Tellorites.

[Aaron-5]

This new topic is rather similar to my recent post about underrated characters like the one about the andorians in Starfleet.

Even after seeing the episode Journey to Babel,and looking over bios of them at the memory alpha site,I still don't seem to know what to make about this species. I know they appeared in a couple of Enterprise episodes,but I don't think I saw those,just scenes of them in it.

Spock's dad sarek himself said they simply argue,yeah it showed on that. I also recently read a ST TOS movie novel called MUTINY ON THE ENTERPRISE which had a tellorite ambassador named Zarn which was rather fussy and got done away with in an unpleasant manner like the tellorite was in the JTB episode.

And of course,like the andorians and orions they never appeared in later ST series either,except for a cameo on them in STIV and a neat cameo of a couple of them in the recent Phase II episode TSAMD.

Anyways,i'd like to know what are anyone's opinion on these oddball characters on the trek series? How would you rate them exactly?

[ZefNo]

To be honest, I have never liked them; they're silly.
Very much a product of the 60's. Like the Gorn, they just about work in TOS, but would look ridiculous post TNG.

One of those races, like the Tholians, that have been mentioned quite a bit, but rarely seen. And there's a good reason for that.
Some alien races in Star Trek have really stuck, with fans constantly wanting to see more; many have even become household names (Klingon, Vulcan etc.). Yet for every one of these, there are several other races in the Star Trek canon which have just been flops; races that never sparked any interest and that nobody really cares about. The Remans and the Xindi are probably the latest such example, but there are dozens of others, some of which even fans have trouble placing.  Most of the inhabitants of the Delta Quadrant fall into this category.

Having said that, Dr. Henglar on the excellent fan series Hidden Frontier is a Tellorite, he even had a spin-off audio series playing the title character!

[Aaron-5]

Thanks very much for the response Zefno,I appreciate it. It's been like pulling teeth to get a response out of any of the topics I post here anymore.

Anyways,yeah they were a pretty silly race,I just think they along with the andorians got little to no attention in post OS,and post TNG,ah well win some lose some.

It's just that I have a thing for underrated characters as of late,I just think some get too much attention and some not enough.

[evil_genius_180]

When I went to check out this thread the other day, the forum was FUBAR (you saw it) and I couldn't even see the text.  Then I forgot about it entirely by the time everything was back to normal.

I never really cared for the Tellarites, they're kind of a stupid species.  They're extremely pig headed, both figuratively and literally speaking.  They argue with everything and never seem happy about anything.  They did appear in a few Enterprise episodes, but not many.  The Andorians were certainly featured more, Commander Shran was a recurring character throughout the entire series.  I like them better than the Tellarites, mostly because they're not ugly and they don't have to disagree with everything.

It's odd that neither species appeared much after TOS (except Enterprise.)  They're supposed to be founding members of the Federation, and yet you hardly see them.  Though, for that matter, you don't see a lot of the TOS species.  I know, with TNG, they didn't want to rehash TOS and wanted to bring new species into the fold, but that doesn't mean they had to forget the old species entirely.  They could have stuck an Andorian or two into the background, the same with the Tellarites.  Just to say:  Look, these people are still here.

Of course, a lot of the "old" species are mentioned in the novels, because the novel writers aren't limited by budget and can put whatever they want in there.  The same with the comics.

[ZefNo]

When I went to check out this thread the other day, the forum was FUBAR (you saw it) and I couldn't even see the text.  Then I forgot about it entirely by the time everything was back to normal.

I had that problem too.

It's odd that neither species appeared much after TOS (except Enterprise.)

Indeed. The only time you see Andorians in the 24th century is briefly as a hologram in The Offspring, and a background character in Captain's Holiday, neither of which spoke.

Can't say I was ever disappointed with that; I never particularly liked the Andorians either.

[Anthony]

I think if somebody were to do a show with Tellerites, they should go with a squatter, more musculer model, the looks based off a wild Boar.  That would show a more direct ancestial line and explain the bad temper too.
In one novel, (Prime Directive as I recall) it was pointed out that Tellerites main sense is smell, not sight.  So the squinty look is also reasonable.
I am not an artist, so I can't do a drawing of what I am thinking.

Have a Goodun.

[Saladin_CO]

I don't hate the tellarites, but I don't identify with them very much, so that's one reason I haven't missed them too much.  That said, there are interesting ways to use them.  In "The Romulan War" series, the tellarites have a large presence in the story.  They did have (in my opinion) several successful appearances in Enterprise.  And New Voyages used them well also.  They appear in the game, Star Trek Online, as NPC's and playable races, but I have yet to encounter a single instance of anyone actually playing as a tellarite. 

I do like the idea of them evolving from boars rather than pigs though.  Making them even meaner and tougher might have some appeal.

As for Gorn... I LOVE the Gorn.  Starship Ajax is about to bring them back in a big way, and that's exciting to me.  I disagree that they couldn't appear in later series because of realism.  I think they did just fine in TOS.  They were't sleestak or power rangers monsters.  The Gorn looked pretty realistic.  It could be enhanced a little to make it articulate a little better with modern technology, but the design is sound.

Ken

[ZefNo]

The Gorn looked pretty realistic.

Looks like a man in a rubber suit to me.

[qoSagh]

I thought I had replied to this before, but I guess not. I like the Tellorites and don't find them silly at all. I think that perception is really die to them being under developed. I think the idea of a generally disagreeable race that is still a member of the Federation has allot of potential. Most of the time when we see a character who isn't full of sunshine and rainbows, it is the bad guy alien of the week. To see a supporting character who is on the good guy's side who is rather unpleasant seems kind of cool.

As for the Gorn, they have been fleshed out in comics, I read a pretty good TNG graphic novel featuring them a few years ago. They could easily be brought back. Being a child of the 1970's, I have to say I remember the Sleestak with nothing but fondness.

I played in a SIM years ago on AOL that took place on a Starfleet Ship that featured a Gorn Bartender that had converted to the Tellorite religion. I don't remember much of that plot device but I do know that it required him to wear a fake snout at religious ceremonies. That SIM unfortunately while having a good general concept started to go south and get really off the wall with some of the characters that were coming in. By the time I stopped playing it really was not recognizable as Trek.

[Saladin_CO]

The Gorn looked pretty realistic.

Looks like a man in a rubber suit to me.

Funny, I see a Gorn.... 

[evil_genius_180]

I just keep hearing his voice in my head whenever I look at that picture...