STAR TREK Animals

[2takesfrakes]

Whilst not plentiful in the franchise, how do you think STAR TREK did with its representations of outspace animals? Everything from Targs to the Mugato, to Tribbles have graced your screen. Did you like what you saw? Is there something else you might like to see, possibly, in the future?

 

[Zonker]

They were fantastic.

 

[Kor]

I want to see something truly bizarre and alien, which would look disgusting and repulsive to our sensibilities. Something like a giant slug bat with its organs on the outside of the body.

Kor

 

[TheGoodStuff]

I don't think Trek has ever done animals well. Yeah I don't mind targ's or sehlat's..but generally they are all too human. I totally understand the humanoid species being like us [for story/budget etc] but I have always felt Trek could be very outlandish with animals if it wanted to. We could easily get Jurassic Park/Starship Troopers/Alien type creatures.

I think the issue is primarily budget and also that weird and wonderful monsters wouldn't really fit the theme of the show. Unless the plot of an entire episode is centred on some hulking alien monster...there really isn't much point in spending the sfx budget on the thing. Trek is generally more 'talky' in that regard.

 

[Tracy Trek]

I thought Kruge's pet in Search for Spock looked like a reptilian dog.

It did seem like they were all just variations of familiar animals, the dog with the horns, the mugato, which was a horned ape, the targ were hairy pigs.

The Trek TV series didn't have the budgets to do really bizarre alien creatures like say Star Wars. The best alien animal I've seen in a sci-fi production that wasn't in a Star Wars was the mastadge in the original Stargate movie. Apparently it was costume (complete with a fake head) dropped over a Clydesdale horse. For long shots of it running, it was a scaled down costume over a large dog.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

RIP I-Chaya.

 

[2takesfrakes]

The TNG episode "Darmok" features what I believe to be an animal that's either trapped, somehow in an alternate dimension that is sometimes allowed to come through and strike. Or ... it could be an animal that's somehow able to use and focus energy around itself for stealth and camouflage. However, it does stand upright, seemingly on two legs and has two arms, which it uses to fight, as a Man would. So is it an intelligence? Or just a kind of energy ape with a horned frill? Despite being shown briefly, TNG shelled out the bucks for that suit.'

VOY had some really stupid-looking CGI this and that's, from Species 8472 to some flying tentacles to an incredibly lame cave serpent ... and you just look at these things and cringe, going, "why did they bother, when they knew they didn't have the money for it, in the first place?"

Then, you've got the other extreme, as with Kruge's dog in THE SEARCH for SPOCK, who's nothing more than just a cool addition, and that's all. The coolest thing about it is that it's just there for the audience. To help sell the environment, or to underscore a character trait, or something that really doesn't need to go to that extreme. But they do it anyway, even though it wasn't free and people love that kind of thing. They appreciate the imagination and effort that goes into something like that and it's not even necessary. Across the board, really, I think that's what the animals mean to me, in STAR TREK. Just that little extra effort to say, how cool is that, huh? But when it's called on to do a great deal and it's not up to it, like CGI that clearly wasn't budgeted, then it's like ... you should've just saved yourself the money. I didn't need to see that ...

 

[B.J.]

Has there ever been an instance when an alien animal was shown that wasn't part of the story somehow? Kind of like an equivalent to deer running across a field in the background. And I do mean the actual animal shown, not just a viewscreen graphic or verbal mention.

The closest I can think of would be Kruge's monster dog. It's not necessary to the story, but it is a bit more than just background filler.

 

[Zonker]

I'm sure we saw some animals in Phlox's medbay that weren't necessary to the plot. But yeah, I'd love to see more flora and fauna in future versions of trek.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Agreed. They're not limited to using real animals in costumes anymore. Or lame Avius paralleldevlopmentus http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Swooper

 

[Finn]

The recent movie had insect-like creatures in the "background", not crucial to the plot at all.

 

[Vandervecken]

There were Khan's ear-brain borers. But they were part of the plot.

The neural parasites from Operation: Annihilate! Obviously part of the plot but pretty well done for the time, their creepy sounds much more I'd say than their appearance.

There were the Corvan Gilvos from New Ground, TNG. They were only loosely part of the plot:

but truly there isn't much.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I thought it was cruel for Archer to take his dog along with him to space. Poor thing must have been freaking out during space battles.

My favourite space pet is George Hill, the alien squid thing the crew of the USS Bozeman somehow picked up in the novel Ship of the Line.

A shudder to think what happens when excitable space pets like Porthos meet sentient aliens like Kevin from Star Trek Beyond.