Big Forehead Romulans - Lame?

[commodore64]

The entire point of Balance of Terror was to cast aspersions on the Vulcans (like Spock) that he could indeed be a Romulan. Stiles suddenly believed the previously loyal Spock could've been a Rom, especially when he accidentally alerts the Romulans where Enterprise is.

And then comes TNG. Suddenly, Romulans have big foreheads and are dumb -- a trend that lasts through ENT.

I find the change in the Romulans incredibly disappointing. The very idea that there is an evil race that looks exactly like the good-natured Vulcans is what makes them so evil, mysterious and dangerous.

Also, rather than being scheming, they turned kinda moronic. They got thick necks, started threatening Picard and made a bunch of dumb moves.

The Romulans of TOS were the best and the essence of the race. Who's with me?

 

[Sci]

The only time the bumpby foreheads of the Romulans was ever useful or interesting was the end of "Awakening" (ENT).

Other than that, completely pointless alteration of the makeup design.

 

[Peacemaker]

Let's also not forget that in Trek V an VI, we still had TOS type Romulans, and TNG was being broacast at both times. So, we had an inconsistency at that very time, not just as a matter of TNG coming after TOS and them making some editorial changes.

 

[commodore64]

The only time the bumpby foreheads of the Romulans was ever useful or interesting was the end of "Awakening" (ENT).

I think you mean Kir'shara. If so, I thought that was also a waste. It's more interesting to wonder whether V'Las is a Romulan. Seeing a thick-necked Romulan with a big forehead kinda defeated the purpose. He could've simply said - without the bumpy forehead - that "Our Romulan brothers will be pleased." Why the thick brow?

 

[Sci]

commodore64 said:

The only time the bumpby foreheads of the Romulans was ever useful or interesting was the end of "Awakening" (ENT).

I think you mean Kir'shara. If so, I thought that was also a waste. It's more interesting to wonder whether V'Las is a Romulan. Seeing a thick-necked Romulan with a big forehead kinda defeated the purpose. He could've simply said - without the bumpy forehead - that "Our Romulan brothers will be pleased." Why the thick brow?

Yeah, "Kir'Shara." In that one particular case, I think that the brow ridge -- because it's a visual image that doesn't rely on narration -- being on a character we'd already seen and thought to be Vulcan makes the whole ending much more ominous and powerful than a line like that would have been. TV is a visual medium, and visual images can often be more powerful in that regard.

But that's literally the only time I can think of where I think the brow ridges worked.

 

[Therin of Andor]

commodore64 said:
And then comes TNG. Suddenly, Romulans have big foreheads and are dumb

Michael Westmore's argument was that TMP updated the Klingons without too much trouble, so why shouldn't TNG update the Romulans? Noone overruled him, so it went ahead.

(Have you ever read the script for ST II? In that one, the scriptwriter mentions that we realize Saavik is half Romulan because she has the fairer complexion and features of her Romulan heritage - although all of fandom knew that Romulans should be as green-blooded and slant of brow as the Vulcans! Thus Kirstie Alley's Saavik has regular eyebrows! Sometimes these things are mistakes, and sometimes they are creative choices.)

The Romulans of ST III were dropped because it was feared general audiences would be confused why the bad guys looked just like Sarek, Saavik and Spock. Again, a choice had to be made.

Fanon had already established that there was a strong caste system in the Romulan Empire: nobility and plebes, etc. We saw Romulan crewmembers in TOS wearing helmets which covered their foreheads, so if anything Westmore's changes were easily explained. Recent novels have implied that most of Vulcan's heavy-ridged citizens were the ones who left Vulcan in search of another home, and that a third caste was created when some were irradiated to develop into Remans (who also have the brow ridges and pointed ears).

 

[JD]

I never understood the Romulan ridges either. If they are supposed to be identical to the Vulcans why did they have ridges but not any Vulcans we've ever seen? I didn't think the Sundering was supposed to have have long enough ago for the Romulans to have changed that much.

 

[T'Bonz]

The ridges, and the ruination of the Romulans by New Trek was stupid, in my not so humble opinion.

 

[MarianLH]

If the ridges are supposed to just be a makeup update, like the Klingon ones, why didn't any of the TNG Vulcans get them?

I'll take Duane's Rihannsu any day of the week and twice on Sunday.


Marian

 

[Anwar]

Books can do more than TV episodes can because they're longer and can put more detail in.

If they had adapted stuff from the Rihannsu books it still wouldn't be any better because stuff would be lost in the translation.

Personally, I did like the greenish tinge they gave the Romulans in TNG+ they did really look like they had green blood now.

As for the Vulcans, the problem was that to casual viewers it was confusing why the Rommies and Vulcans looked the same, so the change was also to show that while there were similarities there were also differences between the Vulcans and Romulans.

 

[Unicron]

commodore64 said:
I find the change in the Romulans incredibly disappointing. The very idea that there is an evil race that looks exactly like the good-natured Vulcans is what makes them so evil, mysterious and dangerous.

I disagree. What makes the Romulans interesting is how they're written, and sadly they have gotten the short end of the stick in that regard. TNG had some good episodes, but they've largely remained underused at best.

For me, the point of BOT is that they're a separate race, not the fact that some of them resemble Vulcans. I for one am glad they received more distinct makeup, because otherwise I think that's how viewers would seem them - as "evil" Vulcans instead of a distinct society. The suspicion on Spock was an interesting subplot, but did anyone really believe he was working for the other side? For that matter, why should the crew believe they really look so similar to Vulcans? Why not assume it's propaganda to drive a wedge between the Fed members, in the event that a new war breaks out?

I can't really comment much on the TOS Romulans because there's so little to comment on. Trek is very poor in actually making use of many of its aliens. As for why the Vulcans didn't get ridges, it's explained in TNG - the two races are biologically distinct, even though they still possess many similarities. The ridges presumably are some mutation caused by the conditions on Romulus, which doesn't seem to remotely resemble Vulcan from the few times we've seen both planets. The smooth-headed Romulans might therefore be a genetic variant that still look like Vulcans.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Unicron said:
The ridges presumably are some mutation caused by the conditions on Romulus, which doesn't seem to remotely resemble Vulcan from the few times we've seen both planets. The smooth-headed Romulans might therefore be a genetic variant that still look like Vulcans.

Or, since the proto-vulcan Mintakans (of "Who Watches the Watchers", TNG) also have ridges, it was some strains of Vulcans who lost their ridges over time - and, as I suggested earlier - most of the ones who left the planet in the Sundering happened to be ridged ones. Becoming Romulans.

If you study any random selection of 21st humans, we have quite a few amongst up with quite prominent bony brows jutting out over their eyes - almost Cro-Magnon in appearance! It's not such a stretch that vulcanoids have slanting bony brow ridges that evolution has smoothed out - for some - over time.

 

[Anwar]

Are the Remans Romulans who mutated due to Remus' environment? I always assumed they were the natives of Remus who were enslaved by the Romulans.

 

[FPAlpha]

I too can't understand why Romulans suddenly got small ridges on their foreheads.

If i remember correctly the Vulcans and Romulans split only a few thousand years ago (maybe during the age of Surak) and evolution doesn't work that fast (at least not globally).

There was no reason to do that kind of makeup.. Romulans are still very distinguishable from Vulcans with their attitude, clothing and technology and a few lines (and maybe an episode) prior to TNG Unification could explain that to the unitiated viewer.

 

[Sharr Khan]

Anwar said:
Are the Remans Romulans who mutated due to Remus' environment? I always assumed they were the natives of Remus who were enslaved by the Romulans.

That's what I prefer, it makes the Romulan exodus nice and messy plus stumbling on a lush world devoid of sapiant life is less easy to swallow then finding one with a native population to stomp all over.

Sharr

 

[broberfett]

commodore64 said:
The entire point of Balance of Terror was to cast aspersions on the Vulcans (like Spock) that he could indeed be a Romulan. Stiles suddenly believed the previously loyal Spock could've been a Rom, especially when he accidentally alerts the Romulans where Enterprise is.

And then comes TNG. Suddenly, Romulans have big foreheads and are dumb -- a trend that lasts through ENT.

I find the change in the Romulans incredibly disappointing. The very idea that there is an evil race that looks exactly like the good-natured Vulcans is what makes them so evil, mysterious and dangerous.

Also, rather than being scheming, they turned kinda moronic. They got thick necks, started threatening Picard and made a bunch of dumb moves.

The Romulans of TOS were the best and the essence of the race. Who's with me?

Yeah, I like the honorable sort of Roman like Romulans. It was a WW2 sub episode complete with depth charges. Instead of submerging they would decloak.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Then again, the first time you see the Romulans, they sneak attack the Federation. Mark Lendard's character was honorable, but I wouldn't say every other one was all that great.

 

[broberfett]

As Worf says, nothing is more honorable than victory. The Romulans felt there was honor in defeating their opponents. They weren't the sneaky shifty bastards that the later big head Romulans were with all the secret police and plotting.

 

[patlandness]

Considering the Romulans were bested in both appearances on TOS, I wouldn't call the ones on TNG morons...

 

[MetalPants]

Sharr Khan said:

Anwar said:
Are the Remans Romulans who mutated due to Remus' environment? I always assumed they were the natives of Remus who were enslaved by the Romulans.

That's what I prefer, it makes the Romulan exodus nice and messy plus stumbling on a lush world devoid of sapiant life is less easy to swallow then finding one with a native population to stomp all over.

Sharr

One fan theory that I've enjoyed about the ridges...

So this group leaves Vulcan, heading out to form a new civilization. Along they way, they meet the Remans. They intermingle and settle in with these people. They begin to interbreed with their new friends. So TOS Romulans are the vulcans that have had little racial mixing, TNG Romulans are fairly well hybridized, and the Remans from Nemesis are mostly pure Reman. It could be a matter of shifting political winds as to why themore vulcan looking Romulans are no longer seen/in power during the TNG era. Perhaps such concepts as racial purity were abandoned, and there was even more mixing?