Fiction
Odo: There are dozens of species on this station. They tolerate each other's differences very well.
Laas: He has bumps on his forehead. She has a wrinkled nose. But they're basically alike.
Laas: He has bumps on his forehead. She has a wrinkled nose. But they're basically alike.
—Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Chimera"
"Ugh, she's hideous! Why is her forehead so smooth?"
—Jankom Pog upon seeing his first human, Star Trek: Prodigy
Chel: Name one alien that's not pastel colored with big pointy ears.
Lexx: E.T.!
Chel: Sorry, fictional characters don't count.
Lexx: E.T.!
Chel: Sorry, fictional characters don't count.
"Mr Barf, it is our duty to respect all aliens and cultures. Don't forget that aliens are just like us, except for a few facial bumps. On screen. (pimple-covered alien appears on viewscreen) UGH! Some have more bumps than others."
— Captain Pinchard, Sev Trek: Pus in Boots
Admiral Forrest defended Archer's record. "It's true that Enterprise has run into a few bumps," he said. "But most of them have been on alien foreheads."
You know how on Star Trek the aliens are always just humans with a little nose putty and some bad outfits? But they basically look human and act human and speak English? Well, Ax isn't like that. You take one look at Ax and you know he isn't from around here.
—Animorphs #10: The Android
(While watching a Foxen kaiju movie.) "Who are those humans in thesilver jumpsuits with the prosthetic foreheads?" Salli asked.
On works
"Aliens in Star Trek just have different noses. That's because they have a different gene - the Roddenberry gene!"
"...I had a glued vagina on my face and my hair looked like Bozo, the Clown."
—Patricia Tallman on one of her roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Pleasure Thresholds
(Valley Girl voice) "Ahh, Miss Sirtis, why is it that all the aliens on Star Trek are humanoid in shape?' To which I responded, well, the minute we start auditioning actors who aren't humanoid in shape, that will change."
—Marina Sirtis, Star Trek: Nemesis feauturette
"We've hired a pretty girl and I want to keep her that way. Think of something that we can take and make her look a little alien, and still get the idea she's from another planet, but she's still gorgeous."
— Star Trek producer Rick Berman
to makeup artist Michael Westmore
to makeup artist Michael Westmore"Man, they weren't even trying with this one. I don't know if they were running out of latex or what, but boldly going where people look like they're about to go cross-eyed is not my idea of majestic space opera. Coming soon — aliens with extra-deep upper lip dents."
— Lore Fitzgerald Sjöberg, on Bajoran Nose Ridges.
"Denubulans are a humanoid species that have peculiar head-ridges that makes their foreheads look like backsides. "
"[Captain Archer] says that all Tandarans (isn't that a kind of curry?) have a distinctive feature in the middle of their foreheads. So distinctive, in fact, that approximately 75% of all alien races in Star Trek have one."
"Guys, why did you give the Andorians a bumpy forehead? Their skin is blue, their hair is white, AND they have antennae. We don't need a bumpy forehead to know they're aliens! In fact, this does the exact opposite. I didn't look at this guy and say 'Wow, that guy's an alien!', I thought 'Hey, he looks like Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway?!'"
— SF Debris, reviewing the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Andorian Incident"
"I think the first thing that went through my head was 'Do I have to wear a head, a mask? What do I have to wear?' And when I found out it was just some nice dots, I was like 'I'm in.'"
— Nicole de Boer, Entertainment Tonight interview on playing Ezri Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
on playing Ezri Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.