Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's Furies Are The Creepiest Space Villains Since Firefly's Reavers

Spoilers for "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" episode 6 follow.

In "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," a portion of the campus is the USS Athena, which can leave Earth and warp into space. This wise decision allows "Starfleet Academy" to feature space exploration like a traditional "Star Trek" show.

Episode 6, "Come, Let's Away" shows a field trip taking a dangerous turn. The Athena visits a "starship graveyard," where the Starfleet and War College cadets are assigned to work in teams to bring power back to the long-disabled USS Miyazaki. But as Captain/Chancellor Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) warns her students, they live in a much harsher galaxy than past Starfleet officers did. 

The Federation is diminished because of the Burn, which means different space pirate rings have sprung up. One of them, the Furies, attack the Miyazaki and seize the cadets. The Furies are somewhat enigmatic; while humanoid-shaped, they're related to the bat-like species the Lynar (which makes them vulnerable to sonic weapons).

Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) warns the Furies are known to kill hostages even after they've been paid. The Furies are so dangerous that Starfleet enlists the help of the Furies' supposed rivals, the Venari Ral and Nus Braka (Paul Giamatti). Braka (who is actually in league with the Furies) explains the Furies are in constant pain and are compelled to spread pain. They even devour their victims, and supposedly they can even tear up a Klingon's tough hide. When the Starfleet cadets make their escape, the Furies descend on their teacher and rip him apart. 

The Furies communicate with velociraptor-like shrieks, adding to the predatorial vibes. As cannibalistic, rage-driven space pirates, they also evoke the Reavers from the short-lived Space Western series, "Firefly." 

"Reaver" derives from the word "reave," meaning to rob or plunder. The "Firefly" Reavers live up to this description. One of the most chilling lines I've ever heard in a TV show is when Zoë (Gina Torres) explains to Simon (Sean Maher) how the Reavers operate:

"If [the Reavers] take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing, and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

"Firefly" is largely modeled on the history (and historical fiction) of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, but with any problematic racial politics written out of the text. It'd be a bit harder to root for Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) if the Browncoats had been fighting to preserve slavery like the Confederates were.

Reavers are the equivalent of "savage" Native Americans in old Western pictures, as Joss Whedon has confirmed. The Reavers live on the frontier of colonized space, where they raid both lone starships and isolated towns on settled planets. Most Reaver victims end up as skeletons decorating their ships, but the Reavers sometimes torture/brainwash their captives to create more Reavers.

In keeping with the mystery, no one in "Firefly" knows where exactly Reavers came from. The common wisdom is that the vastness and emptiness of space drove them mad. The 2005 sequel film "Serenity" revealed the truth about their origins, but we'll leave that unspoiled.

Since "Firefly" only lasted 14 episodes, it never got the chance to show any Reavers onscreen; in the pilot "Serenity," our heroes are chased by a Reaver ship and narrowly escape, while in "Bushwhacked," they come across the remains of ship attacked by Reavers. A grim, best-unmade "Firefly" episode would've seen Inara (Morena Baccarin) abducted by some Reavers, so the show likely intended to depict them at some point.

"Serenity" was eventually able to depict what Reavers look like, albeit still shown with quick cuts to underline their relentlessness. The Reavers have pierced and carved flesh, sharpened teeth and wear "Mad Max" style clothes. Like the Reavers, the Furies aren't shown onscreen in much detail, but their costumes look more like the Cenobites from "Hellraiser" and the Mouth of Sauron from "The Lord of the Rings."

"Star Trek" is all about envisioning the best possible future if humanity turns to space-traveling. In "Firefly," though, humanity hasn't moved past struggles of old, and the Reavers represent the cruel face of all-too human violence. It remains to be seen if the Furies will be more than a one-off villain on "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," but Starfleet appears to have finally found an enemy that evokes the same terror as the Reavers did on "Firefly."

"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" is streaming on Paramount+.