Star Trek: The Mugato, Explained

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The Star Trek universe was filled with a vast array of diverse alien species, and the Mugato was one of the franchise's strangest beasts. First seen in Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 16 "A Private Little War", the Mugato was a one-off villain that was most memorable for its odd appearance and dangerous behavior. It would be absent from the franchise for decades before it was further fleshed out in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 2, episode 4 "Mugato, Gumato", and its later appearance in the series showed there was more to the beasts than was originally depicted in their auspicious debut.
The mystery of the Mugato grew in the intervening years between its appearances in canon, and even apocryphal sources like novels were scarce compared to other aliens featured in TOS. Star Trek brought back the TOS monster in Lower Decks, and the creatures' later appearance completely changed the perception of them that had been established in TOS. Though the Mugato was one of the cheesiest aliens from TOS, their return to the franchise was a chance to completely reinvent them, and properly reintegrate the species into modern Star Trek.