# Star Trek TOS So Humanoid Centric **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954 "2013-01-21T22:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/21 "2013-01-22T01:15:48Z")
The Klingons on TOS were basically guys in goatees. Wasn’t there a scene in TNG where Worf was asked about Klingons’ appearance in the TOS era, and he said something like, “It was a dark and evil time…” As if that explained it? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/22 "2013-01-22T01:16:07Z")
> [@grude](#): > > How so? How so? The Miranda Jones character is questioned by Kirk and McCoy to the effect of why she’d _want_ an assignment with the Medusans, instead of staying with humans and fulfilling the role of a human woman, which I gather is to stand around and be pretty and such. I’d have to watch it again for exact quotes, but I recall that it was creepy in the extreme, like she was some kind of freak for not conforming to how they thought a woman should behave. > [@](#): > > There is a really sexist episode and the fan wanks trying to explain it as not true are silly, its the episode where they reveal there are no female captains. I gather you mean “Turnabout Intruder”, with the character of Janice Lester saying she couldn’t be a starship captain because she was a woman. I’m grudgingly willing to fanwank this as her being denied the post because she was psychologically unstable (her actions in the episode make this plausible) and she chose to attribute it to her gender instead, with Kirk sort-of nodding and playing along. It’s not a critical element to the plot, I guess - she wanted to be a starship captain and for whatever reason could not, and this either drove her nuts or aggravated her pre-existing nuttiness. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/23 "2013-01-22T01:28:47Z")
Anyone remember that weird haunted-castle episode with the witches three and the manacled skeleton, and it’s all _“black cat”_ this and _“magic crystal”_ that until Kirk smashes the wand he grabbed from that bearded dude in the robe, at which point we see the multi-colored bug-like creatures the villains really are? I’m not sure we needed more episodes like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/24 "2013-01-22T01:32:30Z")
How does a manacled skeleton stay intact, anyway? If all the connective tissue has rotted away, what holds the bones together? Velcro? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/25 "2013-01-22T01:32:52Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The Klingons on TOS were basically guys in goatees. > > Wasn’t there a scene in TNG where Worf was asked about Klingons’ appearance in the TOS era, and he said something like, “It was a dark and evil time…” As if that explained it? It was in a DS9 time travel episode; when asked why Klingons look different he replies “We do not speak of it to outsiders.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/26 "2013-01-22T01:40:02Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > I know they devised an explanation of humanoids being seeded throughout the galaxy, but it gets old after awhile. That explanation didn’t happen until _ST:TNG_ As noted: no CGI back then The most frequently noted non-Human alien in _Star Trek_ is the Horta, but there were a few others: Kelvans - from Andromeda, posed as humans but not even humanoid in their true forms. Medusans - sparkly light aliens. Tholians - not actually seen until a later series, in the old series their ships were seen and verbal communications were exchanged. The Fried-egg parasite - I can’t remember the name of this one, but that’s more or less what it looked like and it would hang out in shaded areas, swoop down on a victim, and take them over. Excalbians - sort of living rock critters The aliens from Catspaw - more aliens wearing human suits. Given the technological limitations of the time I thought they did a pretty good job with the few non-humanoids they had, the “fried egg parasite” being the lamest in my opinion. The Kelvans were a bit of a dodge, as they wore human disguises, as did the ones in Catspaw. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/27 "2013-01-22T01:45:03Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Tholians - not actually seen until a later series, in the old series their ships were seen and verbal communications were exchanged. Actually [they were seen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tholian#Tholian_biology_and_culture) - just a static head shot though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/28 "2013-01-22T01:52:24Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That explanation didn’t happen until _ST:TNG_ Something similar was hinted at in TOS’s “The Paradise Syndrome”, with mention of a mysterious alien race called “The Preservers” who may have transplanted a number of North American native tribes before they were wiped out by European colonists, perhaps 500-700 years before the events in TOS. This is unrelated (or at least a relation is highly improbable) to a far far older species that operated a billion or so years ago, seeding the galaxy with life that would eventually evolve into humanoid form, as described in TNG’s “The Chase”. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/29 "2013-01-22T01:53:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > How so? The Miranda Jones character is questioned by Kirk and McCoy to the effect of why she’d _want_ an assignment with the Medusans, instead of staying with humans and fulfilling the role of a human woman, which I gather is to stand around and be pretty and such. > > I’d have to watch it again for exact quotes, but I recall that it was creepy in the extreme, like she was some kind of freak for not conforming to how they thought a woman should behave. Huh, I need to watch it again too because I totally missed that. I do remember them asking her something but it struck me more like “So you spend all day with and love a madness inducing tentacle monster…really?!”😛 which while not politically correct sounds like a common thought. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/30 "2013-01-22T01:56:29Z")
By the way, if we’re listing nonhumanoid aliens who can take on human form, mustn’t forget the Organians, and whatever species Trelaine and his parents were, and possibly the Thasians (who’d helped Charlie X) and the Gorgan (who corrupted the kids in “And the Children Shall Lead”). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/31 "2013-01-22T02:00:18Z")
There was also The Companion, which was a glowy cloudlike entity, and that critter that fed on hatred & anger and looked like a bunch of lights. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/32 "2013-01-22T02:06:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > and that critter that fed on hatred & anger and looked like a bunch of lights. You mean Berman? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/33 "2013-01-22T02:09:31Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The Klingons on TOS were basically guys in goatees. > > Wasn’t there a scene in TNG where Worf was asked about Klingons’ appearance in the TOS era, and he said something like, “It was a dark and evil time…” As if that explained it? So the, of course, handled the actual explanation in ST:E – the Klingons originally had trilobite heads, then a pandemic threatened to wipe them out, but Phlox devised a vaccine, which, of course, caused their heads to smooth out. All of which fails to address the appearance of the Klingons in the first movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/34 "2013-01-22T02:14:19Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Did any of the Star Trek series have an episode with the Close Encounters roswellian, little green man stereotype alien? Nice post/username combo! Just as an aside: this type of alien plays a significant, recurring role in the _Stargate: SG1_ series. They are knows as the Asgardians, and are the basis of Norse mythology as well as the Roswell stories. They are portrayed on-screen through a combination of puppetry and CGI. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/35 "2013-01-22T02:19:25Z")
Damn how did I forget the salt vampire:smack: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/36 "2013-01-22T02:21:39Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Damn how did I forget the salt vampire:smack: Still [humanoid](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y5TwdoOLPTI/TI_VqBcjObI/AAAAAAAAPdw/UjRORwB0NEE/s1600/mantrap091410c.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/37 "2013-01-22T02:25:29Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Just as an aside: this type of alien plays a significant, recurring role in the _Stargate: SG1_ series. They are knows as the Asgardians, and are the basis of Norse mythology as well as the Roswell stories. They are portrayed on-screen through a combination of puppetry and CGI. Some also showed up in _Babylon 5_, in a funny scene where a guy was suing them for abducting his great-grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/38 "2013-01-22T03:18:22Z")
I think you’d be hard-pressed to find non-humanoid aliens in ANY tv or movie sci-fi. I mean, even the xenomorph in “Alien” has the same body form as a human. And in Close Encounters, two-arms, two legs and a head. The point of Star Trek (and most sci-fi) was to examine the human experience not to actually speculate on what type of alien life would be out there. Chances are, it would be so alien that we wouldn’t understand it. I’d be happy if there was a sci-fi epic that had aliens that didn’t look like humans or bugs. In fact, there are sea creatures that actually exist that look far more alien that anything I’ve seen in movies or tv. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/39 "2013-01-22T03:27:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You mean Berman? +1, although I’d have tried to figure out a way to bring Braga into it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954/40 "2013-01-22T03:34:19Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Anyone remember that weird haunted-castle episode with the witches three and the manacled skeleton, and it’s all _“black cat”_ this and _“magic crystal”_ that until Kirk smashes the wand he grabbed from that bearded dude in the robe, at which point we see the multi-colored bug-like creatures the villains really are? > > I’m not sure we needed more episodes like that. Catspaw by Robert Bloch. Which illustrates that far more ST scripts game from real sf writers than TNG scripts did. Bloch, Matheson, Spinrad, Sturgeon, Ellison, and a bunch of others I’m too lazy to look up now. Not including Gerrold since I’m not sure he counted when he turned in the script. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-so-humanoid-centric/647954.md?page=3)