Star Trek: Strange New Worlds introduced the Kerkhovian, but who are they?

Jess Bush as Chapel in episode 205 “Charades” of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Jess Bush as Chapel in episode 205 “Charades” of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ “Charades” introduced the Kerkhovians.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds added another alien race to the pantheon of Star Trek aliens, this time with the Kerkhovians. The Kerkhovians were introduced in the episode “Charades”, who are a sentient non-corporeal lifeform that the folks of the U.S.S. Enterprise go looking for. They arrive on a moon outside of Krekhov to study what they believe is a long-abandoned settlement.

When they arrive, however, Spock and Christine Chapel get caught up in a temporal vortex, later revealed to be a transport tunnel for the Kerkovians. The vortex ends up damaging the shuttle that Spock and Chapel were in, and due to the accident, the newly introduced aliens fixed Spocok, Chapel, and the shuttle, but in doing so, turned Spock from half-Vulcan and half-human to simply human.

They would later give Chapel the technology to turn Spock back into his half-Vulcan self, thus showcasing a very impressive knowledge of science and technology.

What else do we know about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Kerkhovians?

The alien race is very powerful, able to fix just about anything with relative ease. They don’t have a physical form, at least not one we can perceive, and they possess the ability to communicate with aliens outside of their dimension when needed.

They also have a very rudimentary naming system, calling themselves colors, like Yellow and Blue, most likely due to the color scheme of the Enterprise crew.

Despite their lack of a physical visage and their near robotic-like responses when Captain Christopher Pike and later Christine Chapel try to communicate with them, they have a deep understanding of relationships, making it very likely they, like other Star Trek aliens in past seasons, evolved past physical limitations.

All in all, they weren’t all that unique or original, taking inspiration, at least partially, from various other aliens in Trek canon, like in Enterprise, when the crew encounters the wisp-like body-snatching aliens.