Lost Federation Members

[Arpy]

A lot has been made of the Andorians and Tellarites from their prominent roles in "Journey to Babel," but what of the other Federation dignitaries en route along with them?

• Ithenites. Dayen. There were the little gold guys ENT named the Ithenites, previously called the Dayen by Stardate Magazine/FASA. ENT tells us they weren't Federation members until later, but who knows what TOS had in mind? Sovereigns?

• Giants. Makusians. Then there were the really tall guys who despite looked human were likely supposed to be aliens representing the other end of the height spectrum. It's unfortunate more wasn't done with them given that they might have been from a predominantly darker-skinned species (unlike most of the white-aliens-of-the-week that showed up most of the time) without things going Ligonianly wrong. Given when the show was made, maybe that's one of the reasons they didn't show up again?

• Violaceans. There was also present at least one purple woman. Did she inspire Andromeda's Trance Gemini, or was it the other way around? Maybe her species are like the Twi'leks – all bright different colors.

• Loktarans. In this picture, we see possibly a race of silver-haired aliens center-left...

• ...and is that a bearded lady on the far-left? Talking to another bearded lady? Or are they men? I'm reminded of Staanz from Farscape, who, despite being played by a gristly male actor, was the female of his species. Also Aragorn's line/joke about female Dwarfs having bears in Lord of the Rings.

I wonder "what might have been" with these lost aliens from "Journey to Babel." Was one of them supposed to be the Coridians? Or Alpha Centaurians? It might have been interesting if the initial founders of the Federation were not the four ENT suggested or five other sources have, but maybe more. Maybe they could have been updated along with their Andorian and Tellarite counterparts too.

(Edit: Added possible names for the species from the Memory Alpha article on the "Journey to Babel" attendees. ...Except for "Zambeans" which is 1. silly as Zambia is a country of 17 million in Africa and Zambians are its citizens, and 2. the only reason for that name is because the extra was black?? WTF, Star Trek Online?)

 

[Timo]

Hipshots:

- In ENT, the enigmatic Daniels lists three species that attend the formation of the Federation alongside humans. The list is by no means established to be complete, though; there might well have been sixteen founders, merely including the listed 3+1. Or then the Andorians, Tellarites and Vulcans just stood there to make sure that Earth signed its unilateral commitment to this organization where the three other species would have no part for decades to come...

- A log early on in "Journey to Babel" establishes that all the Ambassadors are "of UFP planets". Does this mean Ambassadors working for the Federation, or does Kirk just do the rounds to pick up foreign dignitaries from the most practical places, that is, their embassies to UFP planets? The Coridan issue is of "international" interest, after all, even if the UFP is also internally divided over it.

- Basically only the Tellarites and the Andorians wear trousers in this scene. Perhaps "bearded ladies" is an artifact of a tunic-style attire being de rigeur for dignified dignitaries in general? Freely flowing hems indicate sophistication; trousers establish barbaric brutality.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Arpy]

Holy moly – Memory Alpha has an article on the "Journey to Babel" attendees, and they are indeed described as bearded ladies on the call sheet.

I wonder if they're supposed to be the males of their species, or if all females have facial hair among them, or if they're a third gender, or a hermaphroditic species, or... I'm reminded of the casting of females in "The Cage" to show the hyper-evolved male forms of the Talosians.

Also per the article, I'm now including names for the aliens above.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Holy moly – Memory Alpha has an article on the "Journey to Babel" attendees, and they are indeed described as bearded ladies on the call sheet.

I wonder if they're supposed to be the males of their species, or if all females have facial hair among them, or if they're a third gender, or a hermaphroditic species, or... I'm reminded of the casting of females in "The Cage" to show the hyper-evolved male forms of the Talosians.

Also per the article, I'm now including names for the aliens above.

Good thing you avoided the name given to the "Ithenites" by the TOS call sheets. You think Zambean was bad...

 

[Sci]

For whatever it's worth, the Star Trek novel continuity has established the following about the Federation's Members:

• The five founding Federation Member States were United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and the Alpha Centauri Concordium, who signed the Articles of the Federation on 12 August 2161. (The planets were established in Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido; the formal names of the planetary states were established in Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures by Christopher L. Bennett; and the date was established in Last Full Measure by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels. Last Full Measure was published in 2007, 10 years before neo-Nazis and white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, Virginia on 12 August; it is an unfortunate coincidence that 12 August is being appropriated by white supremacist forces today whereas it was a random date when Mangels and Martin chose it for Federation Day in their novel.)
• Shortly after the Founding, the Confederated Martian Colonies joined as the sixth Member State (Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures). Subsequent early members included Vega Colony, the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies, and Arkhen (Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel; Rise of the Federation: Live by the Code).
• By 2380, the Federation consists of 155 Member States, all of whom have a Councillor to represent them on the Federation Council (Articles of the Federation).
• Federation Member States have the legal right to secede unilaterally, and to re-join with the consent of the Federation. In 2182, the Andorian Empire seceded after a Tholian espionage operation in conjunction with an Andorian nationalist movement succeeded in manipulating Andorian public opinion (Typhon Pact: Patterns of Disharmony), but rejoined in 2386 after the Andorian nationalist government that had taken power was disgraced (The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses). (Note: Patterns of Disharmony was published in 2011, a full five years before a Russian intelligence operation in conjunction with an English nationalist movement succeeded in manipulating British public opinion into voting to secede from the European Union.)

 

[Admiral Archer]

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" had a wide variety of new species included in the Federation, which were created for the Starfleet Headquarters scene. These include: Betelgeusians, Arcturians, Saurians, Kazarites, Zaranites, Aaamazzarites, Rigellians, Megarites, Rhaandarites, Knormians, and Shamin Priests.