A few observations about Romulans from 'Balance of Terror' and 'The Enterprise Incident'

[Dukhat]

I'm rewatching TOS, and I noticed some things about the Romulans in the two episodes they were features in that I really hadn't noticed before.

1. All of the Romulan males have curly hair in a regular, human-like hairstyle, which made it easy for Kirk to infiltrate the Romulan ship and pose as one of the crew. None of them had hairstyles that looked like Spock's.

2. The hairstyles for all Romulans shown in TNG were based on the helmets worn by the Romulan centurions in TOS.

3. The Romulans seem to have a reverence for their Vulcan cousins, which was completely nonexistent in TNG onwards, other than by the Romulan underground.

4. The Female Romulan commander was the only Romulan female ever shown in TOS.

 

[Henoch]

3. The Romulans seem to have a reverence for their Vulcan cousins, which was completely nonexistent in TNG onwards, other than by the Romulan underground.

Spock's deception in TEI ruined a whole, future Romulan generation of reverence to Vulcans. "You can't trust a Vulcan!"

4. The Female Romulan commander was the only Romulan female ever shown in TOS.

Secondly, the same incident set back female power in the Romulan Empire for a generation. "You can't depend on an overly emotional female Romulan."

 

[Metryq]

The Female Romulan commander was the only Romulan female ever shown in TOS.

It's been a long while, but I remember the novelization of The Wrath of Khan describing Saavik as half Vulcan and half Romulan. I'm fairly certain it was not mentioned in either movie featuring Saavik (unless there's a deleted scene somewhere). Since the stoicism practiced by the Vulcans is a matter of philosophical choice, Saavik's behavior would be dependent on which culture she grew up in. Although the Romulan commander in TEI said that Romulan women are more... colorful.

 

[Pauln6]

It's been a long while, but I remember the novelization of The Wrath of Khan describing Saavik as half Vulcan and half Romulan. I'm fairly certain it was not mentioned in either movie featuring Saavik (unless there's a deleted scene somewhere). Since the stoicism practiced by the Vulcans is a matter of philosophical choice, Saavik's behavior would be dependent on which culture she grew up in. Although the Romulan commander in TEI said that Romulan women are more... colorful.

You can find the deleted scene on Youtube - it's just Spock telling Kirk. If there was a way to add it back in, I would!

 

[Metryq]

You can find the deleted scene on Youtube

Thanks! I hadn't seen those two clips before. I've seen deleted stuff with Scotty's nephew, I think. (Something like that.) I'd have to check the novelization again, but it was put on film!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Mark Lenard's Romulan commander had straight hair, didn't he? I don't recall it being curly.

 

[Dukhat]

Mark Lenard's Romulan commander had straight hair, didn't he? I don't recall it being curly.

While not as severe as Spock’s haircut, Lenard’s do was meant to evoke a Vulcan more than normal, since the whole idea was the surprise that the Romulans looked like Vulcans.

 

[comsol]

The Romulan haircuts in TNG were just a continuation (whether deliberate or not) of their haircuts from TAS.

 

[Poltargyst]

It used to annoy the crap out of me that every Romulan or Vulcan in TNG had to have that same stupid bowl cut when so many Romulans and Vulcans from TOS did NOT have that cut from Mark Leonard's Romulan to Sarek to the lady Romulan to her Subcommander to Saavik to Kirk posing as a Romulan to T'Pol to T'Pring etc.

But then, it always annoyed me that they showed Romulans with forehead ridges when Chekov said the sensors could only pick up a slight difference between Romulans and Vulcans.

 

[Dukhat]

I could understand if it was de rigueur for the Romulan military, but the civilians had it too.

 

[Pauln6]

It used to annoy the crap out of me that every Romulan or Vulcan in TNG had to have that same stupid bowl cut when so many Romulans and Vulcans from TOS did NOT have that cut from Mark Leonard's Romulan to Sarek to the lady Romulan to her Subcommander to Saavik to Kirk posing as a Romulan to T'Pol to T'Pring etc.

But then, it always annoyed me that they showed Romulans with forehead ridges when Chekov said the sensors could only pick up a slight difference between Romulans and Vulcans.

There is an in-joke in Picard about northern and southern Romulans so not all Romulans have ridges.

 

[Kor]

Mark Lenard's character's hair was a bit wavy, not completely straight like Spock's: https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/thumbnails.php?album=15&page=23

The Romulan Commander in TEI was really the only one who expressed a particular admiration for Vulcans. Even though she said, "We can appreciate the Vulcans, our distant brothers," she could have been speaking for herself. Other Romulans might have been indifferent. The commander in BoT didn't say anything at all about Spock.

Kor

 

[Ssosmcin]

If we look at the Vulcans in the original series, Spock had the bangs. Stonn had side parted hair. Sarek had wavy hair. Alt-Spock's bodyguard in Mirror, Mirror had regular hair. Only Surak had the stereotypical haircut. I could almost see Spock styling his hair to be like Surak's as a way of embracing his Vulcan half. But the sequels made every-damned-one have the same haircut.

Romulans: they had the ears and eyebrows and males had plain old haircuts like any guys. The sequels destroyed the whole "just like Vulcans" thing with the forehead ridges. I f'n hated that. And every-damned-one had the same stupid bowl cut. Honestly, the later shows had ZERO idea how to do Vulcans and Romulans. Guest Vulcans were bland and Romulans with their identical look and shoulder pads were just ridiculous.

Even Star Trek 6 gave us a balding Romulan who didn't have forehead ridges.

 

[Poltargyst]

If we look at the Vulcans in the original series, Spock had the bangs. Stonn had side parted hair. Sarek had wavy hair. Alt-Spock's bodyguard in Mirror, Mirror had regular hair. Only Surak had the stereotypical haircut. I could almost see Spock styling his hair to be like Surak's as a way of embracing his Vulcan half. But the sequels made every-damned-one have the same haircut.

Romulans: they had the ears and eyebrows and males had plain old haircuts like any guys. The sequels destroyed the whole "just like Vulcans" thing with the forehead ridges. I f'n hated that. And every-damned-one had the same stupid bowl cut. Honestly, the later shows had ZERO idea how to do Vulcans and Romulans. Guest Vulcans were bland and Romulans with their identical look and shoulder pads were just ridiculous.

Even Star Trek 6 gave us a balding Romulan who didn't have forehead ridges.

Yep. I hated it too.

 

[Poltargyst]

There is an in-joke in Picard about northern and southern Romulans so not all Romulans have ridges.

Well I'm glad they are at least trying to provide an explanation, though I don't like their having done it in the first place.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

There is an in-joke in Picard about northern and southern Romulans so not all Romulans have ridges.

So Romulans are like Ruffles.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Poltargyst]

So Romulans are like Ruffles.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Rrrrrrrromulans have rrrrrrrrridges.

(Though they shouldn't.)

 

[Dukhat]

Mark Lenard's character's hair was a bit wavy, not completely straight like Spock's: https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/thumbnails.php?album=15&page=23

The Romulan Commander in TEI was really the only one who expressed a particular admiration for Vulcans. Even though she said, "We can appreciate the Vulcans, our distant brothers," she could have been speaking for herself. Other Romulans might have been indifferent. The commander in BoT didn't say anything at all about Spock.

Kor

First of all, did the commander in BoT actually see the Enterprise crew? They could see into the Romulan bridge, but it didn’t seem like it went both ways. I assumed the commander was speaking to Kirk though radio only.

And second, Tal made it a point to single out Spock when he first made visual communication with the Enterprise. I took that to indicate that he also seemed to have some reverence toward Vulcans, or at least deem them of higher status than humans. He also never seems to have any issues with Spock being with the Commander while he was on the ship.

 

[Metryq]

What was sub commander Tal doing aboard a starship?

 

[JMS]

This isn't to do with hairstyles, but I did recently notice several uses of hexagons in Vulcan and Romulan design. The gong in "Amok Time" and some portions of the Vulcan helmets in that episode, the Romulan emblem in "Enterprise Incident" (5 hexagons in one!) and the panels flanking one or more of the doors on their ship, and maybe the control console in "Balance of Terror" - not sure about that one -could be some other shape.