Coolest Alien Species!
- Thread starter Vulcancptmgf
- Start date
Agreed!
No question of that to me. All this talk of them being weak after the Borg incident is silly. As if regrouping very thoughtfully after an unexpected defeat is weakness--I get the feeling sometimes that the 8472-is-weak-now group think charging ahead like blood blind bulls is somehow a mark of strength. They are adaptable and damn smart. And by the way they have a rapidly deployable, Death star-level weapon (which the DS was not, that is, rapidly deployable), and based on what we saw in In the Flesh they had a lot more. Not to be messed with and let's not forget how physically dangerous they are. Tamerlane-style Borg corpse piles. Gives new meaning to Borg cube.Andorians are definitely cool, but I'll have to go with Species 8472.
Seriously bad ass.
Could you imagine changeling vs 8472 physical fight? Yikes! How much physical punishment can 8472 take? Can liquid DNA be targeted by alien cells? My personal opinion is: yes. There's no reason why DNA and cells not bounded by cell membranes should not interact--the contrary. It should facilitate interaction. IMO, changelings must be cytoplasmic, if they have DNA that Section 31 can target and affect; that is, their fluid/liquid is much like the cytoplasmic contents of cells, but without cell membranes.)
This is why Trek is so cool. A huge shared universe that has evolved over time, not been forced. I am fond of the Andorians but day-um 8472 is all kinds of cool.
I wonder what they call themselves? We never learned that. If they don't have a name, I'm calling them the Purgers (your galaxy will be purged--happiest Kes moment for me).
Er--never mind what that might connote in human medicine..err..
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I absolutely agree with you here. In The Flesh, showed a couple of things that we didn't know before. That there are factions with different ideas on how to pursue broad goals, that they are thoughtfully and with great scrupulousness planning a sophisticated infiltration operation, and that they consider Starfleet to be their primary concern as a force that can deal with them on any kind of even footing. They've shown what they can do to the Borg and when they're of a mind to they can always mop up the rest of the DQ without breaking much of a sweat. But the issue that concerns them is a bit further afield and what they deem to need to be focused on at present.
By the way, they are known as the Undine, which although officially non-canonical, is the appropriate way of their being addressed IMHO, it being ridiculous to have them known simply by a designation of the inferior Borg. Is any other species in Trek known only with that moniker. I don't think so and certainly hope not!!!!
Vulcans first and foremost. I always had an affinity for the Vulcan ideals of logic. After that the Romulans. I always thought the Romulans should have received more attention like the Klingons.
For me it is the Tholians. Totally alien physiology- they do not even have flesh as we know it. They live in a toxic environment at 207 °C, (404 °F), are xenophobic and have attitude. Not always belligerent- they agreed to Spock's request for more time and it was only after that time had expired did they attack.
Their ships. regardless of what era, are unique. No traditional nacelles, tri-lateral symmetry and a methodical weapon system (in addition to more direct ones).
When I first saw one on the viewscreen in the sixties I wondered what they might be like. When I finally saw more of them much later I was not disappointed. I do have a fondness for aliens which are not people in costume/makeup, the Tholians are about as alien a race Trek got and they kicked ass!
Their ships. regardless of what era, are unique. No traditional nacelles, tri-lateral symmetry and a methodical weapon system (in addition to more direct ones).
When I first saw one on the viewscreen in the sixties I wondered what they might be like. When I finally saw more of them much later I was not disappointed. I do have a fondness for aliens which are not people in costume/makeup, the Tholians are about as alien a race Trek got and they kicked ass!
You had a viewscreen in the 60's? Impressive.
Anyway, I was always interested in what was so forbidden about having intimate contact with a Deltan. The one female we saw was obviously quite alluring. But I'm sure that I could control myself no matter how many pheromones were flying around. Could it also be exquisite muscle control, or expert techniques, or possibly a telepathic bonding component. Or maybe a mix of these.
If Kirk could fend off female Elasian tears. I think I could fend off Deltan pheromones. But then again, why would i want to?
Anyway, I was always interested in what was so forbidden about having intimate contact with a Deltan. The one female we saw was obviously quite alluring. But I'm sure that I could control myself no matter how many pheromones were flying around. Could it also be exquisite muscle control, or expert techniques, or possibly a telepathic bonding component. Or maybe a mix of these.
If Kirk could fend off female Elasian tears. I think I could fend off Deltan pheromones. But then again, why would i want to?
8472 were great in season 4 but weakened in In The Flesh. The very idea that they would need to build a Soviet style Starfleet village to study their culture is ridiculous. If the 8472 we saw in Scorpion wants to blow up Earth they just go do it.
In The Flesh might have worked better if they were Hirogen. If they were prepping to hunt on Earth the ep would also have the angle of Voyager wondering how they plan to get there.
In The Flesh might have worked better if they were Hirogen. If they were prepping to hunt on Earth the ep would also have the angle of Voyager wondering how they plan to get there.
Antedeans are the coolest. They're so alien!
Well they apparently go all the way down!
But for me the Horta holds an appeal as they were a villain with a peaceful motive before that was even a trope.
I wonder if the giant space amoeba and the flying pizza monsters of Deneva were related?
Actually if we include TAS then the Kzinti need to be considered. Hmmm.
Oh yeah! Wish more of Niven's stuff had been incorporated--Trinocs, Kdatlyno, although the Pak would have blown the whole ST universe out of the water. The Outsiders could have been brought in maybe as extragalactic visitors. Puppeteers could also have wrecked everything though. The door was opened with The Slaver Weapon to the kind of "across billions of years" involvement with Thrintun; ONE Thrintun, as Niven used in World of Ptavvs, could have been a helluva storyline.
But the Kzinti were the most adaptable I'd say to the ST universe--imagine a Klingon-Kzinti war!
I don't have to imaging a Klingon-Kzinti war. I've participated in one via Star Fleet Battles!
I don't find the former premise ridiculous or unlikely at all. Just as with your second point, they had good reason to be very cautious with how they would approach the center of the Starfleet universe if they chose to. Why should they have all of a sudden discounted the weaponry that caused them to retreat in Scorpion? If they had developed some means of immunity to that device, why would they assume that this seemingly adaptable and formidable adversary wouldn't be able to develop other equally as lethal capabilities? Rather than throwing themselves into what might have turned out to be a disastrous offensive, driven by hubris, why not make the effort to size up the actual dimensions of the threat to their hegemony that Starfleet posed and be in a position to neutralize or degrade that instrumentality at the source? Now, one could make the argument that by having the ability to acquire such detailed information as they had about the Academy and its environs, they perhaps should have been able to glean that Voyager hadn't contacted Earth about this conflict, so wouldn't have been able to communicate what they had used to emphatically show the force that they were to be reckoned with. Such would have allowed the scenario you propose to have been much more likely, although perhaps not absolutely so, to meet with unequivocal success. The other thing to keep in mind in the presentation of the Undine in the second episode, is that they are not a monolithic, single minded entity, but that there are differences of opinions present, if not factions. While that doesn't signify that one party or the other has a patently peaceful philosophy governing their motivations, they appear to find a benefit in being a much more deliberative segment of the population, wanting to be mindful of all the angles of their enemy, before deciding on a definitive course of action to engage in, that presumably, would offer a much higher likelihood of achieving their objectives.
As for the Hirogen being presented as the aggressor instead in such a scenario, I think it rather unlikely. One got the sense that they were becoming a dissipated, devalued force that wouldn't be capable of such an action if they could even negotiate the mileage. It seems that the liability of not having a home or haven that could have served to rejuvenate the race's drive, motivation, and inventiveness in maintaining the traditions by being open to alter them productively and thoughtfully, was finally catching up with them and causing certain far thinking individuals to independently develop ways of changing the reflexively accepted paradigm on their own. In the midst of this period of change, dissension, and possible dissolution, it would simply seem to be rather a remote possibility that they would be up to such a challenge, if in fact, they even saw it as desirable.
Now having the Voth be substituted as a plausible aggressor against Starfleet, would seem to make much more sense. Certainly, a much more powerful opponent than the Hirogen, we have the added motivation of the orthodoxy in control, seeing a real advantage in destroying the site of their actual origin as a means of ultimately quelling any growing questioning in the broader society, of what Gegen had been proscribed for and as a calculated means of ensuring their dominance against such a threat. That would be an interesting plot line generally, independent or not of its use in this episode.
I think if Species 8472 knew that Voyager had not been in contact with the Federation it would make them even more cautious. They were kicking the Borg Collective's ass and one ship with a handful of humans, completely on it's own, managed to come up with a way to stop their advances so quickly. For a xenophobic race that must be the ultimate nightmare.
The renowned Tholian punctuality.
They were pretty damned cool weren't they? You got the feeling that you could never understand what they wanted. They were that unhuman. Understandable in human terms in only a few, broadly written characteristics, like punctuality, but motives? Easier to figure out what a star wants. They remind me of the Knnn in Pride of Chanur (other way around really, regards still to CJ Cherryh). Although I don't think there is any doubt that they are extremely territorial and motivated by territorial expansion.
Also, I'll say In a Mirror Darkly's slave aspect was interesting. I think of the Tholians as regarding those "slaves" more as semi-domesticated animals, like draft horses.
The Borg don't seem to make nonhumanoids into drones, so the Tholian Assembly would be a pure technology-and-extermination harvest. But I'd say the Borg would need to be careful with this bunch. And if 8472 takes the Federation seriously, they'd better do so with the Tholians, too.
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