It's interesting that on a per season basis, the greatest number of non-Humanoid aliens was during TOS, and not one of the later series.
How would you deal with Alien races in a new series?
- Thread starter Gretnablue
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They look really cool.
I agree with BigJake. As much as is workable, make the "aliens" be off shoots of the human race. At least in a cultural sense. Think of a colony with its own culture, for example. Also, to the extent it is useful in exploring the human condition, you could have off shoots of humanity such as cyborgs, the genetically enhanced, etc.
With good writing, I think these suggestions could work better than the old alien-of-the-week. That gimmick was so over used that it became lame, rubber foreheads notwithstanding.
I agree that the Klingons became a cartoon. They did work in "Into Darkness" because they came across as menacing. If you want a group as the main villains, either resurrect the TOS Klingons (space Mongols) or base them on J.J.'s Klingons.
Humans would work well in the roles of organized crime (Firefly) and terrorism.
I would portray non-humanoid aliens as enigmatic. This worked for the shroomies, and to a lesser extent with the Gorn and Tholians, Precursor races could be even more enigmatic, if their artifacts/ruins/remains imply that they are truly alien.
Memory Alpha analyzed the use of CGI in "Silent Enemy" (ENT); maybe 25 seconds could be afforded. This actually worked well-we got a brief glimpse of the "shroomies" fairly late in the episode, allowing for a build up of tension. Expense indicates that CGI should be used sparingly, and thus would be most suitable for brief/infrequent appearances of nonhumanoid aliens.
As for nonhumanoid aliens, I can imagine infrequent reappearances of a few we have already glimpsed, such as the tholians, the gorn, and the shroomies.
Come to think of it, in terms of make up, the Nausicans were more convincing than the average, run of the mill rubber-forehead alien. Also, the Gorn head was unEarthly in TOS-a lizard head with faceted eyes was such a strange combination, actually more interesting than the Gorn in the Mirror Universe. Of course, when you saw the entire Gorn you knew you were looking at a human in a rubber suit. In a new series, it would be easy to feature a Gorn head as an image on a view screen, one of the old lizard heads with bug eyes. TOS used a Tholian head as an image on a view screen.
Regarding alien animals, their existence can be implied by unusual skeletons. This worked well in Star Wars.
With good writing, I think these suggestions could work better than the old alien-of-the-week. That gimmick was so over used that it became lame, rubber foreheads notwithstanding.
I agree that the Klingons became a cartoon. They did work in "Into Darkness" because they came across as menacing. If you want a group as the main villains, either resurrect the TOS Klingons (space Mongols) or base them on J.J.'s Klingons.
Humans would work well in the roles of organized crime (Firefly) and terrorism.
I would portray non-humanoid aliens as enigmatic. This worked for the shroomies, and to a lesser extent with the Gorn and Tholians, Precursor races could be even more enigmatic, if their artifacts/ruins/remains imply that they are truly alien.
Memory Alpha analyzed the use of CGI in "Silent Enemy" (ENT); maybe 25 seconds could be afforded. This actually worked well-we got a brief glimpse of the "shroomies" fairly late in the episode, allowing for a build up of tension. Expense indicates that CGI should be used sparingly, and thus would be most suitable for brief/infrequent appearances of nonhumanoid aliens.
As for nonhumanoid aliens, I can imagine infrequent reappearances of a few we have already glimpsed, such as the tholians, the gorn, and the shroomies.
Come to think of it, in terms of make up, the Nausicans were more convincing than the average, run of the mill rubber-forehead alien. Also, the Gorn head was unEarthly in TOS-a lizard head with faceted eyes was such a strange combination, actually more interesting than the Gorn in the Mirror Universe. Of course, when you saw the entire Gorn you knew you were looking at a human in a rubber suit. In a new series, it would be easy to feature a Gorn head as an image on a view screen, one of the old lizard heads with bug eyes. TOS used a Tholian head as an image on a view screen.
Regarding alien animals, their existence can be implied by unusual skeletons. This worked well in Star Wars.
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Consider mechanical lifeforms.
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