9 Star Trek: The Animated Series Aliens That Should Appear In Live Action
1. Kzinti
The cat-like Kzinti entered the Star Trek universe in 1973 when science fiction author Larry Niven, at the request of story editor D.C. Fontana, adapted his short story The Soft Weapon into the Animated Series episode The Slaver Weapon.
The now iconic episode featured Spock, Uhura, and Sulu thwarting a Kzinti plot to steal an ancient weapon left behind by the Slavers, an extinct species that dominated the galaxy a billion years ago.
Writer Jimmy Diggs was so fascinated with the Kzinti, he made several pitches to bring them back. These pitches all failed, although his script, Kilkenny Cats, was seriously considered for Star Trek: Enterprise's proposed fifth season.
With the Kzinti being name-dropped in Star Trek: Picard, a Kzinti supporting character appearing in Star Trek: Lower Decks, and with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds revisiting the 23rd century, now seems like the time to bring them to live action.
Depicting the Kzinti in live action Star Trek creates opportunities for writers to explore the relationship between the two species . In The Slaver Weapon, Sulu explained that Earth defeated the Kzinti in four wars. Star Trek: Lower Decks features a Kzinti serving on the Cerritos. At some point, adversaries became allies.