Dinosaurs

[Arpy]

I came across an image of Gul Macet recently and was struck by how different early Cardassian make-up was from later.

They were brown-skinned, not gray, initially. The ridges were less knobby. No scales. They had brown hair, not the thicker black. The ridges under the nose were different (am I the only one who noticed? It drove me crazy to think I might). The neck ridges were much smaller and less elaborate.

Something else I noted was how more avian (bird-like) the ridges looked. Almost liked a plucked bony vulture head.

What if they'd taken the Cardies in a more bird than lizard-man direction over the course of the shows? I thought of recent images of feathered velociraptors and tyrannosaurs, and wondered if by DS9's end, they'd have some with tufts of feathers between ridges.

Either way, I kind of miss the earlier look. The later was great, but too obviously evil gray lizard-men-like, scales and all. The earlier left you guessing at exactly what kind of life-form you were looking at. They didn't necessarily look lizard, bird, or any Earth animal-like. Just very skeletal, if skin-covered.

And they should have done more with the Macet-like facial hair! Legate Damar should have grown his out.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Hmm. I thought Macet looked like Lemmy--Cardassians were clearly a biker gang.

 

[Arpy]

Looking at this picture again, I'm seeing the original uniform/makeup in new light. The Cardassians were villains from the start so they're meant to look sinister. They're not elegant birds (swans or even swallows); they're they're more craggy vultures with brown eagle coloring. I'm kind of reminded of the skeksis from The Dark Crystal.

Gone are the feathers; left are the skeletons. Even their prominent boniness suggests they don't have a mammal-normal amount of flesh, allowing for a easier take-off in flight.

The uniform looks like a cross between a skinless muscle-man and an alien skeleton - with prominent sternum, pelvis, etc. Muscles (though cheesy) suggest strength (threat), but there's an awkward nakedness to it...whither thy feathers? It also has flared fenders on at the shoulders, arms, and legs (and on the back of the helmets), that again suggest wings and flight. The helmets also look a little aquiline, as though they're replacement beaks.

The Galors similarly look like headless featherless birds with their flared featherless wings, puffed-up chests, and legs tucked back as though in attack-dive.

 

[publiusr]

I thought of them more as a perfect warp shape-to complement the ringship--the teardrop

 

[Arpy]

^ I'm a little lost...you mean the Galor Class is a compliment to the ringship? Sound interesting; how?

 

[Arpy]

Rereading my thoughts above, I'm really rather curious about what the Cardassians would have been like if they were Trek's avian baddies. Looking at the makeup, uniforms, ships, even the Cardassina symbol (it's a bird), I'm kinda surprised I hadn't seen it so distinctly until recently.

They took them reptilian pretty quickly afterward (and thank god the uniforms went), but thinking of them as featherless birds, I'm so curious what they may have been like developed more in that direction.