Hairless aliens

[vilakins]

While I was watching Star Trek:Nemesis, the appearance of the Romulans and Remans made me think about aliens and their portrayal on TV.

I know that Star Trek is stuck with the descriptions and names used in the original series, so the Romulans are basically Romans In Space with forehead bumps, a senate, and centurions (at least TOS had them). A praetor seems a very low rank to have for their leader too. I'd have chosen Imperator myself.

The Remans looked more alien than most on Star Trek; perhaps they've been challenged by the inventive ones on Farscape. However it made me think about aliens in SF on TV and how they mainly seem to be either very human (mammary glands and all) or hairless and reptilian in direct contradiction to what Vila thought in Blake's 7:

VILA: Then they are expecting an invasion? A hoard of hairy aliens?
ORAC: There is no logical reason why aliens should be hairy.
VILA: There is no logical reason why people should be hairy.

Blake's 7 did have some hairy aliens (Og springs to mind very readily, and there were the links) but in general SF on TV seems to equate hairlessness with intelligence and evolution, based purely on the fact that most humans have little hair--or perhaps on the relative costs of latex and fake fur. Now I consider our lack of hair a severe design fault myself. Humans would:

* look much better with fur; even old animals are attractive
* be able to dispense with moisturisers and sun-screens
* not have to wear clothes: fur keeps animals warm in winter and, surprisingly, cool in summer

Mind you, I suppose people would discriminate on fur-colour or patterning. Perhaps tabby humans would be too numerous and considered common and take to dying themselves all one colour, and there would be jokes about dumb spotteds.

So how about some hairy or furry aliens? It's a terrific attribute we've sadly lost and I'd like to see more of it.

Comments

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I don't mind fur or hair, but I'm not keen on feathered. I always find it harder to suspend disbelief if they start putting feathers on aliens.
I like the idea of furry humans, but I think you are right about prejudice. We would be ruled by a load of persians...

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Not Persians, they are too laid back, I see Siamese or Burmans as the dictators in our furry human world

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The Persian cat we had when I was a kid was a bad-tempered thing and quite autocratic. The scowl on her face matched her disposition perfectly. In fact her nickname was Beethoven; she was grey and looked like that bust you see of him.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Ah she must have been the exception that proved the rule.

Mind when I took a quiz 'What kind of cat are you' I turned out to be a Persian and laid back and easy going was their definition of the breed but I do have something of an autocratic turn when I'm annoyed so there is probably a streak of domination in most of them.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

One thing lack of fur/feathers plus upright stance does is make gender immediately obvious in a way it isn't to some other species. (Rockhopper penguins, which walk less upright than some, are either incredibly bad at telling or don't care, hence the difficulty of sexing them in zoos.) So aliens whose gender was not so immediately obvious might have a different attitude to it -not so many preconceived opinions for one thing.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Don't care, apparently. Edinburgh Zoo had astonishing difficulty sexing penguins until the keepers figured out that in fact penguins are apparently happily bisexual...

[kerravonsen]

So how about some hairy or furry aliens?

Well, don't forget the original Star Wars trilogy -- at least two sets of hairy aliens there. Both of them rather bear-like, when you think about it.

I also remember a comment someone made in connection with Babylon 5. Apparently, though they had quite an interesting alien insect-like occassional recurring character (it was Mantis-like, and I think he was supposed to be a rather "shady character") they stopped using it after a while, because us human viewers need to see human-like eyes and mouth in order to discern expressions; and from a writer's point of view, an expressionless character is not rewarding enough to work with.

Probably radio plays and books are different -- you can do whatever you want there.

Trek does tend toward the humans-with-bumps most of the time,though.

Doctor Who did try more, but then got stuck with the limitations of the visual medium and low-budget SFX -- men in rubber suits.
Babylon 5 and Farscape show how much more people can do now, in the alien looks department.

Again, I mention that SF books have done more than TV/movies. You've certainly got more than one lot of feline aliens in books -- just take C.J. Cherryh (Chanur) and Anne McCaffrey (Doona) for two examples. And there are all sorts of aliens populating David Brin's "Uplift" universe, to take another example. And there are some notable bird-like aliens in Rebecca Ore's "Becoming Alien" books, if I recall correctly -- it's been a while since I read them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, don't forget the original Star Wars trilogy

Very true. I always wondered how Han Solo understood Chewie though.

I remember the insect in Babylon 5; he was a fence I think. You can still add expression to non-human faces though--Farscape's done it very well with Rygel and Pilot, and recently (I'm still watching season 3) with a insect-like thing with eyes a couple of feet out to the sides.

Again, I mention that SF books have done more than TV/movies.

Oh, definitely, which is why I specified TV. I liked the idea of the Chanur, and I love David Brin's books; he is very inventive with his aliens. Eleanor Arnason also wrote some wonderful furry aliens in her 'Woman of the Iron People' and 'Ring of Swords'. I liked that her females didn't follow the frequent SF "I've got an original idea, let's make females subservient chattels!" theme still seen for too often. Hmm, I see she's written more, perhaps about the same aliens; must check the library.