New Aliens for a New Trek?

[David.Blue]

TOS gave us Vulcans, Romulans, Andorians, Tellarites and Klingons.

TNG gave us Betazoids, Zakdorn, Trill, Bajorans, Cardassians, the Borg, etc.

DS9 gave us the Dominion and the Prophets as well as many ohters.

VOY gave us Hirogen, Vidians, the Hoth, etc.

ENT gave us Aenar, the Xindi, etc.

Of course all of these make up a partial list at best (and doesn't even mention TAS or the movies). My question is--what kinds of aliens would you like to see in a new Star Trek? What roles would you like to seem them play in such stories, and why?

 

[LobsterAfternoon]

Regardless of whether the aliens or new or preexisting, I'd like them to be fully developed and have a real viewpoint. The development of the Cardassians is a great example of this being successfully done in Trek. I'd particularly like to see more development/use of other Federation races. We keep hearing how the Federation is a bastion of community and progressive behavior, but we see super segregated ships.

 

[C.E. Evans]

An alien race that's overly dependent on its technology (they're always carrying around some device or have something plugged in their ears). They're not evil like Borg, they just really oblivious to things going around them (like where they're going) and don't pay too much attention to others.

 

[Harbinger]

An alien race that doesn't look like a human being with ridges.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

An alien race that doesn't look like a human being with ridges.

8472...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

New aliens are always good to see (its one of the few things the NuTrek has done well), though it would still be good to go into a little more depth in some already established species--I'd love to see more on the Andorians and Deltans.

Any new series should avoid Klingons, Borg and Q.

 

[David.Blue]

New aliens are always good to see (its one of the few things the NuTrek has done well), though it would still be good to go into a little more depth in some already established species--I'd love to see more on the Andorians and Deltans.

Any new series should avoid Klingons, Borg and Q.

Totally agree. Me, I'd be very tempted to expand on those vaguely catlike girls with tails in STID.

But first and foremost along those lines, I'd refrain from taking that one scene and extrapolating them into a species of identical twins or clones, all of whom are supersexed and who mate in threes (two females and one male).

Honestly, looking at them what can you say for certain? Well, they are on Earth in the XXIIIrd century. At least some of them are. Their genders include one that seems pretty much identical to human females. Humanoid, and the pink skin would indicate a blood chemistry similar to that of Terrans (as opposed to Vulcans or Andorians for example). Plus they have matching sets of...somethings...on their foreheads and necks. One wonders if those are cosmetic or something else? Sensory organs maybe? If so, to detect what? The pointed ears would seem to possibly indicate a thinner atmosphere than on Earth, while their pigmentation hints at a world with at least some populated regions the equivalent of a Terrestrial temperate climate. Size indicates a planet quite close to that of Earth, Andoria, Vulcan, etc. (are Tellar and Ferengar somewhat larger or at least heavier?)

One could build on that to an interesting race, with a unique civilization methinks!

 

[Harbinger]

An alien race that doesn't look like a human being with ridges.

8472...

Yeah, but they were explored very little and then made into the 'we can shapeshift into humans' which utterly destroyed the alien 8472.

I know there's budget constraints, but I'd love to see some Tholians or even a Melkotian make a return. But, since that may be asking for too much at least give us a humanoid alien race that looks a bit more alien than the average Star Trek race.

 

[T'Girl]

I'd refrain from taking that one scene and extrapolating them into a species of identical twins or ...

The two actresses were in fact identical twin sisters.

 

[bryce]

I would like to see some new aliens - and we have (and new types of humans as well, with that Cyborg guy on the bridge in Into Darkness) - but I would also like to see more classic aliens like Andorians, Tellerites, Deltans (unless that bald lady in Into Darkness was supposed to be...but she wasn't really bald - just clearly shaved)...Betazeds....Trill I would love to see Bones on a date with a early version of Dax!)

I was gonna saw Orions, but we saw one! But what about Naussicans? I know they had a design for a Gorn...but I'd really like to see one that's closer to what we saw in "Enterprise" (though Gorn should have *composite eyes*!!! Or maybe now retcon so eye-shields...)

Where the Benzites discovered by then? Now that Starfeet is stepping up their exploration, we may encounter races like the Ferengi earlier...
And I'd like to see Arex's race - they can easily do it with CGI, like that creature on the Kelvin bridge. And *real* versions of M'Ress' race would be good too. (I wish we'd seen Arex's race on the Kelvin's bridge and Morn's race in the Earth bar!)

I mean they already HAVE alien races, so why spend time designing ALL NEW ones. Some now ones, sure - but some old one's would be nice...AND add a needed sense or continuity between Classic and New Trek.

I would like to even see some of the background TMP races would be nice too...some of those designs were really cool - and would fit right in with the new movie's design aesthetic...

So I'd like to see a mix of old and new...and a LOT less "bumpy forehead" aliens!!! NONE, if possible!

 

[bryce]

Some aliens from the Star Trek 4 Federation council scene would be cool too...

https://www.google.com/search?q=sta...m=122&espv=210&q=star+trek+iv+aliens&tbm=isch

 

[R. Star]

An alien race that's overly dependent on its technology (they're always carrying around some device or have something plugged in their ears). They're not evil like Borg, they just really oblivious to things going around them (like where they're going) and don't pay too much attention to others.

Like say... the Bynars?

 

[David.Blue]

I'd refrain from taking that one scene and extrapolating them into a species of identical twins or ...

The two actresses were in fact identical twin sisters.

I knew that actually. Just don't like the tendency (shown most especially in assumptions about the Bolians based on Mr. Mott's personality) to see one example of a species then assuming they are the statistical embodiment of their entire culture.

 

[C.E. Evans]

An alien race that's overly dependent on its technology (they're always carrying around some device or have something plugged in their ears). They're not evil like Borg, they just really oblivious to things going around them (like where they're going) and don't pay too much attention to others.

Like say... the Bynars?

More like:
http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x3903329/group_of_people_using_cell_phones_FAN2034552.jpg

http://segment.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/people-texting.jpg

http://media.cleveland.com/pdq_impact/photo/9162893-large.jpg

 

[R. Star]

Haha! Well building the things into our minds seems the next logical step.

 

[T'Girl]

Just don't like the tendency (shown most especially in assumptions about the Bolians based on Mr. Mott's personality) to see one example of a species then assuming they are the statistical embodiment of their entire culture.

In the case of Mister Mott's species, we saw a young woman of that species who was a Starfleet cadet, she was grey and not blue, and seemed to be a fairly interesting person. Now, as it turned out she was a alien imposter, but it does show that not everyone of that species is a blue skinned barber.

And I personally don't think that these two twins were actually "cat people." Yes they had tails, there are fur-less cats, and the script referred to them as cats. I just don't feel that they were cats.

 

[David.Blue]

Weirdly (at least imho) the twins were supposed to be Caitians which I don't buy myself. They seem vaguely feline, but very different from actual Caitians we've seen before in TVH and TAS. But then I tend to reject statements of intent by designers, etc. as canon until it ends up on screen somewhere. Recall Andorian antennae used to be what that species used for ears!

So I think of the twins as a different alien species. Their look is cool enough.

 

[T'Girl]

Their look is cool enough.

NO argument there.

 

[BigJake]

I thought the babes in the execrable "Jim's-bagging-them-two-at-a-time" scene matched a description I'd seen of the Cygnans, but it's non-canonical.

As for new aliens: it's more important to have genuinely new concepts for aliens than new designs. This is what always bugged me about the trajectory of the Klingons, which clearly illustrates a few fixed niches in the corpus of Trek aliens: the Klingons were initially avatars of the evils of dictatorship, then were re-designed and pushed into the "warrior culture" niche the Andorians had seemingly been initially conceived for, and then another species with more elaborate make-up -- the Cardassians -- had to be introduced to inhabit the Klingons' old vacated niche.

I personally would like to see a species -- if we want to stick with the old Trek formula of hanging a species' identity around a simple, vivid hook, which is not realistic but is dramatically understandable -- conceived around a philosophical dedication to comedy. Comedy as inky-dark as the void. (This is a variant on the anarchistic species idea I've batted around before.)

 

[Pauln6]

I want them to make use of existing species and I'm happy for a re-design to make use of more modern techniques but the caitian redux was a lame step back towards bumpy headed aliens I want them to avoid. They obviously went minimalist purely because they wanted a sexy shot and Kirk in bed with hairy women would not have ticked the right boxes.