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Memory Alpha has changed the name Rhaandarite to Vegan

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Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Is there anything we can do about it? I'm currently arguing on the talk page to change it back. If anyone feels as strongly about it as I do, I would appreciate your help.
 
It does seem a bit odd that someone wants to change the term after Rhaandarites have been used for such a long time. But then some people have stronger interests in this sort of thing than other people do. It is the fabric of the Trek community I suppose.
 
Don't look at me. I'd long been under the impression that Van Zandt's character in TMP was Dobius, the Tanian. Which is rather odd, given that Memory Beta list that name and species as only coming up in the otherwise-forgettable Triangle. (I was sure that Diane Duane had used him in at least one novel!)
 
I have a distinct memory of the phrase "high-pated Rhaandarite" showing up in print somewhere - Roddenberry's TMP novelization? An old Best of Trek volume? I don't know. Google only returns "high-domed Vegans."
I don't expect I'll lose any sleep over the issue, at any rate.
 
Don't look at me. I'd long been under the impression that Van Zandt's character in TMP was Dobius, the Tanian. Which is rather odd, given that Memory Beta list that name and species as only coming up in the otherwise-forgettable Triangle. (I was sure that Diane Duane had used him in at least one novel!)

Wow, I never realized that Triangle featured a character that was meant to be Van Zandt's ensign. I don't remember that character, but I no doubt assumed he was created for the book. (Triangle is also the book that uses the name "Zaranite" from TMP but reinterprets them as humanlike.)


I have a distinct memory of the phrase "high-pated Rhaandarite" showing up in print somewhere - Roddenberry's TMP novelization? An old Best of Trek volume? I don't know. Google only returns "high-domed Vegans."

The TMP novelization only describes the ensign as "one of the relief crewmembers," without any suggestion that he's even an alien. And other than my own books, the only thing I can think of that's featured a Rhaandarite character was something by Margaret Wander Bonanno, probably Catalyst of Sorrows.
 
This seems like kind of a random thing to suddenly be making an issue of. I didn't even realize they had been called anything other than Rhaandarites.
 
Wow, I never realized that Triangle featured a character that was meant to be Van Zandt's ensign. I don't remember that character, but I no doubt assumed he was created for the book.
And indeed, I have absolutely no idea whether Marshak & Culbreath intended Dobius to be Van Zandt's character.

My understanding is that on the set, he was simply referred to as "the geek." In the sense of one who eats small animals alive.

Whatever his species, he was definitely not Athendë the Sulamid! (Has anybody come up with a picture of a Sulamid, to match Diane Duane's description?)
 
Didn't Dobius have a bifurcated head with two independent brains? I'm sure there is an image of a background alien out there that might fit the bill but I don't think it's the Rhaandarite. Vegan was an early draft name for them but can't they be Rhaandarites from Vega?
 
Whatever his species, he was definitely not Athendë the Sulamid! (Has anybody come up with a picture of a Sulamid, to match Diane Duane's description?)

I was thinking of trying to find a picture online that would approximate my mental image of a Sulamid, but I realized that Googling for "purple mass of tentacles" would probably turn up quite a few not-safe-for-work results...

Then again -- maybe something like this: http://www.123rf.com/photo_8860864_sea-anemone--sea-flower--vector.html (But more vertical and with eyes in there somewhere.)
 
This takes the award for the most trivial, non-important thing Trekkies have wet their pants over. An award that changes hands week to week at least. Ugh.

Huh? It's just a discussion. It seems perfectly civil and non-histrionic to me -- aside from the posts gratuitously attacking those people who've chosen to participate in it.

Indeed. This is a Trek forum - gathering together to discuss the minutiae is pretty much our reason to be here.
 
Huh? It's just a discussion. It seems perfectly civil and non-histrionic to me -- aside from the posts gratuitously attacking those people who've chosen to participate in it.
Was my posts one of those? I really didn't mean it as an attack, I just didn't realize it was an issue.
 
Was my posts one of those? I really didn't mean it as an attack, I just didn't realize it was an issue.

That wasn't my intent. I thought you were commenting on the randomness of the Memory Alpha editors' choice to suddenly change it.
 
It was. I just sometimes have trouble telling if my post is actually coming across in the way I intended, so I just wanted to make sure this one didn't come across across as meaner than I intended .
 
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