Why no Andorians in the TNG/DS9/VOY era?

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by issreliant, Mar 27, 2010.

  1. issreliant

    issreliant Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2010
    Location:
    Space Sector 2814
    So andoria is one of the founding members of the federation, and one of the earliest aliens humans met, so why dont we see more of them in starfleet, we see Klingons, Vulcans, and other TOS aliens, so why no andorian love, i think an andorian officer on one of the shows would have been a great idea, like instead of worf going to DS9 we could have had a andorian , or instead of torres on VOY, A half human/andorian, instead of the over used klingon idea? is there a reason andorians are not in starfleet? is this a good idea?
     
  2. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2007
    Location:
    Aloha Quadrant
    Rick Berman didn't want them in the 24th century show, because he thought they looked goofy. Trek lore has it, that originally, Captain Rixx (from TNG's Conspiracy) was going to be Andorian, but in the last moment they abandoned the antennae and thus the Bolians were born.

    Therin of Andor can probably tell you more about this ... ;)
     
  3. -Brett-

    -Brett- Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2001
    Is there any particular reason we needed an Andorian character?
     
  4. The Trekster

    The Trekster Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Mar 26, 2010
    Location:
    Chicago
    Probably because they are really silly looking. Not that Bolians were much of an improvement :/
     
  5. Pauln6

    Pauln6 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2009
    Location:
    Bristol, United Kingdom
    Andorians are cool not silly. Betazoids are silly. If they were wiped from Trek lore I'd be happy but leave andorians alone!
     
    Imaus likes this.
  6. clint g

    clint g Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2003
    Location:
    No where
    Well, luckily for us Ent was able to make Andorians who didn't look all that silly :lol: It's too bad that we didn't get to see more of them, the Andorians in Ent were very well done
     
  7. Red Ranger

    Red Ranger Admiral In Memoriam

    Joined:
    May 20, 2005
    Location:
    New York City, the greatest city in the world!
    Figures Berman was responsible for nixing Andorians appearing in the 24th century ST shows. ENT showed they could be handled well. Issreliant, I like your idea re: Torres from VOY being half-Andorian instead of the already showcased human/Klingon hybrid. She still could've been a hot-tempered engineer with Andorian blood runnng through her veins. As I recall, they only showed an Andorian female in one TNG ep, when Lal is narrowing down her choices on what she's to look like.
     
  8. NickInABox

    NickInABox Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2009
    Location:
    The not-so-Great-anymore White North
    But, Mr. Red Ranger, that Andorian looked HORRIBLE.
    Horrible.
     
  9. USS Excelsior

    USS Excelsior Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2004
    Location:
    Alpha Quadrant
    And we didn't see any Tellarites from the era either. And TOS movie era stock footage used in TNG doesn't count!
     
  10. Anwar

    Anwar Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2006
    Location:
    Moncton, NB
    Actually, the reason Berman didn't want Andorians in TNG+ was because at the time makeup FX hadn't advanced to the point that they'd look good enough.

    I mean, look at the Andorian model we saw in "Offspring"!

    By the time of ENT, makeup tech had advanced to the point they didn't look as goofy anymore so they could be on screen and not laughed at.
     
  11. RegFan

    RegFan Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2009
    Shran was planned to join Archer's crew in Season 5.
     
  12. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 30, 2004
    Location:
    New Therin Park, Andor (via Australia)
    There are most certainly Andorians in Starfleet:

    "Yesteryear" (TAS)

    ST:TMP (two in the rec deck scene)

    ST IV (two admirals in the Council)

    But yes, Rick Berman considered them "hokey" 60s aliens, and in the 80s and 90s no TV budget was ever able to achieve high quality, convincing antennae until ENT and then, only because miniaturization had occurred for using remote control components to create moving antennae. The original script for "The Andorian Incident" was going to feature the Gorn, but Brannon Braga fought to do Andorians - at long last - because the Gorn was a first contact alien race in TOS. But Berman insisted the antennae had to be convincing.

    http://andorfiles.blogspot.com/2009/10/tng-rogues-gallery.html
     
  13. ChadHydro

    ChadHydro Lieutenant Red Shirt

    I personally LOVED the way Enterprise handled Andorians. Especially Shran, but that's probably just due to Jeffrey Coombs' brilliance...
     
  14. Anji

    Anji Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2003
    Location:
    Assisting in the birth of baby Horta on Janus VI
    Combs took it to a new level. He made being a villain cool.
     
  15. Arpy

    Arpy Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    I have a love/hate relationship with the Andorians. When I first saw them as a child I thought they were weird. Then I think I liked them for sentimental reasons. When ENT brought them back I was impressed...much like with the series premiere "Broken Bow," but then quickly got over it. I guess I too feel the antennae are kind of silly on otherwise normal light blue humans. Worse was Combs' slight Southern accented, out-of-shape warrior Shran.

    I guess I would have preferred more complex make-up for them. Contact lenses, latex, teeth, hand make-up, weird skeletal protrusions under their uniforms, some more androgynous actors for different members of the four different sexes, and different accents...maybe similar to Shras's(?) from TOS's "Journey to Babel" - yeah they have different accents throughout their planet/memberworld but not just not Combs'. ...My $.02.
     
  16. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2001
    Location:
    AI Generated Madness
    A lot of planets have a South. :shrug:
     
  17. Admiral Shran

    Admiral Shran Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2009
    Location:
    In the Before Time - the Long, Long Ago
    The reason was that Berman thought they looked goofy. But, I've said it before and I'll say it again - the NUMEROUS aliens whose only difference from Humans was an attachment to the forehead looked much more goofy. :klingon:
     
  18. Arpy

    Arpy Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Come on guys... I simply have a different opinion.

    I was obviously talking about the 1) Earth 2) American "South."

    Foreheads alone don't make for realistic aliens but they often help, as does other latex. Plus, the Andorians on ENT did have latex foreheads additions.
     
  19. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2007
    Location:
    Aloha Quadrant
    :confused:
     
  20. Anwar

    Anwar Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2006
    Location:
    Moncton, NB
    Yes, but if you looked at the best Andorian they could come up with on TNG's budget in "The Offspring" Berman was right to think they wouldn't look that good for anything more than a cameo. By ENT the FX tech they had was able to make them better looking.