Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 1 - “Dos Cerritos” and Episode 2 - “Shades of Green”
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 brought back the blue Orions fromStar Trek: The Original Series, but why do the blues pronounce"Orion"differently?Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 is the animated comedy’s final season on Paramount+, and it kicks off with former StarfleetLieutenant D’Vana Tendi(Noël Wells) back home pirating with the Orion Syndicate. While recovering a crashed starship for House Tendi, D’Vana and her crew run afoul of blue Orions, sparking a war betweenthe blues, who pronounce their name"OR-ree-on", and the green Orions, who say it properly as"oh-RYE-on".
Orions are among the first aliens ever seen inStar Trek. “The Cage,“Star Trek’s original pilot that was rejected by NBC, saw Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) shown an illusion of a dancing Orion slave girl (Susan Oliver). The Orions reappeared inStar Trek: The Animated Seriesseason 2’s “The Pirates of Orion,” but this time theOrions had blue skin and wore absurd-looking green uniforms and headgear.Orions remained part ofStar Trekcanon and were occasionally referenced, and when Orions finally returned inStar Trek: Enterprise, they were back to having green skin. Through D’Vana Tendi,Star Trek: Lower Deckshas explored Orion culture more than ever before, which now includes blue Orions.
Star Trek’s Blue Orions’ Weird Pronunciation Explained
Also known as House Azure
Star Trekexpert Scott Mantz, who hosts theEnterprise Incidentspodcast,explained why the blue Orions say"OH-ree-on"toStar Trek: Lower Deckscreator Mike McMahan, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, and Jerry O’Connell on stage atStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5’s premiere event at Newport Beach Film Festival. According to Mantz,William Shatner, who was known for mispronouncing wordslike"sabotage,“would say"OH-ree-on"while recordingStar Trek: The Animated Seriesand no one corrected him. The other actors followed suit and said"OH-re-on.”
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5revealed that blue Orions are simply oddball members of a different house who use a different pronunciation of"Orion.“Blue Orions also now refer to themselves as House Azure. InStar Trek: Lower Decksseason 5, episode 2, “Shades of Green,” House Azure and House Tendi raced to a draw and both houses had their fortunes confiscated by the Orion Pirate Queen. House Azure then became employed by House Tendi when D’Vana and D’Erika Tendi (Ariel Winter) claimed the discarded wealth of the planet Targalus IX.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Finally Fixed Animated Series Orion Canon
Every Orion exists in Star Trek canon
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 5 has cleverly merged both blue and green versions of the Orions, establishingboth as existing side-by-side in canon.For years,Star Trek: The Animated Serieswas considered apocryphal becauseStar Trekcreator Gene Roddenberrydidn’t care forTASand didn’t want it considered canon. However, Star Trek on Paramount+’s shows, especially the animated seriesStar Trek: Lower DecksandStar Trek: Prodigy,have incorporated aspects of their cartoon predecessor,Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Perhaps the blue Orions will be seen again before Star Trek: Lower Decks ends its run on Paramount+.
Star Trek: The Animated Seriesis now considered part ofStar Trekcanon.In 2023, Paramount+ even celebrated the 50th anniversary ofStar Trek: The Animated Seriesby commissioning a series of shorts calledStar Trek: very Short Treks, which were animated in the style ofTAS. Perhaps fittingly,Star Trek: very Short Treksare not canonical, the wayStar Trek: The Animated Serieswasn’t for so many years. Perhaps the blue Orions will be seen again beforeStar Trek: Lower Decksends its run on Paramount+.
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Cast
Star Trek: The Animated Series follows Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the crew of the Starship Enterprise as they embark on new adventures across the galaxy. This animated series, released in 1973, continues the iconic science fiction stories of exploration and discovery from the original Star Trek television series.
