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Bread and circuses (1968).

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Review of “Bread and Circuses” Remastered

| June 7, 2007 | By: Kevin Ganster 36 comments so far

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What is the source of this, and when did Gene say it???

B&C also has the distinction of being the original series episode most preoccupied with religion. Given Roddenberry’s professed secular humanism, it gets surprisingly sympathetic treatment. Roddenberry once wrote: “I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of rational decision, to drain people of their free will—and a hell of a lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.” Well! Not very IDIC of him, is it?

Nicely done review of what was probably, in spite of its many flaws, the best of the “Strange Old World”/parallel earth episodes that seemed to dominate parts of the second season. Let me just further note that the sharply-written taken on 20th century television (“Bring down this network’s ratings, Flavius, and we’ll do a ‘special’ on you!”) took satire in this franchise to heights it has rarely equaled since, and that for all of the sympathetic treatment of the “Sun Worshipers” as principled pacifists (not very reminiscient of even early Christians in that respect, truth be told), the show did not flinch from also depicting them as provincial and blissfully ignorant of the larger universe around them. Very courageous writing for the time, and one of the best examples of Roddenberry’s idea of using science fiction to comment on subjects that couldn’t be approached on network television more conventionally.

Excellent review Kevin and some good insights on the characters and the religious overtones. And I like the shout out to Uhura who gets her Twilight Zone moment reveal on the ‘son’ worshipers

One of my favorite Star Trek episodes. B&C, along with C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, inspired me as a youth to write SF with a Christian bent (something I still do, including two episodes of a direct-to-DVD miniseries now in production). Glad to see it in the first batch of remastered episodes!

The quote from GR is actually two combined extracts from a discussion on religion from pages 118-119 of Gene Rodenberry, The Last Conversation, by Yvonne Fern. Published Pocket Books. The book features an extended conversation with GR before his passing, which reveals his brilliant intelligence and insights into the human condition. I have re-read it several times over the years. I’m very grateful to Ms. Fern for this book!

Should have wrote “Published by Pocket Books…”

It’s great to analyze this one. For all its (minor) flaws, it holds up better than many TV shows made today that are nothing more than stiff actors (David Caruso) connecting splosions and morbid murders beneath heavily processed film and lighting. This episode was written. Thoughts live here. Words are used to great effect. Actors look at the page and clearly can’t wait to get in front of the cameras. Nice review, Kevin. 1 Chris — hit Wikipedia.org and you’ll find lots more of Roddenberry’s anti-relious quotes. I’m not 100% sure he was an atheist, despite his protests. There are so many religious and themes of messiahs, resurrection and redemption in his later pilots, The Questor Tapes, Earth II and Genesis II, and even Earth: Final Contact. Anyone’s welcome to jump on that string… I have no problem if he was. I also giggle when Shatner, a Jewish actor, considers Christ and smiles.

Good review. Roddenberry: the last interview has his views, of course. And ome could ask; Why does everybody in the galaxy speak english? But that’s a necessity of TV. That and how obtrusive carrying universal translators everywhere would be.

UHURA I’m afraid you have it all wrong, all of you. I’ve been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion, but he couldn’t. Well, don’t you understand? It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the son of God.

KIRK Caesar … and Christ, they had them both. And the word is spreading only now.

McCOY A philosophy of total love and total brotherhood.

SPOCK It will replace their imperial Rome, but it will happen in their 20th century.

KIRK Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again?

Enough said.

I think you need to re-read your history of the early Christian martyrs. Nero made human candles of hundreds, if not thousands, after Rome burned. Nero himself is thought to have set the fire as an excuse to slaughter the Christians and their rival allegiance, not to mention to clear land for his building program.

^7 I have long believed that moment to be one of Shatner’s finest. Not only do I think it possible he might truly agree with the sentiment, it points to an age, not so long ago, when it was possible to see the good in all without front-loaded political ideologies as in today’s neo-Leninist Political Correctness.

Christ reformed Rome through his death and set the stage for the world as we know it today. It is a shame that fallen Man could not use this inestimable gift more perfectly, but the world of Bread and Circuses is the world we would have absent Christ’s visit to us some 1,980 years ago. If Paul nee Saul, a killer and proud of it, could be convinced to repent of his bloody ways and preach the Word, perhaps it is possible for the rest of us.

As for Roddenberry’s ever-changing view of religion and Christianity in particular, well it seems self-serving to me. He is a known adulterer; a playboy before it was fashionable; he dabbled in drugs; an ego-maniac by anyone’s standards… Born a Methodist, married in a Budhist ceremony, later a blind, zealous follower of John Dewey’s Secular Humanism, one forms the impression that Roddenberry hated himself more than he hated God, and spent his whole life trying to stick it in God’s eye. In the end, he destroyed only himself and those poor slobs who took their cues from his dreary and banal television programming (e.g., ST:TNG etc.).

As for TOS, it could not help but be infused with the Christian ethos, it being a product of its time. And that is the ultimate irony of the would-be atheistic Gene Roddenberry, The Man Who Would Be His Own God.

On the origins of religious secularism and related issues often seen in Roddenberry Trek: http://www.belcherfoundation.org/programming_the_judicial_machines.htm

Under “Quibble and Bits,” I would add: What about the remainder of the crew of Merik’s ship? Merik states that those of his crew who have adapted to this world are still alive…Maybe Kirk sent a team of red shirts down to pick them up…?

And what about the phasers, communicators, tricorder, medical kit, etc. left behind by Kirk, Spock and McCoy?

Steve Johnson

The beam out is one of my favorite scenes in all of Trek.

I like Kirk’s statement in “Who Mourns for Adonais?”: “Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.”

As a young, Christian teen watching this episode in the 70s, I saw it as a validation of my beliefs.

Later, I realized that for all of Hodgkins Law acting on this one planet, you could look at this episode as rather a repudiation of the truth of Christianity. After all, it doesn’t seem as though Christ appeared on (or at least was an obvious influence on) all the other worlds the Enterprise visited. What conclusion can we draw from that? Christ is only the Son of God on a couple of planets in the galaxy? Christ was only necessary for the salvation of two planets? Earthlings are to preach the Christian gospel to all the planets bereft of God? What?

I realize that religious discussion on a Trek forum is as loaded as political discussion, but discussion of the subtext of this episode is almost impossible without mentioning religion! For what it’s worth, I’m still a Christian, but I respect the rights of all to believe as they choose. I’m not here to proselytize, just calmly chat about Trek.

Scott B. out.

#14 is consistent with IDIC; #10 is not.

I also wanted to say I think this is the best review I have read on this site, and there have been some good ones. It was devoted to the episode and not to an attempt to show the writer’s cleverness or wit. It was respectful of the material while being critical of it; it used criticism in a mind-expanding use of the word. The review shed light on the distinct strengths of the episode, which makes viewing it a better and deeper experience. The review surveyed all the aspects of the episode, from characters, ideas in the story, and production values. All in all a superb review. Thank you Mr. Ganster!

#13, “We find the one quite sufficient”. I thought of the same thing when I read the above review. I hadn’t remembered that line until I saw the episode recently. It’s nice to know that religion (of some monotheistic variety) hasn’t been completely swept away in the future.

I always loved Larry Norman\’s song, U.F.O. – lyrics applicable to some of the above comments:

He\’s an unidentified flying object you will see Him in the air He\’s an unidentified flying object you will drop your hands and stare you will be afraid to tell your neighbors they might think that it\’s not true but when they open up the morning papers they will know they\’ve seen Him, too

He will come back like He promised with the price already paid He will gather up His followers and take them all away

He\’s an unidentified flying object He will sweep down from the sky He\’s an unidentified flying object some will sleep but will not die He\’s an unidentified flying object coming back to take you home He\’s an unidentified flying object He will role away your stone

and if there\’s life on other planets then I\’m sure that He must know and He\’s been there once already and has died to save their souls

He\’s an unidentified flying object you will see Him in the air He\’s an unidentified flying object you will drop your hands and stare He\’s an unidentified flying object coming back to take you Home He\’s an unidentified flying object He will role away your stone

I don’t think it was me – only that last verse, but not the last chorus, was supposed to be bold.

Old-Timey, your armchair psychoanalysis of Gene Roddenberry–not to mention your less-than-(Christian?) charitable assessment of the character of the man who brought so much enjoyment and inspiration to millions, including yourself–is, to put it in terms no more polite than you deserve, a crock.

As for the history, once again I believe you’re rather confused. My point was not that the early Christians weren’t severely persecuted by the Roman authorities–indeed they were–but that they weren’t for the most part the sort of gentle pacifists depicted in “Bread and Circuses.” Indeed, once they converted the emperors Constantine and Theodosius to their cause and established Christianity as the new state religion, followers of the Galilean proceeded to persecute “heretics” (and even each other) in doctrinal disputes that date from the earliest days of the Roman Church, in a manner that would have mortified their gentle Savior, just as it surely would have amused His tormentors. No wonder Julian the Apostate tried to turn Rome back to paganism–as a learned man, schooled in the Bible as well as the greatest works of classical literature and philosophy, he couldn’t abide the hypocrisy of a religious movement that claimed everything of importance lay in the next world while at the same time amassing treasure and state power in this one. A military genius and Rome’s last great general, he won an unbroken series of victories in the field until one his own generals, a Christian, reportedly murdered him.

We’re agreed that what we are now is very much the result of what they did then. I’m just not sure how as a Christian that’s anything for you to be proud of.

Religion was a HUGE part of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bajorans, Klingons, Ferengi… all three races had numerous episodes dealing with their religous beliefs. Even Sisko’s father quotes the bible in one episode. Religion certainly has its place in Trek.

Trek is actually in favour of logic and science. Gods and worship in Trek are often ridiculed, especially in Star Trek the Next Generations ‘Who Watches The Watchers?’.

Favourite Trek line ever comes from ST5

“What does God need with a starship”?

When Trek does delve into religion, science inevitably provides an answe, the prophets were wormhole aliens and gods in general are always powerful (often malevolent) aliens.

I had always assumed that, in Star Trek, that every member of Starfleet carried (or had implanted) a Universal Translator that allowed them to instantly speak and understand most languages. In fact, given the reactions of the crew in certain situations, I had also assumed that the Federation did not speak English. How many times did we see a telepathic species send a message to the bridge, only to see a conversation similar to this:

“Amazing… the message was sent in Vulcan.” “No Mr. Spock. It was perfect English.” “You’re both wrong. It was Swahili.” “But… I heard it in Russian!”

The fact that everyone on board still spoke (and thought) in their mother tongue, and that to hear it (including English) from an alien was a big deal, I assumed that there was a common language adopted by the UFP, spoken by all races, assisted by the Universal Translators.

They allude to this further in ST:VI when Kirk mentions to the alien on Rurha Penthe that, “the Universal Translator’s been confiscated” (indicating he had it with him when he beamed from the Enterprise to Kronos 1). It also appears that while the UTs are effective, that they can be easily identified when in use, which led to the humous Klingon translation scene in that same movie.

So… the citizens of Maga Roma didn’t necessarily speak English… but the crew (and viewers) all understood what they were speaking due to the UTs.

It’s good to have a Babelfish in one’s ear!

#23 — In the unedited version of the episiode, Spock notes not once, but twice, that the inhabitants are speaking English, another example, he says, of Hodgkins Law of Parallel Plantery Development.

I have to admit I was preparied to dislike your review but I have to admit you were right, dead on right on all accounts! This is one of my favorite episodes- in the top 3- and you did it proud, Thanks for a great job.

For the most part, Star Trek has leaned more to the secular humanism (humanoidism?) side than the Christian. The moralistic elements were there (we will not kill, today) at least in the series’ . The movies were a little less concerned with those ideals (I have had…enough…of…you…). Speaking of saviors, Vulcan had its own version of Christ in the form of Surak. Witness Spock’s reaction to his image in “The Savage Curtain.” Surak saved Vulcan from savagery with non-violent logic. It begs the larger question of, if there really are aliens, how this concept applies to them. Does each race have its own version of Christ? Would the aliens be so different that concepts like sin and salvation do not apply to them but only to humans? As far as what language they speaking in Star Trek: In “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, Capt. Christopher states to Kirk: “You speak English.” Kirk says “that’s right”.

This was a superb review, enhancing my enjoyment of the episode. Thanks for the time and effort spent writing it.

Ditto Granger!

Great review of a very fun episode!!!!!!!!

Great review! As for Shatner “agreeing with the sentiment” about being excited about another Christ, Shatner is Jewish so I have my doubts about that.

In either Whitfield’s The Making of Star Trek or Gerrold’s The World of Star Trek there’s a line about there being an assumption that universal translators are “sewn into the pants leg” of uniforms (no idea where they are on Starfleet miniskirts) and are constantly translating alien/foreign languages into something understandable by the crew. Trek at least tried to address this issue but they were inconsistent about it.

I do think the anti-religious bent in TOS and much of later Trek (see TNG’s “Who Watches the Watchers”) is very clear and DS9’s approach was kind of the exception that proves the rule. In any case, this is definitely one of my favorite episodes.

After the Altman “Patterns of Force” catastrophe a couple weeks ago, I admit I was concerned about this review and whether the reviewer would address Trek’s most direct examination of Christianity without diatribes, insults, or political commentary. I am happy to say that Kevin Ganster’s funny, thoughtful, and even-handed review completely assuaged my fears. Bravo.

One wonders how much of the episode Roddenberry actually had anything to do with, given the contrast between B&C’s generally positive portrayal of Christianity and Roddenberry’s supposed anti-religion beliefs. Look at Kirk’s face, the tone of his voice, when he utters the line “Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again?” It’s perhaps the Shat’s best moment as an actor – he conveys an almost startling impression of awe and reverence. Combined with the above-mentioned line from “Who Mourns For Adonis,” it does offer some evidence that the 23rd century may not be as entirely free of faith as some “humanists” may like to think.

It would be interesting to key some of Roddenberry’s famous anti-religion quotes to the specific times in his life when he expressed them, and put them back into the context to get the whole story. Might be illuminating.

I’m assuming Roddenberry came up with the basic story for Bread & Circuses and Coon wrote the script. As for the Who Mourns For Adonais? line, remember that the “we find the one sufficient” was added at the request of the network standards and practices division–the original line was simply “We’ve grown too old for gods.”

This is one of my favorite TOS episodes, but watching it again, I was cringing at the oil lamps used for lighting. Wha? 20th Century Rome with oil lamps? Not very efficient lighting, inconvenient, and dangerous.

Just a nitpick.

Great review and quite an insightful set of comments. This ep plays better than I remember it. TOS could pull something like this off- something Voyager could NEVER get away with.

This is a pretty good episode. Sure, the parallel evolution of a Roman Empire that doesn’t fall is absurd… just as the “Miri” planet with identical continents was absurd. Or a gangster planet that came about from imitating a book.

But it works. They weren’t trying to write a series that would still be cross-examined 40 years later and fit in with a complicated tapestry of future history, they were trying to write an imaginative TV series and incidentally trying to keep costs down by using stuff that already existed on backlots.

Something that struck me was, the slave costumes would be a rather simple and yet subtle touch at a Trek convention. Grey t-shirt with that chain symbol, gray paints, dark shoes, and you’re ready to go! And you could always add a sword to help people “get it.”

“In Trekdom, science always triumphs over religion, and is often ridiculed in a way reminiscent of Roddenberry’s above quote. ”

Star Trek often ridicules science?

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Star Trek – Bread and Circuses (Review)

The first Star Trek pilot, The Cage , was produced in 1964. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, this December we are reviewing the second season of the original Star Trek show. You can check out our first season reviews here . Check back daily for the latest review.

Bread and Circuses is not subtle. Then again, that is the point.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff happening in Bread and Circuses , the fourteenth episode produced for the second season, but the last to air. There’s the idea of a world dominated by “a twentieth century Rome” , a rogue captain, a Prime Directive dilemma and a scathing indictment of modern television. Not only is it one of the last episodes with a “produced by Gene L. Coon” credit, it is also an episode co-written by Roddenberry and Coon. It is also the episode of Star Trek that endorses Christianity most explicitly and heavily.

“Wait, we’re only getting it in black and white?”

Bread and Circuses is a bold and audacious piece of television, full of venom and righteous anger, rich in satire and cynicism. It’s a plot so ridiculously over-stuffed with good ideas that viewers are liable to forgive the show’s somewhat cop-out ending where Kirk and his away team beam back to the Enterprise and continue on their merry way as though little has actually happened. Bread and Circuses feels like it uses every minute of its fifty-minute runtime wisely, balancing character with world-building.

It is probably a little bit too messy and disjointed to be labelled a dyed-in-the-wool classic, particularly when compared to the shows produced around it. Nevertheless, it is a decidedly ambitious piece of work, and one that demonstrates what Star Trek could do when it sets its mind to something.

When in Rome…

There is a lot of stuff to chew over here. Perhaps the most obvious is the fact that Bread and Circuses is an episode of Star Trek explicitly about television. “I think I can pick up something visual,” Uhura reports as the ship arrives in orbit. “It’s a news broadcast using a system I think they once called video.” Spock clarifies, “Television was the colloquial term.” The episode teaser features Kirk and the crew watching a television broadcast, ending with a twist in the broadcast – the revelation that one of the “barbarians” is a member of the crew for which they are looking.

Quite a lot of Bread and Circuses feels uncomfortably autobiographical for the show. On the sadistic game show “Name the Winner” , performers are forced to compete against each other for survival. Given the behind-the-scenes conflict between between Shatner and Nimoy, a fight to the death was perhaps only a slight exaggeration. After all, there is a wonderful story about both Nimoy and Shatner visiting incoming third season producer Fred Frieberger to claim that they were the star, and asking him to choose. Roddenberry gave Shatner the thumbs up .

The crew are just Roman around…

After all, although Shatner was not literally fighting for his life, he was fighting for his career. The actor had signed on as the star of the show, tying himself to the series and sacrificing any number of opportunities in order to play the lead. If he were overshadowed by his co-stars, if he did not make an impression, then he knew that his career was in jeopardy. With Nimoy earning Emmy nominations for his work as Spock, it made sense that Shatner had to be aggressive – claiming lines from co-stars and turning up the volume on his performance.

Even this wasn’t enough. Shatner had a terrible time of it into the seventies, starring in a whole heap of schlock. His career went into sharp decline, proof of the difficulties facing a genre actor. It wasn’t until T.J. Hooker and the big-screen Star Trek films that Shatner began to claw his way back towards the limelight. Several other members of the ensemble cast had an even tougher career after Star Trek . In hindsight, Shatner’s somewhat aggressive competition with his co-stars makes a great deal of sense.

“Okay, I want a good clean decapitation!”

The idea of televised death matches to appease a hungry audience – stage-managed and weighted, despite appeals towards reality – seems particularly striking in this era of public humiliation and reality television. However, as Su Holmes points out in The Quiz Show , many of the traits of modern reality television can be traced back to fifties and sixties game shows:

Reality game formats are structured by rules, and pivot on the competitive philosophy of a winner-takes-all gamesmanship. They also use the framework of competition to capitalise on the spectacle of ‘ordinary’ people under extreme (television) pressure – a staple element of the quiz and game show from its earliest days. Many of the more contemporary reality formats draw upon the legacy of humiliation and extreme behaviour witnessed in the earlier ‘stunt’ gameshows (such as People are Funny), while the spectacle of emotional/confessional performances can be traced by to 1950s American ‘sob’ or ‘misery’ shows (for example, Strike It Rich or Queen for a Day) in which participants – often women – told personal hardship stories in exchange for money or prizes.

Still, the fact that Bread and Circuses ‘ portrayal of American television feels more relevant today than it did when it is broadcast is terrifying. Although Bread and Circuses ‘ lets the audience off the hook a little bit, by demonstrating that the audience reactions are all “canned” , it is a scathing indictment of lowest common denominator programming by the network.

This show is about to be number one with a bullet…

There is also a sense that Bread and Circuses is leaning on the fourth wall a bit, as if trying to draw the viewer’s attention to the elements that have been forced into the plot by the network. The climactic fight sequence of Bread and Circuses invites us to watch Spock and McCoy in a televised fight to the death at the behest of the network, set to the action theme from Amok Time , as if teasing viewers about the show’s occasionally contrived action sequences.

Similarly, the villain who runs the network also sends a beautiful woman to seduce Kirk for reasons that have little to do with his own plot or the plot of the show – it’s a gratuitous “Kirk makes out with a beautiful woman” sequence that emphasises its gratuity. Sure, Claudius makes a nod towards respecting Kirk as a man or some such nonsense, but the entire sequence could be trimmed for time and little would be lost. It’s a scene that exists because Bread and Circuses needed some gratuitous shots of Kirk making out.

A caged Vulcan doesn’t sing…

There’s a sense that Roddenberry and Coon are having just a little bit of a go at the network with Bread and Circuses . “You bring this network’s ratings down, Flavius, and we’ll do a special on you,” a Roman guard threatens as he cracks the whip. Taste and decency are expendable when it comes to getting those numbers up. It seems unlikely that the show was moved to the end of the season by coincidence – one gets the sense that Roddenberry and the production team emphasised with Spock and McCoy after their bout in the arena.

The middle of the second season had been rocked with rumours of pending cancellation. In early January 1968, The Hartford Courant published a rumour that the network was considering dropping the show due to disappointing ratings. This prompted a high-profile fan campaign to save the show, including a march on NBC headquarters by fans carrying placards . In early March 1968, NBC confirmed their intent to renew the series, including an announcement at the end of The Omega Glory .

It’s a nice touch that Merik is still wearing an old-style Starfleet jumpsuit from The Cage…

Of course, these cancellation rumours are still subject of debate today. It has been argued that the show never seriously faced cancellation in its second season :

Although fans wrote in multitudes to save Star Trek, the “save our show” campaign may have been entirely unnecessary. The show had reasonable ratings in its time slot, and TV critics at the time wrote that NBC had other shows that were more at risk of cancellation. Moreover, NBC needed no persuasion to believe that the audience was desirable; they already knew that the show attracted an appropriate demographic: young, well educated, and passionate. Show creator Gene Roddenberry also continued to promote the desirability of the viewers by positioning them as a quality audience, suggesting that despite its small size, the demographics were more appealing than those of other, larger shows.

Still, regardless of whether the show was ever actually cancelled, the anxiety very clearly existed and the threat loomed large.

Arrested development…

Bread and Circuses had been written and filmed towards the end of 1967, before the entire cancellation controversy had erupted. However, airing it after that very public controversy gives the episode a bit more weight than it might otherwise have. Bread and Circuses aired as the penultimate episode of the show’s second season, right before Assignment: Earth . Given that Assignment: Earth was a thinly-disguised pilot for a spin-off show, that would make Bread and Circuses the de facto season finalé. Which would suggest this was considered a “big” episode.

However, Bread and Circuses works just as a well if watched in production order. At this point in its production life cycle, Star Trek was going through a number of management changes. Gene L. Coon was handing the reins to John Meredyth Lucas, as producer. Lucas visited the set during the production of Bread and Circuses . However, there were other significant changes happening; in July 1967, Desilu had been bought by Gulf and Western and rebranded “Paramount television.” This had a substantial impact on the way that Star Trek was produced.

Oh my gods!

As director Ralph Senensky noted in an interview with Starlog , the Star Trek production team found themselves operating under much tighter constraints than they had been previously:

“Paramount had a lot to do with the series’ demise,” he says matter-of-factly. “Gene Coon had told me that the episodes had been scheduled for six days of production and that they averaged six-and-a-half, although there were some that went seven — pretty remarkable for the kind of quality they were delivering. When Paramount bought Desilu, a kind of corporate mentality took over. Suddenly, we had a six-day schedule… period! They wouldn’t allow any overruns at all. Before that, we had a 7:30 crew call and started shooting at 8 a.m. Sometimes you would go to 7:00 or 7:30. You would finish so that the episode would work out. But now you had a six-day schedule, and you had to absolutely pull the plug at 12:00 on the sixth day. In terms of actual hours, it pulled us down to a five-and-a-half day schedule. The other schedule hadn’t given you that much grace, but suddenly, you really felt that you were shooting schlock because of the production’s speed. ‘ “This is one of the reasons why. in a way. I resent Paramount having such a hit in Star Trek, because if they had their way, they would have killed it off. It survived in spite of them and now they have this bonanza making all this money. It has nothing to do with them.”

Bread and Circuses seems perfectly positioned as a commentary on television production. It was produced as the changes in management style between Desilu and Paramount television were becoming apparent, and broadcast in the wake of a high-profile cancellation scale.

The Roman way…

There is a sense that Bread and Circuses plays into Gene Roddenberry’s mythmaking. The traditional account of Star Trek , one that has been repeated and restated so many times that it is widely accepted, is that the show was produced by Gene Roddenberry in direct conflict with the network. After the show was cancelled, and in the lead up to the production of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Roddenberry stressed that the original Star Trek had been the product of much compromise, with Roddenberry facing down the network on a variety of issues.

According to Roddenberry, it was sexism that forced him to drop the female first officer from The Cage . “The network brass of the time could not handle a woman being second-in-command of a spaceship,” Roddenberry insisted . “In those days, it was such a monstrous thought to so many people, I realized that I had to get rid of her character or else I wouldn’t get my series on the air.” However, this was not the case. The network was not displeased with Number One the character; they were unhappy with Majel Barrett, the actress and Roddenberry’s mistress .

Oh, hey, they have Friends on this planet!

Similarly, Roddenberry liked to claim that the decision to feature a diverse and international supporting cast was a risk move. Conceding there was “some pressure” to make the cast “white people in space” , Roddenberry again painted the image of himself as a valiant progressive fighting a stubborn network . “I said that if we don’t have blacks and whites working together by the time our civilization catches up to the time frame the series were set in, there won’t be any people. I guess my argument was so sensible it stopped even the zealots.”

This is, of course, something of an overstatement. It was actually the network that insisted on the diverse cast . The supporting cast from The Cage is much less diverse than the one eventually featured on Star Trek . While characters like Uhura and Sulu were important for the recognition and acknowledgement of minorities in television, there were already shows that had featured non-white characters in far more prominent roles.

They also have Jerry Springer!

There is a very clear sense that Bread and Circuses is playing into Roddenberry’s vision of his relationship with the network. The Romans working the stage lights and giving direction don’t seem too different from the network executives who feature in his tales of a valiant storyteller trying to communicate his vision despite the best efforts of a stubborn and conservative network to stop him. It is an endearing and engaging narrative, which perhaps explains why it has endured so well.

There is an irony here. Bread and Circuses was the last episode of Star Trek broadcast during the second the season, except for Assignment: Earth . However, A ssignment: Earth was a very cynical piece of programming, and not due to any meddling by the network. It was an attempt by Roddenberry use Star Trek to launch another show. Roddenberry would remain a producer on the third season of Star Trek , but spent most of the season trying to develop ideas at MGM. It makes Assignment: Earth look particularly suspicious, as if Roddenberry were loading a parachute for himself.

Engineering an escape attempt…

The joys of being cynical about cynicism. Watching the games with Claudius, Kirk confesses, “Proconsul, in some parts of the galaxy I have seen forms of entertainment that makes this look like a folk dance.” It seems like he could just as easily be talking about twentieth-century television production. Still, even with all these caveats in place, Bread and Circuses makes for a delightful indictment of network television, all the more powerful because it seems to mirror a lot of what was happening at various levels of the production at the same time.

It is also worth noting the episode’s setting. It is a version of Earth where Rome never fell. “A world ruled by emperors who can trace their line back two thousand years to their own Julius and Augustus Caesars,” Kirk offers in his log. It is a world stunning close to Earth. The chemical composition of the air even matches twentieth-century Earth, and the dialogue from the natives does not need to be filtered through a universal translator. “Complete Earth parallel,” Spock reflects. “The language here is English.”

Captain of his own destiny…

Of course, the language has to be English for the “son” / “sun” homophone reveal to work properly. The odds of the two words sounding exactly alike in any other language would be astronomical. Then again, the odds of anything resembling Earth as much as this planet would also be astronomical – “Hodgkins’s law of Parallel Planet Development” be damned. The idea of finding a world that is functionally identical to twentieth-century Earth, but with only one significant difference, is completely and utterly absurd.

There is a reason that this plot hook has become an easy source of parody for fans keen to revel in the ridiculousness of classic Star Trek . It is an absolutely crazy idea. While there are understandable production reasons why the crew keep stumbling across alternate worlds that happen to look like Earth cultures for which the studio has ready-made costumes and props, it is very hard to rationalise from a plot perspective.

A slave to his temper…

Unless, of course, we accept that the Enterprise isn’t exploring strange new worlds so much as it explores reflections of our own. After all, there is an argument that Star Trek works best as allegory. Kirk and Spock meet alien races who can be defined by their relationship to certain aspects of mankind. The show can use these trappings to offer commentary of contemporary concerns that might be too difficult to address directly. The Enterprise might be seeking out new life-forms, but ultimately so that its crew might better understand themselves.

It is worth noting that Bread and Circuses is the third time that Star Trek has told a story based around a Roman Empire that never died. The Romulans were very much space! Romans in Balance of Terror , right down to the name of their home planets and the salutes that they make. In Mirror, Mirror , the Empire was very clearly modeled on the Roman Empire – with references to Caesar, that same salute, and the changes in decorum suggesting as much.

“Well, these reviews aren’t that great at all…”

Bread and Circuses just comes right out and labels the alien civilisation as Roman. However, as with Mirror, Mirror , there’s a sense that the story is more interested in a twisted reflection of contemporary America than an ever-lasting Roman Empire. Once again, Star Trek is playing with the idea of the United States as the spiritual successor to the Roman Empire – dealing with the issues raised by the country’s emergence as the dominant global power in the wake of the Second World War.

The Cold War and the responsibilities of being the most powerful nation on the planet brought all manner of uncomfortable choices. While there is a debate to be had over whether comparisons between the United States and Rome are valid in any meaningful sense, it does make for a catchy comparison – and a nice umbrella under which these issues might be discussed. After all, the Roman Empire in Bread and Circuses doesn’t actually feel that much like the Roman Empire. It feels more like a totalitarian mirror to sixties America.

Blessed by the sun… er, I mean, son…

Sure, the costumes, names and titles might evoke Rome. However, the characters speak English rather than Latin. The television is produced on an American rather than a European model. The buildings look like contemporary America. Although references are made to the religious beliefs and cultural of ancient Rome, society does not seem to function in a way that is alien to contemporary viewers. The world in Bread and Circuses is sixties America with a Roman theme. (Arguably in the same way that fascism coopted Roman themes and iconography.)

Kirk and McCoy are horrified by this perversion of American society. However, Spock spends most of the episode drawing attention to the similarities that exist between this culture and that of twentieth-century Earth. Although the episode never explicitly states it, Spock’s status as an outsider seems to play into this. As the member of the landing party with the least attachment to Earth, Spock seems to have a more objective stance on it.

Kirk is beginning to feel a little caged in…

“Must you always be so blasted honest?” McCoy asks Spock at one point. Although not referring specifically to his observations about this culture, it would seem to fit thematically. When McCoy objects to the “slavery, gladiatorial games, despotism” that exist on this world, Spock is not convinced that the difference is material. “Situations quite familiar to the six million who died in your first world war, the eleven million who died in your second, the thirty seven million who died in your third.”

There are points where Bread and Circuses seems to play as a criticism of capitalism. Spock is intrigued by the idea of “slavery evolving into an institution with guaranteed medical payments, old-age pensions” , which seems like a status quo that would justify use of the term “wage slavery” – implying that even people with basic protections can still be exploited by a predatory system. This Roman Empire exists in world where the strong dominate the weak.

Well, he had a stab at being a ruler…

It is explicitly a dog-eat-dog world. Merik justifies the slaughter of his own crew with the same rhetoric used to dismiss those who cannot prosper in a capitalist economy – his crew were simply not strong enough to thrive. “Those that were able to adapt to this world are still alive,” he tells Kirk. “Those who couldn’t adapt are dead. That’s the way it is with life everywhere, isn’t it?” Merik seems to suggest that he has been convinced by a philosophy quite similar to pure and untempered capitalism, one that excuses indifference to the plight of the disadvantaged .

Many of the criticisms made by Bread and Circuses are just as applicable to a certain strand of American political thought as they are to a parallel Roman Empire. One can be a slave without wearing irons. One can be trapped and exploited without wearing a shirt that labels you as a slave. Bread and Circuses suggests that Merik is just as much of a slave of the system as Flavius was. “Would you leave us, Merik?” Claudius asks him. “The thoughts of one man to another cannot possibly interest you.” The obvious inference is that Claudius does not see him as a man.

The pencil-pushers sadly don’t get any fancy helmets…

This all pretty heady, pretty political, and pretty loaded stuff. It is amazing that these elements of the script tend to get glossed over when discussing Bread and Circuses . Then again, there is so much else going on within the episode’s fifty-minute runtime that it’s understandable these elements of social criticism might get lost between the critique of network television and the heavily (and explicitly) religious conclusion.

Bread and Circuses is notable for having an ending that explicitly endorses Christianity. While there have been nods towards the religious beliefs of the crew in earlier episodes like Balance of Terror and Who Mourns for Adonais? , Star Trek generally portrayed itself as secular – occasionally aggressively so. Kirk was quite happy to kill or depose beings claiming to be gods, “liberating” alien cultures from their religious beliefs.

If you go down to the woods today…

Here, the crew of the Enterprise celebrate the emergence of Christianity among the planet’s population. “I’ve been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion,” Uhura offers during the epilogue. “But he couldn’t. Don’t you understand? It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the Son of God.” It’s a weird scene, not only because the crew seem so happy at the prospect, but also because it suggests it is impossible to mock Christianity.

It’s no wonder that The American Catholic considers Bread and Circuses to be one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever produced . It seems to explicitly confirm that Kirk and his crew respect Christianity as a special sort of religion. There’s no nod made towards religious diversity. Even Mr. Spock seems to welcome the news that Christianity is spreading. (It seems like a truism that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.) While it’s certainly better than knee-jerk rejection of religion and spirituality, it adds some uncomfortable subtext to the earlier stories in the season.

All of a sudden, the destruction of Vaal in The Apple and Apollo in Who Mourns for Adonais? are no longer a rejection of religion itself. They are rejections of particular types of religion – religion that Kirk and crew deem to be “wrong.” It makes it seem like Kirk is simply destroying religions that don’t conform to his own beliefs. Apollo and Vaal die to make room for Christ, just as the spread of Christianity destroyed many foreign belief systems. This has decidedly uncomfortable implications – another example of Star Trek struggling with its own imperialist tendencies.

To be fair, the episode does suggest that Kirk and his crew have moved beyond Christianity itself, even if it seems like various cultural signifiers are still in use. “Once, just once, I’d like to be able to land someplace and say, ‘Behold, I am the Archangel Gabriel!'” McCoy jokes at one point. When Spock fails to see the humour, McCoy replies, “Naturally. You could hardly claim to be an angel with those pointed ears, Mister Spock. But say you landed someplace with a pitchfork…”

A fun shoot…

There is no cultural relativism to be found in Bread and Circuses . When Kirk and Spock believe the friend slaves are worshipping the sun, they are patronising and condescending. “It seems illogical for a sun worshiper to develop a philosophy of total brotherhood,” Spock suggests. “Sun worship is usually a primitive superstition religion.” However, they take the beliefs more seriously when they turn out to be Christian. There is nothing wrong with religious belief, but there is something uncomfortable about treating one particular belief as unquestionably “right.”

To be fair, it is possible that Bread and Circuses isn’t endorsing Christianity completely and unequivocally. Christianity is just being used as a way to signal the decline of this Rome. Of course, this opens all sorts of other issues, as if to suggest that there is only one logical way for a culture to evolve – that Christianity must follow the Roman Empire, as part of the cycle of civilisation. This is a very Western-centric way of looking at the universe, coming with more than a few problems.

Kirk is a breakout star…

Even leaving aside the obvious imperialist undertones to this argument, this connection between the decline of the Empire and the rise of Christianity – most famously proposed in Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – is not uncontested. As Nancy Reagin suggests in Star Trek and History :

Unfortunately for Gibbon (and Star Trek’s writers), this thesis is not supported by historical fact, as the eastern Roman Empire, which was resolutely Christian, did not fall until 1453, nearly a thousand years after the western Roman Empire slowly imploded. If Christianity was inherently anti-Roman or anti-Imperial, then it should have been the eastern empire that fell.

Even if one accepts Gibbons’ argument, the collapse of the Roman Empire in Europe was followed by the Dark Ages – as Crossover points out in its deconstruction of the ending of Mirror, Mirror . That was an incredibly brutal time period. Should Kirk and Spock be celebrating?

“Sir, it’s the ratings… they are not good…”

This conclusion seems rather at odds with Roddenberry’s humanist atheism, particularly on a script that carries his own name. In Star Trek FAQ , Mark Clark theorises that Roddenberry’s own beliefs might be playing out here:

Perhaps the pro-Christian stance of Bread and Circuses can be chalked up as an expression of Roddenberry’s own conflicted beliefs. Despite his apparent atheism, Roddenberry sometimes (albeit rarely) spoke of a nebulous higher power he referred to as “the All.” This was pointedly not the Judeo-Christian God. He never explained this idea fully, and may have never complete worked out the concept himself.

Long-time Roddenberry associate Susan Sackett has talked a bit about Roddenberry’s beliefs in My Secret Life in Gene Roddenberry , suggesting that Roddenberry’s belief in “the All” did inform a lot of his writing.

“… and scans indicate that suspension of disbelief is barely holding…”

Whatever the reasons for the ending, the concluding scene of Bread and Circuses does demonstrate how difficult it is to try and construct a single unifying theory of the original Star Trek . As much fun as it is to try to piece together a single thematic throughline, the original Star Trek changed position on key issues from week to week, depending on who was writing. The series was prone to contradict itself, adopting different stances on various issues depending on the draft of the script that made it to screen.

It is very hard to reconcile the cynicism about the Cold War and Vietnam in Errand of Mercy or A Taste of Armageddon with the chest-thumping of A Private Little War or The Omega Glory . Similarly, the theme of Mirror, Mirror dramatically reversed itself between the original pitch and the final draft – originally Kirk was supposed to teach a weak Federation how to best make war, rather than recoiling in horror from a militaristic reflection of Starfleet.

Kirk and his crew a little too far afield…

Bread and Circuses is also notable for marking the departure of producer Gene L. Coon. To be fair, Coon’s departure is somewhat convoluted. He was credited as “producer” on every episode between Miri and Bread and Circuses , with the exception of The Menagerie, Part II . According to These Are the Voyages , Coon actually produced Journey to Babel , even if the post-production team assigned the credit to John Meredyth Lucas. Coon would then receive his final “produced by” credit on A Private Little War .

Although this is somewhat convoluted, it is understandable. Scripts enter and leave production at different times. There is inevitably overlap during the writing phase and in post-production. Coon’s departure during the middle of the second season was by all accounts rather sudden. It wasn’t necessarily clean. John Meredyth Lucas had only written The Changeling when Coon proposed him to take the reins. Though a veteran director, Lucas would not direct the show until a brief fill-in on Obsession and then a credited job on The Ultimate Computer .

Playing to crowded halls…

Still, the transfer of power was in process. Director Ralph Senensky has argued that the change in producers in the middle of the second season had a profound effect on the show :

I cannot speak for the other directors and the other productions, but I can definitely say that there was a drop in quality from This Side of Paradise, Metamorphosis and Bread and Circuses to the other two episodes I directed the second season. And I ascribe the reason for this drop to be partly caused by the lack of Gene Coon’s stewardship of the scripts and the rest to the impossible expectation that the episodes in this series could be filmed in five and a half days. … As I bemoan the loss of Gene Coon, I don’t mean to dismiss John Meredyth Lucas. His was a formidable task. In one of my early postings I described what it felt like as a director coming to direct a long running series for the first time. It was like a Captain taking new command of a ship in battle. For John, taking over as producer of Star Trek, I felt, it was like an Admiral being reassigned to command of an entire fleet. And to do it midseason — a monstrous assignment. Filling Gene Coon’s shoes … use your imagination.

It is very hard not to pity John Meredyth Lucas as he stepped into the role of producer on the series. Although Lucas departed at the end of the second season, he remained a part of the franchise, contributing the script Kitumba to the aborted Star Trek: Phase II .

“I’ll wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer.”

In Trek Classic , David Gerrold argues that Gene L. Coon’s stewardship Star Trek its unique identity:

“I’ll say it and I won’t even threaten you if you attribute it to me,” adds David Gerrold. “Gene L. Coon came in early in the first season and pulled it together, and he stayed there until more than halfway through the second season. If you look at the episodes in sequence, you can see that the best episodes are the ones where Gene Coon’s hands were at the tiller. Gene Coon made the show work, very, very strongly.”

It is hard to disagree with Gerrold’s assessment.

With friends like these…

The departure of Coon was a massive blow to the series. Coupled with the broadcast of Bread and Circuses late in the second season, it lends the episode a decidedly funereal air. The script itself seems to acknowledge this, giving us an extended sequence that could easily work as the last conversation between Spock and McCoy ever. Trapped in a Roman jail, facing death, the two characters seem to finally reconcile to one another. It feels almost like the show is resolving one of its most iconic conflicts.

“Spock,” McCoy awkwardly offers at one point, as if searching for the right words, “I know we’ve had our disagreements. Maybe they’re jokes. I don’t know. As Jim says, we’re not often sure ourselves sometimes, but what I’m trying to say is…” Spock will hear nothing of it, but McCoy keeps on going. “Well, what I’m trying to say is you saved my life in the arena.” It’s a delightful moment, one that demonstrates the wonderful chemistry between Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.

“I’m a Doctor, not a gladiator!”

However, it isn’t just that honest admission of gratitude that lends the episode a sense of gravitas and weight. Here, finally, it seems like McCoy manages to figure Spock out. As Spock works hard to mount an escape, McCoy keeps pushing – as if working through his own realisations about the Vulcan. “Do you know why you’re not afraid to die, Spock?” he asks. “You’re more afraid of living. Each day you stay alive is just one more day you might slip and let your human half peek out. That’s it, isn’t it? Insecurity.”

That is something that the audience have known since at least The Naked Time , but which is a revelation to McCoy. It’s a big moment for the character – the point where he seems to really figure out why Spock acts the way that he does. It’s not too difficult to imagine the conversation in the jail as the final conversation between Spock and McCoy, drawing a line underneath their relationship and demonstrating that the two have found a balance.

“You will go on my first whistle…”

Sure, the duo shrug that deeply personal conversation off in the way that tough guys on sixties television do to avoid acknowledging their feelings. “Really, Doctor?” Spock asks. Without answering Spock’s question, McCoy replies. “I know. I’m worried about Jim, too.” As such, the conversation isn’t allowed to hang over them. Still, what is said cannot be unsaid. Although the episode leaves it open for the pair to fall back into their familiar bickering routine, it does suggest that there has been some breakthrough here.

Other aspects of the production nod towards a sense of closure and finality. Bread and Circuses ends with Kirk retreating back to the Enterprise. They do not make a change to the society. They merely bear witness. They are passive in all this, exerting little influence on the events of the narrative. The biggest difference that Kirk makes is the redemption of Captain R.M. Merik. The episode does not end up with Kirk overthrowing a corrupt government or saving a stranded crew. It ends with a convenient escape.

Holding the line…

Broadcast before Assignment: Earth , Bread and Circuses would have been the de facto series finalé had the show been cancelled in its second season. After all, Assignment: Earth was a thinly-veiled pilot. Perhaps it would have been an appropriate (if grim) finalé for a world where Star Trek ended two years into its run; it offers hints of resolution for McCoy and Spock, while forcing Kirk and his crew to confront their own ineffectiveness. They would depart a mirror of twentieth-century Earth having made no impact whatsoever.

It is worth conceding that Bread and Circuses is a mess of an episode. Kirk and his crew actually very little over the course of the hour beyond wandering into traps and getting captured so they can have philosophical conversations about the society of this world – building to a climax where the trio are captured and the episode throws in some gratuitous fight and make-out sequences. While Bread and Circuses is a script packed with ideas and concepts, it is not an episode that has been plotted particularly carefully.

Lights, cameras, action!

In his interview with Starlog , director Ralph Senensky conceded that the production was a little rushed and under a great deal of pressure:

“Both Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon were writing on that show as we were shooting,” Senensky states. “I do remember that my concern was that we not tip our hand as to the fact we were doing a Christ story from the word go. We devised the idea’ of them thinking it’s ‘Sun’ worshippers. That took some doing, but they did it. Originally, you knew it was the son of God and the story had no place to go.”

This pressure accounts for a lot of the structural problems with Bread and Circuses that hold the episode back from the status of a true classic.

Another Earth…

That said, there’s a lot to love here. The production design is fabulous. Rome is a lavish setting, and it’s always fun to see a television episode set inside a television studio – there’s a delicious self-awareness to it. Ralph Senensky’s direction is great, particularly during the fight sequences. The tight close-ups make the confrontations a lot more uncomfortable than they might otherwise be. The episode also benefits from two superb guest performances from William Smithers and Logan Ramsey. Both are cast perfectly.

Bread and Circuses is too disjointed and uneven to be hailed as a masterpiece, but it is a fantastic piece of Star Trek . It is bold and ambitious and daring and provocative. It is brilliant, even as it is a little clumsy. It is a fitting tribute the work of both Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon, with even its flaws proving worthwhile and interesting.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the second season of the classic Star Trek :

Supplemental: (Gold Key) #1 – The Planet of No Return!
Supplemental: (Marvel Comics, 1980) #4-5 – The Haunting of Thallus!/The Haunting of the Enterprise!
Metamorphosis
Friday’s Child
Who Mourns for Adonais?
Supplemental: Spock’s World by Diane Duane
Supplemental: New Visions #3 – Cry Vengeance
Wolf in the Fold
The Changeling
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #43-45 – The Return of the Serpent!
Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #13 – The Red Shirt’s Tale
Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – Crossover
Supplemental: New Visions #1 – The Mirror, Cracked
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #9-16 – New Frontiers (The Mirror Universe Saga)
Supplemental: Mirror Images
Supplemental: Mirror Universe – The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack
Supplemental: (IDW, 2009) #15-16 – Mirrored
The Deadly Years
Supplemental: (Gold Key) #61 – Operation Con Game
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1984) #39-40 – The Return of Mudd
Supplemental: The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold
Supplemental: Alien Spotlight – Tribbles
Bread and Circuses
Journey to Babel
A Private Little War
The Gamesters of Triskelion
The Immunity Syndrome
A Piece of the Action
By Any Other Name
Return to Tomorrow
Patterns of Force
The Ultimate Computer
The Omega Glory
Supplemental: Assignment: Eternity by Greg Cox
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #49-50 – The Peacekeepers
Supplemental: (IDW, 2008) Assignment: Earth

6 Responses

Great review.

I always find something vaguely unsavoury in the way Spock says ‘your wars/mistakes/irrationalities, etc’ where ‘the ‘your’ in question is humanity. As if he himself wasn’t half human and those mistakes thus just as much part of his heritage. It might be why I never warmed to the character as much as most.

Having recently re-read Shatner’s autobiography I can definitely understand his desperation in Star Trek. His early career from the middle of the 50s to the early-mid 60s is absolutely fascinating and often impressive – how many other actors have starred in an all Esperanto film? – but I get the feeling For the People flopping was a huge personal setback and Nimoy seeming to usurp his role must have seemed a nightmare.

Yep. Shatner was massively underrated for about forty years – he only won his first Emmy a few years back, and is still somewhat overshadowed by Nimoy within the Star Trek franchise, despite the sense that the balance might be slowly redressing itself.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Shatner. Nimoy went straight from Star Trek to another steady job on Mission: Impossible, while Shatner basically spent a lost decade wandering from flop movies to television guest spots. When they do manage to revive Star Trek for the big screen, Nimoy manages to grab most of the headlines by getting himself killed off and then deciding to come back and also directing the third and fourth films. When Shatner is allowed to interact with a later Star Trek cast, he is killed off as an afterthought. I can see why he’d be so slighted by the decision to bring Nimoy back for Star Trek (2009) and why he’d be so tetchy about accusations of stealing or bullying.

(That said, I still think that some of his statements can seem a bit callous and petty – even if they come from an understandable place.)

I thought the pro-Christian stance of this episode was all the more strange, given that Shatner, Nimoy, Koenig, Justman, Solow, and Senensky were all Jewish. Forcing the actors to make admiring statements about Christianity feels extra wrong under the circumstances.

Yep. In that context, the emphasis on “the Son” feels particularly pointed in a “Judaism won’t cut it!” sort of way. It’s not even just monotheism or Abrahamic religion, it has to be the right Abrahamic religion, dammit!

God the historical inaccuracies in this episode are terrible. 11 million dead in WW2? (It was 60 million causalities altogether in case anyone is wondering, talk about being way off!) No sun worship in Rome (what, they never heard of Sol Invictus)? Christianity being this uber-peaceful movement that causes the fall of the Roman Empire (tbf, as you point out, that was a widely held belief for a long time), despite the fact that the Roman state eventually became Christian, violently outlawed all other religions, and the Christian Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines) violently reconquered Rome and much of the West, and were major enthusiasts for slavery and torture. This episode is beyond irritating…

Darren – I’ve been reading your TOS reviews as I go through this series for the first time. Thank you for the thoughtfulness with which you approached these episodes! It’s magnificent, and edifying.

Regarding the prediction of reality TV – have you ever heard of Nigel Kneale’s masterpiece “The Year of the Sex Olympics”? This 1968 BBC movie is something I revisit every few years, and I think you’ll find it revelatory.

Happily, it’s now available to rent on Amazon Prime.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/nov/02/broadcasting.arts1

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS2E25BreadAndCircuses

Recap / Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses"

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Original air date: March 15, 1968

After coming across the wreckage of the S. S. Beagle , Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to the surface of the nearest planet. This planet is a class M planet remarkably like Earth down to the land/water ratio. Atmosphere and radio signals hint a technological advancement equal to 20th century Earth. They beam down to a part of the wilderness close to city limits, thinking it deserted when they're taken captive by slaves on the run. After Kirk impresses them with his communicator, they take him in and tell him about the Empire. Apparently, they get very angry when slaves worship a different god. Kirk and company gather the runaway slaves to be "sun" worshipers. It seems the civilization on this planet is a reflection of a modern day Earth where Rome never fell.

When Kirk and company are captured and taken to the city, they find out what happened to the crew of the Beagle . Merik was convinced by a local not to spread knowledge of their people, and was offered a life of luxury as First Citizen in return for selling out his entire crew to fight in the gladiator pits.

The Fan Nickname for this episode is "The One with the Space Romans ".

Tropes and Circuses:

30-Second Blackout : Scotty causes one to help Kirk and company escape.
Affably Evil : Proconsul Claudius Marcus. While he's shown to be annoyed by Kirk's defiance, he never takes it personally, even arranging for a night of pleasure for Kirk with his personal slave girl before his execution the following day. On thinking that Kirk has persuaded the girl to steal back his communicator, Marcus says he won't punish her for that , and he will see that Kirk and his friends are given a swift execution.
Aliens Speaking English : The fact that the locals speak English with 20th Century Earth idioms is noted. Though that doesn't explain why Latin isn't the dominant language instead. It's pretty much just there to make the sun/son homophone work.
Alternate Universe : Though only in the "What if Rome never fell?" sense. Instead of an alternate history Earth, we have a planet so similar to Earth it somehow evolved a Roman Empire, a Christian-like religion, and the Madsen submachine gun.
Ancient Rome : This planet's hat.
Spock claims that about six million people died in WWI and eleven million in WWII. Low-end estimates place the number of dead in the first at about fifteen million, and of the second at an astounding seventy million, with the Soviet Union and China each losing far more than eleven million by themselves. The lowest estimate for Soviet deaths is nearly double eleven million.
Kirk, Bones and Spock all spell out what the Prime Directive is, even though they presumably know what that is.
Scotty also spells out what Condition Green is for his Log.
Bones is about to be killed in the arena, so Spock disables his opponent and comes to his rescue.
Kirk is about to be executed on live television when Flavius charges in with a sword and Scotty kills the power.
Biting-the-Hand Humor : The sequence with the televised gladiator game show gets in a good few jabs at network television and the pursuit of ratings. This episode was made when Star Trek was facing cancellation at the end of the season, and the show's makers were not feeling charitable toward the network.
Blood Sport : Barbarians (i.e., people not of this planet) and slaves fight to the death in gladiator pits. It's treated like Monday Night Football .
Bread and Circuses : Look at the title.
Bronson Canyon and Caves : Bronson Canyon is the place where Kirk and Co encounter the rebel slaves.
Covert Distress Code : Kirk tells Scotty "Condition Green, everything's fine." However, "Condition Green" is their code for "I'm in trouble, but don't do anything to help." Scotty has to figure out a way to help Kirk without breaking the Prime Directive. He does.
Cut the Juice : Scotty has Enterprise overload the power grid as a show of force . Cue the lights going out in the studio giving Kirk a chance to escape.
Deadpan Snarker : When an armed man points at Spock's pointed ears and says "What do you call those?" He calmly replies "I call them ears." When asked if he's trying to be funny, he flatly replies, "Never."
Defiant to the End : Merik's last move is to throw Kirk his communicator.
Discretion Shot : When Kirk and co. are watching a televised gladiatorial combat, the losing gladiator falls to the ground and out of shot just before he's stabbed, so the death blow is not visible. Stands out because of the conflict between the priorities of the real TV network and the in-universe TV network, which would have insisted the camera follow the falling gladiator so the audience isn't deprived of the money shot. While he does fall out of shot, we then cut away to Uhura flinching in horror, so presumably there was an In-Universe close-up of the killing. Uhura also loses the television signal just as Harrison is about to be stabbed.
Does This Remind You of Anything? : Claudius Marcus, proconsul of the slave-owning Roman Empire, has a Southern accent.
Don't Make Me Destroy You : Spock to the gladiator he's fighting, who unlike Flavius is seriously trying to kill his opponent. Spock isn't bluffing either—on seeing Bones is about to get killed, he takes down the gladiator easily so he can rush to defend his colleague.
Repressive, but Efficient : Though the Pax Romana is apparently worldwide and has lasted for many centuries, and slaves are treated well enough that it's not worth their while to rebel (provided they're not exposed to subversive religions preaching freedom and equality).
Enforced Plug : While looking through a magazine, Kirk notices an advertisement for the Jupiter 8 automobile. Later the gladiator contest Name The Winner is brought to the audience "by Jupiter 8 dealers from coast to coast!"
A Father to His Men : Averted with Merik, who betrayed his own men to save his own life. Those who failed to adapt to Roman society ended up in the arena—the last of them is shown being killed just as the Enterprise arrives.
Famous, Famous, Fictional : Spock: Situations quite familiar to the 6,000,000 who died in your First World War , the 11,000,000 who died in your Second , the 37,000,000 who died in your Third ...
Before Kirk beams down he has a discussion over how the M-class planet is exactly like Earth in some ways, but different in others.
Proconsul Marcus notes that one of the communicators has gone missing, and muses that maybe Kirk persuaded Drusilla to steal it for him . Turns out Merik has it instead.
Forced to Watch : Kirk is handcuffed and forced to watch Spock and Bones (along with Flavius) fight to the death. He annoys the proconsul by refusing to yield and pretending he's not bothered by any of this. Merik turns out to be more affected as it brings back memories of his own men dying.
Flynning : To the point where, during the arena fight, Bones is able to look away from his opponent and hold a conversation with Spock, while his opponent stands there carefully hitting his shield. Justified in that: A) The fight is broadcast for entertainment, and B) his opponent had befriended them earlier and doesn't want to harm them.
Gilligan Cut : Just as Bones and Spock find something to agree about — their concern for their captain — we cut to Captain Kirk eating Grapes of Luxury with a Beautiful Slave Girl .
Gladiator Games : The games are televised as entertainment, with well-known contestants featured in magazines. At one point Flavius isn't fighting hard enough and he's threatened with "We'll do a special on you!"
God Guise : Lampshaded by Bones when he jokes that he'd like to screw the Prime Directive, beam down to a planet and claim to be the Archangel Gabriel.
Grudging "Thank You" : Spock tells Bones to hurry up with what he's trying to say while he looks for a means to escape their cell. "I'm trying to thank you, you pointy eared hobgoblin!" Bones blurts out.
Happiness in Slavery : Previous slave revolts were crushed, but conditions for slaves have improved over the centuries (including medical benefits and pensions) so that slavery has become an institution .
Heel–Face Turn : Merik eventually decides to aid Kirk, redeeming himself, though he has little time to enjoy it.
Heroic Sacrifice : Flavius rushes in to save Kirk from execution at the last minute. He's killed for it, but the attempt is just what Kirk needed to escape (helped by Scotty's blackout of the city) - at the end, McCoy notes that Kirk mentioned his sacrifice in the captain's log .
Hilarious Outtakes : Including one of the guards doing a Prat Fall as he rushes into the room, and William Shatner being abducted on-set by Ted Cassidy as a practical joke.
Hit Me, Dammit! : Flavius is trying to avoid killing Bones and getting whipped for his trouble. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy: I am defending myself! Flavius: Not like that, you fool! Hold your weapon higher!
Claudius Marcus has a touch of this; because he respects Kirk's courage , he feels obliged to give Kirk a proper death, to the point that when his guards have Kirk's team surrounded at gunpoint, he insists they use their swords instead of just gunning them all down on the spot (though at the same time, using their guns would cause more deaths than just their targets; the soldiers are in each other's line-of-fire, Claudius included) .
Marcus also knows that while the Enterprise has the power to rescue their men by force or lay waste to the entire planet, they won't do so because they've sworn to uphold the Prime Directive .
I Have Your Wife : Kirk is told if he doesn't do as Merik did, Bones and Spock will be forced to fight to the death in the gladiator pits. Even threatened with this and with guns to his head, Kirk still refuses. Claudius Marcus is impressed by this show of character. Merik is rightfully ashamed.
Inexplicable Cultural Ties : The Hand Wave we get is something called Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Development.
Involuntary Battle to the Death : What could possess a man to battle another man to the death? Whips! Massive whips!
Killed Mid-Sentence : Merik: Starship, lock in on this. Three to beam— (gasps as a Reveal Shot shows that the Proconsul has just stabbed him)
Laugh Track : In the televised gladiatorial combats, the crowd's cheers and boos are mechanically produced. Bones even looks around in confusion when he hears the canned boos.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal : After Kirk impresses Claudius Marcus with his courage and integrity, Claudius Marcus can't help repeatedly mentioning how much better that makes him than Merik, who betrayed his oath and his crew to survive. Having his nose rubbed in his failings inspires Merik to help Kirk, at the cost of his own life.
Mr. Fanservice : Just look at the damn picture.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine : Claudius Marcus invites Kirk and company to eat with him, before he forces him into a Sadistic Choice at gun point.
No Sense of Personal Space : Marcus is very happy taunting Kirk when the latter is handcuffed and trying to pretend Spock and Bones fighting other gladiators doesn't bother him.
Not Distracted by the Sexy : While they do have a Sexy Discretion Shot later, Kirk initially shows little interest with Drusilla and her telling him she's his slave.
Not So Stoic : Bones says the reason Spock is Not Afraid to Die is because he would no longer have to worry about losing his emotional control. Spock's lack of a snappy comeback implies he's hit a nerve. However when Bones goes on to say he wouldn't know what to do with a genuine feeling, Spock just gives a sardonic, "Really?" and Bones admits that he's worried about Kirk too.
No Such Thing as Space Jesus : A subversion in the literal sense, as the planet is implied to have had an actual Jesus. ( If that's his name. He's called the Son of God, and Kirk calls him Christ note Christ is a title meaning "an anointed one" and implying he's a descendant of King David , but we never hear his real name.) Beyond that, what exactly their version of him did, other than emphasize a commitment to total peace and a philosophy of love and brotherhood, doesn't get much coverage.
The Oathbreaker : Kirk condemns Merik as one because he sold out his entire crew just to save his own life and gain luxuries. Merik doesn't deny a word of this, as he's long-resigned himself to it, although later Kirk's display of character helps bring him out of that... enough that at the end, his last act is to help them escape at the cost of his own life.
Opponent Instruction : Spock and McCoy get forced into the arena to convince Kirk to submit to the villains' plans. Despite preferring a pacifistic approach, Spock keeps his opponent at bay easily, but McCoy, not being a Combat Medic , can barely manage. His opponent, a fairly Nice Guy who doesn't actually want to hurt him, starts trying to coach him during the match. Flavius: At least defend yourself! McCoy: [waving his arms in frustration and leaving himself vulnerable] I am defending myself!
Playing Sick : They try the old faking sick trick. It works okay, despite Kirk not warning McCoy in advance that he was going to be the sick one, but they're quickly recaptured by another set of guards.
Prime Directive : Unfortunately Merik has told Proconsul Marcus about it, so he knows Kirk can't just beam down a hundred men with phasers to blast him out. Scotty however has no problem with Loophole Abuse ; he decides to Cut the Juice as an Intimidation Demonstration , giving Kirk a chance to escape.
Redemption Equals Death : In the end, Merik decides to help Kirk, Spock and McCoy escape, and is immediately killed for it by Claudius Marcus.
Reluctant Warrior : Spock and McCoy are thrown into a death match against gladiator-style warriors on a new planet. While the alien opponent is coming at him with a sword, Spock constantly plays defensive, choosing to dodge the blows while insisting that he "does not want to injure" him, leading to the watching crowd concluding that "the pointy-eared barbarian" is about to get killed. However, when he notices that the much less action-oriented McCoy is in danger, Spock deals with his opponent in the space of a second and darts over to save his frenemy.
Sarcasm Mode : McCoy while in the arena. Spock: Do you need some help, Doctor? McCoy: Whatever gave you that idea?
Schizo Tech : Gladiator fights with swords are broadcast on television.
Sexy Discretion Shot : Kirk makes smoochy face with Drusilla the Sex Slave . Pan up to chandelier. Pan down to Kirk sleeping alone. A line that was cut had Kirk drinking wine and saying "good," eating something and saying "excellent," and then — "And you?" and Drusilla says "Superb, I'm told."
Shoot Out the Lock : After Spock fails to get through the carbon-steel bars of the prison cell with his Vulcan strength, Kirk shoots out the lock with a submachine gun. Kirk: Obsolete but effective.
Scotty decides to kill the power as a show of force, as per The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) .
Snark-to-Snark Combat : Spock and Bones are at it again! Even in the heat of combat, they manage to snark each other.
Space Romans : The whole planet.
Stern Sun Worshippers : The crew of the Enterprise are extremely surprised to find that the "Children of the Sun" are a peace-loving, egalitarian movement that is persecuted by the Roman Empire government. They discuss that most sun-cults are the exact opposite. The episode closes with the reveal that they are not worshippers of the sun , but rather son (of God), i.e., Jesus.
Stock Footage : Stock footage shots of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco are used to depict the Roman capital. Given the use of Roman architecture in Western civilisation to portray power and authority, it works well.
Sword and Gun : The Proconsul's Praetorian Guard are each armed with a gladius and a Madsen M-50 submachine gun. When they find themselves in a potential crossfire, they resort to their swords instead.
Teleportation Rescue : Averted at first; having been warned about teleporters by Merik, Marcus marches in his guards to hold Kirk at gunpoint before allowing him to complete his transmission to Scotty. Merik later makes the call on Kirk's behalf, and by the time the guards pick up their submachine guns (having put them aside earlier) they're already beaming out.
Think Nothing of It : Spock's reaction to Bones' Grudging "Thank You" .
Thwarted Escape : Kirk tells Maximus to let the First Consul know that his old friend "Jim Kirk" is in prison. Unfortunately it works too well; when they later overpower the guards, they rush out into the corridor and find the First Consul and Proconsul waiting for them, along with all their bodyguards.
Unusual Ears : Which gets Spock pegged as a 'barbarian'.
Villain Ball : Claudius Marcus and Merik take Kirk and company aside and Explain to them that the crew of the Beagle were stranded in the planet after the ship broke up. Merik made arrangements with Marcus to integrate himself and a few willing members of his crew into Roman society, while keeping the secret of aliens from the general populace. The rest of the crew was executed in gladiatorial games, but that's the local culture and the solution is in line with the prime directive, if cruel. It kind of sucks that the planet practices slavery, but Kirk's mission is fulfilled and Marcus broadly agrees with the prime directive and had no interest getting his hands on alien tech. Then, Marcus demands that the Enterprise crew beam down so that they can be killed in gladiatorial games. Why? Because it would make great sport!
Vitriolic Best Buds : Spock and McCoy, as usual. It gets lampshaded when Flavius, after seeing them argue, asks Kirk if they're enemies, and Kirk replies that even they don't know for sure.
We Come In Peace : Flavius first instinct is to kill these uniformed strangers. Septimus: Keep always in your mind, Flavius, that our way is peace. McCoy: For which we are grateful, for we are men of peace ourselves.
What Happened to the Mouse? ?: Merik said some of his crew were able to adapt to Roman society, but doesn't specify how. Did Kirk just leave them there, without checking to see for himself what their statuses were? There may have been some that wanted to get home, but were now trapped and did what they had to to survive.
Whip of Dominance : Anyone who tries to get out of the gladiatorial combat gets whipped back into action.
Star Trek S2 E24 "The Ultimate Computer"
Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek S2 E26 "Assignment: Earth"

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The History Of The Romulans, And Their Place In The Star Trek Universe

"Star Trek" is home to countless alien races, but few have as enduring a presence in the franchise as the Romulans. They're the most persistent adversaries of the Federation, so much so that blue-tinted Romulan Ale remains under trade embargo. This hostility makes it all the more ironic that they resemble humanity's first alien allies, the Vulcans , sharing their pointed ears and arched eyebrows.

The in-universe origin of the Romulans is that they were Vulcans, millennia ago. In that distant past, the Vulcans were a warlike people, far from the cold logicians that fans know. That changed when (in Earth's 4th century), the philosopher Surak taught his people to embrace logic and master their emotions. Not all Vulcans accepted Surak's teachings; "Those Who March Beneath The Raptor's Wings" were eventually exiled from Vulcan. These dissident Vulcans settled on the twin planets Romulus and Remus, evolving into the Romulans and personifying a violent path not taken by their Vulcan cousins.

"Star Trek" is big on allegory — the interstellar powers represent the geopolitics of the 20th century. The Federation is the United States of America, a democracy of many member states. As the Federation's most pressing rival, the Klingon Empire is the Soviet Union. The Romulan Star Empire is China, a "sleeping dragon" superpower.

So, why have the Romulans endured as a crucial part of "Star Trek" history — and what does their role in that history look like?

Romulans in the Original Series

The Romulans were created by writer Paul Schneider, debuting in the season 1 episode "Balance of Terror." The episode features the Enterprise reacting to the destruction of outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone; the culprit is a Romulan ship armed with a cloaking device. The Romulans flee back home while the Enterprise pursues its invisible quarry in a cat-and-mouse game.

This episode established the Romulan Star Empire had fought humanity in a devastating war a century ago. The war ended with a Neutral Zone established between the two parties' territories. Notably, no human had ever seen a Romulan in this time (or at least, no human who survived to tell about it). That means the Enterprise crew is stunned when they discover their adversaries are identical to Vulcans. The Romulans' exact backstory isn't spelled out, but Spock (Leonard Nimoy) speculates they are a Vulcan offshoot who retained his ancestors' warlike ways.

Schneider modeled the Romulans on the Romans; their twin homeworlds are named for the mythical founders of Rome and they employ ranks like "Centurion." Interviewed for "The Captains' Logs" by authors Edward Gross and Mark Altman , Schneider explained: "I came up with the concept of the Romulans which was an extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel, and it turned out quite well."

The Romulans' ship, dubbed a "Bird of Prey" due to the hawk painted on its underbelly, also created an association between the Romulans and birds. By "Star Trek: The Next Generation," their imperial insignia had evolved into a stylized raptor. Their ancestors' moniker, "Those Who March Beneath The Raptor's Wings," was probably extrapolated from this connection too by writer André Bormanis (the name first appears in "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode, "Awakening," written by Bormanis).

Further appearances

"Balance of Terror" is one of the most acclaimed episodes of "Star Trek: The Original Series." It was even semi-remade for the season 1 finale of "Strange New Worlds," titled "A Quality of Mercy." The unnamed Romulan Commander (played by Mark Lenard, who would go on to play Spock's father, Sarek) is an especially well-remembered villain, predating Khan Noonien Singh as the first worthy adversary of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the Enterprise. Even with his last words, he retains dignity and honor: "I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

Despite this dynamite debut, the Romulans made only two more appearances in "The Original Series." They are the antagonists of the season 2 episode "The Deadly Years," about the Enterprise crew succumbing to premature aging. However, only their ships are seen, not the Romulans themselves. They make a second and final onscreen appearance in season 3's "The Enterprise Incident" ( written by the legendary D.C. Fontana ). In this episode, Spock seduces a Romulan commander (Joanne Linville) while Kirk poses as a Romulan officer to steal her ship's cloaking device.

According to "The Art of Star Trek" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, "Romulans were originally intended to be more of an ongoing threat to the crew of the Enterprise, but the make-up requirements proved too expensive. Klingons were cheaper." Note how, in "Balance of Terror" and "The Enterprise Incident," Romulan extras often wear ear-concealing helmets — an easy way to bypass make-up expenses.

The Romulans had only minor roles in the six theatrical "Star Trek" films featuring the original cast. They were rejected as villains of the third film, "The Search for Spock," again in favor of the Klingons (this is why the Klingons in that film have a cloaked ship called a Bird of Prey).

The Rihannsu

During the 1980s, the Romulans took center-stage in "Rihannsu," a five-novel series written primarily by Diane Duane (Peter Morwood co-authored the second, "The Romulan Way.") Published from 1984 to 2006, the novels invented a culture and language for the Romulans wholesale; they are technically not "Trek" canon but remain acclaimed for their world-building.

"Rihannsu" ("The Declared") is the Romulans' native name for themselves, akin to how German people call their nation "Deutschland," the Japanese call theirs "Nippon," etc. They are driven by "D'era," an expansionist impulse akin to Manifest Destiny, and "Mnhei'sahe" (ruling passion), a complex code of conduct that is foremost a rejection of the Vulcan system of logic.

"Mnhei'sahe" is weighed by one's personal strength and devotion to the Empire. Romulans seek power not for personal benefit per se, but because greater power serves the Empire. Selflessness is an alien concept to the Romulans; do things for the sake of your own Mnhei'sahe and others will benefit in the process. "Mnhei'sahe" spreads its claws even into simple Romulan social interactions, where the ideal outcome is for both parties to depart with their honor intact.

Much of Duane's other additions are inferences based on "Balance of Terror" and "The Enterprise Incident." Akin to Rome, the Romulans are an Oligarchic Republic; a Praetor is elected by the Senate itself, not the people at large. "The Enterprise Incident" showed a Romulan woman with a high military rank. So, "Rihannsu" gave the Romulan society a matriarchial tilt; a Romulan's family lineage is derived from their mother, not their father.

Much of "Rihannsu" is a holdover from the suggestion in "Star Trek: The Original Series" that Romulans were a warrior culture. For instance, their society has a semi-feudal system with a strong emphasis on family affiliation. Canon material would take a different path, showing Romulans as militant but not exactly honorable.

The Next Generation

In "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the Klingons were now good guys (mostly). They also became the go-to warrior race of "Star Trek"; Klingon society took on Viking and Samurai characteristics, where war, personal honor, and feudal affiliation were everything.

The Romulans became less and less the noble Roman-esque adversaries that Schneider had conceived of, with "TNG" instead highlighting their duplicity (with the cloaking devices) and isolationism. Thus, the stereotypical traits of Romulans became paranoia, deception, and xenophobia.

The Romulans were reintroduced in "TNG" season 1 finale, "The Neutral Zone," where it's said they had stayed out of galactic affairs for much of the 24th century. The episode (where several of their colonies are destroyed by the to-be-revealed Borg) awakens them. Creator Gene Roddenberry had initially not wanted to use the Romulans, but poor reception to the Ferengi meant the Federation needed a new adversary. Thus, the Romulans became the most frequent alien antagonist in the series; the Federation and Klingons were united as their enemies. Recurring Romulan villains included Tomalak (Andreas Katsulas) and Sela (Denise Crosby).

The most notable additions to the Romulans in "TNG" included V-shaped forehead ridges (dimorphic evolution from their Vulcan cousins), the D'deridex Class (enormous green warships descended from the Birds-of-Prey from "The Original Series"), and the Tal Shiar, Romulus' secret police.

Romulan highlights in "TNG" include "The Defector" (a Romulan military officer defects to the Federation) and "Reunification" (where Ambassador Spock has begun a push on Romulus for the two peoples to be one again).

The Next Generation (cont'd)

The Romulans weren't as prominent in "Deep Space Nine" as in "The Next Generation," but that series featured them finally uniting with the Federation. While the Federation and Klingons fight a losing war with the expansionist Dominion, the Romulans initially stay on the sidelines.

In the season 6 episode, "In The Pale Moonlight," Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Garak (Andrew Robinson) falsify evidence of the Dominion's plans to invade Romulus and try to sway Senator Vreenak (Stephen McHattie). When their deception is revealed, Garak (with Sisko none the wiser until it's done) pulls a move the Romulans would be proud of: he assassinates Vreenak and frames the Dominion. Thus, the Romulans join the war as allies, and remain so until the series' end.

The Romulans finally got a silver screen spotlight in "Star Trek: Nemesis," the final "TNG" theatrical film. The Romulan Senate is assassinated by a bio-weapon and a new Praetor, Shinzon (Tom Hardy), seizes power. It turns out Shinzon is a failed clone of Picard, the product of an aborted spying operation. The biggest wrinkle "Nemesis" introduces to the Romulans is the Remans. Playing on the pre-established twin planets Romulus and Remus, the grey-skinned Remans are a slave race, toiling as forced laborers and shock troops.

The film skimps on the details of Reman history, so viewers can surmise they evolved on Remus and were subjugated by the Romulans. However, the novel trilogy "Vulcan's Soul" by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz builds on the Remans displaying telepathy like the Vulcans (which the Romulans have always lacked). In this telling, the Remans were Vulcan exiles who refused to give up their telepathy and so were oppressed by the future Romulans; their appearance stems from the poor living conditions on Remus.

Looking to the past

"Star Trek: Enterprise" was a prequel set in the 22nd century, beginning before first contact between humans and Romulans. That event was depicted in the season 2 episode "Minefield," when the Enterprise stumbles into Romulan territory and is disabled by a cloaked minefield. True to canon, only the Romulans' ships are seen in the episode.

The Romulans finally took a larger role in season 4. The three-parter, "The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara" was about a Vulcan conspiracy to invade the Andorians. The ending revealed that Vulcan Administrator V'Las (Robert Foxworth) was in league with the Romulans and secretly working towards reunification. A subsequent three-parter, "Babel One/United/The Aenar," featured the Romulans as the explicit villains. A Romulan drone-ship, equipped with a holographic projector and controlled by Admiral Valore (Brian Thompson), attacked ships throughout the Alpha Quadrant to ferment dissent (the story begins with it destroying an Andorian ship while disguised as a Tellarite one, it later destroys a Rigellian freighter while disguised as Enterprise, etc.). However, the attacks only wind up bringing the targeted races together.

"Enterprise" established a firm timeframe for the Earth-Romulan War: 2156 to 2160. Moreover, the war was revealed as the event that brought the Federation together; Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites united in a military alliance against Romulan expansionism and never broke apart. The Romulans' increased presence in season 4 was building up to the war, but unfortunately, "Enterprise" was canceled before subsequent seasons could depict it. Thus, the Earth-Romulan War remains undepicted onscreen, confined to novels "Beneath The Raptor's Wings" and "To Brave The Storm" (both by Michael A. Martin).

The home world destroyed

Romulans were again the villains of a "Star Trek" film in director JJ Abrams' eponymous reboot. In the year 2387, Romulus and Remus are destroyed when their star goes supernova, shattering the Empire. Spock manages to contain the explosion with the substance Red Matter, opening a wormhole that sends him back in time to the 23rd century. Following him is the Romulan mining vessel the Narada, captained by vengeful Captain Nero (Eric Bana) — his name is another allusion to ancient Rome .

The Narada's presence creates an alternate timeline; Nero and his men destroy Vulcan with Red Matter before being defeated themselves. Nero and the Narada's crew stand out from other Romulans thanks to their shaved heads and tattoos; the admittedly non-canon comic "Star Trek: Countdown" suggests this is part of a mourning ritual. Normally the tattoos would fade, but Nero and his crew burnt them into their skin to ensure they'd never forget the loss of their home.

"Star Trek" returned to the "TNG" era with "Picard" and followed on from this point. It turns out that Starfleet offered to help evacuate Romulus, but after an attack on Mars, reneged on the plan; Picard himself resigned in disgust. The Romulans are far from extinct though. The Empire has collapsed into warring factions, one of which is the Romulan Free State. According to "Star Trek: Discovery," Vulcan/Romulan reunification will have become a reality by the 31st century. The groups remain culturally divided, but they again exist on the same planet, renamed from Vulcan to "Ni'var" (meaning two combined into one).

Romulan worldbuilding

Michael Chabon, showrunner of "Picard" season 1, also shared (via Medium) worldbuilding notes on the Romulans . These presumably influenced his onscreen depiction of them. Chabon writes that the Romulans are such secretive people that there is nothing more intimate to them than the truth; marriages have three participants because there must be third-party verification in everything.

The Romulan government is organized like an espionage network, with multiple competing cells, while Romulans all have four names: the common name (used for familiarity), imperial name (the state-recognized name), open name (for outsiders), and their true name (used only for close intimacy). Chabon suggests that a rumored reason for the Romulans' secrecy is the abundance of camouflaged predators on their adopted homeworld; their cloaked warbirds are modeled on a raptor whose plumage blends into the horizon.

Not all depictions of the Romulans totally align — compare Duane's Rihannsu to Chabon's Romulans. However, they all draw upon "The Original Series" and make inferences from there. "Star Trek" writers and fans aren't much different; they both take canon material and expand on it with some imagination.

"Star Trek" and its spin-offs are streaming on Paramount+.

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10 Similarities Between Star Trek and Ancient Rome Posted by Brittany Britanniae on Mar 18, 2014 in Latin Language , Roman culture

Whilst trying to decide what to write for this week’s article, I was torn by many different avenues that inspire me. I am personally an avid fan of gender studies and societal transgressions, but these topics seemed a bit…heavy for this week. So, if you are by chance excited to see a blog on gender studies; please look forward to next week’s article on “Ancient Women in Modern Film.”

However, for this week I am interested to examine Star Trek and the depths within it that are of the Classical Tradition. By “Classical Tradition,” I mean to show the degrees in which this science fiction world has drawn from antiquity to create a universe that has a large and loyal fan base.

Let’s start off with the most obvious.

1. Romulus and Remus

Capitoline Wolf suckles the infant twins Romulus and Remus. Courtesy of Wikicommons & Jean-Pol GRANDMONT.

In Roman mythology, they are the twin sons of Mars and Rhea. Romulus is fated to find Rome (which is hence named after him), while Remus is destined to be killed at the hand of his brother.

In Star Trek mythology, Romulus and Remus were “twin planets” which revolved around the same star. However, their inhabitants and terrain were polar opposites. Romulans were related to Vulcans and came from a planet very similar to Earth or Vulcan (Class M planet); while Remus was a harsh planet whose inhabitants were considered of a lower class.

Courtesy of the page below and Tom Allred.

In Roman mythology, Vulcan was another name for the god Hephaestus. He was the god of crafting, blacksmithing, and even volcanoes.

In Star Trek mythology, Vulcans came from a planet, Vulcan, which was full of volcanoes. Vulcans were known for being skilled with crafting and creating new technology. One writer touches upon the subject very nicely ( here ).

3. Planet Names [which do not have connecting features between the name and terrain/inhabitants]

Many of the planet names in Star Trek derive from mythological characters or beings; these include (but are not limited to)

-Nausicaa, Cerberus, Gaia, Isis III, Janus VI, Kronos, Minos, Oceanus IV, Persephone V, Pollux IV, Sarpedion V,…

4. Orion(s)

Courtesy of Wikicommons, Till Credner & AlltheSky.com

In Roman mythology, he was a skilled hunter and friend of Artemis. But when Artemis felt herself tempted by his prowess she sent a giant scorpion to kill him. Thus the constellations Orion and Scorpio were formed.

In Star Trek mythology, Orion was a planet. It inhabitants were known as Orions and were a race of green (or blue) skinned humanoids. They were an animalistic and primal race in which the women used the men as slaves. (This is somewhat reminiscent of the mythical Amazons and mirror Artemis’ nature more so than Orions.)

5. Magna Roma

http://youtu.be/8qzEjVbn6WE

In Roman mythology, this was the Latin phrase for “Great Rome.” It referred to both the city of Rome and the female entity that was consider Rome.

In Star Trek mythology, it was the name of a planet (or 892-IV) that is visited in the episode “Bread and Circuses.” The planet is almost identical to Earth and therefore referred to as a” parallel planet.” It was classified as a parallel planet, because it showed what Earth may have become if the Roman Empire had not fallen. The presence of gladiatorial game, slaves, the Senate, and even the Praetorian Guard were present in the 23rd century.

6. Klingons

In accordance to ancient history, the Klingons seem to mimic the famous Spartans and their militaristic society. One argument (although weak) attributes the Klingon name to the ancient Greek κλίνω (kiln-o) [Latin form inclinare] meaning “to incline, to bend, to lean, to turn” (perhaps in reference to the Klingon forehead), but κλίνω can also have the meaning “to turn the ride of war.” Both meanings would serve the Klingons accurately.

You have seen the film 300, but have you heard of 300 Klingons? Watch on…

7. & 8. Jean Luc Picard and The Federation

Jean Luc Picard is as captain of the starship Enterprise is criticized by his mentor/father figure that:

“You’re like a Roman centurion off patrolling the provinces — the maintenance of a dull and bloated Empire.”

The parallel to the captain as a centurion, the planets as provinces, and the Federation to the Roman Empire is often eluded to, but not often stated in the Star Trek series. This lines offers to its audience a chance to meld antiquity and historic references to science fiction ones in a direct manner (which is not often seen).

*Fun Fact: Patrick Stewart, who plays Jean Luc Picard, actually plays a centurion in I, Claudius.

9. James Tiberius Kirk and Nero

In the recent Star Trek franchise, the 2009 film Star Trek, an alternative reality is created and affects all the character’s lives. It is ironic that our hero James Tiberius Kirk would be born and shortly afterwards the villain Nero makes his appearance. What I am attempting to hit on here are the names: Tiberius and Nero.

In history, Tiberius was an ancient Roman emperor and was often known for his lewd and lusty behavior, but he was also known for making spectacles of himself. While Nero was to be the second emperor after him and brought destruction and chaos. Is there perhaps a bit of mirroring with these Star Trek characters and the emperors? It is interesting that Roman emperor’s names would be used so freely in a science fiction series.

10. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

“Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges” is the name of an episode of Star Trek (Deep Space 9 to be exact), which employs a Latin title. The title is actually a quote from the ancient Roman orator Cicero meaning ” In time of wars; the law falls silent.” The title and quote are actually used to justify a questionable tactic to which one person asks “” Is that what we have become? A 24th-century Rome? ” The question rings clear in both its parallelism and its indications of the Romulan Empire and the Roman Empire.

There is a clear and distinctive portrayal of antiquity with Star Trek. Whether it be through mythology, historical people, quotes, or epics, Star Trek makes good use of the wealth of information from antiquity. While some references may simply be in the form of a planet’s name or a vessel name, other times the parallel between the historical or mythological and the science fiction are clear. It is important to observe these similarities, because it further emphasizes the influence antiquity still has on modern day audiences. It shows how ancient ideals and mores are still used today to explore a story’s message. The Classical Tradition is not dead, but in fact far from it. It would seem that science fiction is the new frontier for antiquity to be employed and make its outreach.

There have been several episodes that have had an ancient theme to them such as:

Bread and Circuses; read on it ( here ).

Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges; read on it ( here ).

Plato’s Stepchildren; read on it ( here )

Who Mourns for Adonis?; read on it ( here )

Side of Paradise; read on it ( here )

You can watch most of these on a Netflix or Hulu subscribe Account.

Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

About the Author: Brittany Britanniae

Hello There! Please feel free to ask me anything about Latin Grammar, Syntax, or the Ancient World.

David Emery:

“Fun Fact: Patrick Stewart, who plays Jean Luc Picard, actually plays a centurion in I, Claudius.”

Well, characterizing Sejanus as ‘a centurion’ is kinda like characterizing Augustus as ‘a senator’…

Ruth Breindel:

As an avid ST fan, I have also noted these items. Let’s not forget “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one” (quite paraphrased – I have no auditory memory, despite having heard that phrase about 80 times…).

Surazeus Simon Seamount:

I noticed the similarity of the Federation to the Roman Empire in the 1990s, ships exploring worlds on the Mediterranean rather than the galaxy. I always equated the Klingons with the Persian Empire.

J J Markin:

As an erstwhile classicist, I must have been subconsciously aware of all this, but ancient Rome was so much a part of my daily life that I confess that, until I read your article, I hadn’t really noticed it as clearly as I might have. Thanks.

I watched OST in high school and college during its first run back in the late ’60s and saw only sporadic episodes of most of the later spin-offs (yeah, I’m ancient!), much of what you wrote was new to me. Again, thank you. Altogether a very interesting piece.

One minor correction, though: Nero was third emperor after Tiberius, not second. (The Julio-Claudian dynasty: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero.)

The classic series as well a TNG is avalable on AMAZON and for those who have Prime membership its free.I think with DS9 this is as well

A Complete History of the Romulans in Star Trek

Since The Original Series, the Romulans have been one of Star Trek's most mysterious villains, but who are they and how do they relate to the Vulcans?

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The romulans were created to be star trek 'romans', the timeline of the romulan star empire, the romulan cold war and joining forces against the dominion, the destruction of romulus changed star trek timelines.

Some of the most mysterious villains in Star Trek are the Romulans, whose history with Earth dates back to before the time of Star Trek: The Original Series . The Romulans are depicted as an oppressive group with a militant culture and are arguably even less agreeable than the Klingons. Still, they have united in common cause with the Federation in some instances.

When Star Trek: Discovery advanced the timeline by 900-plus years, the Romulan Star Empire was no more. Their home planet, Romulus, was destroyed. Thanks to Spock's efforts to expose their culture to Vulcan logic, the Romulans found a new home on Ni'var, the renamed Vulcan homeworld. In fact, along with their distant, pointy-eared cousins, the Romulans are part of the Federation in the 32nd Century. Romulans went from unseen enemies in Star Trek 's history to cohabitating with humans' first alien friends, but have plenty of story left to tell.

How Gene Roddenberry Lost Control Over the Star Trek Movies

Before Star Trek returned for its second wave of stories, the creation of the Romulans was a point of contention. In a featurette on The Original Series Blu-ray, writer and franchise legend Dorothy Fontana said freelance writer Paul Schneider invented them by taking inspiration from the ancient Roman Empire. Schneider confirmed this in Captain's Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyagers by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, calling his creation "an extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel." This is the impetus for their militaristic society, drive to conquer and fanatical loyalty to the unseen Emperor.

The Romulans appeared twice in Star Trek: The Original Series and weren't fully fleshed out as adversaries until the time of The Next Generation . Originally, they looked just like Vulcans, but makeup supervisor Michael Westmore added forehead ridges and a different hairstyle. The Romulans were considered to be the villains in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , but the production opted for the more popular Klingons. They would have taken the place of the S'ona in Star Trek: Insurrection . However, Patrick Stewart objected to their inclusion thinking fans wanted a fresh villain. Ironically, the opposite was true.

The Romulans also appeared as villains in Star Trek: Nemesis , Star Trek (2009) and in Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard . Because they were originally introduced as an "offshoot" of Vulcans, Leonard Nimoy appeared as Spock on The Next Generation to send the character to make peace with them. His final mission was to reintegrate the Vulcan and Romulan cultures as one society. Star Trek: Discovery revealed he succeeded indirectly by the 32nd Century. While there was an Earth-Romulan war, this story hasn't been told yet, likely because humans never saw their enemies in the flesh.

Star Trek: What's the Story Behind Every Enterprise Design?

In the Star Trek universe, it was discovered that most humanoid life could trace its genetic origins to a single star-faring species billions of years in the past. They traveled the universe colonizing many planets, and both Vulcans and Romulans share traces of this DNA. At some point in Vulcan's history, before the populace adopted the logic-based philosophy of Surak, a group of Vulcans went to the stars and eventually settled on Romulus. These beings became Romulans, and possibly Remans, the pale-skinned, scaled "slave caste" of the Romulan Star Empire, at least through the late 24th Century.

By the 22nd Century, the Romulan Star Empire was known by Vulcans, yet they had no contact with their long-distant cousins. In fact, this connection was lost to history among Vulcans, although Romulans retained that information. On Star Trek: Enterprise the NX-01 encountered a planet surrounded by cloaked mines. They briefly exchanged communications with this unknown race, but never identified them for certain. Later, the Romulans sent spies to Vulcan to attempt reunification, but when Captain Archer and T'Pring discovered Surak's teachings, the plans fell apart.

A long-distance Romulan plot also attempted to foster war in the galaxy via cloaked drones, controlled telepathically. This caused Captain Archer to form an alliance with founding members of the Federation , thereby starting the process of its creation. In 2156, Earth and Romulus went to war. The Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites united again to defeat them in 2160, whereby the neutral zone was established. The treaty was negotiated via long-distance communication. The Romulans were never seen until the USS Enterprise encountered a cloaked vessel attacking Earth colonies near the edge of the neutral zone.

10 Star Trek Time Travel Stories That Changed Canon

Two years after this encounter, Captain Kirk was ordered to violate the Neutral Zone to steal a cloaking device. He succeeded and captured a Romulan commander as well. Later, in Star Trek: The Animated Series , the Romulans tried to steal the Enterprise, but were defeated. By the late 23rd Century, the Romulan Star Empire had an ambassador at Federation headquarters. He was part of the conspiracy to prevent the Klingon Empire and the Federation from signing the Khitomer Peace Treaty. The Romulans remained isolated until the mid-24th Century.

There was a Cold War between the Empire and the Federation with many incidents amounting to 45 appearances in the second-wave series and films. Notable encounters included the attempted defection of Admiral Alidar Jarok. A Romulan spy impersonated the Vulcan ambassador T'Pel. After a test of a new cloaking device failed, the USS Enterprise-D helped the stranded Romulans. The Enterprise conducted two cover missions on Romulus. First, they were sent to retrieve Spock who had decided to preach Surak's teachings to Romulans. They then sent Deanna Troi to help Vice-Proconsul M'Ret defect to the Federation.

The Romulans still engaged in conflict with the Klingons periodically throughout the 24th Century. They also tried to steal an experimental starship, thwarted by the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram and the EMH from the USS Voyager. The Romulans stayed out of the Dominion War, until Captain Sisko aided Garak in framing the Dominion for the death of one of their ambassadors. They remained allies until the war ended.

Star Trek: Discovery's Kenneth Mitchell Was Heroic On and Off Screen

The film Star Trek: Nemesis took place in 2379, when the Remans rose up against the Romulan masters. A clone of Captain Picard named Shinzon became the new praetor. He brought the USS Enterprise-E to Romulus under the ruse of peace talks, but he needed Picard to heal a medical malady. His plan was to launch a war with the aim of destroying Earth. His defeat led to true diplomatic negotiations, aided by Ambassador Spock. In the 2380s, a cosmic accident destroyed Romulus. Spock and a mining vessel captained by Nero were sent to the past and created an alternate timeline, in which Vulcan was destroyed.

Back in the Prime Timeline, Admiral Picard tried to help refugees from the (now so named) Romulan Free State relocate. The Romulan secret order Zhat Vash used synthetic lifeforms to destroy the Utopia Planitia shipyards and the relocation fleet. Years later, the group attacked two synthetic lifeforms -- "children" of Data -- and a retired Picard helped save them and a planet full of their kind from destruction. A group of Romulans also captured a Borg cube, creating the Borg Reclamation project. The Artifact, as it was called, ended up landing on the planet of synthetics, where they presumably took over the effort.

By the 32nd Century, the Romulans and Vulcans successfully reunified. Vulcan was renamed Ni'var, and while there remained cultural tension, the two cultures lived in relative peace. When a cosmic accident caused all the dilithium crystals to explode, which prevented warp travel and killed countless people, Ni'Var retreated from the Federation. With the help of Captains Michael Burnham and Saru, they agreed to rejoin the union. This means the forthcoming series Starfleet Academy could introduce Romulan cadets.

Star Trek series and films are streaming on Paramount+, save for Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix and the first ten films currently on Max.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Romulan Star Empire

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The Romulan Star Empire (or simply, the Romulan Empire ) has been a major galactic power since the 22nd century and is the traditional government of the Romulan people and their subject worlds and species.

For most of recorded interstellar history, the Empire has been known for its xenophobic character and policies of extreme secrecy and territorial protectionism. The Hobus supernova of 2387 , and the ensuing destruction of Romulus , threw the Empire into a great deal of turmoil, encompassing several civil wars, territorial separation, reunification and re-constitution.

Since then, a new capital was established on Rator III , where Sela eventually proclaimed herself Empress in 2408 . However, after her disappearance in 2409 , the status of Rator III as capital was challanged by Romulan and Reman fugitives who strive for an eventual re-unification with the Vulcans and have founded a new faction - the Romulan Republic - on New Romulus .

3.1 Current head of state
3.2 Former heads of state
4.1 Starships
4.2 Ground Forces
4.4 Gallery
8 External links

Culture [ | ]

Romulan society is secretive and xenophobic. Romulan intellectuals thrive on deceit and subterfuge, and they favor more of a cunning approach to battle rather than sheer brute force, and this is reflected in the fact that most Romulan vessels have cloaking technology.

History [ | ]

Emblem of the Romulan Star Empire.

Hakeev oversees Imperial Forces during the invasion of Virinat from his flagship, the I.R.W. Khnial . ( “Flight from Virinat” ) In a broadcast to the citizens of the Romulan Star Empire, Sela blames the Romulan Republic for the destruction of the colony on Virinat . ( “Shadow Play” )
Tal Shiar have taken over Gasko Station and work on Borg technology there. ( “Gasko Blues” )
A Tal Shiar fleet that engages the player in orbit of Nimbus III , which hosts the Tal Shiar facility Installation 18 . ( “Installation 18” )
Listening Post Hephaestus is discovered, where Hakeev and Janek are present spying on various powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Janek raises concerns over the lives lost during their operations on the planet.
It is discovered that Hakeev and the Tal Shiar are working for the Iconians , who have put Hakeev in charge of an arena on Nopada Prime in order to test the weaknesses of Alpha Quadrant species. ( “Coliseum” )
In 2409 Romulan and Reman fugitives under D'Tan and Obisek , opposing Sela and the Tal Shiar , are motivated by the new vacuum of power. Together they found the Romulan Republic , a peaceful faction open towards the Federation and the Klingons, with New Romulus as its capital.
In order to dissuade the Federation from its alliance with the Romulan Republic, Sela holds a peace conference between the Star Empire and the Federation in the Agrama System ; however, the conference is a cover for an attack on Vulcan . ( “Empress Sela” )
Sela and Colonel Hakeev attempt to brainwash Romulan Republic players into working for the Tal Shiar. ( “Mind Game” )
In the Delta Corvi System the I.R.W. Leahval attempts to take fugitive Reman Vrimek into custody. ( “Cloak and Dagger” )
In the Iconia System , Sela demands Federation players to deliver Taris to the Star Empire her role in the destruction of Romulus . However, the player instead transfers Taris to the U.S.S. Belfast to be given a Federation trial. ( “Taris” )
Obisek kills Hakeev following the Reman Resistance's victory over the Tal Shiar in the Brea System . Sela then engages the attackers in the I.R.W. Leahval . After Sela is defeated she disappears as a mysterious vessel tows the Leahval through an Iconian gateway . The resulting power vacuum plunges the Empire even deeper into civil war and causes more elements of the remaining Imperial fleet to break away and defect. ( “Cutting the Cord” )
Khiana of the Tal Shiar attempts to do a deal with D'Tan in order to influence the Romulan Republic and secure new leadership of the Tal Shiar, which has been in chaos in the absence of Sela and Hakeev. ( “Hidden Camera” )

Politics and government [ | ]

Empress Sela

The Romulan Star Empire used to be ruled by the Romulan Senate and the Continuing Committee , both of which were overseen by the Praetor . In 2408 , the Romulan Star Empire was transformed into a monarchy ruled by self-proclaimed Empress Sela on Rator III . She enjoyed the support of the Empire's noble houses but it is not clear if the Romulan Senate has been dissolved by the latest reforms.

Current head of state [ | ]

Vacant since Empress Sela 's disappearance in 2409 and detention by the Romulan Republic in 2410

Former heads of state [ | ]

Praetor/Empress Sela - 2403-2408 Praetor, 2408-2409 Empress
Praetor Taris - 2388-2403 (first praetor of the newly constituted Romulan Star Empire)
Praetor Chulan - 2385-2387 (last praetor of the pre-Hobus Romulan Star Empire)
Praetor Tal'aura - 2379-2384
Praetor Shinzon (only for a short period in 2379 after the Reman coup d'état)
Praetor Hiren - late 2370s-2379
Praetor Neral - 2360s-2370s

Military [ | ]

The military arm of the Empire is known as the Romulan Star Navy . It is overseen by the Tal Shiar .

Starships [ | ]

Ground Forces [ | ]

Bosses [ | ], gallery [ | ].

Romulan ground forces

Centurion - an officer

Centurion Medic

Commander of Romulan ground forces

Space [ | ]

Romulan Star Empire sectors
Romulan Star Empire systems
Romulan Star Empire planets

Notes [ | ]

The Romulan Star Empire is based on the Roman Empire . The former capital planets Romulus and Remus are named for the founders of Rome .
In Star Trek: Picard, the Romulan Star Empire no longer exists: instead, there is a successor known as Romulan Free State.

External links [ | ]

Romulan Star Empire at Memory Alpha , the Star Trek Wiki.
1 Infinity Prize Pack - T6 Ship
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The Romulans were a humanoid race from the planet Romulus . The Romulans were biological cousins of Vulcans , descended from those who rejected Surak 's reforms during the Time of Awakening . By the 24th century , the Romulan Star Empire was one of the major powers in the galaxy . After a supernova destroyed the Romulan sun , the Romulan Free State became the official government. Eventually, the Romulans reunified with the Vulcans and settled on the planet Vulcan, which was renamed Ni'Var .

1.1 Origins
1.2 Relationship with Humans and the Federation
1.3 Relationships with other species
1.4 Catastrophe and betrayal
1.5 Reunification
1.6 Mirror universe
2 Physiology
3.1 See also
4.1 Foods and beverages
6 Technology
7.1 Appearances
7.2.1 First television appearances
7.2.2 Possibility of Star Trek III inclusion
7.2.3 Next Generation reappearances
7.2.4 Return to films
7.2.5 Further television appearances
7.2.6 Depiction in 2009 film
7.2.7 Discovery and Picard
7.2.8 Reception and trivia
7.3 Further reading
7.4 Apocrypha
7.5 External links

History [ ]

Origins [ ].

Spock once theorized that the Vulcans might be descendants of the Arretans . ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ") In 2369 , evidence was discovered that several species including the Romulans, and therefore also the Vulcans , trace back to DNA seeded on many planets by ancient humanoids billions of years ago . ( TNG : " The Chase ")

By the late 24th century , some Romulans believed that the story of Ganmadan predated the arrival of the ancestors of the Romulans and Vulcans on Vulcan. ( PIC : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 ")

When Surak's reforms of embracing logical principles and rejecting emotion spread rapidly across Vulcan in the 4th century , a minority rejected Surak's ideals. They were described as " those who march beneath the Raptor's wings ", a symbol later to be used in the Romulan Star Empire, and eventually departed Vulcan after losing a nuclear war called the Time of Awakening . At some point, they settled on twin planets that became known as Romulus and Remus , thereby laying the foundation of the Romulan Star Empire. ( ENT : " Kir'Shara "; TNG : " Gambit, Part I ", " Gambit, Part II "; Star Trek Nemesis )

Relationship with Humans and the Federation [ ]

Romulans were aware of Humanity for some time before Earth knew of them. Infiltrating the highest levels of the Vulcan High Command , the Romulans were impressed and seemingly confused by Humans. Enterprise NX-01 inadvertently encountered a Romulan minefield at one point, officially the first time Humanity became aware of the Romulans. Even after fighting the Earth-Romulan War , it wasn't until the 23rd century that Humans actually made visual contact with Romulans. ( ENT : " Minefield "; TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

After the Treaty of Algeron went into effect, the Romulans retreated into political and social isolation from the Federation. In late 2364 , an unprovoked attack on a Romulan outpost near the Federation Neutral Zone occurred. The Romulans initially suspected the Federation had executed the attack but it was later learned that the Borg may have been responsible. This event marked the end of Romulan political isolationism with the Federation. ( TNG : " The Neutral Zone ")

Relationships with other species [ ]

In keeping with their xenophobic attitudes, the Romulans tend to conquer species rather than form alliances with them, and individual Romulans tend to treat other species with varying degrees of disdain.

That did not prevent them from employing diplomacy when it suited their purposes. Soon after their emergence from a century of isolation in the mid 2260s , they had established at least two embassies with the Federation. One such embassy was a three-way endeavor on the planet Nimbus III , along with the Klingon Empire , and the other was on Earth itself. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

The Romulans allied with the Federation and the Klingons against the Dominion

Klingons and Romulans once shared an alliance for a number of years, beginning in the 2260s . But over the years, a number of unfortunate incidents, including the Khitomer Massacre , led the Klingons to develop a deep-seated hatred for the Romulans, and the Romulans were arguably the species that Klingon society in general despised most of all. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident "; TNG : " The Neutral Zone ")

A Cardassian embassy existed on Romulus for a time, and Elim Garak was "employed" there as a " gardener ," suggesting that the two species maintained an active diplomatic relationship. ( DS9 : " Broken Link ") In 2371 , Romulan and Cardassian agents in the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order cooperated in an attempted attack on the Dominion . ( DS9 : " Improbable Cause ", " The Die is Cast ") The Romulans had cut ties with the Cardassians by the time they entered into the Dominion War , but precisely when their relationship ended prior to this was unclear.

One common saying among the Romulans was, " Never turn your back on a Breen . " While this statement could be taken as partially humorous and not in itself indicative of hostilities between the two species, the Breen Thot 's apparent condition that the Breen be given Romulus in exchange for their help in the Dominion War suggested there was some degree of unfriendly history between the two. ( DS9 : " By Inferno's Light ", " Strange Bedfellows ")

The species that Romulans seem to dislike most, however, were Vulcans, and this feud goes back many centuries. The two powers once fought in a war that lasted a hundred years which was ignited due to a misunderstanding created by one of Q 's self-destructive stunts . ( VOY : " Death Wish ")

The two species remained distrustful of one another for an incredibly long time, but some Romulans grew tired of this, and a grassroots movement for reunification of the two species was active for a time on Romulus. It was generally assumed that after the split, Romulans and Vulcans were unaware of their common ancestry until the 23rd century . ( ENT : " Kir'Shara "; TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

Catastrophe and betrayal [ ]

The destruction of Romulus

In 2387 , the Romulan sun went supernova . Ambassador Spock attempted to prevent the supernova from striking the planet using red matter , but he was unsuccessful and Romulus was destroyed. A mining vessel , the Narada , survived and was captained by Nero , who exploited the black hole 's creation of a time warp into the past to attack Spock's home planet of Vulcan in revenge and planned to destroy all planets of the Federation so that Romulus could be "free" and possibly conquer everywhere else. The first part of Nero's plan was mostly successful as Vulcan and most of the Vulcan species was destroyed. However, the Narada and its crew were destroyed in the Battle of Earth by the crew of the Enterprise led by the James T. Kirk of the alternate reality . ( Star Trek )

Just prior to the destruction of Romulus, the Romulans reached out to the Federation, which accepted their request for help. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard would lead a fleet of rescue ships to Romulus in an attempt to evacuate as many Romulans as possible but the rescue ships were attacked and destroyed by, what appeared to be at the time , a group of malfunctioning, rogue synthetic life forms during their attack on Mars . This action led Starfleet to withdraw the rescue mission, thus betraying the Romulans in their hour of need. Not wanting to be a spectator in what he viewed as a dereliction of duty and criminal action by Starfleet, Picard gave Starfleet a choice of either accepting his revised plan for the mission, or his resignation, in which Starfleet Command chose the latter. In disgust, he retreated to his vineyard on Earth . ( PIC : " Remembrance ", " The End is the Beginning ")

After the destruction of Romulus, some of the surviving Romulans were politically organized as the Romulan Free State . ( PIC : " Maps and Legends ")

Reunification [ ]

Centuries after Spock's death, the Romulans reunified with the Vulcans and returned to their former home of Vulcan, which was renamed Ni'Var . In the early days, the Qowat Milat were crucial in establishing trust between the two peoples, though their reconciliation remained difficult. After the Burn in the 31st century , the Romulans advocated for remaining in the Federation, though they were overruled. ( DIS : " Unification III ")

Mirror universe [ ]

In the mirror universe , the Romulans appeared to be uninvolved in the conflict between the Terran Rebellion and the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance .

Benjamin Sisko , posing as his mirror universe counterpart , indicated to Jennifer Sisko that he was going to visit the Romulans to see if he could get their support. This was, in reality, a ruse to explain his return to Deep Space 9 . ( DS9 : " Through the Looking Glass ")

Physiology [ ]

Romulans in 2266

Due to their shared ancestry, Vulcans and Romulans possessed very similar physiology . ( DS9 : " Image in the Sand ") In addition, much like being an offshoot from their Vulcan cousins themselves, a race known as the Debrune were an ancient offshoot of the Romulans. ( TNG : " Unification I ", " Gambit, Part I ")

Romulans had pointed ears , eyebrows that were arched and up-swept, varied skin color, and copper -based blood that appeared green when oxygenated in the arteries, or copper or rust-colored when deoxygenated in the veins. ( Star Trek Generations ; PIC : " Absolute Candor ")

Some Romulans had two brow ridges above the bridge of their nose, forming a V-shape on the forehead, while other Romulans lacked these ridges, making them outwardly indistinguishable from Vulcans. Ridges were a trait associated with Northerners . ( PIC : " The End is the Beginning ")

The Romulan heart was gray in color. According to Garak, this fact was " altogether appropriate for such an unimaginative race. " ( DS9 : " Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges ")

Despite their common ancestry, there were also many subtle internal physiological differences between Vulcans and Romulans. Their life signs registered distinctly enough on the scanners of the USS Enterprise in 2268 that officer Pavel Chekov was able to distinguish his crewmate Spock from the crew complement of a Romulan starship, though he did note the difficulty of the task. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ")

The physical differences between Romulans and Vulcans were evidenced in Dr. Beverly Crusher 's failed attempt to treat a Romulan, Patahk , who had suffered advanced synaptic breakdown, with the methods used to treat Vulcans. Describing that, between the two, there were " subtle differences… too many of them. " In fact, it was later determined that the genetic similarities between Romulans and Klingons allowed for the two species to have a compatible ribosome match to effect treatment. ( TNG : " The Enemy ")

The Terothka virus was a disease unique to Romulan physiology. Romulans were also susceptible to Tuvan Syndrome . ( VOY : " Message in a Bottle "; DS9 : " Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges ")

Romulans were known to be inter-fertile with Humans , Klingons , and Vulcans . ( TNG : " The Drumhead ", " Redemption II ", " Birthright, Part II "; PIC : " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 ", et al.)

Romulans lacked the rigorous mental disciplines developed by the followers of Surak. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ")

Society [ ]

In Romulan society, military/political rank influences social standing. Because Romulans were members of a militaristic civilization, who considered defending the Romulan Empire and their own personal honor of foremost importance, military service and its accompanying rank were decisive factors in determining social eminence. ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ") However, while the military played an important role in Romulan society, it was the Romulan Senate that controlled the government. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Human clone Shinzon, who briefly became Praetor in 2379 after a coup d'etat , on his throne

At one point in history, Romulus was a sovereign nation ruled by an Empress , as indicated by Q . ( VOY : " The Q and the Grey ") By the 23rd century, the highest position of power was held by the Praetor , who presided over the Romulan Senate . ( TOS : " Balance of Terror "; Star Trek Nemesis ) The Praetor headed the Continuing Committee , which was composed of the Empire's most elite individuals, who made decisions of the utmost importance. ( DS9 : " Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges ")

By the 24th century , the government of Romulus was dependent upon the Tal Shiar , the Romulan secret police, to maintain order and stability among both civilians and the military. The Tal Shiar was known for its brutal tactics, which included routine kidnapping, torture, and assassination. Many Romulans feared even expressing dissenting opinions in order to not bring the attention of the Tal Shiar. There were also indications that tension existed between the military and the Tal Shiar. ( TNG : " Face Of The Enemy ")

Ayel, a Romulan miner

Romulan society was based upon a highly structured caste system. Unlike most of the highly evolved species in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants , Romulans still practiced slavery , in this case of the Remans , which they used for slave labor and as shock troops. ( Star Trek Nemesis )

Romulans tended to be highly xenophobic , engaging in extended periods of isolationism , and could be perceived as outright racist to other species, believing themselves to be superior. At least some Romulans believed that, one day, the Romulan Empire would rule the entire galaxy and that Humans would be extinct. ( TNG : " The Neutral Zone ", " Data's Day ", " The Enemy ") According to Miles O'Brien , there was no piece of technology in existence that the Romulans didn't claim they invented before everyone else. ( DS9 : " Explorers ") According to Worf , Romulans tried to claim as territory all that was in their field of vision. ( TNG : " Tin Man ")

Both males and females could command warships, obtain high political positions, and could be members of the Tal Shiar. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident "; TNG : " Contagion ", " Face Of The Enemy "; DS9 : " Image in the Sand ")

Culture [ ]

A street in the Krocton Segment on Romulus

The Romulans lacked the rigorous mental disciplines developed by the followers of Surak. Like the Vulcans, the Romulans gave up unrestrained violence as a way of life. However, in the case of the Romulans, this was replaced with a controlled deviousness: as a species, the Romulans were generally thought of as duplicitous, a reputation reinforced by the actions of their government over time. ( TNG : " The Neutral Zone ")

The Romulans saw and valued themselves as a passionate people. They dealt with loss differently from Humans: they loved deeply, and if it ended they honored that love by loving again, more deeply still. ( TNG : " Unification I "; PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

During the 23rd century , Romulans practiced the death penalty on criminals by means both painful and unpleasant. Prior to the presenting of the charges, the Romulans allowed the accused a Right of Statement . ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ")

Reluctance to rely on overt hostility generally led the Romulans to play a waiting game with their opponents, attempting to manipulate an adversary into breaking – or appearing to break – an agreement so as to give them a solid justification for striking. ( TNG : " The Defector ", " The Pegasus ")

They were also well-known for fearing disgrace over death. ( TAS : " The Practical Joker ") With this frame of mind, Romulan parents disposed of any newborn carrying birth defects, as the alternative would mean a waste of resources. ( TNG : " The Enemy ")

Romulan custom was to promise males and females to each other from birth. ( PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

The totalitarian nature of Romulan society, in which dissent was often a crime and Romulan security officers masqueraded as citizens, led many Romulans to be extremely paranoid. ( TNG : " Unification I ")

Romulans had three names : one for outsiders, one for family , and a true name for the one they gave their hearts to. ( PIC : " The Impossible Box ")

Traditional Romulan homes had a false front door and their true entrance was located in the back. ( PIC : " The End is the Beginning ")

A common Romulan saying was " jolan tru ", which was used for both "hello" and "goodbye". ( ENT : " United "; TNG : " Unification I ", " Unification II "; PIC : " Absolute Candor ")

Another saying was: " Sab khut hafeth, frazhannempal was qailefeth " ("Seize today, for we know nothing of tomorrow"). ( PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

The path of Zhal Makh meditation is outlined on the floor

The Zhal Makh was a traditional form of meditation practiced by the Romulans and considered taboo to non-Romulans. ( PIC : " The Impossible Box ")

In the 24th century, a dissident movement began to gain momentum, based on the desire to learn about Vulcan and their ideals. The movement's ultimate goal was the reunification of Romulus and Vulcan . Ambassador Spock was deeply involved in this movement. ( TNG : " Unification I ", " Face Of The Enemy ")

Miles O'Brien once played a game of tongo with a Romulan mercenary ( DS9 : " Change of Heart "). In cases of anonymity, they were known for commonly using hired assassins , such as the Flaxians , to conduct their off-world "justice" ( DS9 : " Improbable Cause ").

The deviousness, xenophobia, and practiced duplicity were notably rejected by the Qowat Milat , an order of warrior nuns that were ideologically (and sometimes martially) opposed to the Tal Shiar and the Zhat Vash . They instead practiced the Way of Absolute Candor , i.e. the total communication of emotion without filter between thought and word. They were also open to non-Romulan women being inducted into their ranks. ( PIC : " Absolute Candor "; DIS : " Unification III ")

Foods and beverages [ ]

Jumbo Romulan mollusk
Romulan ale
Romulan whiskey
List of named Romulans
List of unnamed Romulans

Technology [ ]

See main article: Romulan technology

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

" Minefield " (voice only) (Season 2)
" Kir'Shara " (Season 4)
" Babel One "
" The Aenar "
" Balance of Terror " (Season 1)
" The Deadly Years " (mentioned only) (Season 2)
" The Enterprise Incident " (Season 3)
" The Survivor " (Season 1)
" The Time Trap "
" The Practical Joker " (Season 2)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
" The Neutral Zone " (Season 1)
" Contagion " (Season 2)
" The Enemy " (Season 3)
" The Defector "
" Tin Man "
" Future Imperfect " ( hologram only) (Season 4)
" Data's Day "
" The Drumhead "
" The Mind's Eye "
" Redemption "
" Redemption II " (Season 5)
" Unification I "
" Unification II "
" The Next Phase "
" Face Of The Enemy " (Season 6)
" Birthright, Part I "
" Birthright, Part II "
" The Chase "
" Timescape "
" The Pegasus " (Season 7)
" All Good Things... "
Star Trek Generations (corpse only)
Star Trek Nemesis
" The Search, Part I " (Season 3)
" The Search, Part II "
" Visionary "
" Improbable Cause "
" The Die is Cast "
" Homefront " (Season 4)
" In Purgatory's Shadow " (Season 5)
" By Inferno's Light "
" In the Pale Moonlight " (Season 6)
" Tears of the Prophets "
" Image in the Sand " (Season 7)
" Shadows and Symbols "
" Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges "
" When It Rains... "
" The Dogs of War "
" What You Leave Behind "
" Eye of the Needle " (Season 1)
" Unity " (Season 3)
" Message in a Bottle " (Season 4)
" Infinite Regress " (flashback nightmare ) (Season 5)
" Flesh and Blood " (hologram only) (Season 7)
" Q2 " (hologram only)
" Remembrance " (Season 1)
" Maps and Legends "
" The End is the Beginning "
" Absolute Candor "
" Stardust City Rag "
" The Impossible Box "
" Nepenthe "
" Broken Pieces "
" Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 "
" Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 "
" The Star Gazer " (Season 2)
" Penance "
" Assimilation "
" Watcher "
" Fly Me to the Moon "
" Two of One "
" Monsters "
" Hide and Seek "
" Farewell "
" The Next Generation " (Season 3)
" Imposters " (photo only)
" Veritas " (Season 1)
" Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus " (hologram only) (Season 3)
" I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee " (Season 4)
" Empathological Fallacies "
" The Inner Fight "
" Old Friends, New Planets "
" Unification III " (Season 3)
" All Is Possible " (Season 4)
" The Galactic Barrier "
" A Quality of Mercy " (Season 1)
" Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow " (Season 2)
" Crossroads " (Season 1)
" Masquerade "

Background information [ ]

First television appearances [ ].

The Romulans were conceived by freelance writer Paul Schneider and introduced in the TOS Season 1 episode " Balance of Terror ". Despite Schneider alone being given on-screen credit for the writing of that particular episode, citation for the creator of the Romulans became somewhat muddied as the years went by. In an article from Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 11 (p. 20), Star Trek: The Original Series writing staffer John D.F. Black wrote, " It's been stated so often that the Romulans were created by producer Gene Coon that I find it difficult to keep from walking lockstep with the legend, nodding along with it, in spite of my having been there while the Romulans emerged from the imagination of Paul Schneider. " Another person who was there at the time was D.C. Fontana , who was present when Schneider pitched the episode to Gene Roddenberry . Regarding Schneider's work on the Romulans, Fontana later said, " He defined it; he very much laid out who the Romulans were. Paul doesn't get enough credit for it. " (" Balance of Terror " Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu-ray ) (Note that Gene Coon was not yet a member of the Star Trek creative staff when "Balance of Terror" was written and produced. Coon joined Norway Corporation (Roddenberry's production company) roughly a month later, starting with " Miri ".)

Paul Schneider modeled the Romulans on the ancient Romans , naming the species' homeworlds after the mythical founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus . " It was a matter of developing a good Romanesque set of admirable antagonists that were worthy of Kirk , " Schneider related. " I came up with the concept of the Romulans which was an extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel, and it turned out quite well. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 34) D.C. Fontana reckoned that Schneider basing the aliens on the pre-existing Roman civilization was the cause for the writer receiving insufficient credit for creating the Romulans. (" Balance of Terror " Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu-ray ) Gene Roddenberry, interested in ancient Rome himself, approved of the initial depiction of the Romulan species. " He loved Paul's having endowed the enemy-Romulans with the militaristic character of the ancient Romans, " wrote John D.F. Black and Mary Black . ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 11 , p. 19) Roddenberry's original concept of the Romulans, however, was that they represented 1960s' Chinese Communists. ( Star Trek Nemesis hardback ed., p. xx)

The script for "Balance of Terror" originally implied, by describing the Romulan Bird-of-Prey as an Enterprise saucer section attached to a pair of warp nacelles, that the Romulans had somehow stolen starship components from the Federation. (" Balance of Terror " Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu-ray ) When first introduced in the revised final draft script of "Balance of Terror", the Romulans were described " with ears pointed as Spock's ears are pointed… much like Spock, the Romulans. " A description of them from further in the script stated, " They are Spock-like men, dressed in military tunics with strange emblems. Like Spock, their almond-colored faces are coldly impassive. " The next paragraph in the teleplay referred to "the striking resemblance they have in common with Mister Spock – Vulcanite ears!"

In common with Gene Roddenberry, the Blacks and D.C. Fontana also appreciated Paul Schneider's invention of the Romulans, the Blacks describing them as, " Villains strong enough and clever enough that the audience would be compelled to believe they were capable of the first move that would lead to the destruction of the Federation. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 11 , p. 20) Fontana enthused, " They were a wonderful, wonderful enemy […] to have, because we could talk about them, people had seen them once, and we didn't know a lot about them. They were wonderfully mysterious. They've always been my favorites, actually – right up there, next to the Vulcans […] Paul did a very good job of, you know, creating this race, ultimately, in the script. " Fontana also cited the Romulans' exoticism, their pointed ears and relation to Vulcans as one element of why she liked the Romulans. (" Balance of Terror " Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu-ray )

Lots of experience with Vulcan ear and eyebrow prosthetics, as worn by Leonard Nimoy in the role of Spock, stood makeup artist Fred Phillips in good stead for dealing with the Romulans in Star Trek: The Original Series . ( Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook , p. 185) However, the makeup was too impractical for the Romulans to be brought back on a regular basis, with the pointed ears especially bringing about several problems. The cost of manufacturing the ears, which were made from latex, was too enormous for multiple actors in any episode and the manpower required to create the ears and apply them for each individual actor would have gone over the budget. The need for costly actor-specific ears was negated via reusable helmets that were worn by the background Romulans. ( Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts , pp. 41 & 42) " It took a long time for the ears to be put on […] And you have a large number of extras coming in, that have to have these ears put on. It's very expensive, it's time, " commented Denise Okuda . " And so they came up with this ingenious idea of putting helmets on, so you could hide the fact that these actors did not have pointed ears on. " (" Balance of Terror " Starfleet Access , TOS Season 1 Blu-ray ) The Romulan ears were manufactured by Wah Chang , as were the group's helmets. For both, he charged Desilu Productions US$748.80. (This would be more than US$7,000 in 2020s money.) Chang invoiced Desilu for this payment on 26 July 1966 and the price was paid in the following month (on either 10 or 13 August ). ( Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook , pp. 240-241)

Following their introduction in the first season, the Romulans indirectly appeared in the second season installment " The Deadly Years ", via recycled footage of the Romulan Bird-of-Prey , and were temporarily planned to appear themselves in the story that became Season 2's " A Piece of the Action ". As such, they were written into the first draft script for the latter of those two episodes, then entitled "Mission Into Chaos". [1]

The Romulans finally made a physical reappearance in the third season outing " The Enterprise Incident ", which had the working title "The Romulan Incident". titles.htm The same episode was an allegorical story that politically based the Romulans on North Koreans. ( Star Trek: The Original Series 365 , p. 277) Applying a pair of the Romulan ear prosthetics during production on "The Enterprise Incident" typically took forty-five minutes. Having portrayed one of the Romulans in that particular episode, Tal actor Jack Donner pronounced, " The Romulans are a great race of people. " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 137 , p. 53)

Possibility of Star Trek III inclusion [ ]

The Romulans were originally meant to be the villains in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . In an early story outline that Harve Bennett wrote for the third film, the Romulans discovered that the Genesis Planet had extraordinarily rich dilithium deposits and found Spock's coffin on the planet's surface. Even though they initiated a mining operation, the Romulans encountered trouble with this upon discovering that someone was killing members of the mining team, a mysterious individual who was later discovered to be a regenerated Spock. The story also brought the Romulans in conflict with the Enterprise and its senior officers. Though Kirk realized that the Romulans would become unstoppable if they succeeded with their mining mission, the Romulans were ultimately thwarted by the Starfleet officers, who – having caused the Enterprise to self-destruct to prevent a Romulan boarding party from seizing it – proceeded to capture the Romulan ship for themselves. ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8 , pp. 29-30)

As Harve Bennett subsequently discussed the story with Leonard Nimoy , the Romulans were at the forefront of their thinking. " Our first conversations were about the Romulans versus the Klingons, " Bennett later explained. " I was just looking for a heavy, and in the series – to me – the Romulans seemed to be more dastardly than the Klingons. So it was an error of ignorance. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8 , p. 30) Bennett went on to say, " I could have chosen the Romulans, but from my experience seeing all the episodes, I'd never gotten that sense of determination and absolutism that the Klingon episodes have revealed. " ( audio commentary , Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition) DVD / Blu-ray ) Moreover, Nimoy persuaded Bennett that the Romulans were less theatrical than the Klingons, so the name of the species that would serve as the movie's villain was switched. The Klingon Bird-of-Prey was intended to have been stolen from the Romulans, but this information was left out of the film. ( The Art of Star Trek , pp. 215, 217 & 219)

Next Generation reappearances [ ]

In the first edition of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer'/Directors' Guide , Gene Roddenberry declared that no stories concerning warfare with Romulans would be accepted for the new series. ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 92) However, when Roddenberry was attempting to decide upon a new antagonist for regular use on Star Trek: The Next Generation (while considering that the Klingons would no longer appear as recurring villains), writer D.C. Fontana thought of the Romulans. Fontana later recalled, " I sent him a memo, suggesting 'How about the Romulans?' After all, they hadn't been developed all that much in The Original Series , and they were a glamorous, attractive enemy. " ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before paperback ed., p. 110) Secure in the knowledge that the TNG viewers had accepted the series as a new version of Star Trek rather than a retread, Roddenberry felt confident enough to bring back the Romulans at the end of the show's first season . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission , p. 66) Roddenberry allowed the Romulans to occasionally feature on the new series from then on, but preferred not to use them as the series' primary villains. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 036)

The return of the Romulans in the first season TNG episode " The Neutral Zone " was originally discussed as the first of a multi-part story that would have united them with the Federation against the newly discovered Borg . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed., p. 60)) Writing staffer Maurice Hurley , who wrote "The Neutral Zone" and devised the multi-episode arc, intended for the Romulans to engage in a major battle against a Borg scout ship in the second of the three episodes, planned for the show's second season . The conflict would have culminated in the Romulans destroying the Borg vessel but being completely annihilated themselves. The extermination of the Romulan people would have left a mystery for Picard as to how they had managed to defeat the Borg ship before it had wiped them all out. ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 23 , pp. 15-16) A Writers Guild strike nixed this plan and the introduction of the Borg had to wait. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed., p. 60)) Nonetheless, the reappearance of the Romulans in "The Neutral Zone" proved the species had lost none of its appeal. ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12 , p. 21)

Marc Alaimo in Romulan makeup and costuming

Patrick Stewart in Romulan makeup

Marina Sirtis in Romulan makeup and costuming

For their appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation , makeup artist Michael Westmore gave the Romulans V-shaped forehead ridges to "compete" with the Klingon redesign introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . ( The Art of Star Trek , p. 92) The Romulan ridges also developed from efforts to make them look more menacing than how they had appeared before and physically differentiate them from Vulcans. " From the very first moment they appeared on-screen, " Westmore commented, " the viewer had to take them seriously, rather than seeing them as stereotyped villains with pointed ears […] I devised a forehead that had a dip in the center, and then I hollowed out the temple area. We wanted to stay close to their natural forehead, not making them look Neanderthal, but giving them a built-in sullen expression they couldn't get away from. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 068)

It was found that this facial feature complemented a change to the typical Romulan hairstyle that Michael Westmore wanted to introduce. He said of the restyled Romulans, " I gave them a little wedge to the center of the hair on their forehead instead of the Vulcans' straight-across bang. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12 , p. 26)

Although the Romulan genealogical tie to Vulcans was unspecified by TNG's writers when the Romulans were brought back – with "Balance of Terror" having introduced the species merely as a likely Vulcan offshoot – the opinion of the show's writers regarding the nature of this relationship had changed by the series' fifth season , as had personnel in the TNG writers' room. Writer Ronald D. Moore , who joined the show in its third season , expressed, " I hated the foreheads on the Romulans. The backstory [established in ' Unification '] was that they were basically the same race, yet somehow the Romulans got these different foreheads at some point. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 068) However, the redesigned Romulan makeup remained for subsequent Star Trek productions, not only those set in the 24th century but also for when Romulans were featured on Star Trek: Enterprise . The makeup was so extensive that it required the actor's head to be measured during pre-production (at least, it did in the case of Vaughn Armstrong , when preparing to play Telek R'Mor in VOY : " Eye of the Needle "). [2]

Initially, the alternate timeline in " Yesterday's Enterprise " incorporated a Romulan alliance with the Vulcans. Together, they destroyed the Klingons and almost wiped out the Federation. ( Star Trek Monthly issue 24 , p. 28)

In " Tin Man ", the Romulans were at first deliberately written about somewhat sympathetically by the episode's writers, Dennis Putman Bailey and David Bischoff . " We knew it wasn't allowed to use the Romulans as the 'bad guys,' so we found different way to use them, " explained Bailey. " We presented their point of view very clearly and why they felt threatened by the Federation. Interestingly enough, the dialogue about that was cut from the final cut and I think they decided it was okay to use the Romulans as bad guys without justifying it. " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 102 , p. 16)

Naren Shankar , who wrote the teleplay for " Face Of The Enemy ", thoroughly approved of how the Romulans are shown in that installment, saying, " The Romulans are not demonised […] which I think is very important. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 17 , p. 22)

Return to films [ ]

For Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , Romulan makeup was designed and fabricated by Richard Snell , though applied by Makeup Supervisor Michael J. Mills . Even though the Romulan facial features on TNG had significantly evolved from those on The Original Series , the Romulans were returned to their earlier form for Star Trek VI . " Basically, this time they had larger, bushier eyebrows and bigger ears, " noted Mills. " We stayed away from the forehead pieces and the radically different ears the new TV series has featured and just went with the original look. " ( Cinefex , no. 49, pp. 42 & 45)

Romulans were one alien race which, prior to the advent of Star Trek: Voyager , had become extremely familiar elements of the Star Trek universe. Deliberately, much less attention was paid to them in Voyager . ( Star Trek: Voyager - A Vision of the Future , pp. 155 & 162)

Romulans were initially intended to show up in a battle sequence near the start of Star Trek Generations . In this conflict, a group of Romulans would have attacked a couple of ensigns aboard the Amargosa observatory but then been ambushed themselves by an away team from the USS Enterprise -D , particularly Worf. Following comments from Jeri Taylor , this was changed to become a scene aboard a holographic simulation of the brig USS Enterprise , with only the aftermath of the battle being shown. ( The Making of the Trek Films , UK ed., p. 150)

The Romulans were originally to have filled the conspiratorial role that the Son'a play in Star Trek: Insurrection . According to writer Michael Piller in his unpublished reference book Fade In: From Idea to Final Draft , the idea of using the Romulans as major villains in the film was inspired by the fact that the species had been a long-standing enemy of the Federation but had never been featured in a Star Trek movie before. Additionally, Piller and Rick Berman imagined that the story might be set against the threat of a new outbreak of hostilities between the two governments. The Romulans went on to be written into the first version of the film's story. ( AOL chat , 1998 )

As told in Fade In: From Idea to Final Draft , Patrick Stewart criticized even the thought of using the Romulans in Insurrection , believing that they wouldn't make a suitable rival for the follow-up to Star Trek: First Contact . On 1 June 1997 , he wrote a letter to Rick Berman in which Stewart stated, " I think what dismays me most about the story is the dredging up of the Romulans – a race already unexciting in TNG – as the bad guys. It is revisionist and backward looking in a most disappointing way. After the Borg – the Romulans? Oh, my. " On 30 June , Michael Piller responded to this letter with one in which he explained, " We have, from the start, intended to re-invent the Romulans because we agree with you. We’ve been talking about a complete overhaul of their look as well as their character. If it means a great deal to you, I’d personally be willing to change it to another race. Do you have any suggestions? " Stewart responded with another letter, which he sent on 7 July and which confirmed that "the Romulan question" was highly important to him. Stewart continued, " I think it is a deadly idea to have even an 'overhauled' Romulan villain. After the Borg Queen it will look as if we just couldn’t come up with any new bad guys. But we must. "

The change to the newly invented Son'a was made "because nobody liked the idea of using the Romulans, ever," said Michael Piller. ( The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection , p. 14) Regarding the prospect of including the Romulans, Piller clarified, " No-one here felt a great deal of enthusiasm for that decision. " ( AOL chat , 1998 ) However, Eric A. Stillwell , who contributed to the making of Insurrection as a production associate and script coordinator, believed that the Romulans should have been used, saying, " I think this would have had a greater dramatic impact than introducing an entirely new group of bad guys. " He also noted about the exclusion of the Romulans, " I think that was a mistake. " [3] (X)

One of the first concepts in the writing of Star Trek Nemesis was to centrally feature the Romulans. A primary advocate for this choice of villain was writer John Logan – a big fan of the species and "the lethal machinations" characteristic of the group. " For a writer, the malicious subtlety of the Romulans, " remarked Logan, " offers great opportunities; the cleverness and formality of their language must suggest that they are simultaneously a deadly political foe and a noble, ancient race. Besides, I had just finished working on Gladiator and was in a classical frame of mind. The serpentine rhythms of the language we created for the Roman Empire in that movie were good practice for writing the august and treacherous Romulans. " ( Star Trek Nemesis hardback ed., pp. xvii-xviii) Logan also enthused, " I was delighted with the chance to get to play with the Romulans, and I don't think they've quite been explored enough […] For me the Communist Chinese is a really interesting world that was never fully explored, certainly in the movies, and not even as much as I would have liked in the series, except for individual episodes. I've always found that sort of Byzantine structure of Chinese Communism very interesting and very provocative, and lethal in a way I never found the Klingons. There is so much duplicity and mendacity and cleverness in the way the Romulans move through their world with very strategic chess moves. And also they are an old and ancient race, like the Vulcans, so they have gravitas to them, which I find very interesting. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 2 , pp. 11-12)

John Logan doubting that the Romulans would mine dilithium for themselves was a strong influence on the creation of the Remans . " It seemed obvious to me, " he said, " that the Romulans would subjugate some other race to dig dilithium for them. Much too messy for our pristine and elegant Romulans. " As an homage to Gene Roddenberry's original conception of the Romulans as Chinese Communists, Logan and the other writers of Nemesis made all the Romulan and Reman names in the film of ancient Chinese descent. ( Star Trek Nemesis hardback ed., p. xx)

Although the Remans are clearly the main villainous species in Nemesis , Rick Berman was repeatedly reported as stating, in an interview on a UPN station local to Los Angeles, that the Romulans would be the major villain in the film. [4] (X) [5] (X) In Star Trek: Communicator issue 131 , he clarified, " What I said was that we would be seeing the Romulans in this movie, which we are, but I did not necessarily say that they were going to be our main villains. " [6] (X) In Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 23 (p. 10), he further hinted about the Romulans, " They are part of the villainy, but not in the way that some might think! "

Eric Stillwell was puzzled upon hearing a rumor that the Romulans might be involved in Nemesis at all. He later commented, " I thought [that] was odd after we were asked to remove the Romulans from the original story in Insurrection . " [7] (X)

Before the release of Nemesis , Rick Berman additionally remarked, " I'm sure you can expect a fresh, updated look for the Romulans […] I think there will be some surprises as to what the Romulans will look like. " [8] (X) As it was, the Romulan designs used in the film were much as they had been in the preceding series. These similarities not only included their makeup but also stemmed to the production design of their ships, with Production Designer Herman Zimmerman saying, " The Romulans have been kind of an art deco culture and that's what you see [in Nemesis ], echoes of 1930s geometry in architecture, just turned sideways. " [9] (X)

Applying the Romulan prosthetics for Nemesis regularly took four hours. " I had a forehead prosthetic that they stuck to my head, " reported Donatra actress Dina Meyer . " The morning make-up routine consisted of me going into hair and getting my head wrapped – they make your hair all pin-curled and they put your head in a wig cap, so all your hair is pulled off your face. Then you go to the make-up trailer, where they attach the prosthetic forehead and prosthetic ear tips and then they pile on the make-up. They need a spatula to put it on, it's so thick. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 100 , p. 23)

Further television appearances [ ]

Because "Balance of Terror" had established Starfleet's first confirmed visual contact with the Romulans as being in 2266 , it was somewhat difficult for them to appear on Enterprise , that prequel series primarily being set in the 2150s . The show's producers wanted to include Romulans in the series, despite the risk of contaminating Star Trek canon, ever since the series began. ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 135 , p. 23)

Some initial consideration was given to making unnamed aliens in ENT : " Silent Enemy " actually be Romulans. André Bormanis , a writing staffer who wrote that episode, explained, " I wondered whether they might be Romulans until we decided to do a CGI alien effect [for the aliens themselves]. I think the technology of their ship, though, was too sophisticated for Romulans in this era, so that argued against making them Romulans too. " [10] (X)

The interest in seeing the Romulans on the series of Enterprise continued, however. " We have major continuity issues with them, " observed Executive Producer Brannon Braga , at the end of the show's first season . " We would very much like to do Romulans, but a) we don't know quite how yet, and b) since the new movie [ Star Trek Nemesis ] deals with Romulans, we want to give them some breathing room. We'll do them eventually, but not right away. " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 139 , p. 29) Intense speculation regarding whether the Romulans would appear in the series was stirred up at the end of Season 1. ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 145 , p. 24)

In fact, just prior to the release of Star Trek Nemesis , the Romulans seemed to have disappeared. At the time, John Logan rhetorically asked, " Why isn't anyone using them? " Reflected Jack Donner, " To a great deal they have been ignored. They haven't paid that much attention to them [in recent series]. There have certainly been episodes that dealt with Romulans, but nothing like the Klingons, Cardassians , and Ferengi . " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 137 , pp. 46 & 53)

In Star Trek: Communicator issue 137 (p. 85), Rick Berman predicted, " I would […] not be surprised that, within the next six to twelve months, we will have our first run-in with Romulans […] I […] think we will undoubtedly be running into Romulans at some point. " However, Berman made these statements without the writing staff of Enterprise having discussed the species appearing on the series nor the art department doing any design work related to the Romulans. [11] (X) [12] (X) Responding to the news, André Bormanis remarked, " If that's the case, I'm looking forward to it. " [13] (X)

One possibility, considered at around the end of the first season, was whether John Logan would be able to write the script for the Romulans' appearance on Enterprise , which then began to be a likely option for the show's second season . " Yeah, he would love to do that, and we would love to give him that chance, " announced Rick Berman. " It's all going to have to do with his time – he has three huge movies that he is working on now. We'll see what happens. " In the same interview, Berman went on to outrightly dismiss the chance that Romulans could show up in the first season. ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 138 , p. 20)

Despite the second season installment " Minefield " initially excluding the Romulans and its premise being a story set entirely on the hull of Enterprise , the plot evolved to include the Romulans. " The idea that the attacking aliens would be Romulans came out a little later, during the story break process, " Brannon Braga recollected. " We needed to be true to continuity and this was a way to do it. " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 145 , p. 24) Braga was happy that this portrayal of the Romulans seemed to come at an appropriate time, commenting, " I think it's cool that on Star Trek Nemesis you can see the Romulans of Picard's time, and at the same time you're seeing the early encounters with them on Enterprise ; there's great synergy there. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 99 , p. 8)

At a convention in Minneapolis held on the second weekend of July 2002 , Connor Trinneer conceded that, although he did not know any specifics about the Romulans making a return appearance on Enterprise , such an appearance was very possible, saying he "wouldn't be surprised" by it, at all. [14] (X) It was merely days later, on Tuesday 16 July 2002 , that Brannon Braga finally announced the upcoming Season 2 Romulan episode, hinting, " I think I can say without getting into too much trouble that very early in the season we will have our first brush with the Romulans. … Capt. Archer will have a very lethal brush with the Romulans early on. " [15] (X) On several occasions, Braga also tried to give assurances that the continuity with the Romulans was "airtight." [16] (X) [17] (X)

Despite featuring heavily in "Minefield", Malcolm Reed actor Dominic Keating revealed to fans, " I have NO idea who they are! " [18] (X)

Prior to the initial airing of Enterprise 's season 2 finale " The Expanse ", many fans at first incorrectly speculated that the Romulans were responsible for the attack on Earth depicted in that episode – thought to be the initial volley in the Romulans' previously established war with Earth – and would be the focus of the series' third season , rather than the multi-species Xindi . Brannon Braga was of the opinion that, had the Romulans indeed been used, they would have become "old" and less satisfying during the relatively lengthy course of the third season arc. He also stated that this did not exempt the species from appearing in that season, in which they nevertheless ultimately did not feature. ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 145 , p. 32)

The Earth-Romulan War was, however, intended to be explored in the fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise and the film Star Trek: The Beginning , neither of which were produced. Brannon Braga and Manny Coto considered making " Future Guy " a Romulan, while Michael Sussman intended on revealing T'Pol's father was a Romulan agent. ( Information provided by Michael Sussman )

The Romulans would have had a grander future had the animated series Star Trek: Final Frontier been produced instead of the film Star Trek : set in the 2460s , a war caused by Omega particle detonations (which was not actually the Romulans' fault) permitted them to conquer Qo'noS , destroy Andoria , and force the Vulcans to leave the Federation to negotiate reunification .

Depiction in 2009 film [ ]

During development of the 2009 film Star Trek , the writers of the movie's script, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci , chose the Romulans as the villains because the film was a continuation of Spock's story from "Unification". [19] J.J. Abrams said, " What was interesting to me was that it wasn't the Klingons. That's what you expect and it was fun to use the Romulans the way we did, " referring to their premature appearance in Kirk's life being a clear marker of divergence from the prime reality. " Part of the fact is that they hadn't seen them for so many years, so that it immediately breaks, for anyone who knows, the rules of Trek to start the movie and have Romulans crossing paths with Starfleet. " [20] Orci and Kurtzman focused more on writing the Romulans in later drafts of the screenplay. ( Star Trek Magazine issue 146 , p. 27)

Romulan prosthetics for the film Star Trek were at first arranged to be the purview of Proteus FX Makeup Effects Supervisor Barney Burman . " I did some early designs for the Romulans in my shop, but when my workload became too heavy, I hired Joel Harlow to come in and handle them. We all decided it would be best if Joel took over the task of creating the Romulans on set close to [Director] J.J. [Abrams] so he could see and direct their progress each day. We set up a makeup trailer for the Romulans, and Joel hired a crew of people to work on that and just did a fantastic job. " ( Star Trek Magazine issue 155 , p. 57) This makeup crew, called Joel Harlow Designs , sculpted and designed Romulan ear and forehead prosthetics. A total of forty main Romulan characters were created to appear in the movie, a process that started with lifecasts for each actor. ( Star Trek - The Art of the Film , p. 37) Harlow himself remembered, " J.J. did not want to see any hair lace in the wig applications, so we made the entire forehead and eyebrows as one piece, with hair punched into the silicone before application. I wanted to give the Romulans an animal look, so we widened their nose bridge and did some interesting stuff with their brows – but nothing so extreme that you couldn't believe they were real. " ( Cinefex , No. 118, pp. 46 & 47) After the individual prosthetic pieces were crafted and prepared for filming, Harlow's team also applied the prosthetics. The Romulan makeup designs from the same film incorporated tattoos that were made to look tribal. ( Star Trek - The Art of the Film , p. 37)

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci admitted that, even in the alternate reality , not all Romulans are necessarily bald. ( Star Trek Magazine issue 149 , p. 13) In reality, baldness of Nero and his crew was used to set the Romulans apart, physically, from the Vulcans in the movie, due to both species having slanted eyebrows and pointed ears. ( Star Trek Magazine issue 155 , p. 57)

Casting Director April Webster was at first very puzzled as to how to cast the Romulans in the film. " I had no idea what we were going to do with the Romulans, " she conceded. However, an influence on overcoming this challenge was the fact that the rest of the movie's cast incorporated a wide variety of people, with different skin colors and ages. Webster continued about the Romulans, " We just made a list of the most interesting actors we could think of who could match up and hold their own in a scene with [ Nero actor] Eric Bana . " ( Star Trek Magazine issue 144 , p. 30)

There were subtle alterations made to the Romulan prosthetics (at least for the Nero character) before filming, making it easier to perform on long shooting days. Eric Bana stated, " The prosthetics only underwent very minor changes, just for comfort and actability. Sometimes you make a really tiny change with the prosthetic, or the glue, or where it's attached, and it can really make a difference to your ability to convey expression. We had a few goes at that in pre-production to get that right. " By the time a week of filming had gone by, Bana found the new Romulan facial appearance "began to look completely normal to me, and regular humans started to look weird!" ( Star Trek Magazine issue 146 , p. 24) On the other hand, according to Star Trek Magazine issue 146 (p. 24), the Romulans on set seemed distinctly intimidating.

Discovery and Picard [ ]

The Romulans have been purposely excluded from featuring in Star Trek: Discovery . Showrunner Aaron Harberts explained, " 'Romulan' is a dirty word in our writers' room right now, because of where we are in the timeline. We don't talk about the Romulans […] The sparks fly when the writers bring up the Romulans. " ( AT : " O Discovery, Where Art Thou? ")

When Neville Page designed the Romulan makeup for Star Trek: Picard , he decided to use a variety of forehead appliances, some with more prominent ridges and others with a more human appearance, closer to the look of the Romulans in Star Trek: The Original Series . ( TRR : " Maps and Legends ")

After Picard season 1 aired, showrunner Michael Chabon published a blog post on Medium, outlining the history and culture for the Romulan people he devised for the show. [21]

Reception and trivia [ ]

The Romulans proved extremely popular among Star Trek fans . " When my episode first aired, " remarked Jack Donner, regarding " The Enterprise Incident ", " I got a letter from a fan named Lori Carlson in Denver, Colo. She was the president of the Leonard Nimoy/Vulcan club there, but she wrote to me and said that the club was switching their interests around. And now there are Romulan fan clubs all over the place – in Michigan, and Bakersfield, California, to name just a few. " ( Star Trek: Communicator issue 137 , p. 53) The Romulans had become fan favorites by the end of TNG's first season. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission , p. 66)

Star Trek novels scribe Susan Schwartz also approved of the Romulans. " I personally like the combination of raw intellect and harnessed ferocity, with all that history underlying it, " she explained. " With the Romulans, I like the plotting, too, and the honor and the irony. I've always liked them, from the time I saw Marc Lenard's face in 'Balance of Terror' and realized what they were swiping from. " [22] (X)

A group of Romulans appeared in a 1995 television commercial for a Christmas ornament of the Romulan Warbird, made by Hallmark . Makeup for these Romulans was provided by Michael Westmore 's makeup team. ( Star Trek Monthly issue 9 , p. 50)

Apocrypha [ ]

Much of the Romulans' origins are explored in the Rihannsu pentalogy by Diane Duane , and the later Vulcan's Soul trilogy by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz . Duane's novels established that the exodus from Vulcan was led by S'task, a former disciple of Surak , a detail which Sherman and Schwartz followed.

In Duane's novel The Romulan Way , Vulcan society becomes polarized by their first encounter with an alien species – Orion pirates attempting to invade their world. S'task, a Vulcan poet and former disciple of Surak, argues in favor of strength, while Surak's increasingly popular beliefs favor pacifism and logic. To avert civil war between the two factions, S'task leads his followers on a mass migration. As part of their exodus, they intentionally invent a new culture and a new language. They refer to themselves as the Rihannsu , which means "the Declared," in their new language. Likewise, they named their new homeworlds ch'Rihan ("of the Declared") and ch'Havran ("of the Travelers"); the names Romulus and Remus were pinned on their worlds by the Federation exploration vessel that first entered their star system – according to Duane, those Rihannsu who learned about the names used for them by the Federation were puzzled, more than anything else, by the myth from which the names originated (twin brothers being raised and suckled by a wolf ).

In the Vulcan's Soul trilogy, the Romulans' ancestors left Vulcan as a contingency plan approved by Surak, should the wars on Vulcan have completely destroyed their civilization. The eagle emblem was inspired by a huge bird native to Romulus that clutched eggs in its talons.

Duane also depicted the Romulans as being extinct in the mirror universe novel Dark Mirror , as they chose to commit mass suicide rather than become subjects of the Terran Empire following the Battle of Cheron .

According to the novel Uncertain Logic , the Rihannsu called themselves Rom'ielln during the Romulan-Vulcan War to conceal their true identity from the Vulcans. It is implied that this name became the source of the word "Romulan".

The comic book Star Trek: Countdown and the video game Star Trek Online depict the lead up and the aftermath of Romulus' destruction, primarily caused by the Romulan Senate ignoring Spock's warnings about the supernova , which originated from the star of the Hobus system, and the Vulcan Science Council 's refusal to lend them red matter . In spite of this, Federation-Romulan relations had been improving and Romulan citizens had become less xenophobic, as indicated in the ending of Star Trek Nemesis . After the supernova, Federation aid is either welcomed or met with suspicion and even hostility, while the Klingon Empire seizes the opportunity to conquer Romulan territory. Despite continuing in-fighting between the survivors, a new capital called Rihan is established on Rator III . The Romulans are playable characters in the 2013 Online expansion pack Legacy of Romulus . The playable Romulans and Remans are members of a splinter Republican faction on New Romulus led by D'Tan . It is eventually revealed that the supernova was not a natural occurrence, but was a deliberate act of genocide by rogue elements of the Tal Shiar at the behest of the Iconians , the game's primary villains until the conclusion of Season 10.

Romulan religious beliefs vary in non-canon sources.

The Way of D'era sourcebook states the Romulans believe in the Way of D'era. Tellus, an enemy of Surak, taught that the inhabitants of Vorta Vor – the mythological world mentioned in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – had visited the Vulcans and inspired them to become the supreme rulers of the galaxy. This explains the superiority complex and their hatred for Vulcans, whom they see as traitors.
In Duane's Rihannsu series, the Romulan religion is animistic, born out of the apparently innocuous comment, made by one philosopher aboard the ships outbound from Vulcan, that "things notice" – i.e., that lost objects remain lost as long as you are looking for them, then reappear as soon as you stop looking. From this observation grew an entire theological colloquy, and eventually a religion based on worship of the classical elements of fire, air, water, earth and the "Archelement" which oversees the others.
In Killing Time , they worship a demon called Bettatan'ru.
The Countdown / Nero story portrays the Romulans as polytheistic.

There are also various, conflicting explanations for the Romulans' lack of telepathic ability:

In Duane's My Enemy, My Ally , Spock explains that the Romulans left Vulcan before the mental disciplines of Vulcan were fully developed, and genetic drift has caused them to lose any latent ability they might have;
This is contradicted in Duane's sequel The Romulan Way , which explains that a number of trained telepaths accompanied the Rihannsu ships leaving Vulcan, but eventually died as a result of having to use their psionic abilities to propel the ships from one star system to another; because it required a group of telepaths to train new adepts, the Rihannsu's telepaths died at a faster rate than they could be replaced; according to this novel, Vulcans in the 23rd century believe that the Romulans still possess the raw potential to produce telepaths, but will never do so without hands-on instruction from Vulcan adepts;
In the novel Sarek by A.C. Crispin , the Romulans kidnap a group of Vulcans, several decades before the Khitomer Conference , and interbreed with them, producing telepathically sensitive hybrids .
According to the Vulcan's Soul trilogy, the Romulans rejected the telepathy of the Vulcans and slaughtered or enslaved the telepaths among themselves during their exodus from Vulcan: these telepaths became the Remans . This explains why no Romulan displays telepathic skills in canon, while some Remans, such as Shinzon 's Reman Viceroy , do.
In Nero , the titular character takes a drug that enables him to meditate, and to develop the skills to communicate telepathically, without mind melding.

The Way of D'era explains that the Romulans lack the physical strength of the Vulcans because they no longer live on a harsh environment. Killing Time shows Romulans slightly adverse to the effects of pon farr .

The alternate reality Romulans themselves debut in the two-part "Vulcan's Vengeance" story from IDW Publishing 's Star Trek: Ongoing comic book series. It is stated the Senate approved of Nero's actions. A group of Vulcans led by Sarek infiltrate Romulus and attempt to avenge their homeworld by detonating red matter recovered from Vulcan. Spock convinces his father the plot is a mistake, and prevents the detonation. He and his fellow crew members are allowed to return as a "fair exchange" while the Senate keeps the red matter. They also gain the Narada 's schematics. Later in the series, Section 31 allies with the Romulans to start a war with the Klingons, in a successful ploy to regain the last piece of red matter.

External links [ ]

Romulan at StarTrek.com
Romulan at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Romulan at Wikipedia
1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Romulans

Harry Treadaway as Narek in promotional art for Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek gives good bad guy. Since Star Trek: The Original Series' ( TOS) premiere in 1966, Gene Roddenberry and his colleagues have brought us lots of memorable recurring antagonists. There are the warlike Klingons, the trickster Q, and the relentless Borg — but before most of Trek 's repeat villains came the Romulans.

Only appearing in a few of the original series' episodes and making minor appearances in the original crew's films, the Romulans were nonetheless remembered when the Trek franchise was revived with Star Trek: The Next Generation ( TNG ). For most of their time onscreen, the Romulans have been Cold War -like opponents. They plot, they assassinate, and they threaten, but they rarely make open war on Starfleet. But when they do open fire? Well, nine times out of ten, the Romulans only let slip the proverbial dogs of war after their work in the shadows has made their victory seemingly inevitable.

Unlike Starfleet, the Romulan military and secret agents have few moral qualms about dealing with other species, and their mercilessness helps breed paranoia within their ranks. They'll do anything to get ahead, and assume everyone they meet is just as willing. Their paranoia sometimes proves more than accurate, as even some of the most idealistic members of Starfleet have taken a break from their usual ethical high ground when dealing with the sons and daughters of Romulus.

For more about one of Star Trek 's oldest powers, keep reading for the untold truth of the Romulans.

Their creation was inspired by ancient Rome

According to commentary on the TOS season 1 Blu-ray, the idea for the Romulans came from writer Paul Schneider, who wanted worthy adversaries for Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and was inspired by the Roman Empire .

Romulans make their first appearance in the TOS season 1 episode "Balance of Terror." We learn that after a bloody conflict with the Romulans, a peace treaty was forged between them and the Federation via subspace radio. The treaty establishes a neutral zone in which neither side's ships are allowed to enter. A map is displayed to the Enterprise crew that shows the planets Romulus and Remus on the opposite side of the zone.

Romulus was the legendary founder of Rome. In Roman myth, Romulus and his brother Remus are born to a mortal woman, Rhea Silvia, who mates with Mars — the god of war. Left for dead by their uncle Amulius' servants, the twins are saved by a wolf. They're eventually raised by shepherds and, upon growing to adulthood and learning the truth about who they are, they kill their uncle and seek a place to start their own kingdom. There are different versions of how it happens, but at some point in the tale Romulus usually kills Remus in a dispute over where their new kingdom is to be founded.

Considering the treachery and violence we've seen the Romulans are capable of, if nothing else Schneider picked fitting names for their worlds.

Romulans are an offshoot of Vulcans

When the Enterprise first encounters Romulans, they're the first humans to actually see the race, and their physical similarities to Vulcans leaves some crew members questioning Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) loyalty. Their similar features aren't a coincidence — Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species.

Centuries before the events of Star Trek when the Vulcans begin to purge their emotions in pursuit of pure logic, not everyone plays ball. Some Vulcans reject the new ideas, and after a bloody war they leave to create their own society on Romulus and Remus.

Romulans, however, are not just Vulcans on a different planet. Millenia of genetic drift created many subtle variations in their physiological makeup. They still share pointed ears, but there are some obvious differences, like the prominent ridges on Romulans' foreheads. There are less obvious differences too, which Dr. Crusher learns in the TNG episode "The Enemy," when she unsuccessfully tries to heal an injured Romulan by treating him as if he were a Vulcan.

Predictably there are Romulans like TNG 's Sela (Denise Crosby) who feel nothing but contempt for Vulcans. But some feel a strong kinship toward their less passionate cousins. In the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident," the Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville) admires and and is attracted to Spock. In the TNG two-parter "Unification," it's feared that Spock has defected to Romulus, when in fact he's there meeting the members of a growing movement of Romulans who wish to reunite with their Vulcan ancestors.

One of the first onscreen Romulans was Spock's dad... kind of

If you're more familiar with the original crew movies than with TOS , or more familiar with TNG , then you may be surprised to learn who played the first onscreen Romulan Commander: Mark Lenard, who would later appear in "Journey to Babel" as Spock's father Sarek. Lenard reprised the role of Sarek in TNG , in a number of the original crew movies, and even lent his voice to Sarek in Star Trek: The Animated Series . But before he played Sarek, he played the unnamed Romulan Commander in "The Balance of Terror."

Speaking to Starlog (via MyStarTrekScrapbook ) in 1984, Lenard said the Romulan Commander role was the second time he'd gone up for a part on TOS . And while the second time proved the charm as far as getting on the series was concerned, it would take a third try before he got to meet any of the series regulars. In "Balance of Terror," all of the communication between his character and the Enterprise crew takes place on a viewscreen, so there was never any need for him to be in the same space. It wasn't until he returned as Sarek that he was able to meet the intrepid crew.

Lenard wasn't the only Romulan in that episode to return later as a Vulcan. Lawrence Montaigne, who plays the ambitious Romulan officer Decius in "Balance of Terror," returns as the Vulcan Stonn in season 2's "Amok Time."

The Romulans boast a number of secret cabals

One of the reasons so many Romulans remain loyal to their government is the Tal Shiar — a powerful secret police that conducts clandestine operations both inside the Romulan Empire and against Romulus' rivals. They kidnap, torture, assassinate, and don't lose much sleep over any of it.

The Tal Shiar is first mentioned in TNG but becomes more visible in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( DS9 ), when we witness how resilient the organization is. In the two-part DS9 story spanning "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast," the Tal Shiar join forces with the Cardassians' secret police — the Obsidian Order — in a sneak attack on the Dominion. The whole thing turns out to be a trap and their fleet is decimated. The events wipe out the Obsidian Order and help lead to the overthrow of the Cardassian government. The Tal Shiar, on the other hand, are still one of the most powerful parts of the Romulan government when we meet their leader Koval (John Fleck) in the DS9 s eason 7 episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges."

More recently in Star Trek: Picard , we learn the Tal Shiar is a part of an older organization called the Zhat Vash — something so secret some Tal Shiar members believe it's a myth. The Zhat Vash is dedicated to wiping out all synthetic life, and it's embedded in governments all over the galaxy, including the highest ranks of Starfleet.

A favorite episode proves Starfleet isn't above using Romulan tactics

The Romulans are often depicted as unduly paranoid in contrast to the well-intentioned heroes of Starfleet. In a fan-favorite episode – DS9 's "In the Pale Moonlight" — Starfleet proves that sometimes the Romulans should be paranoid.

Captain Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks) commits himself to convincing the Romulans to enter the war against the Dominion. He enlists the enigmatic Cardassian Garak (Andrew Robinson) to retrieve Dominion plans to invade Romulus. When that doesn't work out, Garak sells Sisko on the idea of creating a fake holographic record of the Dominion leaders discussing the invasion of Romulus. Sisko invites the Romulan Senator Vreenak (Joseph McHattie) to DS9 to show him the recording, but the senator sees through the lie. Not long after an enraged Vreenak leaves the station, we learn his ship has been destroyed and the Tal Shiar believes the Dominion is behind it. Sisko realizes Garak never meant for the fake holo-record to work, but instead always planned to assassinate Vreenak and pin it on the Dominion. Sisko is enraged and even attacks Garak in his shop, but in the end — because he's desperate to defeat the Dominion — he keeps the truth to himself.

The entire story is told from Sisko's point of view as he reads it into a log entry. In the final moments of the episode, as soon as he finishes the tale, he orders the computer to delete it.

Romulans make Star Trek's most famous beverage

Apparently, when Romulans aren't plotting to dominate the galaxy, they like to party. Sprinkled here and there throughout the Trek franchise is Romulan Ale — a very strong alcoholic drink that is illegal in the Federation, yet Starfleet officers keep getting their hands on it anyway.

The first time the beverage is mentioned is in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Bones (DeForest Kelley) brings a bottle of it to James Kirk for his birthday. Kirk is noticeably surprised at how strong the drink is. Regardless, he somehow doesn't have a problem serving it during a diplomatic dinner aboard the Enterprise in 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — a detail that is used against him and McCoy when they're framed for assassinating the Klingon Chancellor. Ben Sisko serves what appears to be replicated Romulan Ale to a Romulan senator in the DS9 episode "In the Pale Moonlight," though the senator refers to it as "kali fal," which may or may not be the Romulan name for the blue drink. At the wedding reception for Riker and Troi in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis , Worf (Michael Dorn) complains that "Romulan ale should be illegal" as he nurses a headache. "It is," Geordi (Levar Burton) reminds him.

As far back as the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident," the Romulan Commander shares a blue drink with Spock as she's trying to seduce him, though we never hear its name.

In 1995, they wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas

In 1995, the Romulan Empire made its first appearance on a Hallmark commercial. No you didn't misread that. Promoting a Romulan Warbird Christmas ornament, Hallmark released a commercial depicting the pointy-eared aliens kidnapping a Hallmark cashier to interrogate her about how she'd "pirated" the design of the ornament from the Romulans.

And they didn't just get any actors to show up in costume and makeup. The cheerful cashier's interrogators are mostly Star Trek actors who had already played villains on at least one Trek series. Martha Hackett — the Romulan woman in the commercial — is probably more well known to Trek fans as the Cardassian Seska on Star Trek: Voyager . But she'd also played the Romulan officer T'Rul in the two-part DS9 episode "The Search." The introduction of the Defiant includes a cloaking device on loan from the Romulan Empire and it's T'Rul's job to run the cloaking device and keep its secrets from Starfleet.

Considering neither T'Rul nor any other Romulan is shown on board the Defiant to safeguard their cloaking secrets after "The Search," they apparently weren't any better about protecting their secrets than they are at interrogating Hallmark cashiers.

Romulans are in lots of first drafts, but fewer final drafts

When it comes to the Trek movies, the Romulans usually play second fiddle if they show up at all. Romulans were the chief antagonists of J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot, but before that they failed to take center stage in any of the movies. The closest they got was 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis ; their homeworld and government are important to the plot, but the main villain is Shinzon (Tom Hardy) — a clone of Picard — and a race of former slaves called the Remans.

But it isn't for lack of trying. The Romulans were originally meant to take a larger role in a number of Trek films. Remember the Klingons in 1984's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , led by the ruthless Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd)? According to a 2002 issue of Star Trek: The Magazine , it was originally going to be the Romulans who clash with the Enterprise in orbit of the Genesis planet — not Klingons. They were originally planned as the villains for 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection , but were ultimately replaced by the face-stretching Son'a. In Michael Piller's unpublished book Fade In , the Trek writer wrote that Patrick Stewart — among others — was very much against the inclusion of the Romulans, who the actor felt were "unexciting." Stewart worried that using the Romulans would make it appear as if "we just couldn't come up with any new bad guys."

The process of turning an actor into a Romulan has evolved

The look of the Romulans, the process of creating that look, and the resources devoted to it have all changed significantly since their first appearances. In TOS , Romulans look almost identical to Vulcans, and the cost of adding latex pointy ears to actors made them too expensive to use on background actors. On the TOS season 1 Blu-ray commentary, we learn that in "Balance of Terror," only two of the Romulan actors were actually given the ears while the rest of the Romulans are made to wear helmets hiding their ears.

Romulans show up a lot more once TNG comes around, and their reintroduction comes with a new design. Prominent brow ridges were added to Romulan prosthetics. According to the reference book Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , this was both to make the Romulans appear more menacing and to help differentiate them from their Vulcan cousins.

As of the 2020 premiere of Star Trek: Picard , hi-def technology changed things. On The Ready Room – the Picard after-show — prosthetic designer Vincent Van Dyke said that "every single background performer, all the way to the foreground hero characters" not only are fitted with ears, but "laced brows." Every single Romulan actor on Picard wears a prosthetic piece that includes eyebrows which have been painstakingly laced — one hair at a time — into the prosthetic. Long gone are the days of fitting the extras with skullcap helmets.

In Star Trek: Picard, the Romulans become both friends and foes

One of the unique things about Star Trek: Picard is that while it gives us plenty of Romulan villains, we also meet possibly the most sympathetic Romulan characters to ever appear in any Trek production.

When we find the retired Picard running his family vineyard, he's accompanied by two Romulans who treat him like nothing less than family. Laris (Orla Brady) and Zhaban (Jamie McShane) are former Tal Shiar agents who live with Picard, cook for him and — when a Zhat Vash squad comes gunning for the retired admiral — risk their lives for him. Their loyalty springs largely from Picard's efforts to evacuate the Romulan Empire. Both are fiercely protective of Picard, particularly Laris.

At the same time, the Romulans have not all left their more villainous impulses behind. Along with Picard's Romulan friends, the newer series introduces us to the seductive Narek (Harry Treadaway), his ruthless sister Narissa (Peyton List), and the fanatical Zhat Vash whose agents have the unsettling ability to spit out a corrosive liquid that kills both themselves and anyone unlucky enough to be nearby.

Star Trek: Picard forces 2009's Star Trek to make more sense

One of the interesting side effects of Star Trek: Picard and its stronger focus on the Romulans is that it manages to reach back in time and force 2009's Star Trek to make more sense.

A lot of fans — even those who enjoyed J.J. Abrams' reinvention of the Trek franchise — weren't overly impressed with Eric Bana's Nero. The Romulan villain goes into the past and, among other things, destroys Vulcan. Nero does what he does purely for vengeance, to get back at the Federation for the supernova that destroyed Romulus and killed his family. To some fans, Nero's motivations didn't add up. After all, the Romulan supernova is a natural phenomenon. How could Nero blame the Federation, the Vulcans, or anyone else for not helping, particularly when you consider how hostile the Romulans have been to, well... everyone ?

But with Star Trek: Picard and the backstory it presents, Nero's quest for vengeance comes into focus. In Picard we learn that Starfleet committed to helping evacuate the Romulan Empire and then, after the unexpected synthetic revolt on Mars, backed out of the endeavor. From Nero's point of view, it's one thing to stand by and do nothing; it's quite another to offer help and then to withdraw it at the 11th hour. It makes Nero's rage much easier to relate to, though his actions are no less monstrous.

Star Trek: The Terran Empire, Explained

The Mirror Universe in Star Trek is a separate reality where the Terran Empire dominates, representing a corrupt and aggressive version of the Federation.
The Terran Empire has a dark history, possibly tracing back to the Roman Empire, and has conquered several species in the galaxy.
The Terran Empire is characterized by cruelty, betrayal, and aggression, prioritizing strength over diplomacy. It serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting the potential consequences of unchecked aggression and erosion of moral principles.

Star Trek brings fans into a deep and fascinating science fiction world. One of the franchise's most intriguing and thought-provoking concepts, present since the original series, is an alternate reality called Mirror Universe. Here, the characters are more aggressive and deceitful, and the Terran Empire dominates.

The Mirror Universe is separate from the primary fictional universe, which is the main setting of Star Trek . In the Mirror Universe, the brutal human-dominated authoritarian Terran Empire thrives and conquers. The Terran Empire is the corrupt version of the Federation. There is a stark contrast between the two, like black and white. One can consider the Terran Empire the complete opposite of the Federation.

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The terran empire's origin and history.

The Mirror Universe's Terran Empire , introduced in The Original Series episode "Mirror, Mirror," The origin of the Terran Empire is a mystery, but there are some hints in other series like Star Trek: Enterprise that it had existed for a long time.

In 2155, Captain Jonathan Archer mentioned that the Empire had existed for centuries, but didn't mention exactly how many. Considering his phrasing, the Empire must be at least 200 years old at this point, meaning it can be traced to at least 1955. This suggests that it was a political unit on Earth before it became an interstellar empire. One theory proposes that the Terran Empire is a continuation of the Roman Empire. In Enterprise, Mirror Archer praises two of the Roman Gods. The word "Terran" is derived from the Latin word "Terra," which means Earth. Also, its Imperial salute is similar to Roman soldiers' and gladiators' salutes.

In 2063, the first contact between the Terran Empire and the Vulcans occurred. Terran Zefram Cochrane shot the first Vulcan to step onto their soil, taking the move as a sign of invasion, and stole their ship's technology. However, some were convinced that they lured the Vulcans to steal their technology. The incident sparked a long history of conflict across the galaxy, and made Terrans believe that they needed to conquer to survive in the universe. Since then, they have conquered several species of Vulcans, Andorians, and others. By the mid-23rd century, the Terran Empire dominated the Alpha Quadrant, with Emperor Philippa Georgiou heading the Empire . But they struggled to maintain their territory due to the rebellion from the united alliance of Vulcans, Andorians, Klingons and more.

Although the Terran Empire was a picture of might and power, it eventually changed. In 2267, four Starfleet officers, including Captain James T. Kirk, were exchanged in the mirror universe. Spock, the Terran/Vulcan hybrid first officer , correctly deduced that Captain Kirk was accidentally replaced by his counterpart from a different universe. Captain Kirk from the primary universe was able to plant a seed of doubt in Spock, warning him that the Empire was doomed to fail as they made enemies and there could be a revolution against them. He urged Spock to change the governance if he became the commander. Spock told Kirk he would consider his words before he beamed him and his primary universe counterparts home. When everyone was back in their respective home universe, Mirror Spock asked his own Kirk to free the Halkans, but the latter refused. Mirror Spock killed Mirror Kirk and took over the ISS Enterprise .

In Deep Space Nine's "Crossover" episode, it's shown that Mirror Spock eventually became the commander-in-chief of the Terran Empire. He made major reforms, transforming the Empire into a less powerful and more peaceful world. However, the move left them unprepared to fight the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, which conquered the Empire and enslaved the Terrans. Despite their downfall in the 23rd century, there were off shoots of the Mirror Universe with the Terrans in the 24th century, suggesting that they survived.

Characteristics of the Terran Empire: A Universe in Chaos

The Terran Empire is a picture of humanity without a moral compass. Many likened the repressive interstellar government to Soviet Union governance, where terror must be maintained to sustain the Empire. Its Imperial Starfleet is its iron fist, where officers kill their superiors who fail to uphold the Empire's rule to promote themselves.

The Terran Empire lacks consideration, cooperation, and understanding. It's a world where cruelty, betrayal, paranoia, and aggression thrive. The Empire is strong, wise and strategic. It is one of the most powerful political entities in the Star Trek cannon. It concentrates its resources on weapons, making its ships militarized. It knows which planet has value, and its skills are not on par with its counterparts. Most especially, they aren't afraid to kill. They choose to be aggressive and dominant and to stand on their own instead of working with others and forging alliances. All they want is a totalitarian regime that honors strength over diplomacy.

One of the most iconic symbols of the Terran Empire is the Terran Starfleet emblem: a dagger through Earth, symbolizing the violent, militaristic nature of its forces. The Mirror Universe's Starfleet is a far cry from the exploratory, diplomatic institution portrayed in the primary timeline. It is an organization where advancement is often achieved through treachery, and where officers are ever-watchful for opportunities to seize power from their superiors.

The Empire is a web of lies, deception, and intrigue. It's a stark contrast to the Federation, which is peaceful and tolerant. The Terran society has the mindset of the "survival of the fittest." The Empire values power and strength above all else, which prompts evil plots, coups, fleeting loyalty, and assassinations amid relentless power struggles.

Implications of the Terran Empire

The existence of the Terran Empire in Star Trek serves as a cautionary tale, urging viewers to reflect on the choices humanity makes in the pursuit of its destiny. By juxtaposing the Federation's utopian ideals with the Terran Empire's dystopian reality, Star Trek invites viewers to contemplate the fragility of societal values and the importance of ethical decision-making.

The Mirror Universe suggests that the line between a peaceful, cooperative society and an oppressive empire is thinner than it appears. It highlights the potential consequences of unchecked aggression, xenophobia, and the erosion of moral principles. It prompts viewers to consider how the choices they made in the pursuit of power can shape not only the destiny of a nation but the fate of an entire universe.

The Terran Empire in Star Trek stands as a dark mirror reflecting the possible outcomes of humanity's choices. It provides a stark contrast to the optimistic vision of the future presented by the United Federation of Planets. By exploring the origins, characteristics, and implications of the Terran Empire, Star Trek challenges everyone to contemplate the values that guide their journey.

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Tracing The History of STAR TREK's Romulan Empire
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Tracing The History of STAR TREK's Romulan Empire
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COMMENTS

Bread and Circuses (Star Trek: The Original Series)
List of episodes. " Bread and Circuses " is the twenty-fifth and penultimate episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon and directed by Ralph Senensky, it was first broadcast on March 15, 1968. In the episode, Captain Kirk and his companions are forced ...
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Bread and Circuses: Directed by Ralph Senensky. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, William Smithers. The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.
Bread and Circuses (episode)
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are captured on a planet that resembles the Roman Empire but with 20th Century technology. They are set to die at the hands of gladiators, for the sake of public spectacle on a TV gameshow. Near the planet 892-IV, the USS Enterprise discovers the wreckage of the SS Beagle, a merchant ship missing for the last six years, and whose commanding officer is R.M. Merik, an old ...
"Bread and Circuses"
Star Trek: The Original Series ... One, the Roman Empire never collapsed in this episode , so English would not have had the chance either to develop via Saxon, Viking, and Norman invasions, or spread worldwide via a British Empire. Two, I used Italian as the most logical descendant of Latin - but actually Romance languages (Italian, Spanish ...
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire. While searching for the crew of a destroyed spaceship, the Enterprise discovers a planet whose oppressive government is a 20th-century version of Earth's Roman Empire. Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet the rebels, seemingly sun ...
"Star Trek" Bread and Circuses (TV Episode 1968)
Now we have 'Roman Empire' world, a rather effective precursor to the films "Westworld" and "Rollerball" - the title refers to keeping the populace, the mob, satiated with blood sports. ... STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES SEASON 2 RATINGS a list of 26 titles created 26 May 2019 See all related lists » Share this ...
Review of "Bread and Circuses" Remastered
The Enterprise has found a 20th Century Roman Empire and Hodkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development strikes again. "Bread and Circuses" has it all: a high concept plot, richly drawn ...
A Look at Bread and Circuses (Star Trek)
Opinionated Star Trek Episode Guide visits the planet of the Roman Empire, 20th century style! See more videos at https://sfdebris.com
Star Trek
As Nancy Reagin suggests in Star Trek and History: Unfortunately for Gibbon (and Star Trek's writers), this thesis is not supported by historical fact, as the eastern Roman Empire, which was resolutely Christian, did not fall until 1453, nearly a thousand years after the western Roman Empire slowly imploded.
Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses" / Recap
Recap /. Star Trek S2 E25 "Bread and Circuses". Feel free to play the Blue Oyster theme music right now. Original air date: March 15, 1968. After coming across the wreckage of the S. S. Beagle, Kirk, Spock and Bones beam down to the surface of the nearest planet. This planet is a class M planet remarkably like Earth down to the land/water ratio.
Romulan Star Empire
The Romulan Star Empire (or Romulan Empire) was a major interstellar state encompassing the Romulan people and their subject worlds and species. The Empire was known for its xenophobic character and policies of extreme secrecy, subterfuge, and territorial expansionism. By the late 23rd century, the Empire counted among the great powers in its region of the Milky Way Galaxy until the ...
Star Trek TOS (Preview S2-E25)
The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.
Terran Empire
The Terran Empire was a repressive interstellar government dominated by the Terrans from Earth, locally named Terra by the 23rd century, in the mirror universe. The Empire ruled by terror, its Imperial Starfleet acting as its iron fist. In the Imperial Starfleet, officers often promoted themselves by killing superiors that did not follow the rules of the Empire. Torture was a common form of ...
The History Of The Romulans, And Their Place In The Star Trek ...
The Romulan Star Empire is China, a "sleeping dragon" superpower. ... Romulans which was an extension of the Roman civilization to the ... from the suggestion in "Star Trek: The Original Series ...
10 Similarities Between Star Trek and Ancient Rome
1. Romulus and Remus. In Roman mythology, they are the twin sons of Mars and Rhea. Romulus is fated to find Rome (which is hence named after him), while Remus is destined to be killed at the hand of his brother. In Star Trek mythology, Romulus and Remus were "twin planets" which revolved around the same star.
What Is the History of the Romulans in Star Trek?
Before Star Trek returned for its second wave of stories, the creation of the Romulans was a point of contention.In a featurette on The Original Series Blu-ray, writer and franchise legend Dorothy Fontana said freelance writer Paul Schneider invented them by taking inspiration from the ancient Roman Empire. Schneider confirmed this in Captain's Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyagers by ...
star trek
The theory did at one time appear on the Star Trek web site, and would explain the connection between the Romulans and Roman mythology, as well as the institutions of Roman government. We recognise these words as references to the Roman Empire, but that doesn't mean they had the same causal relation in-universe.
Tracing The History of STAR TREK's Romulan Empire
Jan 23 2020 • 12:28 PM. Although the casual fan might think of Klingons as the biggest bad in the Star Trek galaxy, long before they reared their bumpy heads the main adversary of the Federation ...
Romulan
The Romulans (/ ˈ r ɒ m j ʊ l ə n z,-j ə-/) are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek.Their adopted home world is Romulus, and within the same star system they have settled a sister planet Remus. Their original home world, Vulcan, was renamed Ni'Var later in canon. They first appeared in the series Star Trek (1966-1969).
Romulan Star Empire
The Romulan Star Empire (or simply, the Romulan Empire) has been a major galactic power since the 22nd century and is the traditional government of the Romulan people and their subject worlds and species. For most of recorded interstellar history, the Empire has been known for its xenophobic character and policies of extreme secrecy and territorial protectionism. The Hobus supernova of 2387 ...
Romulan
The Romulans were a humanoid race from the planet Romulus. The Romulans were biological cousins of Vulcans, descended from those who rejected Surak's reforms during the Time of Awakening. By the 24th century, the Romulan Star Empire was one of the major powers in the galaxy. After a supernova destroyed the Romulan sun, the Romulan Free State became the official government. Eventually, the ...
The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Romulans
Centuries before the events of Star Trek when the Vulcans begin to purge their emotions in pursuit of pure logic, not everyone plays ball. Some Vulcans reject the new ideas, and after a bloody war ...
Star Trek: The Terran Empire, Explained
Star Trek brings fans into a deep and fascinating science fiction world. One of the franchise's most intriguing and thought-provoking concepts, present since the original series, is an alternate ...