Was DS9 anti-Vulcan

You are hanging it on the basis of people who don't get the script beforehand, get minimal direction, and work for one day.

 

Guest actors and apparently anti-TOS, anti-TNG writing is what I am hanging my argument on.

 

The make-up requires pre-planning. That gives them the deathly look. Neither Sarek nor Sakonna have that look and it would actually be logistically easier to do it Sarek-esque. .

Anyway, I'm just recording my impressions here that the Vulcan portrayal delivered to me on-screen with these latter day DS9 episodes mildly doesn't met my favour - whatever the backroom factors that may or not be at play.

 

Solok's crew could be taking their lead from their captain. Also, they're all Vulcans who chose to join Starfleet and presumably went through the multi-species academy, but are now on an all Vulcan starship: even if they had no say in their assignment, someone thought it was one that suited their skillsets.

 

I don't have a problem with single species crew makes sense to some extent but the dialogue and the way Vulcans are portrayed is just totally inconsistent with the rest of Trek.

 

Hard to imagine that the same creative team that crafted "Trials and Tribble-ations," a loving tribute to The Original Series, were somehow anti-TOS. You maybe be detecting an agenda that didn't actually exist.

That being said, Vulcans are tricky to get right. Do it wrong and they can come off as flat, stiff, badly-acted automatons. To do it right, like Nimoy or Mark Lenard did, you have to convey the depths of feeling beneath the surface of the reserved, stoic facade.

 

I'd politely add Tim Russ to your list of doing Vulcans right, perhaps I am overreacting yet Vulcans aren't portrayed with the highest colours in DS9 you have inept and weak-Maquis Vulcan, or unprofessional and accomdating like Solok.

 

To be clear, my list of good Vulcan performances wasn't meant to be complete. I'd also include Kirstie Alley, Kim Cattrall, Ben Cross, Zachary Quinto, and others. Heck, let's not forget Celia Lovsky and Arlene Martel in "Amok Time," Barry Atwater as Surak, and various actors on Enterprise.

And I'll concede that the occasional Vulcans on DS9 didn't make much of an impression on me. I don't even remember a Vulcan female in the Maquis.

 

You've basically never been near a TV or movie set before. If the camera won't be on you long (actor or stuntman), the makeup will be a slap-dash job. If you get regularly called back, you might get more attention (which is why Klingons and Cardassians usually looked pretty good, but then you'll notice that the same extras keep reappearing in the background).

 

As I suspected, you are trying to incite people on the old "this ain't Trek" tirade.

 

I'm not buying it, buddy. Not for a second. Solok's make-up was more elaborate than Sarek's and the extras were presented in a similar vein. I didn't find favour with it. End of.

 

I don't remember how many Vulcans there were on DS9. I don't think there were enough to draw a racial consensus about their portrayal. That said, Solok does deserve to be thrown out an air lock and the T'Kumbra has a Dominion caused kaboom coming their way. But that is what they were written to be. Star Trek has a frustrating level of space dicks, but it is because they are written so well to be that. At least DS9 would punch them in the face. TNG let it roll because we were so enlightened and open and respectful.

On the subject of makeup, both for Vulcans and Romulans, I dislike how the TNG era had it caked on so thick. They look like they tanned bronze and Romulans just look muddy. Spock, Sarek and co are a rather light greenish. Solok is orange. Its like everyone stood under a sunlamp too long.

 

Most DS9-era Vulcan wigs look like crap too. Instead of being combed forwards from the back of the head like Spock, they usually part at the top of the head and comb down in all directions, making them look painfully like the wigs that they are. It pains me to say, but even Spock himself suffered from this in a lot of scenes in Star Trek Beyond.

 

I think by TNG, they got so wrapped up in making them look alien that they looked too not-human. And they don't look natural. It's overdone makeup and Moe Howard wigs. Spock in TNG looked real. Sarek in TNG looked real. Selar looked real from what I can recall. Other Vulcans I can recall in TNG and DS9 suffered. Again, the makeup is pancaked on, and its the wrong shade. It's like if you screwed with the tone in photoshop and took the normal shade too far. Maybe there was a 24th century tanning craze on Vulcan. They look unhealthy.

Back in the day, I just assumed it was the discoloration of the broadcast inherent to the quality of the rest of the show. It was after all a VHS transfer of the film. Everything in TNG had a pinkish ting to it, for example. But in the era of HD, you can tell this is just how the makeup was done.

 

Extra's makeup get far less attention than any tinfoil hat.

 

DS9 has naughty Vulcans and well-behaved Vulcans. Not sure how that is inconsistent with the rest of Trek.

 

DS9 has extra unsympathetic Vulcans inconsistent with the Trek.

 

Vulcans were always smug, unfeeling a-holes throughout most of the franchise. DS9 did nothing the others hadn't already, or start anything new in later series or movies.

 

So by showing examples of Vulcan's who may show traits that aren't what many consider Vulcan like isn't potraying a three dimensional culture?