The Romulan "redesign" in The Neutral Zone

[7thsealord]

From TNG onwards, the make-up people REALLY loved their facial appliances, that much is certain. But the whole Vulcanoid forehead ridge thing never bothered me either.

As I saw it, two main possibilities for an explanation.

First, the ridges (or the lack thereof) were characteristic of a specific sub-group (hey, we know there are dark-skinned Vulcans, so why not?).

Second, they were a genetic variable, like having detached earlobes or certain eye colours.

Yeah, I KNOW we've never seen both types mingling together onscreen - maybe the Roms are w-a-y big on segregation for some reason. Oh, and possibility three. A Romulan scientist was fooling around with DNA from some genetic supermen from Earth, and ..... OK, let's try to forget that one.

 

[Smellincoffee]

And STXI has buried it deeper than the layer of soot from the last supervolcano eruptions.

Nero and his gang are from post TNG. Nero and his cronies lack ridges. Therefore, no ridges.

Good riddance.

...I had not noticed that.

 

[antiquityscion]

From TNG onwards, the make-up people REALLY loved their facial appliances, that much is certain. But the whole Vulcanoid forehead ridge thing never bothered me either.

As I saw it, two main possibilities for an explanation.

First, the ridges (or the lack thereof) were characteristic of a specific sub-group (hey, we know there are dark-skinned Vulcans, so why not?).

Second, they were a genetic variable, like having detached earlobes or certain eye colours.

Yeah, I KNOW we've never seen both types mingling together onscreen - maybe the Roms are w-a-y big on segregation for some reason. Oh, and possibility three. A Romulan scientist was fooling around with DNA from some genetic supermen from Earth, and ..... OK, let's try to forget that one.

It is true the TNG onwards were into the forehead prosthesis, but they wer emaking up for TOS where nearly EVERYONE aside from Vulcans, Andorians, and Orions looked human.

As for an in-universe explanation, I can buy the Vulcan genetic trait just as easily as it may have been the Romulans intermingling with another species. It is possible the ridged Romulans had some recessive Vulcan gene, that became more pronounced as they interbred amongst each other. They seem to not be the only ones.

Mintakans also had the same traits as Romulans, and they were also Vulcanoid. One can wonder if these people were an offshoot of the Romulans as they traveled to Romulus, or were a result of a lost colony of earlier Vulcan exploration

Also, if you go by the game Star Trek TNG A final unity, the Garidians appeared to be basically Romulans with white hair, and its possible they are also a Vulcan or Romulan offshoot.

They never did show the Debrune species on screen as far as I know, but I think it is implied that they are the ancestors of the Romulans....Vulcans traveling and settled on another planet (Debrune?) prior to the rest of them settling on Romulus and Remus.

 

[Gojira]

The ridges on the Romulans never really bothered me that much. I just thought they were unnecessary and I am glad they are gone.

 

[The Dominion]

Their uniforms on TNG were so bad it honestly ruined them for me, at least to an extent. They looked like they were always threatening to get stuck in doorways, or that they couldn't lift their arms over their heads. And it didn't help that a species that thought they were better than everybody else walked around like that, talk about irony.

 

[RAMA]

The uniforms for the Romulans improved quite a bit from DS9 onward, so I'll give the TPTB credit there.

 

[Darth Picardous]

Military Romulan personnel have constant "hard-ons" or permanent "displays of strength", hence the brow ridges may calcify over time and remain. Logical Vulcans or scumbag miner Romulans have no need of these displays and do not form these ridges.

Not that hard to come up with a theory.

 

[7thsealord]

Their uniforms on TNG were so bad it honestly ruined them for me, at least to an extent. They looked like they were always threatening to get stuck in doorways, or that they couldn't lift their arms over their heads. And it didn't help that a species that thought they were better than everybody else walked around like that, talk about irony.

Definitely puts me in mind of a quote from George Orwell.

Specifically, "... that the goose step was used only in countries where the population was too scared to laugh at their military."

Sounds to me like pretty much the same thing went on here.