Stupid aliens

[Trekker4747]

Back to topic a bit, I originally thought of tossing out the Edo ("Justice") as my pick above... but figured that since they're all skimpily-cladded, happy all the time, attractive nymphos whom seem to think of sex as something like a hand shake.... that cancels out their backwards laws and worshiping of alien gods.

The edo weren't stupid they were just naive.

But, man, that episode has too much schlong in it for my tastes -though I like the premise of the episode. The ammount of nylon and linen on that planet, oy!

And they must have rivers of jeri-curl on the Edo planet.

Dumb aliens.... dumb aliens... hmmmmm, let me think.

How about the aliens in Season Seven who wanted to experience certain human emotions so one picks a fight with Worf, one out-eats Troi in sweets and one tries to fuck Picard?

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I liked how the one that wanted to have sex with Picard was a guy who turned into a woman.

That must have been awkward.

 

[Anwar]

Eh, if he was a shapeshifter who didn't fully ID as being male or female then it probably wasn't much of an issue for him. Picard would be the one dealing with the concept of "no gender" and stuff.

There's a species like that in DC Comics called Durlans. Shapeshifting (who can apparently control their atomic structures), they're also hermaphrodites. When a pair of them mate, they both impregnate the other and the kids are always "Twins" due to this. Then they make them fight each other to the death as children to see which one deserved to live more.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

This is what Memory Alpha has about the Iyaarans (the species being talked about):

Iyaarans reproduce by post-cellular compounding, and emerge full-grown from natal pods. They regard the consumption of food as being for sustenance only, and their diet is bland in the extreme by the standards of many other humanoids. Iyaarans have no natural understanding or social forum for concepts such as pleasure, antagonism, love, or crime.

The Iyaarans conducted their first cultural exchange with the Federation in 2370. During the exchange they explored certain concepts by assigning an ambassador to each. While Ambassadors Loquel and Byleth succeeded in their studies of pleasure and antagonism, Ambassador Voval felt he failed to understand the nature of love. (TNG: "Liaisons")

 

[CaptainStoner]

How about the aliens in Season Seven who wanted to experience certain human emotions so one picks a fight with Worf, one out-eats Troi in sweets and one tries to fuck Picard?

That episode was kind of dumb, but the three threads of it were funny enough that I enjoy it. Stewart carries his side well, although it bothers me in the end how they wrote Picard. He says something like, "In my culture, what you have done to us would be considered a crime." I know Picard is a diplomat, but still I'd have expected him to deliver that message with a bit more outrage. The stuff with Troi was mild, but they outright imprisoned Picard, and with a neurological device no less.
Kirk I think would have stuck the guy in the brig for a few hours to return the favor, as well as further intercultural...understanding
"Notice how unpleasant it is to be held against your will? We have some common emotional ground after all!"

I picked the S1 Ferengi in the poll. The Klingons I like the revision of. The Klingon death scream in S1 was, and is, one of my favorite moments from S1.
One reasons a lot of aliens have "stupid" traits is because they are most often being used as metaphors for aspects of humanity. Utopians who have abandoned reason along the way. Greed, pure capitalism & male chauvinism. Where I feel Trek suffers is whenever it overstates. The S1 aliens are like that. The Ligonians should have been lizard people. The name even sounds reptilian.

 

[Shatnertage]

For me it's the Ferengi, because of the stupid mugging for the camera or whatever they're doing as Riker's talking to the Portal guy. You know, when they're waving their arms around like chimps.

How could the director tell them to do that and think it made for a menacing villain? On Romper Room maybe.

Ligonians makes me think of lingonberries. Hmm, I've suddenly got the urge for Swedish pancakes.

 

[Trekker4747]

IIRC, the Ferengi were supposed to be "the new Klingons."

They way they're potrayed in that episode is just dumb. I mean, we're seriously supposed to take them seriously as fearsome beings when they're wailing at the sound of thunder and talking like Ross Perot after a weekend-long bender?

 

[Shatnertage]

Yeah, they were just goofy. Like it was a show for seven year-olds and you couldn't make them too scary.

That last scene on the planet with them is just painful. Just the way the Ferengi are grabbing each other and flailing around. Like Trekker4747 said, they were supposed to be the new Klingons. So whereas the Ligonians or Edo were just aliens of the week, the Ferengi had much bigger expectations.

I really don't get what they were going for in that last scene, when Riker's talking to the Portal guy, and the Ferengi are leaping and pawing around in the shot.

 

[Praxius]

..... I really don't get what they were going for in that last scene, when Riker's talking to the Portal guy, and the Ferengi are leaping and pawing around in the shot.

"This Hu'Mon's Animal will fetch a nice profit!" *strokes ear with an evil grin*

 

[Shatnertage]

..... I really don't get what they were going for in that last scene, when Riker's talking to the Portal guy, and the Ferengi are leaping and pawing around in the shot.

"This Hu'Mon's Animal will fetch a nice profit!" *strokes ear with an evil grin*

That's something I've never seen before. A blue chimp in a red and blue leather short-sleeved jacket.

What have I been missing?

 

[Anwar]

Wizard of Oz dude, don't you notice Toto?

 

[Shatnertage]

Wizard of Oz dude, don't you notice Toto?

You know, that's one of those movies that I've never actually seen all the way through. Guess I missed that scene. The dog in the basket is a tip-off, though.

 

[Myasishchev]

Greed, pure capitalism & male chauvinism.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong.

Took 'em ten years to realize it.

On the other hand, the Flying Monkey-like antics, while distracting and not particularly dignified, I suppose, never bothered me so much. It's to be expected that aliens would not have human body language and likely would often come off as distracting and undignified, much in the same way my cats do when they lick the other ends of their digestive tracts.

 

[Praxius]

You know, that's one of those movies that I've never actually seen all the way through. Guess I missed that scene. The dog in the basket is a tip-off, though.

Yeah I never cared to watch Oz either until when I was in college and my room mate and I did some shrooms, smoked some pot and decided to do the "Darkside of the Rainbow" ~ Where you play the movie on mute while playing Pink Floyd's "Darkside of the Moon" album on loop.

After the Lion on the MGM opener roars the third time, you hit play on the album and just watch.... he he... trippy stuff.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah I never cared to watch Oz either until when I was in college and my room mate and I did some shrooms, smoked some pot and decided to do the "Darkside of the Rainbow" ~ Where you play the movie on mute while playing Pink Floyd's "Darkside of the Moon" album on loop.

I do that with Michael Bay movies. It's not too much unlike having a stroke in a rock concert.

 

[DS9 Gal AZ]

Dude, the Ligonians were definitely the worst. That entire episode just came off as completely racist. I can't believe they didn't scrap the enite show or at least recast some of the actors as white so it didn't look completely like they were making fun of black people/Africans and labeling them all as backwards savages. I think that may actually have been the worst episode of TNG. Other episodes were bad, sure, but none were as blatantly offensive as "Code of Honor."

 

[Trekker4747]

THREAD NECROMANCY!!!!

 

[Admiral Shran]

Ferengi. Given what they eventually became, it's painful to watch the early episodes.

 

[Trekker4747]

I really do wonder why they thought having the Ferengi being these sniveling, over-acting, trolls howling at the sound of thunder would be a good enemy. Keep in mind the intent was that they'd replace the Klingons as a foe and that the "they'll find you tasty as their last business partner" line Picard says was meant to be taken literaly.

 

[Dale]

I really don't think Picard's line about the Ferengi eating people was meant to be literal... I think he was being a bit clever in applying pressure.

As for my vote... I found the Edo completely idiotic and voted for them... but have to agree that the Ligonians were also ludicrous.