A mass of anxiety

original trek: would fit right in here honestly, no change

the animated series: it’s even weirder somehow. the evolved human salamanders are hot pink.

tng: we actually know what they’d do because they’ve had two episodes in this genre already, but with some key differences: a) the character who transmogrifies into a glowy gecko (geordi) is the only character on the show with no daddy issues whatsoever, and b) “genesis” hinges on the fact that even if you turn into a lizard, your babies will be born normal. of course if those babies were humans and not cats, by the end credits they’d have somehow winked out of existence or never been born at all or something. the j/p babyfic fans just can’t win.

deep space nine: they definitely aren’t abandoning those babies!!! instead the babies die and it’s the saddest thing you’ve ever seen

enterprise: in only four seasons this show somehow had TWO precedents for “we will care for these accidental weird babies in a cringefunny way until we find them a home with more appropriate caregivers” AND a “crewmembers evolved into something stupid but we fixed it” episode

discovery: this is the one show where i feel confident that they keep the lizard babies forever. unsure if the parents leave the show for a while to care for them or if they just have an off-screen salamander daycare on the ship now, but they reappear out of nowhere in the last two episodes of the season to save the universe

short treks: it’s an entire civilization of human salamanders now

star trek picard: those babies are getting fucking dismembered right in front of you

strange new worlds: those babies are getting fucking dismembered right in front of you (by the good guys this time)

prodigy: ah heck i forgot this one before i posted and now i’m on time constraint. umm. the babies (still abandoned by parents) are main characters now

Salamanda....