Why no Andorians in the TNG/DS9/VOY era?

[Therin of Andor]

One of them was an Andorian male

Female, actually. There was also Klingon male ("a friend for Worf") and humans of both genders.

^ That's good old Rick Berman for you. He thought that the makeup for Andorians (and for Tellarites as well) looked too corny - like something out of a 1950s B movie. So he refused to use them until ENT came along and the makeup department was able to convince him that they could make them look "good."

Yep. He thought they looked "hokey". But, to be fair, he was also working off a mandate made by Gene Roddenberry that races we had seen before should not be seen too often. The original premise for TNG was that the Enterprise was going to be departing known space after solving the Farpoint mystery, and therefore would not be passing through Romulan, Klingon, Andorian or Tellarite space. So, Enterprise had a token Klingon, a few Vulcans and that was going to be it for TOS races.

the one which Anwar pointed out and another one in Captain's Holiday - he's on Risa, but we only see his back during the scene where Picard is reading his book.

Holidaying Andorian on Risa by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

It's a reuse of the costume and makeup made for the Lal episode.

Um, that's silly...the Andorians were introduced in the 1960s...on TV.

With antennae that were made out of wooden cotton spools, pilfered from the seamstress's workroom.

The Andorians in TMP had slender tendrill-like antennae, made from a new type of "slip latex", then very expensive.


TMP Female by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

Similarly, the balding Andorian admiral featured in ST IV made use of state of the art latex work - on a motion picture budget - that enabled them to show off the antennae bases with no wig needed to hide the seams.


UFP Councillor, ST IV by Therin of Andor, on Flickr


Balding UFP Councillor, ST IV by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

Late 1980s TV couldn't afford that, so they had to wait till miniaturization of radio control parts enabled relatively silent movement - and then really show bang for their makeup buck!

 

[captcalhoun]

holy shit, ZOMBIE THREAD!

 

[T'Girl]

Love zombie threads, we should have more of them.

 

[captcalhoun]

they get locked. usually with a head-shot.

 

[F. King Daniel]

We've had zombie Vulcans. We need zombie Andorians.

 

[DS9forever]

Combs took it to a new level. He made being a villain cool.

He had already done that with Weyoun.

 

[Bixby]

Rick Berman didn't want them in the 24th century show, because he thought they looked goofy.

Andorians look goofy, so what does that make the Vulcans with their bowl-shaped haircuts and pointed ears?

What about the Trill that are basically humans with painted-on leopard spots on their bodies? The Bajorans with
ONLY ridges on the nose?

Those guys are ok, but the Andorians are too GOOFY?

 

[The Dominion]

It's the classic stereotype of aliens with antennae. There should be no problem with it because it's really a step up from just ridged foreheads, but some people like Berman just see it as too much of a cliche.

 

[Anwar]

Rick Berman didn't want them in the 24th century show, because he thought they looked goofy.

Andorians look goofy, so what does that make the Vulcans with their bowl-shaped haircuts and pointed ears?

It was only Spock who had the bowl-cut in TOS and the TOS movies, all the other Vulcans had more varied looks. I don't know why they had ALL of them with that look in the later shows.

And Vulcans were too much a Trek "mascot" species to drop compared to Andorians.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

"Slip latex" casting is a very old technique, simpler than foam latex casting, and there was nothing new about it in 1979. It's simply not used for makeups that require close scrutiny or any flexibility of expression because unlike foam latex it produces a thin shell that buckles when it moves rather than flexing in a somewhat more believable way.

Example of slip latex casting.

 

[ZeroArmour]

On the subject of the four Andorian genders.

Firstly, I like the idea, it makes them more "alien". Everyone else is pretty much locked into the same basic biology we have, and that dull.

Secondly, I dispute the notion that there'd be a massive gender imbalance. Genetically speaking, if the odds of a child being born a particular gender weren't equal (or near enough to it) the imballance would see a species go extince long before the discovery of fire, much less warp drive. I'm also not convinced the Zhan doesn't contribute biologically while she carries the "puggle" in her pouch.

 

[USS Excelsior]

Not as goofy as that alien dog with a couple of bones added.

 

[Therin of Andor]

We need zombie Andorians.

You rang? by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

Also, three brief shots of zombie Andorians in this:
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2010/09/book-trailer-for-night-of-living.html

"Slip latex" casting is a very old technique, simpler than foam latex casting, and there was nothing new about it in 1979.

There was "something new". Fred Phillips told me when I interviewed him on the phone in January 1984. It had something to do with the new formula not needing to be baked overnight, and could be made into shapes, such as long forehead tendrills, that would have been impossible the old way. Vulcan ears in the 60s had to be baked in a kiln.

I'm also not convinced the Zhan doesn't contribute biologically while she carries the "puggle" in her pouch.

Over in TrekLit, we decided that the zhavey would probably contribute her unique hormones that would shape the resulting fetus as it grew in her pouch. Shaped personality, intelligence, strength, etc, perhaps.

 

[Kirby]

I read somewhere that the mechanics to move the Andorian's antanne in ENT was pretty loud, so all dialogue during those scenes had to be re-recorded later on.
I can see how that would cause some production issues if they were regular characters.

 

[ZeroArmour]

I'm also not convinced the Zhan doesn't contribute biologically while she carries the "puggle" in her pouch.

Over in TrekLit, we decided that the zhavey would probably contribute her unique hormones that would shape the resulting fetus as it grew in her pouch. Shaped personality, intelligence, strength, etc, perhaps.

Sounds about right, I've wanyed to see a bondgroup on Trek for ages.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I read somewhere that the mechanics to move the Andorian's antanne in ENT was pretty loud, so all dialogue during those scenes had to be re-recorded later on.
I can see how that would cause some production issues if they were regular characters.

Yep. Although various bridge devices often require dialogue relooping anyway, but yes, the whirring of the puppetered antennae was an added problem to all scenes with ENT Andorians in closeups.