# Trek: TOS fans: what do you think happened to the Organians (and their peace treaty)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522 "2015-09-25T22:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/41 "2015-09-30T06:30:44Z")
> [@grude](#): > > There was a prequel episode in Enterprise featuring the Organians, but I can’t remember anything about it and am too lazy to touch googleing. > > They probably just said random scary sounding bullshit to get left alone and hopefully stop a big war, but don’t care enough to bother following up. They honestly seemed like different aliens there. They were just scientists observing some disease and how different aliens reacted to it. They would take over the bodies of different crewpeople, but would refuse to interfere. It was nice to see some arguments against the Prime Directive for once, though. Especially after Doctor’s Day and their defense of cultural genocide. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/42 "2015-09-30T06:59:54Z")
They decided to masquerade as tribbles, so they could monitor and influence us surreptitiously. However, they rather over-estimated how much they could achieve while being unable to speak, move, or manipulate objects, and with their only sense being touch. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/43 "2015-10-01T03:01:27Z")
> [@grude](#): > > There was a prequel episode in Enterprise featuring the Organians, but I can’t remember anything about it and am too lazy to touch googleing Two Organians ‘inhabit’ the bodies of two of the bridge officers to observe how the Enterprise crew handles a deadly plague quickly spreading thru the ship. It was actually a pretty good Enterprise episode, though they did hit the reset button at the end by wiping the crew’s memories so it might as well have never happened. > [@terentii](#): > > Nitpick: Koloth was the Klingon captain in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” He was played by William Campbell (aka Trelain, the Squire of Gothos). > > The head Klingon in “Errand” was Kor, Military Governor of Organia. He was played by John Colicos (aka Baltar in the original _ **Battlestar Galactica** _). The two of them along with Michael Ansara as Kang from \*Day of the Dove \*[all reunited to appear together](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk37/Bogman_photo/Star%252520Trek%252520II/DS9BloodOath-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bogscifi.forumotions.net/t1323-episode-39-blood-oath&h=466&w=639&tbnid=6delLlraTRNaMM:&docid=WUBxvSMv64nhWM&ei=8p4MVre1CcXo-QHCyqLoAw&tbm=isch&ved=0CCAQMygDMANqFQoTCLf2yaKhoMgCFUV0PgodQqUIPQ)in the DS9 episode _Blood Oath_. As far as the OP goes, being a big original Star Trek household growing up we had this debate a number of times. We came to two conclusions: [ol] [li]The Organians only cared about themselves and their part of space.[/li][li]The Organians also specifically said, _“We find interfering with others affairs most disgusting, but you’ve left us no choice”._[/li][/ol] So basically the Feds and the Klingons could fight all they wanted elsewhere, as long as they stayed away from Organian space. And number two explains why they never reappear to enforce peace across the universe. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/44 "2015-10-01T09:58:16Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > The two of them along with Michael Ansara as Kang from \*Day of the Dove \*[all reunited to appear together](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk37/Bogman_photo/Star%252520Trek%252520II/DS9BloodOath-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bogscifi.forumotions.net/t1323-episode-39-blood-oath&h=466&w=639&tbnid=6delLlraTRNaMM:&docid=WUBxvSMv64nhWM&ei=8p4MVre1CcXo-QHCyqLoAw&tbm=isch&ved=0CCAQMygDMANqFQoTCLf2yaKhoMgCFUV0PgodQqUIPQ)in the DS9 episode _Blood Oath_. Wow! I’m surprised to read on Wiki that Ansara lived to the ripe old age of 91! I knew he had been sick for a long time and thought he’d probably died well before 2013. Fun fact: Kang’s wife Mara was played by Susan Howard, who went on to be one of the stars of _ **Dallas** _ in the '80s (as did Morgan Woodward, aka Capt. Ron Tracey in “Omega Glory”). Interesting that for all their godlike powers, the Organians apparently gave no thought whatsoever to either the Federation or the Klingons until they showed up in their neck of the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/45 "2015-10-01T13:33:47Z")
I picked, _They decided to stand back and let the Feds and Klingons mature. And hey, it worked._ The Organians predicted that the Federation and the Klingons would someday be friends and allies, and hey, they were right, notwithstanding Kirk’s and Kor’s disgusted reactions. The Organians were really smart and could see the likely historical evolution of relations between the two powers, and after awhile, the Treaty was unnecessary (until it was again, when, oops, there was a brief war in the DS9 era - just a bump in the road, though, as it happened). ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/46 "2015-10-01T13:59:23Z")
They went back in time and built a network of Chappa’ais. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/47 "2015-10-01T14:03:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I picked, _They decided to stand back and let the Feds and Klingons mature. And hey, it worked._ > > The Organians predicted that the Federation and the Klingons would someday be friends and allies, and hey, they were right, notwithstanding Kirk’s and Kor’s disgusted reactions. The Organians were really smart and could see the likely historical evolution of relations between the two powers, and after awhile, the Treaty was unnecessary (until it was again, when, oops, there was a brief war in the DS9 era - just a bump in the road, though, as it happened). It did give us some great DS9 episodes, but would the war have happened without the influence of the Founders? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/48 "2015-10-01T14:54:22Z")
I figure it was the same handwaving that made Klingon foreheads go smooth and then bumpy: the Organians either quit paying attention to anything outside their orbit (much like the Talosians) or they packed up and moved to a higher plane of existence where they wouldn’t interfere with story ideas. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/49 "2015-10-01T16:00:56Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > The Organians either quit paying attention to anything outside their orbit (much like the Talosians). Or Metrons. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/50 "2015-10-01T18:06:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Or Metrons. I thought about that, but the Metrons had a bad habit of interfering with ships that weren’t even near their planet. Now that I think about it, their episode was based on Fredric Brown’s short story “Arena.” Was that the first example of godlike aliens who have to mess with us lower life forms? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/51 "2015-10-01T18:45:01Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I thought about that, but the Metrons had a bad habit of interfering with ships that weren’t even near their planet. _Au contraire_, the Gorns led Kirk right past their solar system (unintentionally, I’m sure). ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/52 "2015-10-01T18:50:33Z")
The Organians regard themselves as ‘adults’, and both the Federation and the Klingon Empire as children. Children who don’t get along well, and tend to fight, but have more in common than they realize. For the most part, when children fight, you ignore them - they’re children, so they probably can’t hurt each other too badly, and you have important stuff to do. If they insist on fighting right in front of you, though, then they both a stern talking-to (“Jimmy, stop hitting your brother with the plastic giraffe. _No_, put it _down_!”), and are warned that ‘the grownups are watching you!’. Which they are, for a while. Until they get distracted. At which point, as long as the children mostly fight reasonably quietly and out of direct line of sight, they can get away with it. Considering how it turns out, this attitude actually seems pretty reasonable - in only a hundred years or so (which is probably not that long by the standards of immortal aliens), the two governments, like many siblings, grow up to (mostly, usually) respect and work with one another, despite their disagreements. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/53 "2015-10-01T19:11:30Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I thought about that, but the Metrons had a bad habit of interfering with ships that weren’t even near their planet. > > Now that I think about it, their episode was based on Fredric Brown’s short story “Arena.” Was that the first example of godlike aliens who have to mess with us lower life forms? Genesis comes to mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/54 "2015-10-01T21:36:49Z")
What happened is that [the Klingon Empire changed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770375) . . . but how or why remains unclear . . . ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/55 "2015-10-01T21:44:55Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I thought about that, but the Metrons had a bad habit of interfering with ships that weren’t even near their planet. > > Now that I think about it, their episode was based on Fredric Brown’s short story “Arena.” Was that the first example of godlike aliens who have to mess with us lower life forms? First, the official story is that Gene Coon wrote the script independently, then found out about the Brown story, and gave Brown credit. The basic idea is the same, but hardly anything else. And the human hero of the Brown story is not as namby-pamby as Kirk. It’s possible he read the story and didn’t remember it, but used it unconsciously. It wasn’t even the first instance of godlike aliens in TOS - see Charlie X. I think The Squire of Gothos was before, but I’d have to check. And ignoring the Bible, we have the Arisians and Eddorians from the Lensmen series, and I’d hardly swear that they were the first. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/56 "2015-10-02T00:27:25Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I figure it was the same handwaving that made Klingon foreheads go smooth and then bumpy: the Organians either quit paying attention to anything outside their orbit (much like the Talosians) or they packed up and moved to a higher plane of existence where they wouldn’t interfere with story ideas. Well, again, the prequel series \*Enterprise \*dealt with the whole bumpy-smooth-then bumpy again Klingon foreheads [during a three-episode arc.](http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon_augment_virus) And, IMO, dealt with it pretty darn well (it was related to Khan and Earth’s augmented-humans Eugenics program…) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/57 "2015-10-02T00:39:22Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It wasn’t even the first instance of godlike aliens in TOS - see Charlie X. I think The Squire of Gothos was before, but I’d have to check. And ignoring the Bible, we have the Arisians and Eddorians from the Lensmen series, and I’d hardly swear that they were the first. The (second) pilot, [“Where No Man Has Gone Before,”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_No_Man_Has_Gone_Before) even featured godlike humans. (Which Charlie X was too, come to think of it.) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/58 "2015-10-02T00:50:50Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And the human hero of the Brown story is not as namby-pamby as Kirk. …in the original story, the hero whacks himself with a rock to become briefly unconscious to pass through a barrier, to get at the alien and kill him with a pointy stick. In the TOS version, Kirk BUILDS A FRICKIN’ CANNON and blows lizard guy out of his shoes… then SPARES him. Plainly they have a rather odd version of namby-pamby where YOU come from. And yeah, the idea of omnipotent aliens was old news long before TOS hit the airwaves… I was just momentarily curious how it got to be a SF trope to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/59 "2015-10-02T02:52:12Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …in the original story, the hero whacks himself with a rock to become briefly unconscious to pass through a barrier, to get at the alien and kill him with a pointy stick. Point_ed_ stick. (I’m guessing he’d run out of fresh fruit.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522/60 "2015-10-02T02:55:08Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > …in the original story, the hero whacks himself with a rock to become briefly unconscious to pass through a barrier, to get at the alien and kill him with a pointy stick. > > In the TOS version, Kirk BUILDS A FRICKIN’ CANNON and blows lizard guy out of his shoes… Can you fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe, Captain? > [@terentii](#): > > Point_ed_ stick. (I’m guessing he’d run out of fresh fruit.) 😃 \*Shut up! \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-tos-fans-what-do-you-think-happened-to-the-organians-and-their-peace-treaty/732522.md?page=2)