FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT STAR TREK ALIENS
From: ottoh3@cfsmo.honeywell.com (Otto Heuer #3)
Date: 2 Dec 93 07:54:34 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: FAQL: STAR TREK ALIENS
Archive-Name: faql.rec.arts.startrek.aliens
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT STAR TREK ALIENS
(last updated 11 November 1993)
This posting is intended to cut down on the "often asked questions" that
seem to pop up every few months in the rec.arts.startrek.misc newsgroup
about the aliens in Star Trek. It is one of a number of periodic postings
posted to r.a.s.*:
Please refer to the "LIST OF PERIODIC POSINGS TO r.a.s.* NEWSGROUPS"
article for a full list of periodic postings, and to the "LIST OF ACRONYMS"
article for acronyms used in this and other postings.
===========================================================================
1) Klingons Home Planet
2) Klingon Foreheads
3) Klingon Rituals
4) Ferengi Headgear
5) Ferengi Laws Of Acquisition
6) Ferengi Minds Unreadable By Betazoids?
7) Betazoids (Telepaths/Empaths/etc.)
8) Betazoid Eye Color
9) Vulcan Mating Ritual
10) Vulcan Moon
11) Horta
12) Why Does Everyone Speak English?
13) Why Do Most Races Look Alike?
14) Why Are There So Many Planets That Look Like Earth?
===========================================================================
1) KLINGON HOME PLANET
Kling is the homeworld of the Klingon Empire according to the trade
paperback book "The Aliens of Star Trek" which was released back in the
late 1980s.
Klinzhai (sp) was the name John Ford came up with.
In the Star Fleet Battles universe, the capital is named "Klinshai".
ST6 "The Undiscovered Country": Referred to as "Kronos", which is spelled
QonoS in Klingonese. Michael Piller is going around at conventions
recently telling people that this is in fact the official name of the
homeworld.
TNG has been trying to use the generic "Klingon Home World" to avoid all
this confusion.
TNG "Heart of Glory": Referred to as "Kling", but the reference is very
vague and can be interpreted in a number of ways.
TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise": Captain Garrett's crew took the E-C to glory
at Narendra III, which was NOT Khitomer (the planet where Worf's father and
mother died).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) KLINGON FOREHEADS
There's no real explanation as to why the Klingons have spiny foreheads in
TFS and TNG but not in TOS. Gene has said "they always looked like this"
and we're supposed to ignore the lack of the pizza bats on the foreheads in
TOS. Theories outside of Gene run from genetic engineering to "several
races of Klingons".
FASA explains in their role-playing game (and possibly also mentioned by
John M Ford) that the TOS Klingons are actually Klingon-Human fusions
bio-engineered by Imperial Klingons (ridge-heads) to deal with
humans/Federation. Sometime before TNG they were exiled or something.
This was originally printed in "The Aliens of Star Trek".
Shane Johnson's "The Worlds of the Federation" explains it on page 114:
"It is interesting to note that for many years the true appearance of the
Klingon race was unkown. The "Klingons" encountered along the Federation
border with the Empire were a Klingon-human fusion, genetically created to
make infiltration into Federation areas easier. The interception of the
Amar transmission during the V'Ger incident revealed the true nature of the
Imperial Klingon race and stunned Federation science. Before that time, no
one had suspected that the Klingons were capable of such advanced genetic
engineering, and a great deal of rethinking was done concerning the level
of Klingon technology."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) KLINGON RITUALS
- The bonding of Worf and Jeremy Aster. ("The Bonding")
- Worf's rite of asscention with Klingon pain sticks ("The Icarus Factor").
- The Klingon tea ceremony is performed by Worf and Pulaski. The beverage
is poison to humans, so she drank the antidote. ("Up The Long Ladder")
- Worf and K'Ehlar almost go through the Klingon equivalent of a marriage
ceremony.
- When a Klingon dies, other Klingons warn the dead that a warrior is
coming by staring into the stiff's eyes and howling upward.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) FERENGI HEADGEAR
Ferengi head covers (the Arab-esque cloth on the back of some Ferengi
heads) were invented because the original design had a gap between the
bottom of the head prosthesis and the top of the uniform. They had to
re-do the heads or make taller collars on the uniforms. To cut costs they
decided to use a piece of cloth.
Some explanations for why Quark (and a few others) don't wear them is that
they are civilians, and the headgear is a military designation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) FERENGI LAWS OF ACQUISITION
Here are the Laws of Acquisition that have have been used so far (out of
285 total):
1 Once you have their money, you never give it back. ("The Nagus")
2 His money is only your's when he can't get it back. ("")
3 Never allow one's culture's law to get in the way of a
universal goal: profit. ("")
6 Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity. ("The Nagus")
7 Keep your ears open. ("In the Hands of the Prophets")
9 Opportunity plus instinct equals profit. ("The Storyteller")
16 A deal is a deal. ("Melora")
21 Never place freindship above profit. ("Rules of Acquisition")
22 Wise men can hear profit in the wind. ("Rules of Acquisition")
31 Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother. ("The Siege")
33 It never hurts to suck up to the boss. ("Rules of Acquisition")
48 The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife. ("Rules of Acquisition")
59 Free advice is seldom cheap. ("Rules of Acquisition")
62 The riskier the road, the greater the profit. ("Rules of Acquisition")
76 Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of
your enemies. ("The Homecoming")
103 Sleep can interfere... (but Pel may have made this up) ("Rules of
Acquisition")
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) FERENGI MINDS UNREADABLE BY BETAZOIDS?
TNG "The Battle": Deanna Troi says of the Ferengi ship captain Daimon Bok,
"Captain, I sense considerable deception from Bok and danger".
TNG "The Forsaken": Another reference that they can't.
TNG "The Price": Deanna's powers help against the Ferengi.
TNG "Menage a Troi": The Betazoid Ambassador says "We betazoids are
uncomfortable around the Ferengi, whose minds we cannot read".
TNG "The Loss": The non-readability of the Ferengi mind is collaborated.
TNG: Data also started to explain once why he suspects that Betazoids
can't read Ferengis: "Perhaps it is because the Ferengi brain is separated
into four..." Anyone know which episode? Was this the same as "The
Forsaken"?
So two episodes claim Betazoids *can* read Ferengi minds and four claim
they *can't*... The only explanation that could really account for this is
that *Deanna* is able to (at least partially) read Ferengi minds because
she is only part Betazoid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7) BETAZOIDS (TELEPATHS/EMPATHS/ETC.)
Full-Betazoids are telepaths.
Deanna, being half-Betazoid and half-human, is only an empath (though she
and Riker seemed to be talking telepathically in "Encounter at Farpoint").
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8) BETAZOID EYE COLOR
TNG: Betazoids all have big black eyes. Majel Barrett and Marina Sirtis
are wearing black contact lenses--their eyes are not that dark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) VULCAN MATING RITUAL
Vulcan males seek a mate every seven years of their adult life. Reference
TOS "Amok Time" and ST3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10) VULCAN MOON
TOS "The Man Trap": Spock says that Vulcan has no moon (when Uhura
mentions romance).
Some of the books say it has one or two moons/sister planets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11) HORTA
TOS "The Devil in the Dark": Every 50,000 years the race of Horta all die
except the one mother Horta.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12) WHY DOES EVERYONE SPEAK ENGLISH?
The easy answer is that the universal translator is somehow patched in to
all communications.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
13) WHY DO MOST RACES LOOK ALIKE?
There was a late sixth season TNG episode that attempted to explain this.
It is also sort of explained in a couple of TOS episodes:
In "Bread and Circuses" Kirk mentions "An excellent example of Hodgkin's
Law of Parallel Planet Development."
In "The Paradise Syndrome", they mention "The Preservers" seeding the
galaxy. The Preservers probably seeded humans on Omega IV ("The Omega
Glory"), Ekos (""), The Second Earth ("Miri"), The Roman Planet ("Bread and
Circuses"), and The Paradise Planet ("The Paradise Syndrome").
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14) WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PLANETS THAT LOOK LIKE EARTH?
Like Miri's planet (which looks like Earth except there are no clouds).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you know of any other topics that should be included in this list, feel
free to email me at one of the addresses below. Be aware that about 10% of
the mail I send out bounces, so if you don't get a reply from me, it isn't
because I'm ignoring you. :-)
--Otto "HACK-MAN" Heuer
_____ _________ _ _____ _____ _____ _____
| ___|| _______|| | Otto E. Heuer, CEO ||___|| |_ _| |_ _| ||___||
| |__ | |___ ___| | FSD, Inc. | o | | | | | | o |
| __| |___ || _ | "The innovator for |__O__| |_| |_| |__O__|
| | _______| || |_| | software solutions." C, Pascal, Fortran, BASIC
|_||_________||_____| Assembly Language, Snobol, Ada, APL, Prolog, LISP
Unix, MS-DOS, ProDOS . . . .... . . . . . . . Audio/Video
ottoh@cfsmo.honeywell.com :..: .:.:. : :.' .. :`.': .:.:. :`. : Star Trek
hackman@pnet51.orb.mn.org : : : : :... : `. : : : : : `: Apple IIgs
Date: 2 Dec 93 07:54:34 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: FAQL: STAR TREK ALIENS
Archive-Name: faql.rec.arts.startrek.aliens
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT STAR TREK ALIENS
(last updated 11 November 1993)
This posting is intended to cut down on the "often asked questions" that
seem to pop up every few months in the rec.arts.startrek.misc newsgroup
about the aliens in Star Trek. It is one of a number of periodic postings
posted to r.a.s.*:
Please refer to the "LIST OF PERIODIC POSINGS TO r.a.s.* NEWSGROUPS"
article for a full list of periodic postings, and to the "LIST OF ACRONYMS"
article for acronyms used in this and other postings.
===========================================================================
1) Klingons Home Planet
2) Klingon Foreheads
3) Klingon Rituals
4) Ferengi Headgear
5) Ferengi Laws Of Acquisition
6) Ferengi Minds Unreadable By Betazoids?
7) Betazoids (Telepaths/Empaths/etc.)
8) Betazoid Eye Color
9) Vulcan Mating Ritual
10) Vulcan Moon
11) Horta
12) Why Does Everyone Speak English?
13) Why Do Most Races Look Alike?
14) Why Are There So Many Planets That Look Like Earth?
===========================================================================
1) KLINGON HOME PLANET
Kling is the homeworld of the Klingon Empire according to the trade
paperback book "The Aliens of Star Trek" which was released back in the
late 1980s.
Klinzhai (sp) was the name John Ford came up with.
In the Star Fleet Battles universe, the capital is named "Klinshai".
ST6 "The Undiscovered Country": Referred to as "Kronos", which is spelled
QonoS in Klingonese. Michael Piller is going around at conventions
recently telling people that this is in fact the official name of the
homeworld.
TNG has been trying to use the generic "Klingon Home World" to avoid all
this confusion.
TNG "Heart of Glory": Referred to as "Kling", but the reference is very
vague and can be interpreted in a number of ways.
TNG "Yesterday's Enterprise": Captain Garrett's crew took the E-C to glory
at Narendra III, which was NOT Khitomer (the planet where Worf's father and
mother died).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) KLINGON FOREHEADS
There's no real explanation as to why the Klingons have spiny foreheads in
TFS and TNG but not in TOS. Gene has said "they always looked like this"
and we're supposed to ignore the lack of the pizza bats on the foreheads in
TOS. Theories outside of Gene run from genetic engineering to "several
races of Klingons".
FASA explains in their role-playing game (and possibly also mentioned by
John M Ford) that the TOS Klingons are actually Klingon-Human fusions
bio-engineered by Imperial Klingons (ridge-heads) to deal with
humans/Federation. Sometime before TNG they were exiled or something.
This was originally printed in "The Aliens of Star Trek".
Shane Johnson's "The Worlds of the Federation" explains it on page 114:
"It is interesting to note that for many years the true appearance of the
Klingon race was unkown. The "Klingons" encountered along the Federation
border with the Empire were a Klingon-human fusion, genetically created to
make infiltration into Federation areas easier. The interception of the
Amar transmission during the V'Ger incident revealed the true nature of the
Imperial Klingon race and stunned Federation science. Before that time, no
one had suspected that the Klingons were capable of such advanced genetic
engineering, and a great deal of rethinking was done concerning the level
of Klingon technology."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) KLINGON RITUALS
- The bonding of Worf and Jeremy Aster. ("The Bonding")
- Worf's rite of asscention with Klingon pain sticks ("The Icarus Factor").
- The Klingon tea ceremony is performed by Worf and Pulaski. The beverage
is poison to humans, so she drank the antidote. ("Up The Long Ladder")
- Worf and K'Ehlar almost go through the Klingon equivalent of a marriage
ceremony.
- When a Klingon dies, other Klingons warn the dead that a warrior is
coming by staring into the stiff's eyes and howling upward.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) FERENGI HEADGEAR
Ferengi head covers (the Arab-esque cloth on the back of some Ferengi
heads) were invented because the original design had a gap between the
bottom of the head prosthesis and the top of the uniform. They had to
re-do the heads or make taller collars on the uniforms. To cut costs they
decided to use a piece of cloth.
Some explanations for why Quark (and a few others) don't wear them is that
they are civilians, and the headgear is a military designation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) FERENGI LAWS OF ACQUISITION
Here are the Laws of Acquisition that have have been used so far (out of
285 total):
1 Once you have their money, you never give it back. ("The Nagus")
2 His money is only your's when he can't get it back. ("")
3 Never allow one's culture's law to get in the way of a
universal goal: profit. ("")
6 Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity. ("The Nagus")
7 Keep your ears open. ("In the Hands of the Prophets")
9 Opportunity plus instinct equals profit. ("The Storyteller")
16 A deal is a deal. ("Melora")
21 Never place freindship above profit. ("Rules of Acquisition")
22 Wise men can hear profit in the wind. ("Rules of Acquisition")
31 Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother. ("The Siege")
33 It never hurts to suck up to the boss. ("Rules of Acquisition")
48 The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife. ("Rules of Acquisition")
59 Free advice is seldom cheap. ("Rules of Acquisition")
62 The riskier the road, the greater the profit. ("Rules of Acquisition")
76 Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of
your enemies. ("The Homecoming")
103 Sleep can interfere... (but Pel may have made this up) ("Rules of
Acquisition")
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
6) FERENGI MINDS UNREADABLE BY BETAZOIDS?
TNG "The Battle": Deanna Troi says of the Ferengi ship captain Daimon Bok,
"Captain, I sense considerable deception from Bok and danger".
TNG "The Forsaken": Another reference that they can't.
TNG "The Price": Deanna's powers help against the Ferengi.
TNG "Menage a Troi": The Betazoid Ambassador says "We betazoids are
uncomfortable around the Ferengi, whose minds we cannot read".
TNG "The Loss": The non-readability of the Ferengi mind is collaborated.
TNG: Data also started to explain once why he suspects that Betazoids
can't read Ferengis: "Perhaps it is because the Ferengi brain is separated
into four..." Anyone know which episode? Was this the same as "The
Forsaken"?
So two episodes claim Betazoids *can* read Ferengi minds and four claim
they *can't*... The only explanation that could really account for this is
that *Deanna* is able to (at least partially) read Ferengi minds because
she is only part Betazoid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7) BETAZOIDS (TELEPATHS/EMPATHS/ETC.)
Full-Betazoids are telepaths.
Deanna, being half-Betazoid and half-human, is only an empath (though she
and Riker seemed to be talking telepathically in "Encounter at Farpoint").
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8) BETAZOID EYE COLOR
TNG: Betazoids all have big black eyes. Majel Barrett and Marina Sirtis
are wearing black contact lenses--their eyes are not that dark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) VULCAN MATING RITUAL
Vulcan males seek a mate every seven years of their adult life. Reference
TOS "Amok Time" and ST3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10) VULCAN MOON
TOS "The Man Trap": Spock says that Vulcan has no moon (when Uhura
mentions romance).
Some of the books say it has one or two moons/sister planets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11) HORTA
TOS "The Devil in the Dark": Every 50,000 years the race of Horta all die
except the one mother Horta.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12) WHY DOES EVERYONE SPEAK ENGLISH?
The easy answer is that the universal translator is somehow patched in to
all communications.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
13) WHY DO MOST RACES LOOK ALIKE?
There was a late sixth season TNG episode that attempted to explain this.
It is also sort of explained in a couple of TOS episodes:
In "Bread and Circuses" Kirk mentions "An excellent example of Hodgkin's
Law of Parallel Planet Development."
In "The Paradise Syndrome", they mention "The Preservers" seeding the
galaxy. The Preservers probably seeded humans on Omega IV ("The Omega
Glory"), Ekos (""), The Second Earth ("Miri"), The Roman Planet ("Bread and
Circuses"), and The Paradise Planet ("The Paradise Syndrome").
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14) WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PLANETS THAT LOOK LIKE EARTH?
Like Miri's planet (which looks like Earth except there are no clouds).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you know of any other topics that should be included in this list, feel
free to email me at one of the addresses below. Be aware that about 10% of
the mail I send out bounces, so if you don't get a reply from me, it isn't
because I'm ignoring you. :-)
--Otto "HACK-MAN" Heuer
_____ _________ _ _____ _____ _____ _____
| ___|| _______|| | Otto E. Heuer, CEO ||___|| |_ _| |_ _| ||___||
| |__ | |___ ___| | FSD, Inc. | o | | | | | | o |
| __| |___ || _ | "The innovator for |__O__| |_| |_| |__O__|
| | _______| || |_| | software solutions." C, Pascal, Fortran, BASIC
|_||_________||_____| Assembly Language, Snobol, Ada, APL, Prolog, LISP
Unix, MS-DOS, ProDOS . . . .... . . . . . . . Audio/Video
ottoh@cfsmo.honeywell.com :..: .:.:. : :.' .. :`.': .:.:. :`. : Star Trek
hackman@pnet51.orb.mn.org : : : : :... : `. : : : : : `: Apple IIgs
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