Warning: contains spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks #2!
Star Trek just gave one of the original series' most underrated aliens a much-needed makeover. Over the course of Captain Kirk's first five-year mission, the Enterprise encountered numerous alien races, some of them powerful, and not all of them entirely friendly. Now, in Star Trek: Lower Decks #2, an alien race that meets these criteria makes a big comeback – and gets a modern makeover in the process.
Star Trek: Lower Decks #2 was written by Ryan North and drawn by Derek Charm. Mariner, Boimler and the rest of the Lower Deckers were suddenly transported to the surface of a mysterious planet. After a short time, the truth is revealed: they were kidnapped by the Excalibans, a species that first appears in the Original Series. The telepathic, rock-like Excalibans seek to better understand human nature and, to that end, force the Lower Deckers to fight holographic recreations of famous Starfleet members. They will then broadcast the fights across the galaxy to other Excalibans.
The role of Excalibans in Star Trek Universe, explained
The Excalibans, like many other unique races, had a lot of potential
Star Trek: Lower DecksBoth the television show and the comics traffic in deep, deep cuts from the entire franchise, and they don't get any deeper than Excalibans. Introduced in Star Trek season three, in the episode titled “The Savage Curtain,” the Excalibans kidnap Kirk and a handful of police officers. It was the first contact between the Excalibans and the Federation, and the former was curious about the newcomers. “The Wild Curtain” opens with former United States President Abraham Lincoln flying through space toward the Enterprise before his kidnapping. It was a harbinger of the strangeness to come.
Once on the planet, Kirk and company are joined by Lincoln, who turns out to be a holographic envoy sent by the Excalibans, who have been forced to fight recreations of evil people from history, and Star Trek: Lower Decks #2 reflects this storyline. In “The Wild Curtain”, the Excalibans recreate other famous, good and noble people to help Kirk, such as Lincoln and Surak, a famous Vulcan philosopher. Among the bandits were Genghis Khan and the Klingon messiah Kahless. The two teams fought, and in the end, Kirk's moral nature impressed the Excalibans, and they were free to leave.
The Excalibans embodied a dichotomy: they were an advanced race that lived on the surface of a seemingly inhospitable world – a sign of their great power.
The Excalibans never made another canonical on-screen appearance, making them another major unknown in the Star Trek universe. This is a shame, as the Excalibans were one of the most intriguing and certainly most exotic species that Kirk and his crew encountered. The Excalibans were unlike any other type of race Kirk had met so far. Their rocky appearance sets them apart from the likes of the Klingons or Romulans. The Excalibans embodied a dichotomy: they were an advanced race that lived on the surface of a seemingly inhospitable world – a sign of their great power.
Another rock Star Trek species are the Brikar, which were created for the novels but jumped into the canon thanks to Prodigy.
The Excalibans shared another trait common to many alien races in the Original Series: they possessed fantastic, almost godlike, telepathic powers. They were able to read the minds of Kirk and company, as well as create stunning, realistic replicas of people they had never met before, seemingly out of nowhere. How the Excalibans managed to create these replicas was never revealed, adding to the mystery. THE Enterprise encounters a host of ancient and powerful races, and the Excalibans are among the strangest and most terrifying. Fortunately, Kirk was able to reason with them.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Makes Excalibans relevant
The Excalibans may be more powerful than the Federation thinks
In addition to simply calling pieces of Star Trek tradition, Lower decks also subverts them, and they work their magic here with the Excalibans. The similarities between the plots of “The Wild Curtain” and Star Trek: Lower Decks Number 2 is there, but it's also just surface level. In Star Trek: Lower Decks #2, the Excalibans are still trying to understand the nature of lesser beings, thus kidnapping Mariner and company. The Excalibans still believe that fighting is the best way to pursue their studies, but now they will pass this on to every other Excaliban in the galaxy.
Excaliban's transmission also raises questions about the species' ability to travel. Star Trek: Lower Decks #2 never says exactly which planet the Excalibans brought Boimler and company to, but it was hospitable. In “The Savage Curtain,” the planet Kirk was sent to, thought to be the home world of Excaliban, was volcanic and hardly suitable for human life. The Excalibans used their powers to make it safe for humans. Lower decks Number 2 heavily implies that the Excalibans are capable of space travel, which, given their power levels, shouldn't come as a surprise.
Should the Federation really be afraid of the Excalibans?
The Excalibans could be a real threat – but they don't seem interested
Regardless of whether the Excalibans have space travel capabilities or not, they are still a legitimate threat to the Federation, especially if they are in the galaxy.. Their mental powers could potentially let them influence the minds of others, giving them influence over galactic affairs. Additionally, their ability to create perfect replicas of people gives them instant armies that they can use to conquer the Federation. Fortunately, the Excalibans don't seem to be interested in conquest, only in learning. In that respect, they are no different from Starfleet.
The Excalibans will learn about human nature and apparently have fun while doing it.
Where they differ is in motives. When Kirk met the Excalibans in the original Star Trekthey made no mention of the broadcast of the fights. The Excalibans will learn about human nature and apparently have fun while doing it. What led to this change in Excaliban's mindset is unknown, but it makes them even more deadly as it shows even more contempt for lesser beings. When combined with the potential to travel the galaxy, the Excalibans have been given a modern makeover that makes them worthy of future appearances in the Star Trek universe.
Star Trek: Lower Decks #2 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!