I’m watching “Enterprise” for the first time and Shran is, by far, my favorite recurring character. It doesn’t hurt that he’s played by my favorite recurring “Star Trek” actor!
Agreed. Every episode with Shran was gold. I believe the rumor was he was supposed to join the crew if they went to a season 5. Too bad. I will say Jeffrey Combs playing Weyun on DS9 was an equally fun and entertaining character.
Oh damn, that’s cool… I always liked the concept of a race living on something besides a planet, like a moon or asteroid or something. My favorite example is from a sci-fi book I read in middle school and it stuck with me… it’s these flying creatures that live on densely packed asteroids in an asteroid belt, and because of a nearby gas giant it has a self renewing atmosphere almost throughout the whole ring/orbit, it’s just really thin between the rocks and so these flying creatures can essentially migrate and fly between these asteroids when the time is right and the pass close enough together. They just build up speed, break from the weak gravity, coast, catch the gravity of the next one and land. I always thought that was so damn cool, even though now as an adult who knows more about science I’m like.. nonsense! Hahaha but I still love it.
It not so unique. I mean, it's based on real things. Andoria has many similarities with Europa, one planet size "moon" of Jupiter. As far as we know, Europa could have some kind of life, under the ice.
@@laikapupkino1767 Yeah, I really enjoyed watching all their interactions! That was probably one of the best parts about the series (aside from T'pol's body, of course).
How would their old Imperial mindsets translate to modern Trek, though? The Andorians in DSC we see in DSC are from the future (32nd century, iirc) and of the others, who knows how many were Starfleet because they saw it as a way to keep themselves in check or an eventual start of a new Empire, if they thought those things at all?
@@alexspencer5926 I was really annoyed Disco made the Andorian makeup both worse and more labor-intensive with face-bony things, guaranteeing fewer appearances and fewer actors that can pull em off. (Also darker blue's pretty much a terrible makeup choice just cause it's *bound* to look like plastic. ) But I would presume there's still an Andorian Guard even if they probably no longer call themselves a 'Star Empire.' (I imagine that and maybe tending to keep to mostly Andorian-crewed ships might help explain their less-common appearances in places shows cover. Earth puts all its eggs in the Starfleet basket just about and other members maybe less so. ) Anyway, just from what we see in shows and beta canon, it seems their 'Empire' was more a formality than actual interstellar imperialism, maybe kinda like Japan still has an emperor.... of Japan. )
you would think there would be an andorian officer of some kind in the most recent shows outside of a high ranking official cause they needed some variety
I mean, Hemmer was an Aenar, but he was Chief Engineer for SNW season one 🤷♂️ But I completely agree, Andorians are a definite favorite of mine and I wish they were better represented
Also until cheap CGI or good animatronics it was difficult to portray them _with their antenna,_ without it looking silly. They couldn't have done much better than the TOS Andorians, the same TOS that had a Alfa 117 canine that was a dog with a horn, antenna and a scales stuck to its back and they thought 'that was good enough....' The same with the Gorn, a Gorn crewmember would be a interesting character in TNG or later, but a big guy in a rubber suit on the sound soundstage would've be laughable.
"Don't show previously established aliens in TNG" was such a stupid idea. It was a hundred years later, some of the aliens depicted in TOS would have joined the Federation in that century. Putting some of those aliens in Starfleet uniforms, even encountering them on Federation worlds, would help to link the two shows and reinforce the continuity.
This is a good example of how just because the original creator came up with an idea, it cant still be a bad idea. That said, the reason the Andorians in particular barely ever showed up even after Roddenberry's death is that their makeup was very expensive and would look very stupid if done poorly. That's also why in Enterprise, Brannon Braga had to fight pretty hard to get Andorians into the show.
Actually "Enterprise" takes place before the original series. So including episodes that set up the formation of the UFP would have made perfect sense.
Watching this video has made me once again wish that Enterprise had gotten another season to show the Romulan War with Earth and how it resulted in the "original 4" come together to create the UFP.
I wish they would make the first romulan war into a movie. Basically Enterprise seaon 6 but in movie form to explain the founding of the Federation. Also we'd get to see the NX-01 Refit which is by far one of the best ships in Star Trek.
@@uncletaylorify Bah!! I rather enjoyed all that crap!! However, I have to admit that I would indeed have preferred to have seen the war with the Romulans.
5 - you forgot Alpha Centauri. They are human colony but during Romulan war they have separate seat in the Council and was often accused by Andorians that humans in fact have two votes - a statement AC representative strongly objects.
Some day, Combs should write an autobiography, one that should include the subtitle "...Or How I Learned To Love The Latex", on account of all the rubber-faced characters he played!
He was also excellent as The Question on "Justice League Unlimited." He dominated every episode where he made a significant appearance. His conversation with Lex Luthor, where he calmly tells Luthor that he is going kill him to prevent Luthor from killing The Flash (which would lead to Superman killing Luthor and then The Justice League taking over the World) is one of the best moments in the series.
@@Solitaire001 This is so incredible to read. I had no idea that DC comics had licensed the Andorians to appear in their extended universe. Any plans to include other Federation species? I mean, the Vulcans would be great, but I doubt DC has the kind of coin needed to buy rights to Vulcans in general, let alone any specific Vulcan characters.
Enterprise did a nice job of resurrecting the Andorians and fleshing out their story. Jeffrey Combs Shran was a very entertaining character and Bruce Horak's Hemmer is a beloved character from the first season of Strange New Worlds.
Andorians (&Einar) after Enterprise are one of the most interesting communities in Trek Culture that is still very open to many more story telling possibilities
You overlooked the classic animated ST episode “Yesteryear” In an alternative timeline Kirk’s Enterprise’s first officer is instead of Vulcan an Andorian-Commander Thelin. He and Spock have an interesting interchange in which Therin accepts Spock’s odyssey even though Spock’s success might lead to his own extinction because of the Andorian’s value of family.
Enterprise gave us not only more about andorians but explained the Klingon change in appearance and a very interesting story in season 4 about Vulcan society
Well, they never really explained it. In Discovery it was shown that they adapted their DNA to infiltrate sleepers into the Federation. In DS9 it was clearly shown that the Klingons had changed significantly and Worf didn't want to explain why that was the case. He was embarrassed and apparently it was a secret that not even high ranking officers knew. I suspect that the DNA adaptation became contagious and the Klingons accidentally became more humanoid ;) (of course this is just my conclusion)
I remember that fight and after. He found a rule that allowed him to let Shran live and honor his culture which impressed him and others. While he said he was humiliated archer rebutted part of the rules which changed it from humiliation to realizing he respected Andorian tradition.
I guess Gene Roddenberry softened his stance of previously used aliens in ST:TNG as a Klingon not only appeared before the end of the 1st season...BUT BEFORE THE END OF THE 1ST EPISODE😂
Nah, they just ignored his loonier rantings. They eventually moved him to Executive Producer because of his perfectionist disruptions on set. Truth was his vision was too beautiful to even be reproduced with digital special effects. It was too hard on the cast and crew to do on a weekly hour broadcast.
Very cool! It's too bad we didn't get much in the way of stories involving the Andorians because of budgetary reasons, so I was thrilled to see that fixed beginning with Enterprise because they were one of the four founding members of the federation. Now the same could be said of Tellarites: they were mostly treated as background characters and we only knew of them as cantankerous and argumentative. Thanks to Prodigy, we finally have a relatable Tellarite and more insight into their species. Hopefully there will be a "10 Things" list about them in the future!
The Andorians are pretty badass. They have aspects of the Vulcans and Klingons, but not as extreme. They are warlike, but are arguably easier to reason with than Klingons. And they are proud and intelligent like the Vulcans, but haven't abandoned their emotions and don't have the obnoxious air of superiority. And they are one of the most iconic looking species in the franchise. They'd be a great addition to The Federation.
I read an old interview about Fred Phillips designing Andorian makeup in an all-nighter rush. He admitted that _My Favourite Martian_ (a popular show from a few years earlier) was the first thing that came to mind when he was told about Andorian antennae, an influence he consciously chose to emulate.
I've been fascinated by the non-canon explanation that there are 4 Andorian sexes; "thaan" and "chan" being the males and "shen" and "zhen" being the females. The thaan and chan both fertilize the shen's egg, which is then transferred to a pouch in the zhen, who carries the eggs to term. The zhen does not contribute any genetic material to the process. Because of this complex process, the Andorians were facing a fertility crisis in the 2380s that, due to several reasons, led to their secession from the Federation in 2383. Their crisis was solved by a group of genetic specialists led by Dr. Julian Bashir in 2385 or 86, and the Andorians petitioned for re-admittance into the Federation, which was not only granted, but also led to the next Federation President being Andorian.
It's not exactly due to the complex process; if the 4-sex setup was detrimental they never would've lived long enough as a species to reach space. It's mentioned only a few times but in the books they do mention there was some sort of "calamity" that led to genetic damage that caused a shorter window of fertility for adults and miscarriages.
Personally I think that's clunky when they might just have a culture of bigger families cause they live on a harsh and dangerous planet with a duelling culture. Even if everyone in a given marriage is straight you could see pairs of best friends going out and dating other pairs of best friends, for instance. And yaknow, they'd want to take care of each other if they lost someone.
I had seen a interview with some of the writers of "Star Trek Enterprise" in which they describe that Andorians were not of 4 distinct sexes they were simply due to the Hostility of their Culture and the planet's/moon they lived on that it was two couples who married as a single family unit for Better Genetic Diversity and Better Protection of the Young in their lifestyle and culture!!! 🖖🤠
@@worldtraveler930 aw but the 4 sexes idea is so unusual I liked it, I believe there may have also been an aspect of genetic conpatibility between all four members of the family declining too?
I don't think I missed it in the video, but Andorian emotions are dependent on temperature. This was established in the ST RPG by FASA and Universal confirmed it. My only character I played in the two year campaign was an Andorian Security Chief. EVERY TIME there was suspected conflict on the ship the Captain would engage, "Security Protocol Charlie-Three-Seven", which would increase the temp of the ship 15*F to get Lt. Klytos in the mood to fight.
The "First Splinter" timeline books focused on Andorian mating, explaining it took four parents to create a child. This led to a dwindling birth rate, something DS9 science officer Ensign Thrishar ch'Thane (Shar) became obsessed with solving, as he wanted to remain in Starfleet, but his duty to his bondmates conflicted with that. He chose to postpone that and go on a months-long mission to the Gamma Quadrant, leading to one of his bondmates taking their own life due to the stress of his being away. Upon his return, Shar went to Andoria, conceived a child with his remaining bondmates, plus a new Andorian who had lost her bondmates. He continued to stay to help solve their fertility crisis.
They’re also canonically some of the most prolific and sought after artists in the galaxy. In the books, the four person wedding is due to the species having four distinct genders of which two are masculine and two are feminine.
Yeah, I was disappointed they didn't go with that by the time they re-appeared in Enterprise, but I also wish they had depicted the Andorian limited exoskeleton from the Star Fleet Medical Desk Reference.
That was messed up, Hemmer didn't need to go. It's one of those deaths that make you not want to watch the rest. That is probably one of my favorite seasons out of all the modern ones. And someone will rudely point out, Hemmer was Aenar
Consider this; Andorians are extremely cold and heat resistant. If the fall didn't kill him, there is a good chance that the cold of the atmosphere could have killed the Gorn hatchlings before they actually hatched. As far as I remember, they didn't recover his body, so I think they left it open for a possible return in later seasons.
I still like them better than the Ferengi (who didn't show up til "TNG"-after being in "Enterprise"). That little girl in the last girl was adorable. I like the scene where T'Pol led her away to the shuttlepod and showing her motherly touch.
Andorian antennae is supposed to grow back when cut off . Walking or balance is an issue without them . .. I seem to recall in dialogue before enterprise. Tng . A woman complained that she served with an adorian, and his antennae moved, and it irritated her .
I loved that they brough Hemmer the Aenar in to Strange New Worlds, they were a very cool species, it's a shame he didn't stay longer he was fantastic.
Kind of odd that, in the TNG era they were relegated to the background. I mean, imagine having to go through 2 hours of make-up just to appear on screen for 5 seconds
@@JD1010101110 I guess that's fair, but why have them at all in that case? Fill out the crowd scenes with humans, and easy aliens. Having an extra sit in the make-up chair for hours is wasting their time, the make-up artist's time, and the studio a lot of money.
@@samuellawrencesbookclub8250 my guess is they were made in the same production block, so they filmed those scenes on the same day so it was just easy to throw the made up actress into the background of Risa to make the shot look more alien and interesting.
🖖😎👍Very cool and very nicely well done and very informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and form on this format and subject matter provided on the Andorians and of their evolution throughout the Startrek universe and of their way of life and that of being a warrior race as well indeed!,👌.
Can we also please take a moment to recognize the contribution by Jeffrey Combs to this race's portrayal? He's appeared in multiple ST series (DS9 as Weyoun, for example) - but his part in Enterprise sealed the Andorian character for me. He did an amazing job.
I believe. In beta Canon. Starfleet has a major shipyard at andoria. And the space around it is difficult to navigate, especially for a hostile force and with a federation fleet and the andorian guard. Defending it it's a daunting prospect
The nice thing, at least for me, that all these physical differences can be explained as different Andorian races. I can't do that between the TNG Klingons and the Discovery/Kelvin Timeline Klingons.
Could you make a similar video on the Tellarites? I bet you couldn't make a good one in ten years! (Using a little Tellarite insulting diplomacy here ;) )
They were always my favorite race of the Federation since I first saw Journey to Babal in the '70s. I was consistently disappointed that they never appeared in incarnation after incarnation of Star Trek. Pigs. In. Spaaaaaaaace!
Fun fact the first Aenar was infact first seen in Star Trek TAS episode yesteryear which in an alternate timeline the Enterprise's Chief science officer was a pale Andorian.
Love the andorians. But as someone who's watched the original airing of the original series, I was always annoyed that according to the book The making of Star Trek the antenna are supposed to be how they hear, because the andorians don't have ears. That's according to the making of Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry wanted them to be as alien as possible so he made them not have ears
Star Trek Enterprise is my favorite of all the Star Trek series! The Enterprise is more realistic, story lines are well thought out, the characters are more convincing and likable than the rest of the series. I watched episode 1, season 1 of the original Star Trek when it first aired, I thought it was the cat's meow and absolutely loved it, so I do not make this comment without personal experience.
Indeed. Jeffrey Combs played quite a few awesome characters across Star Trek. Shran and Weyoun from Deep Space 9 were his best characters though. He was good as Brunt in ds9 too!
@1:24 Love this old pics, makeup men like Mr Phillips working while wearing a tie and cufflinks. P.S. Based on the guy in the middle chair, I'm assuming this was from Amok Time.
Currently rewatching Enterprise and have been enjoying the Andorian content. I was wondering if the Denoblians have ever popped up in the Trek universe other than Enterprise? Flaux seemed to play a big part of humanity’s first steps and it would be nice to know what happened to his people. Thanks.
Point No. 7 brings up an aspect of the original Andorian makeup that subsequent makeup artists have completely ignored: "The Andorians holding their heads down and slightly tilted to facilitate listening with their delicate antennae." Andorians' ears are in their antennae; the actors in TOS wore wigs that completely covered their human ears because Andorians are not supposed to have ears where humans do. Perhaps Andorian physiology was retconned to include two sets of ears, or perhaps (and I think this more likely) later makeup designers simply didn't have a clue.
Or they decided that the antennae being ears didn't really make much sense, and it was more plausible for them to be sensory organs of a type that simply has no analog in humans.
This is why I never understand writers who want to redo the klingons as some entirely different, when you can either make up a race or just used one the lesser fleshed out races like SNW is doing with the Gorn.
"Journey to Babel" did actually contain the seeds of the Andorians' backstory. Ambassador Shras tells Spock that, "My people are a violent people (but we have no quarrel with Captain Kirk)." When Spock says there's no logic in the attack on Kirk or the murder of the Tellarite ambassador, Gral, Shras says, "Perhaps you should forget logic, and devote yourself to motivations of passion, again. Those are reasons for murder." The violent, passionate and illogical nature of Andorians set up in Babel shines through in every appearance of the Andorians in Enterprise. 🙂
It will great pleasure when someone would decide to create even one season long spin-off about only Shran. Some episodes before Enterprise, during and after. Seeing both, Jeffrey Combs and Scott Bakula once again on the same plane will be priceless.
And this is one of the many reasons why ENT is my favorite ST show so far, I like TOS DS9 TNG and most VOY episodes but with ENT I feel like I got to know so much more about the big 4 plus the other species
The Andorians were important and underrepresented. In most of trek over the decades they were not well fleshed out. In Enterprise they were awesome. Perfect design and portrayal. I loved the portrayal and design. Hate that Discovery took all of the races new designs to a new level, turning klingons into crazy orcs and adding odd ridges to Andorians.
How would the Klingons have felt about Andorians? They may have respected their honour based Warrior outlook ...or seen it as a serious threat, or both. It could be assumed however that Vulcan territory was between Klingon and Andorian territories and thus they didn't have much opportunity to interact.
Seeing Suzie Plaxon as an andorian on this episode makes me want a whole episode on the many characters she has played. Is she the woman who has played the greatest number of distinct characters in the Star Trek universe?
No, but she's right up there. Pretty sure that particular title is held by Jeffrey Combs. Most likely the most-used female actor in Trek, but not the most-used actor overall. (I'd have to do some checking to be sure of that, though.)
I would of liked to see Andorians and Klingons interact. It would of probably start off as a pissing match but I could see them getting along after a good fight. Or maybe that's just my hope, haha.
Klingons would lose their minds and rush in all full of battle rage and Fleet Admiral Shran would coolly ambush them and trick them and blow them to sto-vo-kor in piecemeal fashion. 😅
One thing not mentioned here, is that they tended to cast shorter male actors and taller female actors for the Andorians. That suggests that females may have been dominant at some point in their history.
I’m watching “Enterprise” for the first time and Shran is, by far, my favorite recurring character. It doesn’t hurt that he’s played by my favorite recurring “Star Trek” actor!
AGREED
Shrank is a great character, and he gets greater as enterprise gets better and better scripts
I wish they would have had a spin off series focussed on Shran and the Andorians.
Agreed. Every episode with Shran was gold. I believe the rumor was he was supposed to join the crew if they went to a season 5. Too bad. I will say Jeffrey Combs playing Weyun on DS9 was an equally fun and entertaining character.
I like him also in deep space nine he play the villain in enterprise he was a ant hero In justice league unlimited he was the voice of the Question
One thing you missed: Andoria is not a planet, but rather a moon orbiting a gas giant. This appears to be unique in the ST Universe, so far.
It's also the only demon class world as a founding member world.
Oh damn, that’s cool…
I always liked the concept of a race living on something besides a planet, like a moon or asteroid or something.
My favorite example is from a sci-fi book I read in middle school and it stuck with me… it’s these flying creatures that live on densely packed asteroids in an asteroid belt, and because of a nearby gas giant it has a self renewing atmosphere almost throughout the whole ring/orbit, it’s just really thin between the rocks and so these flying creatures can essentially migrate and fly between these asteroids when the time is right and the pass close enough together. They just build up speed, break from the weak gravity, coast, catch the gravity of the next one and land. I always thought that was so damn cool, even though now as an adult who knows more about science I’m like.. nonsense! Hahaha but I still love it.
It not so unique. I mean, it's based on real things.
Andoria has many similarities with Europa, one planet size "moon" of Jupiter. As far as we know, Europa could have some kind of life, under the ice.
@@DanteYewToob A Asimov book perhaps ?
@@DanteYewToobthat sounds cool, what's the book called?
The Enterprise Andorians were such an improvement over the originals. Shran became one of my favorite characters.
Jeffrey Combs always bring a great character....
Shran and Archer had such an amazing chemistry and complicated relationship, their respect for each other and even friendship growing over time.
@@laikapupkino1767
Yeah, I really enjoyed watching all their interactions! That was probably one of the best parts about the series (aside from T'pol's body, of course).
How would their old Imperial mindsets translate to modern Trek, though? The Andorians in DSC we see in DSC are from the future (32nd century, iirc) and of the others, who knows how many were Starfleet because they saw it as a way to keep themselves in check or an eventual start of a new Empire, if they thought those things at all?
@@alexspencer5926 I was really annoyed Disco made the Andorian makeup both worse and more labor-intensive with face-bony things, guaranteeing fewer appearances and fewer actors that can pull em off. (Also darker blue's pretty much a terrible makeup choice just cause it's *bound* to look like plastic. ) But I would presume there's still an Andorian Guard even if they probably no longer call themselves a 'Star Empire.' (I imagine that and maybe tending to keep to mostly Andorian-crewed ships might help explain their less-common appearances in places shows cover. Earth puts all its eggs in the Starfleet basket just about and other members maybe less so. ) Anyway, just from what we see in shows and beta canon, it seems their 'Empire' was more a formality than actual interstellar imperialism, maybe kinda like Japan still has an emperor.... of Japan. )
Andorians were a great treat on Enterprise and I love their Cruisers
For such an important species in the Federation's history, it's really unfortunate that they were so under represented in many of the shows.
you would think there would be an andorian officer of some kind in the most recent shows outside of a high ranking official cause they needed some variety
I mean, Hemmer was an Aenar, but he was Chief Engineer for SNW season one 🤷♂️ But I completely agree, Andorians are a definite favorite of mine and I wish they were better represented
You can thank Roddenberry for that. If he allowed the writers on TNG to use all species I think we would have had more info on core species
Also until cheap CGI or good animatronics it was difficult to portray them _with their antenna,_ without it looking silly.
They couldn't have done much better than the TOS Andorians, the same TOS that had a Alfa 117 canine that was a dog with a horn, antenna and a scales stuck to its back and they thought 'that was good enough....'
The same with the Gorn, a Gorn crewmember would be a interesting character in TNG or later, but a big guy in a rubber suit on the sound soundstage would've be laughable.
@LyonHall1 there is Jennifer in Lower Decks, but I think they missed a trick in Picard, so I hope Strange New Worlds has more!
"Don't show previously established aliens in TNG" was such a stupid idea. It was a hundred years later, some of the aliens depicted in TOS would have joined the Federation in that century. Putting some of those aliens in Starfleet uniforms, even encountering them on Federation worlds, would help to link the two shows and reinforce the continuity.
They also could have ignored it after Roddenberry's death during season three of TNG.
This is a good example of how just because the original creator came up with an idea, it cant still be a bad idea. That said, the reason the Andorians in particular barely ever showed up even after Roddenberry's death is that their makeup was very expensive and would look very stupid if done poorly. That's also why in Enterprise, Brannon Braga had to fight pretty hard to get Andorians into the show.
Actually "Enterprise" takes place before the original series. So including episodes that set up the formation of the UFP would have made perfect sense.
The Andorians from Enterprise were by far my favorite recurring race/characters of any ST series
AGREE
Watching this video has made me once again wish that Enterprise had gotten another season to show the Romulan War with Earth and how it resulted in the "original 4" come together to create the UFP.
They could have if they skipped all that boring Xindi crap
I wish they would make the first romulan war into a movie. Basically Enterprise seaon 6 but in movie form to explain the founding of the Federation. Also we'd get to see the NX-01 Refit which is by far one of the best ships in Star Trek.
@@uncletaylorify
Bah!! I rather enjoyed all that crap!!
However, I have to admit that I would indeed have preferred to have seen the war with the Romulans.
5 - you forgot Alpha Centauri. They are human colony but during Romulan war they have separate seat in the Council and was often accused by Andorians that humans in fact have two votes - a statement AC representative strongly objects.
@@sebaszwarcyeah, they didn’t really mention that.
Jeffery Combs is a terrific actor & can easily take over any scene he’s in. JC was just born to play a bad guy.
Some day, Combs should write an autobiography, one that should include the subtitle "...Or How I Learned To Love The Latex", on account of all the rubber-faced characters he played!
JC also did very well as Cmdr. Shran, who is certainly not a bad guy.
Are you saying Shran was bad? Because he was an incredible guy. Much more rational than any Klingon leader.
He was also excellent as The Question on "Justice League Unlimited." He dominated every episode where he made a significant appearance. His conversation with Lex Luthor, where he calmly tells Luthor that he is going kill him to prevent Luthor from killing The Flash (which would lead to Superman killing Luthor and then The Justice League taking over the World) is one of the best moments in the series.
@@Solitaire001 This is so incredible to read. I had no idea that DC comics had licensed the Andorians to appear in their extended universe. Any plans to include other Federation species? I mean, the Vulcans would be great, but I doubt DC has the kind of coin needed to buy rights to Vulcans in general, let alone any specific Vulcan characters.
Andorians were such great characters. Jeffrey Combs really brought them to life, like he did the Vorta in DS9.
True that! Loved both!
The andorians are one of the most criminally underused species! Hope we can see more of them in future trek shows.
The Enterprise really made up it
May of been for best
We really have to thank the writers for that series to this great work
They're definitely unique. Don't the Andorians have a sort of " shell " ?
Enterprise did a nice job of resurrecting the Andorians and fleshing out their story. Jeffrey Combs Shran was a very entertaining character and Bruce Horak's Hemmer is a beloved character from the first season of Strange New Worlds.
Andorians (&Einar) after Enterprise are one of the most interesting communities in Trek Culture that is still very open to many more story telling possibilities
You overlooked the classic animated ST episode “Yesteryear” In an alternative timeline Kirk’s Enterprise’s first officer is instead of Vulcan an Andorian-Commander Thelin. He and Spock have an interesting interchange in which Therin accepts Spock’s odyssey even though Spock’s success might lead to his own extinction because of the Andorian’s value of family.
And of course Yesteryear was written by D. C. Fontana as well.
And he was the first Aenar technically due to animation error.
Enterprise gave us not only more about andorians but explained the Klingon change in appearance and a very interesting story in season 4 about Vulcan society
Well, they never really explained it. In Discovery it was shown that they adapted their DNA to infiltrate sleepers into the Federation. In DS9 it was clearly shown that the Klingons had changed significantly and Worf didn't want to explain why that was the case. He was embarrassed and apparently it was a secret that not even high ranking officers knew. I suspect that the DNA adaptation became contagious and the Klingons accidentally became more humanoid ;) (of course this is just my conclusion)
Once Shran was shown on ENTERPRIZE! I WAS GLAD THEY FINALLY GOT A DESERVING BACK STORY. And THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THEIR STORY ARC-ALL of them!!
I really wish Enterprise would have been continued another season or two.
I remember that fight and after. He found a rule that allowed him to let Shran live and honor his culture which impressed him and others. While he said he was humiliated archer rebutted part of the rules which changed it from humiliation to realizing he respected Andorian tradition.
I guess Gene Roddenberry softened his stance of previously used aliens in ST:TNG as a Klingon not only appeared before the end of the 1st season...BUT BEFORE THE END OF THE 1ST EPISODE😂
You noticed that. LOL
Nah, they just ignored his loonier rantings. They eventually moved him to Executive Producer because of his perfectionist disruptions on set.
Truth was his vision was too beautiful to even be reproduced with digital special effects. It was too hard on the cast and crew to do on a weekly hour broadcast.
Very cool! It's too bad we didn't get much in the way of stories involving the Andorians because of budgetary reasons, so I was thrilled to see that fixed beginning with Enterprise because they were one of the four founding members of the federation.
Now the same could be said of Tellarites: they were mostly treated as background characters and we only knew of them as cantankerous and argumentative. Thanks to Prodigy, we finally have a relatable Tellarite and more insight into their species. Hopefully there will be a "10 Things" list about them in the future!
The Andorians are pretty badass.
They have aspects of the Vulcans and Klingons, but not as extreme. They are warlike, but are arguably easier to reason with than Klingons. And they are proud and intelligent like the Vulcans, but haven't abandoned their emotions and don't have the obnoxious air of superiority.
And they are one of the most iconic looking species in the franchise.
They'd be a great addition to The Federation.
I read an old interview about Fred Phillips designing Andorian makeup in an all-nighter rush.
He admitted that _My Favourite Martian_ (a popular show from a few years earlier) was the first thing that came to mind when he was told about Andorian antennae, an influence he consciously chose to emulate.
I've been fascinated by the non-canon explanation that there are 4 Andorian sexes; "thaan" and "chan" being the males and "shen" and "zhen" being the females. The thaan and chan both fertilize the shen's egg, which is then transferred to a pouch in the zhen, who carries the eggs to term. The zhen does not contribute any genetic material to the process.
Because of this complex process, the Andorians were facing a fertility crisis in the 2380s that, due to several reasons, led to their secession from the Federation in 2383. Their crisis was solved by a group of genetic specialists led by Dr. Julian Bashir in 2385 or 86, and the Andorians petitioned for re-admittance into the Federation, which was not only granted, but also led to the next Federation President being Andorian.
It's not exactly due to the complex process; if the 4-sex setup was detrimental they never would've lived long enough as a species to reach space. It's mentioned only a few times but in the books they do mention there was some sort of "calamity" that led to genetic damage that caused a shorter window of fertility for adults and miscarriages.
Personally I think that's clunky when they might just have a culture of bigger families cause they live on a harsh and dangerous planet with a duelling culture. Even if everyone in a given marriage is straight you could see pairs of best friends going out and dating other pairs of best friends, for instance. And yaknow, they'd want to take care of each other if they lost someone.
I had seen a interview with some of the writers of "Star Trek Enterprise" in which they describe that Andorians were not of 4 distinct sexes they were simply due to the Hostility of their Culture and the planet's/moon they lived on that it was two couples who married as a single family unit for Better Genetic Diversity and Better Protection of the Young in their lifestyle and culture!!! 🖖🤠
Luckily, the books are their own separate Canon, as I always found that silly.
@@worldtraveler930 aw but the 4 sexes idea is so unusual I liked it, I believe there may have also been an aspect of genetic conpatibility between all four members of the family declining too?
Such a cool race. I hope we get to see more of them in the future.
I think the best version of the Andorians, appeared in Enterprise.
I don't think I missed it in the video, but Andorian emotions are dependent on temperature.
This was established in the ST RPG by FASA and Universal confirmed it.
My only character I played in the two year campaign was an Andorian Security Chief. EVERY TIME there was suspected conflict on the ship the Captain would engage, "Security Protocol Charlie-Three-Seven", which would increase the temp of the ship 15*F to get Lt. Klytos in the mood to fight.
I like the makeup in Enterprise the best and they had the best actors for them as well.
Journey to Babel is one of my favourites! Lots of footage shot on the Enterprise!
The "First Splinter" timeline books focused on Andorian mating, explaining it took four parents to create a child. This led to a dwindling birth rate, something DS9 science officer Ensign Thrishar ch'Thane (Shar) became obsessed with solving, as he wanted to remain in Starfleet, but his duty to his bondmates conflicted with that. He chose to postpone that and go on a months-long mission to the Gamma Quadrant, leading to one of his bondmates taking their own life due to the stress of his being away. Upon his return, Shar went to Andoria, conceived a child with his remaining bondmates, plus a new Andorian who had lost her bondmates. He continued to stay to help solve their fertility crisis.
One of my fave post series books, along with any of Thris's other appearances. I'm so glad to see this here!
I've read that book -- very interesting and I enjoyed it. Thanks for reminding me of the title so I can buy my own copy of it. :)
I love how he would put on a space suit with magnetic boots and go OUTSIDE the station so he could be alone and just sit and think 😆
Andorians have always been my favorite StarTrek race. Thanks for this great video :)
I’m glad that they brought the Andorian back & did there appearance justice
They’re also canonically some of the most prolific and sought after artists in the galaxy. In the books, the four person wedding is due to the species having four distinct genders of which two are masculine and two are feminine.
Yeah, I was disappointed they didn't go with that by the time they re-appeared in Enterprise, but I also wish they had depicted the Andorian limited exoskeleton from the Star Fleet Medical Desk Reference.
Point of trivia. The Andorian, Thelev, on the TOS episode, "Journey to Babel" was actually an Orion. Obviously in disguise.
True.
I would love a "10 Things You Didn't Know About Orions" video...
Always liked the Andorrans. It’s a shame we lost Hemmer on “Strange New Worlds” so soon.
That was messed up, Hemmer didn't need to go. It's one of those deaths that make you not want to watch the rest. That is probably one of my favorite seasons out of all the modern ones. And someone will rudely point out, Hemmer was Aenar
Consider this;
Andorians are extremely cold and heat resistant.
If the fall didn't kill him, there is a good chance that the cold of the atmosphere could have killed the Gorn hatchlings before they actually hatched.
As far as I remember, they didn't recover his body, so I think they left it open for a possible return in later seasons.
Hemmer had a good death. Respect it.
I still like them better than the Ferengi (who didn't show up til "TNG"-after being in "Enterprise"). That little girl in the last girl was adorable. I like the scene where T'Pol led her away to the shuttlepod and showing her motherly touch.
Andorian antennae is supposed to grow back when cut off . Walking or balance is an issue without them . ..
I seem to recall in dialogue before enterprise. Tng . A woman complained that she served with an adorian, and his antennae moved, and it irritated her .
This JUST popped up in my recommendations after watching the season 4 arc.
I loved that they brough Hemmer the Aenar in to Strange New Worlds, they were a very cool species, it's a shame he didn't stay longer he was fantastic.
The Andorians were the most fun race since the Klingons in TNG. Very well fleshed out and quite interesting.
Kind of odd that, in the TNG era they were relegated to the background. I mean, imagine having to go through 2 hours of make-up just to appear on screen for 5 seconds
I was told Roddenberry thought they looked silly, so the Bolians were created instead
@@JD1010101110 *equally silly in my opinion*
@@JD1010101110 I guess that's fair, but why have them at all in that case? Fill out the crowd scenes with humans, and easy aliens. Having an extra sit in the make-up chair for hours is wasting their time, the make-up artist's time, and the studio a lot of money.
@@samuellawrencesbookclub8250 my guess is they were made in the same production block, so they filmed those scenes on the same day so it was just easy to throw the made up actress into the background of Risa to make the shot look more alien and interesting.
0:01 - always loved those little colored cubes of Play-Doh. ;)
I knew a few of them from Enterprise and from the books. Great video
🖖😎👍Very cool and very nicely well done and very informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and form on this format and subject matter provided on the Andorians and of their evolution throughout the Startrek universe and of their way of life and that of being a warrior race as well indeed!,👌.
Can we also please take a moment to recognize the contribution by Jeffrey Combs to this race's portrayal? He's appeared in multiple ST series (DS9 as Weyoun, for example) - but his part in Enterprise sealed the Andorian character for me. He did an amazing job.
I believe. In beta Canon. Starfleet has a major shipyard at andoria. And the space around it is difficult to navigate, especially for a hostile force and with a federation fleet and the andorian guard. Defending it it's a daunting prospect
They are my favorite and the best were in Enterprise with the expressive antennae
The nice thing, at least for me, that all these physical differences can be explained as different Andorian races. I can't do that between the TNG Klingons and the Discovery/Kelvin Timeline Klingons.
Hemmer is my favourite Andorian..RIP buddy
This was very interesting and informative. Thank you!
Could you make a similar video on the Tellarites? I bet you couldn't make a good one in ten years!
(Using a little Tellarite insulting diplomacy here ;) )
They were always my favorite race of the Federation since I first saw Journey to Babal in the '70s. I was consistently disappointed that they never appeared in incarnation after incarnation of Star Trek. Pigs. In. Spaaaaaaaace!
Yeah, you don't see a lot of Tellarites in the shows, either, despite being one of the four founding worlds of the UFP...
Fun fact the first Aenar was infact first seen in Star Trek TAS episode yesteryear which in an alternate timeline the Enterprise's Chief science officer was a pale Andorian.
Very interesting, thank you for posting!
Andorians saved Enterprise for me. They are standouts during that show's run.
Love the andorians. But as someone who's watched the original airing of the original series, I was always annoyed that according to the book The making of Star Trek the antenna are supposed to be how they hear, because the andorians don't have ears. That's according to the making of Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry wanted them to be as alien as possible so he made them not have ears
The antenna are for warning them if they are about to walk through a doorway that is too low, right?
I always wondered if Shrek was a green Andorian 😂
This video, plus the comments have been very informative.
I loved this information (about 50% of which I had not already known) and I look forward to seeing more of the Andorians in the future of Star Trek.
Star Trek Enterprise is my favorite of all the Star Trek series! The Enterprise is more realistic, story lines are well thought out, the characters are more convincing and likable than the rest of the series. I watched episode 1, season 1 of the original Star Trek when it first aired, I thought it was the cat's meow and absolutely loved it, so I do not make this comment without personal experience.
Shren was badass
Shran
Indeed. Jeffrey Combs played quite a few awesome characters across Star Trek. Shran and Weyoun from Deep Space 9 were his best characters though. He was good as Brunt in ds9 too!
nice vid, it must have taken ages to get all that info, and those clips.
@1:24 Love this old pics, makeup men like Mr Phillips working while wearing a tie and cufflinks. P.S. Based on the guy in the middle chair, I'm assuming this was from Amok Time.
@10:47 Wow, I literally paused the video at that. What an absolutely intriguing belief.
I also think that Weyoun and Liquidator Brunt are distant offspring of Shran.
Nothing New here, pretty much gathered all of that from watching "Star Trek Enterprise"!!! 🖖🤠
I love Andorians!!! I want more Andorian character time on the new star treks! 💙💙💙
Currently rewatching Enterprise and have been enjoying the Andorian content. I was wondering if the Denoblians have ever popped up in the Trek universe other than Enterprise? Flaux seemed to play a big part of humanity’s first steps and it would be nice to know what happened to his people. Thanks.
Great video. I loved it.
this has some pretty deep cuts ,more so than the average Trek Culture video. An Andorian being in TMP alone was news to me.
Point No. 7 brings up an aspect of the original Andorian makeup that subsequent makeup artists have completely ignored: "The Andorians holding their heads down and slightly tilted to facilitate listening with their delicate antennae." Andorians' ears are in their antennae; the actors in TOS wore wigs that completely covered their human ears because Andorians are not supposed to have ears where humans do.
Perhaps Andorian physiology was retconned to include two sets of ears, or perhaps (and I think this more likely) later makeup designers simply didn't have a clue.
Or they decided that the antennae being ears didn't really make much sense, and it was more plausible for them to be sensory organs of a type that simply has no analog in humans.
@@RedXlV Whatever. The point is, they went against Dorothy Fontana's original concept for the characters.
Most underrated and underused species in Star Tr... in sci-fi.
This is why I never understand writers who want to redo the klingons as some entirely different, when you can either make up a race or just used one the lesser fleshed out races like SNW is doing with the Gorn.
*the tellarite's were also underused to a degree which is really odd given their status as being one of the primary founding races of the Federation*
Awesome video!!!! one of the best in recent memory
Super video, thanks!
"Journey to Babel" did actually contain the seeds of the Andorians' backstory. Ambassador Shras tells Spock that, "My people are a violent people (but we have no quarrel with Captain Kirk)." When Spock says there's no logic in the attack on Kirk or the murder of the Tellarite ambassador, Gral, Shras says, "Perhaps you should forget logic, and devote yourself to motivations of passion, again. Those are reasons for murder." The violent, passionate and illogical nature of Andorians set up in Babel shines through in every appearance of the Andorians in Enterprise. 🙂
It will great pleasure when someone would decide to create even one season long spin-off about only Shran. Some episodes before Enterprise, during and after. Seeing both, Jeffrey Combs and Scott Bakula once again on the same plane will be priceless.
I like enterprise look the best, probably it’s because I am most familiar with the design.
I loved Shran and the Andorians on Enterprise. They were some of the best episodes.
I liked how there antennae could move and show a bit of there current mood
The only Andorian in the Animated Series was Commander Thelin from Yesteryear. He was pribably actually an Aenar because of his gray skin.
And this is one of the many reasons why ENT is my favorite ST show so far, I like TOS DS9 TNG and most VOY episodes but with ENT I feel like I got to know so much more about the big 4 plus the other species
BRIE! YOU ARE GORGEOUS. and ofcourse nice content
Yes , they need to make the same to Tellarites race characters.
Hoped the next video will be about the Aenars.
The Andorians were important and underrepresented. In most of trek over the decades they were not well fleshed out. In Enterprise they were awesome. Perfect design and portrayal. I loved the portrayal and design. Hate that Discovery took all of the races new designs to a new level, turning klingons into crazy orcs and adding odd ridges to Andorians.
One also served as first officer on the original Enterprise when time mucking around made Spock disappear
How would the Klingons have felt about Andorians?
They may have respected their honour based Warrior outlook ...or seen it as a serious threat, or both.
It could be assumed however that Vulcan territory was between Klingon and Andorian territories and thus they didn't have much opportunity to interact.
Seeing Suzie Plaxon as an andorian on this episode makes me want a whole episode on the many characters she has played. Is she the woman who has played the greatest number of distinct characters in the Star Trek universe?
No, but she's right up there. Pretty sure that particular title is held by Jeffrey Combs.
Most likely the most-used female actor in Trek, but not the most-used actor overall. (I'd have to do some checking to be sure of that, though.)
Was hoping for a shoutout to Jennifer on Lower Decks!!
I would of liked to see Andorians and Klingons interact. It would of probably start off as a pissing match but I could see them getting along after a good fight. Or maybe that's just my hope, haha.
Klingons would lose their minds and rush in all full of battle rage and Fleet Admiral Shran would coolly ambush them and trick them and blow them to sto-vo-kor in piecemeal fashion. 😅
One thing not mentioned here, is that they tended to cast shorter male actors and taller female actors for the Andorians. That suggests that females may have been dominant at some point in their history.
Its weird I've watched all of discovery but when they mention stuff from it i'm surprised
Hey, 😄There actually were things in there I didn't know!
"With all that being said" is my favourite WhatCulture catchphrase. No idea what it means, mind.
Huge Trekkie Bree fan here! Great episode!
D. C. Fontana wanted described the antennas as the ears of the Andorians.
I *did* already know all of these things, but I appreciated the cohesive presentation.
"The Andorians were happy to supply us the phasers."
In Enterprise I think they made a choice to make all andorian women taller than andorian men
What's wrong with that?
@@GabePuratekuta When did I suggest there was anything wrong? In fact I found it a nice touch.
@@JD1010101110 andorian males like being vertically challenged.
man i would love to see more andorians in modern trek my favorite species