What did you think of the alien redesigns? (spoilers)

[Christopher]

According to "Affiction"/"Divergence" only one Klingon colony world was infected with the Augment virus. So a Klingon with a bumpy head on the homeworld is perfectly fine.

It was more than one colony. Antaak said "The virus is spreading from planet to planet." But you're correct that it was only a small percentage of the entire Klingon population; the number of infected Klingons was repeatedly said to be in the millions, not billions or trillions. So there were still plenty of ridged Klingons throughout the TOS era.

Of course, we have to assume that ALL the Klingons we saw during TOS were from that planet or a decendant of someone from that planet. But I can do that just fine.

The only Klingons we saw in TOS were members of the military, and specifically those assigned to operate in or near Federation space. It's perfectly plausible that the part-human QuchHa' (the name coined by the Klingon Language Institute for the smooth-headed Klingons) would be assigned to the Federation border; the ridged HemQuch majority would probably be happy to use them as cannon fodder, and they may have been employing the Imperial Chinese philosophy "Use barbarians to deal with barbarians."

 

[Agent Richard07]

OMG Caitians with Brazilians!!

Full-body too. Ouch!

On my first viewing, they looked human except for the tails, but on my second viewing, I think their faces did look a bit feline. I'm not sure though. The shot was too quick.

 

[Deckerd]

Loved the new Klingons. He was even more stunning than the Romulans in ST09.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm just glad a Klingon looked scary again. I love them, but after a million Harley-Davidson warriors with Bonnie Tyler hair it's nice to get a little creeped out and intimidated by the guys.

 

[bryce]

I guess that a spin-off thread to this could be: "What aliens do you want to see show up in Abrams Star Trek in the future?"

I mean, sure, new species are cool too - especially non-humanoid species...but it would be nice to see familiar species too, as it adds a sense of...continuity.

SO we have seen Vulcans, Romulans (t6hankfully without the stupid forehead ridges)...Klingons now...and Orion woman...and two Caitian females...so, what next?

I certainly DON'T want to see and Borg or Ferengi or too many TNG species unless they were already known by the time of TOS.

I certainly would like to see more TOS and TAS species - Telarites and Andorians (which modern Trek too *way* to long to bring back, imho!)

And ever since we saw that CGI alien helms...creature...in Star Trek '09, I know that a lot of us would really, REALLY like to see Arex's species from TAS. (*Easily* done with modern CGI!)

And since the Gorn have been mentioned, why not? (I guess the Federation's expanded...expansion...means that they were contacted earlier in this timeline...)

Ooooh...and how about a Medusian (but in a container, of course!?)

Most of all, those are the species I'd like to see most. But in addition to that...

I think a Xindi species or two and maybe a Suliban - if only in the background.

I'd like to see a Denobulan.

Of the TNG species that were around in TOS, the Naussicans have been around since Enterprise (thanks to some retconing) and the Cardassians have been mentioned (a larger, beefier Cardassion would ROCK) so Bajorans could turn up, and I think that at least some Trill had visited Earth in TOS time, according to Dax (even met McCoy, so that would be cool to see a Trill female talking with McCoy!)

Where any other TNG species around the Alpha Quadrant then...? Benzites?

What abo0ut the Breen? (Since JJ like Star Wars, and is gonna be in charge of it...a background Breen would be a nice Easter Egg...)

And since Deltan's were mentioned, a Deltan would be nice.

And speaking to TMP, I think that some of the background species from The Motion Picture that we only saw once would be cool...even if just in the background again. I like some of those designs - and now, they could be realized more realistically.

Any others? What about those short guys from "Journey to Babel"? Easy species to make, just cover some...small people...with gold makeup!

Any species I left out that you would want to see in nuTrek? (Certainly none of the many, forgettable bumpy-forehead alien that we saw in TNG and everything after...)

 

[cooleddie74]

Saurians. Amazzarites. Betelgeusians. Those were in the background of the Starfleet Headquarters tram station and the Enterprise recreation deck in TMP and looked very cool. They still do. I'd like to see those species return in the new timeline and be seen in greater detail.

 

[bryce]

Saurians. Amazzarites. Betelgeusians. Those were in the background of the Starfleet Headquarters tram station and the Enterprise recreation deck in TMP and looked very cool. They still do. I'd like to see those species return in the new timeline and be seen in greater detail.

^I've wanted to see them return for ages!

 

[cooleddie74]

TMP background aliens were awe-inspiring in their exotic appearances, makeup and costumes and just plain gorgeous to look at. The entire first movie in the franchise had some of the neatest looking aliens in all of Trek history, not to mention the creepiest and scariest Klingons.

Vampire warriors bathed in creepy red mood lighting. Even Worf would balk at confronting one of these guys.

 

[cooleddie74]

I think a Xindi species or two

Nothing was ever confirmed, but a screenshot of the Starfleet Academy meeting hall during Kirk's Kobayashi Maru disciplinary hearing or his promotion ceremony at the end of the first film had a reptillian cadet standing in the crowd that looks an awful lot like the Xindi-Reptillian makeup from Enterprise minus the little spiky hairs on the top of the head.

It's fun to consider that the reptillian cadet might have been a Xindi attending the Academy more than 100 years after humans and his people came to terms and made peace. Daniels once told Archer that the Xindi would eventually become members of the Federation and would serve aboard future Starfleet ships.

 

[Christopher]

And ever since we saw that CGI alien helms...creature...in Star Trek '09...

If you mean this guy, that was an actress in prosthetic makeup, not CGI. I think maybe there were some blinking eyelids added digitally, but that's it.

Of the TNG species that were around in TOS, the Naussicans have been around since Enterprise (thanks to some retconing)

How is that a retcon? Nothing we were told about the Nausicaans in the TNG-era shows was inconsistent with them having been contacted in the 22nd century.

 

[captain-brad]

I think a Xindi species or two

Nothing was ever confirmed, but a screenshot of the Starfleet Academy meeting hall during Kirk's Kobayashi Maru disciplinary hearing or his promotion ceremony at the end of the first film had a reptillian cadet standing in the crowd that looks an awful lot like the Xindi-Reptillian makeup from Enterprise minus the little spiky hairs on the top of the head.

It's fun to consider that the reptillian cadet might have been a Xindi attending the Academy more than 100 years after humans and his people came to terms and made peace. Daniels once told Archer that the Xindi would eventually become members of the Federation and would serve aboard future Starfleet ships.

I was an extra on the set in those scenes, a cadet, and I can say that the alien was not Xindi. Woulda been cool though. I'm a big Enterprise fan.

 

[cooleddie74]

Thanks for clearing that up. That makeup looked very Xindi-Reptillian, so it would indeed have been cool to see a Xindi at the Academy. Maybe next time. Who knows, there might even be a Xindi standing right behind Kirk's chair on the bridge in the next film.

J.J.'s a sneaky little imp.

 

[captain-brad]

Yeah, I would love a little more recognition for Enterprise in the new films. I got a little giddy when in Into Darkness

**Tiny Spoiler**

in Admiral Marcus' office the camera was dollying over the flight models on his desk and there was NX-01. I was really glad about that.

 

[Christopher]

Thanks for clearing that up. That makeup looked very Xindi-Reptillian, so it would indeed have been cool to see a Xindi at the Academy.

Well, in "Demons"/"Terra Prime," we saw a background alien that was a variant of the Xindi Reptilian design:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Unnamed_humanoids_(22nd_century)#Coalition_of_Planets_dignitaries

So there's precedent for the idea of there being similar-looking reptilian species. Heck, why not? There's certainly no shortage of species that look like humans.

 

[DarKush]

I am surprised that the twins Kirk was sleeping with were Caitians. The first time I saw the film it flashed through my mind that they might be from that three-breasted feline species (never established if they were Caitian or not) from The Final Frontier. Before I am corrected, I know they weren't. I didn't get a good look at them the first time around but saw that they weren't the second time. Now that we've got confirmation that the twins were Caitian I'm a little disappointed. I wish they had made them look more catlike, but I wonder if they didn't for budget reasons or concerns about bestiality.

As for the Klingons, I liked seeing the guy up close better than the first shots of him that were revealed before the movie came out. I thought the blue eyes were odd, but striking. I wish he had gotten a name.

As for the other aliens, I was disappointed with the lack of them in the Starfleet captains meeting chaired by Marcus. Though I did like that one of them was prominently seated next to Marcus. Though I didn't care for that design. It put me in the mind of an Antican though I don't think it was. I didn't care for the look though. Also it would've been nicer to see more aliens in the Starfleet HQ scenes.

On the Enterprise, I liked the android crewman and hopefully we'll see him again. And I liked the silver-eyed, bronze-skinned female alien from the first film. I don't think the black, bald helm officer (Aisha Hinds) was a Deltan and she definitely was not a dude in drag.

One area that I find Abrams Trek lacking in is not giving the fans more information about these alien species they are introducing and naming these characters. I think this is something Star Wars has done a much better job with. Naming side characters and fleshing out alien races has helped Star Wars out in terms of their expanded universe and in merchandising. It would be great for the Abrams' folks if they could have people like that who are cataloging these alien species, naming these characters, and getting that out to the fans.

 

[Christopher]

And I liked the silver-eyed, bronze-skinned female alien from the first film.

She was known behind the scenes on the first film as "Madeleine," and the character was actually credited by that name in this film.

One area that I find Abrams Trek lacking in is not giving the fans more information about these alien species they are introducing and naming these characters. I think this is something Star Wars has done a much better job with.

Well, it's hardly unprecedented. We never got names for most of the "Journey to Babel" aliens, or the alien Council members in ST IV (most of the names used in tie-ins were coined for the FASA RPG), or most of the background aliens seen on crowd scenes in TNG, DS9, VGR, or ENT. Look up "Unnamed humanoids" on Memory Alpha and you'll find an awful lot of pictures. So I don't see how Abrams is doing any worse than the norm for Trek. Although you're right, Star Wars has done a better job at fleshing out its bit characters and species in the supplemental material.

 

[DarKush]

^
For my fan fic I do check Memory Alpha a lot so I was aware of a lot of unnamed aliens (wish they had species names at least too). But you made a good point there. With this new alternate universe I was hoping for something different. Since they were introducing some new Enterprise officers and other species (and we don't have something like the FASA RPG these days to do this kind of work) it could be a way to put even more of a lasting stamp on Abrams tenure. And I couldn't imagine the writers not wanting to introduce lasting alien species into Trek. They certainly like referencing other Trek for their films (sometimes in a good way and sometimes I just feel they throw stuff in their to give the fans bone or a Berman 'valentine').

I was aware of Madeline, which I thought was an odd name choice, though I still would love to know what her species is.

 

[Manticore]

I was aware of Madeline, which I thought was an odd name choice, though I still would love to know what her species is.

I was just glad that she finally spoke in this film, even if it was just one line.

 

[KevasTrader]

Where was the lead Klingon's beard? Was he just a teenager who hadn't grown one yet?
Without a beard he deserved to die without honour!

At least they didn't growl like Worf!!

 

[cooleddie74]

Where was the lead Klingon's beard? Was he just a teenager who hadn't grown one yet?
Without a beard he deserved to die without honour!

Don't let General Chang hear you say that. Then there will be no peace. No peace in our time.