Why weren't there more aliens in Starfleet? Except for the occasional alien here or there not many served on-board starships (or at least on the Enterprise D and E and Voyager. Were budget constraints the reason for this?
More aliens in Starfleet...?
- Thread starter AlboOfBorg
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It most likely was a budget issue. It could have just been overlooked the producers and writers.
It was a budget issue in the first series; that's why they had a token alien in the command crew. Later series, of course, just imitated the form of TOS without having a clue as to why things were done.
I like to think its because earth is you know the premier member of the federation, and star fleet academy is on earth.
Of the major, regular characters, TOS had a Vulcan (1); TNG had an android, a Betazoid, and a Klingon (3); DS9 had a Bejoran, a Changling, a Ferengi, a Klingon, and a Trill (5); Voyager had a Borg, a hologram, a Klingon, an Ocampa, a Talaxian, and a Vulcan (6); Enterprise had a Denoblian, and a Vulcan (2).
Of the above who served in or with Starfleet, TOS had one (Spock); TNG had three (Data, Troi, and Worf); DS9 had two (Worf and Dax); Voyager had three (the Dr., B'leana and Tuvoc); Enterprise had one (Flox).
What have I missed?
Of the above who served in or with Starfleet, TOS had one (Spock); TNG had three (Data, Troi, and Worf); DS9 had two (Worf and Dax); Voyager had three (the Dr., B'leana and Tuvoc); Enterprise had one (Flox).
What have I missed?
I think it would've been cool to see a more diversified crew on a starship, like instead having a nearly 90% human crew and then a small percentage made up of the odd Bolian, Vulcan, Andorian etc then how about having, say, around 40% to 50% human crew and more numbers of Andorians, Vulcans, Bolians and whatever.
I guess why we don't see it is because of the reasons already given above but also something that was suggested a while back on a similar topic where Starfleet might choose to there have there ships crewed by a majority of the same species for the reason, I guess, for working conditions (I think) like having a Starship crewed by almost all Humans, a Starship crewed by almost all Vulcans or Andorians etc.
I guess why we don't see it is because of the reasons already given above but also something that was suggested a while back on a similar topic where Starfleet might choose to there have there ships crewed by a majority of the same species for the reason, I guess, for working conditions (I think) like having a Starship crewed by almost all Humans, a Starship crewed by almost all Vulcans or Andorians etc.
This makes sense. Vulcans, Humans, Klingons, and other would do better under different working conditions. In TOS the unlucky Intrepid was crewed by Vulcans. In TNG The Federation and Klingon Empire had exchange officers. A Fed starship with a minority human crew would be an intriguing fictional premise.
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Have you read the Titan books? One of the main ideas in that series is more diversity in the crew, and some of the aliens are really alien.
they're all serving on the other non-Hero ships.
the T'Kumbra in DS9 also had an all-Vulcan crew, while Geordi's Mum commanded a majority-Vulcan crew on the Hera, and Sisko served under a Vulcan captain and with a Bolian on the Saratoga...
the T'Kumbra in DS9 also had an all-Vulcan crew, while Geordi's Mum commanded a majority-Vulcan crew on the Hera, and Sisko served under a Vulcan captain and with a Bolian on the Saratoga...
Did they? TNG had three "nonhumans" (Worf, Troi and Data). DS9 had four (Kira, Odo, Dax and Quark). VOY had five (Neelix, Kes, Torres, EMH and Seven) Even ENT had two (Phlox and T'Pol)
I did. It seemed a little too Kumbaya for my taste. The Titan , of course, would have the best and the brightest of the species. Still there still would be the ironing out of issues between the Cardassian and Bajoran crew members just as an example. DS9 did show that when the rubber met the road there were interspecies concerns. It stemmed from the species just being themselves that rubbed other species the wrong way. Captain Riker dealing with that would be of interest.
Well, usually only one or two aliens were needed in the crew. ENT, TOS, TNG and VOY have a very human-centric p.o.v. (DS9 is far more complicated, being as much about different cultures). Basically they view humans from outside our society, telling us what we really don't want to hear... exposing what an obnoxious bunch of pricks we are! 
The Titan Series seemed a little too Kumbaya for my tastes. As DS9 showed species one on one had fundamental differences when the rubber hits the road.
A few examples:
Romulans and Vulcans working together would have a tough time. One thinking the other weak for being "subject" to the Earth dominated Federation, the other thinking he/she is over emotional.
Bajorans and Cardassians another conflict presents itself.
A Klingon and a Halkan having to work together.
I wouldn't want any fictional account to have everyone at each others' throats, just how those issues are resolved.
In TOS we had Spock. He had the task of defending Vulcan while not agreeing with everything about being Vulcan. Having a Human in a similar situation would be fun (Will Riker on a Klingon ship wasn't enough for me.)
Of course it was budget!
Check out the difference between TOS and ST:TMP. The rec deck scene in TNG is well populated by alien Starfleet crewmembers: Andorians, Betelguesians, Saurians, Rhaandarites, Zaranites and Arcturians! The larger budget of a motion picture permitted the use of more aliens. The ST novel "Ex Machina" by Christopher L Bennett goes into a little detail about the recruiting program that was taking place in the years leading up to TMP.
It was an issue that came up in a couple of the books. There is only one Cardassian in Starfleet (I think his name is Dukal, could be wrong though) and he's a subordinate in the section run by Jaza (a Bajoran), so Jaza can't show a whole lot of animosity but its pretty clear the Cardassian isn't comfortable with it.
Also one of the books, can't remember which exactly, has a huge problem in the mess hall between the carnivores of the ship and the more vegetarian species.
Riker doesn't have to deal with the problem too much though because he generally hands it off to Vale and Troi.
Well, I like the Titan series. Many of the novels have more than one non-human character, which I like a great deal. Budget, even in the '80s and '90s, was always the reason we saw majority-human crews on the TV shows. It's also the reason for the proliferation of the forehead-of-the-week aliens! -- RR
probably a PITA for the actors, and cost a lot of money just to have a random Andorian or something every five mins in the background
i think there was an all andorian ship (at least I read online, could be crap)
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