In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, the Breen play an integral role. However, where did this enigmatic alien race originate? What do we know about them? And have they ever visited the planet Brekka?
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re exploring Star Trek‘s the Breen. What do you think of these helmeted extraterrestrials?
The Breen on Trek
While they have been mentioned more often, the Breen have currently appeared onscreen in fewer than 20 Star Trek episodes. Their first appearance was in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 episode “Indiscretion.”
However, the Breen were first mentioned five years earlier, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 episode “The Loss.” In that episode, Data (Brent Spiner) notes that the Breen are one of many species impervious to Betazoid telepathy. In fact, the TNG crew loves to talk about the Breen, even though they never appear onscreen in that series. This includes a shout-out in the big-screen outing Star Trek: Generations, in which an attack organized by Soran (Malcolm McDowell) is briefly blamed on the Breen.
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On DS9, the Breen played an integral role, especially in the show’s seventh and final season. Joining forces with the antagonistic Dominion, the Breen Confederacy became involved in outright aggression against the Federation. This included a devastating attack against Starfleet HQ in San Francisco in DS9 Season 7’s “The Changing Face of Evil.”
In addition to political conflicts, the Breen can present a danger to the Federation in other ways. Some factions of the Breen engage in violent privateering. One mention of Breen privateering occurs in DS9 Season 4’s “To the Death.”
Their Appearance
However, what do the Breen really look like? They are traditionally depicted as wearing full refrigeration suits, including a head-obscuring helmet. For example, the DS9 Season 7’s “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” Worf (Michael Dorn) observes no one who has seen a Breen sans helmet and survived. In that same episode, Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) postulates the Breen could be covered in fur due to the cold climate on their homeworld. She is decidedly inaccurate about the fur.
Viewers didn’t get our first glimpse of a Breen without a helmet until Discovery Season 5’s premiere, “Red Directive.” In that episode, we were introduced to L’ak (Elias Toufexis). His first appearance even shows the Breen’s physiological response to removing a helmet. Despite this, it wasn’t revealed until “Mirrors” that L’ak was Breen.
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One accurate aspect of Breen physiology known to the Federation is their species has an affinity for the cold. In Discovery‘s “Erigah,” Doctor Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) calls for a confiscated Breen refrigeration unit to be beamed aboard Disco to treat the injured L’ak.
Little concrete information about the Breen is known to other races of the Star Trek universe. Unlike Klingons, Ferengi, or even (eventually) Romulans, the Breen have consistently resisted playing nice with the Federation. They prefer to remain secretive and removed. For this reason, rumors swirl around them. In DS9 Season 5’s “By Inferno’s Light,” a Romulan phrase is shared: “Never turn your back on a Breen.” This phrase is so enduring it’s still in use nearly 800 years later, as evidenced by its citation in Discovery‘s “Erigah” by Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie).
Stay Out of Breen Business
Furthermore, even after the Dominion War, the Breen continued to cause problems for the Federation. Their next appearance was in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3’s “Trusted Sources.” In that episode, the USS Cerritos uncovered that the Breen had invaded and conquered a TNG legacy planet, Brekka. However, whether or not this invasion is linked to a larger plan will probably have to wait for the Starfleet crew of a ship that’s Luna class or above.
RELATED: Read all of our Star Trek: Discovery recaps here.
But in the 32nd century, the crew of the Discovery has uncovered more about the Breen than we’ve ever known before. What secrets will be unveiled in the final two episodes of Discovery Season 5? Geek Girl Authority will be there every step of the way.
The first eight episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 are available to stream on Paramount+. New episodes air on Thursdays.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/star-trek-lower-decks-merchandise-ideas-paramount-moopsy-migleemo/
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