Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ reintroduction of the Caitians could have larger repercussions in the Star Trek universe. The animated series features a member of the humanoid cat race in Dr. T’Ana (voiced by Gillian Vigman), who serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the U.S.S. Cerritos. Dr. T’Ana also oversees one of the show’s main Lower Deckers, Ensign D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells), whose enthusiastic effervescence contrasts the crusty and crude feline physician.
Due to the budgetary limitations of Star Trek: The Original Series in the 1960s, most alien races were humanoids in makeup and elaborate costumes, although the occasional purely alien creature, like the Horta, was seen. However, Star Trek: The Animated Series in the 1970s allowed for more eclectic aliens to be seen, including some serving on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. TAS introduced the franchise’s first Caitian character, Lt. M’Ress (voiced by Majel Barrett), and the cat humanoid took the place of Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) as Communications Officer. M’Ress wouldn’t be the last Caitian seen in Star Trek during that era either; a male feline Starfleet Officer was also seen in live-action in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Dr. T’Ana isn’t one of the main characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks since the animated comedy focuses on the junior officers like Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), but she is a stand-out who gets memorable lines in every episode. T’Ana is gruff and lacking in patience or bedside manner, but the cat doctor does have a hidden softer side, and she had a romantic interest in the Cerritos‘ Bajoran Chief of Security, Lt. Shax (Fred Tatasciore), who once kissed her on the bridge. Unfortunately, her hopes to start a relationship with Shax were dashed in Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ season 1 finale when the Bajoran sacrificed his life to save his ship from the Pakleds. Dr. T’Ana was front and center at Shax’s funeral, and she remains in charge of the Cerritos’ sickbay and Ensign Tendi’s superior officer.
As an animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks makes it much easier for more elaborate humanoid alien beings to be prominent characters and Dr. T’Ana opens the door for other Caitians to appear in the franchise. Whether or not TAS is canon seems to change depending on the needs of the franchise, but regardless, M’Ress served on the Enterprise back in the 23rd century, over a hundred years before the setting of Lower Decks. But the Caitian race seems to be alive and well in the United Federation of Planets and there have been Caitians serving in Starfleet throughout the eras.
However, Star Trek: Picard, which is live-action, mentioned the existence of another race of humanoid cat people, the Kzinti, who also appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series, but as villains. Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) mentioned to Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) that the planet Nepenthe, where the Troi-Rikers made their home, was occasionally plagued by Kzinti raiders. Though the Kzinti weren’t seen, Picard established that they canonically exist, and that means the Caitians – and in effect, Star Trek: Lower Decks – is also canon, since some fans harbor doubts whether animated Star Trek shows ‘count’ as the live-action series do.
The links between the Caitians and the Kzinti are even more fascinating as the two cat races actually share a common ancestry. They are cousin races who originated from the same planet before the more aggressive Kzinti splintered off eons ago to create a more warlike culture. In effect, this makes the Caitians and the Kzinti the feline equivalent of the Vulcans and the Romulans, who shared a common origin before the Romulans left millennia ago to carve out their own empire. It’s possible, through Dr. T’Ana, Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 2 can elaborate on the Caitians’ relationship with the Kzinti. The live-action Star Trek series may even pick up the baton and, perhaps, the Caitians and the Kzinti have come together in Star Trek: Discovery‘s 32nd century, just as the Vulcans and Romulans were unified on the planet Ni’Var thanks to the work of Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy).
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