TUC... Klingot President?

[c0rnedfr0g]

Look at these two pictures....

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/5/5b/Efrosian_Federation_President.jpg

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/2/22/KlingonAmbassador.jpg

I realize the Federation President is an Efrosian while the Klingon Ambassador is obviously Klingon, but they look very similar and when they're in the same room together, the general audience must have been confused as to why a Klingon was the President of the Federation (I know I was at one point). They have similar skin tone, foreheads, hair, and facial hair (fu manchu). While the Efrosian had blue eyes and a toned down forehead, it was not out of keeping with some other Klingots in that movie (General Chang, for instance).

Did TPTB not recognize this visual similarity and resulting confusion? With all the 100s of Fed species, did they have to choose one that looks remarkable Klingon (was this a hidden message?)?

 

[Kryton]

The Federation President has no time for DUMBASS questions. (Red Foreman).

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Personally, I don't think they look much alike at all. The thought that they could be confused never crossed my mind until you brought it up

 

[Maurice]

They look nothing alike.

And what's a Klingot?

 

[Alrik]

Sorry. Wasn't any confussion here.

 

[Tomalak]

They don't look much alike, but I take the point that the Federation President probably did look enough like a Klingon that it may have been confusing. They should have made him an Andorian or a Horta or something.

 

[ClayinCA]

Now, a Horta would have been awesome! Can you imagine the Klingons and Cartwright trying to kill someone who looks like a pan pizza?

(For what it's worth, the Federation President was described as being Deltan in Jeanne Dillard's novelisation of The Undiscovered Country...)

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

In a fictional universe where some species only have minor differences between them (such as hair style), I'd say the Efrosian President and the Klingots look very much alike

 

[Praetor]

When I was a kid and first saw this movie, I thought he was somehow a Klingon. The resemblance is rather startling.

At the time, I thought it was rather cool that the TOS non-bumpy Klingons were still around, and not only had one been an officer on the Saratoga but now one had somehow become President of the Federation - especially when the Federation and Klingons were on the brink of war. I figured that was why we didn't see the smooth-forehead Klingons anymore - they were the dominating race in the Klingon culture but then the bumpy-headed Klingons overthrew them or had some type of schism and most of the TOS Klingons ended up joining the Federation as refugees or something. They had a similar honorable culture but perhaps weren't so militant.

Damn you internet (and ENT) for ruining my dreams!

 

[Tomalak]

(For what it's worth, the Federation President was described as being Deltan in Jeanne Dillard's novelisation of The Undiscovered Country...)

Terrible idea. People would just start threads asking why Captain Picard was the Federation President.

 

[Terengo]

(For what it's worth, the Federation President was described as being Deltan in Jeanne Dillard's novelisation of The Undiscovered Country...)

I think he's actually a Romular.

 

[cardinal biggles]

(For what it's worth, the Federation President was described as being Deltan in Jeanne Dillard's novelisation of The Undiscovered Country...)

Terrible idea. People would just start threads asking why Captain Picard was the Federation President.

Dillard was following in the footsteps of Vonda McIntyre's novelization for TWOK, where she had to reconcile Jedda being referred to as Deltan in the script, yet actor John Vargas clearly didn't have a bald head. So she came up with the notion that Deltan males had long, flowing hair (Jedda presumably kept his short so as not to get caught in lab equipment and the like). This was further confused when McIntyre didn't get the behind-the-scenes poop that the Saratoga navigator's race was "Efrosian" (named for makeup artist Mel Efros), and so she called him a Deltan as well. J.M. Dillard then repeated the error in her TUC novelization.

 

[miraclefan]

HA-HA, you said KLINGOT!

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

They look nothing alike.

And what's a Klingot?

"It's a Kling-ott."
"A Kling-on."
- Admiral Leonard and Tos, while observing Klaang

 

[Therin of Andor]

Dillard was following in the footsteps of Vonda McIntyre's novelization for TWOK, where she had to reconcile Jedda being referred to as Deltan in the script, yet actor John Vargas clearly didn't have a bald head.

The truth about Efrosians of Efros Delta:
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2006/11/truth-about-efrosians-pard_116269248336471480.html

 

[SmoothieX]

The Federation President has no time for DUMBASS questions. (Red Foreman).

This President is not above putting his foot in your commie Klingon ass!

I never had a problem telling them apart.

 

[cooleddie74]

They look nothing alike.

And what's a Klingot?

A reference to Commodore/Admiral Williams or Leonard accidentally calling Klaang a "Klingot" in the very first episode of ENTERPRISE.

 

[Psion]

I never confused the two species, but that may be because I paid close attention to the striking Efrosian navigator in Trek IV and was glad to see some continuity in alien makeup in Trek VI. One of Trek's most annoying tendencies is to constantly create new aliens for every production rather than re-use good ideas that have come before. Would it have killed anyone to reference Andorians or Efrosians more in TNG or DS9? Enterprise came along and introduced more never-before-seen aliens and Trek XI promises still more.

 

[Praetor]

I was actually surprised when I realized the TOS back-consistency of the movie aliens, particularly those seen in TVH and TUC.

It's been stated that the reason we didn't see any Andorians or distinctively TOS aliens in depth in the modern era (until ENT at least) was because Rick Berman thought they were silly, along with much of TOS. I could honestly believe it.

 

[cardinal biggles]

And yet we got the Ferengi. Go figure.