Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) made an offhand comment about the Gorn onStar Trek: Discovery, little knowing how much the hostile race of alien reptiles would impact his life onStar Trek: Strange New Worlds.Before Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise faced the Gorn, Chris was assigned as the temporary Captain of the USS Discovery. InStar Trek: Discoveryseason 2, Pike’s mission was to lead an investigation of theRed Angel to learn how this time-traveling entitywas tied to his Science Officer, Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck), and Section 31’s malevolent, threat assessment A.I., Control.
The Gorn’s first appearance was inStar Trek: The Original Seriesseason 1’s “Arena,” which instantly made the humanoid reptile who fought Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) iconic. But not in positive ways, however. The Gorn was clearly a man moving awkwardly in a rubber suit, and his battle with Kirk showed the limits ofStar Trek’s budget and visual effects in the 1960s. Rendered by CGI, the Gorn returned nearly 40 years later onStar Trek: Enterprise, and a Gorn skeleton was seen inCaptain Gabriel Lorca’s (Jason Isaacs)lab inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 1.This was all preamble for the significance the Gorn would play inStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, and their ties to Captain Christopher Pike.
Star Trek: Discovery Foreshadowed Strange New Worlds’ Gorn Threat
“Alligators on Cestus III?”
Captain Pike unexpectedly foreshadowed his future struggles with the Gorn by cracking wise about someone else facing the reptiles inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 2, episode 5, “The Saints of Imperfection.” When Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) came aboard the USS Discovery and revealed her affiliation with Section 31 to Pike and Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), they were soon met by Captain Leland (Alan Van Sprang), Section 31’s leader. Leland joked about his friend Pike’s graying hair and Chris retorted,“Last I heard, you were up to your ass in alligators on Cestus III.”
Complete History Of The Gorn In Star Trek
The Gorn have become one of the Federation’s most formidable foes in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Here’s everything we know about them.
Captain Pike was, of course, referring to the Gorn, who took issue with the United Federation of Planets establishing a base on Cestus III. The Gorn Hegemony considered Cestus III part of their region of space and saw a Federation installation as a threat. Pike’s comment reveals that a decade before Captain Kirk faced the Gorn inStar Trek: The Original Series, Starfleet was already dealing with the alien"alligators"on Cestus III. This alsoforeshadowed Pike’s future conflict over Parnassus Beta, a planet the Gorn considered theirs, inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 2’s finale, “Hegemony.”
What Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Revealed About The Gorn
Strange New Worlds reinvented the Gorn
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsmade the Gorn the show’s primary antagonists while also retconning whatStar Trekpreviously established about the Gorn Hegemony. WhileStar Trek: The Original Seriesintroduced the Gorn as humanoid reptiles capable of space travel,Strange New Worlds' revamp borrowed heavily fromAlienin redefining Gorn physiology and culture. Thanks toStrange New Worlds, Gorn now infect human hosts and lay eggs inside them. Infant Gorn are fast-moving and violent but can turn on each other. The Gorn eventually age into their humanoid forms as adults, but much of their culture is still a mystery.
Every Time The Gorn Appeared In Star Trek (So Far)
The Gorn have already been in 6 Star Trek shows since 1967, but as the villain in Strange New Worlds, they show no signs of disappearing anytime soon.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 1, episode 4, “Memento Mori,” revealed that the Gorn kidnap humans for food. In her youth, Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and her family were abducted and consumed by the Gorn, who allowed La’an to survive and escape. Most humans had never seen a Gorn, with La’an being a rare exception, before Captain Pike’s USS Enterprise crew battled the Gorn on the frozen world of Valeo Beta V. The Gorn infectedLt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who sacrificed himself to save his friends from the reptiles. The Gorn then kidnapped Enterprise crew members, including La’an, inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 2’s finale.
Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel fought and killed a Gorn in zero gravity.
Another change made byStar Trek: Strange New Worldsis thatCaptain Kirk’s fight with the Gorn has now been predatedby Spock, his best friend, and James' older brother, Lt. Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte). Spock andSam Kirk fought the Gorntogether on Valeo Beta V years before Captain James T. Kirk’s fateful brawl with the Gorn. InStar Trek: Strange New Worldsseason 2’s finale, Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) fought and killed a Gorn in zero gravity in the wreckage of the USS Cayuga’s bridge.
Discovery Also Set Up Kirk Vs. Gorn In Star Trek: The Original Series
Cestus III is where started one of his most famous fights
Captain Pike joking with Captain Leland about"alligators on Cestus III"also sets up Captain Kirk’s famous battle with the Gorn inStar Trek: The Original Series. A decade after Pike’s comment onStar Trek: Discovery, the Starship Enterprise beamed Captain Kirk and a landing party to Cestus III, initially for a dinner with Commodore Travelers at Starfleet’s Earth observation post. What Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and their team found was the base destroyed and still under attack by the Gorn. Space gods calledthe Metron then forced Kirk and the Gorn Captain to fight each other.
Interestingly, Cestus III was not actually where Kirk fought the Gorn. Kirk’s famous melee with the Gorn Captain took place on an unnamed planet prepared for them by the Metron. (It was filmed inCalifornia’s Vasquez Rocks, a favoriteStar Treklocation.) Cestus III is often misidentified as the battleground of Kirk vs. the Gorn, even by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) when he time-traveled and met Kirk inStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 5.
Cutting-edge CGI allows Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to bring the Gorn to life like never before.
The Gorn have always been fascinating villains who weren’t fully realized byStar Trekfor decades because of the limits of television visual effects budgets. However, Star Trek on Paramount+ now boasts motion picture-quality VFX technology. Cutting-edge CGI allowsStar Trek: Strange New Worldsto bring the Gorn to life like never before. Yet theinterest in doing more with the Gorn was present beforeStrange New Worlds, withStar Trek: Enterprisedabbling with CGI Gorn andStar Trek: Discoverytesting the waters with Gorn callbacks. In hindsight, Captain Pike taunting Captain Leland about the Gorn onStar Trek: Discoveryhas come back to plague him onStar Trek: Strange New Worlds.
