The most wasted villains in Star Trek

It’s the Vidiians.

Janeway and the Vidiians — property of Paramount Global

In Star Trek there are the alien-foes-of-the week, but the classic villains, the Klingons and Romulans, are militaristic. They were the opposite of the peaceful and diverse Federation. A metaphor for the cold war struggle of democracy over totalitarianism and on occasion the civil rights movement. In the late 80s we had the Borg which symbolized a mechanized loss of individuality. This was a common fear as our society began to embrace computers and robotic manufacturing. The Next Generation also introduced the Ferengi who were supposed to be over the top capitalists and a way to satirize the “greed-is-good” 80s. (It didn’t quite work out the way the writers imagined.) But what if there was a villain that represented the true antithesis of the 90s–2000s era Federation?

One of the major criticisms of The Next Generation is that the series, specifically Jean Luc Picard, set an unattainably high moral standard. They claimed no one could be so pious, so moral, so wise, so committed to doing the right thing. Would anyone really stand by their moral convictions even if it meant the death of themselves or people under their command?

But this was the brilliance and magic of TNG. What was humanity capable of if we eliminated scarcity and embraced empathy? What could we accomplish if we stopped competing and started collaborating? If we all have empathy, what is there to fear from each other? It was a message that we can do better as a civilization. We just have to choose to do the right thing. But that’s not easy to do in a Capitalist society.

Enter the Vidiians.

The crew of Voyager had three significant run-ins with the Vidiians. At one time the Vidiians had been much like our enlightened human characters; a race of scholars and artists. Yet they suffered from a plague, The Phage, that caused the gradual and inevitable failure of their organs. Vidiian medicine was unable to cure or treat the plague, but they did manage a technological jump forward in one area: organ transplant technology that eliminated rejection by the host. Using this technology, they were able to conduct an organ-by-organ triage of their own bodies as long as they had a fresh supply of organ donors.

In Voyager, the Vidiians are portrayed as timid and wounded. They seem ashamed of their appearance and their scavenger-like behavior. They harvest the organs of the dead and regret killing others for their survival when they feel they have no other choice. We empathize with their plight.

This is where the opportunity was lost.

Imagine our own society in this scenario. In 2020 there were plenty of “leaders” suggesting we shouldn’t concern ourselves with the safety of prison populations or the elderly. Their survival wasn’t worth the expense.

I imagine a similar “debate” among the Vidiians at the beginning of their pandemic. But their pandemic only got worse and continued for generations.

If the entire population was affected, Vidiians probably ran out of “natural donors” shortly after their mass-organ-transplant program started. There just wouldn’t be enough motorcycle accidents to replace the organs of the entire infected population. So what happens? Faced with their own eradication, what do they do?

Once the elderly and the prison population had been consumed for parts, they turned on each other. Those who objected on moral grounds died.

After a short time, all that would have remained were the psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists: those comfortable killing others to extend their own lives a while longer. These traits would become more dominant as the plague continued: Survival of the least moral. Eventually the capture and harvesting of organs from others would be as routine as a trip to the grocery store. In a few generations, the Vidiians would have bred empathy completely out of their species. According to the show, the Vidiians have lived in this way for 2,000 years.

They could have been the perfect foils for the Federation’s high morality. Besides, a race that desperately wants to hunt you down so they harvest your body parts is about as terrifying and grizzly as it gets.

The Vidiians were the perfect opportunity to pit enlightened human morality against immorality and psychopathy.

A recurring theme on Voyager was, if sticking to our principles means never returning home are we allowed to bend them, and if so how much? Not only would our psychopath villains help develop those stories, but they could provide the perfect setup for allegories about the meat industry, capitalism, healthcare inequality, or sweatshops —anywhere a population suffers for the benefit of another.

Here’s a dozen or so episode ideas:

• Voyager needs a crucial resource that Vidiians are willing to trade for. In exchange they want a tool/resource that will help them hunt down innocents so they can be consumed.
• A shuttle crew is captured and processed. The Vidiians compensate Voyager for their loss with a resource they desperately need. If Voyager uses the resource, what are the ethical repercussions? Would it mean they sanction the transactional murder of their crewmates?
• Capitalism: Do Vidiians process their own people if they fall into debt? What about If they are an underclass or a certain race? Are people farmed for their organs?
• If a Vidiian child is born with empathy what happens to them? If they speak out are they immediately processed? Do they suppress their empathy in order to survive? Can they escape and ask for asylum?
• What do they teach their children about the slaughter of others? Are other races inferior? Do they exist only to provide organs for the superior race? Are they at all thankful for the sacrifice of their victims even if it’s just ceremonial?
• Voyager discovers a damaged Vidiian ship with unconscious survivors. One has a brain injury that once repaired restores empathy. What ensues? Can they bear the guilt?
• Voyager encounters a culture regularly culled by the Vidiians that has captured several pre-Phage Vidiian children. They plan to charge the children as responsible for the crimes of their race and execute them.
• It would make sense that the many planets would have “kill on sight” orders for the Vidiians. Voyager encounters a group of bounty hunters that specialize in the hunting and killing of Vidiians. They are hired by local planets effectively making it state-sponsored murder of a specific race. This would have parallels to government paid scalping of colonial times and would be amazing for Chakotay to explore.
• A Borg scout ship assimilates a Vidiian outpost and their organic components become infected. Voyager debates if the Phage could be weaponized against the Borg. As it’s biological weapon, would the harm be confined to the Borg?
• They encounter a Vidiian scholar desperate to give them a recording of their pre-Phage accomplishments in art and culture for preservation. The current government is destroying their ancient works because they are a distraction and not indicative of who they are now, the way authoritarians often re-write their own history.
• Tuvok mind-melds with a Vidiian and becomes a psychopath… and the Vidiian realizes that killing many for the survival of one is illogical.
• They encounter Vidiian religious zealots that are convinced alpha-quadrant organs are a magical cure and are particularly ferocious. How do you convince irrational people to see reason? Can you?
• Go classic Trek and have a godlike alien (Q?) pit them against each other in a battle of survival: moral vs amoral.

I would have loved to have seen these and other stories play out. Various incarnations of Star Trek are still being made. Maybe there’s still a chance? The Phage started 2000 years ago in Voyager time … and Strange New Worlds is only 120 years earlier than Voyager? Maybe they encounter a rogue Vidiian colony? Hey Paramount, call me!