So Where'd They Go?
- Thread starter Arpy
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They were trying to keep the galaxy from becoming too familiar, by trying fresh ideas and introducing new species.
I don't think every series needs to show all species consistently. The Deltans, for example,appear only in a number of movies, IIRC, so in my estimation, they don't play too prominent a role in the Federation. So why would e.g. DS9 need to feature them?
On the other hand, species that IMHO should play a prominent role and are conspicuously absent, like Federation founding member races Tellarites and Andorians that we get to see only in TOS and ENT, and barely or even not at all in TNG and DS9 ... that would take a little more effort to explain away (I suppose Voyager can be excused in that respect, isolated in the DQ as they were)
No where. Our new heroes just didn't encounter them in the course of their adventures. I've never met anyone from Okinawa, even thought my Dad has been there. That doesn't mean Okinawa vanished.
The Gorn and Tholians were mentioned quite frequently on DS9, the Tholians were even mentioned a few times on TNG.
Would have been interesting to see how the production teams handled either of those species.
That always really bothered me. The Andorians and Tellarites, being founding members, probably experienced a great amount of prosperity as a result of getting into the Federation early and being involved in all of the trading and diplomacy that came with it. But why don't we see them? Vulcans are absolutely everywhere in every series (sans Voyager) and sometimes we even see crews consisting entirely of Vulcans.
Vulcans are constantly shown as some of The Federation's top scientists, but where are the Andorians and Tellarites? The Andorians are shown to have a great interest in military. Why not have them serve aboard cruisers and as defense analysts and admirals? The Tellarites are shown to love diplomacy. Why aren't they visiting potential Federation candidates? If a world has advanced far enough to put up with the Tellarites, they deserve a seat in the Federation.
At least we got a lot of them in ENT.
Each series needing to have its own 'creative identity' is probably one of the reasons.
But yeah, I wish more cameos of familiar species from past series would have been sprinkled throughout.
But yeah, I wish more cameos of familiar species from past series would have been sprinkled throughout.
To be fair, those three were created forty years after TOS aired on network television and twenty years after the last TOS movie.
Yeah, I was being a little cheeky, as the Brits would say.
Obviously, it was just a matter of there being so many episodes and so much budget with which to play. I guess I'm curious if fans came up with any ideas for what their statuses were based on tidbits from the series, lit, or random speculation...
I like to think at least one of those nations....star-nations?...peoples were conquered by the Klingon Empire or Romulan Star Empire. Just to reaffirm how dangerous they are, and that they're multiracial territories.
It may be interesting if one of them also messed with the wrong ancient alien technology, or failed the wrong superbeing's test. Space is ancient and dangerous, and it isn't just the Enterprise that finds itself at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Maybe one of them joined the Federation and so weren't conspicuously absent during the Dominion War when the entire quadrant was vying for its independence.
Maybe a couple of them fought a war with each other previously that neither sufficiently recovered from.
Or maybe some of them have stagnated technologically, just unable to keep apace with other powers. The Klingons aren't the most technologically astute, but they got a jump-start by being conquered by the Hur'q ages ago and had their leftover technology. They've also had more time to develop since then, compared to the humans who are relative newcomers to space-flight but have ever tried to unite and evolve.
Then again, maybe the Klingons are a warrior race who are scary precisely because they do evolve. The Chalnoth seemed pretty tough but were anarchists. The Nausicans were pretty scary but were rarely that sharp. Maybe there are physically tougher aliens out there, but Klingons are especially feared because they're also such a potent interstellar power.
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True, Greg, but everyone knows the Gorn are preoccupied trying to get their Cylons back in line.
Oh, wow, you're in Oxford, PA? If you're ever in Philadelphia or its western suburbs, I'll buy you a drink.
Been here for almost exactly 14 years now. I don't get into Philly as often as I should, but thanks for the offer!
When will they ever learn?
I imagine those in charge of TNG and DS9 probably thought the Andorians and Tellarites were too over the top for the 80's and 90's which is why we saw little or nothing of them. "Enterprise" did a good job with the Andorians from what I recall so they eventually found their way back to tv screens.
Shame the same can't be said for the CGI Gorn...
Shame the same can't be said for the CGI Gorn...
Dang, beat me to it!
It is said Berman was hesitant to bring the Andorians back because he thought they looked silly. Not sure why they waited even longer to bring back the Tellarites.
Well if he thought the Andorians looked silly, he probably thought the Tellarites were downright absurd.
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