How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

[medwatt]

Hello,
Thank God the movie industry is more than a 100 years old now and even more so the imagination of writers and directors has reached a more polished level.
Sci-fi movies of the past used to be replete with ludicrous looking characters that makes one wonder how can anyone take the movie seriously at all ? Novel writers can get away with creating these ridiculous characters because the look of the character does not get into the way every time the character is mentioned. On TV you either have to live with the image or give it up altogether. That's why to this day I haven't watched a single star wars movie. I just can't take it seriously. I remember seeing a squid-headed guy and just realized that star wars was just not for me.
So when I began to watch ST:TNG I saw Worf and said to myself, "Here they come again". Then there was that episode in season 1 where the escortees looked like dogs ! I almost gave ST up. Luckily, as ST:TNG went on, the morphology of the aliens gradually turned anthropomorphic with the exception of a few episodes. What baffles me is why do they think intelligent aliens look like earth animals and in most cases I was baffled that they even so advanced to be part of the space age given their clumsy design.
Would like to hear other perspectives.
Thanks

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

This is a much more valid question than some are likely to give it credit for.

There are many people, I think, who really won't give Star Trek/Wars the time of day because of this. I've seen it often "What's he supposed to be?" followed by a dismissive chuckle, for example.

In the original Star Trek series, it was proposed (mostly as a budget-saving idea) that the majority of aliens encountered would be of the human-looking variety, the theory being that the laws governing the development of life on other worlds would largely mirror the situation on Earth. Differences would most often be portrayed as perhaps an unusual skin color, or hair color.

I suppose as time and technology marched on, audiences became more "sophisticated" in their expectations, and the fictional adventures mirrored that. I do sometimes wonder if potential viewers were turned away, as it made everything seem to 'absurd' in its premise.

I'm too tired right now to offer more, but I'm sure others will provide much more insight. There is no shortage of such folks here!

 

[Trekker4747]

How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

Look, I know Wesley's sweaters in the first season were absurd but I hardly think it made it hard to buy him as a character.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

I'm too tired right now to offer more, but I'm sure others will provide much more insight. There is no shortage of such folks here!

How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

Look, I know Wesley's sweaters in the first season were absurd but I hardly think it made it hard to buy him as a character.

See?

 

[mos6507]

It's more than that. Characters are performed by actors. Actors are human beings. You can put makeup on them, but they're still ultimately based on the same anatomy. Since we are aware we're watching drama, we have to be content in the knowledge that these are human beings in makeup, that we are not watching a slavish attempt to theorize what aliens would really be like.

That being said, there WERE a few attempts to portray vastly non-human aliens, most of them non-corporeal, but a few highlights, like the Horta. But remember that there's something about human wiring that predisposes us to want to key onto faces. It's much harder for us to empathize with aliens that don't have forward-facing eyes, a nose, and a mouth. In fact there's so much mental wiring related to facial recognition that we see faces where they aren't there (clouds, toast, mounds on Mars, etc...)

I'm also reminded by the decision by James Cameron to give Na'Vi, um, mammary glands (he used a baser term). Zoologically, this wasn't necessary, but he felt the audience expected it.

So budgetary constraints aside, sci-fi will always skew towards anthropomorphism, as well as contrivances to allow aliens to speak in english. I don't think having an unlimited CGI budget will fundamentally alter this.

 

[Melakon]

Giant rutabagas from outer space and humanoid looking aliens that look just like us except for a foam rubber forehead both require one thing: the willing suspension of disbelief. But neither may look like how an actual alien species might appear, if one is ever found.

 

[Mojochi]

If you're asking how the people who enjoy these productions have been able to buy into it & bypass actors covered in prosthetic makeup, that's easy, the same way they buy into any other fantasy depiction on screen, whether it's Voldemort, Gimli, Chewbacca or Quark. Prosthetic makeup on actors is an age old tradition with an art all its own

Now if you're asking how you interest someone who lets that interfere with their perception of a production, you don't, anymore than you can stop me being completely turned off by movies with vampires & stupid vampire teeth

I have a friend who absolutely hates westerns. I explain that the plots and production values can be just as good as anything else, but that won't change the fact that he is annoyed by people wearing chaps, & spurs & ten gallon hats & whatnot. I finally got him to watch Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven & he admitted it was a good movie, & it stands as the only time he's said he can stand a western

Some people just won't get it, just like I hate pirate movies

 

[medwatt]

How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

Look, I know Wesley's sweaters in the first season were absurd but I hardly think it made it hard to buy him as a character.

I never knew that Wesley was an alien

 

[USS Triumphant]

How do people buy the ridiculous looking characters?

Look, I know Wesley's sweaters in the first season were absurd but I hardly think it made it hard to buy him as a character.

I never knew that Wesley was an alien

Of course he was. All of the humans were, on just about every planet they visited that wasn't Earth.

I think that for me, it makes a difference if there is a hard-science-ish explanation for what we're seeing. A fairly thorough job has been done of explaining post-TMP Klingon evolution and biology, so I'm fine there. "Spock's World" by Diane Duane got pretty in-depth on Vulcan biology, so, good. But there's never been an explanation for Romulan brow ridges, and until there is, those will just irritate me. And those dog aliens? Just lazy and goofy looking, IMHO - brought the production values down for the episode they were in. That said, I'm a fan of shows on the BBC and I'm familiar with the history of the stage, so such things don't RUIN a show for me if the story and acting are good.

 

[2takesfrakes]

There were a lot of aliens where they veered away from the Human form in TNG. The Crystaline Entity. The pink insects in "Conspiracy." The energy beast in "Tanagra" or whatever it was called. Tin Man ... on and on. To see this kind of imagination made it alot worse when I'd end up seeing an "alien" Human whose species is only defined by a "tatoo," or they all have the same hair colour. Or, worst of all, when they only had an odd wrinkle on their forehead, or a bump on their nose. And even some of the entire latex heads do look a bit Halloweeny, but I really appreciate the effort and attempt at artistry. Whether it succeeded or not, at least they wanted to give the audience that extra effort and you know what? It forgave a lot of sins, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Melakon]

One of my favorite alien speccies was in TOS: Catspaw, where we saw Korob and Sylvia in their true form-- tiny, feathery things, helpless without their transmuter devices.

 

[Makarov]

Marina Sirtis said it was one of the oddest questions she heard when a fan asked her why the aliens are always humanoid. She said something like call me when you find a non-humanoid actor.

 

[jimbotron]

Marina Sirtis said it was one of the oddest questions she heard when a fan asked her why the aliens are always humanoid. She said something like call me when you find a non-humanoid actor.

Plus it's a matter of practicality. It's crazy expensive to devise non-humanoid costumes or makeup on a weekly basis. It's nice that we get occasional non-humanoids (Sheliak, Tholians).

Though I find it really lazy when we come across "aliens" that are completely human without a hint of different makeup/appearance. At least in an episode like The High Ground, everyone gets a white streak of hair to differentiate them from humans.

 

[SchwEnt]

It's hard to please all of the people all of the time.

ST has done many aliens that were outwardly identical to humans (Landru's people, the Eminians, Ekosians, Edo, women of Angel One, Iotians, and so on).

ST has done many aliens that didn't resemble humans and then got flak for too many ridiculous forehead-aliens-of-the-week.

Can't win, I guess.

I suppose there's something about needing a humanoid alien to convey the drama or character we need to enjoy the eps.

But more non-humanoid aliens would be a welcome sight. I can't believe it's a technical or budgetary issue. Aliens like The Companion, the Providers, Sylvia and Korob, the Medusans... not humanoid, not expensive, very alien.

 

[Richard Baker]

One of my favorite alien speccies was in TOS: Catspaw, where we saw Korob and Sylvia in their true form-- tiny, feathery things, helpless without their transmuter devices.

Those and the Tholian finally seen in it's full glory in ST-E are my favorites.
My problem is the tradition of just sticking a funny forehead or nose piece on an actor makes an alien. I know the reasons behind it, but it is annoying never the less.

 

[Last Redshirt]

Plus it's a matter of practicality. It's crazy expensive to devise non-humanoid costumes or makeup on a weekly basis. It's nice that we get occasional non-humanoids (Sheliak, Tholians)

I recall that the Borg were supposed to be Insectoid but it would be too expensive to make the costumes for it. Or was it the Sheliak?

 

[Melakon]

But more non-humanoid aliens would be a welcome sight. I can't believe it's a technical or budgetary issue. Aliens like The Companion, the Providers, Sylvia and Korob, the Medusans... not humanoid, not expensive, very alien.

But the Companion, Medusans, and the TOS Tholians were expensive, because they were optical effects. They also suffer from not being able to physically interact with other characters in a scene. Even Melvin Belli's horrible Gorgan character was an optical, forcing him to be motionless and possibly not even on the set when talking to Kirk.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Hello,
Thank God the movie industry is more than a 100 years old now and even more so the imagination of writers and directors has reached a more polished level.
Sci-fi movies of the past used to be replete with ludicrous looking characters that makes one wonder how can anyone take the movie seriously at all ? Novel writers can get away with creating these ridiculous characters because the look of the character does not get into the way every time the character is mentioned. On TV you either have to live with the image or give it up altogether. That's why to this day I haven't watched a single star wars movie. I just can't take it seriously. I remember seeing a squid-headed guy and just realized that star wars was just not for me.
So when I began to watch ST:TNG I saw Worf and said to myself, "Here they come again". Then there was that episode in season 1 where the escortees looked like dogs ! I almost gave ST up. Luckily, as ST:TNG went on, the morphology of the aliens gradually turned anthropomorphic with the exception of a few episodes. What baffles me is why do they think intelligent aliens look like earth animals and in most cases I was baffled that they even so advanced to be part of the space age given their clumsy design.
Would like to hear other perspectives.
Thanks

My view is the opposite. I think TNG needed more colourful and exotic aliens. Taking a show about people in pyjamas exploring other planets seriously seems to be missing the point. It's not just the alien designs - none of Trek's world holds up under scrutiny, not the physics, the alien biology, the alien civilisations, the depictions of space or even the way time passes. It's fantasy and it's meant to be fun.

If TNG had the amazing aliens of Farscape, or even more of the kind we saw in TNG season 1, I'd have much preferred it. Humans with forehead bumps don't work for me.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Even Melvin Belli's horrible Gorgan character was an optical, forcing him to be motionless and possibly not even on the set when talking to Kirk.

I always found the voice of the Gorgon quite chilling! The way it's enhanced, it almost sounds like voices within voices.

Of course, the dying woman on Memory Alpha, croaking out that weird alien 'language' still terrifies me!

 

[Sistrin]

My problem is the tradition of just sticking a funny forehead or nose piece on an actor makes an alien. I know the reasons behind it, but it is annoying never the less.

Yeah, but I liked Ensign Ro.