When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered in 2022, it quickly established a pattern: each episode was a standalone adventure spotlighting a different member of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew. But the series broke its own mold with the episode "Memento Mori", which didn't just feature the return of one of the franchise's oldest alien species—it fundamentally reinvented them. The Gorn, once a rubber-suited dinosaur man from the 1960s, became a full-blown nightmare, and this episode laid the terrifying groundwork for their evolution into one of modern Star Trek's most successful legacy alien revamps.
A Horror Movie in Space
"Memento Mori" follows security chief La'an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong) as she helps colonists evacuate after their home is attacked. She quickly recognizes the signs of a Gorn assault, and soon a trio of Gorn warships cripples the Enterprise. What makes the episode so effective is that the Gorn themselves never physically appear—only their predatory ships are shown, stalking the Enterprise like hunters waiting for the kill. According to La'an, no one who has ever seen a Gorn has lived to tell the tale, except for her. The episode reveals the Gorn's gruesome methods: victims are either eaten or used for breeding, making them far more sinister than the Klingons or Romulans.
La'an's Trauma Adds Depth
The horror-first approach is amplified by La'an's personal trauma. As the sole survivor of a Gorn attack on her colony ship, she carries deep emotional scars. When Spock (Ethan Peck) mind-melds with her to learn how the Gorn communicate, the audience witnesses the bloody aftermath of their violence. This episode also continues La'an's character arc from the previous episode, "Ghosts of Illyria," where she was revealed to be a descendant of the tyrant Khan Noonien Singh. In "Memento Mori," she confronts her fears and tries to maintain hope for the Enterprise's survival, even as the odds stack against them.
Reinventing a Classic Species
Writers Davy Perez and Beau DeMayo, along with director Dan Liu, stage "Memento Mori" as a mini-horror movie. The Enterprise crew must resort to desperate measures—like flying into the orbit of a black hole—to stay ahead of the Gorn. The ship itself becomes the "final girl" in a horror film, doing whatever it takes to survive. This episode proved that there's still room to reinvent one of Star Trek's most recognizable alien species. Rather than just updating the Gorn's appearance, Strange New Worlds transformed them into a terrifying recurring threat, a legacy that extends far beyond a single episode. For fans of survival horror, this episode echoes the tension of games like Alien: Isolation, which similarly thrives on unseen dread.
The Gorn's Lasting Impact
Looking back, "Memento Mori" set the stage for the Gorn's expanded mythology in later seasons. By focusing on psychological horror and La'an's trauma, the episode made the Gorn feel more menacing than ever before. It's a masterclass in how to update a classic alien species for a modern audience, proving that sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones you never see. For those who love classic sci-fi horror, this episode is a must-watch, much like the timeless terror found in the best horror movies of 1999.
