What Were These in Enterprise Silent Enemy?

These aliens appeared once on screen but echoes of them have turned up in apocrypha as well as Star Trek Picard. They are known as Elachi and are a species of sentient mushroom people. Yes.

00:00 Introduction
00:27 Encounter
01:56 Apocrypha
04:10 Star Trek Online
07:38 Canon?
09:28 Conclusion

Star Trek Online developed by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World.
Star Trek Picard/Strange New Worlds/Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation are all owned by Paramount Pictures/CBS and distributed by CBS.
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[Gangerworld]

I really love the terror episodes of Star Trek. 90% of the time Star Trek is like "Aliens are just like us we just need to get to know them" and that's true, and it's a good lesson to have and keep in mind.

But sometimes, rarely, aliens are ... *alien*, unknowable and more importantly and terrifyingly - hostile. And when it happens all you can do is try to survive the encounter and then that quote from Q to Picard comes to mind.

*"It's (space) not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and but it's not for the timid."*

[vitisku]

Man Enterprise was such an underrated show. It’s cancellation just as it had found its identity was a travesty. Especially considering where it was going. Would’ve loved to see the actual official formation and ratification of the Federation and the events leading up to it.

[Restilia_ch]

Silent Enemy is one of my favorite Enterprise episodes. The realization they are completely outgunned, the race to get not just one but all three phase cannons online, the deliberate overload to punch through the Elachi shields, it all makes the tech nerd in me squeal in joy.

[borderlandsglitches]

I remember watching this episode on release and appreciating the fact that the aliens weren't just humans in makeup.

[tba]

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but the Elachi are even more horrifying than the Borg. At least with Borg conversion, the nanoprobes can be deactivated and the cybernetics removed. You'll still have a nightmarish case of PTSD to work through, but recovery and rehab are entirely possible.

With the Elachi, though, there's no coming back from that Innsmouth-style horror. Having the memories of who you were and what was taken from you return seems like a fate worse than death.

[archades]

What is so horrifying about these xenos is that they resemble real-world stories of ETs and UFOs. This episode actually scared me.

[mr.flibble]

Sentient athlete's foot...just what the galaxy needs.

[markusdanielsson]

I'd say that the Elachi resembles the illithid or Mindflayers of DnD. At least the kidnapping and and tranforming victims into more of their own part.

[JayStrang]

1:08

Now THAT is some well integrated CGI! Enterprise was a little too ambitious with their effects sometimes.

[kevinwestrom]

The Elachi were essentially an organic form of the Borg, taking in a host & infecting it, until the host was transformed enough to fully become one of its own.. A fascinating concept, ..

[jaysgamingcorner]

I love Enterprise so it makes me smile to see these aliens get some love. That episode from season one, imo, is very underrated.

[nonamegiven]

yeah, i'll always been a fan of "alien" aliens. Since sci-fi is built on metaphor, costume design is built on humans, and just the need of having characters being relatable for a good storytelling, Aliens tend to just be human so it's so rare to really explore something like the Elachi or even the 10-C from last season of Disco (and even there we didn't get to actually explore them beyond the communication stuff)

[thatstuffguy]

Hearing more about Enterprise and its adventures just makes me smile. It is my favorite star trek after all

[Werezilla]

That Elachi with a phaser is certainly taking his time adjusting its settings.

[TakoyakiStore]

I had completely forgotten about this but I love episodes like this. Reminded me of when TOS encountered the Gorn.

[XanderKHD]

When I first saw that episode when I was a preteen, these aliens scared the crap out of me that I had nightmares afterwards. Especially the way their eye stalks just moved and

[Perplexum]

The aliens in Rise of the Federation were not about ignoring technology, they failed to recognize humanoids as feeling beings, because they were telepaths but only could read themselves. Technology was not a criterion for them to give rights to a being. To them, the ability of humans to build a spaceship was like the ability of ants to build an anthill.

[Numba]

The idea of sentient fungal life is a nifty one in sci-fi. The idea of them abducting and basically replacing people is terrifying though lol. Sometimes Trek manages to do suspense surprisingly well. Thank you for this spooky episode.
God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[Bludvarg]

Man, I don't remember these aliens at all, and I watched through all of pre-Kurtzman Star Trek not too very long ago. I guess that's the fate of these one-off aliens of the week, to be easily forgotten.

[Tallacus]

I wasn't a big Enterprise fan but the episode these guys were in was one of my favorites, they were a genuine powerful threat, never before seen, the battle between their ship and the NX01 was like that of the first UNSC ships battling the Covenant to find out their enemy had the energy shielding and were impervious to most of your weapons.