Teenaxi The Teenaxi were a species of diminutive size from the planet Teenax . They were politically known as the Teenaxi Delegation . They were of a paranoid and often aggressive nature . Physiology . The Teenaxi were characterized by their short stature , measuring about a third of the size of an average Human male . Featuring large expressive eye s and mouths , the Teenaxi had short hind leg s and long arm s , giving them the capability of quadruped al locomotion . When agitated or angered , the Teenaxi were able fighters , rolling themselves in balls and launching themselves at their target , operating in large numbers to overwhelm a much larger opponent . ( ) History . In the alternate reality , the Teenaxi were offered an artifact from the Fibonan s via Captain . The goal was to broker a treaty with the Teenaxi . However , during negotiations , the suspicious leader of the Teenaxi became convinced that the Fibonans intended to use the artifact as part of a plan to " eat them " and the delegation attacked Kirk in a panic , a couple of them being beamed onto the by accident during his escape . A pair of Teenaxi were later ( i . e . , on about stardate 2263 . 2 ) chased through a corridor aboard the ship by a couple of security guards . Following the destruction of the " Enterprise " , Kevin – a Teenaxi – attended Kirk ' s thirtieth birthday party at Starbase Yorktown . Kirk noted Kevin wore a shirt but " still no pants . " ( ) Background information . " Star Trek Beyond " co - writer Simon Pegg compared the Teenaxi ' s function in the film to the Tribble s of , saying , " " The Teenaxi sequence with the tiny aliens at the beginning was the first thing we wrote , and it was kind of a joke . But when we came to the edit we were wondering whether it should start with the [ action sequence of the ] shuttle coming out of the nebula . But that didn ' t work . It had to start with a lightness . Our initial thinking was let ' s make the opening of the film a sort of lighthearted episode of the show , like " . " " A full - scale maquette of a Teenaxi was built , and was used as reference while the movie ' s opening sequence was being shot . The film ' s visual effects artists based designs on the maquette to sculpt the fierce - looking members of the Teenaxi Delegation . ( " Cinefex " , No . 148 , pp . 75 - 76 ) " " They were designed to look like they were seven feet tall . They had [ . . . ] a lot of detail in the skin and horns , " " commented Raymond Chen , visual effects supervisor at Double Negative , Vancouver . " " We did six hero builds – the grizzly old warrior , the young buck , the muscle – each with personality . " " The aliens were brought to life with keyframe animation , which was based on motion studies conducted by the Double Negative animators . They used a motion capture suit to decide on how the Teenaxi should walk . Since the aliens move somewhat similar to a gorilla , the animation team used cut - down crutches to extend their arms . ( " Cinefex " , No . 148 , p . 76 ) Inspiration for the essentially slapstick action where myriads of Teenaxi pour down the curved sides of their chamber towards Kirk came from pinball - style arcade games such as " Pachinko " . " " We did rigid body dynamics simulations of Tenaxi " [ sic ] " bouncing down the walls , " " recalled Raymond Chen . " " For the guys who were down on the ground , we relied on brute force animation , filled out with keyframe animation cycles . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 148 , p . 76 )