Cult-TV Theme Watch: Clouds

A cloud is a visible mass of chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planet.

Clouds of all shapes, colors, and sizes have appeared frequently throughout cult-tv history, and often have portrayed as alien life-forms.

In the Star Trek franchise, the appearance of a "space cloud" is something of a semi-regular occurrence.  For instance in the Original Series (1966 - 1969),  the Companion -- an ionic cloud -- appeared in the second season episode "Metamorphosis," dragging a shuttle down to a mysterious planetoid.  

Similarly, another space-traveling cloud appeared in "Obsession."  In that case, the cloud was also a life-form, albeit a dangerous vampire.

In Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 - 1974), in the episode "One of Our Planets is Missing," the Enterprise encounters a gigantic cloud that has wandered into our galaxy and is consuming planets at the edge of known space.  The Enterprise pierces the cloud, and finds that it possesses a quasi humanoid anatomy, replete with a nervous system and digestive system.  Spock (Leonard Nimoy) mind-melds with the intelligent cloud and it is able to understand human nature.

In a first season episode of Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999) called "The Storyteller, Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) battle a strange atmospheric cloud, the Dal'Rock, which seems to be a nexus of psychic energy.

And n the sixth episode of Star Trek: Voyager (1995 - 2001), titled "The Cloud," Voyager explores a nebula in the Delta Quadrant that isn't actually a nebula, but rather another sentient life-form.  After the ship accidentally harms the creature, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) becomes responsible for its health, and setting things right.

In the second season episode of Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977) titled "The Beta Cloud," Moonbase Alpha is attacked by a space-going cloud that camouflages a deadly and sinister alien intelligence.  The cloud first infects Alpha with a "lassitude" sickness, and then sends a fierce warrior to steal the base's life-support system.  When the Alphans, led by Maya (Catherine Schell), finally defeat the cloud, the roiling mist seems to retract and dissolve in  outer space, perhaps returning to its own dimension.

In the short-lived 1970s series The Fantastic Journey (1977), colorful, storm clouds represent portals through time and space near Evoland, a giant land-mass in the Bermuda Triangle.  In "Vortex," the series pilot, a green cloud at sea captures a sea-going vessel and deposits its inhabitants on the island's shore.  In a later episode, "Beyond the Mountain," the series protagonists encounter another such portal, but this time the cloud glows red instead of green.

Clouds also make a comical appearance in the finale of The X-Files episode "Rain King."  Here, a shy man with psychic powers -- and the ability to change the weather with his mind -- envisions only sunny skies (and happy clouds) when his unhappy personal life turns out the way he hopes, at long last.