These types of Orions have only appeared once before in canonical Trek, and you can probably guess where. In “The Pirates of Orion,” the season two premiere of Star Trek: The Animated Series, Kirk must match wits with the Orions to recover a life-saving drug needed to save the afflicted Spock.
Although Kirk and co. have dealt with Orions before, they pronounce the race’s name as “Or-ee-On” instead of “Or-RYE-On” in this particular story, and they never comment upon the pirates’ outrageous new costumes or different shade of skin. The differing pronunciation has a simple explanation, as the script for “The Pirates of Orion” (written by Howard Weinstein, directed by Bill Reed) did not include a pronunciation guide. And as rabid as we fans today are about canonical consistency, William Shatner and James Doohan didn’t have worry too much about that back in the day.
The other changes can be chalked up to the same reasons behind changes in the depictions of Klingons or Tellarites. The producers had a limited budget and had to make do with the demands of their medium. While TAS managed to make a traditional green Orion with Devna from season one’s “The Time Trap,” the green skin given to most Orions turned blue as the original color didn’t work well in animation. Likewise, the rags of most Orions didn’t pop in cartoons, so when the story called for the aliens to be pirates instead of seducers, TAS gave them supervillain costumes, not unlike those found in other Filmation cartoons.
“The Pirates of Orion” marked the last appearance of the Orions for 30 years. When Enterprise brought them back for “Borderlands,” the race retained the penchant for piracy and firing first depicted in “The Pirates of Orion.” But they also had green skin again, and much less flamboyant costumes. Moreover, they treat sex slavery as part of their piracy, streamlining depictions in TOS and TAS.
It’s those elements that have continued in later Star Trek series. In addition to Tendi’s pursuits and family squabbles, the Orions appear in Discovery as slavers and pirates. The Orions continue those practices 900 years later. Even as Starfleet and the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire lose power, the Orion-led Emerald Chain ascends.
Despite this evolution, Star Trek has largely ignored the blue skin and crazy costumes of the TAS Orions. It seems that the franchise followed Worf’s lead, when members of the Deep Space Nine crew traveled with him back to the TOS era and saw the smooth-foreheads of those Klingons. When asked about the discrepancy, Worf simply growls, “We do not discuss it with outsiders.”
