Most Interesting Alien Species?

[Jedi Marso]

Never would have said it until after all the Jeffrey Combs eps of Enterprise, but after all these years of exploring the Vulcans, I could have stood to have seen a whole couple seasons of Enterprise really get into and focus on the Andorians, had Shran been part of the crew.

 

[sonak]

it's interesting that the Klingons, which are probably(along with the Vulcans) the most recognizable and famous of the Trek species, are not getting much of the vote here.

As I wrote, I find them one-note and boring, but I thought they were pretty popular among fans.

 

[The Wormhole]

I really, REALLY love the Cardassians. As a species, they managed to balance charisma and revulsion perfectly. I can't think of more dynamic characters than Dukat and Garak.

I second this. I don't recall ever seeing an un-interesting Cardassian in any of Trek.

Dukat was uninteresting by season 7 of DS9.

Not so much uninteresting, as they took the character in the wrong direction that year. But whatever, he's a great character in the first six seasons.

 

[exodus]

I really, REALLY love the Cardassians. As a species, they managed to balance charisma and revulsion perfectly. I can't think of more dynamic characters than Dukat and Garak.

I second this. I don't recall ever seeing an un-interesting Cardassian in any of Trek.

Dukat was uninteresting by season 7 of DS9.

I disagree.
His narcissistic personality disorder captivated me through out the series, whether he was crazy or not. IMO he's hands down one of the greatest sci-fi villains ever created. Khan didn't have shit on the evil that was Gul Dukat. Too me it was Kai Winn that became uninteresting during S7. She was equally as evil to him and yet, in the last season she took a backseat to him. She deserved a worse fate than what she got.

The only regret is, we never found out his first name.

 

[sbk1234]

I really, REALLY love the Cardassians. As a species, they managed to balance charisma and revulsion perfectly. I can't think of more dynamic characters than Dukat and Garak.

I second this. I don't recall ever seeing an un-interesting Cardassian in any of Trek.

I third this. I also enjoy the Andorians and the Vorta. All of these alien characters were interesting to watch. I was never bored when they were on screen!

And another YES! The Vorta were so well done. Creepy and charismatic at the same time. The line: "They ARE gods!" still gives me shivers. Weyoun was incredible. I can't say enough good things about the character and actor.

And Dukat's first name apparently was Maurice.

 

[Sci]

For the record, the novels have established Dukat's first name to have been Skrain.

 

[The Wormhole]

Dukat refers to himself in his log in the beginning of A Time to Stand as "Dukat, S.G." Though some have debated whether or not S.G. is actually his initials or an abbreviation of his title "Station Gul." As noted above, the novels have given him the first name Skrain, which would support the theory of initials. But then, the novels have also made Station Gul and actual title for a station's commanding officer, so who knows?

 

[Jedi Marso]

it's interesting that the Klingons, which are probably(along with the Vulcans) the most recognizable and famous of the Trek species, are not getting much of the vote here.

As I wrote, I find them one-note and boring, but I thought they were pretty popular among fans.

I think the Klingons could have been fascinating if they had taken their culture and such in the direction written by John M. Ford in The Final Reflection. He gave them a unique, alien culture and outlook. As they were defined by TNG as simply a viking/samurai cross pollination, they were boring.

 

[sonak]

it's interesting that the Klingons, which are probably(along with the Vulcans) the most recognizable and famous of the Trek species, are not getting much of the vote here.

As I wrote, I find them one-note and boring, but I thought they were pretty popular among fans.

I think the Klingons could have been fascinating if they had taken their culture and such in the direction written by John M. Ford in The Final Reflection. He gave them a unique, alien culture and outlook. As they were defined by TNG as simply a viking/samurai cross pollination, they were boring.

I agree with this. TFR was a great book.

 

[Anika Hanson]

The romulans.

 

[exodus]

it's interesting that the Klingons, which are probably(along with the Vulcans) the most recognizable and famous of the Trek species, are not getting much of the vote here.

As I wrote, I find them one-note and boring, but I thought they were pretty popular among fans.

I think the Klingons could have been fascinating if they had taken their culture and such in the direction written by John M. Ford in The Final Reflection. He gave them a unique, alien culture and outlook. As they were defined by TNG as simply a viking/samurai cross pollination, they were boring.

The reason for them being samurai were they represented Japan. Romulans are Russian's and the Neutral Zone is the Iron Curtain.. It was all based around what Gene knew of WWII and the Cold War. They were meant to have an identifiable culture to the audience for that reason. All the major aliens in Trek represent some political or social structure within our own world. You change that and you change the entire reason why Trek was created to begin with.

 

[Xhiandra]

Romulans were meant to be russians? All this time, I had no idea.
I've always thought of them as Romans; late republic (TOS/TNG) - early empire (Nemesis); their titles tend to be Roman, their political machinations and philosophy are similar as well and well, there's the dead giveaway of the name.

And I've mostly thought of Klingons as Vikings mostly, though obviously other Proud Warrior Cultures (pre-Meiji Japan, ancient Sparta,...) apply as well but that's mostly incidental.


Edit: one more vote on the side-subject of Dukat's villainous breakdown.
And this reflects the races: Cardassians are interesting (if unsympathetic for the most part), Bajorans are annoying - Dukat became annoying around the time they made him Bajoran!

 

[sonak]

it's interesting that the Klingons, which are probably(along with the Vulcans) the most recognizable and famous of the Trek species, are not getting much of the vote here.

As I wrote, I find them one-note and boring, but I thought they were pretty popular among fans.

I think the Klingons could have been fascinating if they had taken their culture and such in the direction written by John M. Ford in The Final Reflection. He gave them a unique, alien culture and outlook. As they were defined by TNG as simply a viking/samurai cross pollination, they were boring.

The reason for them being samurai were they represented Japan. Romulans are Russian's and the Neutral Zone is the Iron Curtain.. It was all based around what Gene knew of WWII and the Cold War. They were meant to have an identifiable culture to the audience for that reason. All the major aliens in Trek represent some political or social structure within our own world. You change that and you change the entire reason why Trek was created to begin with.

I think the TOS Klingons were supposed to be Soviet Russians.

They were much more interesting than the "honor" "glory" "battle" TNG Klingons.

 

[Sci]

No one culture in Star Trek is specifically meant to just be a given culture in real life. Aliens in Star Trek sometimes have parallels to cultures or to political situations in real life, but it's both inaccurate and overly simplistic to say they're exclusively meant to be any one culture. The Klingons are not just the "Soviet Union IN SPACE" or the "Viking Samauri IN SPACE;" the Romulans are not just the Romans or the Chinese IN SPACE; etc. Even when a given alien culture in Star Trek is built around a defining trope -- Ferengi and capitalism; Klingons and their concepts of warrior honor; Bajoran religion; Vulcan logic -- things are more complex than just that.