In retrospect some have complained that the Starfleet of TOS (in general) and the crew of starships (in particular) were too human centric. Consequently it didn't seem to really reflect the principle that the Federation, and in extent Starfleet, purportedly stood for and practiced--that all species were regarded equally and given equal opportunity.
Firstly we know the real world reason for what we saw onscreen. We were seeing the reality of a high concept SF series on a television budget and relatively limited resources. So the real miracle is what we saw exceeded realistic expectations.
From the start Spock was meant to represent the fact that other races did serve in Starfleet even if we never got to see them in TOS. That said in "Journey To Babel" we finally did get to see some of the races who comprised the Federation and in "The Immunity Syndrome" we heard a clear reference to another Starfleet starship--the Intrepid--with an all Vulcan crew. So within its limitations TOS did try to show us more even though it can be argued a bit more might have been done.
It wasn't until TAS that we began to see other species aboard the Enterprise with Arex and M'ress as well as the alternate timeline Andorian Thelin from "Yesteryear" and other Federation species such as the avian historian Aurelian Loom Aleek-Om in "Yesteryear" and the Dramians in "Albatross." And later in TMP we saw even more aliens among the crew and Starfleet. Yet while this continued throughout the films humans were still clearly in the majority. Again there is the real world practical consideration of time and money and human characters likely being easier to identify with than exotic aliens.
The practice seen in the films was carried over into TNG and the rest although it might be argued it was scaled back a bit in regards to the Enterprise crew. Again understandable given the realities and constraints of television production.
But going back to TOS where this all started. Although not expressed onscreen The Making Of Star Trek does reference that starship crews were meant to be predominantly of one type. This was backed up in every episode of TOS and the one reference to an all Vulcan crew aboard the Intrepid. Of course the real reason was that it was a way to explain why we saw predominatly human personnel aboard the Enterprise.
But setting aside the realities of television production lets try looking at this with some real world perspective. If we were to indeed encounter alien intelligence in the future what sort of limitations would be involved in our interactions? How much could we interact once the communication issue has been solved? And thats just assuming that alien life was something remotely compatible with us rather than radically different.
Although Vulcans and humans seem very much alike (in broad terms) there are distinct physiological and cultural and environmental differences. It could well be that only certain individuals trained and/or accustomed to dealing with other races can coexist on an everyday basis. And this would apply to Andorians, Tellarites, Edoans, Aurelians and whatever else as well. Meanwhile there could be a limit to how much general populations could comfortably and realistically tolerate coexistence with others from other species.
So the idea of starship crews being comprised of mostly one type might actually make a measure of sense with occasional exceptions being allowed for. So while Spock and a handful of others have shown themselves to be quite comfortable working everyday alongside humans it could well be that aboard a Vulcan or Andorian (or whatever) manned starship there could be a few humans or other species sprinkled within that crew.
There could also be something else at play. And, again, we saw a glimpse of this in TOS--not all races seem inclined to go venturing off into space. Of course we only caught a glimpse of Argelius (re: "Wolf In The Fold") but the impression seemed to be that they were quite content to serve as a spaceport letting others come to them while they focused on their own (more or less) concerns. The same with Ardana (re: "The Cloud Minders"). Of the races we saw in "Journey To Babel" we never had any idea which, if any, were spacefaring. So at least some races could be interested primarily in trade and cultural exchange and have little interest in participating in more active functions like Starfleet. Federation membership might not even require participation in Starfleet. To that end it could partly answer why humans are so prominant in Starfleet (given our nature to be actively outward looking) alongside only a handful of similarly inclined races.
So the essential question is how truly realistic are multi-species crews and to what extent?
Thoughts anyone?
Firstly we know the real world reason for what we saw onscreen. We were seeing the reality of a high concept SF series on a television budget and relatively limited resources. So the real miracle is what we saw exceeded realistic expectations.
From the start Spock was meant to represent the fact that other races did serve in Starfleet even if we never got to see them in TOS. That said in "Journey To Babel" we finally did get to see some of the races who comprised the Federation and in "The Immunity Syndrome" we heard a clear reference to another Starfleet starship--the Intrepid--with an all Vulcan crew. So within its limitations TOS did try to show us more even though it can be argued a bit more might have been done.
It wasn't until TAS that we began to see other species aboard the Enterprise with Arex and M'ress as well as the alternate timeline Andorian Thelin from "Yesteryear" and other Federation species such as the avian historian Aurelian Loom Aleek-Om in "Yesteryear" and the Dramians in "Albatross." And later in TMP we saw even more aliens among the crew and Starfleet. Yet while this continued throughout the films humans were still clearly in the majority. Again there is the real world practical consideration of time and money and human characters likely being easier to identify with than exotic aliens.
The practice seen in the films was carried over into TNG and the rest although it might be argued it was scaled back a bit in regards to the Enterprise crew. Again understandable given the realities and constraints of television production.
But going back to TOS where this all started. Although not expressed onscreen The Making Of Star Trek does reference that starship crews were meant to be predominantly of one type. This was backed up in every episode of TOS and the one reference to an all Vulcan crew aboard the Intrepid. Of course the real reason was that it was a way to explain why we saw predominatly human personnel aboard the Enterprise.
But setting aside the realities of television production lets try looking at this with some real world perspective. If we were to indeed encounter alien intelligence in the future what sort of limitations would be involved in our interactions? How much could we interact once the communication issue has been solved? And thats just assuming that alien life was something remotely compatible with us rather than radically different.
Although Vulcans and humans seem very much alike (in broad terms) there are distinct physiological and cultural and environmental differences. It could well be that only certain individuals trained and/or accustomed to dealing with other races can coexist on an everyday basis. And this would apply to Andorians, Tellarites, Edoans, Aurelians and whatever else as well. Meanwhile there could be a limit to how much general populations could comfortably and realistically tolerate coexistence with others from other species.
So the idea of starship crews being comprised of mostly one type might actually make a measure of sense with occasional exceptions being allowed for. So while Spock and a handful of others have shown themselves to be quite comfortable working everyday alongside humans it could well be that aboard a Vulcan or Andorian (or whatever) manned starship there could be a few humans or other species sprinkled within that crew.
There could also be something else at play. And, again, we saw a glimpse of this in TOS--not all races seem inclined to go venturing off into space. Of course we only caught a glimpse of Argelius (re: "Wolf In The Fold") but the impression seemed to be that they were quite content to serve as a spaceport letting others come to them while they focused on their own (more or less) concerns. The same with Ardana (re: "The Cloud Minders"). Of the races we saw in "Journey To Babel" we never had any idea which, if any, were spacefaring. So at least some races could be interested primarily in trade and cultural exchange and have little interest in participating in more active functions like Starfleet. Federation membership might not even require participation in Starfleet. To that end it could partly answer why humans are so prominant in Starfleet (given our nature to be actively outward looking) alongside only a handful of similarly inclined races.
So the essential question is how truly realistic are multi-species crews and to what extent?
Thoughts anyone?
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