What aliens should they have met in season 5?

[Bry_Sinclair]

Deltans, Efrosians, Rigellian Chelon (the sabre-toothed turtles), Skorr/Aurelians, Edosians, Caitians, Saurians, Rhaandarite.

[ChristopherPike]

Betazoids - who eventually negotiate an Armistice with the Romulans, ensuring there's never any officially recorded face-to-face meeting. Telepathy plus subspace technology. Either that or the Aenar are involved and possibly the Remans on the opposing side.

A episode each featuring first contact with El Aurians and Cardassians would've been nice.

[Kegg]

M wrote:

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How about something completely new and original?

I'm definitely not one of the people who seemed to have a problem with Enterprise foregrounding races we'd never heard of - the Denobulans, the Suliban, the Xindi. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of Star Trek of any era will pretty much trip over dozens of alien races that are seen or mentioned once and then never again, something that's true even of the original series (for all the great hoopla made about Balok's First Federation it disappeared like a mirage...)

I think really the issue with the new races was to do interesting things with them. There were definitely some ideas with Denobulans that had merit - their nonhuman social mores, for example, and Phlox was very personable and well performed by Billingsley - but the makeup design always felt pretty prefunctory to me, like the design one excepted from a Voyager alien of the week.

But yeah, new aliens. Just give some meat to the matter - an interesting story involving these aliens - and make it work. Offhand I thought "Silent Enemy" handled an alien of the week in a pretty solid manner.

But moving on!

t_smitts wrote:

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-Technically, they could've made first contact with the Betazoids,

Betazoids are the first that came to mind for me. It's implied they're in the same ballpark as Vulcan, Tellar and so on during the Dominion War arc of DS9, so they were almost certainly contacted during the 22nd century. Their somewhat underplayed mores (like naked weddings) does sound like fodder for the kind of humour Enterprise was terrible at, though, so I'm of two minds there.

t_smitts wrote:

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I remember hearing about that. I was sort of on the fence about that, since I'd grown up never seeing TAS and accepting it was non-canon.

And it would be dealing again with the messy issue of basically importing an alien species from another well-known science fiction franchise... like if the Enterprise just ran into Wookiees or something. I'm aware there's a precedent in "The Slaver Weapon", but - while that's definitely one of TAS' strongest episodes - it's no less weird there.

...and has a cat-race ever looked good in live action? The dreadful Kilrathi of the Wing Commander movie come to mind.

I dunno. It could work, and I'd trust Coto particularly to make a fanwanky episode that's nonetheless very entertaining, but I can just see ways that'd go wrong.

[King Daniel]

How well-known are the Kzinti, really? I imagine seeing them in Star Trek would boost sales and interest in Larry Niven's novels.

Farscape had some fantastic 7-foot-tall kitty people, using actors on stilts, with excellent costumes and makeup. I can't really see the forehead-obsessed Trek going for something so different, but I'd have loved to see them try.

[pimp]

I always wanted to know who that shadow figure guy was helping those suliban was. Maybe he from a different race of people??? his story wasn't fully explained.

[King Daniel]

Ah, good old "Future Guy". His identity and backstory are revealed in the novel Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock. As for his species, he's...

A Romulan/Suliban/Tandaren hybrid.

[Sindatur]

Kegg wrote:

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...and has a cat-race ever looked good in live action? The dreadful Kilrathi of the Wing Commander movie come to mind.

The Cat Nurses in Doctor were pretty awesome looking, IMHO

[T'Girl]

the Cowardly Lion, not too bad for the day.

[Kegg]

KingDaniel wrote:

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How well-known are the Kzinti, really? I imagine seeing them in Star Trek would boost sales and interest in Larry Niven's novels.

Oh no doubt they would. IIRC Larry Niven was all for the use of the Kzinti in season 5, and of course he'd been quite happy to adapt one of his own short stories for the animated show. So there's clearly no issue on that front.

As to how well known they are... Ringworld is a Hugo and Nebula winning novel and was quite a hit in its day and is still often cited as a classic. There's nowhere near as well known as Wookiees, obviously, or most other media aliens... but as far as aliens in sci-fi literature, they're probably among the more recognizable races.

Farscape had some fantastic 7-foot-tall kitty people, using actors on stilts, with excellent costumes and makeup. I can't really see the forehead-obsessed Trek going for something so different, but I'd have loved to see them try.

I'm not sure who you mean offhand. Unless you mean the guy from "DNA Mad Scientist", and he was pretty awkward looking. I love Farscape, I love their muppets, and I love their commitment to doing really weird looking aliens, but the truth is their muppets-of-the-week - or partial muppets of the week - were of decidedly variable quality, and he wasn't that convincing.

T'Girl wrote:

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the Cowardly Lion, not too bad for the day.

'For the day' is probably the key phrase.

Sindatur wrote:

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The Cat Nurses in Doctor were pretty awesome looking, IMHO

No idea what that is. Sounds like one hell of a B movie, though. The Cat Nurses in Doctor! See the thrilling feline medical assistants to host themselves in the body of the medical professional! A tale beyond your imagination!

And I suppose the probably-Caitians of The Voyage Home looked alright, but we never had to see them talk.

[Bry_Sinclair]

Kegg wrote:

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No idea what that is. Sounds like one hell of a B movie, though. The Cat Nurses in Doctor! See the thrilling feline medical assistants to host themselves in the body of the medical professional! A tale beyond your imagination!

And I suppose the probably-Caitians of The Voyage Home looked alright, but we never had to see them talk.

I believe he means the Sisters of Plenitude from Doctor Who.

[teacake]

^I love how they look elegant with all the qualities of a cat that raised them to god like status in some cultures but with zero cuteness.

[Sindatur]

Bry_Sinclair wrote:

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I believe he means the Sisters of Plenitude from Doctor Who.

Thanks Bry, apparently I inadvertantly left out the "Who" in Doctor Who, no surprise it made no sense

[Bry_Sinclair]

Sindatur wrote:

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Thanks Bry, apparently I inadvertantly left out the "Who" in Doctor Who, no surprise it made no sense

Here to help

[jespah]

Has anyone mentioned Ikaarans? Karyn Archer is part one, but we never see a full one.

[The_Baron]

Kegg wrote:

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...and has a cat-race ever looked good in live action? The dreadful Kilrathi of the Wing Commander movie come to mind.

Tell that to The Cat from Red Dwarf! He's lookin' nice!

and now?

Still lookin' nice!