The Romulan "redesign" in The Neutral Zone

Well... I don't really like it.

The Romulans were originally intended to be just "evil Vulcans," if you look at it in a rather simple minded way.

So in 1987, it seems to me as though the producers rather self-consciously decided that they needed to make up for the limitations of TOS, and make the Roms look somehow different from the Vulcans. And, of course, there's the usual criticism of Trek that all you have to do to make an alien is to give an actor some funny ridges on his forehead...

Obviously, the real reason the original Roms look just like the Vulcans would be the make-up and budgetary limitations of the 60s (like the 60s of course). No other explanation is needed, as far as I'm concerned. I just don't like this sort of self-conscious retconning in shows (Doctor Who has often been guilty of it, too).

 

I never liked the Neanderthaloid forehead that TNG gave to the Romulans.

 

I guess theres also the possiblity that Reman DNA had made its way into the Romulans (cross breeding or something) which would (albeit loosely) explain that one.

 

Not a fan of the ridges either. Aside from them not looking good. The Roms are only a couple of thousands years removed from Vulcans, so why would they evolve ridges?

I think I read a theory that they bred with Remans and that's where the ridges came from, but that doesn't make sense either. Why would every Romulan have them? And why would they mate with Remans?

I will say that I really liked the uniforms from 'The Neutral Zone'. Why they only appeared in this episode is beyond me. They were far more interesting than the redesigned uniforms that followed for the next decade.

 

We could rather easily argue that the ridgeheaded Vulcans were the ones the most eager to join the political party that founded Romulus. Or was know as Romulans, for all we know.

The people who founded Liberia didn't "evolve" their skin color out of an American baseline, either...

I liked the "TNZ" uniforms, too. And quite a few things about the original TOS ones, too. (On the other hand, I was glad so see the inaugural uniforms of the Cardassians disappear!)

Timo Saloniemi

 

I like the Roms as an enemy, but didnt think the forehead change made sense unless it was genetically engineered for some strange reason. I hate the uniforms. They should have been redesigned in season 2.

What a shame, I thought the early Cardassian uniforms made them feel more alien, one of the rarities of STNG..much better than the later boring "vests" they wore. I'll take the cool crustacean armor over those any day.

The TOS Rom uniforms looked like sweaters with a sash. Neither Rom uniform was Theiss' best work.

 

Never liked the foreheads. Since Romulans are Vulcans, they should have looked like Vulcans. I did like the TNG Romulan uniforms, though.

 

Just show some VUlcans with ridges next time and the problem is solved.

 

Didn't really care for the ridges. But they made the Klingons look different in STTMP for the sake of making them look exciting and different from the humans. So I just figured they applied the same mentality to the change in the Romulans to make them look different from the Vulcans. The Trill got their overhaul going from TNG ("The Host") to DS9.

 

I always liked this theory. When they first went to Romulus and Remus, the founders of one planet happened to carry a lot of genetic material for the forehead ridges. Fast forward a few centuries and boom - one planet has ridges, one doesn't.

But then Nemesis more or less killed that. Go figure.

 

And STXI has buried it deeper than the layer of soot from the last supervolcano eruptions.

Nero and his gang are from post TNG. Nero and his cronies lack ridges. Therefore, no ridges.

Good riddance.

 

So some Romulans have ridges and some Vulcans have them; others don't. Is it settled then?

EDIT: Only question might be frequency of ridges.

 

More likely that Tallera was wearing prosthetics.

 

It wasn't the ridges that bothered me. It was those shoulder pads. OMG it was the worst costuming in Trek history. Embarrasing to look at.

And the bowl cuts! Oh dear. As a military cut, just about believable, but when we visit Romulus in "Unification" and everyone has them?? Ugh.

Fail.

 

I just pretend the ridges don't exist.

And yeah, every Vulcan and Romulan having a bowl cut was beyond ridiculous.

 

The Herman Munster foreheads were idiotic. Of course, as many know, this was because many actors didn't want to shave half their eyebrows as part of the Romulan eybrow makeup application. Hey, either you want the part or you don't. They'll grow back in a week or two!

 

To me part of the problem is casting. You just can't get anyone to put on that forehead and have it fit. I think they looked fine here:





But not here:

 

While I prefer non-ridged Romulans over ridges, they didn't bother me too much. I mean, it is totally plausible that at some point during their "exodus" from Vulcan, the Romulans merged with another race or races along the way or even the native species on Romulus, and some developed ridges.

What bothered me was the shoulder pads on the TNG series Romulan uniforms. My personal favorite military uniforms were the TOS Romulans. However, Vreenak's outfit looked pretty good, and the military uniforms probably should have been similar.

 

Or they could simply be a recessive phenotype that only pops up in certain portions of the population. Perhaps, depending on genetic makeup, individuals could have them to a varying degree (covers for the variance in makeup). I really see no problem with some having them, and some not having them.