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From sentient planets that actively try to kill visitors to worlds that phase in and out of our dimension, Star Trek has introduced us to some truly unique locations. Join us as we count down the 10 strangest worlds ever explored by Starfleet.
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00:00Star Trek has taken us to hundreds of new worlds.
00:03Some of them looked like someone's basement with a tarp thrown over the wall,
00:06while others were wondrous and thrilling to behold.
00:10Many of them, however, sit somewhere in the middle,
00:13redressed in new episodes, waiting to cover our comrades in smoke and Metamucil.
00:18The earliest new worlds in the original series were excuses to show off that fancy new Technicolor technology.
00:25So, grab an environmental suit, a phaser rifle, and hop in that transporter.
00:30Just do yourself a favor, and don't wear red.
00:33I'm Bri from Trek Culture, and here are 10 of the strangest worlds in Star Trek.
00:38Number 10. Murder Planet
00:42This charmingly named world, thank you, Jankum Pog, is one of the strangest on this list.
00:48While it's not the most dangerous planet that has ever been depicted in Star Trek,
00:52it is one of the few that is actively trying to kill anyone unlucky enough to set foot on its
00:58surface.
00:59When the protostar lands on its surface, the young crew quickly discover that it is a place where dreams come
01:04true.
01:05Those dreams might be nightmares, but they're dreams nonetheless.
01:09The entire planet is linked under its surface, allowing coordinated attacks on unsuspecting prey,
01:14while also manifesting these poor creatures' desires to entice them into traps.
01:19The planet's own properties may have inspired a native species to take to the stars,
01:24but still retains some of the lessons that their homesteads bestowed upon them.
01:29Murder Planet was located, according to hologram Janeway, in the Hirogen system.
01:34Almost all Hirogen representatives encountered by Starfleet before this stardate had been nomadic by nature,
01:40with no mention of a homeworld.
01:43It's unclear when Starfleet was able to discover and categorize this system as the Hirogen system,
01:48but hologram Janeway names it with some authority, suggesting absolute confirmation of the fact.
01:54The Hirogen encountered by Starfleet began to make a little more sense after the visit to this world.
01:59If a species had been trained from birth to kill everything around them,
02:03lest they be killed by anything from water to plants,
02:07would that not encourage decent hunting skills?
02:09I'd sure think so.
02:11Number 9. Meridian
02:14Meridian, or Trialis I,
02:17was a planet in the Gamma Quadrant that existed in this dimension for a short period of time.
02:22In fact, when the USS Defiant entered the Trialis system,
02:25the planet popped up to say hello, for the first time in 60 years,
02:29and even then it was only due to stick around for 12 days.
02:32What we have here, folks, is a classic Brigadoon planet.
02:36The locals of Meridian aren't quite sure what causes this dimensional hopping,
02:40though they know enough to say it's related to the Trialis star.
02:44Between periods of normal space-time,
02:46the planet and everything on it would shift into a realm of pure consciousness.
02:50This was wonderful as an anti-aging method,
02:53but the shortened stays in normal space had effectively killed the chance for reproduction the old-fashioned way.
02:59Despite Jadzia Dax's affection for one of the locals named Durrell,
03:03she could only pass on the knowledge of how to help rather than join the Meridians on its next hop
03:08into consciousness.
03:10Though she believed she altered her body's chemistry enough to join them,
03:13it wasn't to be, and her presence almost destroyed the world and everyone on it.
03:18Jadzia herself wouldn't be around for Meridian's next phase into this reality,
03:22but it is entirely possible that Esri Dax could have popped along to say hello in about 24, 31?
03:30Number 8. Remus
03:33Remus was one of the planets in the Romulus system,
03:36and was one of the Romulan Empire's key dilithium mining locations.
03:40The indigenous population, if they were indeed indigenous,
03:43had evolved to exist in near-total darkness thanks to their lives on the dark side of the planet.
03:48Remus was tidally locked, meaning that one side always faced the sun.
03:52This baked half the world and banished everything and everyone to the other side.
03:57Though the Remans had a fierce reputation as warriors,
04:00the Romulans kept them in a state of slave labor,
04:02forcing them to dig the mines while also engaging in brutal and bloody battles,
04:07particularly during the Dominion War.
04:10Little more has ever been learned about Remus and its people,
04:13with most of the outside contact occurring in 2379.
04:17Shinzon, the clone of Captain Picard and now leader of the Remans,
04:21orchestrated a coup d'etat, poisoning the Romulan Senate with radiation
04:25and planning a full-scale invasion of the Federation for good measure.
04:29In doing so, he displayed the Remans' technological advancement over their Romulan cousins.
04:34They possessed the technology to cloak their ships,
04:37while still retaining the ability to fire.
04:40Remus was among the ruins of the supernova that devastated the Romulan Empire in 2387,
04:45presumably making the Remans just as nomadic as their cousins.
04:50Number 7. Beta Omicron Delta III
04:53There are worlds in the Milky Way galaxy that contain such wonders as the mortal mind could hope to possess.
04:59But there were a few, like the one first encountered in the episode Shore Leave.
05:05This world was a simple playground, ready to offer its guests their heart's desires.
05:10The only limit was their own imagination.
05:13The now iconic image of the White Rabbit may have struck McCoy as a little odd,
05:17but when one considers just how far down the rabbit hole this planet could have gone,
05:22he should count himself pretty lucky.
05:24Fake out death included, by the way.
05:26In 2266, it was a relatively harmless world.
05:29Injuries could be easily repaired,
05:31and the Keeper assured his new guests that they were welcome to remain.
05:35However, by 2269, the Keeper had passed away,
05:38and the planet had begun to take up a new life and a new purpose.
05:43The Enterprise returned in Once Upon a Planet, ready to engage in more relaxation,
05:48but found instead a bitter and angry central computer system.
05:52The system, rather than replicating its guests' desires,
05:55instead decided to play games with them.
05:57These games included screaming dragon-like things in the sky,
06:01as well as kidnapping Uhura.
06:03Thankfully, they kidnapped the one person who could communicate best with them,
06:07and they eventually conceded, allowing the crew to return.
06:11It was effectively a giant holodeck,
06:13and they have never, ever broken in Star Trek.
06:17So, really, where's the harm?
06:19Number 6.
06:21Dekala
06:22Rogue worlds can lead to strange species thereon,
06:26and such is the case with Dekala.
06:28This planet had broken free from its star's orbit,
06:30and by the time Enterprise encounters it,
06:33there's no difference between day and night.
06:35It is a dark, lonely planet.
06:37But the crew of the Enterprise are not alone here.
06:40An alien species, the Eska, treat the planet as one large hunting ground.
06:45While breaking bread with them, Archer is distracted by a beautiful woman,
06:49one that he's seemingly met before,
06:51imploring him for his help.
06:53Though he does, in fact, know this woman,
06:56things are not quite what they seem.
06:58Dekala is home to a species that is telepathic,
07:01capable of using its power to get inside the heads of others.
07:05The Eska see them as less than sentient,
07:07and have delighted in hunting these beings for nine generations.
07:11Dekala was unusual for a rogue planet,
07:13in that it supported indigenous life.
07:15The light of distant stars did manage to shine on the planet,
07:19even if it never lifted from night to day.
07:22T'Pol theorized that the plants and fauna were sustained
07:24by the hot air vents releasing steam from the planet's core.
07:28While the telepathic species,
07:30known as the Wraith by the Eska,
07:32were able to communicate with Archer,
07:34there were several other native creatures as well,
07:36including the boar worms.
07:38Not the boar worms!
07:40Number 5.
07:42Magus II.
07:43Magus II was a controversial planet in Star Trek's history,
07:47not least for being one of those center-of-the-galaxy locations
07:51that shouldn't technically exist.
07:53The magics of Magus II manages to sidestep that issue
07:57by also having the planet exist in an alternate dimension.
08:01One phaser blast dodged there, at least.
08:03The second rather strange aspect of this strange world
08:07was the fact that it was populated by devils.
08:10When Larry Brody was writing the script for the episode,
08:13he originally pitched a story featuring the Enterprise meeting God.
08:17Now, where have we heard that before?
08:19Gene Roddenberry loved the idea.
08:21The network, however, was never going to allow the show
08:24to depict God in this way.
08:26They were, however, perfectly happy
08:28with a depiction of the devil,
08:30cloven hooves and all.
08:31The planet is depicted as candy-striped,
08:34though when the crew beams down,
08:36they are presented with 17th century Salem,
08:38with the locals depicting the religious zealots of the day.
08:42Instead of a witch burning,
08:43Kirk and Spock managed to convince the Magans
08:46to let them and their new friend Lucian go free.
08:49The episode received some criticism
08:51for a seemingly sympathetic portrayal of a satanic creature,
08:55yet it was hardly the first time
08:56that particular shot was fired against the show.
08:59A certain pointy-eared character
09:02caused some raised eyebrows in the cage, too.
09:05Number 4. Theta Zeta
09:09Theta Zeta only received its name in the script
09:11for the end of Discovery's third season,
09:13so most of you will simply know it
09:16as the Dilithian planet at the center of the Bern.
09:20Located in the Verubian Nebula,
09:21it was the crash site for the KSF Kyeth,
09:24a Kelpian ship on which Dr. Issa served.
09:27She gave birth to her son Sakal in the ruins of her ship,
09:30and then, knowing that she would soon die,
09:33built a holographic world for him to play in and be occupied.
09:37Sakal was born on a world with various types of radiation,
09:40all of which combined to start warping his genes.
09:43He connected with the planet and through it the Dilithium.
09:46It unfortunately acted like a resonance chamber,
09:50amplifying his own grief when his mother died.
09:52He screamed in agony,
09:54and in his pain,
09:56he inadvertently ended thousands of lives.
09:58The force that spread out from Theta Zeta
10:01caused every active warp core to breach in that moment,
10:04crippling much of the Quadrant
10:06and reducing Starfleet to rudimentary forms of transportation.
10:10It took over a century
10:11for that crucial part of the puzzle to come to light,
10:14and to also remove Sakal from the planet
10:16for fear that he would cause another Bern.
10:19It may have been a grand tragedy,
10:22but Theta Zeta is still an interesting world
10:25in a galaxy full of them.
10:27Number 3.
10:29Captain Lisa Cusack's Crash Site
10:31The fourth planet of a star system in the Rutherian sector
10:35is hardly a romantic description
10:36for a starship's final resting place.
10:38Yet, that is where the USS Olympia met her fate
10:41in the sound of her voice.
10:43The planet was largely barren,
10:45with driving winds and rain
10:46coupled with high CO2 levels in the air,
10:48all of which made it a thoroughly unpleasant place to be.
10:52The unusual thing about this planet
10:54was not on its surface,
10:56but surrounding its atmosphere.
10:58The planet was encased in an energy barrier
11:00that attracted the Olympia's attention,
11:02though when the ship initiated scans,
11:05a Metreon radiation surge destroyed the ship
11:07and killed all aboard,
11:09save for the captain, Lisa Cusack.
11:11Though tragic, that still was not the strangest part.
11:15This barrier acted as a temporal transmitter,
11:18though the captain survived both the Olympia's destruction
11:21and the crash of her shuttle,
11:23her distress calls were heard in the wrong time.
11:27When she spoke to the crew of the USS Defiant,
11:30she was talking to the future,
11:31as the messages were transmitted forward by three years.
11:35Though her body is eventually recovered
11:37by Sisko, Bashir, and O'Brien,
11:40it's to bring her back to Deep Space Nine
11:42for an Irish wake, rather than a welcome home.
11:45Number 2.
11:46The Weird Planet Displaced in Time
11:49Despite Naomi Wildman's colorful description of this planet,
11:53the universe has yet to settle on a name for this world
11:56that Voyager encountered in 2376.
11:59The technical explanation for its weirdness
12:01was a tachyon core,
12:03a subspace particle field that ran between its two cores
12:06and a spinning speed similar to a quasar.
12:10All considered, it was a fairly strange planet.
12:13The emergency medical hologram
12:15was probably best equipped to describe the world,
12:17having spent a grand total of 18 minutes there.
12:20For the crew of Voyager,
12:21those 18 minutes were long enough.
12:23For the doctor,
12:24those 18 minutes equated to over three years,
12:28a lot of memories,
12:29and a son named Jason.
12:30It's a long story.
12:32One suggested name for the planet
12:33was Calamane's planet,
12:35named for the astronomer
12:36who dreamt of contacting the skyship.
12:38The short story,
12:3918 Minutes by Terry Osborne,
12:41calls it Tahal Maroge.
12:43Meanwhile,
12:44Naomi Wildman originally voted for it to be called
12:46the weird planet where time moved very fast,
12:49and so did the people who lived there.
12:50All very solid choices in the end.
12:53Voyager remained in orbit for mere days,
12:56while centuries passed on the planet below.
12:58They were inadvertently responsible for seismic activity
13:01that eventually convinced enough of the indigenous species
13:04to consider them a threat.
13:06Though the planet fired a barrage of antimatter weapons at the ship,
13:10a scientist and astronaut was able to convince his people
13:13to help the ship,
13:14having already visited and discovered their secret.
13:17The planet's population was working on technology
13:20to allow them to join the rest of the galaxy
13:22by the time Voyager finally broke away.
13:24So, it's very likely that they may appear again.
13:28Who knows?
13:28Number one.
13:30To Cut
13:32Most viewers are familiar with Vulcan,
13:34and many will be aware of its current or future name, Navarre.
13:38Yet, how many will be aware of the planet's binary twin,
13:42To Cut?
13:43This planet is strange because,
13:45depending on the day and the person speaking,
13:47it both exists and doesn't exist.
13:50In the first televised episode of the original series,
13:53The Man Trap,
13:54Spock states that Vulcan has no moon.
13:57However, in Yesteryear,
13:59there is clearly something in the sky over Vulcan's horizon.
14:03This something would go on to be called To Cut,
14:06depending on the source and the time of year.
14:10To Cut was accidentally created by an animation artist
14:13during production on Yesteryear,
14:15who evidently didn't receive the note
14:18that Vulcan should be moon-free.
14:20The theatrical edition of the motion picture
14:22also featured a moon or planetoid in orbit over Vulcan,
14:26but this was removed from the director's cut.
14:29Fontana helped reconcile this error
14:32first through print publication in 1975
14:34via a series of stories,
14:37and then later in Jean Laura's 1984 novel,
14:40The Vulcan Academy Murders.
14:41The 1994 novel,
14:43Sarek by A.C. Crispin,
14:45further explains that the planet has different names
14:47for various times during the year,
14:50which also helps to explain the titles,
14:52including the Watcher,
14:54that it had been given in the course
14:56of its rather odd existence.
14:58And those were 10 of the strangest worlds in Star Trek.
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15:21But until next time,
15:22I hope you all have a great rest of your day,
15:24and don't forget to live long and prosper.
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