The klingon's forehead comes from the fact that it took them a long time to invent the doorknob and their only way to open doors was by striking them with their heads, they also had big granite doors to boot.
Reasons for evolution
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If you look at the classic Sci-Fi movie ALIENS, James Cameron not only modified the design of the Alien costumes, somewhat, to take them further away from looking like a Man in a suit ... he also found unusual and inventive ways of shooting them to help veer the creatures more away from being Humanoid. STAR TREK has done that, too, for instance in the VOYAGER episode "Distant Origins," there's these dinosaurian people whose heads were fairly interesting and complex in design. Then, on top of that, there are extreme close-ups, usually, of whatever one's speaking, so that its image distorts, slightly, in the camera lens.
Also, there was use of unusual angles, sometimes, to suggest a slight "funhouse" effect on them, so they seem slightly disproportionate, sometimes. I mean, for what the episode is ... I'm really kind of surprised all these steps were taken. But I'm sure the makeup inspired the extra steps and there are only but a few of the dinosaurs. Half a dozen, or so. It makes you wonder, "why aren't all the aliens handled in such an unusual way, in STAR TREK?" You almost don't notice it, though, until you do see that kind of treatment in action ...
Also, there was use of unusual angles, sometimes, to suggest a slight "funhouse" effect on them, so they seem slightly disproportionate, sometimes. I mean, for what the episode is ... I'm really kind of surprised all these steps were taken. But I'm sure the makeup inspired the extra steps and there are only but a few of the dinosaurs. Half a dozen, or so. It makes you wonder, "why aren't all the aliens handled in such an unusual way, in STAR TREK?" You almost don't notice it, though, until you do see that kind of treatment in action ...
In "Distant Origin", it was a nice touch when the saurian professor while speaking with his assistant casually caught an insect with his tongue and ate it. It was well played, as something that was quite ordinary to them.
Oh, yeah! And a completely unnecessary expense, it's not like we need further proofs that he's an alien, but it's just an added "cool factor" to help the audience get into it. Does it make "Distant Origin" a brilliant episode? No. Does it send ratings through the roof? No. But it does encourage you to be a fan, when you see the care that goes in, over the long haul, I feel. Selling a quality product does a lot better than trying to sell something on hype.
Not to mention, TOS had aliens that were indistinguishable from humans! I know it's en vogue to criticize the TNG\DS9\VOY era as the "forehead of the week" era of Star Trek, but at least there was an attempt to make aliens look less human.
I think Stargate did a better job of explaining why so many aliens appeared human...it was because they were, or at least descended from humans. Of course, Star Trek TOS had those too where it is presumed that the Preservers had some hand in transporting humans, including Miri's planet (even being a duplicate of Earth), the Native Americans of Paradise Syndrome, and possibly the Roman planet in Bread and Circuses. But the human appearance of a lot of other aliens, like the Iotians, Ekosians, Zeons, Platoans, just to name a few, is never explained, beyond Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development.
The Chase does give some explanation of humanoid appearance. You just have to accept it. Until we meet aliens, who is to say they aren't mostly humanoid. Aside from being predators, part of the reason we have the big brains we do, is our opposable thumbs. You need your hands free to make and use tools, so its natural that a species ultimately becomes bipedal. So, I think that could be an in-universe explanation as to why most aliens in Star Trek are also bipedal, and humanoid in appearance.
Here's my theory:
The aliens from the Chase seeded the galaxy as they said. But while they hoped their genetic tinkering would "direct the evolution" of the life in the primordial seas, that's not what happened. We know evolution is directed by environmental circumstances. After all their work only one species evolution approximated the form of the aliens from "The Chase."
That alien species when on to explore the galaxy and merged their genetics with native life they found on planets. It is actually these aliens that are the cause of the similarity and genetic compatibility of humanoid life in the galaxy.
Then you have groups with Sargon's people which spread the Vulcanoid form to many planets including Vulcanis. The preservers spread humanoid form to many planets. In my version Klingons were originally humans transplaneted by preservers. There was also a group bred from native life (bumpy heads). The interbreeding of these two groups caused the smooth and bumpy headed klingons we know today.
The aliens from the Chase seeded the galaxy as they said. But while they hoped their genetic tinkering would "direct the evolution" of the life in the primordial seas, that's not what happened. We know evolution is directed by environmental circumstances. After all their work only one species evolution approximated the form of the aliens from "The Chase."
That alien species when on to explore the galaxy and merged their genetics with native life they found on planets. It is actually these aliens that are the cause of the similarity and genetic compatibility of humanoid life in the galaxy.
Then you have groups with Sargon's people which spread the Vulcanoid form to many planets including Vulcanis. The preservers spread humanoid form to many planets. In my version Klingons were originally humans transplaneted by preservers. There was also a group bred from native life (bumpy heads). The interbreeding of these two groups caused the smooth and bumpy headed klingons we know today.
Vulcan has an enormous predatory creature with a tendency to bite the heads off its prey. The large pointed ears evolved as a defense mechanism.
Yeah, but Sehlats won't climb even a mild incline and they're easily startled and run off, as demonstrated in ENT: The Forge. But they do like to gallop along ... get a good stride going, whilst they snarl and growl. They're all bluff, it seems ...
If it looks like a bear, growls like a bear and runs like a bear then you'd better stay away from it.
That's not how it happened in RL.
You can say that again.
My interpretation of The Chase is that the genetic intervention only encouraged evolution of sapient beings of the same general shape. So they would all take on characteristics of the animals that evolved into sapient beings on that world.
Didn't most of the DS9 gamma aliens differentiate from humans much more on average than TNG aliens? There are exceptions like Move Along Home but in general they either had full face paint or some kind of more involved prosthetics.
Didn't most of the DS9 gamma aliens differentiate from humans much more on average than TNG aliens? There are exceptions like Move Along Home but in general they either had full face paint or some kind of more involved prosthetics.
I'm not sure if there's anything to support it, but I always assumed that Klingons were a genetically engineered slave race, once upon a time. And the Denobulans were explicitly the result of genetic engineering. In fact, that might be the basis of most aliens outside of human beings.
The end result of a Gattaca-like civilization of engineering your children on demand might just be that everyone gets born perfect, so they stop bothering with genetic engineering after a couple centuries. This might also help explain some of the monocultures we see.
The end result of a Gattaca-like civilization of engineering your children on demand might just be that everyone gets born perfect, so they stop bothering with genetic engineering after a couple centuries. This might also help explain some of the monocultures we see.
Not if you go by ST magical rules of evolution (aka crapola).
Seeding isn't what those Ancients did, though. They programmed. And the program was written in our genes, no doubt remaining intact by means only roughly similar to those the genes themselves use, or perhaps even completely different. If the Ancients could program the genes to modify nearby technology into a projector and then play out a holographic message, they could certainly program them to modify nearby organs into ones capable of perverting the course of the development of a species.
This has nothing to do with evolution, and never was intended to have. It's a clever trick played on the natural life in the Trek galaxy by unnatural means devised by a divinely advanced culture.
Timo Saloniemi
This has nothing to do with evolution, and never was intended to have. It's a clever trick played on the natural life in the Trek galaxy by unnatural means devised by a divinely advanced culture.
Timo Saloniemi
"Divinely" advanced?
Are you claiming that the Preservers, etc. were gods, and not merely aliens with advanced technology?
Have we all forgotten about TAS? So many non-humanoid aliens.
Sorry to derail this thread even further but if you haven't watched Stargate, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica then you are doing yourself a hug disservice. These are the three best SF franchises out there besides Trek and Star Wars.
For those who are hating on the Stargate movie, when did you see it? When it came out in the 90's it was awesome. There wasn't a whole lot of other sci-fi movies out so we had to take what we could get. Sure it aged poorly compared to the huge blockbuster special effects movies now but again, special effects and budgets were limited back then.
The show took it the movie concept to another level and the actors were awesome. Jack O'Niell, Daniel, Samatha Carter and Tealc were the buddy ensemble Trek couldn't get right since TOS.
B5 had awesome special effects for its day. Way better than Trek did at the time. It was also the first sci fi show with an ongoing story arc that I know of. And it didn't interrupt it's war story with pointless Vic Fontaine holodeck episodes.
BSG is not for everyone. The drama and sex are very soap opera-esque. But it also made sci-fi shows more main stream IMO and helped make the genre more popular. Later seasons get past the sex and focus more on characters and awesome themes. It's not "let's visit another planet every week." or bumpy head alien of the week so some Trek fans may be turned off.
Since I am pooping all over this thread and someone said they don't watch much TV then I have to plug another awesome show you might have missed. IF you haven't see Stranger Things on Netflix, then if you ever listen to non-solicited advice from a stranger on the internet listen to this. Stop what you are doing, subscribe to Netflix for a month if you need to, and watch this show. Full stop.
It's not space sci-fi, but it's modern day sci-fi thriller. If you are 40 or under it's Goonies meets Stephen King in the 80's. That's all I will say.
For those who are hating on the Stargate movie, when did you see it? When it came out in the 90's it was awesome. There wasn't a whole lot of other sci-fi movies out so we had to take what we could get. Sure it aged poorly compared to the huge blockbuster special effects movies now but again, special effects and budgets were limited back then.
The show took it the movie concept to another level and the actors were awesome. Jack O'Niell, Daniel, Samatha Carter and Tealc were the buddy ensemble Trek couldn't get right since TOS.
B5 had awesome special effects for its day. Way better than Trek did at the time. It was also the first sci fi show with an ongoing story arc that I know of. And it didn't interrupt it's war story with pointless Vic Fontaine holodeck episodes.
BSG is not for everyone. The drama and sex are very soap opera-esque. But it also made sci-fi shows more main stream IMO and helped make the genre more popular. Later seasons get past the sex and focus more on characters and awesome themes. It's not "let's visit another planet every week." or bumpy head alien of the week so some Trek fans may be turned off.
Since I am pooping all over this thread and someone said they don't watch much TV then I have to plug another awesome show you might have missed. IF you haven't see Stranger Things on Netflix, then if you ever listen to non-solicited advice from a stranger on the internet listen to this. Stop what you are doing, subscribe to Netflix for a month if you need to, and watch this show. Full stop.
It's not space sci-fi, but it's modern day sci-fi thriller. If you are 40 or under it's Goonies meets Stephen King in the 80's. That's all I will say.
