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Garth of Izar--human?

^Look... if you're a human being who was born and raised on another planet, then you're not going to say "Earthman" when you mean "human." An alien might, but a human colonist definitely wouldn't

Why not? If they identify more with their colony than with Earth, they just might use snarky remarks like that. Remember Hawk's family from "Rogue"? They were hardcore Mars, even though they were all human.
 
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^Look... if you're a human being who was born and raised on another planet, then you're not going to say "Earthman" when you mean "human." An alien might,
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Thank you, this was my point. That and that the term was occasionally used to indicate humans on TOS.

So Garth's use of the term doesn't prove anything about his species of origin.

I never said it did. I said he possibly could be alien, which I think remains true. That isn't the same as saying he's more likely to be alien or it's conclusive evidence he's not human.
 
The FASA RPG had a Decker class destroyer named Kelvar Garth, presumably referring to Garth of Izar. Since the class was jointly named for both Matt and Will Decker, and most of them are named for important characters (including several TOS crewmembers), this would be a consistent use of the name.
 
What should we make of Zephrem Cochrane of Alpha Centauri? Is he a native of that world, just as we might say Spock of Vulcan?
 
And Cochrane is unquestionably an Earth name. Also, FC made it quite clear that Cochrane was living in Montana when he invented warp drive, so I'm rather astonished that the question still needs to be asked. For that matter, "Metamorphosis" repeatedly and consistently established that Cochrane was human:

MCCOY: He's human, Jim. Everything checks out perfectly.
...
KIRK (to Cochrane): We find you out here, where no human has any business being.
...
COCHRANE: Maybe I'm a hundred and fifty years out of style, but I'm not going to be fodder for any inhuman monster.
...
COCHRANE: I love her. Is that surprising?
SPOCK: Not coming from a human being. You are, after all, essentially irrational.

So any fan theories that Cochrane was an alien have always been illegitimate. Gene Coon clearly intended Cochrane to be a human being; "of Alpha Centauri" must have meant that he was a colonist.
 
I asked that because I know that ZC was a Human. Saying it that way could imply he was born or native to Alpha Centauri.
 
Look at the guy! There's no way an alien could possibly look so much like a human!
This is Star Trek. It's entirely possible for aliens to look more or less exactly like humans. The Eminians from "A Taste of Armageddon", Sigma Iotians from "A Piece of the Action", etc. Most aliens of the week on TOS tend to be of this variety.
 
^In fact, it was common in TV and film SF of the '50s and '60s -- and in pulp and comic-book SF going back decades further -- for aliens to look exactly like humans. Consider a certain alien created in 1938, a strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, who is nonetheless able to disguise himself as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
 
And of course there are earlier literary examples. Most of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoomians (Martians) were human-looking aside from their skin colors.
 
Look at the guy! There's no way an alien could possibly look so much like a human!
This is Star Trek. It's entirely possible for aliens to look more or less exactly like humans. The Eminians from "A Taste of Armageddon", Sigma Iotians from "A Piece of the Action", etc. Most aliens of the week on TOS tend to be of this variety.

Yeah, sorry, I was just taking the piss! Not that Star Trek's the only show/film guilty of this stuff.
 
Look at the guy! There's no way an alien could possibly look so much like a human!
This is Star Trek. It's entirely possible for aliens to look more or less exactly like humans. The Eminians from "A Taste of Armageddon", Sigma Iotians from "A Piece of the Action", etc. Most aliens of the week on TOS tend to be of this variety.
Also: shape-shifter. Edit: oh.
 
From "Friday's Child"

McCoy: "Capellans aren't human, Jim, they're humanoid. There's certain internal differences. I don't have equipment for an emergency."
 
It's quite possible he was born on an Earth colony world. Or on one of the alternate Earths...hell, we saw mirror Earths nearly every other week on TOS! :)

I imagine by the 23rd C, there'll be so much multi-culturalism that it will be hard to tell where anyone is from. You could have people of mixed Klingon and human descent, living on Earth, calling themselves 'human', for example. Look what's happening nowadays.

I think Garth is probably half human/ half some shapeshifter race, born on Izar.
 
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