How to change from Homosapiens only club?

[valkyrie013]

Have noticed, and am noticing a few things lately in trek shows lately, well it has always been that way, but seems to be more pronounced to me.
How a good chuck of the crew are humans. I know from the live action stand point, that it can be cost and time prohibitive to have a fair share of aliens on the ship, but I've noticed that the Discovery, are most of the crew human? Don't really see any andorians, tellerites, etc. and them asking about there homeworlds in the new timeframe.
And from the purported Rumer mill for Strange New Worlds, seems more humans are coming on board.
In my opinion some of the best characters have been the ones in the make up. Data, Worf, Spock, Dax, Phlox, 7 of 9. And them being an alien or other has been story points.

So, guess the question is, does anybody else feel that there should be more aliens in the crew? An Andorian Doctor, a Tellerite Engineer, a Denobulan Security officer, etc. I feel that with more that we would get to learn more about there worlds, and there unique persepctive on the humans, and give more story opportunities.

Thoughts?

 

[Dukhat]

Spoiler

Even in the 32nd century, even with Earth no longer a member of the Federation, it’s still a mostly homo-sapiens-only club. I don’t expect that to ever change.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The realities of Production and Costuming make it prohibitive to have too many aliens.

 

[Tim Thomason]

The realities of Production and Costuming make it prohibitive to have too many aliens.

Not as prohibitive as it used to be. And Star Trek has always had multiple alien creatures in its main and recurring cast (Spock, Data & Worf & Troi, Kira & Odo & Dax & Worf & Quark, Tuvok & Torres & Neelix & Kes, T'Pol & Phlox, Saru & Nhan, Elnor & Narek).

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

(Spock, Data & Worf & Troi, Kira & Odo & Dax & Worf & Quark,
Tuvok & Torres & Neelix & Kes, T'Pol & Phlox, Saru & Nhan, Elnor & Narek).

The amount of "Alien Main Characters" is dependent on costuming budget.

Spock = Minor Cosmetics

Data = Major Cosmetics
Worf = Major Cosmetics
Troi = No Cosmetics

Kira = Minor Cosmetics
Odo = Major Cosmetics
Dax = Medium Cosmetics
Quark = Major Cosmetics

Tuvok = Minor Cosmetics
Torres = Major Cosmetics
Neelix = Major Cosmetics
Kes = Medium Cosmetics

T'Pol = Minor Cosmetics
Phlox = Major Cosmetics

Saru = Major Cosmetics
Nhan = Medium Cosmetics

Elnor = Minor Cosmetics
Narek = Minor Cosmetics

 

[fireproof78]

The realities of Production and Costuming make it prohibitive to have too many aliens.

This. Right now, this will always be the thing. Prosthetic appliances, especially convincing ones, are still expensive and have to factored in to the budget, both time and money.

Do I want more aliens? Sure, give me a whole crew of them. But, until it becomes cheaper to do, one or two will have to do.

 

[Vger23]

I don’t watch Star Trek for the aliens. I don’t have a problem with the “unrealistic nature of a multi species Federation that has a predominantly human Starfleet.”

I voted “no”

I watch Star Trek to see humans. A couple aliens here or there is nice, but most of them end up being Spock retreads and that gets real old.

Otherwise, I don’t give a shit.

 

[Shawnster]

Troi = No Cosmetics

To be fair though, Betazoids require dark contact lenses so that their irises are nearly as dark as their pupils. This would fall under cosmetics.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

To be fair though, Betazoids require dark contact lenses so that their irises are nearly as dark as their pupils. This would fall under cosmetics.

How long does that take to put in / get ready compared to other Aliens who are part of the main cast?

 

[Lord Garth]

How to change from a Homo-Sapiens Only Club?

A bigger budget. Or reallocate the existing budget to alien make-up at the expense of everything else. Star Trek Movies are frozen out for now, leaving only TV. I'd rather the shows not reallocate their budget for this.

Novels, comics, and animated series are a different story. Go nuts.

 

[at Quark's]

Realistically, of course, not only would the vast majority need to be 'not human', they'd also need to be 'not near human' (after all, stories such as the Preservers or those ancient humanoids from The Chase, or even that law of parallel planetary development. were only thought up to come with an 'explanation' why so many aliens looked alike).

But I wonder how many people would be able to identify with a show that featured wildly different non-humanoid aliens, and only a tiny minority of human(oid)s ....

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I would love to see a Trek series follow in the footsteps of FarScape and have one human character (and maybe one human-looking alien or human/alien hybrid) and the rest of the main cast being aliens. It would immediately be far more interesting as human characters in Trek are often very dull.

Spend less on the pew-pew explosions and invest in prosthetics so that way we could get some interesting stories that look at social issues and comment on the human condition from alien viewpoints. That or just hire the creative team behind FarScape, they managed to make all the special effects, prosthetics, puppets work with superb writing and imaginative concepts.

 

[Qonundrum]

How long does that take to put in / get ready compared to other Aliens who are part of the main cast?

More time than the time for all the human actors to get into just their jumpsuit costumes. Contact lenses count just as much as the latex ears, cake mix powder, and/or any other cosmetic adornment as they too have elevated risk for the actor having to put them on or in.

 

[valkyrie013]

Well, seen a clip of Nhan make up, and I think it said 3 hours, but that included prosthetics, hair/makeup, costume etc. Probably takes an hour for makeup and hair alone, especially for women. Doesn't work of showing up 15 minutes before your starting to shoot, atleast an hour to come in, sit in a chair form makeup/hair, even for the guys, and put on the costume.

 

[Qonundrum]

Well, seen a clip of Nhan make up, and I think it said 3 hours, but that included prosthetics, hair/makeup, costume etc. Probably takes an hour for makeup and hair alone, especially for women. Doesn't work of showing up 15 minutes before your starting to shoot, atleast an hour to come in, sit in a chair form makeup/hair, even for the guys, and put on the costume.

Each type of costume has some individual risks that go along with it. Over the decades, risk of injury is reduced. Ask Buddy Ebsen about what existed as metallic paint that put him in a ventilator before they invented what Spiner got lathered on. Or making robot suits out of actual metal pipes... back when the Jerry Springer show was decent, Buddy told it all...

Yes, some actors do sit longer and it's completely benign nowadays. I do not know of anybody suggesting it's any more unpleasant than doing a across-the-ocean plane ride to do a fix of a mainframe (circuit board, individual component on it, software, firmware, etc, etc) or business conference or anything else. Maybe the issue is the end goal? In which case, what's harder to do - memorize and recite lines and looking authentic or troubleshooting an intricate system or discussing business plans? Each seem to have their own unique challenges along with common issues too. I bet there are technicians and business people who have to wear contact lenses too. Just not ones that look like cat or lizard-like eyes. Issues about carpal tunnel or back strain or other things, actors probably have a lesser chance of developing that than the other two example comparison categories. And depending on how far we want to take this this would go into all sorts of lengthy and fun directions.

I found it! The Buddy interview starts here...

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[Qonundrum]

Looking at your original post, I would not say it wouldn't be less fun if the show had more nonhumanoid alien species, and even if CGI sounds like inexpensive alternative since a recent Doctor Who episode made the point that modern audiences won't accept make-up jobs that might have worked in 1965 but not in 2019 and that's the only other way to bring in more humanoid aliens despite these shows' budgets, there's still loads of lighting and animation and other issues to consider since it's easier to use lumps of latex and sell something convincingly whereas CGI is a lot harder to deal with than it seems... and the costs of electricity and equipment aren't touched on that much either, and what was touched on floored me with awe over how much there is to make a CGI Hulk or Yaphit or whatnot look realistic...

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[Kor]

If they actually behave differently from humans, then it's good to have more alien crewmembers. But if they're just normal people with a bunch of makeup and prosthetics attached, then it really doesn't showcase the diversity of species in the Federation.

Kor

 

[fireproof78]

If they actually behave differently from humans, then it's good to have more alien crewmembers. But if they're just normal people with a bunch of makeup and prosthetics attached, then it really doesn't showcase the diversity of species in the Federation.

Kor

This is a better point than anything else. Sticking rubber foreheads in Trek for the sake of it, and not actually used to explore different ideas is a waste of time to my mind. It's not additive.

 

[Orphalesion]

This is a better point than anything else. Sticking rubber foreheads in Trek for the sake of it, and not actually used to explore different ideas is a waste of time to my mind. It's not additive.

If we completely ignore that TV and Movies are a visual medium then, sure, I guess.

 

[fireproof78]

If we completely ignore that TV and Movies are a visual medium then, sure, I guess.

So, it's just background filler and that's it?