For five years, the largest Star Trek alien villain crossover has been gradually happening in Star Trek: Lower Decksbut in the opening credits of the animated comedy. Created by Mike McMahan, Star Trek: Lower Decks takes place at the end of the 24th century Star Trek: The Next Generationwas. It means everything Star Trek until then, from Star Trek: Enterpriseto Star Trek: The Original Series, TNG, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and the first 10 Star Trek the films are ripe for homage or parody. And that includes the numerous aliens that Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets have faced.
Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ opening credits evolve over the course of the show’s five seasons. With Chris Westlake’s majestic soundtrack, Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ titles show the USS Cerritos and its misadventures traveling the galaxy. After the names of the four main Star Trek: Lower Decks cast members Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells and Eugene Cordero, the Cerritos race to a region of space where Starfleet’s alien enemies are fighting each other. As a California Class support ship, the Cerritos wisely turns around and runs away. Every season of Star Trek: Lower Decksmore and more aliens show up for the big fight in the opening credits. Here are all 10 aliens involved in Star Trek: Lower Decks‘main title clash.
5
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1
The Borg and the Romulans
The Borg. Logically, the USS Cerritos hits the bricks Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ opening credits upon spotting several Borg Cubes fighting Romulan Warbirds. The Borg Collective is the most fearsome threat to the United Federation of Planets – and the entire galaxy – at the end of the 24th century. In Star Trek: Lower Decks‘, the Borg are at their peak. Led by the malevolent Borg Queen (Alice Krige, Susanna Thompson), the Borg have attacked the Federation several times, although they have always been defeated, most notably by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. and E.
The Romulans. Fighting the Borg are several Warbirds belonging to the Romulan Star Empire. One of the Federation’s oldest enemiesThe Romulans are a secret and insidious military society. In Star Trek: Lower Decks‘, the Romulans have just realized that their sun will go supernova. However, they are bitter enemies of the Federation during Lower decks. Interestingly, Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered on Paramount+ in 2020 after Star Trek: Picardand the sight of the Romulans fighting the Borg can be seen as a nod to how the Romulans acquired an abandoned Borg Cube and turned it into the Artifact, a Borg Recovery site, in Star Trek: Picard season 1.
4
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2
Pakleds and the Klingons
The Pakleds. In Star Trek: Lower Decks In the season 2 opening credits, the Pakleds Clump ships and the Klingon Birds of Prey join the big fight between the Borg and the Romulans. The Pakleds may be the stupidest of the alien enemies introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Pakleds have returned Star Trek: Lower Decksand they were still imbeciles, but they were also dangerous. The Pakleds nearly destroyed the USS Cerritos and framed Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) for blowing up Planet Pakled.
The Klingon Empire is an ally of the Federation.
The Klingons. In Star Trek: Lower Decks‘late 24th century, the Klingon Empire are allies of the Federationand they fought and won Star Trek: Deep Space NineDominion War together. The Klingons are led by Chancellor Gowron (JG Hertzler), who became leader of the Empire at the end of DS9. The Klingons and Starfleet may be on friendly political terms, but the warrior race generally disapproves of humans, and many Starfleet officers don’t like being around the Klingons either. But if it’s a good day to die, the Klingons will do it in addition to Starfleet if honor demands it.
3
Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 3
The Crystalline Entity
The Crystalline Entity. In Star Trek: Lower Decks In the opening credits of Season 3, the overwhelming power of the Borg meets its match in the Crystalline Entity, who joins the fray with the Borg, Romulans, Pakleds and Klingons. Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation 1st season, the The Crystalline Entity is a massive snowflake-shaped organism with the power to exterminate all life on a planet.. The first Crystalline Entity was destroyed by the USS Enterprise-D after being responsible for thousands of deaths. However, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 6, ‘I, Excretus’, revealed that there are several Crystalline Entities in the galaxy.
The Crystalline Entity remains a popular alien life form among TNG fans.
The original Crystalline Entity first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation “Datalore” from Season 1, when a reactivated Lore (Brent Spiner) attempted to feed the crew of the USS Enterprise-D to the Entity. The Crystalline Entity fled after this initial encounter with the Enterprise, but returned in Star Trek: The Next Generation “Silicon Avatar” from season 5. After destroying a Federation colony on Melona IV, the Enterprise-D attempted to communicate with the Crystalline Entity, but was destroyed by the resonance of graviton emissions. Yet, the Crystalline Entity remains a popular alien life form with TNG fans.
2
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
The Whale Sounder and the Breen
The Whale Sounder. In Star Trek: Lower Decks In the Season 4 opening credits, the Whale Probe and the Breen join the growing alien conflagration that the USS Cerritos is fleeing. Introduced in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the Whale Probe is an unexplained extraterrestrial entity that nearly destroyed the Earth while searching for humpback whales. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the former crew of the USS Enterprise traveled back in time to San Francisco in 1986 and brought two humpback whales back to the future. After communicating with the whales, the Probe was satisfied and retreated.
Breen. First seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (although mentioned earlier in Star Trek: The Next Generation), the Breen Conferacy are mysterious aliens never seen without their helmets and refrigeration suits. The Breen allied themselves with the Dominion and nearly conquered the Federation during the Dominion War. Breen made a cameo appearance Star Trek: Lower Decks, but Star Trek: Discovery revealed more about the renamed Breen Imperium in the 32nd century, introducing L’ak (Elias Toufexis), the Breen Scion and the first Breen to be seen without his helmet.
1
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5
Tholianos, Hand of Apollo and V’Ger
The Tholians. In Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ fifth and final season on Paramount+, the opening credits alien fight turns into an all-out brawl as three more villains join the conflagration: the Tholians, the hand of Apollo (Michael Forest), and V’Ger. The Tholians are a crystalline, insect-like race which first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series’ “The Tholian Web.” The Tholians are known for their tactic of creating a grid of energy generated by their starships. The first contact between the Tholians and the United Earth occurred in Star Trek: Enterprisebut the Tholians are often mentioned but rarely seen in Star Trek.
Hand of Apollo. The Borg Cube in Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ the opening credits are gripped by Apollo’s unforgettable green hand. Apollo used his giant green hand to trap the starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2’s “Who Mourns for Adonais” revealed an alien being claiming to be the Greek demigod Apollo who lives on the planet Pollux IV. According to Apollo, he and the Greek pantheon were explorers who visited Earth 5,000 years earlier. Although Apollo later claimed that he was born on Earth, the son of Zeus and the mortal Leto. After Captain Kirk and the Enterprise destroyed Apollo’s power source, the so-called Greek god turned into energy and disappeared.
V’Ger traveled home to Earth in search of his creator.
V’Ger. Last but not least, V’Ger makes a surprising appearance as the latest alien villain in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 opening credits. Introduced in Star Trek: the movieV’Ger appeared to be a vast cloud of energy with enormous destructive power heading towards Earth. Intercepted by the USS Enterprise commanded by Admiral Kirk, V‘Ger was revealed to be a huge sentient ship that was originally the Earth space probe Voyager 6. Rebuilt by living machines, V’Ger traveled home to Earth in search of his creator. V’Ger combined with Commander Will Decker (Stephen Collins) and Lieutenant Ilia (Persis Khambatta) and ascended to another state of being. But in Star Trek: Lower Decks In the Season 5 opening credits, V’Ger is back and tips the scales in the big alien fight that the USS Cerritos pulls away from.