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The Dark Ones were a mighty race of evil beings evolved from either a snake-like or frog-like ancestor. By the 31st century, no one knew what they looked like, but eventually, they were revealed to be the same species as the Desert Muck Leeches (Cyprinodon martius), which inhabited a small puddle on Mars.
Biology[]
They resemble small green segmented worms with lamprey-like toothed, jawless mouths, which are used to cling on to the skin of larger creatures and feed on blood. They have a hook at the end of their tail and can communicate with other species by telepathy.
The Dark Ones can read the minds of any being in the universe, with the exception of Philip J. Fry. Although they can read the thoughts of any species, other telepaths are unable to read the thoughts of the Dark Ones. This might indicate that, like Fry, they don't have a Delta Brainwave. Alternatively, it might just mean that they are able to block out their thoughts completely.
History[]
Eons ago, the Dark Ones roamed the universe with their simplest of missions to destroy all other lifeforms. Their greatest rivals were the Encyclopods, who made it their mission to save all endangered species by preserving their DNA. Eventually, the Encyclopods themselves were thought to have become extinct, while the Dark Ones survived, but in reality, at least one Encyclopod egg remained.
In the 31st century, the Dark Ones were known as the Desert Muck Leech, a deceptively humble life form, erroneously thought to be non-sapient.
Despite emerging victorious in the evolutionary arms race against the Encyclopods, the Dark Ones would later become endangered, reduced to inhabiting a single puddle on the Martian desert, which was later paved over for a car park built by Human businessman Leo Wong. The last of the Dark Ones was saved by Turanga Leela, and tried to manipulate events to lead to the destruction of the violet dwarf star that was actually the Encyclopod egg. Once its identity was exposed, the Dark One was killed by the newly hatched Encyclopod. True to its mission, the Encyclopod tried to preserve the DNA of the Dark One so that the species might be brought back in the future, but before it could do so the Dark One's body was eaten by a Decapodian named Zoidberg.
Appearances[]
- Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)
Notes[]
- Cyprinodon is a genus of pupfish, although this creature bears no resemblance to a pupfish.