Efrosian Federation President

[c0rnedfr0g]

I mean, look at the guy, he very clearly resembles a Klingon. Didn't anybody making TUC notice?

He has the dark-ish complexion, long swept-back hair, the FuManchu-styled moustache, the cranial ridges. Tell me that your average movie-goer wouldn't think this guy belongs to the same race as, say....

But nope, he's not a Klingon, he's an "Efrosian." One of the most obscure Trek alien races (one other brief cameo in TVH), whose race isn't even bothered to be mentioned on-screen. And to top it all off, he's the President of the Federation, in a movie entirely about Federation/Klingon politics!! Like what the H-E-DoubleHockeySticks were they thinking?? I bet even Trekkies were taken aback.

Imagine if the roles were reversed: a Klingon movie-goer is watching a Klingon Imperial Chancellor that is a (pick your exactly-human-looking-alien, e.g. Ba'ku), in a movie about Klingon/Earth politics, but the film completely breezes over this role with no explanation as to what race the individual belongs to. Said Klingon naturally assumes the Chancellor was a human, not a Ba'ku, and that would seem to be an important piece of the movie, but apparently not.

Anyway, I could go on, but that's my rant, and it has always bugged me. Anyone agree? Disagree? Other random thoughts?

Thanks for reading.







TL;DR The Federation President looks like a Klingon, but isn't, and I thought it was confusing.

 

[cgervasi]

I mean, look at the guy, he very clearly resembles a Klingon. Didn't anybody making TUC notice?

If they did, I wonder if they were going to show that despite some of the dialog in the movie, the UFP isn't really racist, isn't really a "homo-sapians only club". Or maybe they were trying to show how racism isn't logical, and you can have "they're animals!" and "did you see the way they ate?" toward Klingons but not toward someone who looks very similar to someone unfamiliar with the racism. It's like, "he's white on the right side!"

 

[F. King Daniel]

As a kid watching the movie, I couldn't understand why the Federation and Klingons were so at odds since the Federation had elected a Klingon their President.

I think it was a very poor choice of makeup, and if they were doing it to make a statement (humans being racist to Klingons and oblivious to the fact their President looks Klingon) it didn't work.

 

[STEPhon IT]

The President is a representation of the alien Starfleet officer from Star Trek IV. I don't see the resemblance.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The President is a representation of the alien Starfleet officer from Star Trek IV. I don't see the resemblance.

Age 8 or 9 I thought that was a Klingon too. DC comics already had a Klingon on the Enterprise crew at the time so I figured it was just Next Gen retconning things.

I'm pretty sure the not-Klingon in STIV does a very early-Worf-like growl as well.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm pretty sure the not-Klingon in STIV does a very early-Worf-like growl as well.

No, but he does glare at the screen as the Saratoga captain is continuing her distress call. Then again, who wouldn't? I'd be pissed too, if I was him.

And I never thought the Efrosians looked or acted particularly Klingon. Long hair and a beard does not a Klingon make. And the Efrosian President in TUC doesn't act Klingon at all.

That said, it's important to point out that the reason we have a race called 'Efrosians' in the first place was because they were named for one of the producers of TVH (Mel Efros).

And the Efrosians' appearance onscreen was a fair amount of time BEFORE we saw the "real" Kang, Kor and Koloth on DS9 (which didn't even exist as a series when TVH and TUC were made).

 

[Nyotarules]

If TUC confused you then TOS will confuse you even more, all those aliens who looked just like humans.

 

[Bad Robot]

I always thought he looked like my school prefect. Except with a mustache. And less backbone. And an HW Bush accent.

 

[Arpy]

I didn't find him Klingon, because I instantly recognized the makeup as Saratoga alien, but I wish they'd made him more alien. What's the point of making the Federation president an alien if he's just kinda so...? Go batshit.

I was also distracted by the choice of actor/accent for the character and his preoccupation with antique furniture and glasses. And the new Klingon makeup and Pepto blood. I'd just thrown my hands up and gone with it, I think.

 

[thribs]

We have races that look human that aren’t human. Why not Klingon?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I have never thought that the Efrosians look like Klingons. As for the species not being mentioned on screen, nor were any of the background species in TMP, the names for them are from backstage notes (the alien ensign didn't walk up to Kirk and say, "Welcome aboard, Admiral, I'm Ensign Zaand a Rhaandarite.").

 

[F. King Daniel]

We have races that look human that aren’t human. Why not Klingon?

This was a movie featuring Klingon Lincoln. Subtlety was not an option.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The idea of Efrosians looking like Klingons never occurred to me before this thread.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Well at least I know I'm not alone in noticing the resemblance between Efrosians and Klingons. According to Memory Alpha,

According to the reference book Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years, the Efrosian homeworld was once a province of the Klingon Empire before joining the Federation....

That can't be a coincidence.

We have races that look human that aren’t human. Why not Klingon?

This is another criticism I'd like to point out. This lack of creativity is fine for a t.v. budget, but why oh why did the Ba'ku look exactly like humans?? Insurrection was a theatrically-released movie aimed at a larger audience. If I was an average movie-goer, that would've either been really confusing to me or seemed really chintzy.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

That can't be a coincidence.

Sure it can. You noticing a resemblance doesn't automatically mean that there was a conscious connection.

This is another criticism I'd like to point out. This lack of creativity is fine for a t.v. budget, but why oh why did the Ba'ku look exactly like humans?? Insurrection was a theatrically-released movie aimed at a larger audience. If I was an average movie-goer, that would've either been really confusing to me or seemed really chintzy.

Probably because Picard was going to have a romantic subplot with one of the Baku and they wanted to make sure that she was conventionally attractive. You don't want to alienate any potential larger audience by making her look odd.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Honestly, the thought process behind the Efrosian UFP President in STVI probably went something like this:

"Hey, we need a President of the UFP for this story. Should we use the same guy from STIV?"

"Nah, let's get someone else in there and mix it up! Maybe it can be an alien this time around. That'd be cool."

"Okay, but we should probably use the same costume that we used in STIV. The budget is really tight and we can't afford to make a whole new costume for such a small part."

"Okay. What alien makeups do we have that would look good with that black & white costume?"

"How about this alien from STIV? He's got white hair. That'll look good."

"Perfect! Okay, on to the next thing..."

 

[Kor]

Klingons have never had such light blond hair.

Kor

 

[marsh8472]

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Efrosian says "According to the reference book Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years, the Efrosian homeworld was once a province of the Klingon Empire before joining the Federation"

Their species has some Klingon DNA in them from that?

 

[Bad Robot]

Even if it's no coincidence, all it means is whoever wrote the book thought they noted a similarity and ran with it.

 

[Mojochi]

Honestly, I didn't even know what race the guy was, when I 1st saw the movie, but I could easily tell is wasn't Klingon. The cranial structure is raised but not ridged. The distinction is pretty clear to me, given the examples of Klingons up to then