Orion (Star Trek)

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Marta (Yvonne Craig) as a green Orion Slave Girl.

In the fictional Star Trek universe, Orions are a green-skinned alien species which seem to have a hostile attitude toward the Federation.

1 Origins and history
2 Biology
3 Orion culture
4 Appearances by Orions
5 The Orion Syndicate
6 See also
7 External link

[edit] Origins and history

Orions seem to have originated on the planet Orion.

First contact with humans occurred in 2154 when the Enterprise NX-01 encountered the Orion Syndicate following the kidnapping of T'Pol and eight other crewmembers to be sold as slaves. ("Borderland")

[edit] Biology

Orions have green skin, and the males of the species can be larger and stronger than humans. The females are smaller but apparently control the males through the use of powerful pheromones. These pheromones also have a decapacitating effect on females of most other species (Vulcans at least are immune). Orion women are known for their wiles and sexual appetites. An illusory Orion Slave Girl (see Appearances by Orions) was one of the very first aliens to be seen in Star Trek when one appeared in the first Trek pilot episode, "The Cage".

[edit] Orion culture

Not much has been revealed of Orion culture. It appears that they have a strong reliance on organized crime (see The Orion Syndicate, below), and it is implied that trafficking of illegal goods, including slaves, is a major part of the Orion economy.

Orion females are in particularly high demand as consorts and entertainment. Stock for the Orion slave trade is obtained mostly through kidnapping of other species. If slaves don't command a high enough price at auction, they can be sold as food.

Despite the appearance that the females are under the control of the males, the women actually manipulate the males as a covert method of conducting business. They secrete powerful pheromones that make males open to suggestion and give other females headaches. Vulcans seem to be immune to these pheromones. It is unknown why Orion females take the guise of being submissive, when they could simply take total control over Orion culture and the Orion Syndicate. It is possible that their submissive appearance makes it easier for Orion females to spread as entertainers and servants, while they in reality use their positions to gather information and further the goals of the Syndicate.

[edit] Appearances by Orions

Vina (Susan Oliver) played an illusory version of an Orion slave girl in the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage. The first appearance of a genuine Orion may be that of Thelev (William O'Connell), a spy/assassin surgically altered to appear as an Andorian for the original-series episode Journey to Babel. Mr. Spock speculated on Thelev's origins, though the issue was unproven at the end of the episode. Marta (Yvonne Craig) was a green-skinned seductive woman in Whom Gods Destroy but her species was not identified.

Televised decades later, but chronologically earlier, Orions appear in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode Borderland as slave traders. Both Orion slave traders and Orion slave girls appear later in that same season, in the Enterprise episode Bound.

In the Mirror Universe depicted in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, In a Mirror, Darkly, a female Orion is seen as a crewmember aboard the ISS Avenger, a Terran Empire starship. She is subsequently killed when the Avenger's alien crewmembers attempt to mutiny against the Terran Empire and the ship is destroyed.

Orions (who look distinctly different, though still green) also appear in the animated Star Trek episode The Pirates of Orion, which is considered a non-canonical reference. Interestingly, their name is mispronounced 'Or-ee-ons' throughout the program.

[edit] The Orion Syndicate

Main article: Orion Syndicate.

The Orion Syndicate is an organization steeped in mystery. An important political power in the 22nd and the 23rd centuries, by the 24th Century it had obtained a similar reputation to Earth's very own Mafia.