Pakled
The Pakleds were a rotund humanoid species native to a planet known to them as Pakled Planet.

History 
By the 2360s, they had had contact with the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and Jarada. 

Because their own technology was significantly less advanced than that of many other spacefaring races – a fact that Data found to be "a genuine curiosity [regarding] how they ever mastered the rudiments of space travel" – the Pakleds sought things that made them "go" – and they especially liked things that made them powerful. They were driven by their unwillingness to develop technological knowledge on their own, and desired to instantly gain the power that other cultures enjoyed. They therefore tried to acquire technology from other species, generally by theft through coercion. To the casual observer, the Pakleds appeared to be intellectually challenged, especially in their verbal skills. However, despite the apparent lack of intellect, they proved to be far more cunning than they appeared and used their innocuous appearance to deceive other races. () 

In 2365, a Pakled ship named the Mondor sent out a Mayday in Rhomboid Dronegar Sector 006 in order to lure in other ships whose technology could then be stolen. They were offered assistance by the crew of the , who lent the Pakleds their chief engineer, Geordi La Forge, to help fix the Pakled ship. The Pakleds kidnapped La Forge, but eventually returned him, after the Enterprise demonstrated its "force" with a harmless pyrotechnic display involving its Bussard collectors. ()

In 2366, a Pakled trade ship found and retrieved Lore after he had drifted in space for nearly two years. Following his rescue, he was given Pakled clothing to wear. ()

By 2370, Pakleds frequently visited Deep Space 9 and were likely to be found either at Quark's or on the Promenade. (, et al.)  

In the middle of the same year, while in a search for the Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, the USS Enterprise-D entered the Kalla system, which was held by the Pakleds. ()

Later the same year, a Pakled transport crossed the Demilitarized Zone to supply the Cardassians with a shipment of retro-viral vaccines. ()

Pakleds were also known to work as refuse merchants, and messy ones at that, a fact that Quark echoed while describing the condition of his brother Rom's quarters. ()

By 2380, the Pakleds' level of accumulation had created powerful ships, known as Pakled Clumpships, which contained components salvaged from over thirty different species – including the Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, Arkonians, and Ferengi – to the point where they could easily be a threat to some Federation starships. 

In an apparent attempt to seek revenge against the Enterprise, a group of Pakled rebels began attacking Federation shipping routes. A group of Klingon extremists, who believed the Klingon Empire had lost its way during the time of peace, sought to use the Pakled's own hunger for power to their advantage. Seeing the Federation beginning to destabilize, some Klingons, such as Dorg, began to share weapons and information with the Pakleds to further fuel their conflict with the Federation, in hopes it would lead to an eventual war. ()

Their threat escalated when one of the rebels' Clumpships destroyed the , and seriously damaged the  before Lieutenant Shaxs and Ensign Samanthan Rutherford were able to destroy the attacking vessel with a computer virus created by the demented hologram Badgey. Three more Clumpships then arrived, threatening to destroy the Cerritos, but were driven off after the  arrived and overpowered them. () 

As 2381 began, the Titan continued to engage the Pakleds. () Suspecting that the Pakleds are being led by a third party, the Titan crew were sent to investigate the Pakled takeover of a Varuvian mining colony on Karzill IV, but were unable to determine whether any other power was involved in the operation. ()

On Stardate 58105.1, Starfleet sent the Cerritos to the Pakled homeworld in order to negotiate a cease-fire, much to the confusion of Pakled Ambassador Grubdin. The visit prompted a rebel attempt to plant a spy aboard the Cerritos. Their arrival coincided with the escape of the rebel prisoner Rumdar, who arrived aboard the Cerritos, sent to acquire information about the ship's shields, crimson force field, warp core, and the crew's access codes, under a poorly executed ruse of posing as a refugee seeking asylum. 

In response, Captain Carol Freeman and Lieutenant Shaxs were held, for seemingly assisting the rebels, until their former prisoner was returned. Freeman met with several levels of Pakled leadership, before witnessing a Pakled "rebelution". 

With the new leader installed, the spy returned to report the "success" of his mission aboard the Cerritos. Freeman was able to trick Rumdar into revealing the Pakled's plot to smuggle a Varuvian bomb onto Earth. With information in hand, Freeman returned to the Cerritos, and left the Pakleds believing that they had actually defeated her. ()

Later, Dorg's actions with the Pakleds were exposed after a failed mutiny by his commander, Togg. After anointing Ma'ah his new first officer, they rendezvoused with the Clumpship Pakled to discuss a weapons transaction. While the Pakleds captain, Rebner, and Dorg negotiated, they were interrupted with the arrival of the Cerritos and joined forces to take out the Cerritos before it could report of their alliance. Ma'ah did not believe Dorg's actions in manipulating the Pakleds to fight a battle for them were honorable, and successfully killed Dorg, intending to reveal his actions to the Klingon High Council. A short time later, on Stardate 58130.6, Pakled Planet was destroyed by a Varuvian bomb that was apparently planted in the capital city, Big Strong City by the Klingon extremists. Upon investigation, Starfleet Command came upon evidence that Carol Freeman was in league with the extremists, and promptly arrested her. ()

In 2382, an elite group of Starfleet officers, led by Captain Morgan Bateson and aided by Commander Tuvok, discovered that the evidence concerning Freeman was actually fabricated and that the destruction of their planet was done by the Pakleds themselves in order to trick the Federation into a new, resource-rich planet. Freeman was exonerated as a result and the true culprits arrested. ()

Physiology

Pakleds were durable enough to survive the vacuum of space, as evidenced when Rumdar accidentally ejected himself into space from an airlock aboard the  after mistaking it for a bathroom. He was recovered some time later and revived on his own while in sickbay. According to the Cerritos chief medical officer, Doctor T'Ana, she had no idea how Rumdar was able to survive, but said that he "[was] totally fine." According to Rumdar himself, "Pakleds [were] strong." ()

Government
The Pakleds were at one time ruled by an emperor, followed by a subordinate king, then queen. They had a rudimentary class system where an individual's status was indicated by the size of their helmet. 

In 2381, the ruling elite were overthrown in a brief "rebelution" and replaced by the rebels, with the emperor's killer declaring himself the new leader. ()

List of Pakleds
Named
 Grebnedlog
 Grubdin
 Jackabog
 Rebner
 Reginod
 Rumdar

Unnamed
 Unnamed Pakleds
 Jackabog's ship personnel
 Mondor personnel
 Pakled Planet inhabitants

Appendices

Appearances

Background information
"PACK-led" was the pronunciation of this species' name from the script pronunciation guides for "Samaritan Snare" and "Firstborn".  

The Pakleds were created by "Samaritan Snare" writer Robert L. McCullough. He thought them up in the knowledge that, no matter how bizarre the aliens were, the TNG production staff would most likely be able to find some way to portray them. "I wanted to do something fun. In all these space shows, the aliens are so damn smart and sophisticated, I thought, 'How about having them come across as dummies?' As all the aliens were malevolent and intuitive like Q, I felt it would be neat to find some aliens left out of the loop of development," McCullough laughed. "Third world aliens! They appear to be stupid, but they're not: they're just needy. They're so needy, they become desperate." He was extremely pleased to create the "dull, laughable and grossly overweight aliens." (, issue 187, p. 54)

Robert McCullough took a logical approach to naming the aliens. "They were called Pakleds, which is pretty obvious – they were sheep," he noted. The two members of the species named in "Samaritan Snare" – Grebnedlog and Reginod – "were names I learned in junior high school," McCullough explained. "My last name used to be Goldenberg and my best friend's was Donager, and we had a code of calling each other by our last names backwards." (, issue 187, p. 54)

The script of "Samaritan Snare" described the Pakleds as "slothful, droopy-eyed humanoids" with "typically wistful Pakled hypoplastic speech, almost a sense of hopeful longing in their every word." 

When designing the Pakled appearance, the make-up department had to bear in mind that the Pakleds were to be introduced as a race of aliens intended to appear slow-witted and harmless, incapable of creating their own technology, but in reality, were a sharp and nefarious race who would steal anything they wished. To aid the make-up department in representing the aliens' dual nature, the casting department hired portly actors whose expressions were naturally benign, in order to convey a sense of innocence. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, pp. 111 & 113) Robert McCullough commented, "They got the biggest actors they could find, and with those costumes, they looked huge." (, issue 187, p. 54) The make-up itself consisted of appliances for the foreheads, cheeks, and a pointed lower lip. The make-up department also came up with a set of eyebrows that went up to the center of their foreheads, intended to project a sense of helplessness about their situation. For the mouth, a set of double-size teeth was used. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 113)

"Samaritan Snare" Director Les Landau was careful to show the Pakleds in a balanced way. Of their appearance in the episode, he recalled, "What I had to deal with was a race of people who appeared to be dimwitted and unattractive, but yet had a need for things to make themselves sufficient. I didn't want them to appear silly, foolish or unrealistic, or rather unbelievable, so it was a constant self-conscious awareness to keep them threatening yet simple." ()

According to an internal reference document, listing all the aliens seen in , which was circulated around the time of the production of TNG Season 5, the Pakleds were given the description of "A rotund, lethargic scavenger race."

Following their introduction in the TNG Season 2 episode "Samaritan Snare", the Pakleds were also mentioned in the TNG Season 4 installment  as having rescued Data's brother, Lore. The Pakleds were originally to have been led by him in the sixth season two-parter  and , though they were ultimately replaced with the Borg in that pair of episodes. (TV Zone, issue 61, p. 38) Subsequently, the Pakleds went on to appear in the background of several  installments. A person wearing a Pakled costume can be seen in a bar on Ronara Prime in TNG Season 7 outing ; however, he lacks the unique Pakled facial features.

They frequently appeared on  from the second thru the fifth seasons. 

The Pakleds were briefly considered to feature as main antagonists in , when that episode was in pre-production, by which time it was too late to make such a drastic change to the episode. "During prep I started saying, 'We should have used someone like the Pakleds from TNG," offered René Echevarria. This idea was dismissed by Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr in favor of Harcourt Mudd instead being used as the villain, despite neither of them ultimately being used. ()

In the script for , the android B-4 revealed, in a lengthy speech, that he had told a group of Talosians that he originally had been rescued from his homeworld by the Pakleds, whom he referred to as "fat," prior to him having ended up in space for a long duration and then being found by the Talosians. In the first draft script of Nemesis, B-4 out-rightly informed Data that he had been rescued by the Pakleds and had later relayed news of the rescue to the Talosians, though, in the shooting script, B-4 phrased it by saying only that the Pakleds' involvement had been what he had told the Talosians. Also, in the first draft script, he mentioned that the Pakleds had traded him to a Bolian ship, which he didn't say in the shooting script.

Apocrypha
In the Strange New Worlds 10 short story "A Dish Served Cold", set in 2373, a Borg cube en route to Sector 001 encounters a Pakled freighter, but the Collective considers them unintelligent and an inefficient use of resources to assimilate. However, they are later assimilated when the Borg need extra reinforcements in their battle with Starfleet forces in Earth orbit. They are designated as Species 95012.

The Star Trek: A Time to...  A Time to Die reveals Pakleds have purplish blood.

The Star Trek Role Playing Game supplement Aliens established that the Pakled homeworld was called "Pakled." This was before Lower Decks established that the planet is called "Pakled Planet."

A ship of Pakleds is also featured in the video game Star Trek: Klingon, in which Gowron coaxes the Pakled captain to come over to his ship to explain why he could not come over to his ship.

In Star Trek Online, Pakleds are a playable race for Starfleet, which may indicate they have become a member of the Federation. Visually, the Pakleds are a lot less bulky than in Star Trek canon (though their appearance can be modified in the character customization editor).

Pakleds are also one of the races that can be discovered in the video game Star Trek: The Next Generation - Birth of the Federation.

External links

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Species