# Star Trek, where the heck are the Indians, Africans and Chinese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2012, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118 "2012-03-18T06:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/61 "2012-03-20T15:42:03Z")
> [@kombatminipig](#): > > I seem to remember that the redshirt who gets fried while parachuting from space in the reboot had an Aussie accent. Engineer Olson, first redshirt to die in the reboot. [Memory Alpha](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Olson) notes that he’s from England, and spoke with a Northern (Manchester-Lancashire accent). However, “Lots of planets have a North”. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/62 "2012-03-21T16:10:33Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Where are you getting this information? According to his statements on TNG and DS9, Wolf was raised by his human adoptive parents not on Earth but on the colony world Gault. The family eventually moved to Earth, but the precise location was never specified to my knowledge. Worf does claim that his family went camping in the Ural mountains, [and seems to have an unusual fondness for Minsk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=138gX3wolOo), so an Eastern European home seems plausible, but AFAIK there’s no reason to think that it was St. Petersburg specifically. I vaguely recall that, by the time we actually _meet_ Worf’s adoptive parents, they’re living in St. Petersburg, though of course that doesn’t mean Worf himself ever lived there. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/63 "2012-03-21T17:04:15Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > As though this is supposed to mean something 250 years after they ceased to be separate legal entities under a United Earth government. Well, we don’t know that this is entirely true. It’s possible that the former nation-states still exist as distinct administrative divisions with a measure of self-government; the fact that we have a “United Federation of Planets” suggests that the founders of the united Earth government weren’t averse to federalism as a governing philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/64 "2012-03-21T17:26:06Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > It’s possible that the former nation-states still exist as distinct administrative divisions with a measure of self-government It’s likely, in fact, since at the very least Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar Prime (3 of the four founding worlds - the other being Earth) have ambassadors to the Federation, at least as of TOS (and they’re pretty hostile toward each other). [Memory Alpha’s article on the Federation](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/United_Federation_of_Planets) describes it as: > [@](#): > > [A]n interstellar federal republic, composed of planetary governments that agreed to exist semi-autonomously under a single central government based on the principles of universal liberty, rights, and equality, and to share their knowledge and resources in peaceful cooperation and space exploration. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/65 "2012-03-22T01:03:02Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Sorry for further corrections, but I don’t think you could really count Pulaski, Nog, Rom, Seska, or Naomi Wildman as part of the “core” cast. Their actors were always credited as guest stars, and indeed there were many other charecters in their respective series who had more appearances. “With 46 appearances, Nog was the most frequent recurring character on Deep Space Nine.” ([Memory Alpha](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nog)). Geeky, _moi_? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/66 "2012-03-22T01:36:28Z")
If ya wanna throw in the MOVIES, I absolutely loved Persis Khambatta as Lt Ilia in ST:TMP. (don’t remember what species Ilia was…) I was heartbroken to read that she passed away in 1998. > **[Persis Khambatta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persis_Khambatta)** > > Persis Khambatta (2 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model and actress who is best remembered for playing Lieutenant Ilia in the feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). > Persis Khambatta was born in Bombay to a middle-class Parsi family. Her father left her family when she was two years old. She first gained fame when a set of her pictures casually taken by a well-known Bombay photographer\[who?\] was used for a successful campaign for a popular soap brand. This eventually... ~VOW ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/67 "2012-03-22T01:52:25Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > (don’t remember what species Ilia was…) \Deltan\ ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/68 "2012-03-22T10:24:40Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > “With 46 appearances, Nog was the most frequent recurring character on Deep Space Nine.” ([Memory Alpha](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nog)). Well, that page is wrong. According to the same website [Morn](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Morn) appeared 92 times, and Quark’s waiter [Broik](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Broik) 72 times. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118/69 "2012-03-22T14:16:21Z")
I think Morn falls more under the category of “set”, rather than “cast” 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-where-the-heck-are-the-indians-africans-and-chinese/616118.md?page=3)