I think it safe to say that Gene Roddenbery had always intended for the Romulans to end up the way they did from TNG onwards. budget and make up from that time made it difficult. It could be argued that the ridged Romulans were considered a minority they were frowned on by pure vulcan descentands Romulans majority (Those who hadn't breeded with the Remans and were frowned by pure Remans were miners) between TOS(where pure Romulans were in charge and the interbreeds were the workers) to TNG (Where the interbreds were in control and the pure Romulans were in the minority) The Romulans are always in a state of Flux. after the Dominion war where the whole quadrant was still in chaos. Shizon saw hus chance and toke it.
Romulans should've looked like Vulcans
- Thread starter commodore64
- Start date
i am going back to what i said before.
taking in that we dont know if most of the romulans we see in tos had ridges or not
considering the helmet and that spock was able to blend in on romulus i suspect part of the population of romulans have ridges and others do not.
perhaps during the tos period there was even some prejudice against the ridge romulans and the non ridge minority were able to reach higher rank more quickly.
taking in that we dont know if most of the romulans we see in tos had ridges or not
considering the helmet and that spock was able to blend in on romulus i suspect part of the population of romulans have ridges and others do not.
perhaps during the tos period there was even some prejudice against the ridge romulans and the non ridge minority were able to reach higher rank more quickly.
She likes it! Hey, Kaaatie. 
(Wow, I'm referencing a cereal commercial from before I was born...)
Slightly OT, I have never really liked the idea of 'this was how it was always supposed to be.' For anything - Klingons, Romulans, whatever. There are obviously certain cases where retconning is necessary and/or desirable, and I can certainly appreciate that, or the idea of seeing something through a 'higher power lense' so to speak, but isn't it much more fun to try to reconcile differences rather than just 'overwrite' anything? An answer usually presents itself.
(Wow, I'm referencing a cereal commercial from before I was born...)
Slightly OT, I have never really liked the idea of 'this was how it was always supposed to be.' For anything - Klingons, Romulans, whatever. There are obviously certain cases where retconning is necessary and/or desirable, and I can certainly appreciate that, or the idea of seeing something through a 'higher power lense' so to speak, but isn't it much more fun to try to reconcile differences rather than just 'overwrite' anything? An answer usually presents itself.
I guess my argument is why retcon? What's the advantage? What does it lend to the Star Trek universe? (Other than showing the audience the difference between a Rom and a Vulcan?)
Instead, they made the Romulans look different and then had a lot of episodes where the Romulans disguised themselves as Vulcans to dupe them and the Federation.
So, no retcon was needed.
Instead, they made the Romulans look different and then had a lot of episodes where the Romulans disguised themselves as Vulcans to dupe them and the Federation.
So, no retcon was needed.
^ Ah ha! But...
We didn't actually see very many Romulans in TOS, did we? In the three years that the show ran we saw...what? 15 or 20 individuals? Surely it can't be many more than that. (A really detailed person would at this point stop guessing and find a way to look it up, but...I'm not that person, at least not today. ) So how do we know that we saw a fair sample?
Or - here's one I just thought of - for all we know, the Ridgers and Nonridgers were in those days segregated, and didn't serve on the same ships - you know, the way the U.S. had all-black battalions all the way up to and even into WWII - and it so happened that we only saw Nonridge ships on TOS.
Or - and this is the beauty, the canonista genius - of the helmet theory: Maybe some of the few we saw on TOS did have ridges, but they were hidden by the helmets.
And for some reason Dark Helmet just popped into my mind, but that's not a bad thing...
We didn't actually see very many Romulans in TOS, did we? In the three years that the show ran we saw...what? 15 or 20 individuals? Surely it can't be many more than that. (A really detailed person would at this point stop guessing and find a way to look it up, but...I'm not that person, at least not today.
) So how do we know that we saw a fair sample? Or - here's one I just thought of - for all we know, the Ridgers and Nonridgers were in those days segregated, and didn't serve on the same ships - you know, the way the U.S. had all-black battalions all the way up to and even into WWII - and it so happened that we only saw Nonridge ships on TOS.
Or - and this is the beauty, the canonista genius - of the helmet theory: Maybe some of the few we saw on TOS did have ridges, but they were hidden by the helmets.
And for some reason Dark Helmet just popped into my mind, but that's not a bad thing...
Last edited:
^ Whatever it takes, that's what I say. I suggest a good balloon whisk in this case.
^ I'm just gonna say
to that turn of phrase and that I like you theories regarding the Romulan subraces (for a lack of a better term).
^
Column B I think. I was also hearing Dr McCoy in my head the first time that I read that post.
^ Whatever it takes, that's what I say. I suggest a good balloon whisk in this case.
FWIW, I have the red KitchenAid, too.
also a big good eats fan..
as for retconning..
i didnt know what it was called but from the time i was a kid watching tos i and friends would sit around trying to work out the oddities that crop up within trek.
some of the most fun through the years has been spent throwing out theories.
it all comes down to gene wanted his aliens to look a certain way but they just didnt have the budget/time to do so.
really the helmets were to save money on the ears even though they also work as an explanation for the ridges.
the helmets just happen to cover the area of the ridges too.
by the time of the movies he wanted what he wanted and didnt care if it conflicted with what had been seen.
i like the idea that the ridge romulans have a result of cross breeding with other species they encountered after leaving vulcan.
it may be their numbers were pretty small so to remain more viable they mated with another culture.
this would account for what appears to be some major differences in blood factors present in the romulan prisoner in the tng episode.
they may be less in the more vulcan looking romulans .. which made it harder to get spock out since the differences with them might not be as pronounced.
as for retconning..
i didnt know what it was called but from the time i was a kid watching tos i and friends would sit around trying to work out the oddities that crop up within trek.
some of the most fun through the years has been spent throwing out theories.
it all comes down to gene wanted his aliens to look a certain way but they just didnt have the budget/time to do so.
really the helmets were to save money on the ears even though they also work as an explanation for the ridges.
the helmets just happen to cover the area of the ridges too.
by the time of the movies he wanted what he wanted and didnt care if it conflicted with what had been seen.
i like the idea that the ridge romulans have a result of cross breeding with other species they encountered after leaving vulcan.
it may be their numbers were pretty small so to remain more viable they mated with another culture.
this would account for what appears to be some major differences in blood factors present in the romulan prisoner in the tng episode.
they may be less in the more vulcan looking romulans .. which made it harder to get spock out since the differences with them might not be as pronounced.
Similar threads
