Prosthetics and 'going undercover' on primitive worlds?

[Sandoval]

Human Starfleet officers being made up to appear as a member of an alien species I can accept, for example Nicolai Rozhenko being made up to look like a Boralan by having prosthetics added, or Troi having prosthetics added to appear Romulan.

But how exactly do you manage to make a Klingon look like a smooth headed Boralan without removing or filing down his skull? And putting it back at the end of the episode?

 

[Christopher]

^The idea with making Worf look Boralan was that he actually was undergoing instant cosmetic surgery courtesy of magical 24th-century medicine. The alien disguises we see other characters don are usually said to be surgical creations as well rather than prosthetics -- with Picard and Data's Romulan disguises in "Unification" being an exception. (Although Kirk's Romulan ears in "The Enterprise Incident" were cosmetic surgery -- at the end, he needed to see McCoy to get them bobbed, rather than just pulling off the prosthetics Mission: Impossible-style when he was done.)

What bugs me about "Homeward" (aside from its totally asinine take on the Prime Directive) is that Worf is in Boralan disguise on the planet (or holodeck, I forget), then comes back to the ship and is Klingon again, then goes back to Boralan mere hours later. Even with magic 24th-century surgery, that's just silly. He should've stayed in Boralan disguise throughout. And yes, the Boralan makeup design should've been a little closer to Worf's Klingon bone structure to be convincing -- though presumably the real-world explanation is that they wanted to give Michael Dorn a chance to act with less rubber on his head for once.

 

[Herbert1]

They also do the same thing with Paul Sorvino's Boraalan make-up appliance during the episode. If we believe that Nikolai Rozhenko was also surgically altered to appear Boraalan, why does the character's appearance change? I don't think that the nose bridge is glued-on if he has conceived a child with Dobra. (For risk of it coming off at an awkward moment.)

Further, won't Dobra be surprised when her child with Nikolai is born with half-Boraalan and half-Human features. So how is he gonna explain that?

 

[Mr Silver]

Further, won't Dobra be surprised when her child with Nikolai is born with half-Boraalan and half-Human features. So how is he gonna explain that?

Accuse her of cheating?

Seriously though, I reckon he'd probably tell her the truth about the whole thing eventually. But that might not be necessary because the child's Boraalan features might be more dominant than it's Human features.

 

[Timo]

In "The Communicator", Archer's prosthetics come off when he's beaten up, and this is declared as evidence of "surgical alteration"...

I guess there's a continuum of possibilities between glued-on rubber and grafting of new bits of skull inside the skin. Some of this might indeed be near-instantaneous, considering how Trek is rife with techniques to repair the skin in seconds. The only problem with "Homeward" is why Worf bothers...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The_Baroness]

Do we know for certain though, that Worfs Boralaan appearance wasn't done with Holo-trickery? t'was the Holodeck after all.

 

[Mr Silver]

That's a very good point actually.

 

[Mytran]

Holography could also explain Neelix's change in False Profits, where is normally tall and thin skull is reshaped into a wide squat one. That could cause quite a brain-ache, otherwise!

 

[Lieut. Arex]

By the 24th century, they should be able to use the transporter to reshape the physical appearance or even the species of a crew member in need of disguise. Need to scout a Romulan base? Man up, Worf. You're getting pointed ears.

 

[indolover]

Who is to say how cosmetic surgery has advanced in that era?

Maybe surgeons have a better ability to manipulate nerves and muscles, relative to real life. Most medical knowledge/practice in Trek is obviously far-out by real life standards. they can suspend people in death, cure cancer, heal minor lacerations/burns instantly, and give people fully functional and realistic artificial hearts.

 

[Christopher]

Do we know for certain though, that Worfs Boralaan appearance wasn't done with Holo-trickery? t'was the Holodeck after all.

Not the whole time. Worf first adopted Boraalan appearance when he beamed down to the planet, before they'd been moved to the holodeck. And we were explicitly shown that he underwent a treatment in sickbay (with a gadget attached to his brow ridge) in order to change appearance.

 

[Timo]

It would explain the back-and-forth aspect, though, in that Worf would then only have undergone surgery once, then reversed it; the rest would be holography.

But that's not much of an explanation, because we still have to rationalize why Worf immediately got his de-facelift (facesag?) after beaming up from his initial mission. Why was he convinced he would not be going back soon?

However, as said, witnessed UFP medical technology probably allows for facial modifications that take less time, and cause fewer medical complications, than the application of everyday commercial makeup today.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

What bugs me about "Homeward" (aside from its totally asinine take on the Prime Directive) is that Worf is in Boralan disguise on the planet (or holodeck, I forget), then comes back to the ship and is Klingon again, then goes back to Boralan mere hours later. Even with magic 24th-century surgery, that's just silly. He should've stayed in Boralan disguise throughout. And yes, the Boralan makeup design should've been a little closer to Worf's Klingon bone structure to be convincing -- though presumably the real-world explanation is that they wanted to give Michael Dorn a chance to act with less rubber on his head for once.

I'm glad that bugged somebody else. I was in hysterics during that episode picturing Worf's forehead bones on a shelf in sickbay, waiting for him to come back.

Oh, and - agreed about the ridiculous reading of the PD!

 

[David cgc]

In "The Communicator", Archer's prosthetics come off when he's beaten up, and this is declared as evidence of "surgical alteration"...

Well, those guys thought Archer and company were genetically engineered mutants, not aliens. The "alteration" was their human features, not the latex makeup.

 

[Timo]

Well argued!

I rather think the writers didn't realize what they were writing there, but we can certainly interpret it in a way that makes sense: of course the locals would be saying "this man has been surgically altered, and is trying to hide the fact with these silly, cheap rubber prosthetics!"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Deks]

One thing that would never fly for example is Data and Picard on Romulus in disguise.
Why?
Well, the Romulans being paranoid as they are would likely have proper equipment to scan for intruders... the homeworld itself would HAVE to have that kind of a system.

Any sufficiently advanced race would have this technology... even SF uses it.

 

[Sandoval]

One thing that would never fly for example is Data and Picard on Romulus in disguise.
Why?
Well, the Romulans being paranoid as they are would likely have proper equipment to scan for intruders... the homeworld itself would HAVE to have that kind of a system.

The prosthetic ears had little transmitters hidden in the tips that gave off Romulan life signs...

 

[Timo]

I guess scanning equipment would not be available for each street corner; Starfleet didn't manage to install those anti-Changeling systems in too many locations on Earth, either.

Picard and Data appeared to stick to the part of the where Spock had been living and working (the "Krockton Segment") - a somewhat downtrodden rather than downtown location by the looks of it! Probably not too many anti-intruder scanners there, save perhaps for portable ones carried by the inevitable police patrols of a totalitarian society. Their plan need not have involved trying to infiltrate the Government Citadel or anything; just having a look at the surroundings specified by the intelligence material would do.

Did the Klingon ship stick around to provide them with further infiltration services or not? Were I Romulan, I'd be more worried about my (in)ability to detect cloaked Klingon ships in the vicinity than about by (in)ability to identify aliens in disguise!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FreddyE]

They could have had a device to mask their biosignals to appear romulan. We have seen that this is possible with Datas Mum-droid who had a device installed that gave her human biosignals.