Why is Starfleet mostly human?

[Franklin]

"...Homo-sapiens-only club."

"Present company excluded, of course."

Best in-universe explanation from an outsider looking in. Of course:
-- I think there is an in-universe theoretical explanation for way so many species look humanoid coming from TOS, but I can't remember it. I just vaguely remember Spock mentioning it. Or maybe I'm dillusional and imagining it.
-- Some of the more "less humanoid" species may not be suited for space flight in Starfleet vessels, and so they serve the Federation in other ways. Economically, diplomatically, politically, and so on. They actually may be overrepresented in these areas and underrepresented in Starfleet.

Otherwise, out of universe:
-- You probably can't have a bunch of people (especially main characters) in make-up for hours a day. I'd imagine that would slow the shooting schedule.
-- There are only so many ways to make-up a human to look alien and still have that person be able to maneuver convincingly in our real world (in other words, the person needs eyes, a mouth, a nose to breath with, and will need to be bi-pedal). For example, let's see that guy in the bar scene at the beginning of ST09 actually get up, move around, and talk in any way that would be realistic.

In TMP they tried hard to introduce more "alien-looking" species into the background of the picture because they finally had a budget that allowed it. Several new species were introduced. (There were photos of some of them and the name of each species and brief description of them and their contributions to the Federation on the album jacket of the soundtrack.)

In TVH, you actually see quite a few less-than-humanoid looking species at the Federation Council meeting where Kirk was demoted back to captain and given a starship to command.

 

[GalaxyX]

StarFleet is mostly human because the regular people that went to see the movie DO NOT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT ALIENS.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Star Trek's success came about "despite" the alien presence.

I've seen the movie twice, and plan on seeing it a third time this weekend. The first time I remember people groaning at the scene with that Morn looking bar patron that was in the middle of Kirk and Uhura, and when Kirk is boning the Orion chick, some one in the audience goes "Holy shit, a frog lady!"

The second time there were similar reactions, and when the scene where we are introduced to Scotty's alien pal, the girl behind me said "What the fuck is that thing?" and started chuckling with her buddies about it.

I happen to agree. Weird looking aliens are fine as decoration, but should not be central to stories where you want the General Public to like and enjoy.

 

[Islander]

My take is each member world of the federation has its own outer space agency. Starfleet is Earth's space agency, that is why most of the members are human.

The main qualification for joining the federation is the ability to create a warp drive. There is no rule as to how advanced the warp drive has to be. It can be as primative as Zephram Cochran's ship.

Earth was one of the founding members of the federation, so it's reasonable to assume Earth technology is the most advanced; therefore Starfleet is the most advanced. That is why the federation depends on Starfleet for it's main defense. The ships that make up the fleets of the other member worlds are probably primative by comparison.

I don't think so. Enterprise clearly stated Earth was waaay behing Vulcans, Andorians and pretty much everybody they met. I think part of the treaty included sharing technology which is how the Federation and Starfllet became a power in the quadrant.

 

[Blue_Trek]

Aliens have to want to join up, many don't I guess.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I'm glad they did the eyes instead of some small prosthetic like the Bajorian nose or a forehead piece, it REALLY gives you the sense of being alien instead of just a person in make-up.
Oh, and the Kelvin guy WAS a puppet: http://donlanning.deviantart.com/art/Anschloss-K-Bentayr-123535421

Thanks. I remember a thread back when the images were first released about hte Kelvin puppet, but its been so long and so many threads away now that i forgot about it until tthis thread brought it up.

Gotta love physical puppets in movies. Its worked in raelly big budget movies instead of CGI and even the late Stan Winston has done his fourth Terminator movie with puppets.

Cool. Agreed on the prosthetic part, it does have more impact than a piece of latex one teh actors face.

I have to agree. Puppets, when done well, are much more realistic than CGI. I feel the same way about ship models. We've lost some of that gritty realism that the original Star Wars trilogy did so well - although CGI is getting better. The ships in STXI didn't scream "CGI!!!!" at me, so that's a good thing.

 

[Jax]

Budget.

simple as.

 

[Aike]

Because the Vulcans like to meditate instead of exploring the galaxy. The Andorians aren´t that many and the Tellerites are bad diplomats. That´s why.

 

[Blue_Trek]

What race is that alien on the bridge?

 

[Squiggy]

Because we have the smoothest foreheads.

 

[Franklin]

StarFleet is mostly human because the regular people that went to see the movie DO NOT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT ALIENS.

I happen to agree. Weird looking aliens are fine as decoration, but should not be central to stories where you want the General Public to like and enjoy.

Well, I don't think I'd go that far. Outside of Trek, many people gave more than two shits about a couple of androids named R2-D2 and C3PO. And wookies and all those other SW thingies.

And ET. People gave more than two shits about him.

So why not in Trek? And even Trek's success is owed very largely to people giving more than two shits about someone who is half-alien. And booing villains who were all alien (Klingons and Romulans).

It's just about making the character believable and vesting in it something that allows an audience to identify with it. If people are going to close their minds and not suspend disbelief just because someone is green or whatever, too bad for them. It's science fiction, for crying out loud.

 

[FemurBone]

I don't think so. Enterprise clearly stated Earth was waaay behing Vulcans, Andorians and pretty much everybody they met. I think part of the treaty included sharing technology which is how the Federation and Starfllet became a power in the quadrant.

In the beginning Earth tech was behind Vulcan, but by the 23rd century Earth surpassed them.

StarFleet is mostly human because the regular people that went to see the movie DO NOT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT ALIENS..

How are you defining regular people? If you don't care about aliens then why are you here?

I happen to agree. Weird looking aliens are fine as decoration, but should not be central to stories where you want the General Public to like and enjoy.

I guess you've never heard of Yoda.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'd love to hear if anyone knows why Starfleet is depicted in this movie as made up mostly of humans? You would think there would be more of an equal representation of beings from other Federation Planets. Is Starfleet Acedemy on Earth THE Starfleet Academy or are there maybe other Starfleet Academies on different worlds?

Starfleet is the Earth (human) space organization. Other planets, presumably, would have their own. Granted, Starfleet accepts alien applicants, but in general Starfleet is a human organization.

This is seperate from the Federation which is a galactic-wide organization.

Think of it this way:

Why aren't there any Frenchmen in the US Navy, even though both the US and France are in the United Nations.

 

[Islander]

Starfleet is the Earth (human) space organization. Other planets, presumably, would have their own. Granted, Starfleet accepts alien applicants, but in general Starfleet is a human organization.

This is seperate from the Federation which is a galactic-wide organization.

Think of it this way:

Why aren't there any Frenchmen in the US Navy, even though both the US and France are in the United Nations.

I don't think this analogy works. The Federation is the Federal level of gouvernment of the member worlds and Starfleet is it's military branch.

And even if the UN was an official gouvernment, the French do supply plenty of troops to it's peace keeping force as a security member.

 

[Trilliam]

My take is each member world of the federation has its own outer space agency. Starfleet is Earth's space agency, that is why most of the members are human.

The main qualification for joining the federation is the ability to create a warp drive. There is no rule as to how advanced the warp drive has to be. It can be as primative as Zephram Cochran's ship.

Earth was one of the founding members of the federation, so it's reasonable to assume Earth technology is the most advanced; therefore Starfleet is the most advanced. That is why the federation depends on Starfleet for it's main defense. The ships that make up the fleets of the other member worlds are probably primative by comparison.

So the pay office doesn't to pay a "Living away from (insert planet name here) allowance"?

 

[FemurBone]

The Federation is the Federal level of gouvernment of the member worlds and Starfleet is it's military branch.

Starfleet is only one of its military branches. There are many others.

The United States is a federation and each state has its own state defense force.

So the pay office doesn't to pay a "Living away from (insert planet name here) allowance"?

I don't understand the question.

 

[Trilliam]

The Federation is the Federal level of gouvernment of the member worlds and Starfleet is it's military branch.

Starfleet is only one of its military branches. There are many others.

The United States is a federation and each state has its own state defense force.

So the pay office doesn't to pay a "Living away from (insert planet name here) allowance"?

I don't understand the question.

It was a pay office joke.

 

[FemurBone]

It was a pay office joke.

aaaah I see

 

[Captain Brown]

I'm going to go with the generic answer that Starfleet is basically comprised of humans because of the general idea of the human spirit being driven by the need to explore and learn.

 

[Islander]

Starfleet is only one of its military branches.

And where was Vulcan's when it was getting attacked?

 

[FemurBone]

Starfleet is only one of its military branches.

And where was Vulcan's when it was getting attacked?

It was defeated.