TheGorn are a fictional extraterrestrialhumanoid reptilian species in the Americanscience-fiction franchiseStar Trek. They first appeared in a 1967 episode ofthe original series, "Arena", in whichCaptain Kirk fights an unnamed Gorn on a rocky planet.[1] The fight scene has become one of the best-remembered scenes of the original series, in part due to the slow and lumbering movement of the Gorn, which some viewers have considered unintentionally comical.[2][3]
The Gorn have since appeared, or been mentioned, in variousStar Trek books, video games, and other media properties, including the 1973 episode "The Time Trap" ofStar Trek: The Animated Series. They finally appeared again in live-action form in a 2005 episode ofStar Trek: Enterprise, "In a Mirror Darkly, Part 2", this time with a more angular appearance and rendered usingcomputer animation. Several Gorn spaceships (though no actual Gorn) appeared in a 2022 episode ofStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, "Memento Mori". In a subsequent 2022 episode ofStrange New Worlds, "All Those Who Wander", Gorn hatchlings were shown as small, fast-moving, and instantly lethal predators, in contrast to the slow and humanoid adult Gorn previously seen.
The Gorn had contact with theOrion Syndicate as early as 2154. The name of their government was established as the Gorn Hegemony in theStar Trek: Enterprise episode "Bound".[4]
In the episode "Arena" of the originalStar Trek TV series, theEnterprise pursues an alien ship of previously unknown design after it had attacked an Earth colony. A powerful race known as theMetrons force the captains of both ships to fight to settle the dispute. During the episode, the alien race is found to call themselves Gorn.[5][6] This formalfirst contact with theFederation occurred at Cestus III in 2267.
Although the Gorn made territorial claims in the Cestus system in 2267, the Federation had a settlement there by 2371, indicating tension later softened enough for it to become a trading site between them or the Gorn had ceded the territory or had joined the Federation.
In 2005, an episode ofStar Trek: Enterprise featured a Gorn (albeit in theMirror Universe) in the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly Part II". In that episode, the Gorn (whose name was Slar) was an overseer of a group of slaves belonging to the Mirror Universe'sTholians in an attempt to steal technology from theConstitution-class NCC-1764Defiant, which had been transferred into the Mirror Universe from ours. Slar hid in the ship's corridors and killed several crewmembers until it was killed byJonathan Archer.
A Gorn was slated to appear in the movieStar Trek: Nemesis as a friend ofWorf's atRiker's bachelor party, according to an interview given by John Logan toStar Trek Communicator in 2003, but the scene was not in the final version of the film.
The seriesStar Trek: Strange New Worlds features a character, La'an Noonien-Singh (played byChristina Chong), who is the sole survivor of a Gorn attack, an informal first contact before the formal one shown in "Arena". In the 2022 episode "Memento Mori" of season one, the Gorn attack the starshipEnterprise, and the trauma previously suffered by La'an is a central theme of the episode. The Gorn do not actually appear onscreen in the episode, although several of their ships do. CaptainChristopher Pike escapes the attack by luring the Gorn ships into abrown dwarf andslingshotting theEnterprise around ablack hole.
The Gorn reappear in an episode of the same season, "All Those Who Wander", wherein details of their biology are revealed. Gorn eggs are implanted in an Orion refugee, who fights the hatchlings and damages the USSPeregrine, crashing it on an ice planet. TheEnterprise crew finds another refugee with a similar infestation in thePeregrine. The eggs are unable to be detected by Starfleet and other electromagnetic medical sensors, explaining medical staff's inability to find the infestation and prevent the refugee's death. The Gorn kill two Starfleet officers upon hatching. Noonien-Singh reveals that the hatchlings then fight each other to the death until the strongest one wins. TheEnterprise crew uses this knowledge to defeat the Gorn before escaping aboard the repairedPeregrine, but not before the Gorn implant eggs in one of the bridge crew, theAenar engineer Hemmer, forcing him to sacrifice himself by walking out into the planet's cold to destroy the eggs.
Slar, a Gorn from theEnterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly Part II"
The Gorn was designed by artistWah Chang, and is depicted inArena as a hissing, slow-moving but lethal beast.[7] The Gorn captain was portrayed by Bill Blackburn and Bobby Clark, and voiced byTed Cassidy.[8]
In the animated series, the Gorn appeared less harsh than in the original.
In theStar Trek: Enterprise appearance, the Gorn Slar was designed and rendered usingcomputer animation, and looked different from the original appearance; the clearest difference was the lack of compound eyes. Slar also moved much faster than the Gorn Captain Kirk fought. Since "In a Mirror, Darkly" takes place entirely within the Mirror Universe, the contact seen between the Terran Empire and the creature does not contradict the first contact seen in "Arena".
The 2022Strange New Worlds episode "All Those Who Wander", depicts the Gorn as having prodigious speed and agility, and a physical form similar to their forms in the 2013 video gameStar Trek (see below). The episode reveals key details of their biology, including their reproduction by mating, and then layingparasitic eggs in a host body through spraying venom at the body. The eggs hatch in a similar manner to thechest bursters fromAlien. Gorn hatchlings can grow quickly; they and their egg forms have evolved the ability to evade Starfleet and other electromagnetic medical sensors. The episode also depicts their bodies, being reptilian, as sensitive to, and thus easily killed by, extreme cold.
Gorn appear in the 2005 novelSTAR TREK – Starfleet Corps of Engineers #44: Where Time Stands Still, a sequel to the animated episode mentioned above.
Gorn appear inStar Trek: The Next Generation book #32,Requiem.
A Gorn, with a name that sounds like "Rrrk", manages a bar in Arcturus (a city, planet and star all with the same name) in the novelThe Lost Years.
The Gorn are featured in the 2010 Pocket Books novelStar Trek: Typhon Pact – Seize the Fire They also appear in theStar Trek: Destiny trilogy and the TNG novelCold Equations: Silent Weapons. In these novels, the Gorn have joined an interstellar organization known as theTyphon Pact (composed of the Gorn,Romulans,Tholians,Breen, Tzenkethi, and Kinshaya).
The mirror universe counterparts of the Gorn appeared inStar Trek: Mirror Universe – Rise Like Lions.*
Kirk mentions his fight with the Gorn in dialogue with the Romulan Commander in the 1977 novelThe Price of the Phoenix.
A mini-campaign with a Gorn enemy and ally appear in theSNES game andPC gameStarfleet Academy. There are video cutscenes featuring a Gorn, portrayed using a puppet. The ships are also playable in skirmish mode, and multiplayer games.
Gorn are available as one of the playable races for the Klingon Empire in thePC gameStar Trek Online. The 'Gorn' jokes are a running gag in the online chat and spawned a fan-site of the species.[9]
Dr. McCoy referred to performing an emergency delivery of a brood of eight Gorn, noting "those little bastards bite!" in the 2013 filmStar Trek Into Darkness. This is most likely a reference to the 2013 video gameStar Trek due to McCoy performing a c-section of a Gorn in the game.
Kirk and Spock fight the Gorn in the 2012 Star Trek Video Game.[10]
The Gorn appear in the 2013 video gameStar Trek, set in the alternate universe of the 2009Star Trek film. Taking place between the first film and its sequel, the Gorn appear as enemies attacking the New Vulcan colony. The Gorn shown are depicted as being a brutal race of imperialistic extra-galactic conquerors who had already taken over their galaxy before crossing over into the Milky Way. They are shown to have a rigid caste system based on skin coloration and intelligence levels with the more intelligent Gorn serving as soldiers, while primitive ones serve an attack-dog role. These Gorn are far more alien-looking and are not as fully bipedal as previous incarnations. Their relations to the Gorn of the original series are not known.[citation needed]
The Gorn race also appears in the alternate non-canonStar Fleet Universe, represented in the range of board wargames fromAmarillo Design Bureau Inc. as well as the first twoStar Fleet Command games (and the Orion Pirates stand-alone add on forStarfleet Command II) from Taldren. These are not considered canon with theStar Trek movies or series. In this continuum, the Gorn Confederation is a powerful empire located coreward of theRomulan Star Empire, also bordering the United Federation of Planets and the Interstellar Concordium. It comprises three genetically related races, each from a neighboring star system, known as Ghdar I, Ghdar II and Ghdar III. They are portrayed as a more civilized and cultured race than as referenced in theParamountStar Trek universe.
They ally in Y174 with the Kzinti Hegemony, theHydran Kingdoms, the Federation and theTholian Holdfast in theGeneral War. The alliance between the Gorns and the Federation – following a brief conflict over a misunderstanding regarding the Federation colony on Cestus III, a Gorn world – represents one of the few alliances that is based on mutual trust and desire for friendship as opposed to political convenience. They are mutually antagonistic with the Romulans, with whom they share a border with the Interstellar Concordium, and were among the first races to feel the effects of the ISC War of Pacification.
The Gorn appear in the PC/Android/iOS gameStar Trek Fleet Command, in which the player can obtain and perform game actions using a Gorn ship ("Gorn Eviscerator"), which resembles the Gorn ship type portrayed inStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. There is also a system containing Gorn ships for the player to destroy for rewards, and a short Gorn themed mission arc.
A life-sized Gorn statue was on exhibit in the History of the Future museum in theLas Vegas Hilton'sStar Trek: The Experience attraction. Since the attraction's closing, the figure's current whereabouts are unknown.[citation needed]
Gorn action figures have been available over the years including theMego line from the 1970s, appearing in that line's television commercials.
MythBusters, aDiscovery Channel television show that uses elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, film scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories, set out to prove whether or not it was possible for Captain Kirk to have constructed an effective bamboo cannon that could have injured a Gorn, as depicted in the climax of "Arena". Their test showed that available bamboo was not strong enough to withstand the explosion. While Kirk would have been badly injured or killed, the Gorn would have been only slightly injured. However, the James Blish novelization of the episode indicated that although the plant looked like bamboo, it actually had a high metal content, so much so that it let out a distinct metallic sound when Kirk bumped it, the implication being that it was stronger than Earth bamboo.
In the 2001Family Guy episode "The Kiss Seen Around the World",Neil Goldman plays the fight scene from the episode "Arena" in class, showingCaptain Kirk fighting the Gorn, pointing out when it isWilliam Shatner performing as Captain Kirk and his stunt double "Fred Lubbins". In reality, the stunt double for the scene was Dick Dial.
The Gorn appeared in the 2012Robot Chickenseason 6 episode "In Bed Surrounded by Loved Ones", in which Kirk has "stage 3 spaceHerpes" and contacts the people he had sex with. One such encounter includes the Gorn (voiced byFred Tatasciore) too, which they briefly fight before making out.
A Gorn appeared with William Shatner in the preview/ad for theStar Trek 2 game in 2013.[11]
