How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

[SchwEnt]

But more non-humanoid aliens would be a welcome sight. I can't believe it's a technical or budgetary issue. Aliens like The Companion, the Providers, Sylvia and Korob, the Medusans... not humanoid, not expensive, very alien.

But the Companion, Medusans, and the TOS Tholians were expensive, because they were optical effects. They also suffer from not being able to physically interact with other characters in a scene. Even Melvin Belli's horrible Gorgan character was an optical, forcing him to be motionless and possibly not even on the set when talking to Kirk.

Oh sure, the Tholian. The Horta, the Melkot, Yarnek. I can see those being costly. Nomad, too.

But... the Providers were rubber brains with a light bulb (with voiceover). Can't be more than the cost of a guest actor to play an alien. Same with Sylvia and Korob.

The Companion was an optical effect, like the Zetarians. Not to belittle the effects work, but flashing lights and some animation is effective.

The Medusan was a light in a box, with some flashing overlays. Couldn't be too expensive.

More costly than a guest actor with makeup work?

 

[Mojochi]

There were a lot of aliens where they veered away from the Human form in TNG. The Crystaline Entity. The pink insects in "Conspiracy." The energy beast in "Tanagra" or whatever it was called. Tin Man ... on and on. To see this kind of imagination made it alot worse when I'd end up seeing an "alien" Human whose species is only defined by a "tatoo," or they all have the same hair colour. Or, worst of all, when they only had an odd wrinkle on their forehead, or a bump on their nose. And even some of the entire latex heads do look a bit Halloweeny, but I really appreciate the effort and attempt at artistry. Whether it succeeded or not, at least they wanted to give the audience that extra effort and you know what? It forgave a lot of sins, as far as I'm concerned.

Good point. Nagilum, The Calamarain, Junior, from Galaxy's Child, The Exocomps, The Nanites, & several other plain old energy beings, both micro & macroscopic, all made it into TNG, one of which began as a humanoid & evolved at the end. Hell, the pilot episode is about discovering a life that had been too unusual to notice right off

The problem is that people never seem to pay credit when Trek DOES push the boundaries of imagination on alien life. All the critics seem to notice is "That guy's got a funny forehead". Well, c'mon, it's an actor. What do you expect them to do? They used makeup, prosthetics, full on costumes at times. They were as varied at their presentation as is realistically possible, in my opinion. So what if it leaned on occasion to the actor in heavy makeup? That's just impossible to get around on a tv budget in those days

 

[jimbotron]

I always found the voice of the Gorgon quite chilling! The way it's enhanced, it almost sounds like voices within voices.

Of course, the dying woman on Memory Alpha, croaking out that weird alien 'language' still terrifies me!

Oh gosh, both of those were nightmare fuel.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

It also depends on the story.
If you want to tell a story where the character never speaks or interacts directly with anybody and just floats around as energy as people marvel at it, then that makes sense.

If you want to tell something about us, hold up that mirror and get connections, emotions, morals and interactions, then a person with a silly forehead does that better than any effect television can allow for.

 

[Mojochi]

Besides, how silly is what you see on Star Trek, when actual people look like this?

 

[shivkala]

It's always interesting what breaks people's suspension of disbelief and/or what someone does and doesn't find interesting. With Star Trek it's the "forehead aliens," with the various Stargates it was that every race spoke English, with Babylon 5 it's the special effects, and so on. Personally, I've never been one to let those issues bother me.

However, I do prefer fiction set in the future, or at least the present. By and large, I watch mostly sci-fi or contemporary shows. Game of Thrones being a notable exception. To each their own.

The "forehead aliens" never bothered me. And it's hardly only apparent in Star Trek. Most sci-fi shows that feature aliens have their own versions of it. Or, go with the Stargate we all come from a similar origin. Of course, there's Farscape which just went Muppet!

 

[mos6507]

My problem is the tradition of just sticking a funny forehead or nose piece on an actor makes an alien. I know the reasons behind it, but it is annoying never the less.

And the reason it's bad isn't that it's a minor alteration of a human face, but that it focuses on just one part of the head, the nose/forehead area. It reflects lazy formulaic thinking. In TOS they at least got out the greasepaint and wigs and you had antennae and ear extensions. I'd rather they just used aliens that looked just like us but just behaved and dressed differently (as was often done in TOS) than to reach into a revolving list of forehead ridge patterns.

 

[Silvercrest]

Of course, the dying woman on Memory Alpha, croaking out that weird alien 'language' still terrifies me!

I haven't seen that in a long time but it sure used to terrify me. Need to go back and try it. In a dark room. Late at night.

But [they] were expensive, because they were optical effects. They also suffer from not being able to physically interact with other characters in a scene. Even Melvin Belli's horrible Gorgan character was an optical, forcing him to be motionless and possibly not even on the set when talking to Kirk.

The tradeoff was probably worth it — compared to having him there.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think people's barometers for ridiculousness is calibrated differently based on what they're exposed to early. Worf doesn't look ridiculous to me at all.

I do agree animal themes are overused in both Stars. I like Mass Effect does a much better job with the appearance of aliens.

Want to know how you can get past your reaction to the makeup style, just remember it 'a a TV show produced on a budget and try to train yourself on the skill of suspending disbelief.

Personally I think the Michael Bay Ninja Turtles look awful and ridiculous. CGI on the same screen as live action characters look awful and uncanny valleyish to me. I'm sure the kids raised on it will have no problem with it.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Of course, the dying woman on Memory Alpha, croaking out that weird alien 'language' still terrifies me!

I haven't seen that in a long time but it sure used to terrify me. Need to go back and try it. In a dark room. Late at night.

That's the way to go, for maximum impact.

When I'd gotten my DVD's a few years back, and not having seen The Lights of Zetar in years, it just so happens that late at night was when I happened to watch it. Chilling scene.! (and I say again: )

 

[Last Redshirt]

I actually never minded the aliens, and thought the makeup department does a nice job at really making them look 'alien' while still recognizably humanoid. By far the most alien humanoid that we saw, in my opinion, was the Cardassians. They were truly wonderfully made.

I don't get this whole argument about 'aliens DO NOT look like that!' It's like...how do you know? Have you seen an alien?

 

[Richard Baker]

"The Lights of Zetar" was the only original Star Trek episode my parents would not let me watch as a young kid- the glowy croaking woman was a bit too much they thought.
When I did see it finally it did not affect me much- i was impressed by how effective that scene was though.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

"The Lights of Zetar" was the only original Star Trek episode my parents would not let me watch as a young kid- the glowy croaking woman was a bit too much they thought.
When I did see it finally it did not affect me much- i was impressed by how effective that scene was though.

Thinking about it now, I think a good portion of its effectiveness was the woman lifting her head, and looking right into the camera.

 

[wulfio]

because it's a tv show.

 

[Beta-Z]

"The Lights of Zetar" was the only original Star Trek episode my parents would not let me watch as a young kid- the glowy croaking woman was a bit too much they thought.

I watched it first as a 7 y.o. and that particulary scene gave me horrible nightmares for several months and i could only go to bed with the lights on.
That was a really traumatic experience and even now when i see it, i can still feel some of that fear that this gave me as a kid. *shiver*

 

[JeffinOakland]

I remember when I was growing up back in the late 70s and early 80s and we would watch reruns of Star Trek and pretty much point at the screen and laugh at the amateurish makeup and completely unconvincing props and outfits. The Gorn was particularly eye-rolling. He was obviously just some poor bastard in an uncomfortable looking ugly rubber lizard-man outfit. I assume he walked that slowly because the poor guy couldn't see a thing out of that huge misshapen head. Now, I'm adult and I accept that stuff with a grain of salt and my suspension of disbelief.

 

[Melakon]

You'll love The Creature from the Black Lagoon then.

 

[JeffinOakland]

Anything before the widespread use of modern cgi looks patently fake and absurd. Maybe people "back then" had more imagination because they had to have more imagination to make of the difference in absurd vs plausible.

 

[Melakon]

That's limiting yourself to a pretty narrow range of history when it comes to film then.

 

[JeffinOakland]

I should have been clearer. I meant to say almost all sci-fi/fantasy fx previous to sophisticated, realistic cgi looks absurd (obviously fake).