A Silly Lower Decks Joke Is A Callback To Star Trek's Goofiest Alien
This post contains minor spoilers for the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "The Inner Fight."
In the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," titled "The Inner Fight," a mystery stands on the brink of being resolved. Throughout the show's fourth season, audiences have glimpsed a mysterious white UFO traversing the galaxy, idly obliterating numerous vessels in its path. Its pilot is not revealed, and it doesn't look like any ship previously seen on "Star Trek." In "The Inner Fight," Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) reveals that she still doesn't know anything about who might be controlling the UFO, but has learned details of its mysterious mission. At the very least, she knows the UFO will be attacking certain individuals in the Federation next, and it's up to her and her ship to track down the next target and protect him.
In a very "Star Wars" twist, Captain Freeman's quest to find the target leads her to a seedy alien cantina on a distant planet. In the bar, she finds an information broker who knows all the information she seeks. In a fun "Star Trek" reference, the broker appears to be the same species as Balok, the threatening captain of the ultra-destructive ship the Fesarius in the original series episode "The Corbomite Maneuver."
Of course, in that episode, it was revealed that the Balok seen on the Enterprise's viewscreen was, in fact, a mere puppet. The real Balok was an alien who looked like a six-year-old Clint Howard. Balok merely constructed a scary-looking creature (voiced by Ted Cassidy) as a means of scaring any potential foes.
Thanks to "The Inner Fight," Trekkies have now learned that Balok's puppet was modeled after a real alien species ... which also happens to have the mannerisms of a puppet.
Balok, giver of nightmares
Balok was a notorious figure for young Trekkies who grew up watching the show. Thanks to a photo montage that played over the credits of "Star Trek," kids got to see the Balok puppet's terrifying face every single week. Given his cat-like eyes, permanent frown, and outsize head, Balok induced nightmares in many a young Trekkie, and I have personally met more than one person who admitted to hiding their eyes when they knew Balok was set to appear in the show's credits.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" is an episode about military tactics, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) did most of his careful negotiating and military bluffing with the puppet of Balok. In order to hide the puppet's mechanical head movements and unarticulated lips, the makers of the episode added a wavy blur filter to the Enterprise's viewscreen. The wave effect, of course, only made Balok scarier. Later in the episode, after Kirk is able to go to the Fesarius, he sees the puppet up close and finds the real Balok to be unthreatening. Both Kirk and Balok admit to bluffing one another and are happy to let diplomacy commence in earnest.
The Balok alien in "Lower Decks" is, hilariously, clearly only a head and torso placed on a tabletop. It, too, doesn't have articulated lips, and can also rotate its head around 360°. To add to the mechanical puppet-ness of the creature, it also sparks and smokes from under its robe, clearly a malfunctioning machine. When Freeman, in a fit of impatience, lifts the Balok puppet above her head, it panics. Miniature arms and legs extend from under its robe. Lieutenant Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) points out that the puppet is a real, biological person.
It's just a puppet-like person.
Some aliens are just puppets
It seems that the alien in question is merely a person that sparks and smokes from under its robe, and that speaks without moving its lips. Also, it's a species that can also rotate its head around 360°.
Like many Trekkies, I assumed Balok's scary puppet to be just that: A puppet. Balok knew that face would be universally intimidating, and often used his puppet to startle and frighten any new ships he might meet. Balok never gives the name of his species, however, either in person or in puppet form, so there was no reason to believe that the puppet was modeled off a real species. But thanks to "Lower Decks," we now know that Balok stole his "scary face" from a known species out there in the galaxy. Not only that, but he stole that species' mannerisms and mode of speech. "The Corbomite Maneuver," then, introduced not one, but two new alien species into "Star Trek" canon. We just wouldn't know that for 57 years.
This author assumes the makers of "Lower Decks," like many Trekkies out there, were terrified of Balok as children, and — because it was finally in their power — decided to make the puppet a little less threatening within "Star Trek" canon. Scary Balok is less scary when you know that he is only about three feet tall, behaves like a malfunctioning animatronic, and has tiny, spindly limbs under his cloak.
I still may not want to have a drink with a weird, puppetry dude, but at least now, Balok no longer haunts my nightmares.