Good Old Fashioned Debate

[Ithekro]

I thought the "parallel worlds" thing was used to explain that?

That was "Miri's World" and the Romans.

 

[Brie]

Who are you quoting?

No one these are questions I'm asking.

Then you're abusing the quotation marks, Dr. Evil.

not necessarily, I'm quoting as if I'm physically asking my questions (ie. like in an interview)

 

[Brie]

Lots of good things brought up in this topic!
I understand having most aliens being human actors but the rare times they make the effort to alter past the funny foreheads really stand out. One moment which I do not think they ever repeated was in the first episode of Enterprise when Phlox gave a smile and they used digital graphics to alter the shape past what a human could do, another was in JJTrek#1 when they altered the eye position of the Nurse. I can accept the humanoid form and being a natural answer to an evolution question, but I wish they could alter proportions, limb articulation or even number/type of fingers to reflect alien origins.

Having the star of the show, be it a ship or crew always being the only ones to strike the final blow to an enemy is annoying. TOS gave you a feeling that the Enterprise was part of a larger fleet which also did important things. Since then it has been only the hero ship and crew that is the pivotal essential element in the crisis. DS-9 took it to an extreme- Sisko was just a Commander assigned to a station, in the end he was the mastermind of the entire Dominion War. Even Quark's idiot brother became the Grand Nagas for the entire Ferengi race. It is not a deal killer to have the heros be part of something larger, to contribute meaningfully, but to have them be the only ones which save the day every single time is getting old.

I completely agree! I would have loved for another ship or crew be the hero for once. The kind of touch on it a tad in DS9 when general Martok and his crew of misfits got to defeat a few dominion ships, but again, he was tied into the main crew even if he was a guest character.

 

[Brie]

I have never understood why people get hung up on the "All the aliens look like humans!" thing.

It's like complaining about a movie having subtitles because "words don't pop up in front of your eyes in real like when you are talking to a foreigner!"


It is for dramatic and budgetary reasons. That's it. No big mystery. It shouldn't have top be explained by away by some mediocre TNG episode.

I'm not complaining per say, I just brought up the topic, obviously they didnt have the budget that would allow a large amount of props and make up and what not, but they could have done more.

for instance in one of the voyager episodes the "nemisis" they did a phenominal job of creating this insane predator stype alien with features so vastly different than our own you couldnt tell it was a human...but it was just one episode. That character or race was never brought back. if they had done more races that looked like that and brought them back a few more times they could get away with a low budget

 

[CorporalClegg]

not necessarily, I'm quoting as if I'm physically asking my questions (ie. like in an interview)

You still don't need quotes, as you're the speaker.

 

[Brie]

not necessarily, I'm quoting as if I'm physically asking my questions (ie. like in an interview)

You still don't need quotes, as you're the speaker.

call it creative indifference or difference in writing style, I'm still going to quote what I'm asking

 

[IrishNero]

I don't suppose its' far out of line to suggest that one species (humanoids) would seed nearby star systems, just as humans eventually spread all over Earth. That would suggest why there are so many humanoid beings within Star Trek. It also assists with storytelling because the beings can emote in a similar fashion in order to assist communication.

 

[CorporalClegg]

And of course

Lots of interspecies intercourse.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Five fingers, two eyes, two nostrils. Hair on the top of the head, usually straight.

But the seeds started off as single cell organisms that developed these features because of adapting to their environments and food sources. Over millions of years.

Seems too much of a coincidence.

 

[fireproof78]

Fun topic. Thank you for posting your thoughts


1) I have found myself, especially recently, being more annoyed by the pat, TV, resolutions of Star Trek plot points. There are several I could pick, but “Trials and Tribble-ations” episode is one quick reference point. The station is overwhelmed by the tribbles, and the issue is never resolved. Even TOS managed an idea of beaming them over to the Klingons, who likely deposited them quickly on the nearest Federation world on their way home. But, DS9, never mentions tribbles again.


For me, there are times when it is ok, but mostly I want to see the consequences of the actions done by the crew, if only as a reference or a footnote. Sometimes, I think M*A*S*H has better referencing of past events than other shows.


2) This is a big frustration of mine, though it is a trope that is common fiction. We would not be watching the show if it were not about the exploits of the protagonists. However, it is frustrating the Enterprise is the “only ship in range” rather than coming in to assist, or being assisted, by a member ship. That would be nice to see.


I mean, even in “The Hobbit” book the main characters do not kill the big bad-that is reserved for secondary characters who barely get mentioned in the book. Same thing in “Starship Troopers.” So, it can be done, but there still needs to be a sense of a larger group working together, I think, to sell the idea that our heroes didn't do it all, but still played a part.


3) Aliens are tricky. Regardless of the budget, actors with prostheses are going to be cheaper than trying to create a CGI creation or a puppet. Aliens that look like humans never really bothered me, mostly because I enjoy acting out those parts as well. That being said, some of my favorite aliens are the ones that are not humanoid looking, such as the Horta, Tholians, Species 8472, among others.


I think, there has to be a willingness on the part of show designers/creative teams, to look at the range of actors and their physical builds and try something different. GR famously did that with the Talosians in the Cage, so I think that even such a basic concept, as well as combining CGI techniques, can provide some new avenues to be explored.


4) Language building is hard. Sorry, it is difficult to have an alien language without it saying like either poor dubbing, or just using an unknown foreign language as “alien.” That said, there is something to be said for subtitles and language variation to provide a sense of depth to the world. Tolkien certainly proved that


All that said, I am a big fan of more realism in any fictional work. I prefer villains who are more than 1 dimensional bad guys, as well as characters who have more going on that just working on the Bridge. The lack of more fleshed out characters, or inconsistent characters is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of Trek.

 

[Brie]

That was a very refreshing response thank you

 

[Makarov]

You have instantly become one of my favorite people on this forum by referencing Mass Effect!

Mass Effect is great and I see a lot people dressed up as Asari at comic cons, really cool. Which ending did you choose? I'm a fan of all three games and can't wait for the next one.

The Hanar and Elcor a cool examples of alien designs that don't look much like humans. Funny though I think they didn't feature too prominently in the games because their animation would be more complicated than motion capturing humans.

 

[Brie]

You have instantly become one of my favorite people on this forum by referencing Mass Effect!

Mass Effect is great and I see a lot people dressed up as Asari at comic cons, really cool. Which ending did you choose? I'm a fan of all three games and can't wait for the next one.

The Hanar and Elcor a cool examples of alien designs that don't look much like humans. Funny though I think they didn't feature too prominently in the games because their animation would be more complicated than motion capturing humans.

I have played through all the games three times so for the third one I picked both to destroy the relay and to destroy the biotics. Luckiliy though I survised the second time I played trough, the cut away scene showed me breathing.

And I cant wait for the next one too! Going to be so good!