What is NAGILUM (Star Trek Theory) 

Somehow I feel that Q wouldn't take too kindly to Nagilum hijacking his pet project.

Interesting Wesley took his lunch break just in time to avoid being the death test...

I have to admit, this episode was quite unsettling.

Actually, this is also the episode that Worf mentioned a Klingon tale of a beast that devoured starships... sound familiar on Voyager?

It would have been interesting to see Q's reaction to it.

I found it interesting that Nagilum called us overly aggressive after killing a crew member then threatening to kill a third of the crew. Apparently we have more common ground than just curiosity… If it was smarter it would’ve realized we value freedom over life.

Too bad this character was never used again. He was quite a menacing villain.

This episode is scary man, no episode has actually scared me much like this. So creepy, I can’t describe it

I remember watching this and thinking they were setting up a whole bunch more episodes regarding him, but NOPE

One arguement against the 'They never left' thing...Q would eventually have shown up, upset that Nag had stolen his favorite toys. :-)

I wonder if "Q" knows of its existence mmm🤫

There was a book I remember my mother owning, where Jon Lance wrote of the universe ending, and he (speaking as Q), mentioned that there are other entities that are similar to the Q, but not as powerful and all knowing like the Q. Makes one wonder.

The pocket dimension might be its body, not realm, and not septate or separable from its awareness.

"Then perhaps we shall meet again. Only next time it will be out here among the stars." ... Nagilum runs away.

That thing was nightmare-fuel to me back then and it's sight still makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe Nagilum is a Wormhole entity that has gone wandering.

I'm not sure why, but when I watched this as a child that face haunted and scared me. lol

I've often called for STO to do a Halloween event: Nagilum would make a great "entity studying fear" for the event (although there are some better candidates). I loved that this was a completely random encounter with an extremely alien being. That's what space should be.

Mice in a maze, we think little of it when running experiments, so likely neither does Nagilum.

I'm glad they never met him again, this made him more mysterious.

They need more stories like this in star trek online. More mystery and exploration based.

What is it? Simple: creepy as f××k. :P

This is the point of exploring the gaxaly. Strange new lifeforms.

12:07 By that logic, the Talosians never actually lifted their illusion in the pilot and Pike's been stuck on Talos IV this entire time.

Where Silence Has Lease is one of my all-time favorite episodes. Season 2 in general had a lot of my favorites... Nagilum to me always seemed most similar to a very primitive incarnation of the Q. In terms of his ability to manipulate matter and space at whim. Though, he was only definitively shown to have that ability within the pocket dimension. It's like a person taking a small fish net down to the nearest body of water and just scooping around hoping to snare some specimens for study. Perhaps he originates from a universe governed primarily by will and thought, and was fascinated by the idea of a universe governed, instead, by static physical principles.

G'Kar from Babylon 5 described a being like this perfectly "Imagine you are an ant .." the rest of the speech is on YT

I would classify it as being amoral rather than malevolent.

Some might say Nagilum has bad cgi, but it’s just what he looks like 😉

Looks like mulligan spelled backwards... You could see the episode as a mulligan

Doesn't make sense that Nagilum would be Q as it was so ignorant and searching for answers (with no morality) whereas the Q appear to be all omniscient as well as omnipotent. Nagilum reminds me of the black tar creature that killed Tasha. They are both cruel and powered by pure mcguffin juice.

I'll tell you what it is. The most pants-wettingly terrifying thing I've seen in all of Star Trek. Something with power comparable to a Q, thankfully localized in it's sphere of influence, but which is so alien and uncomprehending of humanoids as to be an existential threat with only the most casual of gestures.

You forgot that they (Data I think) actually questioned whether Riker and Worf were ever really on the Yamato.

You've officially creeped me out. I've watched that episode earlyer because I found myself randomly thinking about it last night. Also, What did you mean "Star Trek isn't real" 😢

I know I'm in the minority, but I really liked the first two seasons and I love this episode. Few episodes have this feeling of dread.

"I've been Rick, and I apologise for my earlier mental crisis"

My favorite part of this episode is that Wesley was on the bridge in the beginning and when they entered the void, but he was conveniently, what, in the bathroom? Something. Mysteriously not present when Nagilum decided to kill the random ensign. But then Wesley was back again once the newly killed ensign was cleared out. They never addressed whether he was in the bathroom or where he went, but he narrowly missed being killed.

He's pepe the frog. A hole in space is where all dead memes go. Thank god they got out before the rage faces came along.

the Star trek isn't real bit cracked me up

Maybe he's one of the 'Prophets' (wormhole aliens) from DS9 that has gone off on his own.

The name is Muligan, reversed. The actor Richard Muligan was originally cast in the role, but had to be replaced prior to shooting. He was replaced by Earl Boen, not Earl Hindman.

What's interesting about this is that Nagilum seems to be the first (and only?) evidence within the franchise that something exists outside the universe. Sure other timelines (that are mistakenly called universes) exist, and we meet plenty of beings that are said to inhabit a different dimensional plane within the universe, but Nagilum is clearly intended to represent something entirely separate. On top of that, his defining traits seem to include immortality and curiosity, which means that for him to have not yet discovered the concept of death (despite it being something that virtually every being in our universe seems to face, or at least be aware of) suggests that there are a lot of things outside our universe for him to explore.

I've always said Nagilum was an exiled "Q" continuum initiate or something. He was already powerful himself and the "Q" as a whole locked him away in that pocket dimension. But finally got out.

Just watched this episode again today! It's one of my favorite episodes. Love Picard's line to Nagilum "WE CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO DO THAT! WE WILL FIGHT YOU!" Picard's character really shines in this episode. Wish a Star Trek novel would explore more with Nagilum! Haskel's death is pretty horrifying. Makes me wonder what exactly Nagilum did to him. Probably best not to know.

I always felt like the void/blackness/realm that nagilum is in was in fact the entity itself. Basically making nagilum into a sentient cloud of energy or something. Just my thoughts.

Do a video on *Armus* from "Skin of Evil" next. That thing was SO F****D UP. They should bring him back at some point: The Wrath of Armus.

There are a lot of Howling Space Gods out there: Nagilum, Kevin Uxbridge and the Douwd, Q, and that thing from Star Trek 5. Most of them seem incredibly powerful from a human perspective, and most of them are never seen or mentioned again. Just one more near-omnipotent space entity, yup, regular tuesday, we going to 10-forward for drinks later?

Let's just be glad it didn't decide to "study" procreation between humanoids...

I believe malignant would be more apt than malevolent in this instance as Nagilum was amoral.

If I was in Picard's place, I would have "Q" on speed dial for such a scenario. I'd be all, "Hey Q, it's your buddy here, do you know this jerk messing with us? No? Can you smack him around for us?" ..... or something like that. I think going right to self destruct is a bit hasty.

I have an idea, and this ties into Worf's story at the beginning of the episode. He said that there was a tail of thing in space that would swallow ships whole never to be seen again. I would surmise that the Romulan ship was indeed real and that Neggie had that ship stored away in another fold or dimension of itself having encountered it before. After scanning the Enterprise and learning that these two were enemies he put them in the same cage so to speak to see what would happen.

Not gonna lie, this guy has always scared the ever living crap out of me. Straight into uncanny valley territory.

I completely forgot about Nalgilum. I remember when I was a kid, when it's face showed up it scared the absolute fu** out of me to the point where I still don't like looking at it, haha.

Imagine him showing up in picard season 2

I always thought it was odd that Nagilum contacted Picard one last time after the Enterprise left the void.

a giant space cat

Nagilum...I certainly am curious as to what it actually is, but I also kind of hope that we never find out either. Remember when the Borg used to be exciting because they were an unknown form of life that were extremely powerful and threatening? Then the Borg became "meh, it's just the Borg again" when we learned so much about them in Voyager. I'd rather leave Nagilum shrouded in mystery as it'll keep that unsettling mystique about that it actually was in place. Having at least some mysteries unsolved makes them a litter more enduring.

Remember the dimensiional tunnel encountered by the 1701? With a madman and a rational scientist ending up fighting in nothing forever? Perhaps this entity is them fused.

Nagilum was similar to a Q in alot of ways, I wonder if he was a cousin or outcast from the continuum? The traveller also proved that thought was the basis of reality, which kinda explains where nagilum was from.

This is probably a depiction of the gnostic concept of the godhead. In gnosticism, Existence is a limited state where you are constrained by your limits that add distinction. "Nothingness", sometimes also known as the immaterial, is considered the desired state. In addition, reality, otherwise known as "The material realm", "The Womb Realm" or "The Plemora" is considered a false reality conjured up from the dreams of a fallen goddess/aeon. In Gnostic cosmology, there is the concept that there is a hole in space through which the material realm can be escaped, back into the immaterial. Typically this is considered the Orion Nebula but this isn't actually specified as Orion within any of the gnostic religions. The Godhead is considered the "Source" from which everything (and nothing) "emanates". The primary traits of the godhead is that the godhead is a perfect being that is limitless and unknowable (This is likely what Troi's description of him is refering to). Alternatively, the fallen goddess/aeon (Known as Sophia) but this looks far more to me as being the godhead. Additional data points supporting this would be the title of the episode, "Where Silence Has Lease". Valentinianism, which is a form of Christian/Hebrew Gnosticism, refers to one of the aeons as Sigē (Σιγή), or in english, "Silence". This in turn would also explain the title for the episode "Where Silence Has Lease". In hebrew *and* in hebrew gnosticism, the name is also presented as "σιγή" and forms part of Ain Soph Aur, which is a description of the form of existence and nothingness itself, with σιγή in this being the immaterial, again pointing to the godhead. This also inturn explains why his powers appear to spread beyond the pocket, as in gnosticism, the immaterial is the true reality and the "real word" is the pocket reality, rather than the other way round. Essentially, if indeed what this is depicting, the enterprise didn't enter a pocket realm, they left *our* pocket realm and encoutered the true reality, Nagilum's reach being explained because the "real world" would be a pocket realm within Nagilum's domain. Further more, we can also point to Null Space as further potential evidence, as in gnosticism, the second tier of reality (or lack thereof), the middle layer of Ain Soph Aur, known as "Ein Sof" is otherwise known as "Boundless Light", which lines up with the endless whiteness of null space. TLDR: This is probably an aeon or the godhead from gnostic cosmology.

"What is Nagilum"? A disposable, 1 dimensional, antagonist.

Nagilum remains one of the most horrifying things in the Star Trek setting. The Q, while certainly more powerful, are more fascinating and less interesting because, for all their power, they are, on the whole, quite indifferent to the universe, given their state of being. However Nagilum occupies that weird space (no pun intended) of being very alien and powerful, but not so much as to be indifferent to what is happening around it. It is much like a god of greek mythology in this regard and more horrifying for it.

This being is the scarest thing in Star Trek. Q is well Q and has no need to toy or not toy with you. Nagilum is horrifying to me.

the klingons have encountered Nagilum before, worf know about a klingon legend of a gigantic black space creature which was said to devour entire vessels.

Do you know if Q new nagilum? Could he be the same as the god type in the final frontier?

I still stand by my theory that it was just Q fucking with them for shits and giggles

How I long for a modern star trek series but with the same principals of the TOS, TNG, and ENT.

The black thing in space containing Nagilum looks just like the dead zone surrounding the giant amoeba in STTOS episode The Immunity Syndrome. When the Enterprise D approached it, Data should have been able to access information on similar phenomena from the ship's database.

My take is that this is the story of a television screenplay writer. A writer who has been tasked to be a "god" in a universe he knows little of. Some aspects of the reality are fascinating to the writer. And some seem a little silly. But, after a bit of experimentation and familiarization, the writer begins his task. Effectively "allowing" the Enterprise to continue. Briefly reflecting on how he will be with the Enterprise crew for a long time.

I am glad Nagilum learned about genders in THEIR Century, because he would have been fucked in THIS one!

It seems somewhat obvious to me that Nagilum was supposed to be representative of what would happen if the universe were a large simulation and a scientist in the 'real' world decided to study various parts of it. Thus the 'thought reading' and manifestations of ships are all because the simulation is represented by code in the 'real' world. You could, I suppose, substitute the word 'real' with 'outside' or 'outer' or some such. To people who created this vast simulation, it would be relatively easy to manifest things within it and since they obviously have a far greater understanding of the rules of the game it's not surprising at all that materials they manifest would be 'beyond' the technology of those within the simulation. It's obvious that the simulation has manifested, or 'emerged', conscious and sentient entities within it. That in and of itself would be worth study. It also explains why Nagilum is relatively unconcerned with the effects of death. To him it's just code. Software. What really bakes the noodle is the idea of nested simulations of the same sort. Suppose Nagilum is just a simulation in another 'outside' world, and so on. Suppose they loop back on themselves so that there is no beginning. Even the way Nagilum appears is as if he were looking through a lens at them. The final obvious clue to this is after they are released from the null zone and have been traveling away from it at high warp for a period of time, Nagilum is able to manifest as a reflection in the screen on Picard's desk. Suggesting he didn't need them in the null zone to affect them. It was a scientific control to eliminate other influences on testing. Like isolating a program within memory. And also it is arguably the, or one of the, best TNG episode(s).

Nagilum is just a "Child playing with Ants". Even his "Speaking" with us is him learning "Ant-Speech", nothing else. His Powers are similar to a Q, but yet more confined to his Realms - but improving.

Idea. What if Nagilum is a species that is closely related to the Q. But unlike the Q who can use their own powers anywhere in the multiverse, Nagilum is limited to their own universe of "Nothing"

One thing nobody's seemed to have mentioned: Nagilum was altered when the HD version of this show came out. Before, it was VERY obvious that it was like a mask with holes in it with a human's mouth speaking. HD stretched and blurred it, making it less obvious and more alien in appearance.

This was such a great episode

watched this at 9 years old and was terrified! Was mostly due o the fantastic Ron Jones music. Why he got fired was beyond me

I wonder if Q and NAGILUM are aware of each other? For that matter what of their relation to the Prophets or other non corporeal beings?

The same questions can be asked of the episode where Picard (and the Enterprise) are time looped and falling into a wormhole/vortex thing. Troy said there was an intelligence behind it all but the episode never worked that out and they never revisited the concept. 😒

I was well potty trained by the time I saw this episode. Once Nagilum appeared on the view screen it was back to square one.

Do you pronounce ‘Nagilum’ differently each time on purpose!? 😂 I love this episode, it’s silly but fun and interesting silly. Plus let’s take a moment to remember Haskell, one of the most horrific crew deaths seen on TNG, maybe even worse than that woman who got stuck in the floor.

Q brought him back from the M continuum to study I read that from one the old paperback novels years ago

When I was younger, I found this episode truly unsettling, and, as on older person now, I find it perhaps even more so. The Q are intimidating with their power, but at least they are understandable, to a degree, with their motives, etc. and they manifest as totally human when communicating. Nagilum's face was just so...disturbing. So alien. A bit of the "uncanny valley" effect. Humanoid looking, but only just barely. It had a baby-ish look that creeeped me out. It's motives are so cold and alien, and everything about it's existence is a contradiction, even what it makes. The Yamaato is the Yamoto, and yet it isn't. The way it made utterly perfect replicas of Date and Troi to fool PIcard was errie. It's like they were exact replicas. Every single thing about the enitty is contradictory and frightening. I have a morbid fascination wth this episode, and the way it affects me, the way it spooks me, will always stay with me. One could go mad thinking of all the contradictions in the episode. "Is the absence of dimension itself a dimension" etc. It's a bit Lovecrafian in space, but even more alien than that, really.

I love this episode of TNG.

Nagilum I don't think was acting out of malevolence when he wanted to kill the crew to study death. Think about it really hard for a moment, he's immortal, on a completely different level of being from the crew, he could either just see them as animals, or not understand fully why death is so terrible to them. It's also entirely possible he did not understand death is permanent. There are too many possibilities to declare him malevolent at his first encounter with an entire different type of being living under different rules of existence than his own. As for his realm, it's probably simply higher dimensional than the 4 dimensional world we exist in, only 3 of which we can travel in. Nagilum's realm probably has more directions to move in that the Enterprise simply can't because of it's 3 dimensional movement abilities and perceptive abilities. "Could a lack of Dimension be a dimension in in of itself?" -Lt. Commander Data

So you suggest that we use "Deep space nine season 8" logic to whole Star Trek continuity. Now this is scary.

Nagilum (Earl Born), in TNG episode "Where Silence Has Lease", is what the Q Continuum ought to have been, rather than the snark snot some writer had forced upon John DeLancie. He (gender inferred from the voice) is an sentient, highly intelligent, immensely powerful, amoral entity who evidently dwells in deep space. He poses of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise -D several deeply troubling conundra. I would like to see how he, the Douwd (sp?) (John Anderson) (I do not recall the episode); Q2 (Corbin Burnsen (sp?) (I do not recall the episode), Ayelborne the Organian (John Abbott), in Star Trek (TOS) episode "Errand of Mercy"; the Metron ( AAAAAA) in Star Trek (TOS) episode "Arena" would interact.

This episode haunted my nightmares for years after seeing this episode as a child.

I maybe wrong. But I believe the crew thought it was the Yamoto only cause it's the only galaxy class within a reasonable distance at max warp to meet up with Enterprise. I honestly dont remember them confirming it was the Yamoto.

I always wondered why, the next time Q showed up offering favours, Picard didn't ask him to pay Nagilum a visit and demonstrate why it's a bad idea to screw with mortal lifeforms who might have powerful friends.

I think I've figured it out... NAGILUM is Ngyr-Korath, (hp lovecraft) Ngyr-Korath (The Ultimate Abomination, The Dream-Death and The Mad God of the Void) is a mythical being which existed before the planets, haunting the star-spaces. It appears as a dark blue-green mist which causes a sense of terror as it approaches. Once close, an eye of flame forms within. When life arrived it became enraged and started to devour stars. A Cult to Ngyr-Khorath exists. Its legend (part of the so-called Mlandoth Myth Cycle) appears in the Book of Thoth, The Chronicles of Thrang, the Uralte Schrecken, and The Texts of Mloeng. Von Könnenberg suggests that it is a form of the entity Mlandoth, and itself has an avatar, 'Ymnar. lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Ngyr-Korath

"STAR TREK ISNT REAL!! I mean, Star Trek isn't *real*, but, STAR TREK ISNT REAL!!" Quote of the channel right there.

I would say that the experiment did not end. Nagilum, although never appearing to Picard or the crew, most likely watched them from wherever he was from and continued evaluating the crew for his research. Does it justify what he did to them? No, but I believe he did not just disappear; he's out there.

Yes finally! Who else was waiting for Nagilum!

There were times other horrible things happened because of different values or a misunderstanding and Picard brushes it aside or forgives it to fulfill their mission of exploring new life. I feel like they had an opportunity to exchange information, even after they escaped it and build a partnership (even if Naggy here felt they were somewhat beneath it).

I just watched this episode last night. Quality watch. S2E2

This is one of the few creatures from the franchise that continues to creep me out. Edit: Nagilum looks like the Link's Awakening boss of the Face Shrine; who is just as creepy, seeing the illusion story of that game it's a bit too easy to link up the two entities.

Best Line Ever: "So Nagilum was a dick."

No, you're giving star trek writers a new messed up way to reboot things JJ style! Instead of time travel, they can just say the Enterprise D was lost with all hands after this episode and jump off a new series

You should do a video of all the cosmic entities in the star trek universe

I cringed when Data checked the database for another incident of a void in space. Apparently, Kirk and crew never logged the black void in space in THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME....?

Needs a "bwaaa" inception sound at the end for that revelation.