The Star Trek franchise provides several of the most iconic alien species in science fiction history. Klingons and Vulcans stand out among most of the aliens on TV. For every iconic example of extraterrestrial life in the Star Trek universe, many series provide a dozen species that appear once or twice before disappearing into obscurity. Sometimes they slowly build an alien species over the course of years until they introduce a main character from its ranks. That was the slow roll-out the Saurians experienced.
Though Star Trek frequently indulges in the Planet of Hats trope, they just as often introduce alien races that behave just like human beings. Some Star Trek races have one character trait that informs every representative and all of their dialogue, while others do everything humans do despite looking the way they do. It’s a fascinating way to use alien makeup, often depicting the utopian future of endless unique species operating as one bold collective.
What is a Saurian?
Saurians are an alien species from Star Trek. They are large, humanoid lizards with most of the features one would associate with reptiles. They’re taller than humans, on average. In place of skin, they have thick scales. Their scales tend to be gray, pink, or dull green. Their massive eyes tend to lack irises or any other features. They have two sets of eyelids around their pitch-black orbs. That unique trait allows them to see a far greater spectrum of light and detail than humans. Other aspects of their biology provided substantial evolutionary weaknesses. Saurians shed their skin annually, forcing them to quarantine themselves to avoid contaminating clean areas. They also endured more severe symptoms when afflicted with conditions like the common cold due to their six nasal canals.
Their native language consists mainly of clicks and pops. It’s unusual enough that the universal translator sometimes struggles to capture it. They seem to eat plants, as they’re most often seen eating bamboo. Saurian culture doesn’t come up often, but it’s known that they spawn clutches of eggs and raise their young as communal multifamily units. They have distilled and bottled a unique liquor called Saurion brandy since at least the late 22nd century. It was extremely popular and common in the Federation. The Saurians have served the Federation for several centuries.
Where did Saurians first appear?
Star Trek mentioned the Saurian species years before they depicted them. Saurian brandy appears in several early episodes of The Original Series. Season one, episode four, “The Enemy Within,” is the first episode to mention Saurian brandy. It depicts an evil doppelgänger of Captain Kirk demanding the unique liquor and wandering around drunk. Janice Rand brings up Saurian brandy in the following episode, and Kirk offers it to another ship’s crew in episode seven. The first Saurian in the franchise appeared in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 13 years after their first mention in a script. That Saurion doesn’t have a name and is never identified in dialogue. Instead, extraneous details labeled the pink-scaled reptile. Costume designers Fred Phillips and Robert Fletcher added details to the Saurian and every other race they designed. The Saurians went dormant for several decades before introducing a central character in Star Trek: Discovery. It’s a bizarre path for a Star Trek species, but it eventually led to a fun character.
Notable Saurians in Star Trek
The franchise’s most iconic Saurian is Linus from Star Trek: Discovery. David Benjamin Tomlinson portrayed Linus and several other costumed aliens. Linus is a relatively minor figure in Discovery, but his comic relief scenes add a ton to the series. He frequently used a personal transporter that transported him to unexpected locations and awkward encounters. Linus is a sciences division officer who decided to stay aboard the Discovery as it traveled into the future. Most recently, he became the Spore Drive Operations Officer after a promotion. Other Saurians in Star Trek include:
- Y’Shi: Jean-Luc Picard has a Saurian skull in his trophy room. Production designer Dave Blass later identified him as Commodore Y’Shi, named after Yoshi from the Super Mario franchise. Picard presumably killed him at some point.
- The Commander of the USS Titan was an unnamed gray-skinned Saurian.
- At least one Saurian scientist served on the Enterprise during its refit in the 2270s.
- A Saurian diplomat worked under Federation President Laira Rillak while bringing the Vulcan’s homeworld back into the Federation.
- Aennik Okeg: Okeg is the first Saurian President of the Federation, though his election and reign are non-canonical.
The Saurians have a strange path through the Star Trek franchise. They existed as a meaningless background detail for decades before they became a notable species. Their planet, background, and many of their representatives remain non-canonical. Star Trek and its genre stablemates can drop alien species names on any detail of the world without tying it to anything. The Saurians are more than just the universe’s favorite brandy distillery.