How might this look otherwise or be or act differently?
Looking for something else, I serendipped into Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's famous Savoy Vase (his sketch, below, and with fish--from 1936, thirty years before ST; but Aalto is considered the Scandinavian father of modernism). With its revolutionary undulating form, it reminded me of one of my favorite life forms on Star Trek: the energy cloud called the Companion (top row, left), from the 1967 episode "Metamorphosis".
One of the show's most interesting relationships was between the Companion and the Earth man Zefram Cochrane, who has been stranded on the Companion's planet for 150 years. The Companion kept the man alive and would envelope and commune lovingly with him (bottom row, right).
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When Spock points out to Zefram that he is essentially the Companion's lover, however, Zefram freaks out, saying it's disgusting that he let something alien "crawl around inside me".
Spock comments, "Fascinating – a totally parochial attitude."
Rather ridiculously, it is established that the Companion is female, but still this is one of Star Trek's best moments, clearly stating that the containers of life--and love--in the Universe won't necessarily conform to the Human shapes of mid-20th century planet Earth.
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“This cloud imagines us and all that our story
Was ever going to be, and we catch up
To ourselves, but they are the selves of others”
--from "Riddle Me," by John Ashbery
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As always, Star Trek screencaps from TrekCore.com.
