PAKLED: Cultural Index

They look for things.
Things to make them go.
I did a video about them.
This is the Cultural Index a series aimed at exploring various Science-Fiction species.
For outsiders to a series to get to know the basics and maybe even hardened Sci-fi nuts might discover something new.
Thanks for watching!
How to VOTE on what happens next:
Over on the Community tab there will be a voting option for one of the two species next up on the Index!
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Star Trek, Star Trek Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery/Lower Decks/Picard and The Next Generation are all owned and distributed by CBS.
Star Trek Films are owned and distributed by Paramount Pictures
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[@JasonCliftJones]

"Wait, the Borg assimilated a Pakled vessel?" ...and yet the Borg won't touch the Kazon. Says a lot.

[@attila535]

The borg did assimilate at least one kazon ship, otherwise they wouldn't have a numerical designation. They probably assimilated those pakled just to catalogue them.

[@Zoloft77]

They almost remind me of the aliens in Galaxy Quest but more sinister.

[@Anthyrion]

@@attila535 Maybe the natural toughness of the Pakled makes them good tactical drones? Or the Borg discovered something, what the Enterprise crew couldn't because their chief engineer was in dangers

[@mb2000]

@@attila535 The Borg never assimilated a member of Species 8472 but they got a numerical designation.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

We search for things to make us go. Also, we wash our hair once in a while.

[@NoJusticeNoPeace]

That's how Canada was named. Seriously. "What is the name of this place?" _"Canada."_ "This place is Canada?" _"Yes."_ Canada means "the village." The First Nations natives had told the Europeans the thing they were pointing at was their village.

[@antonycharnock2993]

So Canadians are "The Village People"? 😂

[@newcarpathia9422]

@@antonycharnock2993 That would explain my compulsion to do the YMCA all the time.

[@CSGraves]

'Kanaaaata' 'I could have sworn it meant _the houses_, _the village...'_ 'No, no, NO... it is the country and Can-na-DUH is its name!'

[@ryancoulter4797]

Ah gotta love that our knowledge of Canada is based on this-moment-in-history Heritage Minutes. Like all we know of the Springhill Mine Disaster, and that’s what it was called because no one mentions it in the ad, was that the survivors sang and drank there own pee.

[@christopherwall2121]

That's how the Kangaroo got its name, too

[@spiritofthewolf15x]

THe Borg have assimilated a number of Pak'leds... This is why they progressively get dumber and become less of a threat during Voyager.

[@joimumu]

Lol I love that theory :)

[@kobayashibrynhild9622]

Makes sense.

[@karimsonsafehold9233]

haha

[@michaelzaiser8088]

Best. Star Trak. Theory. Ever.

[@kinagrill]

We are borg, we take your things. make us go fast, your stuff make us strong.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

I like Rick. He is smart, his videos make me know things.

[@michaeldecuffa8762]

He makes us go

[@laughingman3777]

I like turtles

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

@@laughingman3777 turtles are also smart. But they don't make as many videos.

[@Rognik]

Is Rick an Enterprise?

[@russellarcher5181]

oooh, you are good negotiator

[@mb2000]

“We look for things. Things to make us go” Worf: “Prune juice, chilled”

[@johnw2026]

A warriors drink. 🍷

[@russellarcher5181]

"make it a double,"

[@InternetTAB]

wasn't he raised on earth? Prune juice never came up

[@mb2000]

@@InternetTAB Yeh he was (mostly, the Rozhenkos lived on the farming colony world of Gault for a time) but it took an El-Aurian to introduce it to him!

[@johnw2026]

@@mb2000 maybe they couldn't grow prunes on Gault.

[@nelsoncabrera6464]

Alien: "So, what planet are you from?" Me: "Hummus"

[@antonycharnock2993]

I am a Taram from Taramasalata. I bring you many dips.

[@citizenkane9680]

I thought, that there is in fact this "Earthlings" word in English language!

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

No, "Humus". It's the word for dark fertile soil. Absolutely a coincidence, but it fits surprisingly well.

[@nelsoncabrera6464]

@@SKy_the_Thunder I was originally going to use humus but thought the word's obscurity would mean most people would have assumed I had meant to write "hummus". You're absolutely right though, if you know its meaning, "humus" is a much more hilarious choice. Edit: Planet Humus in the Loam system.

[@kinagrill]

"I am from the planet Annelid Feces. we also call it oxygenated & hydrated Soil.

[@Sirax123]

Vegeta is in danger! The planet, the prince, or me? Yes.

[@anthonyramirez9925]

(Kills him) smartass

[@danielgrafton93]

TFS for the win

[@meowistforlife]

Freaken Smartass

[@Rygoat]

I feel like a crew comprised of Pakled and Ferrengi would actually be pretty functional and worrying to deal with.

[@WhysoSeriousSamual]

Oh yes, that would be quite a threat. Imagine a crew that would just keep building bigger, and being able to understant all the technology they had. Able to buy any new material to hold the ship together, while selling warp cores like candy.

[@jordanloux3883]

They'd be pirates to rival the Orion

[@AlvoriaGPM]

I've always seen the Pakled as being "mental elephants" - minds that have a lot of power but not a lot of speed most of the time. Mix this with an emotional imperative that pushes them towards instant gratification, as stated in their introductory episode, and you get a people that just don't usually take the time to do in-depth learning despite having the capability to do so. The ones that subvert this are either more mentally spry, or else just more patient. That's my read on them, anyway.

[@YourIdeologyIsDelusional]

It might not even be that they lack speed. My thinking is that they have low social and verbal IQ, so they _appear_ to be slow, but are very quick witted and very capable when it comes to rational problem solving... So they can look over complicated systems and figure out how to jury rig them together in a matter of seconds, but in addition to lacking patience, they lack the ability to effectively communicate their discoveries, so they can't effectively pass information on.

[@wilmagregg3131]

@@YourIdeologyIsDelusional so like the neanderthals? its belived that was there issue as well they were belived to be just as smart and sapient as humans but there social skills and communication ablitys were less devloped making them far less likely share experinces techniques methods and ideas with each other such as using fire crafting non natural tools etc etc.

[@augustday9483]

Idiot savants.

[@senatuspopulusqueromanus2082]

Elephants are far from slow thinkers dude.

[@marshallhuffer4713]

Lower Decks confirmed that their world is actually called "Pakled Planet." We also find out Pakleds can survive in the vacuum of space in the off chance they stumble into an airlock thinking it's a bathroom and spacing themselves by accident.

[@TelikiMouse]

Not gonna lie I laughed my butt off when I saw that scene XD

[@joda7697]

So what you're saying is they took their points from WIS and CHR and put them into CON and INT?

[@housewilma4904]

they really are star treks 40k orks.

[@mj91212]

The other thing to factor in here, is that in addition to different degrees of intelligence, different forms of intelligence also exist. The Pakleds might very well be intrinsically tech-savvy, but socially inept, and prone to laziness. There are neuro-divergent people in real life who have an incredible aptitude for computer programming and mechanical engineering, but who would struggle to hold even a brief conversation with another person.

[@ThommyofThenn]

Excellent take. Maybe the Pakleds could return with some more backstory about their culture. It could be used as a way to include more neurodivergent people in Star Trek.

[@_NIKOS9_NIKOS]

I always felt that the Pakleds were kinda like the Vorcha from Mass Effect. They are not stupid but verbal communication is not exactly natural to them so when they try to speak they come across as rather dumb

[@planescaped]

I can only imagine the alternative Samaritan Snare episode that is as lauded as Darmok. Where Geordi breaks the language barrier with a people the universal translator doesn't work on, who are dismissed and mistreated by people for superficial reasons he can overlook. And Picard who has to protect a borderline brain damaged captain of another ship as he bumblefucks them around with the best intentions. Sounds like good fanfiction What if material. XD

[@cristian-ionutapostol8018]

I don't that's the reason. I think their own language is far more evolved than English. IRL ancient languages were far more complex than modern ones. In fact, it is a trend for languages to become simpler over time. English itself is a very simplified language when compared to its contemporaries, and all modern Romance languages are far simpler than ancient Latin. So it's quite possible the Pakled language lost most of its complexities and became very to the point.

[@arthas640]

@@planescaped i hate the universal translator. It only works half the time, seems to have no issues with vocabulary and sentence structure half the time, and it doesnt work on Klingon or other languages when people want to sprinkle some alien words in. Like one time Troi was talking to Picard and she randomly uses a Betazed word for something an asks Picard what she meant, yet the translator has no problems the rest of the time translating what other Betazoids say.

[@arthas640]

@@cristian-ionutapostol8018 Yeah, our languages have if anything simplified recently. Some ancient languages even had separate versions of the same language or even separate whole languages just for royals (i remember even hearing about a separate language that was only spoken in some imperial capital in Japan or China). Even "barbarians" like the vikings had extremely poetic terms for simple things sometimes using phrases like "muninn's feasting table" (muninn being Odin's pet Raven) for a battlefield and some languages had the same word for "red", "yellow", and "orange" and expected you to pick up the meaning on context. Numbers get extra cofusing since they may say "12 times a dozen" without telling you if they mean 12 or 13 (a bakers dozen) and Romans even measured numbers in "Legions" even though the number in a legion changed over time and they didnt always explicitly say if they included the men _attached_ of a legion which made up roughly 20% of each legion. Some languages also wouldnt say "1000" but may say "10 times 100" or instead of saying "99" they may say "1 minus 100" similar to how roman numerals are written out.

[@ptonpc]

Perhaps the smarter Pakleds stay at home and send the less intelligent ones out to space as a form of cannon fodder.

[@bitterliquid2640]

Is that not classical Atlantis?

[@thesinfultictac5704]

Like Person's Puppeteers

[@nobodyimportant2470]

This would be the smart way to do it. Also a much more logical way for the Borg to function. Send out cannon fodder to bring home samples to improve your own base tech which then leads to upgrades for the cannon fodder so they can bring home better finds.

[@tombruner9634]

Or maybe something like the crew of Ark 2 in Hitchhiker's Guide.

[@oneproudbrowncoat]

The paradox of Pakleds bolting everything together is simply solved. We just don't see the failures, because they don't survive. Thus, the Pakleds *don't* understand warp theory: there's just some who are lucky enough to use warp technology without it vaporizing them.

[@kshadehyaena]

Here's some omega canon for you: In 2370, the Federation signed various trade contracts with the the Pakled government in order to improve diplomatic relations. One of them included the construction of 20 light scout ships, a class largely superseded by the Danube-class runabout but still in use by civilian researchers and couriers. Deadlines sailed by without any communication from the shipyard or government officials, until the Federation finally demanded an explanation. What they got back was surprising: Apparently the Pakled engineers were unable to "make big chairs". An inspection of the shipyard revealed 20 finished, but comically oversized rear sections and one massive, partially constructed cockpit. Someone had messed up the conversion of centimeters into "shlurp", by a factor of 17. Starfleet was tasked with using these somehow in order not to endanger the diplomatic progress made, resulting in what we know as the Yeager-type star ship. The cockpit now resides at Utopia Planitia as a reminder to measure twice, build once.

[@jimskywaker4345]

that is the best explanation for that class ever

[@michaelgreenwood3413]

@@jimskywaker4345 Though honestly the logical one is just the sheer amount of ship loss in the dominion war and kitbashing spare parts they had into a ship class.

[@SurprisinglyDeep]

That's a cool, well written short story

[@Headhunter1234256]

My best guess is Pakled don't naturally communicate like us, with vocal words. So it takes them time to figure out what we are saying, to say something back and it's very simple to make it easy.

[@lucidmoses]

I thought there primary form of communication could be some kind of biological radio. There audio systems more akin to our hand gestures. Crude but useful in a pinch.

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Or just translators have trouble with their language(s) simplifying things to make both sides seem dumb to the other.

[@DeaconBlues117]

That was one of the better headcanons in STO fanfic; one author even made a Foundry mission about that (you had to figure out the rudiments of their gestural language to solve their issue).

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

Yes, the communicate by farts and burps; the smells tell you more than words could ever say.

[@2bituser569]

With all the tech they steal you think they would have universal translators.

[@chryssmetzler2098]

"MAKE SHIP GO FAST". Shoots geordie few time in the abdomen on stun with his phaser.

[@arthas640]

Picard if he stopped giving a shit.

[@bobjoebo8933]

Wait are you talking about Picard or the Pakleds? Both would do that

[@GUMMRUCHK]

Their ships kinda remind me of Warhammer 40,000 Orks just cobbling together ships from other species.

[@Underworlddream]

They sort of push that aspect way up in Lowerdeck. Also introduce in the Lowedeck apparently Pakled are physical strong and perfered to fighting in melee with gaint two handed axe.

[@jacksonbowns1087]

I was actually thinking the same thing. On top of that, we can say that they look and sound dumb or mentally deficient, but they have a brutal cunning (or cunnin' for the Orkish term) that allows them to outsmart more "intelligent" opponents. It may even be possible that the Pakled have some kind of subconcious understanding of tech they come across that lets them use and integrate it, but leaves them unable to conciously repair it, but that's 100% speculation on my part.

[@mreboric8406]

I don't think they are as technical or advanced. All ork tech should not work really. They have that weird psychic whaaaaa thing just makes thier stuff work. Thier space ships don't even have windows or sealing most of the time. They just live because they literally think its fine so it is. Red paint literally makes the ship go faster because they believe it does.

[@Generalscorpio]

@@mreboric8406 There's a sort of logic to some Ork vehicles. In the Space Marines Battles Novel "Siege of Castellax" a group of Iron Warriors manage to steal an Ork aircraft, one of them works out how to fly it by eating the brain of the Ork pilot, so it sort of works without the psyker power of the Orks.

[@Jesus_Offical]

Make Ship Go Waaaaaaah

[@markfergerson2145]

I remember when I saw that episode the first time I immediately said "I wouldn't trust those fuckers as far as I could throw one of them" and my wife was like "Why, they seem so harmless?". After it ended my wife asked "How did you know?" I answered "If they're that dumb, how did they get off their planet? They had to have captured and enslaved the first offworlder to visit them the same as they tried to do to Geordie, stole their ship and went looking for more." Sometimes I hate being right.

[@trajan74]

"It irritates me when the race is the same as the planet." This is where South Park got the Mark'lars isn't it? "Welcome to Mark'lar. I am Mark'lar."

[@rwdplz1]

No, they were based on 'The Smurfs'

[@kyvilfongkot6372]

So terrans

[@benjo_5]

What races aren't the same as their planet? The only ones I can think of are humans from Earth, Klingons from Qo'noS and the Founders of the Dominion (I exclude Vorta and Jem'Hadar because they are both "engineered" species")

[@lorencproductions]

​ @Benjamin Blom I’m not sure if they count, but I doubt the Borg’s homeward is called “Borg,” if they even have one. And this one’s more of a technicality, but the Vulcans’ & Romulans’ home world is renamed to be Ni’Var by the 31st century, Other than that, the only ones I could find in a cursory search include the Horta of Janus VI, the Kelpiens (and Ba’ul) of Kaminar, and the Voth, also of Earth. That being said, yeah, the vast majority seem to have the same Race-Planet-System name. Still, you'll find many species calling humans "Terrans" from the planet Terra, so it's not like that nomenclature is without precedent.

[@joshuastarkloff9602]

I know right? Those damn Terrans being named after Terra. SMH

[@jordanreed3675]

I do love how lower decks made them intimidating and a threat

[@hillbillypowpow]

It's a Dan Harmon show so that makes sense. I could see him viewing organized stupidity as a massive threat to the Federation.

[@foxxojones4757]

I once heard a quote, I don't exactly know what it was, but I know it said something to the effect of "I do not fear evil, you can anticipate what evil can do, evil can be reasoned with, what I do fear is stupidity, because stupidity cannot be predicted, you never know what a stupid person might unwittingly do."

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

@@hillbillypowpow not a Dan Harmon show, but Mike McMahan worked on Rick and Mo-_belches_-orty and LDS has an understandably similar vibe, so I can see why you thought that. Live long and prosper, my Trekkie homie! 🖖💜

[@aloneinthedark99]

That show is a disgrace

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

@@aloneinthedark99 why, because a black lady is in command? Nobody cares about your "KKK Trek" fantasy bro 😂

[@lucidhominid2190]

My take: Pakleds are like idiot savants. They are actually incredibly intelligent in many ways but are somewhat impaired socially. The fact that they do not develop their own technology is merely the result of not having gotten to that point culturally before being introduced to advanced tech. They don't bother learning how to it works in depth because its simply not a part of their culture to do so. However, it is likely that they do bring things back for study to their homeworld.

[@kingssman2]

I may not know Java, but I know the general concept. It's enough for me to scavenge Github for snippits of things to piece together. In a way, I'm a programmer Pakled.

[@baabaaer]

I can say I am programmer Pakled too, but for C# & Unity and C++ & UE.

[@augustday9483]

"We search for things. Things that make us compile."

[@kaitlyn__L]

In response to the intro joke: The Kazon have a number too! But they’re marked “do not assimilate”. Guess the Pakled are similar.

[@arthas640]

makes sense, the Kazon scavenge tech so they have nothing to offer the Borg and they're so fractured and well armed it would take a ton of effort to chase down and assimilate them. The Borg either assimilate as a form of "scouting out potential species and research or they assimilate whole planets.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@arthas640 indeed!

[@scittw22]

They dumped all their attribute points into Technical Ability instead of Intelligence and Cool

[@JeanLucCaptain]

mekboyz

[@douglasallar9176]

@@JeanLucCaptain literally Mekboyz

[@Zakvadr1995]

By the God Emperor…

[@donovanulrich348]

Str: 17 Dex: 15 Con:18 Int: 8 Wisdom:18 +30 to transport systems rolls XD Cant nat 1 fail, only fail a check if they dont beat the save

[@tyrant-den884]

When use perks and skills: Pakleds don't need SPECIAL.

[@MuscleboySV]

"Wait, the Borg assimilated a Pakled vessel?" Well, given the Pakleds' propensity for, essentially, gluing other technologies onto their ships, the Borg probably see this as an easy assimilation.

[@DarthMetool]

You just don't understand how much help we had to give these guys. They keep duct taping each other to walls and conduits. Complete madness at times.

[@ThatOneRandomSteve]

To be fair, that Pakleds have been shown to be able to at least *survive* the vaccum of space for a good chunk of time (Lower Decks: s02e06), which most other species can't really claim to do and would make them at least interesting to the Borg. Also, there is something kind of interesting about being the stupidest species in the universe.

[@Underworlddream]

In one of the old novel it said that they Borg only Assimilated Pakled when they need big bodies, for example when they are expected to go to war. Other then that they ignore them sense they have no useful purpose to them

[@johnadger6699]

The Pakled face, if that doesn't scream "I need help!" then I don't know what does.

[@Generalscorpio]

There may be some brains among them but you've got to consider the number of modern humans who own a car but couldn't explain how it works, even more so with mobile phones. When it comes to technology you can have species-wide distribution while having a limited core of understanding, it may be for some species in Star Trek that this is the case for warp drive and space technology. One person came up with it and then sat a bunch of Pakled in a room with a bunch of simple diagrams.

[@hydra7427]

I think you said it yourself. They’re a species/culture that wants instant gratification with minimal effort on their part. Piracy and salvage makes perfect sense.

[@empressultima9410]

I imagine this species had been able to reach the Machine Age or Atomic Age when they were approached by an unknown species that gave them essentially; everything they needed to reach the Space Age. But, it came at the cost of the Pakled's becoming entirely or mostly dependent on automatic functions onboard their vessels. As put, they seem to know how to run things and force systems to couple together - but they don't understand how to create these things from scratch themselves. You can easily create something new if you hodgepodge enough ideas from other people together.

[@reifuTD]

I hope to see the Pakled become a main antagonist species in Lower Decks next season, an overlooks and dangerous alien species seems perfect for them. Pakled show why the prime directive should be a thing and the next they should show up it's because they where messing with advanced unknown technology and something went wrong.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Omega makes big boom. Bog boom makes ship fast!

[@jimskywaker4345]

@@HappyBeezerStudios oh no ooohhh noooo

[@toddstaples7019]

We tested boom boom on asteroid it stopped working we need another boom boom ha ha .

[@Tigerkaya]

@@toddstaples7019 ITS A BOMB! YOU CAN ONLY USE IT ONCE! Ugh, transport viruvian bomb to the Pakled ship.

[@toddstaples7019]

@@Tigerkaya red alarm red alarm red alarm

[@xehilo]

The Borg don't need to have assimilated a species to give it a designation.

[@richmcgee434]

As Species 8472 clearly demonstrates.

[@TheRaptor1967]

@@richmcgee434 was about to say the same thing.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

If we take the number for the Pakleds as canon, then the Ferengi were one of the earliest contacts even before the Talaxians or Kazon. I wonder which merchant in the early 6th century decided to just fly to the other end of the galaxy in search for riches.

[@arthas640]

@@HappyBeezerStudios im actually surprised more Ferengi arent explorers. Capitalism has its faults but most colonists and explorers during the age of exploration were doing it for trade, not for a sense of adventure. Even today, while plenty of reaserch into space was done by governments alot of the follow through to innovate space mining and colonization is being done by private enterprises for commercial reasons. Arguably the Ferengi's obsession with opening up new markets, new trade routes, and getting more goods to buy or sell seems like it would drive them to spread across the galaxy. Humans do it for scientific curiosity and to establish diplomatic (but not trade) relations and the Prime Directive limits both their motivation and their ability to explore, so arguably the Ferengi have more reason to explore.

[@a.morphous66]

@@arthas640 The Ferengi apparently got around, so to speak, quite a bit before the Federation contacted them.

[@spacetechempire510]

I’m guessing the borg assimilate at least one vessel of each new encounters species. But after they assimilated the Pakled they just went collectively “NOPE”

[@bryan314]

I always assumed that Pakled were extremely long lived. They have sufficient reflexes to survive in real time, but it can take them a while to process things. Imagine an immortal Einstein who processes everything on an intellectual level at 1/100000th normal speed. In real time he's an idiot, but over the long haul he eventually gets the right answer, but since he's got an infinite lifespan, what's a decade or two among friends?

[@oneproudbrowncoat]

Most species evolved into apex predators, so just imagine the ecosystem of the Pakled homeworld. The Pakleds: great and mighty hunters of... mushrooms. Think of the ancient heroic epics they retell.

[@Moonbeam143]

The name Derf made me laugh. It's really great.

[@antwan1357]

I actually think a good story between the Ferengi , and the Pakled would go a long way. Both species do not develop new technology , both species bargain for acquisition , both take when at an advantage. Both are known for taking people that they consider valuable. I can actually imagine a Ferengi being taken captive by Pakled , and bargaining his way out with a warp drive. Thus the first Ferengi with warp drive comes home to Ferenginar

[@housewilma4904]

honestly the feringi would probably turn the pakleds into there muscle there love of instant gratification would make them the perfect mercenairies bar bouncers debt collecters etc etc.

[@jordanloux3883]

@@housewilma4904 I can see a Ferengi owning a vehicle/starship chop shop completely staffed with Pakleds. The Pakleds know how to find the valuable pieces of tech, and a Ferengi knows how to sell it.

[@maxwell_edison]

These guys really are Patrick Star: The Species

[@SchneeflockeMonsoon]

I am a Terran! I am from Terra. Also, I just realized that you’re right. That’s a genius tie in that they would have leapfrogged during the slag-heavy era of the Dominion war.

[@casbot71]

*Alien:* So you're *Terrans* from the Planet *Terra* ? Like in _Terror?_ … sounds ominous. [If it's the Terran Empire then it is very ominous]. *Human…/ Terran:* No _Terra_ as in _Terra firma,_ it means solid land. *Alien:* You named your planet _Rock_ and your species _From Rock?_ [muttering under breath] (we've got another Pakled situation here).

[@nobodyimportant2470]

Terrans coming from terror would make since when you consider we come from a death world where shit keeps wiping out the advanced life and forcing evolution to start over.

[@KM-dk5gn]

I think the Pakleds are the ones writing the scripts for Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Picard, it would explain a lot just sayin'

[@arthas640]

I was really interested in those series until i saw the redesign of the Klingons. The Klingons that fought Kirk looked better.

[@mrandmrsduquette1904]

Here's a thought: We've only ever seen males of the species, as far as I know. Where are the females? Could they be the smart ones, staying out of the public eye, learning about their salvage and passing it on?

[@Grizabeebles]

It could also be that the Pakled have only one sex or reproduce like Tribbles. My head-cannon is that the Pakled ARE just a different instar of the Tribble life cycle. If a Tribble goes long enough without reproducing, it will grow in size and eventually metamorphose into a Pakled. Pakled mental "impairment" could simply be a form of frontotemporal dementia - once its brain "gets full", a Pakled loses all interest in learning new skills and novel problems become extremely frustrating.

[@originalkabumm4706]

Maybe female and male looks nearly the same. Therefore we saw females but didn't knew that they were female.

[@nagash303]

@@Grizabeebles one gender got me thinking! they could reproduce like plant offshots.

[@Grizabeebles]

@@nagash303 -- That's a neat idea! I'm partial to eggs myself. Because that's what the Moclans in the Orville do. And the Moclan are probably a pastiche of the Pakled.

[@HufflepuffDaddy]

Or maybe the females kicked these guys off their planet and now they drift through space relying on their wits, or lack of?

[@AndrewJamesWilliams]

The Pakled are imitative not innovative when it comes to their technology. They're smart enough to figure out how to use a piece of technology and how to mix it with other bits of radically different technology, but because they're not innovators in the way humans and most other species are they cannot recreate or repair it when it inevitably breaks down on them. I suspect that the Pakled's have become a spacefaring race long before they were intellectually evolved enough possibly a vessel crashed on their homeworld and they salvaged it jumping into space before they were truly ready for it. Also the next index should be the Geth as they're far more interesting than the Tusken Raiders.

[@vurrunna]

I think that's a good way of describing it. It's like, if they found a generator, they could figure out how to use it to power things, but they don't understand how the generator works on the inside, meaning they can't fix it if it breaks. So they can jury-rig tech from Klingon, Romulan, and Federation vessels to do the job they were originally meant to do (shoot big gun, cloak general region, make ship go, etc.), but don't bother making the tech work in tandem or efficiently, since they can just get a new one if it breaks.

[@sithlordjeffbledsoe651]

We are pakled. Our ship is broken It won’t go We are pakled

[@allenharper2928]

Our ship is the Mondor.

[@drnerd]

Ha, love the one word answer conversation at 1:23, that's litteraly how I speak when I get to work on a Monday morning! "had a good weekend Dan, get your car fixed, did you do your shopping?" - "Yes" 😂

[@Noms_Chompsky]

If you take Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory into account the Pakled may very well be quite sophisticated in mathematics and engineering while still exhibit difficulty and challenges with interpersonal, intrapersonal and verbal linguistic skills.

[@DoctorX17]

Considering the fact that they kidnapped Geordi, I'd imagine they might have also kidnapped other engineers at times to help them put things together. And the smartest of them might be Star Fleet engineering cadet-level technicians... Enough to make things go _fast_

[@pdallen8355]

In the episode of TNG it states they have camps full of captured smart slaves.

[@Karagianis]

I think the entire Pakled species might be some form of Savants. They have an extreme level of mental specialisation meaning that they're skilled in one or two areas while simultaneously nearly totally inept at most others. This expains the dichotomy of their seeming bumbling stupidity and Macguyver level skill at integrating multiple borderling incompatable systems together and have the resultant frankenstein ship actually function.

[@baabaaer]

They must have a somewhat secret language that they could use to communicate which goes where for what, but they make sure never to show it to other species so they could keep looking stupid.

[@patrickauger2143]

They ARE a treat!Don't forget about the crimson force field guys!

[@Awestefeld6612]

LOL!

[@serpentfox9107]

Honestly they are one of my favorite Trek aliens. I really like their premise and find them a very original.

[@arthas640]

mine were the Ferengi, but i feel like they were neutered to try and make the socialist utopia of the Federation seem more morally superior, since Roddenberry was always pushing some political viewpoint or another. I feel like a society built on free enterprise and vicious capitalism would have a vast trading empire spanning the galaxy and I'd love to see that, it seems like they'd end up being like "The British East India Company, in space!"

[@KhaosAdmiral]

Mine would either be the Vorta for being insufferably smug assholes that are cloned every time they die, or the Breen for being genuinely ruthless and terrifying aliens that are feared by many races including the Romulans and the Cardassians.

[@gmm7852]

"Pakled." "Is that the name of your people, your culture, or your planet." "Yes" I died laughing at that part.

[@himynameisben95]

It makes sense for the human-centric Federation to refer to those from Vulcan as "Vulcans", since they are the only sentient race from that planet that they know of, and if aliens came down from Mars today we would definitely call them Martians. What doesn't make so much sense is them referring to themselves the same way we refer to them, but that can be chalked down to the universal translator. In Star Wars I think they refer to "The Naboo" meaning the humans on Naboo, and the Gungans, probably because contact was established with the humans on the surface first and the name had stuck by then.

[@ashurablaze7545]

1:17 - *blasts Pakled* Friggin' smartass

[@maximillianfex6261]

My son, the planet, or me?

[@kobayashibrynhild9622]

@@maximillianfex6261 Yes.

[@jacobsheehan9715]

Tfs for the win

[@Janoha17]

Imagine how powerful the Pakleds would be in the aftermath of the Iconian War.

[@redbyrd64]

The warp field carrying debris makes sense since it allows them to scoop up tech that they can go through later in case their holds are full

[@TheEpicGnome]

Not only that, but given the…rugged design of their ships, the debris field may not prove as dangerous to them as it may to other, more minimalist vessels. In that case, it may provide a kind of defensive benefit, either by directly blocking fire, interfering with identification/targeting, or obscuring the ship’s outline or features. There are animals on earth that like to use materials from their previous meals or from other creatures as armor. The large warp bubble may be used similarly.

[@hydrochloricacid2146]

I'm impressed as to how much Lower Decks actually seems to care about cannon and detail...

[@DiceBard]

Good parody is made by those with a deep understanding of what they're paroding. That's also why you'll often see a parody or two considered to be on of the best examples of the genre/tropes they're poking fun at.

[@wessmoore7894]

@@DiceBard Cases to consider: Princess Bride and Galaxy Quest.

[@mikebell2112]

Somewhere in there, they interacted with Data's brother Lore.

[@rachelpalumbo844]

A Cultural Index on Voyager's Vidians would be fascinating!

[@MedalionDS9]

I unironically like the Pakleds... they are Jar Jar like species incarnate...

[@Marinealver]

Mesa look for Bombad thins that make Mesa Go!

[@andrewtaylor940]

"is driven by a desire for instant gratification and the need to accumulate powerful better gear" OMG! Suddenly it all makes sense! Pakled's are MMO Players! "This is the Mondor we seek D.O.M.I.N.O.!"

[@boobah5643]

I can't help but think that, to a large degree, John Crichton from _Farscape_ comes across as this to most of the aliens that encounter him.

[@leftygurl]

i really like how lower decks did the pakleds, they’re dangerous enough to be a threat but goofy enough to fit the comedic nature of the show. plus, revisiting minor species isn’t something star trek does often, it was neat to see how they developed since tng.

[@seekertwo1]

"Slow Borg".....best description ever. If there is any ST/SW crossover that needs to happen, it should be a crew of Pakled discovering a World Devastator or Star Forge.....

[@TheNightmareMan]

I recently started re watching DS9 and I noticed a few Pacled in the background coming thru an airlock in one of the season 3 episodes

[@benjo_5]

They are in a lot of DS9 episodes... and referenced by name with several trade deals

[@circuitsandcigars1278]

The Pakled are the equivalent of giving a 6 year old a phaser

[@Jesus_Offical]

The Pakleds are MMO Players

[@carminemurray6624]

Or today giving a 8 year old a Ruger .22/45 not a good idea.

[@demo3456]

I'm just impressed anyone could make a over 15 minute video about pakleds. Cheers

[@meoka2368]

The Borg gives species designations when they're encountered, not when they are assimilated. Species 8472 had that number and the Borg were failing to assimilate them.

[@NineWorldsFromDrew]

I really appreciate that you’ve chosen to cover the Pakleds at this point, Rick. This is mainly because we’re currently waiting on the second season of Lower Decks, and now that I’ve watched this video you’ve got me pondering a little theory about what’s to come, in season 2 of the animated show. Season 1 could have ended in a battle with any enemy, really. The Federation at that time still isn’t too short of enemies. But the writers chose Pakleds, mainly because they make good comic relief. And we can’t really blame them! BUT, I think the very make-up of Pakled culture in canon is precisely what could make them such a brilliant menace, to the main characters of Lower Decks - and so we come to a short essay outlining my expectations, or hopes at least, for a bigger arcing plot in season 2. Now, I’m not saying season 2 won’t have stand-alone episodes, or shouldn’t - they’ve definitely worked well enough so far. But given that what’s helped make Lower Decks successful in its first season has also been its mimicking of the Rick & Morty formula, I would also say that the writers should and hopefully *will* mimick that again, with a frequently visited arc of the Pakleds and their threat to Starfleet, as well as its allies. This is where I elaborate on details of what I’d like to, and hope to, see in such an arc: As we saw in “No Small Parts”, a single Pakled vessel destroyed one California-class starship, and disabled another before being destroyed. Two more equally powerful vessels from its fleet arrived to finish off the USS Cerritos, but they were swiftly taken down by the USS Titan. When Starfleet strategically analyses this whole incident, what is likely to be their conclusion? Don’t imagine I’m overthinking this! The answer fits in well, with the whole ethos of this comedy series. Starfleet would conclude that whilst Pakled scavenging makes them dangerous, they still assume that the species is nothing more than a bunch of playground bullies, and that it’s better to just avoid them. You could have a slow burn at the beginning of this arc; spend about half of an episode with the Cerritos or Titan testing some new sensor tech, which can easily detect an approaching Pakled vessel. Whether the Pakleds circumvent this new tech or not, the hubris of Starfleet is still very much on display - they imagine that this passive approach to the “silly dumb Pakleds” is enough. Then comes the opening to character development - Captain Freeman will stumble upon something which only allows her to *suspect* that the Pakleds are a bigger threat than they seem, and that they could be preparing for a large-scale raid on Federation space, or even war. But she just doesn’t have enough evidence to back it up, and Starfleet admirals are being typically obstinate, and dismissing any of her concerns - because this is TNG-era Trek, and that’s what admirals always do! So, as we saw Freeman agree with Mariner at the end of season 1, Mariner gets assigned a mission, or number thereof, to trample over Starfleet orders and regulations, and solve this problem through sheer guts and guile! It would be pretty cliche, to have it so a task force, or maybe a civilian fleet that’s simply escorted by Starfleet ships, gets attacked and entirely ripped apart by the Pakleds, simply because the fleet’s commander didn’t listen to Mariner’s warnings - it’s the sort of thing that’s been in dozens of Hollywood disaster movies, even if it would be relatively fresh for Trek. *But* you would then get the opening for the Cerritos crew to save the day, in whatever fashion, by following Mariner’s lead, and doing basically none of what they were told by the brass. What’s also just come to mind - and I’ve gotta say this *would* be cliche, considering it made up the whole opening of Discovery season 1 - is that Starfleet command could then somehow wind up blaming Mariner for starting a war, with the now noticeably threatening Pakleds. This would then serve as a good cliffhanger on which to end the season, with audiences hopefully wanting to see more battles against a seemingly unstoppable, stupidly unpredictable, and unpredictably stupid enemy. But of course in Mariner’s case, everything that she assumes about this enemy is believably correct, and she’s not staging a mutiny or disobeying her captain. So it isn’t the same as with Michael Burnham. She’s just wound up being the patsy she was expected to be, but also rendered fully accountable for her actions, because Starfleet command has no-one else to blame - except for her mother, who she most likely protected from any consequences, by lying. I feel like I’ve typed a lot here, only to say very little. And of course, most of my points relate to the serious side of such a plot, rather than the comedy. But I expect you could derive most of the comedy from this, of simply Starfleet brass being the *real* dumbasses in this situation, not taking the Pakleds seriously at all, and meanwhile the Pakleds become a progressively bigger threat whilst it really is hard to take their menace and raw power seriously, because they speak stupid dialogue, they cobble together stupid ships, and they keep referring to every Starfleet ship as an “Enterprise”! I’d mainly go with writers, if they follow through with such an idea, deriving comedy from the fact that the Cerritos crew is forced to view the Pakleds as a threat akin to the Dominion, in the previous decade. But the way everyone else in Starfleet responds to it, is much like the Citadel Council and Systems Alliance in Mass Effect responding to every warning from Shepherd about the “Reapers”. The intrigue and tension is a potential goldmine for comedy!

[@singletona082]

..Called it.

[@NineWorldsFromDrew]

@@singletona082 Actually I think the writers have gone that much further, and subverted *my* expectations, with season 2’s cliffhanger ending. I don’t believe Freeman’s fate there is that much of a parallel to what I’ve said in my comment above, about what Mariner could have ended up doing. *BUT* , knowing her mother could now face court martial, she may “go rogue” in some other way, and indeed *still* find a plot by the Pakleds, which the Starfleet brass don’t take seriously. This is then, of course, a way to potentially lead in to a season arc, which could be similar to what I’ve mentioned. I’d definitely rate season 2’s Pakled stories so far, as being quite different to my idea. But it was still SOOO good, having that sucker punch ending! My jaw literally hit the floor!

[@robertfarr9186]

So is it cunningly stupid or stupidly cunning? Next : The atrificial tuskin geth from tatooine

[@Marinealver]

We are Orks, we search for things. Things that we can Krump!

[@antonycharnock2993]

But do they have a cunning plan. My Lord.

[@DarthAzabrush]

My theory is that they're like 40k's Orks they have an inbuilt instinctive understanding of technology on a subconcious level. Someone (probably the Romulans) genetically engineered them to be a nuisance to their enemies.

[@eurogryphon]

One of my favorite exchanges: 1: I am hungry. 2: You should eat. 1: You are _smart!_

[@ronwood1220]

Terran - Terra. Earthling - Earth. Sometimes we are identified with the planet. Never with hummus though.

[@dswynne]

I like to think of the Pakleds as the blue collar species of the galaxy: not as intelligent as Vulcans, or even as humans, but functionally of average human intelligence. They would not be capable of theoretical concepts as a whole, but would certainly be capable of understanding general concepts at a practiced level.

[@jamesedgar4099]

My speculation is that the Pakleds were a pre-warp civilization that had first contact with a warp civilization that didn't have a Prime Directive, and they've been coasting on that mistake ever since

[@digipeeper]

I thought the Pakleds are much funnier then the Ferengis. They should have more then one appearance!!!

[@douggale5962]

Sometimes I picture a bunch of Pakleds downloading a ton of NPM modules to put together a website. They have no idea how the things work, but they know how to hook them together and know how to poke at it and try stuff to resolve error messages. A "real" developer might be more akin to Geordi.

[@iclisious]

As far as I had known it wasn't that they were stupid, it was that their language was so vastly different that communicating with them is hard because of translation issues

[@derrickallen8138]

Don't know y but idea of them as Hodor Orks just popped into my head. MOAR HODOR!!!!

[@bradwolf07]

I'm guessing the Borg assimilated them sometime between Battle of Wolf359 and when Voyager encounters them...it WOULD explain a few things...

[@louisthompson7054]

Thanks for this video. This is how we must seem to Vulcans

[@joshuawells835]

I recommend the Votan Races from Defiance. Castithans, Irathients, Indogene, Vensoth, Liberata, Gulanee, Volge, and Omec.

[@trajan74]

I gotta rewatch that series. All I remember is the premise and Jamie Murray.

[@CtrlAltPhreak]

I wish there was more lore surrounding the Wadi. It would be awesome if STO did a special event where we meet them again and have to play their games for some rare rewards.

[@stevencoardvenice]

Alamoraine

[@nathancof]

"Earth" is the name of our planet, so we are referred to as "Earthlings." Our planet also has the name "Terra" and so other times, we are called "Terrans."

[@noahbody9875]

It also has lots of trees to cut down, which is why we are called hew mons.😉

[@l33tninj4studios]

So they're basically Orks from Warhammer 40k minus the WAAAAGH! field keeping their tech working.

[@lukasperuzovic1429]

and less Dakka

[@mbierranger1379]

I always understand "Bat'leth" when it comes to the Pakled in Star Trek ...

[@QuestionDeca]

My own opinion on the Pakleds is that they depend on the intelligence of the species around them, and that by the time of Lower Decks they could pull off their Hodge-Podge Junker/Destroyers (which have their original ships as command centres) because the tech of all the other species are TOO well built/designed. As an example a Federation computer with minimal fussing can accept commands from a Klingon console to direct a Romulan Disruptor, and other similar combinations because the systems of that era are individually powerful enough to at the least natively emulate the systems of the other local species, an ironic side effect of years of hot and cold conflict and operations to steal/study each other's technologies in a constant cycle of one-upsmanship.

[@tonyah.960]

We need a new video on the PAKLED A.S.A.P Rick, Do to the show season 2 end on Paramount Plus of Star Trek Lower Decks. Please and Thank you a lot for your hard! It's brilliant I wish would do a show every day on KZbin? Keep up the wonderful job you do for all the people online!

[@jimmyryan5880]

I think its mainly their language ability. Or maybe how the UT translates them. A culture with only a simplified form of language might struggle with documentation but be able to learn on the fly bodging things.

[@UGNAvalon]

In Terran Empire, Pakled assimilate Borg!

[@Daedalus-BC308]

I would like to see a Cultural Index video on the Goa'uld or the Asgard or basically any other race from Stargate.

[@firebladeentertainment5739]

I suspect that the Pakleds have a similiar thing going on like the florans from starbound, behind in tech on almost all levels but give them any tech and they will figure it out relativly fast just that the florans are actual master reverse engineers and are also able to replicate other species tech and adapt it to their needs, although their hunter/gatherer tribal society makes it more appealing to them to simply take it from others, you can see it in their ship designs, they are mostly their own design but have the occassional part incorporated from other species, havent seen any glitch tech in their ships yet, might be because they are actually friendly with them, even if its just for the fact that glitch are robots and therefore not edible for florans...

[@BluntyTV]

I mean... "EARTHLINGS" but ok.

[@tepacana6319]

I also had the thought of "Terrans" from "Terra", but that's not exactly the same I guess

[@NoJusticeNoPeace]

There's an SF novel where aliens laugh at Earth as being full of unevolved barbarians, and use as proof that all barbarians call their planets "dirt." When Earth proudly says, "Aha!" and points out we are _not_ named "dirt," the aliens ask, so what does "earth" mean? And humanity becomes very quiet...

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

Excuse me, we're called "Earthicans", tyvm.

[@CZ350tuner]

Just be grateful that we don't live on Uranus!! "Greetings aliens. We're haemorrhoids and we live on Uranus. Our mission is to explore the galaxy and spread our crap everywhere.".....

[@ShadowHunter120]

Terrans, from Terra works at least

[@luvondarox]

I think I'm okay with species having similar names to their homeworld (like Vulcans from Vulcan). It's like Californians from California, or Kansans from Kansas. "Terrans" from Terra / Earth. Just... eh.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Gerf, the slow Gorg is my new favorite character.

[@evancoffland19]

They’d be the easiest people to beat. Opt to outfit their entire fleet, but do it with gear that will explode after you leave them.

[@paladinboyd1228]

I'm a little sad you did not do the whole video speaking as a Pakled.

[@xsailor85]

Red alarm! Red alarm!

[@deanteasdale8261]

Fascinated by the psychology of these guys. They seem to be driven by the pursuit of strength, makes me wonder if the name in the original writer's mind was literal 'pack-lead'? Referring to their social structure being one of submission to the strongest, meaning that their drive to be strongest through cunning is a response to their perception of other species as superior? Also I like that they are vague about details. They really do think differently from humans in a way that's difficult to grasp 🙂

[@Parshath20]

Great video! My vote for the next CI would be the Tusken Raiders. I know less about them than the Geth, although I'd love to see a Geth CI in the future too. :D