Are Denobulans and Cardassians distant cousins?
- Thread starter Jeffe525
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I never saw any resemblance. Not physical, and DEFINITELY not cultural.
Cultures vary widely even within a single species on a single planet (see Earth). I'm specifically referring to physical similarities (around the eyes, ears, and chin). To me, it looks like they could be distant cousins, akin to the Vulcan-Romulan heritage.
Does anyone know if Denodula and Cardassia are "close" to each other? Or has anyone ever heard the ENT creators comment on the topic?
The make-up artists are probably more closely related.
Hmm... Would "close" matter? To get a species to propagate from one world to another, one needs starships anyway - and they could get to distant as well as proximal places.
There are onscreen maps giving hints as to where Cardassia might be located, although nothing really specific. Such speculation is currently collated in the Stellar Cartography booklet/box and the ST Online map. Those sources also use the real star Iota Bootis as Denobula, an arbitrary choice made back when the preceding Star Charts booklet was made. But that's neither here nor there (although it is at least to the Cardassian side of Earth), as this speculation has never been turned into an onscreen graphic or mention.
Timo Saloniemi
Eh, I don't see it. Besides the ridges on the sides of the foreheads/around the eye sockets, there's nothing to tie them together. Denobulans lack the spoon, and the magnificent neck ridges, while Cardassians exhibit no puffer-fish abilities. And as has been mentioned, the two societies are hugely culturally divergent.
--Alex
--Alex
Phlox told us in Borderland that the Denobulans practiced genetic engineering. That could easily explain the change in coloration and removal of the "spoon-head" ridge.
Alternatively, you could be looking at two similar branches of humanoid evolution (as edicted by the ancient humanoids) that spent a longer time evolving from reptiles.
Using my old Star Charts (note: Timo is a credited Technical Adviser, so he might know more), I see the distance between Iota Bootis (Denobula Triaxa) and Alpha Ursae Majoris (the nearest real-world star to Cardassia) as 58.882 light years (I plugged in the numbers here).
Star Charts hypothesizes an ancient starfaring "Hebitian Empire", which really wasn't my takeaway from the episodes mentioning Hebitians, but could explain Denobula as a lost Hebitian/Cardassian colony that wound up doing its own thing.
Alternatively, you could be looking at two similar branches of humanoid evolution (as edicted by the ancient humanoids) that spent a longer time evolving from reptiles.
Using my old Star Charts (note: Timo is a credited Technical Adviser, so he might know more), I see the distance between Iota Bootis (Denobula Triaxa) and Alpha Ursae Majoris (the nearest real-world star to Cardassia) as 58.882 light years (I plugged in the numbers here).
Star Charts hypothesizes an ancient starfaring "Hebitian Empire", which really wasn't my takeaway from the episodes mentioning Hebitians, but could explain Denobula as a lost Hebitian/Cardassian colony that wound up doing its own thing.
I think Next Gen's The Chase can account for a lot.
Agreed that this wouldn't be my first bet for what the Hebitians were about - but the novels play with the idea, too, with a Prophecy and Change story stating that the Hebitians were slaves to the Cardassians in an early interstellar empire that marked the fall of the former and rise of the latter.
Possibly Hebitians and Cardassians were of the same species. But some stories make Cardassians and Bajorans be the same species, too. Or Hebitians and Bajorans. Given how flexibly all Trek humanoids interbreed, I guess everything is possible even without advanced genetic engineering knowledge.
FWIW, 50 lightyears gets you from Earth to just about everywhere important in the Star Charts / Stellar Cartography / STO universe. It's basically the definition of the Old World in that context, so that anything beyond that is for intrepid TOS era Earth explorers to discover. Not because early ships would have lacked range, presumably, but because after 50 ly, you bump into neighbors and can't expand any more (unless you're a military badass or a silver-tongued diplomat). Certainly Hebitians or early Cardassians could have roamed that far easily enough...
Timo Saloniemi
No puffer-fish abilities? What about the Cardassian neck trick?
Actually I do see it. I remember back when Enterprise first premiered we had lots of discussion about the Cardassian aspects in the Denobulan design here on the BBS.
The Cardiassians are just mean spirited humanoids with reptilian ridges and a preferences for the heat. There's nothing more biologically remarkable about them.
Phlox has a whole range of biological quirks and idiosyncrasies designed to give the alien doctor character a quirky mystique. So I would say no, there's no real relation between the two.
Phlox has a whole range of biological quirks and idiosyncrasies designed to give the alien doctor character a quirky mystique. So I would say no, there's no real relation between the two.
I also see it, and remember that it came up on the board. Especially when the character was first revealed. "A Cardassian crossed with Neelix" or something similar.
When you've designed that many make-ups, you're bound to have a few that look like each other.
Said the Kriosian to the Trill.
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