By Jordan Hoffman and Simon of Toasted Pixel.
Those who don't know better think the appeal of Star Trek is in the imaginative alien creatures, the forward-thinking spacecrafts or the groovy gadgetry. Some might even think it has to do with well-developed characters, original storytelling or (tut tut) tight spandex jumpsuits. The lure, of course, is none of this. If you watch any of the 726 canonical episodes of Trek television (or one of the ten films) you are bound to run into what makes we true fans salivate: nebulas, ionic disturbances and gaseous anomalies.
Something about a villainous purple blob speaks directly to our inner soul. Most of the best Trek stories involve a representative from this fearsome triumvirate - indeed, when the severed heads of the Original Series cast (plus Welshie) were on Futurama, it was the disembodied green gas (and obsessive Trek fan) Melllvar that held them prisoner. (We've been to Trek conventions and recognize how true to life this episode was.)
And frankly, naming these phenomena the way Star Trek does just gives CLASS to clouds of crap, and allows us to defuse embarassing situations with scientific terminology. When our roommates in college created noxious nebulae in the bathroom right before class and we'd have to discourage it for the future, we wouldn't have to awkwardly yell how nasty it is or ask who had what for lunch. We would simply yell, "CAPTAIN!" very alarmed, holding up beeping tricorders. If anyone inquired further, we'd say, "It is... anomalous." And they would understand.
Believe us when we say, it was quite tough to shave this list down to 11. But here is our attempt.
