Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) made an offhand comment about the Gorn on Star Trek: Discovery, little knowing how much the hostile race of alien reptiles would impact his life on Star 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. In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Pike's mission was to lead an investigation of the Red Angel to learn how this time-traveling entity was 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 in Star Trek: The Original Series season 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 of Star Trek's budget and visual effects in the 1960s. Rendered by CGI, the Gorn returned nearly 40 years later on Star Trek: Enterprise, and a Gorn skeleton was seen in Captain Gabriel Lorca's (Jason Isaacs) lab in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. This was all preamble for the significance the Gorn would play in Star 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 in Star Trek: Discovery season 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.”
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 in Star Trek: The Original Series, Starfleet was already dealing with the alien "alligators" on Cestus III. This also foreshadowed Pike's future conflict over Parnassus Beta, a planet the Gorn considered theirs, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's finale, "Hegemony."
What Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Revealed About The Gorn
Strange New Worlds reinvented the Gorn
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made the Gorn the show's primary antagonists while also retconning what Star Trek previously established about the Gorn Hegemony. While Star Trek: The Original Series introduced the Gorn as humanoid reptiles capable of space travel, Strange New Worlds' revamp borrowed heavily from Alien in redefining Gorn physiology and culture. Thanks to Strange 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.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 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 infected Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who sacrificed himself to save his friends from the reptiles. The Gorn then kidnapped Enterprise crew members, including La'an, in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2's finale.
Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel fought and killed a Gorn in zero gravity.
Another change made by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is that Captain Kirk's fight with the Gorn has now been predated by Spock, his best friend, and James' older brother, Lt. Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte). Spock and Sam Kirk fought the Gorn together on Valeo Beta V years before Captain James T. Kirk's fateful brawl with the Gorn. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 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 in Star Trek: The Original Series. A decade after Pike's comment on Star 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 called the 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 in California's Vasquez Rocks, a favorite Star Trek location.) 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 in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 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 by Star Trek for 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 allows Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to bring the Gorn to life like never before. Yet the interest in doing more with the Gorn was present before Strange New Worlds, with Star Trek: Enterprise dabbling with CGI Gorn and Star Trek: Discovery testing the waters with Gorn callbacks. In hindsight, Captain Pike taunting Captain Leland about the Gorn on Star Trek: Discovery has come back to plague him on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
