B'Elanna's Forehead
- Thread starter RagazzaMatta
- Start date
It's been a long time since I saw much of VOY, so I can't remember the differences in B'Elanna's appearance. As has been mentioned, Worf's look was also changed through the years.
B'Elanna would have fit in just fine as a full Klingon in the TOS movie era, with the more subtle forehead, the lack of nose ridges, and normal (human) teeth. I find it weird how all that stuff was just piled onto the Klingons' faces starting with TNG, as if they had gone through some mass mutation and became more feral between the movie era and the mid-24th century.
And the TMP Klingons had a unique look, undoubtedly influenced by the Kreeg in Roddenberry's production "Planet Earth."
Certain fans believe that Klingons were meant to have bumpy foreheads from the beginning. But there's no evidence for that. When Gene Coon thought of the Klingon race and then wrote "Errand of Mercy," the only guidelines given for the appearance of the Klingons were "Oriental" and "hard-faced." John Colicos, who played Kor, came up with the look that we saw on-screen, working with Fred Phillips.
But I digress...
Kor
B'Elanna would have fit in just fine as a full Klingon in the TOS movie era, with the more subtle forehead, the lack of nose ridges, and normal (human) teeth. I find it weird how all that stuff was just piled onto the Klingons' faces starting with TNG, as if they had gone through some mass mutation and became more feral between the movie era and the mid-24th century.
And the TMP Klingons had a unique look, undoubtedly influenced by the Kreeg in Roddenberry's production "Planet Earth."
Certain fans believe that Klingons were meant to have bumpy foreheads from the beginning. But there's no evidence for that. When Gene Coon thought of the Klingon race and then wrote "Errand of Mercy," the only guidelines given for the appearance of the Klingons were "Oriental" and "hard-faced." John Colicos, who played Kor, came up with the look that we saw on-screen, working with Fred Phillips.
But I digress...
Kor
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I do NOT agree that B'Elanna "should" have had even subtler ridges. That's ridiculous. She's an alien she should look alien. Just as Farrel should have had the established Trill makeup.
If you put K'ehlyr and B'Elanna next to each other, K'ehlyr is, in my eyes, the more attractive one, even with her full Klingon makeup. B'Elanna in contrast looks like a creepy porcelain doll.
If you put K'ehlyr and B'Elanna next to each other, K'ehlyr is, in my eyes, the more attractive one, even with her full Klingon makeup. B'Elanna in contrast looks like a creepy porcelain doll.
I think Suzie Plakson's sharper features were much more suited to the (half) Klingon look than Roxann Dawson.... not to mention that K'ehlyr's hairdo looked better than B'Elann's "cutesy" 'do.
And the 24th-century "half Klingon" look would have passed for "full Klingon" in the TOS movie era.
Kor
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One big difference: teeth.
B'Elanna has had super fab orthodontics to be human pretty.
K'ehlyr was true to her Klingon genes.
B'Elanna has had super fab orthodontics to be human pretty.
K'ehlyr was true to her Klingon genes.
You can't be half Klingon and have perfect human teeth.
HUMANS don't have perfect human teeth.
She chose to orthodontize herself into humanity. If she had kinda crappy irregular teeth she could have chosen to sharpen every single of one of them and wear her Klingon snarl with pride. She didn't.
HUMANS don't have perfect human teeth.
She chose to orthodontize herself into humanity. If she had kinda crappy irregular teeth she could have chosen to sharpen every single of one of them and wear her Klingon snarl with pride. She didn't.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAkg7DL3ROg[/yt]
Did she have a forehead
... I thought it was a cheese grater up there
... I thought it was a cheese grater up there
But they don't that's the issue; K'ehleyr has a full, prominent head crest, while B'Elanna just has a few dainty lines on her forehead.
Suzi Plakston (?) has those cute cheeks going for her and that smile. But she's so statuesque that she's already a standout without the makeup. So when you put that more severe rubber head on her and it comes together and makes a statement, because she seems like a different kind of a woman, already. You don't usually see them 6' and over. Also, I'm pretty sure that K'ehlyr's head sculpt was identical to the one Valkris used in TSFS. Westmore did not design Valkris and as a result, the head looks good.
And I agree that Westmore, et al, did not flatter the B'Elanna character, or Roxann Dawson's beauty with that rediculous rubber head they put on her! I've been saying that all along. They went subtle, which they should've done, but they went about it in the wrong way. It looks like the smears my knife makes on toast when I spread on some butter. Michael's a really good guy, I love his interviews ... but he's not that good with aliens, he never was.
I completely disagree about using the rubber head from TNG's Trills on Jadzia Dax. The dots had to go, I really thought they were stupid, but playing an alien or not, burying her under all that plastic would've been a mistake. Whatever species they attributed to Jadzia, as long as she was played by Terry Farrell, she was there as Action Barbie and that meant no blockage of her photegenicness.
One day, getting up off the floor after repairing a console, B'Elanna slipped head-butted it and her top ridge broke off. She keeps it in her bedside drawer.
Nobody on the crew noticed.
Nobody on the crew noticed.
I would have liked to see how Miral (mother) and John Torres got together; that would have been hot. There must have been strong desire there to tempt the devout Miral. I wish somebody would cover it in a novel; or maybe they have, and I don't know about it.
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Looking at Mr. Torres I can't really imagine what it was.
I think Dorn wore no less than 3 different head pieces. I think I actually liked the first season version the most. It remained pretty much the same through deep space.
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