Starship update – Vidiian Warship

The Vidiian Warship

The Vidiian Warship is a small, fast starship used by the Vidiians to harvest organs from other species. Check out the starships page for more Vidiian starships, as well as starships from throughout trek lore.

The Vidiians – Plagued by the Phage

Not exactly the pretty boys of the Delta Quadrant.

The Vidiians are a tragic species in Star Trek. For millenia they were a peaceful people renowned for their art and philosophy. Then the plague-like disease, the Phage, began striking them. In short order, all the Vidiians would be afflicted with this disease, which besides slowly causing organ failure was also horribly disfiguring. In the historical blink of an eye, their culture transformed into one obsessed with reaching a cure for the Phage. Vidiians now explored the galaxy in ships like the Vidiian Battle Cruiser not to share their art and philosophy, but to harvest the healthy organs of those species compatible with their physiology, and always, always, searching for the ever elusive cure.

How would our own society react to a disease that was so terrible? Would we lose elements of our culture that make us who we are? The Vidiians eventually were cured, and their culture transformed back into what it was before the Phage struck. Would they ever really be able to forget the horrible things they did to reach that cure? Would we?

Hirogen update

I’ve added the Hirogen Venatic-class warship to the starships page. Unlike the smaller Hirogen Hunter-class warship, the Venatic is only used by the Hirogen (aka Star Trek’s version of the Alien Predator) when they are hunting “worthy” prey. In this case, that worthy prey ends up being the Starship Voyager.

The above episode of Voyager is one of the more interesting ones, as it deals with the fallout of some of Captain Janeway’s meddling with other species, in this case through giving the Hirogen holographic technology. Perhaps those old fogies in Starfleet Command knew a thing or two when they created the Federation’s highest directive, to not interfere with the natural development of another civilization (aka the Prime Directive). Janeway effectively did the 24th century version of giving a knife to a kid that liked poking himself with a sharp stick.

Hunter and Prey

Hunter and Prey

The Hirogen are Star Trek’s version of the alien Predators from the sci-fi franchise of the same name. When they first popped up on Voyager, these aliens were unique in Trek for several reasons. One, they hunted down intelligent species for the sheer joy of it, and because of their cultural prerogative. Two, they were BIG (see the above picture). The first interesting aspect did last, but unfortunately the second did not. As it turns out, it was rather hard finding actors that were 6’6″ or taller! The Hirogen aren’t the first alien species from another science fiction franchise to work their way into Trek. There were the Bothans of Star Wars as well, though admittedly they only shared the name.

You won’t find any stats for Bothan starships on this blog (yet), but you will find some for the Hirogen Hunter-class warship.

The Krenim, Masters of Time

A.K.A. The Jerk dad from That 70s Show.

The Krenim were featured in two Voyager episodes titled, “Year of Hell”. In particular, the shows focused on Annorax (see picture above), and his centuries long quest to restore his wife to life. As it turns out, Annorax has spent two centuries manipulating time, wiping out entire civilizations and species, all in an attempt to restore his wife to life (he accidentally wiped her out of existence before). I won’t spoil how it ends for you, though you can probably guess. Still, it’s an interesting dilemma many of us have faced in our lives. How many times have we wished we could go back in time and erase some mistake we have made, or how many times have we thought back, “What if I had chosen the other path?” While I don’t advocate a complete disregard of paths we may have chosen, I think it’s important to remember that all our experiences (both good and bad) have helped shape who we are now, and that by focusing on the here and now, on the present moment, we can make our lives better. Too often we, like Annorax, are stuck in the past, or are too caught up in what might happen in the future. In times like that, we end up not enjoying the life we have now, in this moment. All we have is the now, and we should live that present moment, for it will never come again.

Below is just one kind of starship used by the Krenim:

• Krenim Patrol Ship

The Kazon, the Klingons of the Delta Quadrant

Nog, as a Kazon that looks like a Klingon.

I’ve grown to enjoy a lot of Star Trek: Voyager in the years since it aired its last episode. One thing I have not grown to love is the Kazon, or Neelix. Before I digress too much in a discussion of anthropomorphic porcupines and their mindless cheerfulness, let’s look at the Kazon. Every species in Star Trek serves as a foil for some aspect of humanity, whether it be the honor-bound Klingons, the cunning Cardassians, or deceptive Romulans. Unlike those three well-documented species, the Kazon just don’t seem to capture my attention. Perhaps they needed more airtime on Voyager to be further fleshed out (though I know many Trek fans that would say they received too much air time), or perhaps they needed to be unique.

That’s the problem though, they aren’t unique, in my mind they’ve always come off as cheap knockoffs, the Delta Quadrant’s Klingons, who do what Klingons do, except not as well. Perhaps it’s not entirely the fault of the Kazons themselves, and perhaps it’s the whole Voyager series. Let me clarify. What I mean is that the very premise of Star Trek: Voyager is one that runs contrary to the spirit of Star Trek. To me, Star Trek is all about humanity journeying out to the stars, stepping away from our cradle Earth and discovering new life while simultaneously discovering more about ourselves in the process, and thus learning and improving ourselves through contact with those diverse cultures. Voyager seems to have this completely in the reverse, it’s a starship far away from home and spends the entire 7 seasons of its episodic run finding a way home. It’s a knockoff of Lost in Space, Star Trek’s version of Lost in Space, doing what Lost in Space did, except not as well because Voyager gets unlost by actually finding Earth. Ah well, there was always the Doctor.

Here are some Kazon ships for you to blow up in your game:

• Kazon Predator-class
• Kazon Raider