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It is my impression that in most Star Trek episodes after TOS (across all the series), alien species are shown as white people with bumpy heads. On TOS alien species are mostly white people in different costumes.

So I am curious what species (in any Star Trek Series) are shown with most members of the species we see being acted by mostly non-white human actors? Yes, this question counts even species where we just as few as one individual.

Lets ignore non humaniod species, and ignore those (like the Andorians) that are painted a totally non-human color.

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    Weren't the TOS Klingons basically white actors in blackface?
    – Jason Baker
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 2:48
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    This question is based on a flawed premise. Many species have members played by actors of many human ethnicities. To name a few: Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, El-Aurians, Bajorans. These include the species where we see the most examples. So you can't conclude any particular species is based on only a particular color of human actors. The premise is false, so the question is useless.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 3:48
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    @Lexible : Hmmm, I didn't interpret it as TOS-centric. The question title refers only to "Star Trek", the star-trek-tos tag wasn't used, and it seems that TOS is mentioned in the question body as a clarification about the nature of the costuming...
    – Praxis
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 4:35
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    @Hypnosifl: If you take the question in the most literal form, it just isn't an interesting question. Take the Halanan (maybe I'm wrong on this example, but the point still stands). We have exactly one member of this species and she happens to be non-white. So we list that species?! Yes, technically 1 of 1 qualifies as "mostly non-white". I'm pretty sure if we combed through all the one-off background aliens we have several dozen examples. Oh and then it becomes a list question. Point: you need to apply a little thought in interpreting a question, don't just go by the letter.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Sep 28, 2015 at 17:39
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    ... I'm going to recuse myself (and I rarely VTC except for blatant violations) but especially with your latest clarifications, I'm having trouble seeing how this is not subject to closure for being possibly too broad and also asking for a list. Like I said before, now anyone can pull up group shots of extras in DS9 or in Federation council or whatever and any random alien who is not played by a white actor is a legitimate answer.
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 1:11

2 Answers 2

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Ligonians

In the TNG episode "Code of Honor", the Ligonians are humanoids with the following physical description:

Ligonians generally resembled Humans of Sub-Saharan African descent physically.

(Source)

enter image description here

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    Haha I was going to say that, which is why I asked the question whether this question was restricted to TOS or not!
    – Often Right
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 3:18
  • @N_Soong : Ah, I didn't really look at the comments --- sorry! I interpreted the question as asking about all Star Trek series, and so I just went ahead.
    – Praxis
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 3:20
  • I've improved the wording of my question, your answer still fits though.
    – zipquincy
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 15:02
  • @Praxis: +1 as the only correct answer, even though I don't think the Memory-Alpha description is actually any kind of evidence. It's just a statement of what he saw by whoever edited the wiki. For example, one could easily argue this was an elite class of Ligonians who all have this appearance. Only because they clearly deliberately cast non-white actors do I agree with the answer (i.e. not because of the citation).
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Sep 28, 2015 at 16:43
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    Please no one wants to remember that episode
    – IG_42
    Commented Jul 23, 2016 at 13:41
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Warning!

The list below is somewhat conjecture on my part. Unlike the Ligosians where Memory Alpha explicitly states about their physiology, we don't have much background information on the following species. The basis for this list is that those who we do see are, as far as any Star Trek viewer is concerned, what the typical member of that species looks like. Whether you consider this reasonable or not is up to you, but in my opinion, as we have no other individuals from the same species to compare them to, it's a reasonable conclusion in my perspective!

The closest we have in TOS is probably the Elasians:

enter image description here

Outside of TOS though, apart from the Ligonians as pointed out by @Praxis, we have:

The Ellora

Seen in Insurrection

an Ellora enter image description here

The Halanan

Seen in DS9

enter image description here

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  • Nice work @N_Soong, +1. Just wondering: we haven't seen the Ellora homeworld, just a few of them on the bridge of the ship in Insurrection. Were their features definitely intended to be uniform across their species? And what about the Elasians and the Halanan? I interpreted the question as asking for an entire species based on a single human race's physical appearance...
    – Praxis
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 3:52
  • @Praxis the background information on those species is pretty scant and I've just speculated on the basis of those whom we've seen. I agree that the Ligonians are the better answer, but I reason that we may be able to use those who are seen as representatives of the wider species; as far as we know, that is what an Ellora looks like. That's my logic anyway!
    – Often Right
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 3:57
  • That's fair, but you might want to state the speculation / reasoning in the answer. :-)
    – Praxis
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 4:01
  • @Praxis good idea ;)
    – Often Right
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 4:03
  • I've improved the wording of my question, your answer still fits though.
    – zipquincy
    Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 15:02

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