Are the Gorn Really Civilized? Their Biology Says Otherwise

If the adult Gorn are the civilized ones, it's by the margin a sniper is more civilized than a bear. That's my answer to the usual defense of this species, and it starts with biology.

Gorn biology starts with implanted eggs and hatchlings that eat their way out

The Gorn reproduce by implanting eggs in other species, with venom. In this episode, a Starfleet ship rescues refugees from a breeding planet, and two of them are carrying Gorn eggs. The eggs and hatchlings hide from sensors. A hatchling eats its way out of its host. Then the hatchlings fight each other to the death until one remains, eating whatever is nearby.

The survivors shelter in the coldest part of the ship, because the cold is the only thing that keeps them alive.

The episode hides its Gorn hatchlings in shadows, and the sensors can't see them either

The episode stages its monster the way horror always has. Before you get a clear look at a hatchling, you'll often get shadows. The monster you don't see is the oldest trick in horror, and it works here because the crew can't see it either. Their sensors are blind to it.

Then Hemmer, the ship's engineer, discovers he's been implanted. He walks out into the cold to make sure the eggs die with him.

Writer Davy Perez has said Alien inspired this episode

If all of this feels like a different franchise, it's meant to. Writer Davy Perez has said Alien inspired him many times, and this episode especially. The homage is deliberate, and it's worth being fair about what it means.

I'd argue a species that feeds this way and breeds this way can't be honorable by human standards, no matter what it chooses. Hold on to that for a second, because I'm coming back to it.

The adult Gorn ran the breeding planet, set the trap in Memento Mori and massacred Cestus III

The usual defense here is that the hatchlings are feral and the adults are civilized. The hatchlings are certainly feral, but the adults ran the breeding planet. The adults set the trap in Memento Mori, emptied that colony, and massacred Cestus III.

If the adults are the civilized ones, it's by the margin a sniper is more civilized than a bear.

Do you think the adult Gorn can fairly be called civilized?