Bolians
- Thread starter RoJoHen
- Start date
For some reason they have their own bank.
My point is that we always just see them in the background...but ya know, we see them in the background all the frickin time. They've been around since TNG, but so far nobody has tried to really make them a focal point or expand our knowledge of them. For as many times as we've seen them wandering around the sets, you'd think they'd get a few more stories of their own.
Is there any good reason to think the Bolians are UFP members?
I mean, they have a bank when our UFP heroes are all hot and bothered about their moneyless economy. They also pursue their own foreign policy, as per "Allegiance" and "Ferengi Love Songs". And the closest thing to a UFP membership reference, the inclusion of a Bolian among "Federation Ambassadors" inspecting DS9 in "The Forsaken", pairs the Bolians with another culture of dubious UFP ties, the Betazoids...
Timo Saloniemi
I mean, they have a bank when our UFP heroes are all hot and bothered about their moneyless economy. They also pursue their own foreign policy, as per "Allegiance" and "Ferengi Love Songs". And the closest thing to a UFP membership reference, the inclusion of a Bolian among "Federation Ambassadors" inspecting DS9 in "The Forsaken", pairs the Bolians with another culture of dubious UFP ties, the Betazoids...
Timo Saloniemi
I always thought it was fairly obvious they were UFP members, just with the amount we always saw. After humans they're probably the most common species we ever see in Starfleet, probably more so than Vulcans.
Also the various Dominion War stuff about the "Bolian front" and protecting the Bolarus system would also point towards obvious membership IMO
Also the various Dominion War stuff about the "Bolian front" and protecting the Bolarus system would also point towards obvious membership IMO
Well, there are a lot of Bolians serving in Starfleet, and we see Bolian civilians at quite a few Federation planets and outposts. Earth is even said to have quite a decent Bolian population.
I guess it's never been officially stated that Bolians are members of the Federation, but I think it's safe to assume that has always been the intention.
Its pretty obvious Betazed is a member of the UFP with Lwaxana being a Federation diplomat and Starfleet being responsible for the safety of Betazed.
Then check out the ST novels, because then you'll see that a Bolian was a UFP President, with a rather complicated career end.
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Bolian
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Min_Zife
In fact, a short, comedy scene was cut from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode script, "The Chase", in which it was to be revealed by Mot, the ship's barber, that Bolarus IX was not yet a member of the United Federation of Planets, but the line was dropped before filming.
Since then, DS9 showed a Bolian as Commandant of Starfleet Academy ("Paradise Lost").
OTOH, there were plenty of Russians serving in the German armed forces during WWII. Many Germans working in the United States armed forces, too. Tells squat about the alliances and animosities of that era...
Granted that the UFP has hosted many an unlikely and even downright hostile member culture. But it has also always sought alliances, often with cultures that are at spiritual and idealistic odds with the mainstream human-American culture. And it has employed members of such cultures as its diplomatic representatives even when the actual membership of said cultures has looked hopeless - Klingons have been UFP Ambassadors, so why not Bolians or Betazoids?
Timo Saloniemi
Granted that the UFP has hosted many an unlikely and even downright hostile member culture. But it has also always sought alliances, often with cultures that are at spiritual and idealistic odds with the mainstream human-American culture. And it has employed members of such cultures as its diplomatic representatives even when the actual membership of said cultures has looked hopeless - Klingons have been UFP Ambassadors, so why not Bolians or Betazoids?
Timo Saloniemi
Don't assume things that you cannot corroborate.
Canon doesn't state Bolians were/are part of UFP.
They may have people/inviduals serving in SF and Federation in numerous positions and probably have very close ties with them, but this DOES NOT imply they are a member planet.
Nog and Rom were both Ferengi and both worked for SF (well, Nog at least continues to do so).
Worf is a Klingon and he is a SF officer. Klingons to the best of my knowledge are NOT Federation members.
Neelix is a Talaxian and yet he worked on Voyager fully as a member of the crew and was made ambassador by Janeway. Talaxians aren't part of the UFP.
At least Bolians are fairly neutral as far as Trek cultures go. Betazoids are telepaths, and our TOS heroes never were comfortable with those, not even with one in their midst. It's a bit difficult to think that the UFP at large would readily accept them as members; if they indeed are part of the UFP in the 24th century, then the later the membership was accepted, the better.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
All those examples are of one or two people of a certain species working for Starfleet or serving in it. Meanwhile there are lots of Bolians serving in Starfleet. We've even seen Bolian starship captains and Admirals. 22 out of the 40 Bolians seen in all Star Trek were serving in or working for Starfleet. Or posing as a Starfleet cadet. That's a good enough percentage to believe they're members.
The obvious logical next step in Star Trek is to have the next series lead be a Bolian captain :-p
C'mon, its not too much of a stretch.
Everyone knows all the best Captains are bald :-D
C'mon, its not too much of a stretch.
Everyone knows all the best Captains are bald :-D
