Forgotten Villains: Star Trek TAS: Tchar of the Skorr

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

photos copyright Paramount Pictures

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

There’s nothing I like more than a flying alien especially when based on Earth birds like eagles. There’s something about them that immediately elevates the fear factor because it’s bad enough being attacked by something predatory that pricks your primal fears but when it swoops from above outmanoeuvring you it is lethal. In Enterprise season 3, the alien threat the Xindi are composed of several species. One was supposed to be an avian but they had become extinct. Only the animated series provided such a creature given in animation there are no limits to the size and shapes of the aliens the Enterprise crew could encounter.

In season one’s sixteenth episode the Jihad, Kirk and Spock joins forces with a variety of aliens on a quest to prevent a disaster from happening. One of the specialists that are summoned is Tchar from the avian species the Skorr. He is the hereditary prince of the Skorr and Master of the Eyrie. They were a violent warrior people over two centuries ago with advanced military technology and could breed warriors at an exponential rate. But they became a civilised race and part of the Federation thanks to the teachings of their religious leader Alar.

Upon his death the Skorr made him immortal by placing his brain waves into a sacred sculpture, the Soul of Alar (also known as the Soul of Skorr). It was stolen. If the Skorr find tHis out they will declare holy war on everyone consuming all planets in the galaxy. They are capable of breeding 200 billion warriors in two years which makes them a serious threat to the stability of the Federation.

Their mission now is to retrieve the Soul of the Skorr.

Kirk and this team will be the fourth to try and get it back from an unstable world full of volcanic activity and atmospheric storms. Tchar’s ability to fly gives the group an advantage from aerial reconnaissance. They are attacked by mechanical dragon like creatures and Tchar is seemingly carried off by one of the beasts. They find a Skorr temple where Tchar claimed he can hear the Soul of Alar calling to him.

Just as they are about to get the Soul, Tchar is revealed as the villain. He stole the Soul because it has reduced th Skorr to soft creatures when they should be fighting great battles. The Federation has taken their warrior souls from them. With the relic destroyed the Skorr will rise up and take revenge. When Spock points out many will die, Skorr agrees saying it will be a warrior’s death. They are very Klingon like in their thinking as several times since the Khitomer Accords, some Klingons have fought to go back to their warrior days rejecting the new peace.

Skorr is defeated when he turns off the gravity forcing them to fight on his terms; in the air like Skorr. Between them Kirk and Spock capture him sending him back the planet they were initially summoned to. Skorr’s view is seen as a sickness and he is sent for rehabilitation. They acknowledge he is proud and brave but has to be made sane and whole again.

It is a pity that these animated episodes only run around twenty minutes. The Skorr are an unique species in the Star Trek universe as avians. With today’s CGI it wouldn’t be hard to have one as a member of the Entrprise crew or feature in a story. Maybe it’s about time we revisited the Skorr and expand their culture to make them fan favourites.

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