NEURAL PARASITE: Star Trek Bestiary
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- The Neural Parasite, nicknamed the "Bluegills" were a menace to Starfleet and the Federation that was never redressed, but several non-canonical sources did. So this video looks at both the canon and extra content around the TNG episode "Conspiracy".
Music from bensound.com, purple-planet.com and freesfx.co.uk
Star Trek Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
Star Trek, Star Trek Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery/Lower Decks/Picard and The Next Generation are all owned and distributed by CBS.
Star Trek Films are owned and distributed by Paramount Pictures
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.
A criminally underrated plot thread that never got picked up again in canon, unfortunately. It could make for an interesting story if they ever wanted to revisit them.
2023 here. You're getting your wish now with Picard season 3
@@christymclaughlin618 Unfortunately, Seasons 1 & 2 had a bad habit of teasing more interesting stories or plot points, only to fake-out and do something dumb instead. If Season 3 picks up on the Bluegills, let's hope they actually make it interesting.
If they return in Picard S3, i think im gonna need more than a sweet puppy photo to cleanse my brain...
@@NLaertes I think at this point, we're probably in the clear. This season has been going pretty well so far, and we're deep enough into it now that if the bluegills turn out to be part of it, it would be an egregious act of fan service that would ruin the whole thing.
I don't believe any of the characters in any Picard season were the same people the actors previously portrayed, this explains everything and further reinforces dismissing it as poor fanfic!
Yeah, they're definitely better left as a mystery from the dark corners of space, the kind of horrors Q warned we might see out there beyond the Federations' safe little bubble of civilization.
Agreed. Once horror is defined, it's origin canonized, all horror is striped away. Then it becomes just another disease that mankind must be aware of, like any other pathogen. It's why HP Lovecraft style of unknowable cosmic horror has lasted almost 100 years after his death.
They, like the Borg, were scarier when they were an unknown.
To a Romulan, knowledge is power, but to be unknowable is to be unconquerable.
Why are we afraid of the dark? Because we can never truly know what is out there. Our minds perceive threats of all sorts.
To know something is to understand it. When you understand something you know how much of a threat it can be.
At least the borg announce there intentions
I see the Borg as a potential result of technologic integration, particularly the formation of a hive personality through neural link communication that somehow chooses to dominate or rather suppress the consciousnesses of it's contributing members. This means that like the Cybermen of Dr. Who, they can and will develop independently as technologic civilizations reach levels of mobile communication technology not much more advance than our own mobile communication and social networks. Even if you destroyed all Borg, other civilizations somewhere will fall into the same path. Neural parasites have to be very specific to their hosts and we do have a few fungal Cordyceps that do this but they are very specific to the insects they infect which actually has resulted in ant colonies ripping the heads off any ant that behaves erratically. Such specificity means neural parasites rarely evolves but the development of a technologic hive mind that chooses to suppress the consciousness of it's contributing members might be a rather high probability, just think about how spontaneously flash jobs and memes have been and even the disinformation spread of populism has been.
AOL held a sci fi submission contest and someone submitted a DS9 script with the parasites infiltrating the station. The submission won. It was a brilliant script and I wish I still had a copy.
Seems like the idea of an alien species infiltrating Starfleet to cause trouble was done later with the Changelings in The Dominion War.
They eventually encountered a giant alien can of " Raid" bug spray in deep outer space.
Admiral Quinn survived his encounter with the bluegill at the end of the episode because the mother host died
No. Quinn was a joined Trill. A Trill or Joined Trill are the only ones we know of that can survive being linked up to these parasites
@@admiraljetro8783 You're thinking of Admiral Quinn from STO. Ken Smith is talking about Admiral Gregory Quinn from TNG, who very much survived.
Was more unnerved by these things than most "threats" we often see in Trek, creepy little buggers!
I like how STO takes fairly minor things from the shows she makes them central to the plot.
Or the DS9 relaunch novels.
Meanhwile the Goa'uld: Ha, amateurs.
Lol.
"WHILE YOU WERE LEARNING TO SPELL YOUR NAME...I WAS TAUGHT TO CONQUER GALAXIES!!"
Growing up in the 90s I also associate this trope of small, mind controlling, malicious parasites with the Yeerks from animorphs.
@@atomic_wait now THAT'S a title I haven't heard since elementary school.
@@Mate397 'Crap lousy celling!'
Considering the mass pacification of Starfleet after the Khitomer Accords, I think the fan theory that these things have been weakening Starfleet for years in preparation for an invasion holds some interesting possibilities. Shame we never had a follow-up.
Just look around
“Why did the Borg only send 1 cube?”
You’ll enjoy the audio show “Star Trek Excelsior”. Take their advice and start in season 3.
I heard they could not do it because it would cost to much budget wise/places were banning the episode.
@@badlaamaurukehu At the Federation? I wish this human society was even a neural parasite infected version of the Federation over what we have now.
I love the idea of them being mutant Trill. Particularly how that revelation effects the Federation's fragile post war internal politics (the Tellarite ambassador in the DS9 books is one of my favourite Beta Canon characters)
"Assuming Control."
Oh, wait wrong universe.
Mass Effect, right?
The Ceti Eel should be discussed next.
Ah yes, "Reapers"!
Against the Solar Federation...
“Relinquish your form to us.”
The Bluegills were probably my favorite one off enemies on TNG. Unfortunately the plotline about the Bluegill infiltration of the federation was shelved prematurely.
Might have been because of the exploding scene, the network might have refused to allow the plot to return after that.
The B.B.C banned this episode from their TNG airings.
**Eyes flash yellow**
_Jaffa! Kree!_
I'll admit: I actually squealed with (horrific) delight when I saw these appear in STO. I was all like, "Oh my god, it's ... it's .... THOSE THINGS!"
So, they are basically Goa' Uld symbiotes
Um...the blue gills were first
@@russellharrell2747 You don't say?!?!
except the Goa'uld could be removed from the host and still control it (Kawalski) unless you used advanced tech (Skarah)
@@davidburton2229 There was still a small part remaining. They beamed Caldwell's out and he was fine afterwards.
It's a parasite
Always did wanna see more of these critters in Trek...though I suspect we haven't just because of how...messy...things got. Honestly, I think that one remains _the_ most gruesome scene in all of Trek. At least on screen, anyway...
Even more than Icheb?
Yeah, pretty sure. Remmick got himself skinned and exploded over a room. That's gruesome.
Icheb was harvested without painkillers. That's grotesque and horrifying, but not gruesome.
@@LRMRULES Wow, I had no idea Icheb made an appearance in Picard! Haven't bothered to watch it yet.
Yeah, I remember my dad having a problem letting us kids watch that episode. Looking at it now, it seems kind of cheesey but, at the time, it was pretty gruesome.
@@chironOwlglass Dont waste your time
THANK YOU! It's a rare treat to hear CHITEN actually pronounced correctly! Jon Pertwee would be proud of you.
Just the kind of October/Halloween content I was looking for- the creepy brain parasite guys from "Conspiracy" :)
I remember seeing the episode that introduced them and that it had a "viewer discretion advisory ". At the time I thought that was weird for TNG, but also knew that meant it was going to be awesome lol.
My earliest Star Trek memory is this episode on TV, the parasites scared the Hell out of young me.
I just finished this part of STO. I originally thought maybe it was an Centauri ear slug when I first saw it till the mother form showed up. Then i was like "OMG I remember that thing giving me nightmares as a kid...KILL IT WITH!!!" FIRE
That's your solution to everything
There‘s a fan-made audio play called Starship Excelsior with a whole plot arc of the bluegills being at war with the Borg. In my opinion, really well made and worth a listen. Despite being entirely non-canonical, it also manages to reconcile some of the Borg plot holes in a fairly intelligent way.
Seconded! As much as Excelsior can’t fit into canon in a few ways, this exploration of the Bluegills is top notch.
Even when they actually talk to one and we get to humanize them a little. That’s good Trek there.
I always thought the writers got their inspiration from the Ceti eels featured in TWOK.
Other than not entering thought the ear. It was what it reminded me of too.
Even the model of the creature was almost identical.
@@jessetaggart5573 But that was the Mother, the Ear bugs were just cute little babies..
I'm pretty sure one of the guys who worked on Alien was also involved in Star Trek TOS and parts of TNG. I forget the fellas name. I think he's got his own croudfunded pilot not too long ago. Could be thier little trademark. Space Command was it? I need to google but its late lol
So, this is where the inspiration for the Goa’uld/Tok’ra came from.
I believe it was in the first season of Enterprise, the crew went camping on an alien planet and I seem to recall Trip encountering a bug that resembled the parasite, but it was a different color
Be interesting if we saw the episode remade with current CGI technology. Imagine seeing that guy get blown up.
as previous comment, NOPE!
Phasers aren't Michael Bay-inators...
@@Mate397 There's more David Lynch and Wes Craven than Michael Bay in that scene.
@@Eddie42023 Cronenberg
@@badlaamaurukehu YEP! Had to look him up. Saw 'The Fly' in his list. STILL have nightmares 35 years after the fact.
Star trek online is one of the most complex games I've ever played. Complex in the way that there is SOOOOO much to learn.
Leaving their origin a mystery is good, keeps them more interesting and the open ended "conclusion" as a looming threat. For all we know there was as second mother creature in a different quadrant of the galaxy. At least the re-infestation of StarFleet would explain why was Jean-Luc treated like shit in STP.
Implying you can fix stoopid wokeness.
@@Ichijoe2112 Nah, even as a cover story from CBS it wouldn't work. It would only work if STP had a competent writing team.
Its the alternate universe picard that never got his artifical heart. Never became captian and was a general loser.
@@robertbogan225 If only that was true. Q's little twisted game still on going.
@@Ichijoe2112 The "stupid Wokeness" you're talking about is literally how Star Trek's been since it started. You alt-righters just don't want to admit that it stands for everything you despise.
I appreciate your dry, over the heads of many humor
Thank goodness for the puppy. That was getting intense.
There aren't enough puppies in the world to cleanse that scene from my mind. It’s been nearly 30 years since I first saw that episode and it frightened my so badly that I can't watch that scene at all.
Same here, although it is one of my favorite episodes from TNG.
@@savagebear4374 I like the episode, its just that scene I can't watch.
Just imagine that scene as Capt. (Maxwell?) who reacted when playing all the way through The Last of Us Part 2, especially that Abby and Owen humping scene.
1990 is 30 years ago. Holy....
Well, just play STO and get a New Romulus Flamethrower. Then you can purge them all you want.
Wish ST Picard followed the "Conspiracy" episode instead of... Well, what we got as the alternative. Just saying
I read a theory about them being back and freaking out when Picard came into the new queen's office.
"I could have made something of value, but I made this instead."
- Alex Kurtzman
@@logicplague seems legit...
Picard could have done a follow up to literally anything else and it would have been better than what we got. Even Crusher's sex ghost.
There's also the starfish-shaped parasites from the TOS era, but they can be countered with UV lights. If you're lucky.
Don’t forget the Ceti Alpha eels!!!
Well I guess that I'll be the kid who Points Out that the "Emperor is Not wearing any clothes"
Why didn't the transporter just separate Out the critters and why not push out the gills into the airway where it can't be seen!?!!?!!
The biofilter thing wasn't established that early in the show, also even later one it only seemed to look for microbes though missed the one that Geordi was harboring for years until it started transforming him in "Identity Crisis."
@@jeffumbach You will find both Scotty and Bones having discussion about the bio-filter in the original series.
@@worldtraveler930 Maybe it was just so engrained in he host that beaming them out would have killed them?
@@nicocarrero5953 It Still would have set off an Alarm alerting both the ensign at the controls and the medical staff.
@@worldtraveler930 This episode was not well thought out. An admiral even brought one aboard the Enterprise in a little box.
I always liked the idea behind these creatures. Completely alien in design and size, but a legitimate threat. This was one of a handful of episodes banned in other countries. This one for the very graphic head explosion.
Walker Keel tells Picard not to trust anyone when they talk via subspace. That’s what Beverly says in the Picard season 3 trailer. Another character in the trailer says something like: “Is anyone you know, still them?” implying long-time friends might be taken over or impersonated. Vadic also says we will have “vengeance” which might be understandable considering Riker & Picard phasered the Mother Creature.
Makes one wonder where this storyline would have gone if not for the writer’s strike at the time.
I loved that conspiracy episode, very scary, it could of made a brilliant TNG movie, have all the cast running around on bogus missions like a murder mystery to find out they were being manipulated,
Hello TH-cam algorithm. Let me just say this is my favorite "NOPE" episode.
This episode is a pile of nope
@@jessicare5331 the only pile of nope is Remmick post-phaser.
So I'm guessing "Don't Recommend Channel" is too hard?
@@Eddie42023 the bug eating and bugs crawling out of the mouth was a bit much for me tge first few viewings. Now I snicker at the effects.
Remmick is still gross.
'Here's a picture of a puppy...' Thanks, that was needed... of course, Jordi in 'The Mind's Eye' needed something like that, too.
"the minds eye" doesnt exist. just unstable people coping
I had thought that episode was a weird dream. Anyways, I agree, no origin needed. Sometimes you just run into something really messed up. It makes any fictional world seem bigger.
Dear God these things terrified me as a little kid when I first saw them.
This episode stuck in my memory forever, maybe because I was 8ish years old when seeing it when it first aired.
I always assumed the neuro-parasite required high amounts of protien to form stronger neural connections and grubs or insects were just an efficient protien suppliment.
"Eat za bugs!"
Thank you for the picture of a puppy
I like how they handled them in the books. An offshoot of an ancient Trill colony when they tried to increase symbiote numbers.
Thank you for the puppy 😄 Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊
I remember reading that when they were first planning TNG/Phase2 they were planning on just staying on Earth and beaming everywhere without ships.
Between that and these parasites we almost got Stargate 10 years early.
I would've loved to have seen these mentioned again in Voyager...
This episode ALWAYS gave me the creeps and was such a strange episode. One of my top favs for TNG
Excellent video, sir! You have great empathy for your viewers regarding this topic!
The picture of the puppy to cleanse your brain is what killed me🤣🤣🤣🤣
The idea that the parasites could be as intelligent as a person but simply lacked a form suitable for their ambitions would just heighten the terror.
There was a similar lifeform on The X-Files early seasons. It was essentially thier homage to John Carpenter's Thing. It was a parasitic organism resembled a worm. It attached itself to the host and stimulated aggression and paranoia. Removing it caused death. They discover the only way to remove the parasite was to infect the person with another and the two would essentially neutralise the other. It was a great episode because other than hightened paranoia and funnily enough a swelling on the base of the neck, but there was no way to tell who was affected.
Shout out to the Star Trek: Excelsior podcast for the Sword of Damocles arc. Really well written arc involving the war between the Blue Gills and the Borg.
I think they were originally going with making this the existential threat to the Federation but that later morphed into the Borg threat.
I think this episode of TNG was banned in some places.
It was definitely banned in my house. My mom almost pulled the plug on us watching TNG after that episode scared me so bad that I couldn't sleep or go in a dark room alone for weeks!!!!!
Really just because a guy's head exploded, then his chest, and .... Oh
@@aaronj_girv I think a lot of it had to do with my dad telling me that was what earwig bugs did if they got in your ear!!! Sometimes I don't know how my father wasn't brought up on child abuse charges...
It was heavily cut here in the UK as it was shown at 6pm
In Australia on later screenings they just edited out the bit after Picard and Riker phaser the mother creature. You just see them fire after one climbs in the mouth to go home to mother (dumb move, lead your enemies straight to your base).
It was to get a G rating for daytime repeats, the sci fi channel on cable just didn't bother to keep the original edit for outside of children's hours.
But the original screenings were on commerical TV late night, where full frontal nudity and swearing were allowed, even back in the 90's.
I read the title as "Neutral Parasite". I was like Hmmm.....that doesn't sound too bad 🤔
Thanks for the puppy picture.
You'd think the first trip via transporter(you'd see it) ,the first time you set foot on a ship and immediately set off an intruder alert alarm(should still work if the unknown alien is inside someone)or the first time anyone waved a medical tri- corder anywhere near you and the parasite would be discovered fairly quick. I sometimes thought about the weak ass security systems on starfleet vessels.
It probably had a way to camoflauge itself in the host so it wouldn't be detected. It probably assimilated the host's DNA and a passive scan wouldn't detect it.
And beam it out of there
These things used to scare the crap outa me as a kid! 😟. But I'd still liked to have seen more episodes with them in! 👍🏻😎
Great video! Thanks for the puppy!
Yes, I wish ST: TNG got back around to them after that signal the mother sent. Data thought it was a homing beacon, but my guess is it was a warning that they were discovered. That could be why we never saw them again, they needed time to re-strategize. They're probably spread out all over, and we weren't important enough to try to re-invade immediately.
This episode gave me nightmares for weeks as a kid the idea of them terrified me and I never forget them coming out of that dudes body
I remember being scarred by that head explosion scene when it first aired.... though to be fair, it was just over a week before my 3rd birthday...
The decision to got with the Borg over the Blue Gill was a very good one. The Stargate Movie and franchise, stole so much, I never realized the Go'uld were riipped off from Star Trek until now.
The puppy cleans had me lol
I read that the episode of TNG the parasite appeared in was banded in many places for body horror that may be a reason way we never saw then again
Bluegill parasite: We turn Starfleet personnel and Federation citizens against each other!
Denevan parasite: Are we a joke to you?!
Probable one of the top episodes of TNG
These critters were going to be the Borg. However, they required a lot of CGI and effects. Also the size was not adequately menacing. But more importantly, the writers strike torpedoed the whole thing. So in season 2, they were reimagined into "The Borg". Personally, I think it was a good choice.
Considering the comment about WHERE they attach, they fact someone doesn't seem to need medical attention after being "infected" or being released seems..... implausible.
What is a terrifying possiblity that they never explored was infiltrating some *other Alpha Quadrant power* that wasn't on guard for them and not as difficult a target.
The Klingons would be a prime candidate. Their long hair would hide the Gill, could you imagine a proud Klingon submitting itself to have the back of his/her neck examined without a direct order from their superior?
And the enhanced strength would be even more extreme, and useful.
A Klingon host could use that to easily win duels and move up the chain of command, and just for day to day bitchslaps of other Klingons during social interactions.
That's a much bigger advantage than in the Federation, where being able to beat the crap out of your fellow officers in single combat is not as advantageous for quick promotion.
And pretending to be a honour obsessed Klingon is probably simpler, and any questions about unusual behaviour can be answered with that same super bitchslap.
That would give the Bluegills a great base of operations (especially with cloaked BOP's). But really starting with just a minor race would work.
But it seems the allure of the Federation just keeps blinding outside invaders.….
The Borg would have fared a lot better if they had targeted a smaller Alpha Quadrant power first, perhaps one that would not accept a Federation fleet coming onto their territory to help (and may even be far enough away that StarFleet couldn't just mobilise there immediately).
Assimilate them and suddenly the rest of the Alpha Quadrant is in deep trouble.
I'm sure the Federation told its allies (ie the Klingons) about those parasites. You saw how intense they were over Changling tests, so they probably tested like crazy for the parasites.
This was definitely one of the stranger episodes. Not used to body horror like this in Star Trek.
Head splodey episode bothered me as a kid. haha
The Iconian equivalent of the Dominion's Jem'Hadar(genetically engineered). These things are scarier than those parasites from the TOS era episode - Operation: Annihilate...the same ones that were used as an invasive force for the Na'kuhl and Sphere Builders.
These things freaking creeped me out. First when I watched TNG, and then unknowingly in STO when in delta quadrant arc in episodes dragon's deceit, the final battle and the last episode at the elachi station. I swear I'd mute my computer and just smash the attack button without looking at the screen. These and then the hurq 🤮🤮
Glad they went with the Borg, honestly. The bluegill creature effects look goofy as all hell, particularly on a late 80s TV budget
These things were meant to be a recurring adversary. Probably meant for the role the Borg eventually filled. I imagine this episode ending up a little more macabre than most Trek fare may have influenced that. The brutal end of the infected Remmick was actually censored in some countries.
I was a kid when i saw this episode. For 2 years, i didn't yawn with and open mouth and slept with only my nose exposed. Lol
Great content, keep it coming plz❤️✌️
What most don't know is that the main bad guys for SG1 were stolen whole cloth from this episode. Some of the writers of the first season were writers on the episode and still had a rage boner because the concept was shelved on TNG.
I like the idea that they're some kind of offshoot of the Trill. Maybe their goal is to terraform a new colony world where they can survive.
Rick, you opened this can of worms with the Hutts, now got to finish it with the Yeerks and Goa'uld, its not a journey you want to miss out on. lol
@Certifiably Ingame. I love your videos. Thank you very much for being a TH-camr.
Best episode of season one and my personal favourite
One thing some of these videos always reveal to me is how... overboard STO takes the Iconian plot sometimes, trying to tie everything mysterious and unknown into the Iconians removes the mystery.
I like Star Trek Online's take on them as a tool of the Iconians.
I would love an explanation being that their species was assimilated by the borg before they could continue their plans against the federation, Giving an in universe mirror to their behind the scenes dissapearence
Love this video about one of the guiltiest pleasures in TNG.
Just a quick input: Maybe your voice should be made louder in the videos. I love the script but it felt a little quiet and maybe easy to tune out as a result.
Rick, mentioning the Borg got me thinking... what would happen if Starfleet beamed a bunch of these little buggers onto a Borg ship, then ran like hell? 😀
Lots of confusion...
But if the borg assimilated the little creeps 😬 the federation would be in trouble if the borg gained a better understanding of subterfuge
Assimilated bluegills, capable of not only taking over other beings but then making them part of the Collective. Think of them as a massive number of very, very tiny cubes. It's similar to the reason the Foundation doesn't try nuking SCP-682 - if it survived, it would thereafter be immune to thermonuclear explosions, and therefore probably to the acid bath that's currently the only method of containment.
I really appreciate the puppy 💕
We need more of 'em
I like the idea of blue gills being related to Trills as distant evolutionary cousins. I also always thought they were related to the Ceti Eels seen in Wraith of Khan, main difference being those used the ear as an entrance & exit as opposed to the mouth.
Well, also the Ceti eels weren't taking anyone over; the increased susceptibility to suggestion was an unintended side-effect of the fact that they liked snuggling up to the host's brain, damaging the forebrain.
i wouldn't be far flung off to imagine that the Iconians Capture Joined Trill or Symbionts and engineer the Bluegill out of them
@@enisra_bowman I do like the idea of combining the two origins
Would love to see these return in Discovery or in a new Movie
Just think the Crew would only be less retarded than they are, and everyone suddenly become more likeable?
I always thought they were the same kind of species as the little bugs Khan used.
I preferred them to be a mystery. It was a way of showing the universe was bigger and stranger than we know.
surprised you didn't throw in the flying pancakes from Operation:Annihilate!
When you mention Neural Parasites I thought you'd do a video about the creatures fromthe TOS episode Operation Annihilate
When u saw the title I thought it was going to be the bat like creatures from ST:TOS