I personally have no major issue with there being a bit of variety in appearance among other species, provided that they all seem to be ... well... THE SAME SPECIES.
There's 1000 years between the Vulcans and the Romulans... not long enough for them to become "different species" in any meaningful way unless you're talking about massive intermarrying with non-vulcans (ie, "Remans") which they found in their new home system, or massive genetic engineering.
Of course, Spock is 1/2-human. So... it's possible that Vulcans won't look "Vulcan" anymore... ie, that the change is both to Vulcans and Romulans... and ONLY Spock will look familiar.
That would be a BAAAADDDDD idea but it's certainly on the table, I think. However... I doubt it's going to end up being the case.
Another possibility is that the filmmakers will decide that Romulans and Vulcans aren't related anymore. Of course, if they do that, they'll be bringin' down a firestorm of outrage from all corners... and I don't think that they're that dumb!
SO... why does Bana's character not look Vulcan? I'm not talking about the scowl, or the tattoos... those are reasonable for the character. I'm talking about the forehead/brow prosthetic and the funky ears.
Is it possible that Bana's character is one of these "very impure" Reman/Vulcan "Romulans?" A social pariah to begin with but far more so after the Reman "Shinzon Coup," perhaps?
Or... is it possible that he's one of those guys we heard about for years in fan-fiction... before ENT finally gave us an "official" explanation for the different Klingon appearances, there was the semi-official "genetic engineering" solution where the Klingons had created "Human/Klingon Fusions" and "Romulan/Klingon Fusions." Maybe he's one of the latter? (This might explain why he looks vaguely Klingon and could still be considered a Romulan!)
It's very hard to reconcile the familiar-to-EVERYONE "Vulcan look" and what we're seeing here in Nero, unless there's SOMETHING more to it.
There's 1000 years between the Vulcans and the Romulans... not long enough for them to become "different species" in any meaningful way unless you're talking about massive intermarrying with non-vulcans (ie, "Remans") which they found in their new home system, or massive genetic engineering.
Of course, Spock is 1/2-human. So... it's possible that Vulcans won't look "Vulcan" anymore... ie, that the change is both to Vulcans and Romulans... and ONLY Spock will look familiar.
That would be a BAAAADDDDD idea but it's certainly on the table, I think. However... I doubt it's going to end up being the case.
Another possibility is that the filmmakers will decide that Romulans and Vulcans aren't related anymore. Of course, if they do that, they'll be bringin' down a firestorm of outrage from all corners... and I don't think that they're that dumb!
SO... why does Bana's character not look Vulcan? I'm not talking about the scowl, or the tattoos... those are reasonable for the character. I'm talking about the forehead/brow prosthetic and the funky ears.
Is it possible that Bana's character is one of these "very impure" Reman/Vulcan "Romulans?" A social pariah to begin with but far more so after the Reman "Shinzon Coup," perhaps?
Or... is it possible that he's one of those guys we heard about for years in fan-fiction... before ENT finally gave us an "official" explanation for the different Klingon appearances, there was the semi-official "genetic engineering" solution where the Klingons had created "Human/Klingon Fusions" and "Romulan/Klingon Fusions." Maybe he's one of the latter? (This might explain why he looks vaguely Klingon and could still be considered a Romulan!)
It's very hard to reconcile the familiar-to-EVERYONE "Vulcan look" and what we're seeing here in Nero, unless there's SOMETHING more to it.