Those funny Rommie helmets in TOS

Does anyone know what they're for and why they are never used in any of the spin-off series?

 

^

The real world reason was to save money. They couldn't afford to put pointy ears on everyone.

 

If you like modern Trek, you could argue that, since there's evidence that some Rommies have smooth foreheads and some have the pronounced brows, that the people with pronounced brows were considered second-class citizens back in the 23rd century, and they weren't allowed to be captains of ships, and had to wear the helmets to cover their unsightly brows.
Not that I'm actually suggesting that. I just report what I hear.

Actually, in addition to the point that od0 raised, I think another reason was that since they were emulating ancient Rome, they wanted sort of an alien helmet that was somewhat evocative of the ones that the Roman soldiers wore.

 

I think the helmets are cool. If you look closely, you can see that the forehead/scalp portion represents the head and body of a bird (of prey, no doubt) while the side portions are its wings.

 

I think the helmets are cool too. But then, I'm prolly your age.

 

Vulcans wore silver versions of them. ("Amok Time.")

 

I thought that the helmets fit it well, especially since we saw variants in "Amok Time".

 

I was surprised to find out these had apparently been custom-built for "Balance of Terror" (and then reused). As a cost-cutting measure, that's pretty odd...

But the basic idea of those helmets seems sound enough. When there's that much plaster falling from the ceiling of your starship, you want to have some headgear! And they do look cool. Too bad none were seen in the ENT timeframe (I think).

Timo Saloniemi

 

Which argues the whole bird motif isn't a Romulan thing but an ancient Vulcan one from pre-Surak times.

It's too bad these weren't carried forward in the 24th century shows for Romulan troops and crews. Maybe in ST-XI if the rumors are true.

 

...For all we know, everything about the Romulans is ancient Vulcan pre-Surakian stuff. The more we get hints that there's a bit of Romulan in Vulcan, and a bit of Vulcan in Romulus, the better.

Timo Saloniemi

 

I see the word "prolly" on boards all the time.

Is that BBS-speak or somehing from TEXT messaging? I'm an old fart and pretty out of modern culture...

Are people meaning "probably" and just saying "prolly" in error or do they actually think that prolly is a word?

 

Get with it man! "Prolly" is what's in, "Probably" went out with the dinosaurs.

 

Maybe it's because the helmets are too cheesy to be in modern television?

 

Heh heh... it is indeed a short form of 'probably' found on BBS forums and chat rooms. Not a real word of course. I think it's usage began in the 80s with the original IRC chat network and the old BSS forums. So yes, this makes me old enough to remember the Internet before there was a world wide web.

 

Think of it this way: it may not be cheaper to make the helmets than ears, but, when you're on the set and the whole crew is there and time in money, it's a lot faster to snap a helmet on someone than to do an elaborate makeup job. That's where the cost savings are.

 

Making the helmets have to be cheaper than the custom ears and the maintanance of them over several long days of filming.

 

It isn't a word? I've been reading it for a long time now...just thought I'd missed something.

I did have the pronunciation wrong...
I thought it was p-roll-y with roll pronounced like a dinner roll.
Instead it is pr-olly with olly pronounced like Ollie North.

 

Righto, like Ollie North. But there's no paper shredding.

 

well considering modern television sucks, I would love to watch reruns of Star Trek. There are very few shows I like that are new. One main show I love is "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" and the only reason I love that show so much is because it's cheesy. By the way, I'm 26.