If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as...

[Guy Gardener]

The Klingons, by a mutated Virus derived from Human DNA, and then further manipulated by Phlox and Archer to just change the face of all Romulans... Well, doesn't that first off sound like a damn good provocation for a war, and second, if they were all bashful about being mutilated and their head bumps vanishing then OF COURSE they're NOT going to be talking to the Humans or ANYONE via visual communication anymore... But then this is all pretty obvious.

Likely or unlikely?

 

[MrPointy]

I think the Romulans would be more pissed off if the augment virus blunted their ears.

 

[pookha]

really there is no reason the smooth and bumby head romulans could already existed considering most of the romuolans we saw in tos wore helmets

 

[DanTheGrey]

I had always assumed that Romulans with the more pronounced ridge were either from a different social class or a different part of Romulus (or one of the major colonies). The difference is less pronounced than Klingon brow ridges and I think simpler is better with this explanation

 

[ChristopherPike]

I never really considered the updated Romulan makeup such a major continuity error, unlike the Klingons. Had Enterprise reached a fifth season and the Romulan War, I always imagined they'd have took further inspiration from TOS and been shown wearing helmets. Either that or have the humans and their allies only ever encounter Reman shocktroops face-to-face. That leaves their Romulan Commanders giving orders from deep within their own territory. So you get West Wing style drama happening on Earth and Romulus, with Starfleet ships like the NX-01 facing the consequences of policitans' decisions on the front line. Going by real-life events, such tragedies only end after leaders on both sides step down. So a coup on Romulus to bring down a Praetor and a new Coalition President on Earth. Conflict probably ended in a stalemate, with part of the Federation's reason to exist being strength in numbers.

It's a shame Season 4 only got to pave the way with some interference with the Vulcans and the Aenar. But at least it set up how much of a thorn in the side humans were to the Romulans. But I've drifted way off topic here...

 

[commodore64]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

I thought the Klingon forehead episode was silly and wished that they would've done something else. I did like the Section 31 storyline though. The only qualm I have with that part is that it wasn't in the ENT bible and it would've been fun to have received clues all along the way.

Onto the Romulans, I always thought it was more effective when the Romulans and the Vulcans looked exactly alike. The whole point of TOS' Balance of Terror was the wondering whether Spock was "one of them" (a Rom). We lose that intrigue and mystery when the Romulans and the Vulcans look different.

 

[Unicron]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

^ I didn't, because making them look the same reduces the Romulans to merely being emotional Vulcans. They've evolved into a distinct species with their own culture, and I wish we'd seen more of that. Having the bumpy foreheads, to me, is one symbol of how the two races have become separated.

 

[pookha]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

romulans and vulcans never were exactly alike even in tos.
the whole point was they had similar ancestors but evolved differently.
that they were different is how they were able to rescue spock off the romulan ship. there were enough differences for his biosign to stand out.

if there had been a fifth season of eneterprise it would have been interesting to have seen both the bumpy and smooth forehead romulans.
maybe with hints that the intriqued against vulcan and looming fight with the cop was being driven by the lumpy head romulans , that there were some class differences among them.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

Have you even fallen in love with twins? Unrequitedly and unmentioned of course, but it's a weird sensation to deeply want two women who look exactly the same, for sometimes completely different reasons.

It's only been 2000 years since the Age of Enlightenment and Vulcans can live for 2 or 300 hundreds a piece so in human terms that's only 4 or 5 generations. Unless there were some serious problems with radioactivity, there shouldn't have been so huge a physical divergence between the two people so quickly.

O. Inbreeding. Now, that would explain a lot. More importantly if they really did have a problem with inbreeding then they just have to hook back up with the Vulcans ASAP or find another species to co-mingle with quicksmart before Romulus becomes Deliverance.

 

[pookha]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

well we know from both enterprise incident and several tng episodes there are biological differences.
and we dont know for sure how long romulans live. considering from the dialog in balance of terror that they had been in an almost constant state of war fare with some one else since the earth romulan war they may not be that long lived and the generation turn over a lot faster.

we also dont know if they interbreed with other species.
who know the smooth head ones may have more true ancestory then the bumpy ones if this was the case,


but from the time of tos differences did exist.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

Yeah, I tend to believe that they bred with some other species that made the difference (its the best way to explain a change in such a short time). One thing I'll point out is that, just because they live longer, it doesn't mean that there are less generations (just that the older generation lives longer). Plus, there managed to be a large enough time difference for the Romulans to settle and abandon many planets before reaching Romulus and Remus.

 

[commodore64]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

Romulans and vulcans never were exactly alike even in tos.

No, not exactly alike and I don't think anyone was saying they were. Were they? At least I didn't read that in any of the responses.

Humans and Betazoids, to the commoner, look alike. That's kinda the point and it seems like what people had been saying.

There's more subterfuge when people look alike -- harder to tell the good guys from the bad ones.

 

[Unicron]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

I see what you're saying. But I'll admit I prefer having the Romulans more distinct. Especially with races like the Founders out there.

It's worth noting too that the rare glimpses we've seen of Romulus suggest its environment is significantly different from that of Vulcan. It's difficult to judge exactly how different, and it would make sense that it probably shares some commonalities.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

Spock walked around in the TNG era on Romulus without a disguise and no one thought much of his smooth head.

Though frankly I did think the Vulcans and Romulans in TOS were the same. How different was Mark Leonards make up from between when he played the Romulan Captain in balance of terror and when he played Sarek?

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: If the Romulans had had their heads smoothed the same as

Unicron said:
^ I didn't, because making them look the same reduces the Romulans to merely being emotional Vulcans. They've evolved into a distinct species with their own culture, and I wish we'd seen more of that. Having the bumpy foreheads, to me, is one symbol of how the two races have become separated.

Yet, the two peoples both have a love for the Moe Howard, bowl cut, hair style.

I wish we'd seen less of that.