What Is Moopsy: The Star Trek Alien Way More Terrifying Than Alien Facehuggers

"Star Trek" has introduced fans to all kinds of terrifying aliens and monsters. But few hold a candle to the dreaded Moopsy, introduced in "Star Trek: Lower Decks" Season 4, Episode 2 — "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee."

"Lower Decks" may be an animated comedy, but the creative team designed a creature that's equal parts adorable and horrific. When it's first introduced, it looks utterly harmless despite being kept in Narj's (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) Miraculous Menagerarium. It's pretty much a sentient marshmallow that says its own name like a Pokémon. Even the way it moves looks innocuous as it flops around, but when it gets into an enclosure containing two Pyrithian swamp gobblers, it shows what it's capable of.

Moopsy in "Star Trek" drinks bones. It latches onto its victim and slurps up bones somehow until the host is nothing but a skin sack. The crew of the USS Cerritos realizes the danger they're in and concoct a plan to get Moopsy back in its pen, namely by leaving behind a trail of teeth for the creature to eat to lure it back. Science fiction is no stranger to terrifying aliens, such as the xenomorphs in the "Alien" franchise that lay eggs in humans that the young will eventually burst out from. But there's something about the imagery of a creature drinking bones that puts Moopsy among the all-time terrifying sci-fi creatures.

Moopsy from "Star Trek: Lower Decks" would be a formidable opponent regardless of whatever science-fiction creature it was up against. A xenomorph from "Alien" may have corrosive blood, but it's not going to do much good without any bones. And even though a xenomorph's biology doesn't make a ton of sense, they do appear to have bones if "Predator 2" is any indication, as the skull of a xenomorph can be found on the aliens' ship. 

Perhaps it would be more fair to put Moopsy up against a similar entity from the same franchise, namely the tribbles from "Star Trek: The Original Series." Tribbles can be thought of as an early variant of Moopsy from the 1960s. They aren't quite as unsettling since they don't drink bones, but they're plenty dangerous without that skill. Instead, the tribbles aim to eat and reproduce ad infinitum. When it comes to cuteness, Moopsy probably has the advantage because it has an expressive face. 

Moopsy could also probably wipe the floor with the tribbles in a battle of brawn. Tribbles can multiply and take over a spaceship quickly if one's not careful. But again, and this can't be repeated enough, Moopsy drinks bones. As rodents, tribbles are likely filled with bones, so assuming Moopsy is particularly hungry, it could get through dozens of tribbles faster than they can reproduce. While we'd like to say we hope we see Moopsy again because it's so darn cute, it very well could haunt our nightmares with the way it slurps up bones like pho.