"there are very few stories in which the various Starfleet crews make first contact with people that remind us of ourselves. Over the years, Star Trek has doubled down on the idea that most aliens are humanoid in shape, and has even provided a big, overarching canonical reason for that fact. On top of that, most aliens appear to speak English, which we can hand-wave away because the Universal Translator exists."
"Thirty-five years ago, with an episode called "First Contact," The Next Generation flipped the script on most Trek stories about alien cultures. Though the title "First Contact" is most famously associated with the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact, the Season 4 episode with that title told a smaller, more philosophically complex story. During the week of February 19, 1991, TNG aired this unique episode and gave us a great story in the tradition of classic science fiction."
Star Trek commonly presents aliens as humanoid and speaking English, with an in-universe explanation and the Universal Translator enabling communication. The Next Generation episode "First Contact" reverses the usual perspective by presenting Starfleet personnel as perceived extraterrestrials. In the episode, Malcorians discover that Riker lived among them disguised as a Malcorian. The narrative is told from the alien perspective, invoking parallels to alien abduction lore and Roswell obsessions. The episode opens cold and resembles an X-Files–style story while offering philosophically complex themes. The Season 4 installment aired in February 1991 and aligns with classic science fiction traditions.
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