There are a few examples of non humanoid species in Star Trek. There is the gas being and the tholians in TOS. And the Sheliak from TNG. Those come to mind, but I'm sure there are others
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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We need more cubes and circles like "Of Gods and Angles" episode of Star Trek Lower Decks.
I never watched that, because cartoon.
I guess, maybe, I should just watch the cartoon, because of what your reply indicates.
Because they don’t have the Jim Henson Workshop on the production.
LOL, I loved Jim Henson’s work!
The in-universe reason is explained in TNG's The Chase.
The reason from a production point of view is obviously money. It is easier and cheaper to have humans with some hair and makeup instead of a totally alien creature. Today the price tag is manageable, but in the 60s and even in the 80s it was not a thing you would do for a regular cast member.
I hear you, on the money, but they did do it repeatedly, in the first of two-series (original & TNG), when it came to enemies-challenging encounters. How expensive is it to have cloudy body wise Beings? Use computers, done
I was not just thinking of crew member(s),
Never heard it put it that way- >The in-universe reason ,
I am sorry but I have trouble understanding what you were trying to say.
In the early nineties a single transformation shot of Odo cost at least 10.000$ depending on the complexity maybe even more. But even more it took weeks to complete. Even then it was just not possible to do this for every episode. In the 60s such an effect would have been nearly impossible to create because technology wasn't ready yet.
There were of course other effects and maybe the use of puppets would have been possible (think of Yoda in Star Wars or some decades later ALF on TV), but it would have limited the sets or required specialized construction. The living room set for ALF was raised up so the puppeteer playing ALF could go under the floor and play the puppet for closeups when the use of a costume was not possible.
Special effects like the ones you are thinking of were expensive - the absence or novelty of computer generated imagery made these time consuming and incredibly complicated.
think of Yoda in Star Wars or some decades later ALF on TV
Not a big deal, but in curious when you think both of those were made, Alf was 9 years after a new hope, and 3 after return of the Jedi.
No I obviously was I was not thinking the ‘90s technology was available; talk confusing writing.
I was thinking, since all I have heard was it is too expensive, that they should just use The ‘60s’ technology to do it. This might sound interesting, considering I was talking about using ‘60s’ technology , but the puppets idea seems childish or is just outdated.
Some have argued that evolution would always favor bipedal, bilateral symetry basic humanoid shape. It the fewestlimbs. it allows for a broad ability to interact with the environemnt. height for looking around. at least for terrestrial. its kinda unclear if an aquatic species could progress without fire and such.
Others have claimed they would lose all limbs, because not needed in space.
its kinda unclear if an aquatic species could progress without fire and such
What?
much of our technology has required burning things. This is how power was create and elements isolated and such. washing in liquids becomes problematic to. I mean I don't see why limbs are not needed to engage in controls. I guess over very long times you could lose the legs but only if generations were born and raised in space for a very long time. Its still and advantage to have them working for locomotion just not as much of one. Of course that gets into the species not really evolving once they reach a certain technological level and can compensate for deficiencies. Its about evolving to a level to get to certain tech level.
That is from our land loving species perspectives.
fair enough but its not like its hur dur. air breathers da best breathers. Which ironically some of the most advanced marine species surface to get air but you have the octopi obviously. Its a question of physics. Few things burn under water and water tends to disperse things in an osmotic way. Our ancestors could find fire and utilize it in the environment long before they learned how to generate it. Its not just about power but about smelting and shaping. I mean a sci fi writing can someone envision the species using bioelectricity like from eels but then how do you make the conductive wire. Maybe you use a liquid conductor but now you have to have it contained and you can dip into the biology trough again but the species will need to make rockets to get off their planet as some point. You can of course use immense timescales with someone making bio computers or such figuring out some sort of antigrav lift but you have to stretch more and more to get to that.
Money. Sci-Fi like Star Trek is not about accuracy, it's a cover to tell interesting stories about us and the world we live in. The amount of Scientific hand waiving in Trek will give you an aneurysm if this point upsets you.
About the money answer, see my response to EarMonster, who brought-up money as well.
You need to adjust that perspective, ‘Star Trek’ was supposedly all about accuracy, according to ‘The Center Seat’ ‘Star Trek’ documentary.
Most of scientific stuff in the series is just way over my head.
With that being said, sometimes they have been so far into the future, do not know why they go to the extents of being in contact with NASA & other scientist, to help them be connected today’s science. No one could argue that it is crazy things, when they that far in the future.
Would you watch a show where humans meet oyster shaped aliens who vibrate to communicate and who get excited by vocal notes that are B flat and get enraged by succulent plants? That's plausibly alien right? How about every episode 20+ times a season, some new totally alien thing every time? (Sorry for the ridiculous example alien, in my defense I am very tired)
Humanoid emotions/body language and motives make for generally easier to understand stories that are more compelling.
You could not ask philosophical questions or have difficult plot decisions without having some common ground in logic/rationality/motives.
Yes, obviously, to all what replied with. Realism matters,
I know you are blowing way out of portion, how hard it would be for media script writers & the audiences.
Really, the question should be flipped & ask why you do not want obviously realism, that scientist have long believed?
You think I had not already thought of that? Let me inform you of whom you exchanging with, that relates to above question:
I have language processing challenges,
Former educator, Degreed is SLD & had achieved certifications in ESE & PE,
I am a person who has people close to me that are fluent in sign language. Only fluent, so they can talk to people who have physical challenges in communicating.
&
Most importantly, starting to write a SciFi set of stories-comic books-movies scripts, that involves space exploration.
Not only that, but
As I mention before the First-2-‘Star Trek’ series,
‘Star Wars’ (famous & bad character) did it
&
in Seth MacFarlane’s ‘The Orville’ there is a famous comedic actor (I forget his name) playing a blob shaped alien crew member, who regularly appears in the episodes.
in Seth MacFarlane’s ‘The Orville’ there is a famous comedic actor (I forget his name) playing a blob shaped alien crew member, who regularly appears in the episodes.
RIP Norm Macdonald
Thank you, that is his name. Yeah, unfortunately he did die,
They did address this to an extent, way back in TNG's "The Chase" - the TL;DR is that most sapient life in the galaxy was seeded by an ancient race, and therefore have some common ancestry. This was expanded upon somewhat in Discovery's fifth season.
the TL;DR
What?
I never watched ‘Discovery’,
The majority of the lore comes from the TNG episode - the Discovery season mostly deals with a hunt for the Progenitors' lost technology, with the main revelation being that the Progenitors had found it, not invented it, so the original life-giving entities remain unknown.
So you are saying, I should rewatch ‘TNG’s The Chase episode, over Discovery’s 4th season?
I would, yes - it's got the majority of the info.
It you enjoy realistically inhuman aliens, I do recommend you check out season 4 of Discovery. The season long arc involves probably the most difficult and problematic first contract scenarios Star Trek has had.
It you enjoy realistically inhuman aliens encounters, I do recommend you check out season 4 of Discovery.
I tried to watch ‘Discovery’, but did not like it after a few 1-season episodes.
The season long arc involves probably the most difficult and problematic first contract scenarios Star Trek has had.
Just make sure we are on same wave length, I was only saying there needs to be more non-humanoid shaped aliens. NOT just tough first or repeated encounters with humanoid shaped aliens. I will give season 4 a try.
I understand, but I feel like they go together as part of a realistic alien encounter. These aliens both look and act different. They don’t register “us” as life forms, there’s a full episode devoted to figuring out how they communicate, fun stuff like that.
Okay, I gotcha on what you mean, but on the parts beyond just appearance is that not what all ‘Star Trek’ have done at one-episode or another?
It’s not totally unique for sure, there are similar examples like TNG’s Home Soil. But all too often we have situations like Voyager being on the other side of the galaxy and the universal translator just working.
That is a great point, I never thought of. What huge logical hole. I just couple nights watched the original, where they explained how a device a NONHUMANOID ALIEN created it’s own translator.