were thought to be extinct since, however, a century later, more living members of the species were encountered. And I assume that's in lower decks when they encountered they mentioned it in lower decks.

[00:37:07] It's it's referencing to lower decks episodes here. So I'm wondering if they actually encounter it in one of those episodes. It was it was just for like for like a second. Yeah, yeah, there's like a self vampire. Well, and of course, another cell vampire

[00:37:23] showed up in the square of Gothos Square of Gothos. Yeah, just as a as a like a tax taxidermied creature on display, just like everything else that Trilane had. That could have just been something that was manufactured out of thin air. It wasn't necessarily one of those creatures.

[00:37:44] Yeah, but still, yeah, it's a nice touch in that episode where you see that the stuffed vampire stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it was I remember seeing that as a kid and being like, oh, cool. Yeah. It is a cool creature.

[00:38:03] It has that that round mouth with kind of it's it looks very leech like. Yeah, in a way. And yeah, it's a creepy thing and it has the suckers on its hands too. Looks kind of like Sasquatch with with suction cups. Yeah, yeah. Damn. Very, very effective.

[00:38:22] Speaking of creepy things, Mike, what do you what do you got for your next pick? For my next pick, I have decided to go with species eight four seven two. Now, see, I'm I'm going to be in the same boat as Noah on this one.

[00:38:42] I'm going to like this thing up. What is it? Eight four seven two. So in wait, wait, wait, wait, let me let me determine what it is from the images. OK. It is some sort of really bad CG video game. Alien that looks like.

[00:39:09] It's from a really bad CG video game. Well, you're not far off, not far off at all. And it hurts. It looks like it caused some kind of horrible face scarring to. Chacote, I hope. Chacote, yep. Yep. I think that's who it is. Oh, wait, good.

[00:39:33] Is the weren't those the things that even the Borg were afraid of? Yeah, so. So at the end of the third season of Voyager, the last episode starts with a Borg cube trying to assimilate something and you don't really get to see what it is.

[00:39:54] It's just, you know, they do their their usual spiel where they're like, you know, resistance is futile, prepared to be assimilated. And then, you know, the cube is just destroyed. It's just like easily just boom. And then that's it. So then later in the episode,

[00:40:13] Voyager is just like doing their thing, flying along, headed towards Earth. They've got like 70 years, but they still stop and look at Nebulas for some reason. And then like, you know, 15 Borg cubes or something like fly past them, like, don't even stop.

[00:40:31] They're just like, holy shit, let's get the hell out of here. And so that's kind of how the episode starts. And Voyager is like, you know, what the hell? And so they find out throughout the episode that there is like a new bad guy in town

[00:40:45] that's even scarier than the Borg and the Borg can't assimilate it. And it's so the Voyager kind of works together with the Borg to find a way to stop this the species. They're from like another dimension. Basically, it's called Fluidic Space.

[00:41:07] It's like the so basically the Borg opens this portal into this other realm to try and find more things to assimilate and accidentally released this the species. So the reason, though, that it's a it looks like a cheap video game is because it is the first

[00:41:30] CGI animated creature on Star Trek. Ah, so which is this is back in like ninety seven, I think. Like maybe 1997 or 98 somewhere around there. And so up to that point, they had they had CGIed

[00:41:50] like ships and stuff like that, but they'd never done any kind of living creature. So this is their first attempt at it. Yeah, they have Spielberg cash. Yeah, the first few times were pretty clunky. And even the rest of the times that species appeared weren't great,

[00:42:09] but it got better as it went. So there's there's a picture of is it the doctor on Voyager? You make the guy with the Izzy Bald. Bald, yeah, male pattern baldness, where he's like looking at two of them mating. Do you remember that? Bringing a bell to you.

[00:42:31] I mean, that could be. I know that there was I know there was definitely a scene where he was like looking at them. I don't remember what was happening now. That's the behind the scenes. Now, he's he's he's he's just sitting there watching.

[00:42:45] Well, it's like it's like a giant wall of porn of just like a speech. He's eight four seven two porn that he's watching. So that was also the episode that introduced us to Seven of Nine. Actually, the second half because that was the season finale

[00:43:03] and there was a cliffhanger. And then the second half, which is the first episode of the fourth season, were introduced to Seven of Nine, which became like a main character for the rest of the series. And they they deal with species eight four seven two

[00:43:19] mainly in those episodes, but they kind of come back a few times over the next couple of seasons. But it's it was a really I mean, it wasn't like amazing, but it was a pretty cool attempt to do something different.

[00:43:32] And it was it was really cool how, you know, they they kind of shocked the audience with because the Borg have always been like the big bad from first our track for like the last 10 years. And then suddenly there's something worse.

[00:43:46] So it was it was kind of a cool thing. There might get changed my background so you can you can see you can see the courting process. Yeah, I don't know what's happening there. Lots of they're just there's holding hands. This is some seriously good content right here.

[00:44:08] Yeah, it's a little bit of editing of that. Chris, if if you think you can do any better, let's let's cure you next. OK, my next pick. I chose the Medusin. Who we first encounter this species in the clash of the Titans.

[00:44:27] Yes, is there actually the Medusin was named after the Gorgon in Greek mythology because. The Medusin, the species is non-corporeal and so it's. It's super intelligent. It has telepathic abilities, empathic abilities. But it's also so hideous that one look at it will drive drive a corporeal being mad.

[00:45:00] I'm dropping. And so because of this, because looking just like a Gorgon in Greek mythology, you look on it, you turn a stone kind of the same idea where you look on at a Medusin and you go crazy. Is there in truth?

[00:45:12] No beauty is the episode where we first encounter the Medusin. And now currently there is a Medusin on Star Trek prodigy. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Zero is the name of that character. And this this this character actually created a suit

[00:45:33] so it could interact with corporeal beings and communicate as well. So you can kind of see that it's the Medusin is kind of this swirly light in that's how it's been presented. It's been presented as a light in in TOS and then in prodigy is kind

[00:45:49] of this swirling multicolored light. But it's a really cool idea. I just in TOS, I like the idea because it's such a kind of this innocuous creature where it doesn't attack anything. But if you approach it and. Are compelled to look at it.

[00:46:13] Then it's extremely dangerous because it can can destroy your mind. Now, this is this is what the blind lady was was transporting in the box. Right? Right. Yeah. Colos and he was an ambassador basically Diana Moldauer. Yeah. That's right.

[00:46:34] And this is one of its interesting that we just talked about a species that destroyed that could attack and destroy the board because the Medusin species can actually resist the Borg because of their telepathic abilities. And they're essentially when they live in colonies

[00:46:53] and so they're essentially a hive mind. And so that's how they can that. A vote, that's how they can resist the board because the Borg is kind of one in the same, but the Borg is much more hostile, which makes you kind of wonder

[00:47:08] what would happen if the Medusins became a hostile species because you can't look at them. Yeah. And they're telepathic and empathic so they know what you're thinking and feeling. So it could be a really bad, really bad news. But zero on prodigies, a really cool character showing you.

[00:47:27] Kind of a completely different aspect of the of this species, whereas instead of just this inner creature in a box. And it communicates telepathically. You actually have one that runs around in this little robot body and communicates and is an actual interesting character.

[00:47:47] So I'm a fan of the Medusinist. I think it's a really cool concept. And it turned out to be a pretty cool character as well. That's one of the kind of neat things about like all the newer series

[00:48:01] kind of coming out, they like they can bring back these like races that we never really got to know all that well. And fleshed out a little bit. Yeah, exactly. Because I mean, like with lower decks,

[00:48:11] I mean, like we already talked about the pack leads and the Medusins. And then you'll see other species from the past kind of like make a quick little appearance here and there. Or there's like one completely. Because I mean, we never really knew a ton about the Orion's

[00:48:28] except that they were kind of they were like space pirates. Yeah. But I mean, like now with like Tendi on lower decks, you get to see a whole other side. Yeah, I'm much like much more flesh. I like when they flesh out these characters.

[00:48:41] I mean, the pack leads are another one that they that they, you know, we've already talked about. And just introducing these new aspects to old characters that we thought we knew, you know, the Gorn has been kind of revisited more than once.

[00:48:58] I'm still a fan of the original version. Yeah, video game version. And I think they did it. They used them in just was it Discovery where the strange new worlds, new worlds. There was a Gorn in one episode of Enterprise Enterprise too. Yeah. OK. Yeah.

[00:49:14] But they're always different. They've been prominent throughout the whole season of Strange New Worlds. Yeah. OK. That's right. Yeah, I like I really enjoy the way some of the newer shows are fleshing out some species that we have seen before,

[00:49:31] but didn't really know as well in the Medusin is just one of those. I think they're doing a really good job in making a character out of what was just some random species that we'd seen once. Right.

[00:49:44] Yeah, it's it's I know it'll be hard for you guys to believe, but I did watch all of Prodigy. So we have you have a nine. I am. Yeah. And we're watching with my there is a new season and it's there's

[00:49:56] like three or four episodes. That's what I heard. But anyway, yeah, I like how they were taking a creature, an alien that was seen in one episode of the original series and really not mentioned again since then, turning it into a main character.

[00:50:14] Like that's that's like someone thought what could we you know, what can we bring back and to think that they thought of this? Basically, like one episode character, a light cloud and that they'd seen in one episode.

[00:50:31] You know, I have to think that maybe they were just a fan of that episode of TOS and they thought, you know, what can we do with this character? Maybe they had a dream, I don't know.

[00:50:40] But yeah, I'm glad they did it because it's zero is a good character. Yeah. All right, Andy, what you got next? Oh, it's a it's a race we've only seen once and it was very recently. But I go with my second pick.

[00:51:00] I'm going with the Duplers from Lower Decks. Duplers, do you remember that? From the first episode, an embarrassment of Duplers. That is a ridiculous species. Exactly. Voice by Richard kind. Richard kind. I mean, I think that's probably what made that that whole

[00:51:23] well, like technically character, but basically turned into an entire race on the ship after basically they get agitated and they duplicate. Right? Yeah, do multiply. Yeah, they duplicate. It's spelled D O O. No, I got it.

[00:51:39] I got it like Doppler except except with an extra O and seven X extra P. Yeah, those are they those are funny. We don't know much about them. No, we don't know like in much of anything about them.

[00:51:54] There was the one that was on the serritos was just like an ambassador heading to a conference and that's pretty much all we knew about like their planet or anything like that. But the race, if they get embarrassed or anything like that, they start duplicating them.

[00:52:11] Dardled or yeah. How would it race? How would they even survive? I mean, I know obviously on Lower Decks, they're they're playing for for laughs. Oh, obviously. But I just in a practical sense, I can't even imagine how they because they would overpopulate

[00:52:31] and the same thing could be said about tribbles. Right. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Well, yeah, but tribbles you have glommers at least that can that where where their tribbles are, you know, where they come from, you at least have glommers that can kind of keep the population down.

[00:52:47] Well, and also the Klingons going on the Great Triple Hunt. Yeah. So you have that with duplers, you just have these basically humanoid creatures, a bunch of ultra kinds. Do they ever I can't remember. Do they can they go backwards?

[00:53:08] Yeah, they could they could they can they can re dupler, Kate, by by by someone being mean to them. Oh, OK, that's right. That's how the episode ends with them. That's right. OK, because Captain Freeman tells the crew to just. Yeah, yeah.

[00:53:27] That's right. So so that that tracks, that's OK, then, because if they can one would think that where they're from, they have some kind of methodology that allows them to be able to not dupler Kate, Kate so much that it overpopulates and destroys their their home world.

[00:53:50] What's funny is that with that that comparison of the tribbles, I just now thought of that because at the end of the episode of the embarrassment of Duplars on Lower Decks, Captain Freeman after being like basically kicked like not being

[00:54:07] invited to this like captain's party thing on the base. And just how like Scotty beamed beamed all the tribbles onto the bridge of the thing on ship. A very scotty move Freeman Freeman and like like beamed

[00:54:22] the Duplars directly into the party and then like made like the Dupler like bump like bump into somebody and then it started started to do duplicating and ruining the party. Yeah. I was like, that's that's a pretty good little callback there.

[00:54:35] I didn't hadn't even put two and two together on that before. Yeah. Nice. But yeah, that was just that was just a quick hitter because it's we've only met them once. I'm really hoping we'll wind up meeting them again in season four

[00:54:48] Lower Decks, just at least like a one off episode. Yeah, it feels like one of those things where you can make one episode about them and then do a throwback every once in a while. You know, where someone just accidentally bumps into one

[00:55:06] a Dupler and they, you know, another one pops out and then that's it. This will be the kind of thing where they only appeared in one episode of Lower Decks, but 50 years from now there will be a Star Trek series where the Duplars are like

[00:55:25] the villain for the entire season. I could see that. Well, I mean, I mean, hell with it with Lower Decks, we got we got an entire new character and then an entire episode involving Peanut Hamper, which was the exo comp, which was like one episode of TNG.

[00:55:46] Yeah. Yeah. I could see Duplars in 50 years, but maybe being like a protagonist on a show, like being one of the main characters, like like like multiple man and an ex-man, you know, like an ex-man, you know, where you use those powers to help.

[00:56:07] There could be there could be like be like one entire ship that's just like completely staffed and piloted and everything by just one Dupler. He just keeps like did Duplicated himself. He just pops into 10 and takes takes over all the the positions on the on the bridge.

[00:56:25] You said they had in order for them to duplicate, they have to they have to be annoyed, right? That has to be embarrassed or something or embarrassed. Yeah. But you know what? Just like essentially they're like they're like B.A. Barakas that can duplicate.

[00:56:43] I mean, that would be the kind of character they'd be. I get on no plane. I would have to think that if they were to use the Duplars as a protagonist, it would have to be one that was evolved a little bit. Mm hmm.

[00:56:58] So that it was conscious of how it of what it is and how it more in control of its abilities. Yeah. And and it could when it needed a duplicate, it could duplicate. And it would have to turn to its friend and be like, embarrass me quick.

[00:57:14] Yeah. Because like they need more, you know, either that or it would just know how to know how to flex that muscle, you know, and so to speak. I think it'll be more of a warf situation. I can see that a dupler raised in like Russia.

[00:57:37] So it has some confidence. I like it. I like it. Speaking of competence, I don't know is going to go hard with number three here. Well, third and final. I'm going to branch out of the original series. Now listen to the gas. So I was waiting for that.

[00:57:59] I'm on my curtain. So I am. I'm going to go with armists. I almost picked armists. I swear I almost put that on my list. I was so close. Wait, I had to go. Let me go. Let me Google it. How's that spelled? Arm pits.

[00:58:21] A R M U S. I actually had to go back and look at some of the lists that you had already sent because I'm like, man, I bet somebody picked that already. I bet that's already on somebody's list and I won't be able to do it.

[00:58:35] Again, I'm going on like visceral memories from watching Star Trek. So I specifically remember being. This is what Mike, you'll know this like what season was a season one. Yeah, it was like the episode 20. I think of the season of season one, which which came out in 1987.

[00:59:00] Seven. OK. So then I was like in sixth grade or something. I think so I was I was at my grandparents out. So I remember watching this and I had I had been watching TNG pretty much the whole time.

[00:59:18] But I just remember both sort of the shock that like, oh wait, no, wait, they all they really killed her. Like they kill the main character. Oh my God, like they you know, that was it was pretty shocking. Like it did leave an impact on me.

[00:59:38] And also just like the creature, like, although it's. Incredibly simple and and almost ridiculous in the way that it looks. It almost looks CG, even though it that they weren't using CG, I don't think.

[00:59:56] They just had that sort of weird mix of something to it that gave it a weird. Truly like otherworldly look like it didn't. Which is impressive. It was like it looks like a person in a bedsheet covered in tar. It does. Yeah, that's what it looks like.

[01:00:15] But but it was seriously frightening. It was weird. Yeah. It was just really weird and creepy. Yeah, like even now today as an adult watching the episode that I've seen countless times, it still creeps me out. And I think it's a combination of the just that that weird,

[01:00:36] solid black look that like it just looks like like tar standing there. But also with like the voice, the voice is is like very sinister. Yeah, I just I remember it just like it had it had an impact on me when I was watching it.

[01:00:53] It was it was dark and weird and creepy. And we should we should probably mention that if you don't know who Armus is, Armus is the big tar creature that kills. Tashi Yasha, yeah. Yeah, that's a season of skin of cold blood. Yeah, that episode skin of evil.

[01:01:17] Yeah. Well, and then Armus also made an appearance on Lower Decks. I was reading that they were going to prank prank calling or something. No, they did. They had like a casting stone thing from like some science excursion that they went on.

[01:01:32] So they were able to like project their voices down to down to Armus's planet and they were just messing with them, calling them a call them a big bag of crap. And then each and then each and then he trips over

[01:01:46] a rock behind him as he's getting mad saying, I am the skin of evil. And he trips over a rock and turns it turns into a puddle and in Tindi goes look at me, looks like a puddle of shit.

[01:01:57] No, no way you got to watch Lower Decks, man. Come on, what's the problem? I'll I'll give it another shot. I'll try to get it. It's not an overly large commitment. No, not at all. Yeah, there are currently 30 episodes and they're 20 minute episodes. Mm hmm.

[01:02:24] So you're really only looking at like 10 hours total. Mm hmm. It's just fun. It's just like a discipline. It's all that it's just it all blows down to lack of discipline. You don't have a job. You're retired.

[01:02:41] I know, but I just I don't watch six hours of television a day. I just I just not with that attitude. Not in my. Mm hmm. That's a good comeback, Mike. That's that's that's the only comeback for my last final pick. There you go.

[01:03:01] I am going to present you with. Well, it. Spell it and then say. Yeah. X I N D I. You're going to find a lot of different results for for that one, Noah. Yeah, X, X, N D. Yeah, X, N D.

[01:03:24] Search it and tell me what you find, Noah. I find a scaly dude with with about seven hair, seven thick hairs on his head. That's that's one of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, then there's a there's a group of like six of them that I see.

[01:03:41] And then they're sitting at a table. Someone were sitting at a table with like a with like a ant bug creature. That is another bug creature. That's another Zindi. How do they look so different? Oh, just just you wait, buddy. Keep looking. Mike, explain this this difference.

[01:03:59] And then there's that's really all I see. Oh, no, there's also aquatic Zindi. Yeah, man. The fish, the whale looking Zindi fish one. It's not coming up in the initial in the. Oh, no, there it is. Yep, I see him now.

[01:04:16] And there's a bit like a very confusing race. There's like a primates. They look like manatees with with weird insect arms. Yeah, yeah. OK, so at the end of season two of Enterprise and the last episode. Wait, it was it was in the last episode, right?

[01:04:36] That's how it ends season two versus at the beginning of season three in the season into season two into season two. Right. OK. So at the end of season two in the last episode, this big ball, well, it looks like a little Death Star just like appears

[01:04:54] outside of Earth's atmosphere and just shoots a beam at the earth and just right through Florida. Yep. Cuts cuts a line across through the ocean and through part of Florida and just like and Tripp sister. Yep. Kills Tripp sister. Mike is so excited by this one.

[01:05:14] So it turns out that this ball was sent by this race called the Zindi that live in the the expanse. You like that, Chris? I did. And so there OK, so there's this whole temporal cold war going on throughout the first three seasons of Enterprise.

[01:05:42] And there there's like these people from the future that are sending back messages to the past to try and change the course of history. So they tell the Zindi that the earth is basically their enemy and it's going to destroy them.

[01:06:00] So the Zindi decide they're going to destroy Earth first. Now, the Zindi they are it's a it's a race of beings that they're actually I think originally there were nine different types of Zindi.

[01:06:21] That they talk about it in one of the episodes, but like a couple of them died off over the years when extinct. But there's there's primates, there's insectoids, there's reptilians, they're that doid. Yeah.

[01:06:38] But, you know, they all live on the same like in the same planet and they all like work. This sounds like like an 80s kids cartoon and toy line. It sounds like transformers like honestly, or the one of those things called insecticons.

[01:06:57] Honestly, this is the closest thing to an 80s cartoon series that Star Trek has ever done. I was you are you are not wrong. So one of the coolest things about this, the Zindi and their appearance on Enterprise is up to this point.

[01:07:15] Star Trek has been mostly episodic with the exception of Deep Space Nine towards the end got a little bit serialized, but it was still overall episodic. The first two seasons of Enterprise were episodic, but this season of Enterprise was it's like television today.

[01:07:36] Like every episode was part of the story and it just continued from episode to episode. There were there, of course, there are like maybe three or four throughout the season that can kind of stand alone and they're not really part of the

[01:07:49] ongoing story, but it's pretty much like 20 episode story, like one giant arc. Yeah. And the Zindi, I mean, they're kind of a cool species that they brought into Star Trek. One of the reptilians is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Oh, nice.

[01:08:13] At least in one of the episodes, he might have been in a couple of them, but you can't even tell it's him because of all the makeup. Of course not. Yeah. But yeah, it made for a really awesome season of Star Trek.

[01:08:23] And I think probably the I mean, the fourth season of Enterprise is pretty good too. But I think the third season is probably third season rules most definitely. So, yeah, I mean, obviously you you're a fan of Enterprise and you know what I'm talking about.

[01:08:39] How do you feel about the Zindi Andy? I loved the Zindi from the beginning. It was a little confusing as to why there was basically like four different species. But then you got to think, you know, we're all earthlings on earth,

[01:08:51] but there's so many different races of us. So it made sense after a while, because I mean, they're going to adapt to like climate and environment and everything like that. So the aquatics always fascinated me because it always seemed like everybody was so scared of the aquatics.

[01:09:10] It's like, what are they going to do to you from from inside, inside that fish tank? But they can still, but there's still somehow like the smartest and the most technologically advanced out of all the others in the. It's the weirdest thing to me still.

[01:09:25] I never really fully explained it, but yeah, I do like the ones that were like the more like kind of ape like race. The the primates, the primates. Yeah, they seemed like the most progressive of the Zindi.

[01:09:45] Definitely because they were just they were just like, we just want peace. We were to do we're sick of these insects trying to start start all this all the time. So, you know, we're willing to work with you.

[01:09:57] You just got to make you just got to do something for us first. But yeah, they were they were all very either sneaky or very like tactical about, you know, like wanting to get along with these people, these things from this place called earth.

[01:10:17] So, Chris, you you've seen all of Enterprise. What do you think about the Zindi? I thought the Zindi were a great villain villainous race. I like I really like Enterprise and the first season was, you know, it was the first season of a show.

[01:10:36] It was, you know, it was good, but it's Enterprise just like all other Star Trek property where it got better as it went along. But once it hit the Zindi, it really just took off and that was

[01:10:52] it made a really interesting villain that you could, you know, a lot like some of the other great villains like Klingon and Romulan, that sort of thing. They were different in not just that they had a lot of different looks across the species, but also that they were

[01:11:13] just something brand new. And so it was I enjoyed the Zindi. I'm with you. Noah, what do you think of the Zindi? Noah. Just based on the pictures, the Zindi insectoid is by far my favorite. Yeah. Both its looks and its name just just are hilarious.

[01:11:42] Much better CGI than species eight four seven two. Yes. Oh, yeah. Species eight four seven two and the insectoid Zindi and the Tholians look all like they might be related somehow. Like they might be related somehow. Remember what the Tholians look like?

[01:12:03] I don't remember what the Tholians look like. They look like crystal spiders. Yeah, you got to see one on an enterprise actually in the in one of the decon chambers in the episode that's only in web. There's one on the view screen. Yeah. Is there?

[01:12:21] Yeah, it's been so long since I've watched that episode. I don't even remember. You can barely see it like you can hardly see what it looks like. Is that why it's a is that why it's a web? Yes, the Tholian web because they're like a spider spider.

[01:12:34] Now you have to look them up on the web to see what they look like. I am. Oh, boom, I do see some pictures of a Tholian, but that can't be. That's not from the original series. The comic book Star Trek Year Five had a lot of good

[01:12:51] looks at the Tholian, Tholian and what they look like. There were there's one character in particular that's in that. I can't remember what his name was, but yeah, you get a really good look of the Tholian and they have a very crystalline and look,

[01:13:07] but they're also very insect like, I think. Yeah, in the original series, it was just a like it was just a face on the view screen, I think. Right? Yeah. Well, Chris, what do you what do you got for your final pick on here?

[01:13:21] So for my final pick, I chose what I think is probably the most terrifying alien in Star Trek. I don't know that it's as dangerous as some of the others, but if it gets here, if it gets ahold of you, it's horrifying to me.

[01:13:41] So set the Alpha Five, which is where Khan was marooned. Mm hmm. There is a single remaining indigenous life form after I think what was it? Set the Alpha Four got knocked out of orbit or something and it ruined Set the Alpha Five. Mm hmm.

[01:14:01] And this is the Setty Eel, which is a burrowing desert creature. And it has these. It has like a it's bug like it has this jointed carapace and between the joints of this carapace and it has like these pinchers in front. It's really creepy looking.

[01:14:20] And it's kind of it's almost kind of arrow shaped like an arrowhead. The flat end it want it in the front and then it tapers off burrowing. So in between these jointed sections of the carapace, that's where the larva are produced.

[01:14:38] And if you take one of these larva and put it in somebody's ear, it goes into the ear. It wraps itself around the cerebral cortex. And what it does is it causes incredible pain, but also the victim becomes very susceptible to outside suggestion.

[01:14:57] And so basically it's mind control with this creature. If it stays on there too long, then you have madness and eventually death. So it's this horrifying thing. I remember watching you see it in the first time we see it is the wrath of Conn. Wrath of Conn, yeah.

[01:15:15] And Conn puts one of these things into checkoffs here. And I just remember watching this thing crawl up his face. I'm like, Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I just saw that in the theater a few weeks ago. It gives me the willies every time.

[01:15:31] And what's funny is they actually show up again in D Space Nine. And you find out that they're edible. And they yeah, they're I can't remember where you see them. Some marketplace or some off world marketplace. I can't remember. Yeah, they're selling the SETI eels.

[01:15:52] And that's actually where they first named them because they weren't. They were I don't remember what they called them in wrath of Conn, but it wasn't SETI eel, I don't think it was something else. Wasn't it? Mike, you said you just watched it.

[01:16:06] I don't know that they gave it a name. Yeah, I don't think they did either. Yeah, and they they but in deep space nine, they actually named it. I think that's where they first named it. But one thing I found that I thought was really interesting,

[01:16:20] especially given what we talked about with the Salt Vampire is that Roddenberry didn't like that Kirk killed the SETI eel after it came out of check off, because when it when it drops out of check off, Kirk just basically vaporizes it with a phaser. Yeah.

[01:16:38] Because Roddenberry said it was an unknown species and it and it needed studying. Yeah, which is ironic because he's the one that created the Salt Vampire and killed it. And this was a species that was unique. And because the SETI eel is also an endangered species,

[01:16:58] you know, it just comes from one place. And even though it's predatory, it's not. I mean, it doesn't do that out of malice. It just does it for survival of the species. So it was that many many years later. So I'm sure Roddenberry, you know, maybe changes mine.

[01:17:16] It was changing. Yeah, changes. Well, and that's, you know, that the whole idea of the Prime Directive had evolved at that point, too, because that wasn't really that hadn't been. They didn't have that concrete idea. It wasn't fully established yet. Yeah, in the man trap.

[01:17:35] So I get that, but I just thought it was funny. And this thing is the most terrifying. It is the borger scary. But if I woke up and I had a SETI calling out my face, I think I might die.

[01:17:50] So Chris, this was on my this was on my short list. Like I had to go back and I had to check yours and go, I already did it. But this was definitely on my list because my

[01:18:03] if you remember outside my buddy Justin and we watched Star Trek together and play acted it and it was like our thing as kids and he lived next door to me. One major difference was that he had cable and I did not.

[01:18:16] So when I would go to his house, they would have, you know, HBO and they would have movies on and things that like did they have this tank? I was never exposed. They did not. But at his house is where I saw

[01:18:32] all of Wrath of Khan as a kid. And and that scene in particular was just like I was I mean, it can't really be right. But like I always felt like I just walked into his house on these scenes and I don't think that was true.

[01:18:49] I just think that's just how it like burns it in my brain. But like I I both remember them both crawling into his ear and then probably more vividly the like reaming the extraction, the them coming out of the ear and like the blood out of it.

[01:19:05] Like that just was just like, oh, my God, you're like it was Star Trek. But it was like next level Star Trek and naughty Star Trek. And like I'm over here at my friend's house watching something that I probably

[01:19:19] wouldn't be allowed to watch at my at my own house because we don't even have cable to watch this. And it was like exciting and thrilling all at the same time and horrifying all the same time.

[01:19:30] And it just that is that is also a Star Trek memory that is very, very burned in my brain. And and that was yeah, that was on my my short list of aliens as well. That I would say these things are pretty iconic in the world.

[01:19:44] Yeah, they're horrifying. And I didn't the other two that I chose are aliens that I think are just either funny or really cool. This is one that I just find horrifying. And I think that it was just such a unique idea.

[01:20:07] And also just super scary, you know, at the time that the wrath of Khan came out and just the idea that someone could put this creature. I mean, having a creature crawl into your body unbidden is horrifying enough as it is.

[01:20:23] But having one crawl into your body that can take control of it essentially is just terrible. It's just the stuff of nightmares. Yeah, what's funny is that I remember when I was a kid, even before I'd

[01:20:35] be officially even seen an episode of Star Trek, I saw this again on HBO. Like Noah saw it. Yeah. And I still like I had nightmares about this about a city you'll crawling into my ear, like not not even knowing what it was all about.

[01:20:52] But I just oh God, just seeing it and he says, check off scream. Like it haunted me when I was when I was little. Well, and you only have you only have so many holes in your body. And all of them are horrifying to think about something

[01:21:09] unbending crawling crawling into them. But the ears are I think are sometimes a forgotten thing of like forgotten hole forgotten hole that where you're like, no, that is that is a pretty horrifying place for a creature to crawl into.

[01:21:23] I've seen I think I think I saw I think I saw a movie called that once. Speaking of horrifying things that can crawl into Andy, what's your last pick? Wait, am I the horrifying thing that can crawl into you? Into our psyche. I mean, I'm our psyche hole.

[01:21:43] I'm the I'm the biggest one in the band. I would hope I wouldn't be able to. Um, I am going with a manufactured creature, humanoid life form. Um, matter of fact, they're they're born in chain like birthing chambers. Spell it.

[01:22:03] Do you remember the cartoon Jim and Jim and the holograms? I just watched that today. Yeah. Do you want to know today? Apostrophe Hadar, H-A-D-A-R. Those are from Deep Space Nine, right? Yes, I remember that. So it looks like they're a genetically engineered reptilian

[01:22:23] like humanoid species from the gamma quadrant. And they're really they're really into cocaine. OK, Commander Cisco takes Jake and Nog on a camping trip and quark tags along. And they're just like in the gamma quadrant hanging out on the

[01:22:42] you know, in like the mountains on this camping trip. Quarks complaining about how hot it is and and how the bugs don't taste good because they're not Ferengi bugs. And Jake and Nog are all excited about doing their little scans

[01:22:57] and getting their their little report for school or whatever. And then suddenly these aliens show up and they kidnap them and they put them all in a cave. And that's the Jim Hadar. You heard right, a cave.

[01:23:12] Oh, I'm sorry. Was it was I thought this was your pick, Mike? I was just moving in along. Yeah. How would you even let me even start? We went we went from Noah trying to figure out what these things were. And then you jumped right in.

[01:23:30] So, Andy, didn't they like serve as the military arm of the Dominion? Oh my God. Sorry, you're young. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, they were that they were they were manufactured just basically be like the muscle and they were controlled by like they basically

[01:23:47] the army of like wayoons, more or less, they were like their bosses. But they were super subservient and they were only they had the ranks and everything. It was like, I am number one. You are only number three. You listen to me.

[01:23:58] But I loved the simple fact that they were so subservient and just all they wanted to do was just kill in the name of the of the the shape shifters and in the name of. Yeah, exactly.

[01:24:15] And yeah, they had the only way they were able to be kept alive was basically heroin, the white. Catch or sell white. Catch or sell white. Yeah. Or or is that or is they actually just just called it amongst themselves

[01:24:31] the white, which I was like, if that's not just an out and out drug reference. I mean, come on. But yeah, the the Jimmadare were amazing from the first time that you saw them, you saw how dangerous they were going to be with like Mike brought up

[01:24:48] about the whole camping trip and everything. And like when they kidnapped O'Brien and Bashir to try to basically figure out how to how to wean the rest of the soldiers off of the white so they could live normal lives, like it was neat to see

[01:25:06] like some of them that were just complete, like killing drones, basically, just like they only had one thing in life. But every now and then you would like run across one that's like, I am done with all this military bullshit. I just want to live my life.

[01:25:24] And of course, they would just wind up dead. Or in an alien 12 step program. More or less. Yeah, it was a it was a 12 step program of their own choosing, though. Yes. Was this like season three of each space nine?

[01:25:42] The last episode of season three of the Space Nine is called the Jimmadare's their first appearance. And that was the first appearance. Yeah. And then they play a pretty prominent role in the first half of season four. They're just they're in the rest of the series.

[01:25:58] And yeah, yeah, they were they were in and out of there. They had some pretty amazing battles. And I would put them up there with the Borg with like a threat, like an actual threat to the federation.

[01:26:16] Like like had like had their forces been able to come fully all the way through the wormhole, like that would have been it. They would have been done. But no ifs ands or buts about it. You can get all the all the California class ships

[01:26:30] to come and help you out at your little space station. California class. It's not going to happen. You're going to be done. It's a good thing those those those good paw rates closed up the wormhole. Are you defending power rates right now? I said the good power.

[01:26:44] The good ones. Oh, the good power. So just the just like is that is that a spoiler? They close the wormhole. It's not like you're going to watch the rest of the series. The war was still open when I stopped at season four episode 19. Yeah, my God.

[01:27:01] What the hell, man? Thanks a lot. Keep going. Thanks a lot. I don't know. It gets it gets better in that next season. Does it get better? OK, as long as it gets better. You know what they needed to defend against the Gemhadar? What?

[01:27:13] Handful of steady yields, baby. Just throw those out there and some Duplers. Yeah, they could fire like torpedoes full of Duplers at the at the Gemhadar ships. Because I mean, of course, they're going to they're going to make them

[01:27:29] embarrassed and nervous, so they're just going to keep on multiplying. Just choke them out, basically. The weird little the weird little visor thing that they had to wear when they're flying the ships. They kept on given a stay on target, Garek, stay on target.

[01:27:49] Good, good, good, good, because Garek could only wear it for so long because I could start giving him a headache. So, Andy, how did the Gemhadar? How did they view the founders? Oh, they were the are you really just asking me questions from Wikipedia right now?

[01:28:07] I just curious, you know, they were there. They were their gods. Oh, gods. They were their gods. They were the absolute gods. Yeah. And then like the. And then how are the what are they called the Pawrathes? Pawrathes, Pawrathes. How are the Pawrathes?

[01:28:24] How are they connected to the founders? They're not. They're not. No. What about the Pawrathes? Are they connected to the founders? Is that what you literally just asked? I was talking about potracers, but you know. Oh, no, the Pawrathes are not are not connected to the founders.

[01:28:41] No. That's that's all I got. All I got about the Gemhadar. I just I love I loved that race, even though they were manufactured. I loved that Wharf tried to raise one. Wait, was it was it worth that you did the trend? No, it was Odo.

[01:28:57] It was Odo. That's right. Odo tried to try to raise one from birth after Kork founded in the salvaged wreckage that he bought like a little dragon. Yeah, they were definitely a cool introduction to the Dominion.

[01:29:12] And when you watch that episode, like the first time you you're watching the series, especially when it originally aired, like you don't even have any idea how important they're going to be for the rest of the series.

[01:29:23] They're just like you think they're just like a one off villain for that episode, but then they become like the like the big bad along with the founders and the Vorta and the Marine. Yeah, you did.

[01:29:36] You never you didn't realize at first like how weird and like how how far out and like far far going this is this is going to stretch. Yeah. It's like this is just that the Gemadar were just like the tip of the iceberg.

[01:29:50] And then you and then you get to the Vorta who are just smarmy buttholes and then realize that they're linked to the founders who in turn are Otos race. Spoiler nuts, nuts. So much intrigue. All right, so that's the end of our list.

[01:30:11] But we're we are going to go through a real quick list of our honorable mentions. Yeah, our honorable mentions are our secondary systems as Jim Morehouse with Gallant. But to hear that, you will have to go listen to it on our Patreon

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[01:33:11] 10 a.m. Pacific one PM Eastern on the 14th of January at Trek talks.net. Live long and mark your calendars again. Trek talks.net. Well, that's going to wrap it up for this episode of five year mission podcast, good creature feature, parentheses and aliens.

[01:33:38] We hope that you've enjoyed listening to us talk about the our favorites and our most interesting and most fascinating choices. Most hated. Yeah, and most hated. Well, you know, for most hated, you're going to have to go listen to it on Patreon. Yeah, you do.

[01:33:54] You have to go for that. That's a Patreon.com slash five year mission, number five year mission. But yeah, we had a lot of fun tonight, but we are done. It is it is late and we all want to go back to our lives. So bye.

[01:34:10] Bad creature feature and aliens. I sure want to leave. I sure want to leave. Thank you for listening to five year mission, the podcast. If anyone is interested in listening to more of our music, check us out on YouTube,

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