More 'alien' aliens?

[SilentP]

An odd thought struck me yesterday when thinking about Cardassians (been doing a rewatch of the DS9 DVDs I have) and my mind for a second altered their appearance a little to make them more 'reptilian'. Only a subtle change, think it was a slightly elongated face, different movements, but changes that made it difficult enough that you'd never be able to get a guy wearing Cardassian makeup to do.

It got me thinking, what could the races end up looking like if they only had to be humanoid (2 legs, torso, 2 arms, at least one head) but weren't restricted by having their appearance dictated by what you can do with a human actor underneath it all? Or would it make races too difficult to relate to? Or would it not matter at all to you?

 

[Shim]

It got me thinking, what could the races end up looking like if they only had to be humanoid (2 legs, torso, 2 arms, at least one head) but weren't restricted by having their appearance dictated by what you can do with a human actor underneath it all? Or would it make races too difficult to relate to? Or would it not matter at all to you?

Wouldn't matter to me. Think of 8472, or the Horta, Sheliak and Tholians - there's some pretty kick arse bad guys out there that aren't even remotely humanoid.

Some of the aliens from TVH, like the Bzzit Khaht, or Alnschloss K'Bentayr from STXI, are still basic humanoids but much different to the other series' aliens, and they're exciting and interesting too - indeed, it makes me more interested!

 

[SilentP]

Think of 8472, or the Horta, Sheliak and Tholians - there's some pretty kick arse bad guys out there that aren't even remotely humanoid.

Good point, I did forget about them, although they never got mcuh screentime, and as you've said they're bad guys. I'd kinda like to see some friendly, but very unusual shaped aliens, if that distinction makes sense?

Alnschloss K'Bentayr from STXI

Sorry, which character is this? I'm guessing either the doctor/midwife on the Kevlin shuttle with Mrs Kirk, or Scotty's little buddy on Delta Vega?

 

[Shim]

The Horta were "good", just misunderstood, as were the Medusans. The problem is always that the "foreign" looking aliens cost too much to portray onscreen.

As for Alnschloss - he's the guy/gal (it was played by a woman, but looks decidedly masculine to me) on the bridge of the USS Kelvin.

Have a look here.

 

[SilentP]

The problem is always that the "foreign" looking aliens cost too much to portray onscreen.

Well part of of my original intention for the thread was to imagine how races that we have already in the Star Trek universe could have ended up looking like without such budgetary restrictions (sorry if that intention was obscure). Hard to argue with the difficulty of doing so with the budgets most of the shows had.

As for Alnschloss - he's the guy/gal (it was played by a woman, but looks decidedly masculine to me) on the bridge of the USS Kelvin.

Have a look here.

Cheers for that Once you take the time to understand how to pronounce it, tis a cool name

 

[Shim]

Well part of of my original intention for the thread was to imagine how races that we have already in the Star Trek universe could have ended up looking like without such budgetary restrictions (sorry if that intention was obscure). Hard to argue with the difficulty of doing so with the budgets most of the shows had.

Don't admit that you want to re-imagine some of the races we already have or the canon fairies will come after you...

But seriously, its actually ironic that you mentioned the Cardassians above - between TNG and DS9 they did actually try to make them more reptilian!

 

[SilentP]

Don't admit that you want to re-imagine some of the races we already have or the canon fairies will come after you...

What have I done?

But seriously, its actually ironic that you mentioned the Cardassians above - between TNG and DS9 they did actually try to make them more reptilian!

Really? I guess I haven't seen enough of the TNG Cardassian epsidoes recently to be able to see the shift in design, but the reptilian angle does come out in some ways, like temperature preferences. They do seem to have a well explored but different mind set, so maybe they decided that perhaps a reptillian mind might have much more different mindset than is usually seen in alien races, or am I just looking at it too deeply?

 

[Shim]

What have I done?

Lol - nothing - just some people around here get testy at the slightest variations on Trek tradition.

Really? I guess I haven't seen enough of the TNG Cardassian epsidoes recently to be able to see the shift in design, but the reptilian angle does come out in some ways, like temperature preferences. They do seem to have a well explored but different mind set, so maybe they decided that perhaps a reptillian mind might have much more different mindset than is usually seen in alien races, or am I just looking at it too deeply?

It was both - their appearance and mindset that were consciously made more reptilian - so you're not looking at it too deeply, just correctly.

I always thought the Cardassians looked like they should've had tails. Big fleshy crocodile tails with ridges running down them like the ones on their necks.

 

[JustKate]

I think more alien-looking aliens would be great...but the thing is, I like to - in fact, I need to - be able to see the actors acting. I have to be able to see enough of their real faces in order to appreciate subtle changes of expression.

Course, they could still do that even with a tail (which would have been really cool) ...

But probably not with a lot more make-up or Morn-like masks or anything like that. And CGI is great, in its way, but right now, CGI couldn't do Dukat anywhere near as well as Marc Alaimo did nor Damar anywhere near as well as Casey Biggs did.