Star Trek is a show played by actors.
Big shocker, I know but it’s true but this means that many of the aliens we see in the
shows are limited by the actors playing them, leading to the trend of “it’s just a human
with a funny nose, or forehead”.
Within the lore of the shows however, this common form is explained using the Precursor
species that once spanned the galaxy (and possibly others) in its early millennia and
interfered by seeding the genetic code for the humanoid form across the Milky Way.
Because of this, many aliens evolved around the upright torso, four limbs and a head on
top with all the sensory bobbles attached.
Alongside this are the commonalities required to operate advanced machinery, such as manipulative
limbs and the ability to communicate complex ideas, so there is a lot of shared ability,
however not all aliens in the Star Trek universe are humanoid.
Although seldom seen, there are many others out there that break with the tradition and
have a variety of different forms.
This is a list of ten of those species, looking at what makes them unique, but I will not
be covering non-corporeal beings, the ones on this list must have a physical form.
So beginning this list, let’s look first that came to mind, the Tholians.
These aliens are encased in a mineral shell of crystals and have multiple spindly limbs.
Their forms are not suited at all for your standard humanoid M class atmosphere, but
thrive in Class Y planets of high pressure and heat.
On the top of their head they had two glowing eyes and communicated through resonating their
crystalline carapace, creating a screeching chime.
The Tholian Assembly has not always been on great terms with the Federation, initially
coming into conflict over territory, but it’s worth noting that every interaction with the
Tholians we see has included some form of time travel incident, or dimensional rift.
Alongside this, there have been several off-screen conflicts mentioned including a conflict in
2353, however they were open for trade with pretty much anyone not Starfleet.
When off world or out of their native environment, they had to wear mechanised pressure suits.
Next up I thought we could look at the Ba’Neth, but then I remembered that they did not like
to be looked at or acknowledged in any way and secrecy to them is paramount.
Their actual name is unknown with the name Ba’Neth drawn from the Kesat language and
translates into Shadow People.
They spend their entire time under cloak, whether space station, ship or individual
and board vessels passing through their space to assess their potential threat.
Paranoia does not quite cover it for these guys.
From what was glimpsed through sensor recreations, they appear to be arched forms with four tendril
limbs, the upper two of which have spines running down the length.
Their method of locomotion was unseen, but it looked like they had a tail on which they
slithered.
All data concerning them was turned over to the Ba’Neth to maintain the peace with them
however.
But at the very least we can say they are not humanoid.
In Star Trek Enterprise, we come across a rogue planet called Dakala that while completely
shrouded in dark, was heated and habitable due to its own geothermal activity.
The Wraith that lived there were technically shapeshifters but in their natural form they
appear slug like with frills.
Their ability to shapeshift was high developed, although not near Changeling levels, and they
were so complete with their adaptations that they were indistinguishable from the real
thing, even to sensor scans.
On top of this, they were telepathic and could read the minds of interlopers and pick a form
from their memories or expectations to manipulate them.
Fortunately, they were only hostile when threatened but showed no desire to leave their home planet.
There are several species aside from the aforementioned Tholians that the Federation has had skirmishes
with in the past, and several of them are also non-humanoid.
Maybe this gives some credence to the thought process behind the Progenitor’s seeding
of the common form…
Anyway the Sheliak are one such species.
Their forms are barley glimpsed, but appear to be….
Lumpy?
That’s about all we can gather.
It’s not even clear if they don some form of clothing or coating to shroud their body,
of if this is their skin, but it has a reflective triangle pattern over it, akin to scales.
It is not only their appearance that is strange to humanoids however, but their language too
is so complex that even telepathy cannot overcome the language barrier and the Sheliak consider
the inferior humanoid linguistics a sign of Sheliak superiority.
Thankfully the Treaty or Armens keeps them from acting on the xenophobic impulses.
Their native environment was also speculated to be an oxygen-argon atmosphere, or something
similar as they preferred H class worlds.
Alongside this antagonistic species, is the Tzenkethi.
Now admittedly we never see them in canon, but there are two interpretation in the extra-canonical
sources.
The first are from the books and boring because they are Humanoid, while the latter are massive,
lumbering brutes of muscle and bioluminescent tissue.
They have four arms, two for supporting themselves and carrying heavier loads while two smaller,
more dexterous ones perform the finer tasks.
Alongside this, they have tails for counterbalance and their bulk allows them to wear heavy armour
as standard with mounted artillery for combat.
Their skin is a tough leathery texture with mottling and luminous areas that gives way
to crocodile-like scales on their back, making them decidedly lizard like in appearance.
Their form would suggest a higher gravity world, but apparently Tzenketh is a class
M as Garak once worked there undercover.
Amid the Xindi subspecies are the Aquatics and Insectoids, both of which are non-human,
however I think the Aquatic are the more interesting here as they cannot survive out of the ocean
environment, meaning that their ships are also filled with water.
They have the same facial ridges as other Xindi, but long, snaking bodies with fins.
Alongside a recognizable face, complete with mouth and eyes they have two forelimbs with
hands, a requirement for their ability to create advanced technology, even underwater.
Their mouths were not used for talking so the communicated with whale song like hums
and calls.
They also emitted a sonar to help navigate and to communicate with one another.
The Kelvans were interlopers from the Andromeda galaxy who had fled a deadly radiation surge
and sought out the Milky Way as a potential new site for conquest.
When encountered in 2268, they had taken on humanoid form to better interact with local
technology and individuals, but this was not their natural look.
In fact they are essentially, large tentacle monsters with over 100 limbs and complex minds
that could finely manipulate each limb independently.
However they were far less emotional and ignored their senses much of the time, preferring
their calculated and intellectual thoughts.
Their shapeshifting ability is suspected to be of technological origin rather than a biological
ability, and they were not used to the humanoid experience, which proved to be a way to manipulate
them.
Pandronian have only been seen twice in canon and they were both in animated firm due to
the ease of recreating such non-humanoid life.
On first appearances, you may think they are very humanoid, but they are in fact a colony
of creatures that all link together to form a single “individual” in air quotes.
Sometimes the colony parts would go on to exchange with new colonies, forming entirely
new individuals, ending the existence of the original.
This shows that when connected into a singular form, they are basically all working as one
creature, with its own sense of self, but also are capable of living independently of
the whole.
A very strange existence if this is so, and to top it off, they are born from eggs.
They are not a Federation world, as far as I can tell, but are affiliated with the UFP
through officer exchanges and training drills.
These three segmented beings (or are there more?) are definitely one of the strangest
concepts out there and definitely more suited for a cartoonish appearance.
Although I do wonder what a live action Pandronian would look like…
Following the animated theme, we have the Lactran.
These were large, slug like creatures that could not move much, but had a trunk like
appendage with manipulative tendrils on the end.
Their large but squishy body was host to one of the most powerful and complex organic minds
and they had strong telepathic powers.
These aliens are one of those zoo collector types.
You know the trope, they find other aliens less advanced than they are and bring them
to their collection of aliens to study and marvel at.
Their minds however moved at such speeds and with such complexity, that an unprepared telepathic
link was dangerous and even the disciplined mind of a Vulcan could not keep up.
Their IQs were in the thousands by infancy and their telepathy could be bolstered by
shared efforts.
Basically these guys seem to be slug shaped organic supercomputers with mind powers.
Further contact with them is promising and confrontation is not expected, although they
seem pretty consumed with their own agenda for now.
The Excalbians are an incredibly powerful species from Star Trek, especially for ones
still possessed of a physical carbon-based form.
Their native form is that of a large, bulky rock-covered, vaguely humanoid shape, but
they have two large clawed arms and their head would glow in places when then spoke.
Internally they were supported by a sturdy skeletal structure but did possess an extraordinary
ability to scan and recreate matter at will.
They did this to their own forms frequently, and when combined with the scanning of another
individual’s mind, they would be able to adopt a completely new form, replete with
memories of that individual.
Because of their incredible ability, they could inhabit any location and even exist
as the ground on which one stood.
Their ability to simply recreate at will, even using their own matter makes them unique,
even among the shapeshifting species in my opinion.
So, thank you for watching this list and naturally there are so many more out there that were
not included.
I feel I should add a special mention for Species 8472 and their tripod design as well
as the Edosians for a similar look, but I think the ones I have picked here are some
of the stranger non-humanoid life encountered by Starfleet over its years.
But until the next video, thanks again, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later for another
lore video or similar.
Until then, goodbye!