So I've started watching The Andorian episodes back-to-back. Am I to assume that ...between Reed's lipstick and Sopek's horriby applied make-up....the make-up artists had their hands full with the Andorians and couldn't be bothered to do a full job on everyone else?
I'm forced to agree: I'm sure that as the ratings continued to be lackluster, they started cutting corners everywhere they could. The make-up department on ENTERPRISE did seem to have a really small staff/budget. As to the Andorian make-up, specifically, Jeffery Combs' eyes were always bloodshot and squinty, as an Andorian, except towards the very end, where maybe they started using paint that didn't have such fumes, or whatever. But yes, you were not the only one to notice the piss-poor job from the make-up department, I assure you. There is tremendous pressure in a job like that, though. Stars' careers depend so greatly on how they look, so I'm kind of surprised to have seen that happen, especially in the most recent STAR TREK series ...
I've never noticed the problems with Reed or Sopek, but looking at the image of Sopek on Memory-Alpha it does look very "splotchy." I'm not sure about the Reed lipstick issue though, I've never noticed it and nothing seemed to stand out in the TrekCore screencaps. That said, when rewatching on blu-ray, I noticed that some of the Andorian makeup jobs were pretty poor as well. There was one (I don't remember who it was exactly, maybe the SO who appears on the viewscreen in "Proving Grounds") where the makeup around the eyes was quite bad, like they forgot to apply the blue eyeliner, so he had pink rings around his otherwise blue face. It definitely brought be out of the episode, given that he was in several closeups.
I think perhaps another "tell" in the reduced makeup budget is in "Acquisition" out of the four actors who played Ferengi, two of them (Combs and Philips) had already played Ferengi in the past, and at least one of the others (Howard, but I think it's safe to assume Malloy likely did as well) wore the appliances from molds made for other actors (Howard stated he wore Shimmerman's). I'd imagine not having to cast and create all new molds saved a substantial amount of the budget.
Suzie Plakson played an Andorian Tarah, and I always thought they didn't do a good job on her make up and that was season 2.
Women always seemed to get a little better treatment, as far as make-up would go, anyway. For example, the Orion Slave Girls' make-up was done in a layered, almost translucent way that was well done. I hated the head appliance for the Andorians, though. Having their attenae more towards the middle, at the top of the skull seemed to make more sense, to me. Now, they're quasi-horn-like, similar to Hell Boy, or something like that. It also ended up giving Andorians very high foreheads - including the girls - which was kind of off-putting, truth-be-told.
That was the only time I ever noticed anything wrong with anyone's makeup. Plakson to me looked like she had the Andorian equivalent of a peeling sunburn.
He's incorrect. It was Jeffrey Combs and Ethan Phillips who wore "Quark" heads, while Clint and Matt Malloy both wore "Brunt" heads.
One thing I did like about the new Andorian makeup was how expressive those antenna were- so much better that the static sucker-things used before. The way they moved around while a character was talking gave the impression of an additional sense was being used to perceive...