1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,359 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,879 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lambin. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 2: focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 2: And this is going to be yet another omnibus episode, 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 2: collecting four previous related Monster Fact entries. These are going 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 2: to cover my recent journey into the Star Trek universe, 8 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 2: so I hope you enjoy these. Let's go ahead and 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 2: kick things off with the Andrians. In this episode, I'd 10 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 2: like to begin a series on various aliens and creatures 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 2: from the Star Trek universe. Now, first of all, I 12 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 2: will be the first to admit that I am not 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 2: an expert in Trek lore, but I very fondly remember 14 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: as a kid in the nineties watching reruns of Star 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 2: Trek the Next Generation every weeknight at nine PM. So 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 2: fondly remember a book that I had to special order 17 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 2: from the local bookstore, Star Trek The Worlds of the Federation, 18 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,679 Speaker 2: written and illustrated by Laura Johnson writing as Shane Johnson. 19 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 2: This was an encyclopedic collection of alien profiles. Think of 20 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 2: it as a monster manual. If you will, covering thirty 21 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 2: two different Federation member alien species, as well as a 22 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 2: number of neutral and hostile aliens. This was a nineteen 23 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 2: eighty nine publication, so it's far from current and is 24 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 2: not considered part of current Trek canon, and I'm to 25 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,919 Speaker 2: understand some Trek writers took issue with some of the entries. Still, 26 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 2: it's a book that meant a lot to me as 27 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: a young Treky, and I suspect it meant a lot 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 2: to others from this time period as well, So I'm 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 2: going to go ahead and cite it along with some 30 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 2: other sources, with the caveat that again, it's not canon 31 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 2: much in the same way I cited the Dune Encyclopedia 32 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 2: in some of my Dune related entries. With all of 33 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 2: that in mind, let's turn to the Andrians. These blueskin, 34 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 2: white haired, antinny equipped aliens are iconic original series aliens, 35 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 2: but they were rather exotic for me, as they're virtually 36 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 2: absent from both Star Trek the Next Generation and Star 37 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 2: Trek Deep Space nine, which constituted my prime Trek viewing. 38 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 2: The reasoning for their absence, according to the excellent Memory Alpha, 39 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 2: was largely twofold. First of all, Trek creator Gene Roddenberry 40 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 2: preferred that many original series aliens be avoided in favor 41 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 2: of new ones on the next generation. Secondly, the makeup 42 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 2: was allegedly difficult to get right and avoid looking silly. 43 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 2: They overcame these hurdles and subsequent shows, and in the 44 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 2: current Star Trek Strange New World series, which I'm enjoying 45 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,959 Speaker 2: quite a bit, we encounter an albinos subspecies of Andrians 46 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 2: known as the Nar, as well as an Andrian Special 47 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 2: Forces officer, and neither of these aliens looks remotely silly. 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 2: But let's come back to the biology of the Andorians. 49 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 2: The worlds the Federation describes them as a mix of 50 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 2: mammalian and reptilian features, with both an endoskeleton and a 51 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 2: limited exoskeleton, and the antennae are described as enhancing otherwise 52 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 2: colorblind vision with a quote complex matrix of light sensitive 53 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 2: cones in addition to auditory functions. All of this together 54 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 2: would amount to an enhanced sense of sight and smell. 55 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 2: Fair enough obvious sense organs do sense organ things. Antenna 56 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 2: in terrestrial organisms remember very greatly, and depending on the species, 57 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 2: may utilize senses of touch, air, motion, heat, vibration, smell 58 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 2: or taste. But again, the Worlds of the Federation came 59 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 2: out in nineteen eighty nine before A particular nineteen ninety 60 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 2: three episode of the Next Generation shed a great deal 61 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 2: of canonical light on the biology of Star Trek. The 62 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 2: episode titled The Chase, which I specifically remember from my childhood, 63 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 2: revealed the reason so many Star Trek alien species are 64 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 2: humanoid and resemble each other, often with minor alters to 65 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 2: facial and cranial features. All of this via a revelation 66 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 2: of ancient intentional pan spermia via a single advanced progenitor 67 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 2: humanoid species. In other words, all of these Trek species 68 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 2: look similar not because they're all humans in makeup, but 69 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 2: rather because a single ancestor species spread their own DNA 70 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 2: among the various worlds to seed them. I've always found 71 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 2: this to be a clever way of addressing the seeming 72 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 2: lack of biological diversity in many of the core Tract civilizations. 73 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 2: Now you might reasonably wonder, okay, fine, but realistically, would 74 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 2: these distantly related species still look so similar to each other? Well? 75 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 2: Susan and Robert Jenkins explore this question in their book 76 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 2: The Biology of Star Trek, published in nineteen ninety eight. 77 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 2: They point out that based on what we know about evolution, 78 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 2: it's not at all unreasonable. The evolutionary clock runs slowly, 79 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 2: they write, and it has a built in bias against 80 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 2: major overhauls. Because speciation is brought about by multiple random 81 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 2: changes in DNA, and the changes must allow the organism 82 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 2: to survive and reproduce, small changes are favored over large ones. 83 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,119 Speaker 2: Small changes are less likely to compromise the tested survivability 84 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 2: of the original. Given this constraint, two species that start 85 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 2: out alike remain similar over a rather long time, even 86 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 2: under different sets of environmental pressures. They add that particular 87 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 2: environmental pressures would of course have their impact, and a 88 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 2: trend towards facial symmetry would likely stay in place. They 89 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 2: go into greater detail in this great book about not 90 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 2: only the speculative biology of all of this, but also 91 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 2: the connections between human facial cues and the way we 92 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 2: imagine the facial features of treks aliens, and they do 93 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 2: get around to considering the Andrians. They point out that 94 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 2: while nothing resembling a human with antennae exists in the 95 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 2: natural world, we of course do have mammalion species with 96 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 2: enhanced whiskers, and I would point out that we have 97 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 2: other things like the unique robosis of the star No's 98 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 2: mole and the twin feelers of the tentacled snake to 99 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 2: get into the reptile world. For the Andrians, however, they 100 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 2: propose an interesting notion. Perhaps the Andorian home world contains 101 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 2: multiple atmospheric variations, and this results in various microclimates, requiring 102 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 2: enhanced sensation of atmospheric content, temperature, and pressure for any 103 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 2: species that regularly travels outside of a narrow region or microclimate. 104 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 2: They even go so far as to discuss how tissues 105 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 2: in human embryos might develop into antennae under the right 106 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 2: survival pressures. Quote. Human embryos have several segments called embryonic 107 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 2: pharyngeal arches in what will become the head and the neck. 108 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 2: They supply the developing tissue for jaws and some neck organs. 109 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 2: In fish, However, the pharyngeal arches develop into gills because 110 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 2: these structures have been adapted for very different purposes. They 111 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 2: might evolve to provide the organ substrate for the nervous 112 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 2: tissue in an antenna like organ. More broadly, they point 113 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 2: out that added sense organs could potentially detect any number 114 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 2: of factors in a given environment, provided there was an 115 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 2: evolutionary incentive to do so. Memory Alpha provides little canonical 116 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 2: data on all of this, as far as I could tell, 117 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 2: but it does point out that we know that Andrian 118 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 2: antenna can be moved independently via voluntary muscle control, that 119 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 2: they regenerate if they are injured or blasted off, and 120 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 2: they also seem to play a role in balance and 121 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 2: gesticulation and of course therefore communication. I think all this 122 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 2: is quite reasonable. Now, coming back to Star Trek's Strange 123 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 2: New Worlds, the Enar character Himmer in that show is 124 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 2: depicted as having been born sightless, but is more than 125 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 2: able to make up for his lack of sight in 126 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 2: part due to his other senses as a member of 127 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 2: an antennae equipped and Dorian subspecies. All right, Next up 128 00:07:55,200 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 2: the Trouble with Triples, we discuss the various creatures of 129 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 2: the Star Trek universe, without of course considering the tribles 130 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 2: of Iota geminorum for a world home to an abundance 131 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 2: of carnivorous reptiles in addition to the vaguely mammalian Trible 132 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 2: which seems to serve as a basic prey species for 133 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 2: all the space lizards. The Triple is, of course, a small, 134 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 2: furry creature with no discernible limbs or features. Really, its 135 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 2: only means of defending itself, at least against humanoids, is 136 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 2: to basically tranquilize the humanoid with a gentle cooing effect. 137 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 2: The trouble with Tribles, of course, is their incredible rate 138 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 2: of reproduction. They are even reportedly born already pregnant, and 139 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 2: can quickly overrun any given ecosystem or starship that they 140 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 2: are introduced into. In their natural habitat, they eat and 141 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 2: reproduce as quickly as possible, but their numbers are kept 142 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 2: in check, presumably by their many voracious predators. But on 143 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 2: a Federation star ship, yes, this is where the trouble occurs. 144 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,559 Speaker 2: With no predators, plentiful food, and a crew overcome by 145 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 2: their adorable cuteness, their population very quickly spirals out of control. 146 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 2: The creatures debuted in a nineteen sixty seven episode of 147 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 2: the original Star Trek series, but the Grimlins franchise of 148 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 2: the eighties and nineties treads on similar ground. Adorable fur 149 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 2: babies that get entirely out of hand, due to a 150 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 2: mix of ineptitude, human vulnerability to cuteness, and a reproductive 151 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 2: system clearly evolved for different parameters. I've speculated elsewhere that 152 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 2: maguai might depend on a desert, if not an extraterrestrial 153 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 2: environment for their biology to make sense and likewise unsuftible 154 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 2: your mind. We've talked about the role of cuteness both 155 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 2: among humans and cuteness between humans and non human animals. 156 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 2: It is a potent force that manipulates this. For the Triple, 157 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 2: the stabilizing factor is the severity of its ecosystem. On 158 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 2: the Triple home world, triples presumably die in vast numbers, 159 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 2: and their prolific reproduction rate merely allows them to keep up. 160 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 2: We see variations of this in the natural world here 161 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 2: on Earth as well. In general, we see the basic 162 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 2: quality quantity tradeoff. In practice, some organisms err on the 163 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,959 Speaker 2: side of producing few high quality offspring, while others simply 164 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 2: produce offspring in vast numbers. The predators can't eat all 165 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 2: of them, and a select few survive to reproduce as adults. 166 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 2: In sea turtles, for example, somewhere on the order of 167 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 2: two out of a thousand eggs actually makes it to adulthood, 168 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:39,959 Speaker 2: surviving the gamut of consumers along the way. We can 169 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 2: also think of the triple in terms of predator satiation, 170 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 2: by which prey briefly and periodically occur at such high 171 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 2: population densities that the predators can't possibly eat them all. 172 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 2: Periodical cicadas, which many of you will be experiencing yet 173 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 2: again this year, are an example of this. So it 174 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 2: would seem possible that tripe might work in a similar manner, 175 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 2: periodically reproducing in such numbers that they simply overwhelm their 176 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 2: many reptilian predators. Now, given that tribles are vaguely mammals, 177 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 2: we might also compare them to such prolific terrestrial warm 178 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 2: bloods as the European rabbit, infamous for its own rapid 179 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 2: reproduction rate. According to the Texas Invasive Species Institute, an 180 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty nine introduction of a mere twenty four European 181 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 2: rabbits into Australia led to a population of more than 182 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 2: six hundred million in less than a century. The tribles 183 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 2: ultimately are a fantastic commentary on what can happen when 184 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 2: a species is artificially transplanted from one ecosystem into another. Now, 185 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 2: how long would it take tribles to overrun the starship Enterprise. Well, 186 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 2: that is a question that you have to throw some 187 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 2: math at. And in twenty twenty student researchers at the 188 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 2: University of Leicester made science headlines with a paper in 189 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 2: the journal Physics Special Topics. Their answer four point z 190 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 2: five days. All right, Next up the Seti Eels. In 191 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 2: a rare case of synchronicity with the news cycle, which 192 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 2: is all about brain worms of late, I decided to 193 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 2: devote this Trek themed episode to the dreaded Seti eels 194 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 2: of SETI Alpha five. You will, of course remember them 195 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 2: from the nineteen eighty two film Star Trek two, The 196 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 2: Wrath of Khan, in which thowd twentieth century eugenics war 197 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 2: tyrant Khan Noonan Singh, played by the superb Ricardo Montaban, 198 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 2: uses larval Seti eels to torture and control two Enterprise 199 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 2: crew members in his quest for vengeance. We also learned 200 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 2: that Seti eels, native to the harsh world Singh was 201 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 2: exiled to by Starfleet, killed many of Khan's people, including 202 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 2: his wife. The setiworm is a burrowing desert creature, but 203 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 2: its larva we're told by Singh, crawl in through the 204 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 2: ear canals of host creatures to wrap themselves around the 205 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 2: cerebral cortex, rendering the host organism highly susceptible to suggestion. 206 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 2: Madness and death follow as the eel grows, unless the 207 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 2: eel is removed or leaves of its own accord. The 208 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 2: latter occurs with first Officer to Chekhov, though the reason 209 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,679 Speaker 2: is uncertain. Was it responding to danger, had it lost 210 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 2: control of its host? Was it in fact leaving the 211 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 2: host in order to continue its life cycle. We don't 212 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 2: know any of these answers, in part because Captain Kirk 213 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 2: instantly vaporizes the escaping eel, turning once more to the 214 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 2: non canonical Star Trek. The Worlds of the Federation, written 215 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 2: and illustrated by Laura Johnson, written as Shane Johnson back 216 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine, the author largely shares what we 217 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 2: already know from the movie. Adult SETI, one of the 218 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 2: few native species to survive on the planet, grow to 219 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 2: lengths of fourteen inches and carry their young in tissue 220 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 2: or armor folds on their backs until such time as 221 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 2: they leave the parent for a host organism in life 222 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 2: signs the biology of Star Trek. Susan and Robert Jenkins 223 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 2: briefly discuss the Seti eel in context with other neural 224 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 2: parasites and symbians of the Trek universe, and there are 225 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 2: several classifying The possession we see with the Seti eel 226 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 2: is a kind of quote co conscious mind control, with 227 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 2: the hosts made helpless by the superseding power of the parasite. Presumably, 228 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 2: the whole reason for subduing the host organism is to 229 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 2: keep it from interfering with the larva's occupation of set organism, 230 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 2: and we might assume that the Seti eel also eats 231 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 2: the tissue that it presumably burrows through to reach the 232 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 2: cerebral cortex. The mind control aspect of this fictional parasitic 233 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 2: scenario is, of course vary, in keeping with numerous examples 234 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 2: from the natural terrestrial world, including various parasitoid wasps, flatworms, 235 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 2: hair worms, protozoans, fungi, and more. In broad strokes, we 236 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 2: see parasites that alter host behavior to help complete their 237 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 2: own life cycle. This may mean mere survival or positioning 238 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 2: of the host in such a way that a desirable 239 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 2: new host will consume the current host Now with the 240 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 2: SETI eel, we certainly see the former survival, but not 241 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 2: so much the latter eel controlled humans don't seem to 242 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 2: do anything other than obey fellow humans, though one could 243 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 2: make a case that this alone might lead to say, 244 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 2: uninfected human being either being expelled, which would at least 245 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 2: be a choice. You can imagine scenarios in which this 246 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 2: would put the current host organism in a position to, say, 247 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 2: be near water, or near another organism that it needs 248 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 2: to enter, perhaps some sort of a predator. Or you 249 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 2: could also make the argument that well, okay, a human 250 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 2: that is so easily controlled by fellow humans is going 251 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 2: to remain in close proximity with humans, and perhaps it 252 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 2: just needs to enter a new host organism once it's 253 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 2: done munching and constricting inside that individual skull. Either way, 254 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 2: we also have to acknowledge that humanoids, and remember in 255 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 2: the Trek universe, most or all humanoid species are very 256 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 2: distantly related to each other. Humanoids might not be the 257 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 2: desired vector for the parasite, and in the world of 258 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 2: actual terrestrial parasite studies, we do see dangerous results from 259 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 2: parasites winding up either in the wrong host or the 260 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 2: wrong part of the right host. Now. I've long found 261 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 2: this one of the more horrifying aspects of sci fi 262 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 2: space horror, and particularly sci fi space related body horror, 263 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 2: human interactions with hostile biology that simply didn't evolve to 264 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 2: deal with human beings. The xenomorphic threats of the Alien 265 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,239 Speaker 2: film franchise are great examples of this. Of course, on 266 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 2: one hand, the creatures we see in the films are 267 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 2: highly adaptive and make use of host DNA in the 268 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 2: acquisition of their adult forms. They have evolved and or 269 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 2: been engineered to make quick study and use of new bodies. 270 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 2: But the other horrifying way to think about it is 271 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 2: that here is a creature that is truly an alien 272 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 2: within the host body. It doesn't know what it's doing 273 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 2: in there, and much like the scene in twenty twelve's 274 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 2: Prometheus with the robotic surgery pod, this combination of high 275 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 2: skill and lower context for the target body runs the 276 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 2: risk of heading into very grizzly territory. Still, we don't 277 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 2: have to invoke Alien to make the SETI eel terrifying. 278 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,159 Speaker 2: The implantation scene in Wrath of Khan remains one of 279 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 2: the greatest moments of space horror in a franchise we 280 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:03,119 Speaker 2: don't generally associate with it. And finally, we're going to 281 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 2: learn about the Horta. In today's episode. I'm going to 282 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 2: round out this initial batch of Star Trek selections, and 283 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 2: I'm going to go with a listener suggestion from one 284 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 2: of our mini gems, the Horta of Janus six. As 285 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 2: we learn in the original Trek episode The Devil in 286 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 2: the Dark, the horta is a large, subterranean heap shaped 287 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 2: organism entirely silicone based rather than carbon based. It tunnels 288 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 2: through the rock via powerful acidic secretions, which it can 289 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 2: also use defensively. Exceedingly long lived, the entire population of 290 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 2: horta dies out every sixty thousand years, with the exception 291 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,480 Speaker 2: of a single mother horta, which tends to the spherical 292 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 2: eggs that will produce the next generation of this amazing species. 293 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 2: While the Horta are reclusive and ultimately peaceful, they can 294 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 2: prove lethal in confrontations, such as the one with a 295 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 2: federation mining colony in the Devil in the Dark, which 296 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,119 Speaker 2: ultimately required the intervention of a Vulcan mind meld. In 297 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 2: the non canonical Star Trek, the Worlds of the Federation 298 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,439 Speaker 2: by Laura Johnson written as Shane Johnson from nineteen eighty nine. 299 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 2: We learned that the miners and Horta would eventually work 300 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 2: together on Janus six following this reconciliation. Now, I distinctly 301 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 2: remember watching this episode of the classic Star Trek as 302 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 2: a kid, and I remember enjoying the alien monster based 303 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 2: suspense and its thought provoking treatment of interaction between intelligent 304 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,640 Speaker 2: but radically different alien species, and looking back on it now, 305 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 2: it certainly has that Star Trek optimism that is often 306 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 2: lacking in our modern sci fi. It's no surprise that 307 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 2: this one is often held up as one of the 308 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 2: best original Star Trek episodes. In Life Signs the Biology 309 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 2: of Star Trek Susan and Robert Jenkins, the authors here 310 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 2: discuss the singular nature of the whole in Trek. The 311 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 2: Federation was apparently not accustomed to the presence of silicon 312 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 2: based life, and had therefore missed the Horta's presence on 313 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:13,480 Speaker 2: Genus six in their scans. Entirely later on in tracks, 314 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 2: similar mistakes were made with the microbrains of Valara three 315 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 2: and the space born crystalline entity. This all underlies a 316 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:28,520 Speaker 2: known challenge in astrobiology, we ultimately have only one model 317 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 2: of life upon which to base our observations, and it 318 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 2: happens to be earthlife. We're told that Janus six never 319 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 2: developed carbon based life beyond a few spore producing plants 320 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 2: as well as some algae, but it did boast minerals 321 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 2: and heavy metals, and the authors stress that while silicon 322 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:52,640 Speaker 2: based reactions occur much more slowly compared to carbon based reactions, 323 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 2: a planet like Janus six might in theory have the 324 00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 2: minerals to catalyze the chemical reactions needed for a silicon 325 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 2: based life. Now, in the larger realm of science fiction, 326 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 2: silicon based organisms are not uncommon. The alien xenomorph is 327 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 2: sometimes described as silicone based, or at least partially silicone based, 328 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 2: and there are numerous ways this is explained to factor 329 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 2: in with their carbon based bodies. Other examples include the 330 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 2: Kaiju of Pacific Rim, the Exogoths of Star Wars, and 331 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:30,360 Speaker 2: the Eastern island headed Lithodia Rexians of Marvel Comics. However, 332 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 2: as outlined by Charles Q. Choi in the space dot 333 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 2: Com article, silicon based life may be more than just 334 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 2: science fiction from twenty seventeen various experts speculate that silicon 335 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,879 Speaker 2: based or silicone encompassing life is very possible. Silicone and 336 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 2: carbon are similar in many ways. Silicon is one of 337 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 2: the most common elements in the universe, and chemists have 338 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 2: artificially synthesized organosilicone molecules composed of both silicone and carbon. 339 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 2: So by some estimations, silicon based life of some sort 340 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 2: may be out there somewhere, whether we know of it 341 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 2: or not. Back to Trek, the Jinkins stress that the 342 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 2: Horta might actually reproduce and reason too much like a 343 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 2: carbon based organism in this episode of Anything, But then again, 344 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 2: this is where science and philosophy butt heads. Star Trek 345 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 2: is ultimately about the hope, if not the reality, of 346 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 2: making contact, settling differences, and figuring out how to move forward, 347 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 2: both as an interstellar community within the fiction and as 348 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 2: a terrestrial species here on Earth in reality. As much 349 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 2: as I love my various nihilistic sci fi visions and 350 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 2: various examples of space horror, I feel more and more 351 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,360 Speaker 2: like I need the Star Trek vision in my life. 352 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 2: As in aside, I'll mention that there's actually an underground 353 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 2: geographic positioning technology here on Earth, named after the Star 354 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 2: Trek Horta. It is of course a backronym which stands 355 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 2: for Honeywell or Retrieval and Tunneling AID. All right, there 356 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 2: you have it. I hope you enjoyed this. So I 357 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 2: keep doing these omnibus episodes because it's a better way 358 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,359 Speaker 2: to do like a rerun essentially on a Wednesday. And 359 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 2: I've also heard from some listeners that they prefer to 360 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 2: listen to these short form episodes batched together into a 361 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 2: longer omnibus series. So I'm going to keep doing this 362 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 2: as long as it remains popular. As long as the 363 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 2: folks seem to enjoy them, I enjoy putting them together. 364 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 2: If you have recommendations for other Star Trek creatures you'd 365 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 2: like for me to cover in a future series of 366 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 2: Star Trek episodes, or if you have suggestions related to 367 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:47,679 Speaker 2: other you know franchises, comic books, movies, literary settings of 368 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 2: folkloric traditions, mythologies, and more, write in I would love 369 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:54,400 Speaker 2: to hear from you. As always, you can email us 370 00:23:54,480 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 2: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 371 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,160 Speaker 1: Stuffed Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more 372 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or 373 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:14,719 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.