Aliens on the Enterprise?

[GSchnitzer]

D.C Fontana's First Draft script for "Journey to Babel" (dated August 22, 1967) has a comment that provides some perspective:

KIRK
There are other Vulcans aboard.

SAREK
I am afraid you will encounter
some difficulty, doctor. You
will note my blood type is T-
negative...somewhat rare even
for Vulcans. Your chances of
finding it in my four aids are...

SPOCK
(abruptly)
I have T-negative blood.


So as originally written, the "other Vulcans on board" comment was meant to pertain to the Vulcan's in Sarek's ambassadorial party.

In Journey to Babel during a discussion in the sick bay, Kirk states "there are other Vulcans on board". We don't know if he refers to other traveling dignitaries or members of the crew, but I assume he refers to crew, given that we do not see any other Vulcans with Sarek and Amanda.

BTW - It would have been the perfect time to introduce and utilize Dr. M'Benga.

 

[Therin of Andor]

So during those few years, did StarFleet have a major diversity initiative? Or was it just another case of "retconning Chekov into Space Seed" by saying the aliens really were there, but we just never saw them?

Fannish speculation on the "diversity initiative" between TAS and TMP is handled beautifully by Christopher L Bennett in his post-TMP novel, "Ex Machina". He ties the concept to Chapel's promotion to Chief Medical Officer, Will Decker's captaincy, and he gives names and personalities to many of the aliens we only glimpse in TMP.

http://www.reocities.com/therinofandor/UFP2.html
http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/ExMachinaCast.html

Some of the other novels' authors have populated TOS with other Starfleet aliens, but most hasten to add that Spock and the other aliens are not in a high ratio. See the Alan Dean Foster novelizations of TAS ("Star Trek Logs"), Diane Duane's "The Wounded Sky", "Spock's World" and the "Rihannsu" saga, and Vonda McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect". Several authors shared an Eseriot character, Mahasa. The official Collectible Card Game assigned some of TOS's human-looking crew to colony worlds, as does DC Fontana's "Vulcan's Glory with Number One (from Ilyria).

Earlier, David Gerrold's Bantam novel, "The Galactic Whirlpool" is also interesting because he adds Arex and M'Ress in a crucial cameo, where a guest character has a bad reaction to seeing aliens, then he ends the dramatic events of the novel with a tired Kirk ordering the ship to much-needed R&R at Space Station K-7. Although some fans assume this is a second trip to K-7, due to the presence of Arex and M'Ress in the ship's crew, Gerrold told me his original intention was that we realise that Kirk is not going to find his R&R restful at all, because he's about to meet the tribbles.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

I never assumed there were more aliens aboard. The Enterprise always felt like an Earth ship and their organization earth-centric

I always explained it to myself that other planets liked to get in on the diplomacy and commerce aspect to the Federation, but only humans really got into space travel and exploration on behalf of the Federation. I put it down to culture and the near destruction of the planet in WWIII.

 

[T'Girl]

In one TNG episode, a planet was requesting "associate membership' in the federation. So not all member species necessarily have the same kind of relationship with the federation, or within the federation.

So one member is in the federation for defense and trade, another for interstellar politics and exploration, while the population of a third federation member might never leave their home star system.

I put it down to culture and the near destruction of the planet in WWIII.

We supposedly lost about seven percent of the Human population, horrifying, but nowhere close to "near destruction."

 

[Timo]

Although some fans assume this is a second trip to K-7, due to the presence of Arex and M'Ress in the ship's crew, Gerrold told me his original intention was that we realise that Kirk is not going to find his R&R restful at all, because he's about to meet the tribbles.

...The problem with that being, the episode never suggests that Kirk would have been headed towards K7. Rather, he appeared to be diverted there, by the inappropriately sent SOS. Although to be fair, the dialogue doesn't exactly preclude the idea of Kirk being headed for K7, either.

Which is odd, if they were aboard they would also have been capable of breaking the Tellarites neck.

This would still leave Sarek the most likely suspect, as quoted, and for the exact reason Kirk and McCoy point out to Spock: because he not only had the means, but also the motivation, as he had been witnessed in heated argument with the victim (even if the Tellarite was providing all the heat).

The dialogue need not involve any mention of Spock and the aides also being suspects, as it solely concerns Sarek being the most likely one. He would be the first to be interviewed - and when that goes south with his seizure, there's no opportunity to explore the guilt or innocence of the other Vulcans, until the question becomes academic with the capture of the "Andorian" assassin.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Therin of Andor]

The problem with that being, the episode never suggests that Kirk would have been headed towards K7. Rather, he appeared to be diverted there, by the inappropriately sent SOS.

I'm not going to dig out the exact passage; I'm recalling Gerrold's epilogue and anecdote from memory. It probably did mention the SOS.

If you want to argue with the creator of "The Trouble With Tribbles" (and his related gag in a Trek novel), feel free. At your own peril.

 

[Timo]

Oops, yes, should have emphasized that my argument is definitely with him, not you!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Drago-Kazov]

They should had made some Orion crewmembers, they have to be the cheapest no pun intended.

 

[Therin of Andor]

They should had made some Orion crewmembers, they have to be the cheapest no pun intended.

In fact, making Vina and Marta into green Orions was very expensive in the 1960s. The film lab kept colour correcting the Orion tests they made on Majel Barrett - and both Susan Oliver and Yvonne Craig were leaving vibrant green smears all over the sets and other actors' costumes.

It's not easy being green.

 

[sbk1234]

If you take into account the differences in environmental needs - even comfortable temperature - it makes sense that most of the crew was one species.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

Therin i had no idea that was expensive.

 

[alpha_leonis]

Therin i had no idea that was expensive.

Budget does have a lot to do with makeup. It's part of the reason why they chose an African-American actor to play Worf on TNG -- for technical reasons related to TV lighting, it's easier to take dark skin and make it lighter than it would be to take light skin and make it darker.

(Not to denigrate Michael Dorn in any way. He was brilliant as the character.)

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

We supposedly lost about seven percent of the Human population, horrifying, but nowhere close to "near destruction."

It always surprises me how survivable a nuclear war turns out to be.

I put it down to too many late night doomsday films.

 

[Timo]

The main effect a major nuclear war would have on a population would be the loss of transportation infrastructure relating to food and fuel distribution.

Immediate deaths from blasts and fires would be negligible, as only the largest cities would offer population densities high enough for individual warheads to make a difference. There'd still be billions surviving in Indian or Chinese hinterlands if an all-out nuclear holocaust were to be launched today. Radiation fallouts sound nasty - but people can live with those. Animals and crops, too. Yet if trains no longer run and electricity ceases to flow, local loss of crops will revert to being as devastating as it was a couple of hundred years ago. And fertilizer production will cease, slashing crops to a fraction of the current yield, too.

In order to create high death tolls, wars would have to waged with weapons specifically designed to efficiently take human lives. Nuclear blasts don't really fall in that category. Certain biological weapons might, although their effectiveness today is largely unproven.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[A beaker full of death]

Roddenberry often said Spock was there as the cheapest way to remind the viewer that this was a multi-species Federation. Face it: Spock was a token.

 

[Timo]

He was never written as one, though. He wasn't merely a person of unique and exotic qualities: the very fact that such a person served was indicated to be unique and exotic. Hell, Starfleet's official designation for him in "The Menagerie" was "the half-Vulcan officer"!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Drago-Kazov]

The main effect a major nuclear war would have on a population would be the loss of transportation infrastructure relating to food and fuel distribution.

Immediate deaths from blasts and fires would be negligible, as only the largest cities would offer population densities high enough for individual warheads to make a difference. There'd still be billions surviving in Indian or Chinese hinterlands if an all-out nuclear holocaust were to be launched today. Radiation fallouts sound nasty - but people can live with those. Animals and crops, too. Yet if trains no longer run and electricity ceases to flow, local loss of crops will revert to being as devastating as it was a couple of hundred years ago. And fertilizer production will cease, slashing crops to a fraction of the current yield, too.

In order to create high death tolls, wars would have to waged with weapons specifically designed to efficiently take human lives. Nuclear blasts don't really fall in that category. Certain biological weapons might, although their effectiveness today is largely unproven.

Timo Saloniemi

Mass migration would explain why people are so cosmopolitan in Kirk's time.

 

[Timo]

...But mass migration might also be made more difficult by such a war, as the effort of moving would be considerable, and might actually claim as victims all those who were forced to flee famine. And it would be met with resistance: anybody retaining access to a light machine gun like Lily Sloane would and could make sure nobody comes in to eat her surviving crops.

OTOH, perhaps a massive "Omega Man" style bioattack that succeeded in select parts of the Old World but was thwarted or not launched elsewhere explains why the Chinese and the Indians seem to make a disproportionately small impact on the 22nd-24th centuries, allowing big-nosed people named Kirk or Archer or Morrow or Forrest to be at the cutting edge of space exploration and exploitation instead?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Therin of Andor]

Therin i had no idea that was expensive.

TNG and DS9 saved a lot of time and money by pre-painting alien latex appliances. This type of reusable latex was non existent in the 60s and 70s.

Even in "Enterprise", budget restraints meant they had to drop plans to put an Ithenite (dwarf-sized, gold-skinned alien as cameoed in TOS's "Journey to Babel") in "Demons"/"Terror Prime". Hiring a "little person" actor is expensive, let alone the makeup job.

 

[JimTheBuilder]

If you take into account the differences in environmental needs - even comfortable temperature - it makes sense that most of the crew was one species.

This, to me, makes more sense than any other explanation.
Remember, there was one ship that was entirely crewed by Vulcans...so, there you go...