Romu-gons?

[mike hill]

I have an (extremely vague) memory that Romulans were originally intended to be the ongoing "baddies" in TOS, but the cost of prosthetic ears (or helmets) was prohibitive and so the cheap (greasepaint and fake beards) Klingons were brought in?
I hope someone can tell me if my memory is correct or false?
And I wounder how TOS would have played out if Romulans had retained their ongoing "baddie" position?

 

[Timo]

Many a backstage book refers to these expensive ears, yes. But how heavily TOS writing would have depended on recurring villains would probably depend on more than just this. Klingons didn't appear all that often, either - indeed, no Klingon character managed to reappear, even though TOS brought back Harry Mudd.

When "Errand of Mercy" introduced the situation where Kirk was pitted against old arch-enemies who had just taken a cold war to a hotter level, this could easily have been the Romulans who had just emerged from their century of isolation. But this is one episode where the makeup costs might have been a showstopper, since there was the need to show an occupying army!

(...Even if it ended up consisting of a grand total of eight troopers! But that's the going rate for high-budget projects, too, there being but eight Borg in ST:FC, say.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[mike hill]

When "Errand of Mercy" introduced the situation where Kirk was pitted against old arch-enemies who had just taken a cold war to a hotter level, this could easily have been the Romulans who had just emerged from their century of isolation. But this is one episode where the makeup costs might have been a showstopper, since there was the need to show an occupying army!

Timo Saloniemi

Totally agree. And if Romulans had remained as the big "baddies" then a fence testing assault with two new secret weapons, after a hundred year hiatus (in BoT), followed by a full frontal assault (in EoM) seems to make sense.
And if Klingons didn't exist and the only real threat had been cooped up and in hiding for 100 years, then maybe Starfleet only needed the 12/13 multi purpose "superships", with probably a hundred or so gunships/destroyers and scouts to make up a fleet?
Which is okay until BoT!!

 

[Kor]

Well, when the Klingons were first conceptualized, there was only the vaguest direction on what they were supposed to look like: "hard-faced, Oriental" (which wouldn't be considered politically correct today) and wearing fabric that resembled mail. John Colicos and Fred Phillips took that and came up with the familiar TOS Klingon appearance for Errand of Mercy.

Kor

 

[FormerLurker]

no Klingon character managed to reappear

Not for lack of trying. Scheduling conflicts, among other things, kept first John Colicos, then William Campbell, from reprising their respective roles, creating the need for first Koloth, and then Kang. I don't mind, as I like all three characters.

As for that "Oriental" appearance, going with the facial hair and little else to represent it worked out well in the long run.

 

[mike hill]

Not for lack of trying. Scheduling conflicts, among other things, kept first John Colicos, then William Campbell, from reprising their respective roles, creating the need for first Koloth, and then Kang. I don't mind, as I like all three characters.

As for that "Oriental" appearance, going with the facial hair and little else to represent it worked out well in the long run.

Totally agree.
All three Klingon captains brought something new to the racial presentation.
Suave, pragmatic and ruthless
Sarcastic, sneaky and cynical
Patient, tactical and reasoning
Amazing what you can achieve with greasepaint and fake beards (and a great actor!!!)

 

[Timo]

Not to mention that the constant tinkering with the makeup nicely presaged this whole "Klingons always look different!" thing...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Neopeius]

Totally agree. And if Romulans had remained as the big "baddies" then a fence testing assault with two new secret weapons, after a hundred year hiatus (in BoT), followed by a full frontal assault (in EoM) seems to make sense.

I thought the whole point of the Commander's sacrifice was that it would mean the Romulans would not press the war.

 

[Timo]

This was clearly his clever intent, amounting to treason. But whether it would have worked... There wasn't anything much to prevent the Praetor or somebody else from simply launching a war, as clearly the outpost-blasting mission

a) was not directly related to any invasion in terms of a tactical schedule, and indeed was not even supposed to report success, but
b) had been a total success as regards the blasting, without there being war in the end,

and thus the events of the episode were not directly, tactically or technically related to whether to have war or not.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Maurice]

I don't believe either were conceived as ongoing baddies. They were AOTW (Aliens of the Week). It was just when they considered bringing them back the cost issues came up. In addition to the makeup, I suspect they'd mad a lot more Klingon outfits for "Errand" than Romulan outfits for "Balance".

 

[diankra]

It's not a matter of original intention in season one, but budgeting in season two deciding which to reuse.

 

[Imaus]

I thought the whole point of the Commander's sacrifice was that it would mean the Romulans would not press the war.

Yea, the Commander is war-weary and, since the Enterprise was able to knock them out, obviously the war wouldn't be that easy to go for Romulus. The commander made the 'right' choice in ending the war right then and there.

 

[johnnybear]

The Romulan Commander and his Centurion speak of showing the Praetor how weak the earthlings are and giving the homeland another war and that he wishes somehow not to return home to initiate that but also that he is too good a soldier to allow that to happen!
JB

 

[Forbin]

"Romu-Gon" sounds like an exterminating spray.

 

[publiusr]

There is some art about Klingon/Romulan hybrids before Worf’s trip to a shared colony

 

[Imaus]

There is some art about Klingon/Romulan hybrids before Worf’s trip to a shared colony

In FASA, the Klingons are very pragmatic and don't care to splice genes of alien races into their own; though 'pure' Klingons are seen as above the rest of the other Klingons. Perhaps it was that?

 

[publiusr]

Bingo. I also remember some fan art...

 

[Henoch]

It seemed that Klingon hybrids corresponded to the major races near their boarders (for some tactical or safety purpose I suppose like environmental/viral compatibility). Klingon-Hybrids would be honored by the Imperial Klingons since they undergone genetic manipulation in order to be the frontline warriors for the Empire. After their tour of duty on the boarder was over, those Klingons heroes would be returned to their original non-hybrid form as they return home. A few years after TOS, this practice was not needed perhaps due to a "vaccination" that allows non-hybrid Imperial Klingons to safety interact (enslave, torture, maim, kill, etc.) with their boarder enemies. YMMV .

 

[Timo]

Obvious rationales for using soldiers who look like locals would involve "infiltration" (indeed Arne Darvin is indicated to be "a Klingon", not "a Klingon turned into a human") or "drafting from local stock" (which all evil empires tend to do). But perhaps also more insidious things such as "making the enemy hesitate at shooting back"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Redshirt214]

I wonder what would have happened had the Romulan Bird of Prey had survived the first season... would it have been reused & redressed to represent other alien ships? It's sort of a shame, now that I think of it, that nobody filmed the model's destruction... if they were never going to use it again because of Union disputes or whichever, then it would have been interesting to see how they blew the ship up.

TOS, for a 1960s TV show, had pretty decent continuity and actually quite a few reoccurring characters. Harry Mudd, the Klingons, the Romulans, all good reoccurring antagonists.