Arena

[clearspira]

Kind of funny reading back through this thread as this was made before the Gorn became the Magog from Andromeda - ah, such innocent times. We hadn't even heard of the words ''Covid Lockdown'' yet lol.

Anyway - the Gorn get my vote for the most retconned of all Star Trek species:

1) TOS Arena: Slow, plodding, extremely tough, but as intelligent as any human. The moral of the story is basically ''don't be racist''. Just because he looks like a monster doesn't mean that he is one.

2) ENT In The Mirror Darkly: To paraphrase Phlox, ''is a velociraptor now''. Fast, agile, attacks with its teeth which was not how it attacked before. Displays basic cunning but none of the human-equivalent intelligence that it once had.

3) SNW (don't know the episode): Now a rape monster. The message has gone from ''do not judge by appearances'' to ''holy shit, of COURSE you would declare war on these things. It's us or them.''

[Durandal_1707]

and then:

4) Prodigy Season 1 finale: Friendly enough to be one of the races that comes to the Federation's aid when the Living Construct is tearing Starfleet apart.

5) LD "An Embarrassment of Dooplers": Just chilling out on a Starbase along with a bunch of other friendly aliens.

[Nobody700]

The enterprise one I at least wanna retcon was a mirror universe Gorn. I can't remember if it was or not, and you could argue maybe some Gorn are faster than others.

SNW... yeah I got nothing. Closest I got is a cult... and that's weird.

[McAvoy]

It's sad because as Chuck described in the review that this episode is part of the whole TOS general public identity. Gorn in a laughably bad monster costume.

I get ENT trying to do something different but still recognizable to the original Gorn. At least they tried. But I think in the context of that scene they could have still made it slow.

SNW should have never used the Gorn. Create a new species or something since this is Disco Trek. Use some named but never seen species from the TNG/VOY/DS9 days. Keep the whole Alien ripoff. Or better remove that concept and just let them be a species that sees all other species as cattle.

[Durandal_1707]

^ Sheliak maybe?

[McAvoy]

^ Sheliak maybe?

That is interesting. After reading Memory Alpha on more information about them, there is enough to make them a threat. Human infestations, humans lower lifeforms, irrational language etc. Also there is enough of a lack of information from that episode to do whatever you want with them.

Oil dripping non-humanoid. Maybe they can be retconned a bit to view every other alien species as cattle. Instead of Alien ripoff, it can be The Blob ripoff.

[Durandal_1707]

Also would explain why the Federation absolutely did not want to risk another conflict with them in the episode they were in.

[clearspira]

If you really want to use a TOS species for some reason, the Tholians seem pretty ripe for this. It also makes a strange kind of sense why they capture ships in giant webs if they are looking to capture the crew for impregnation.

That's another thing about the Gorn too. You know how the Wraith in Stargate only use stunning weapons because they need you alive? And how the Viidians try to disable your ship because they need you alive? And how the Magog in Andromeda swarm your ship because they need you alive? And how the Xenomorph Queen captures you and brings you back to its nest because it needs you alive? Our introduction to the Gorn in TOS is to massacre a settlement. I guess they didn't feel horny that day...

[Nobody700]

If you really want to use a TOS species for some reason, the Tholians seem pretty ripe for this. It also makes a strange kind of sense why they capture ships in giant webs if they are looking to capture the crew for impregnation.

That's another thing about the Gorn too. You know how the Wraith in Stargate only use stunning weapons because they need you alive? And how the Viidians try to disable your ship because they need you alive? And how the Magog in Andromeda swarm your ship because they need you alive? And how the Xenomorph Queen captures you and brings you back to its nest because it needs you alive? Our introduction to the Gorn in TOS is to massacre a settlement. I guess they didn't feel horny that day...

Simple. Those damn colonists dared enter our territory, where we easily surrounded them with our space ships... no sport at all! THEY DESERVE TO BE ATOMIZED!

[McAvoy]

If they were going for a truly alien species that we couldn't hope to understand or just barely. Then any of the above would work. But since they decided to add body horror to it, makes it a bit different.

I mean having a species view every species not their own as a potential meal isn't bad. But using them as hosts for their young? Nah. I could deal without it.