The original pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series started an unhappy Star Trek trope that took the franchise over 50 years to fix. Before Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) took command of the USS Enterprise, Captain Christoper Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) commanded the iconic ship. In “The Cage”, Pike and his crew traveled to Talos IV, where they encountered an incredibly advanced race of aliens who could manipulate thought. The Talosians tried to convince Pike to stay by tempting him with an attractive woman.
In turn, Vina (Susan Oliver) began to develop feelings for Pike, and he for her, despite interference from the Talosians. Like the Talosians, Star Trekfirst villains, tried to determine what kind of woman Pike wanted, they presented Vina to him in several different ways, creating realistic illusions that seemed real to Pike. In the first scenario, Vina was a Rigelian princess who needed to be rescued from the barbarians. In the second, she was a simple peasant from Earth, and in the last, she was a green-skinned Orion slave who danced seductively for Pike. It was this last disguise that created a recurring problem for Star Trek.
Star Trek’s “The Cage” Established the “Orion Slave Girl” Trope
This specific trope should have remained on the cutting room floor
The depiction of Vina as a slave to Orion is problematic for several reasons and illustrates one of the most outdated aspects of the story. Star Trek: The Original Series. While Terms of Service was progressive in many aspects, the casual sexism sprinkled throughout the show places it firmly in the 1960s. Orion’s slave unfortunately became something of a trope and subsequent depictions of Orions didn’t fare much better. Another Orion woman named Marta (Yvonne Craig) makes an appearance in Terms of Service Season 3, Episode 16, “Whom Gods Destroy” as a patient in a mental institution.
While there is nothing wrong with a woman owning her sexuality, making these Orion women slaves or prisoners takes away any agency they may have had.
Just like Vina as Orion, Marta wears very few clothes, dances seductively and tries to seduce the men around her. While there is nothing wrong with a woman owning her sexuality, making these Orion women slaves or prisoners takes away any agency they may have had. Orions have received very little development as a species in Terms of Service, and they became best known for their dancing green slave girls. In “The Cage,” Captain Pike falls in love with Vina as herself, but even he is tempted by her Orion dancing, which isn’t a great look for the Enterprise captain.
It wasn’t until Below Decks that Star Trek finally corrected its portrayal of Orion
Lieutenant Tendi rescues Orions from Star Trek
Although Star Trek: Enterprise tried to update the Orions for a modern audience, their version of alien society was only marginally better than that portrayed in Star Trek: The Original Series. It wasn’t until Star Trek: Lower Decks that the franchise finally introduced three-dimensional Orion characters who were more than pirates and slavers. With his infectious enthusiasm for Starfleet and scientific discovery, Lieutenant D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) is a breath of fresh air among the crew of the USS Cerritos. She defies her past as a pirate of Orion, although she sometimes uses the skills it taught her.
As one of the few Orions in Starfleet, Tendi fought to change the perception many have of her species and their stories. Lower decks single-handedly redefined the Orions. Tendi’s relationship with her sister, D’Erika (Ariel Winter), in particular, is one of the Star Trek stronger sibling relationships, despite only appearing in a few scenes. Star Trek: Lower Decks leans into the hilarity of the Cerritos crew’s antics, but the show helped bring Walk canon for the modern era and can be serious and moving when it wants to be.