Less Aliens of the Week

[Shawnster]

One of the main themes of Star Trek has always been "new life and new civilizations." At least, to the viewers. To that end we've seen countless aliens. Why depict an alien culture we've seen in an earlier epiewhen we can create a new alien of the week?

I feel this has resulted in numerous underdeveloped aliens and cultures. There are many episodes where the uniqueness of the alien species was really unimportant to the plot. For example, in TNG's "Aquiel" introducing a new species was irrelevant to the story and Aquiel could easily have been Andorian or Tellerite. The same is true with TNG's "Half a Life." The euthanasia of elderly adults could have worked just as well had Timicin been Deltan.

I feel the "alien of the week" mindset resulted in underdeveloping many previously established species. What about you? What other examples can you think of that could have used pre-existing alien species and resulted in richer development of the already known Star Trek universe?

 

[Tribble Threat]

Nearly every episode about a warp-capable civilization could have been about a previously established species. And it would have been really cool.

 

[tesral]

There is a point here. Once you have some established.

I disagree that Half a Life could have been done with an established species.

One thing getting in the way is the very nature of TV and IP. So if you use Joe's idea, he gets credit and a check. Probert got paid everytime you saw the E-D. That is why they wrecked it in Generations, to stop paying him.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Sometimes its good to introduce new aliens, it keep the universe from being soo small and repetitive (look at how many times the Klingons and Borg have been crammed into storylines), but there are loads out there that could be developed further and have something more made of them--TMP alone introduced at least half a dozen, none of which have been seen since.

 

[Tosk]

*Fewer

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, the biggest problem with too many new aliens is that it doesn't take very long for many of them to blur together and become indistinguishable from one another. You can have a hundred new aliens in a show, but only the very few that really stand out are memorable, with the rest becoming interchangeable in any given episode. That's a repetition in a different sense and I think a lot of that happened in VOY and to a lesser extent in the early seasons of ENT.

In TOS, the Enterprise wasn't always exploring new worlds and meeting new civilizations. One could say the Enterprise was along the farthest reaches of Federation space and frequently probed unexplored territory, but quite a few of the most famous episodes like "Amok Time," "The Ultimate Computer," or even "The Trouble With Tribbles" took place within Federation space or within range of a Federation starbase. Such episodes expanded the kind of stories being told and gave us a further look into Federation and/or Starfleet life, which is equally valid to explore as the next uncharted space sector, IMO.

 

[Vger23]

This is an interesting thought.

I actually think TOS did a really good job at this, especially if you consider that "serialized" storytelling was virtually non-existent and that it was only 3 seasons. TOS focused on the "three big" species, which was the Klingons, Romulans and Vulcans. I'd argue we saw the Klingons more than Romulans, but learned far more about the Romulans. Yes, they had "aliens of the week," but that was the format. Otherwise, they did a nice job on the recurring aliens, especially for the times.

I think DS9 actually came through on the expansion of a few alien races the best. They did an excellent job focusing primarily on the Cardassians and Bajorans, and then to a lesser-extent the Trill and Ferengi. I think VOY got away from it because of the premise of the show (constantly moving on).

 

[dupersuper]

The comics, novels and video games help flesh some one off episode species out a fair bit...

 

[tesral]

The comics, novels and video games help flesh some one off episode species out a fair bit...

WE;; being I've called Star Trek learning about Earth from the logs of US Navy Aircraft carriers. I grab not only books and games but anything not nailed down.

 

[Maurice]

One thing getting in the way is the very nature of TV and IP. So if you use Joe's idea, he gets credit and a check. Probert got paid everytime you saw the E-D. That is why they wrecked it in Generations, to stop paying him.

No he didn't. Residuals do no apply there.

You're conflating WGA rules about characters and story specific script elements. This does not extend to everything made for the show. And people on staff are not treated the same way as actors and freelance writers.

 

[publiusr]

I think evolution can give us just so many foreheads, Mr. Westmore

 

[The Wormhole]

What always got me about the aliens of the week thing was that since so many of them were just humans with a bump on their foreheads or noses if not just humans anyway, why even say they are aliens? Why not just make them human, and say the planets they live on are human colonies. Make them independent human colonies who aren't part of the Federation if they need to have an outsider element to them.

Or if they have to for some reason be aliens, why do they always have to be a completely different alien race every week? Given so many of them share the same ships, costumes, props and even cities, wouldn't it make much more sense to have a smaller number of recurring alien races the ship bumps into often.

I mean, really, it's only a small number of planets in the galaxy that can even support life, and an even smaller number where life can even evolve, and an even smaller number with sentient life. With that in mind, it makes a hell of a lot more sense for a majority of the planets we run into to be colony worlds rather than bumping into a planet every damn week where sentient life has evolved on it.

But maybe this post is just the Stargate fan in me raging against Star Trek's flaws.

 

[Arpy]

I kind of miss the aliens of the week. They actually used to annoy me during VOY and ENT because I think the shtick got repetitive and less creative...that is the nature of the aliens did, not the looks. I love the dazzling procession of new life week after week, seeing what Westmore came up with this week...even when it was minimal, it was something to see as he saw it.

But the cultures, the language, the stories, were mostly the same.

And you got this sense of a fake, overpopulated galaxy of humanoids with little real diversity in them.

Kudos to TOS to offering more non-humanoid life per capita than later series trapped in a pattern their own success at making curious new humanoids.

 

[fireproof78]

I feel the "alien of the week" mindset resulted in underdeveloping many previously established species. What about you?

I think this is absolutely the case. And I am tired of alien of the week plots. There is enough background extra aliens to be explored to not create a new one.

 

[tesral]

I think this is absolutely the case. And I am tired of alien of the week plots. There is enough background extra aliens to be explored to not create a new one.

I'm going to half agree here. Strange New Worlds is why I like Trek, but juicy good world building has merits as well. A nice balance between the two.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm going to half agree here. Strange New Worlds is why I like Trek, but juicy good world building has merits as well. A nice balance between the two.

I'll not hold my breath on juicy world building. That is not Trek's strong suit.

 

[tesral]

I'll not hold my breath on juicy world building. That is not Trek's strong suit.

DS9 was the main source for that. Being stuck in one place it was almost inevitable that they had to do some world building.

Would I like to see more? Oh yes. I'm an old RPG player. I love good world building.

 

[MAGolding]

...I mean, really, it's only a small number of planets in the galaxy that can even support life, and an even smaller number where life can even evolve, and an even smaller number with sentient life. With that in mind, it makes a hell of a lot more sense for a majority of the planets we run into to be colony worlds rather than bumping into a planet every damn week where sentient life has evolved on it.

But maybe this post is just the Stargate fan in me raging against Star Trek's flaws.

Maybe you should share your auperior expertise on the frequency of life bearing planets with astrobiologists who consider that a highly uncertain and speculative topic.

 

[fireproof78]

DS9 was the main source for that. Being stuck in one place it was almost inevitable that they had to do some world building.

Would I like to see more? Oh yes. I'm an old RPG player. I love good world building.

I love good world building too. Been doing for over 30 years in various forms. But, that isn't why I watch Star Trek.

 

[ThrorII]

I'm going to jump on the 'less alien of the week' bandwagon as well. As other have stated, usually it just breaks down to 'humans with nose ridges and a new monoculture'.

Most of my favorite TOS episodes were about either 'truly alien' life (the Horta, Medusan, etc) or about human colony/bases in space.