Concerning Andorians and Tellarites

[Admiral Shran]

I just read through the "Most underutilized alien race" thread and thought this deserved it's own attention.

Why were the Andorians, and even more so the Tellarites, virtually ignored in TNG, DS9, and VOY. Off of the top of my head, I can only remember twice when Andorians appeared in the 24th century - in TNG "Captain's Holiday" as a background character whose back is seen only and in TNG "The Offspring" as one of Lal's final choices for an appearance. As far as I know, Tellarites only appeared in two episodes as well, and they were even deeper in the background - in TNG "Conspiracy" and VOY "Non Sequitur." In both instances, Tellarites only appear in reused stock footage from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and they appear so small on the screen that you can only tell they're Tellarites because The Powers That Be say they are.

I've never read many of the novels, but I believe it was established early on in the expanded universe that the founding members of the Federation were Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites - please correct me if I'm wrong. Surely the makers of TNG, DS9, and VOY were aware of this. So why was it that we had to wait until ENT to have these races appear again? Then, in ENT, they both don't get anywhere near the development they deserve. The Andorians were fleshed out somewhat, but the Tellarites only appear in nine episodes. Of those nine, in six they're only background characters. They only receive significant development in three episodes, "Bound," "Babel One," and "United."

The only reason I can imagine for not featuring them in the 24th century, even as regular background characters, is that The Powers That Be didn't want to create new Andorian and Tellarite makeup for actors to wear. However, there are countless instances in all three series where we see a new alien race that is never seen again after one episode (a lot with fairly elaborate makeup). There are also countless times when a small role in an episode could have easily been filled by an Andorian or Tellarite. However, in such cases, the role is almost universally filled by a Human, Vulcan, or (if they actually wanted a more exotic looking alien) a Bolian.

Some quick examples -
1.) TNG "Diaster" - the three kids that get stuck in the turbolift with Picard - did all three have to be Human?
2.) DS9 "Paradise Lost" - the Commandant of Starfleet Academy - while I think it's amazing that they actually showed a non-Human admiral (a true rarity), he's a Bolian - could easily have been an Andorian or Tellarite.
3.) VOY "Author, Author" - The Federation Arbitrator - did he really need to be Human? - The Bolian publisher - again, a Bolian for an non-Human, non-Vulcan alien.

Has there ever been any word from someone who actually worked on the shows as to why this was the case? As founders of the Federation, I think both of these races should have been explored much, much more.

 

[captcalhoun]

basically because GR decided in his infinite wisdom (cough) that TNG should not feature TOS races. He took a lot of persuading to use Worf as a way of showing the Klingons were allies now and that's why Vulcans were largely relegated to background extras and bit parts until Tuvok came along. he also took some persuading to bring back the Romulans.

IIRC Berman also didn't like the Andorians as he considered the antennae goofy looking. he was apparently persuaded to use them in ENT when the technology was there to make them move.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

They didn't have much of a problem using established races in ENT that didn't even belong there (Borg, Ferengi) based on official/unofficial canon.

 

[Myasishchev]

^Holy shit, it's Death's Head. Man, I hadn't thought of that guy in years. Cool.

Anyway, I guess Tellarites were never considered particularly interesting--although I defy anyone to suggest that Bolians ever were. I always thought a Tellarite character would be fun, though, especially if you wanted a bitcher and moaner. Regarding their makeup, I don't think it could've been much more painful economically or schedule-wise than a Cardie's or a Vorta's.

As for Andorians, I think it was a makeup thing indeed. One of Berman's bad decisions, although actually somewhat understandable. I think in the novels they have fewer than a billion people, which would explain their lack of presence.

 

[Timo]

What was said above. Plus, whenever they show kids, those have to be human, or near-human like Bajoran, because you can't shoot anything worthwhile with kids if they have to spend two hours in makeup before and one hour after the shot: the limitations on daily shooting time with underage actors are very strict.

Thing is, each spinoff show only had "story capital" for examining one alien species in any sort of depth. Not only would it have been prohibitively expensive to maintain sets and costumes for multiple recurring alien species, it would have become too tedious to write B plots for multiple species or otherwise take them into consideration when juggling our principal heroes.

In TOS, it was the Vulcans, via Spock. In TNG, it was the Klingons, via Worf. In DS9, it was the Bajorans and the Cardassians, because the show had "staying power" in that the characters were stuck with a set number of species, and plenty of sets and costumes were constantly available for two recurring alien species. In VOY, it was the Borg (and, to a degree, the holograms). In ENT, it was the Vulcans again, but luckily, some Andorian action could be slipped in as well. And of course, every show could build on work done by preceding shows, so the Vulcans and Klingons could be used in all the later spinoffs.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Anwar]

Because nothing was really established about Tellarites to make them interesting, and makeup FX back then weren't good enough to have cool Andorians around. By ENT the makeup tech was better, thus we got Shran and co.

 

[Admiral Shran]

basically because GR decided in his infinite wisdom (cough) that TNG should not feature TOS races.

Which is one reason why I'm one of those blasphemous heretics who believe that Star Trek has gotten better since the Great Bird's passing.

They didn't have much of a problem using established races in ENT that didn't even belong there (Borg, Ferengi) based on official/unofficial canon.

Agreed. I loved Enterprise, but was very upset to see the Ferengi and Borg in those episodes. The fact that the characters never really learn anything about them makes it at least acceptable, IMO. However, it would have been better to just not include them at all.

BTW, I love your user-name.

Because nothing was really established about Tellarites to make them interesting.

True, about the only thing established about them was that they liked to argue, based on a vague statement by Sarek in "Journey to Babel."

However, I would say that nothing particularly interesting was established about the Bajorans prior to the start of DS9, other than a vague resemblence to the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis (which was later morphed into a more Jewish / Nazi resemblence). However, the Bajorans became one of my favorite alien races because DS9 spent so much time developing them.

I'm not saying that an Andorian or a Tellarite should have been made a main character (although that would have been awesome). I'm just saying that it would have been nice to see them at least once in a while, maybe even once with a speaking role.

 

[MEATLOAFr]

They didn't have much of a problem using established races in ENT that didn't even belong there (Borg, Ferengi) based on official/unofficial canon.

Don't forget the Naussicans

At least Q didn't show up in Enterprise

And what was with Uhurra ordering a "Cardassian Sunrise" in the bar in ST:XI wern't they not known till sometime before TNG?

 

[Timo]

Agreed. I loved Enterprise, but was very upset to see the Ferengi and Borg in those episodes.

It's still quite logical to have them there.

I mean, these cultures didn't spring out of a factory package when we first saw them in TNG. They were encountered, yeah, but they had preexisted. They had centuries, millennia, in the Borg case even hundreds of millennia of history. It would be rather implausible that the Borg wouldn't be there in the 22nd century if they were there in the 23rd, the 21st, and even the minus 1234th!

The Borg are everywhere, VOY establishes that much. The show also establishes that the Borg are secretive: it's one of those "you don't find them, they find you" deals. They could easily find 22nd century heroes if they chose to, then.

TNG and DS9 suggest the Ferengi are opportunistic pirates and thieves who try to be secretive yet also constantly try to expand their enterprises. Again a good reason for them to appear everywhere and everywhen, but in a secretive fashion.

Andorians aren't "ancient" or "ubiquitous" in a similar fashion. ENT even pegs them as local players who only started squabbling with the Vulcans in the 20th century. So it might make sense that they wouldn't be encountered in the past. Doesn't mean they wouldn't spread out in the future, though - so every spinoff should have had a legitimate reason for showing them. Too bad that not many shows did. Then again, with the makeup effects of TNG or DS9, we might indeed have found the Andorians too clumsily made... And in ENT, they could be shown as truly alien, rather than semi-known, which was good for their mythos.

And what was with Uhura ordering a "Cardassian Sunrise" in the bar in ST:XI wern't they not known till sometime before TNG?

Nothing was ever established about when the Cardassians became known to humans. Vulcans seemed to know of them at the time of ENT already, as a Cardassian emigrant poet was said to reside on Vulcan at that time.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Hence why I said "official/unofficial cannon".

Only a couple races had very specific first contact dates mentioned. In fact, the Klingons come to mind, and ENT changed that IIRC.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I just read through the "Most underutilized alien race" thread and thought this deserved it's own attention.

The original premise for "Encounter at Farpoint" was that the ship would be departing Well-Known Space at Farpoint Station and going on an extended exploratory journey, hence the reason families were aboard. There was no intention to visit planets populated with known UFP aliens (and stated in the Season One Writers Bible) because they were leaving those areas of space way behind. In fact, we see only a Betazoid, a Klingon (raised by humans) and a few Vulcans among the mainly human crew.

Now, not long after "Farpoint" was in production, it was decided not to have the Enterprise be too far from Earth after all, but the idea that few TOS races would be seen kinda stuck.

Why were the Andorians, and even more so the Tellarites, virtually ignored in TNG, DS9, and VOY.

The makeup artist on TOS and TMP, Fred Phillips, was never happy with the Tellarites. He used them on "Journey to Babel", "Whom Gods Destroy" and "The Lights of Zetar", changing them each time, even cutting away parts of the original facial appliances, and omitting the few-fingered gloves, trying to make the design more believable.

For TMP, Phillips altered the Andorians with thin, tapering, tendriled antennae and a bumpy lined latex forehead, using the newly-invented slip latex products. He brought back Andorians because they were his favourite. He avoided attempting pig-faced Tellarites, though, and made new simian-looking Kazarites instead.

Phillips had to retire before ST II due to blindness.

Off of the top of my head, I can only remember twice when Andorians appeared in the 24th century - in TNG "Captain's Holiday" as a background character whose back is seen only and in TNG "The Offspring" as one of Lal's final choices for an appearance.

It's the same wig and antennae, of course. Actually, it's the same actress, according to the tag on the costume! And no one on staff was terribly pleased with the outcome of the look in either episode.

As far as I know, Tellarites only appeared in two episodes as well, and they were even deeper in the background - in TNG "Conspiracy" and VOY "Non Sequitur." In both instances, Tellarites only appear in reused stock footage from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and they appear so small on the screen that you can only tell they're Tellarites because The Powers That Be say they are.

No, the sharp-eyed fans said they were! The costumes worn by the two ST IV Federation Council's Tellarite ambassadors (and in the external stock footage of distant Tellarites used in TNG) are actually re-used Kazarite ambassador costumes from TMP. That's why Memory Alpha (written by fans) assumes they are Tellarites in the footage.

So why was it that we had to wait until ENT to have these races appear again?

Berman's quote during pre-production of "Conspiracy" was "We don't do antennae on this show". Alien beings with antennae were a stereotypical 50s/60s B-movie schtick, and Berman didn't find TOS antennaed Andorians to be at all believable. (The ST IV Andorians had a nice look, yes, but on a motion picture budget. It wasn't till ENT that miniaturization of electronics made it possible to make lighter, movable antennae.)

Tracy Torme scripted "Conspiracy" to have an Andorian in it. Berman insisted it wouldn't happen, so the Makeup Dept. invented the Bolians instead, ie. blue humanoids with no antennae.

The only reason I can imagine for not featuring them in the 24th century, even as regular background characters, is that The Powers That Be didn't want to create new Andorian and Tellarite makeup for actors to wear.

That's exactly right. No secret.

1.) TNG "Disaster" - the three kids that get stuck in the turbolift with Picard - did all three have to be Human?

Keep in mind that any child actor wearing full alien makeup can only do a few brief minutes of acting each hour. Makeup application is time lost on the set. Very, very expensive, even before filming starts.

2.) DS9 "Paradise Lost" - the Commandant of Starfleet Academy - while I think it's amazing that they actually showed a non-Human admiral (a true rarity), he's a Bolian - could easily have been an Andorian or Tellarite.

Except they weren't happy with any previous Tellarite or Andorian TV makeups.

Has there ever been any word from someone who actually worked on the shows as to why this was the case?

Of course, in many, many published interviews.

 

[Pauln6]

I too lament the lack of development in many of the original Trek aliens but we have to accept budgetary, make-up, and special-effect limitations of the shows. How many thousands of fans would have complained if they'd looked rubbish? The shame is that the TMP aliens looked far more interesting than many of the aliens they did go on to feature. Bolians suck compared to Andorians. Betazoids suck compared to Deltans.

 

[Timo]

In fact, the Klingons come to mind, and ENT changed that IIRC.

Not really. TNG "First Contact" told us that first contact with the Klingons was centuries before the 2360s; that was the first time somebody onscreen indicated the date, even roughly. ENT "Broken Bow" then showed first known contact between Klingons and humans in 2151, fitting the bill timeline-wise.

However, the ENT contact did not fit the general description of the contact in TNG: it would not have gone better had it been preceded by clandestine observation. Doesn't mean it would be a contradiction. Could be that the TNG contact was between Klingons and some other UFP species besides humans. Indeed, since Vulcans in ENT already support clandestine observation, and will later become prominent UFP members, we could say the TNG description referred to the Vulcan-Klingon first contact.

Now, not long after "Farpoint" was in production, it was decided not to have the Enterprise be too far from Earth after all, but the idea that few TOS races would be seen kinda stuck.

I wouldn't blame Starfleet from aborting a mission that dependent on the use of Farpoint as a support base, not when Farpoint had just ceased to exist...

In any case, the first season of TNG soon reintroduced Klingons (other than Worf) as a recurring alien species, and ended with reintroducing Romulans as another such species. Seems that the ban on TOS species was dropped relatively early on.

For TMP, Phillips altered the Andorians with thin, tapering, tendriled antennae and a bumpy lined latex forehead, using the newly-invented slip latex products.

This and other variations on the Andorian appearance could be taken as racial traits, or perhaps as fashion statements. I'm sure that if humans had antennae, there would exist fashions for very long and slim ones, as well as for very short and thick ones...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Wormhole]

I remember around the time The Andorian Incident first aired, there was an interview with Braga where he said there had always been some relunctance to bring the Andorians back because they "looked silly."

Personally, I don't think the Andorians look silly. If anything all the various "random foreheads" that are used for virtually every alien of the week look a lot sillier.

 

[Therin of Andor]

In any case, the first season of TNG soon reintroduced Klingons (other than Worf) as a recurring alien species, and ended with reintroducing Romulans as another such species. Seems that the ban on TOS species was dropped relatively early on.

The writers were being encouraged (by the Writers Bible) to develop new aliens, but then a good story came in about Klingons. When the Romulans were reintroduced, the script specifically mentioned that they'd been absent from shared space from a long time (even though an earlier episode, "Angel One"?, had mentioned them).

But we were discussing the other UFP races. Roddenberry didn't want TNG's writers to keep mining TOS for aliens, and besides, Michael Westmore had already developed his easily identifiable "style", which usually included pre-painted latex appliance pieces. IIRC, part of this style was that the eyes should always show through, to help the actor's performance. This was something Fred Phillips had always had trouble with, esp. with his TOS Tellarites - and several of the TMP over-the-head alien masks, which had large false eyes (and mouths that could not be used for closeup dialogue), relegating them to the background.

Rick Berman did keep steering TNG's writers away from TOS aliens, although it was pretty obvious that to have Worf meet Klingons would be effective, and the feature films had resulted in lots of Klingon armor (made on a motion picture budget) being available. Note that those first Klingons were encountered in an unexpected place, stranded on a rogue ship.

Each makeup person (and costuming person) has presented their ST aliens in a style, representative of the times. If you line up the Mego action figures of the TMP aliens, there is a sameness across the line: over the head rubber masks, sharp angles on sleeves, flared pantlegs, gold and silver decorative pieces, etc. Very 70s.

TOS aliens were often vibrant colours of solid greasepaint: green (Orions), blue (Andorians), mauve ("Babel" ambassadors), metallic gold ("Babel"'s dwarf aliens), red (Elasians & "The Apple" aliens), aqua (Troyians), yellow (Tamoon of "Gamesters"). With elaborate, highly coiffed wigs. Very 60s.

Berman is on record that he thought antennae were "hokey" and too 60s for late-80s' TV. Fred Phillips himself was always dissatisfied and frustrated with the Tellarites. It's not surprising that neither race made a really big comeback until ENT.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I remember around the time The Andorian Incident first aired, there was an interview with Braga where he said there had always been some relunctance to bring the Andorians back because they "looked silly.".

In fact, it was Braga who fought to have the episode reconceptualized with Andorian antagonists. It was originally pitched as "The Gorn Incident" but he argued that Kirk meeting the Gorn in TOS was a "first contact" incident. So they went back to the palette of TOS aliens and began to wonder if then-recent advances in miniaturization of remote control electronics would finally permit the Andorians to be done with moving antennae, in a way that would convince Berman that they'd look cool and not "hokey".

Even so, the remotely-controlled devices were heavy for the actors to wear and they made lots of noise on set, requiring all dialogue with Andorians in scenes to be relooped, plus there was a hidden antennae puppeteer off-screen with every Andorian whose antennae moved. The ENT Andorians were definitely not cheap to do.

 

[Nerys Myk]

But, but Braga hates TOS and has no clue about continuity!!!!!!

 

[Admiral Shran]

I remember around the time The Andorian Incident first aired, there was an interview with Braga where he said there had always been some relunctance to bring the Andorians back because they "looked silly."

Personally, I don't think the Andorians look silly. If anything all the various "random foreheads" that are used for virtually every alien of the week look a lot sillier.

Amen.

I can understand not wanting to reintroduce the two races because the makeup would simply be cost prohibitive on a TV budget. However, I still don't understand why Andorians and Tellarites never appeared in the movies.

I remember reading that John Logan, "Nemesis' screenwriter, wanted there to be Andorians, Tellarites, and even a Gorn at Riker and Troi's wedding in "Nemesis." Why was that idea ended? I can understand that a Gorn would still be cost prohibitive. But by that time, Andorians had already been introduced on ENT and Tellarites would be introduced only five months later.

Also, did either race appear in the new movie? I've only seen it once so I can't remember.

 

[captcalhoun]

no. the only pre-existing Fed races used were the Vulcans and Orion. Assuming that Gaila IS Orion since she has ginger hair...

 

[Anwar]

We saw Andorians and Tellarites in the TOS movies, but for the TNG movies it might've been because they were made on the cheap compared to NuTrek.