Why did they overdo the age thing?

[PhoenixIreland]

Whenever we see the future people always look 1000 times more raggid than people that age do even in this century...why do they overdo it?
Case in point was Tpol in tha children of time copy episode..they're supposed to live for what 300 years? and 100 pass and suddenly shes raggid.
or barcly or picard or dax in visator same with bashir

The only one I can think of that they didn't go overkill on was Janeway in end game

 

[Cyke101]

Whenever we see the future people always look 1000 times more raggid than people that age do even in this century...why do they overdo it?
Case in point was Tpol in tha children of time copy episode..they're supposed to live for what 300 years? and 100 pass and suddenly shes raggid.
or barcly or picard or dax in visator same with bashir

The only one I can think of that they didn't go overkill on was Janeway in end game

Frankly, I'd just say bad makeup. It's not a Trek thing, I think it's a general thing, I really can't think of any show or movie that has depicted a realistically looking "aged-person."

(Good God, old Tenth Doctor looks incredibly unrealistic.)

 

[LeadHead]

There are many possible reasons for T'Pol being so ragged, for one thing she'd had the Trelium problem, some drugs age you fast, so who knows wha hapened there. Not to mention stress, never being able to go home again, having the weight of the world on you for one year would be a tough burden to bear, for over 10 years, that'll have a lot of pressure.

Bashir and Dax in The Visitor was also somewhat appropriate. Since it would have ben 53+ years since the start of DS9, and Julian and Jadzia were 27 and 28 at the start, that would make both of them over the 80 year old mark. Some people realy dopn't look so good once they cross that line.

 

[flandry84]

The over-aging thing is just another example of tv people treating their audiences as imbeciles."Look people,this guy is old,o-l-d,got it? This guy is old"!



Just looked in at what my wife & daughters are watching.....some reality-tv excrement.
Maybe those tv execs are winning.

 

[USS Excelsior]

Case in point was Tpol in tha children of time copy episode..they're supposed to live for what 300 years?

Vulcans are supposed to live approximately 200 years.

T'Pol was born in 2088 and was therefore 63 years old when Enterprise started, so she would have been around 66 at the time of that episode.

The time copy Enterprise was sent 117 years into the past, so that would make the aged T'Pol about 183 years old, so her appearance can be considered accurate.

Interestly enough if T'Pol were still alive during TOS she would be a few years less than that and look probably just like that in the TOS era.

 

[USS Excelsior]

I would say that Voyager's "Endgame" did a pretty good job with making the characters look older like with Janeway, Harry Kim, and Tom Paris, and even Barclay.

However the aged Riker in "All Good Things" was a bit much, considering he was only supposed to be about 60 when that episode takes place.

 

[backstept]

It seems like the makeup artists overdo the aging either because they were compensating for loss of definition on the TV screen, or because they had to overdo it because they needed to instantly communicate that the character had aged

the best age makeup I've ever seen was for Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind

 

[Holder]

Whenever we see the future people always look 1000 times more raggid than people that age do even in this century...why do they overdo it?
Case in point was Tpol in tha children of time copy episode..they're supposed to live for what 300 years? and 100 pass and suddenly shes raggid.
or barcly or picard or dax in visator same with bashir

The only one I can think of that they didn't go overkill on was Janeway in end game

I think Vulcans only live to be just over 200. Wasn't Tpol already in her 60's or older during the run of Enterprise? That might explain why she looked so much older in the future. For the record though, I do agree with your general point.

 

[PhoenixIreland]

Well surely they'd have the ability in the future to at least make you LOOK less raggid,

 

[Iamnotspock]

I've always thought that DeForest Kelley's make-up in "...Farpoint" was very convincing.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Generally with old age makeup, they forget all about middle age spread and ballooning due to comfortable living. Compare how they thought Shatner would end up looking in The Deadly Years with the real thing. It's partly ego stroking for the actor undergoing many hours being covered in latex. In real life, aging either adds pounds to your face or leaves you looking skeletal. On film, it just looks like a bad Mission Impossible disguise...

 

[22 Stars]

It seems like the makeup artists overdo the aging either because they were compensating for loss of definition on the TV screen, or because they had to overdo it because they needed to instantly communicate that the character had aged

the best age makeup I've ever seen was for Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind

Yikes, and I use A Beautiful Mind as an example of what crappy aging makeup looks like, go figure.

 

[Kryton]

Imagine "The Deadly Years" with modern-day fat Shatner.

Now mental floss it out of your head quickly or you'll regret it.

 

[22 Stars]

Ya know, I was thinking recently that if the whole TOS gang were around, they should remake that episode.

 

[stew123au]

Generally speaking I think the aging of characters isn't done convincingly. Hiwever given the constraints of cost and time getting made up it is probably a reasonable effort.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Imagine "The Deadly Years" with modern-day fat Shatner.

Now mental floss it out of your head quickly or you'll regret it.

How about todays Shatner doing the android creation scene in "What are Little Girls Made Of"

 

[votd]

Imagine "The Deadly Years" with modern-day fat Shatner.

Now mental floss it out of your head quickly or you'll regret it.

Surely conservation of matter would still apply; Capt Kirk would have to been shoving pies down his neck at a rate of knots to get that fat that quickly!

 

[erastus25]

The over-aging thing is just another example of tv people treating their audiences as imbeciles."Look people,this guy is old,o-l-d,got it? This guy is old"!

I think you're absolutely right. They have to overcompensate with the makeup to convey the message that what we are seeing is far into the future. It wouldn't be very effective to have a character come back from the past and look exactly the same. And I don't think most viewers really think about it. I know I didn't notice that it was a "problem" until someone on this board mentioned it.

But, seriously, what's with Star Trek series having episodes that require old age makeup??? It got excessive.

 

[Kryton]

Pulaski's old-age episode of TNG was the worst, IMO. And I actually liked her character for the most part (big minority opinion, I know!).