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These creepy Star Trek aliens are guaranteed to make your skin crawl.
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00:00Hello my friends, how are you? Sean Ferrick here for TrekCulture, and as you might have noticed,
00:06things are a little different today. I'm wearing sunglasses. I just thought that the day that was
00:12in it, I might just celebrate the fact that I can barely see. We've got lovely weather. Oh yeah,
00:16and that thing. We are here at the Vasquez Rocks. I have come on a wee away mission,
00:22because we are going to talk about some of the creepiest aliens, and I think you know which one
00:29of them is going to be on this list. But before I get into that, I'm Sean Ferrick for TrekCulture,
00:33and here are the 10 creepiest aliens in Star Trek. Number 10, Armas. Six foot tall, big thing of goo.
00:43Creepy to begin with, but then you find out what Armas does in the course of the episode.
00:48The Next Generation's first season was not without its bumps, but the episode Skin of Evil delivered
00:54one of the most shocking moments in Star Trek history, as we saw Lieutenant Tasha Yar get thrown
01:01across, let's be honest, Planet Hell. Planet Hell was of course Vagra too in this episode. This time,
01:07the inhabitants of that planet had decided that they were going to leave all of their negative
01:10energy before, and in doing so, they created Armas. Armas was a creature made of all of the ill will
01:18and evil, but unfortunately, they never stopped to think, wait, is this a bad idea? Well, Councillor
01:25Troi found out it was a pretty bad idea when her shuttle was brought down by Armas. A landing party
01:32was sent after to save her, and Tasha Yar, unfortunately, decided to poke the bear at just
01:38the wrong moment. Not simply content with killing Tasha Yar, Riker was dragged across the sand into the
01:44body of Armas in one of the creepiest, and often parodied, scenes in that first season
01:51of Star Trek. Armas may be many things, in an episode that may be many things, but he is
01:57still deeply, deeply unsettling. Number nine, Salt Vampires, the M11th creature.
02:05The very first episode of Star Trek that was shown on television was not actually the pilot,
02:10it was The Man Trap, the episode focusing on Dr. McCoy and his lost love Nancy Crater.
02:16Throughout the course of the episode, we see a lot of Nancy, but the real Nancy remains
02:21lost, because what we find is one of the most iconic baddies of the original series.
02:28The Salt Vampire, you have probably seen this, even if you've never seen an episode of Star
02:33Trek, you've got those kind of dreads that are hanging there matted, you've got those long
02:38fingers with those suckers on the underside, you've got that open gaping mouth, but that's
02:43only when the creature's been revealed. One of the even creepier elements to this is the
02:49fact that it can assume the form of others. The impersonation is so perfect that Dr. McCoy
02:54struggles to believe that this isn't the real Nancy Crater, and it takes Spock attacking
02:59quote unquote Nancy for him to actually realise the real Nancy probably couldn't take a punch
03:05the way that this creature did. While this vampire has turned up in many parodies, as much of the
03:11original series Aliens have, that doesn't change the fact that the fact that it could be anyone,
03:17has such an emotional beat to it, and such a creepy beat to it as well. I suppose, depending on how
03:22you look at it, the fact that they killed the very last one is either absolutely brilliant, or a big
03:28misdirect, because one turns up in Lower Decks as well. Number eight, Gorgon. The third season of the
03:34original series of Star Trek is mixed at best, bearing in mind it opens with Spock's brain and
03:41closes with the line, she could have had a great life if only she hadn't been a woman. Listen,
03:46mistakes were made. One of the episodes this season, and the children shall lead, often ranks among the
03:52lowest in the ratings when it comes to Star Trek, and there is a degree of fairness to that. There's a
03:59degree where that's maybe a bit harsh. The Gorgon in this was played by guest performer and lawyer,
04:06Melvin Belly, who in a bit of stunt casting rocked up as this wonderful green friendly angel of the
04:12children, those same kids who had just killed all their parents. The episode effectively shows a bit
04:19of a Village of the Damned, Children of the Corn vibe, when it takes the kids eventually realising
04:26what has happened and breaking down in tears to remove the power of the Gorgon. That's where Gorgon
04:33is creepy, not in its admittedly very rushed makeup appearance, more so that it will con you into
04:42smiling your way through the slaughter of the ones that mean the most. And if that's not creepy,
04:48then I don't think I want to be your friend. Number seven, the Beta-12a Entity. Now you might
04:53already have realised that we've got a few original series aliens on this list, because quite frankly,
04:58what was wrong with the writers back in the 60s? There was some serious horror going on,
05:03and this isn't the last one either, I can tell you. In the episode The Day of the Dove, we are
05:08introduced to a few things that will become iconic in Star Trek history. For example, Michael and Sarah
05:14appears for the first time as Kang. We also get the first appearance of the Klingon D7 battlecruiser,
05:20we also get Mara, Kang's mate, slash wife, slash it's not really clear in the episode, but what we
05:27also get is everyone going flipping nuts. The point of this entity is that it is a non-corporeal being
05:34that, like many others in the Star Trek universe, feeds off those negative energies that the people
05:40put out. Not only that, but it amplifies them as well. So you see everyone running around with swords,
05:46because tearing each other apart is effectively brunch to this thing. By the time we meet it,
05:51it had already caused the destruction of the Klingon ship. So thanks very much to the remastered
05:57version so we can see a nicer version of it. But those Klingons suddenly arrive on the Enterprise,
06:01they're beamed over, they're saved. Yeah, no. So hijinks ensue, lots of sword fighting. It's only stopped
06:09at the end by the combined laughter of Kirk and Kang in one of the first, and honestly,
06:17most fun joining together of Starfleet and the Klingons that we get in Star Trek.
06:23Number six, Redjack. The original series episode Wolf in the Fold was written by Robert Block,
06:29who's most famous for writing Psycho. However, Block had a long running obsession with Jack the Ripper,
06:36and had previously written pieces featuring Jack in terms of confessions and what ifs.
06:44This is no different. What's truly creepy about Redjack in this episode is that, like several others,
06:50it's a possessing entity, but it is one of the darkest episodes that we had yet seen of Star Trek.
06:57Considering the cold open finishes, with Scotty standing there, knife in hand, with an exotic dancer
07:04dead at his feet. While the episode itself has issues, for example the suggestion that Scotty was
07:09in an accident caused by a woman, and so McCoy recommended he go to a strip bar. Throughout
07:13the episode we get seances, we get non-corporeal talking, we get the reveal that the original Piglet
07:21was in fact this mass murdering hater of women. Not really, I dare you to go back and watch that episode
07:27and not hear Piglet every time he speaks. This entity, it moved from Earth, it moved to the Rigel colonies,
07:33it has been killing throughout time. And in fact, there's an even scarier moment right at the end
07:39when Redjack takes control of the Enterprise itself. And actually, for the 1960s, for a network television
07:47show, this was deeply unsettling. They don't dial it back for Star Trek. Now it is defeated, but
07:57Wolf in the Fold, and in fact Redjack, that's a character that's going to stay with you long after
08:02the credits roll. Number five, Flying Parasites. I mean, the clue's in the description there really.
08:08I don't really want to meet these things, so when the episode Operation Annihilate comes up,
08:14I think I'm just going to take a hard pass, you enjoy it, and I'll see you again in the next season.
08:18How does that sound? I bet someone who really wished they could have said that was the ill-fated
08:24Sam Kirk. Before I go on, spoilers, I guess, to anyone who hasn't seen Operation Annihilate,
08:30and is really enjoying Sam Kirk in Strange New Worlds. Don't worry, it's about 10 years in the
08:36future, okay? When Kirk and crew, the main Kirk I should say, and crew beam down to the planet,
08:40they find that Jim Kirk's brother is dead, his sister-in-law Aurelion is dying. Now thankfully,
08:47his nephew is spared, but the rest of the colony are effectively dead by these parasites that attach to
08:53the back of the victim and just suck out all that they need and leave them to die in agony. We nearly
09:00lose Spock to these parasites as well because of the pain that they inflict on them. Now the funny
09:06thing about these things is that they look like that plastic vomit that you buy in the joke shop,
09:10which kind of stands to how creepy they are that you can take something that looks like a zit someone's
09:14just popped and it's still actually freaky. I am going to do a hard pass on these. I'm going to skip
09:21this episode, I'm going to see you in the next season. Number four, unnamed parasitic beings. Now I
09:26should say before I go on that Star Trek Online, whether you want to accept it as canon or not, has
09:31called these creatures the bluegills. They infect the host by entering often through the mouth and
09:37they're only identified by increased physical strength of the victim and also a small spike that
09:44could be a breathing apparatus that sticks out the back of the victim's neck. This is another one of
09:48those creations where in the first season of The Next Generation we are given, despite the issues
09:54that season faced, a genuinely paranoid unsettling episode. Conspiracy probably is the best episode
10:03of the first season of The Next Generation. You get other captains, which is something we actually
10:07hadn't really seen very much of in Star Trek The Next Generation up to that point. We see we get the
10:11visit to Dietallix B from the opening moment. You just get this sense of something's very wrong
10:19with Starfleet. It had been set up a couple of episodes earlier with the arrival of Admiral Quinn
10:24and Lieutenant Commander Remick in the episode Coming of Age. When Quinn arrives this time and you see him
10:29just brush off the suspicions that he had last time, straight away Picard tells Riker that's not Gregory
10:36Quinn. That final scene that sees Picard and Riker facing off against Remick is a heavily edited episode.
10:44I mean it actually took me until the 2000s to realize what happened at the end of that scene
10:49because it had been so censored on every version that I had seen up to that point. I didn't realize
10:55the fact that they got that lovely actor, they sat him in the chair and they blew up his head.
11:00These aliens are seriously creepy and although yes there was one of those kind of you kill the queen and
11:06the rest die moments, a signal was sent out from Starfleet. It was a homing signal. Now there has
11:14been suggestions that this was the setup for the Borg but as that went in a different direction,
11:20the Bluegills very much could be coming back. Number three, the Vidians. I would argue that the
11:27Vidians are possibly one of the creepiest but most tragic villains in all of Star Trek because they are
11:35affected by the phage which is analogous to a leprosy type disease. Before the phage affected
11:41them they were a society that excelled in art, they excelled in the sciences, they were well regarded in
11:48the delta quadrant and once the phage hit them they became one of the greatest terrors in their region.
11:57You see what the phage does is it effectively dissolves the body from the inside out and the
12:03Vidians in their desperation have taken to harvesting the organs of other species to keep
12:09their own bodies alive. We're introduced to them with the removal of Neelix's lungs which is a heck
12:15of a way to open an episode. However that's not the creepiest moment with the Vidians. A few episodes
12:22later on the episode faces is shown. Now it's mostly remembered for the fact that we split Bolana Torres
12:28between her human and Klingon sides and there's some good back and forth between the two versions.
12:34But what's really memorable is that poor Durst. Oh poor Durst. He'd been introduced the episode
12:42before to set him up and then Durst, Paris and Bolana go on an away mission where they get captured
12:48by the Vidians. He is played by the same actor who plays the lead Vidian. The reason for that is that as the
12:55episode goes on the Vidian has fallen in love with Bolana's Klingon side and thinks as a way of wooing
13:00her she'd like him better if he had Durst's face grafted onto his own. It is hor- I remember this
13:08vividly from the mid 90s when it was far too young to be watching this Cronenberg body horror
13:13and he just smiling down at her and I was like I may not be an expert romance but I'm not doing that.
13:19Number two. The Borg. If you have come from Frank Chavez's original article of this you might be
13:25surprised to see the Borg at number two instead of number one but we felt a very important change
13:30needed to be made to this list. But before I explain what that change is let's think about
13:34the Borg. Now they have been overused in all of Star Trek at this point so they have lost a little bit
13:40of that terror that was inspired by them originally but I want you to hold on to the word originally.
13:46Let's go back and see what the Borg really are at their core. So I'm not talking about when they're
13:52facing off with Janeway although great scenes and I'm not talking about when Borgatti owns a new
13:58transwarp corridor because why wouldn't you? I am talking about that very first episode Q Who. The
14:04Borg were used as an example by Q for just how unprepared Starfleet was for what was out there. Now we had
14:14seen look at the other aliens on this list we've seen some pretty creepy things throughout the
14:18original series so you might have been left wondering in 1987-1988. Ah sure what else could we
14:24be dealing with here? And then we found out that arrival of that first cube led to one of the most
14:31pulse pounding episodes that the next generation had done to that point. You see in a way they're
14:38cybernetic beings that have been a mix of organic and synthetic. Okay yeah we've seen versions of
14:45this before that's not that scary. Very bloody scary when they're coming after you though. We see
14:50one drone beams into engineering it does not give two figs about the fact that they don't want him in
14:56engineering especially when a very lucky security officer tries to stop him and he gets thrown across
15:03a room and you might be like Sean how would you consider that lucky? Because he wasn't injected
15:08with the nanoprobes that would be added in the next few episodes that featured the Borg. They're
15:14not just scary robots that want your technology they want your biological and technological distinctiveness
15:20to add to their own. They assimilated Picard. Now think about that you'd had three seasons where
15:26this Shakespearean actor was getting more and more grounded in the role. He was dignified, he was
15:35very measured in everything he did and he didn't stand a chance against the collective. He became
15:43Locutus and we get what is arguably the greatest cliffhanger ending in all of Star Trek when Riker
15:50orders Worf to fire. The Borg are at their core terrifying. If they were to launch a full-on assault
15:58there is very few that would ever have a chance of stopping them. Species 8472 did and then Voyager
16:05went and mucked that one up didn't they? The one last thing I will say about the Borg is that despite
16:11their being overused, despite being sometimes they took the veil off it, when you strip it back to its core
16:16like they did in the Enterprise episode Regeneration, these Swedish sounding cybernetic zombies are
16:23terrifying and if they're coming after you you better pick out your alcove. Number one, the Gorn.
16:30Okay so this was the change to Frank's list that I made here so please make sure you go and check out
16:36Frank's article originally but I got to explain why I've put the Gorn at number one. Why do you think?
16:42But also, also, bear with me, even a couple of years ago if I was to have the Gorn at number one you
16:49might have looked at this and said, really? The hissing rubber guy from Arena? Creepiest?
16:57Well, he did get a bit creepier in that episode of Enterprise where they tried to do him in CGI and
17:03an attempt was made. They lost some of their creepiness when they rocked up in lower decks.
17:07I mean, I would both love to attend a Gorn wedding and also I would love to run as fast as I possibly
17:12could away from a Gorn wedding. You know, we'll see how the mood takes me. All of this, all of this,
17:17you're like, not getting creepy, I'm not getting creepy. Then Strange New Worlds came along and Memento
17:23Mori made me realise where if I hear the Gorn are coming, I am getting the absolute out of there.
17:31The Gorn were being set up throughout the first season of Strange New Worlds as someone to genuinely
17:37be feared. You had Leanne Noonien Singh had a horrifically traumatic experience in her childhood
17:43where her family, and in fact the whole ship that they were on, were killed by the Gorn.
17:48But wouldn't it be lovely if they had only been killed? The Strange New Worlds Gorn owe an awful lot
17:54of inspiration to Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shussett Jr's Xenomorph that was of course introduced back in
18:00Alien, ironically the same year that Star Trek The Motion Picture came out. Space was a very mixed place
18:05that year. These are fast, these are frightening, these are also much more animal than say the
18:13previous Gorn that had appeared had been. I mean, you didn't look like you were about to have a
18:18conversation with these dudes. But of course, let's talk about the spit that gets you pregnant.
18:24That might sound very silly, doesn't it? Betcha Hemmer didn't find it so funny. This was it,
18:29this was the episode we lost Bruce Horak's hammer because he got infected with Gorn babies, which
18:35again, if you've seen Alien, unwelcome dinner guest, that's what we're looking at here. Gorn may have
18:42been one of the most beloved jokes in Star Trek history for a long time, but then Strange New
18:47Worlds came along and says, nah, hold my rubber suit, we're gonna change this up. That's it for our list,
18:53folks. Thank you very much for watching. If you reckon I missed something that is so super creepy,
18:57it must be included. Let me know in the comments below. And again, as I say, don't forget to check
19:01out the original article by the wonderful Frank Chavez. Thank you very much for watching along.
19:06Thank you very much to the wonderful Tom who's edited this video. Sorry if you've had to have a
19:10little bit of wind, but the person who was supposed to hold the wind, they called in sick today.
19:15Remember, you can catch us on socials at TrekCulture on Twitter and at TrekCultureYT over on
19:20Instagram. You can catch myself at SeanFerrick on all the various socials. You can catch Tom at TomCFinn.
19:25Everyone, make sure you look after yourselves until I see you again. Make sure that you live long and
19:29prosper. And if you're out the LA way, well, bye for a visit. It is pretty cool. Thanks very much.
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