Most underutilized alien race?

[Lor'Vela]

Out of the races which are frequently named, but rarely seen, I would be inclined to say the Tholians and the Gorn.

I would also like to add those unmentioned aliens from ENT's "Silent Enemy". It's a shame we never saw them again, because there are too few non-humanoid races in Star Trek, and those for me intrigue me the most.

 

[doctorfoto]

I'm putting my vote in for the benchwarmers of the Dominion.

Can I get a little love for the Tosk (and their Hunters)?!?

How about the Karemma?...That other Dominion race.

The Dosi? The Wadi? Just a few of these guys in the background, even as slave characters - to remind us that the Dominion was as diverse as the Feds would have been nice.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

The Tholians, we need more Tholians.

 

[Alientraveller]

I agree with many posters that we don't get enough insight into the Romulans, I mean, there's no canon names for the first two main Romulans that appeared in TOS, they were written out of the third film because Nimoy preferred the Klingons, there's no explanation for their varying appearances, their homeworld's destruction was merely the catalyst for a new timeline, and their true names and religious beliefs (D'era) are non canon. There were dozens of opportunities to reveal more about them in Star Trek that were never taken.

I should also add the Gorn and Tholians, I always feel makeup limitations meant the producers brushed them aside for Ferengi, Borg and Cardassians.

 

[Anwar]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons). Thus, every use would require money payments made to their original creators. They had to pay when they were used in ENT, so I guess they just didn't want to keep paying.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons).

You're forgetting "Enterprise"'s mirror universe - they both appeared there.

http://drexfiles.files.wordpress.co...ship-22nd-century-in-a-mirror-darkly-i-14.jpg

http://www.jimmyakin.org/images/tholian2.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/gorn mirror/DIguana/gorn.jpg

 

[MikeS]

Tellerites and Andorians as founding members of the Federation should have received more attention (I'm not including their ENT appearances).

 

[Anwar]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons).

You're forgetting "Enterprise"'s mirror universe - they both appeared there.

http://drexfiles.files.wordpress.co...ship-22nd-century-in-a-mirror-darkly-i-14.jpg

http://www.jimmyakin.org/images/tholian2.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/gorn mirror/DIguana/gorn.jpg

And like I said, they paid royalties for their appearance in that episode. The guys in charge of Trek are usually against that sort of thing (the whole Locarno-Paris situation), which is why it was for this ENT two-parter and that was it.

 

[Trek4Ever]

I would also like to add those unmentioned aliens from ENT's "Silent Enemy". It's a shame we never saw them again, because there are too few non-humanoid races in Star Trek, and those for me intrigue me the most.

Those were one of the creepiest aliens Trek has ever shown, there was so much mystery about them, and they really seemed alien, I kind of liked the fact that they were never seen again and the crew and the audience didn't learn much about them. It just added to the mystery and a cold reminder that space can be really hazardous.

 

[I am not Spock]

Also, the Edosians and the Caitians from TAS. I know Paramount refused to consider TAS canon for many years (they've softened up on it recently, releasing it on DVD), but it would have been cool to see M'Ress and Arex done in CGI or live action prosthetics.

 

[Anwar]

Yeah, make-up effects is the reason we didn't see Andorians until ENT. Nowadays the FX for makeup have advanced to the point where we can see well-done versions of those aliens on TV now.

 

[abaldwin360]

I would love to see more of the Tholians. I really liked that they were so different than other Trek aliens.

 

[Anwar]

We didn't see just HOW different they were (crystal crabs) until ENT. I mean, back in TOS all we ever saw of a Tholian was that one guy's head and for all we knew that could've just been some kind of helmet he was wearing.

 

[The Wormhole]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons).

You're forgetting "Enterprise"'s mirror universe - they both appeared there.

http://drexfiles.files.wordpress.co...ship-22nd-century-in-a-mirror-darkly-i-14.jpg

http://www.jimmyakin.org/images/tholian2.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/gorn mirror/DIguana/gorn.jpg

And like I said, they paid royalties for their appearance in that episode. The guys in charge of Trek are usually against that sort of thing (the whole Locarno-Paris situation), which is why it was for this ENT two-parter and that was it.

Tholians were also in Enterprise's Future Tense.

 

[Anwar]

Were they actually seen, or just mentioned? If it's a physical appearance you have to pay royalties, not just verbal mentions.

 

[The Wormhole]

Actually seen? No. But their ships were seen, and there were audio communications with them.

 

[Myasishchev]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons).

That seems more like a contract issue than anything else. If not, then Andorians and Tellarites would also fall under the "seen-once, pay-later" rule, but Enterprise used Andorians frequently--indeed, TNG occasionally used Andorians as background color, without any compelling reason to justify a royalty payout.

If it were a issue of rights to property, certainly they could come to some arrangement with the estate for perpetual or near-as-damnit rights to use? Someone must have with the Klingons and Romulans--why could negotiations not be undertaken in regard to the Gorn and Tholians?

 

[Lor'Vela]

I would also like to add those unmentioned aliens from ENT's "Silent Enemy". It's a shame we never saw them again, because there are too few non-humanoid races in Star Trek, and those for me intrigue me the most.

Those were one of the creepiest aliens Trek has ever shown, there was so much mystery about them, and they really seemed alien, I kind of liked the fact that they were never seen again and the crew and the audience didn't learn much about them. It just added to the mystery and a cold reminder that space can be really hazardous.

Creepy is perhaps one of the reasons I like them... they're just totally alien, and even look alien. I realise knowing more about them would spoil the mystery, but Star Trek doesn't often create non-humanoid and totally alien lifeforms. I could only imagine what the intelligence behind the Cetacean probe must of been like, or the machine inhabitants who created the V'Ger spacecraft, for example.

 

[Anwar]

That has more to do with Royalties than anything else, if they did use the Tholians or Gorn more they would have to pay money to the estate of the writers who created them in the first place. They were only used once in TOS, meaning they belonged to their creators and not the show (unlike the Romulans and Klingons).

That seems more like a contract issue than anything else. If not, then Andorians and Tellarites would also fall under the "seen-once, pay-later" rule, but Enterprise used Andorians frequently--indeed, TNG occasionally used Andorians as background color, without any compelling reason to justify a royalty payout.

If it were a issue of rights to property, certainly they could come to some arrangement with the estate for perpetual or near-as-damnit rights to use? Someone must have with the Klingons and Romulans--why could negotiations not be undertaken in regard to the Gorn and Tholians?

The Klingons and Romulans were used or mentioned more than once in TOS, meaning they now belonged to the show and not their original writer. Same with Andorians and Tellarites. The Gorn and Tholians, however, were never re-used after their first episodes and thus remained the property of the writer.

So, they had to pay extra money every time the Gorn and Tholians were re-used and didn't want to do that.

 

[Myasishchev]

Yeah, now that I think about it, Andorians and Tellarites were used at least twice... I forgot about Whom Gods Destroy.

That said, what's the mechanism at work here? Does the production company have the option to pick up concepts for a second use (on the same show), converting them into their property?

That would be weird, seemingly rewarding creators of less compelling properties, and punishing creators of properties which are interesting enough that they'd want to bring back.