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58-534: Andorians are a fictional race of humanoid extraterrestrials in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek . They were created by writer D. C. Fontana . Within the Star Trek narrative, they are native to the blue icy Class M moon, Andoria (sometimes referred to as Andor). Distinctive traits of Andorians include their blue/green skin, a pair of cranial antennae , and white hair. Andorians first appeared in

116-416: A humanoid of dinosaur origin. Over geologic time, Russell noted that there had been a steady increase in the encephalization quotient or EQ (the relative brain weight when compared to other species with the same body weight) among the dinosaurs. Russell had discovered the first Troodontid skull, and noted that, while its EQ was low compared to humans, it was six times higher than that of other dinosaurs. If

174-468: A Ferengi bartender who would, according to Piller, be "a constant thorn in the side of law and order, but who has a sense of humor about it. He'd be someone who could obviously throw lots of story dynamics into play." Piller and the others consciously wanted to play the Quark character off against the station constable, Odo ( René Auberjonois ); according to Piller, "the idea of Odo and Quark being at loggerheads

232-519: A byproduct of convergent evolution . Humanoid characters are defined by their human-like physical characteristics and forms, which can vary. These characters may appear entirely human, predominantly human-like (e.g., Saiyans from Dragon Ball Z , Martians and Kryptonians from DC Comics ), or they may possess general non-human traits while still having human-like physical characteristics (e.g., human-like Pokémon , ThunderCats characters, various characters from The Amazing World of Gumball ). In

290-640: A compilation of these Rules was published by Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr . Violations of economic norms such as abrogating contracts between fellow Ferengi or fraudulently taking advantage of business discounts are considered serious offences and subject to harsh punishments. The extreme sexism of Ferengi society is shown in early seasons of Deep Space Nine where Ferengi females are not permitted to earn profit, travel, or even wear clothing. A long-running plot thread on DS9 features Ferengi society's gradual evolution away from these practices, especially as Quark's mother Ishka establishes herself as

348-405: A generally humanoid shape is likely, though octopus- or starfish-like bodies are also possible. An opposing view is given by Mike Wall, who argues that intelligent extraterrestrials able to contact Humans would most likely have reached a phase allowing them to develop themselves into machines. Several in-universe explanations have been offered for the abundance of humanoids. One of the more common

406-494: A hierarchy of cooperating systems that make up any organism . Luis Villazon points out that animals that move necessarily have a front and a back; as with animals on Earth , sense organs tend to gather at the front as they encounter stimuli there, forming a head . Legs reduce friction, and with legs, bilateral symmetry makes coordination easier. Sentient organisms will, Villazon argues, likely use tools, in which case they need hands and at least two other limbs to stand on. In short,

464-463: A mix between Nazi caricatures of Jews and the original Nosferatu ." The scholar of religion Ross S. Kraemer wrote that "Ferengi religion seems almost a parody, perhaps of traditional Judaism ." He wrote that the 285 Rules of Acquisition bore similarities with the 613 Commandments of Judaism and that the Ferengi social restrictions on women mirrored Orthodox Judaism 's restrictions on women studying

522-710: A multitude of worlds toward a humanoid form. In the television series Stargate SG-1 , the Jaffa are explained as being a hundred-thousand year offshoot of humanity bred by the Goa'uld to suit their purposes, hence their almost-human appearance and physiology, while many other "alien" characters are actually the descendants of human- slaves who were removed from Earth by the Goa'uld. Any humans isolated on multiple planets after 100k+ years of adaptations would most certainly seem "alien" to Earthlings. Similarly, in its spin-off show Stargate Atlantis ,

580-410: A navel, as a placenta aids the development of a large brain case. However, it would not have possessed mammary glands and would have fed its young, as birds do, on regurgitated food. He speculated that its language would have sounded somewhat like bird song . Russell's thought experiment has been met with criticism from other paleontologists since the 1980s, many of whom point out that his Dinosauroid

638-406: A newly discovered stable wormhole ; later in the episode, it is revealed that the wormhole was not really stable and the Ferengi get stuck on the other side of it, in a distant part of the galaxy. "The Price" is the first episode in which a Ferengi starship was referred to as a "marauder". When the writers were putting together the premise of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , they decided to introduce

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696-464: A practice exercise. The Ferengi uniform was revised for this episode, and new collar pips were added to designate their differing ranks. The season three episode " The Price ", which was written by Hannah Louise Shearer, directed by Robert Scheerer, and first aired in November 1989, also included Ferengi characters. In it, two Ferengi delegates compete against their Federation counterparts to gain access to

754-519: A real person as possible, although these words are frequently perceived to be synonymous with a humanoid. While there are many humanoid robots in fictional stories, some real humanoid robots have been developed since the 1990s, and some real human-looking android robots have been developed since 2002. Similarly to robots, virtual avatars may also be called humanoid when resembling humans. Deities are often imagined in human shape (also known as " anthropotheism "), sometimes as hybrids (especially

812-467: A recurring Ferengi character who would inhabit the space station Deep Space Nine that was the main setting for the show. The show's co-creator, Michael Piller , later noted that: "It was clear to me that having a Ferengi aboard Deep Space 9 would provide the show with instant humor and built-in conflict with the Federation guy in charge of the station". The show's creators developed the character of Quark,

870-556: A respected businesswoman and Quark comes to tolerate his employees forming a union . In the third season of Deep Space Nine , Quark's nephew Nog becomes the first Ferengi to join Starfleet , the military and exploration arm of the United Federation of Planets . This development prompted discussions on electronic mailing lists devoted to Star Trek . Various commentators suggested that, given how Nog had behaved in previous episodes, it

928-502: A respected businesswoman and financial advisor. Evidently, the fact that granting full societal and economic rights to females would mean a dramatic expansion of business and investment opportunities proved persuasive to the Ferengi government. By 2380, Grand Nagus' reforms had taken effect, as seen in the acceptance of clothing for females. The Ferengi were first designed by Andrew Probert and later refined and produced by Michael Westmore . The most prominent feature in Ferengi design

986-484: A result of similar evolutionary pressures. American psychologist and Dinosaur intelligence theorist Harry Jerison suggested the possibility of sapient dinosaurs. In a 1978 presentation at the American Psychological Association , he speculated that dromiceiomimus could have evolved into a highly intelligent species like human beings. In his book, Wonderful Life , Stephen Jay Gould argues if

1044-595: A teleplay. This episode was first aired in November 1987. In it, a Ferengi called DaiMon Bok gives the Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) the derelict ship that the latter once captained, the Stargazer . Over the course of the episode, it is revealed that this is part of Bok's plan for vengeance, for he holds Picard responsible for the death of his son many years before. Forrester's first plot outline had featured various scenes aboard

1102-623: A trait of primates , crows , and dolphins , at some point. In 1982, Dale Russell , curator of vertebrate fossils at the National Museum of Canada in Ottawa , conjectured a possible evolutionary path that might have been taken by the dinosaur Troodon had it not perished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago, suggesting that it could have evolved into intelligent beings similar in body plan to humans, becoming

1160-751: Is a larger Ferengi spaceship called the Marauder. The Marauder was designed by Andrew Probert , and the model was built by Greg Jein ; the studio model was constructed of resin, fiberglass, and aluminum. In 2017, Syfy rated the Ferengi one of the top eleven most bizarre aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation . In 2017, Den of Geek ranked the Ferengi the eighth best aliens of the Star Trek franchise, in between Andorians and Romulans . Examples of well-received Ferengi-focused episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine include " Little Green Men ", in which Ferengi characters travel back in time to

1218-467: Is a robot that is based on the general structure of a human, such as a robot that walks on two legs and has an upper torso, or a robot that has two arms, two legs and a head. A humanoid robot does not necessarily look convincingly like a real person, for example, the ASIMO humanoid robot has a helmet instead of a face. An android (male) or gynoid (female) is a humanoid robot designed to look as much like

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1276-522: Is depicted as hyper- capitalistic , focused on the acquisition of profit as the highest goal. Deep Space Nine writers have described how they saw the Ferengi as a satirical presentation of 20th century humans. The Ferengi have repeatedly drawn comparisons to stereotypes of Jews . The name Ferengi was coined based on the originally Persian Ferenghi (compare older Feringhee ), a term used in various languages throughout Asia and Ethiopia meaning "foreigners" or "Europeans". While preparing scripts for

1334-526: Is introduced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Family Business ". Ferenginar experiences near-constant torrential rain; consequently, the Ferengi language has 178 different words for rain (and none for "crisp"). A Ferengi shuttlecraft was introduced in the episode "The Price". It was also seen in "Little Green Men" as a spacecraft used by Quark. The studio model for VFX was auctioned by Christie's for over US$ 8,000 in 2006. There

1392-531: Is overly anthropomorphic. Gregory S. Paul (1988) and Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. , consider it "suspiciously human" (Paul, 1988) and Darren Naish has argued that a large-brained, highly intelligent troodontid would retain a more standard theropod body plan, with a horizontal posture and long tail, and would probably manipulate objects with the snout and feet in the manner of a bird, rather than with human-like "hands". (Although bipedal dinosaurs often do have hands , if they don't turn them into wings.) A humanoid robot

1450-404: Is that authors use the only example of intelligent life that they know, humans. In live-action television and films, using humanoid aliens makes it easier to cast human actors to portray alien characters. A study by the zoologist Sam Levin suggests that aliens might indeed resemble humans, given that they are presumably subject to natural selection . Levin argues that this can be expected to produce

1508-516: Is that the humanoids in the story have evolved on an Earth-like planet or natural satellite , totally independently from Humans on Earth . However, some works have offered alternative explanations: In Star Trek , the explanation is given that a primordial humanoid civilization, the Ancient humanoids , seeded the Milky Way Galaxy with genetically engineered cells to guide the evolution of life on

1566-510: Is their large ear lobes. Ferengi experience sexual stimulation when their lobes are rubbed – an act called "oo-mox". Ferengi females allegedly have smaller lobes, but the only female Ferengi characters shown in the series were Pel and Ishka . Betazoids are incapable of reading Ferengi emotions. The focus on ears extends to figures of speech (i.e. "not having the lobes" to indicate a lack of courage) and to health problems (i.e. an ear infection proving fatal). The Ferengi home planet, Ferenginar,

1624-458: The Torah . Historian Paul Sturtevant wrote in 2018 that not only are the Ferengi "extremely legalistic" and "defined by their greed", echoing common stereotypes of Jews, but the major Ferengi characters on Deep Space Nine were all played by Jewish actors. Shimerman addressed the issue when asked at a question-and-answer session at a Star Trek convention. He stated that: In America, people ask "Do

1682-577: The gods of Ancient Egyptian religion ). A fragment by the Greek poet Xenophanes describes this tendency, ...Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and narrow-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair. In animism in general, the spirits innate in certain objects (like the Greek nymphs ) are typically depicted in human shape, e.g. spirits of trees ( Dryads ), of

1740-468: The 1940s and become the alien invaders in the Roswell UFO incident , and " The Magnificent Ferengi ", in which a group of Ferengi characters team up to rescue Quark's mother when she is captured by an enemy empire. Various critics have argued that the depiction of the Ferengi and their culture mirrors anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews , namely the love of profit and the oversized facial features – in

1798-533: The 1968 Star Trek: The Original Series episode " Journey to Babel ", and have been seen or mentioned in episodes of subsequent series in the Star Trek franchise. They were indicated to be a vital, important member of the United Federation of Planets in the 1997 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " In the Cards ", but did not gain considerable exposure until the 2001–2005 series Star Trek: Enterprise , on which they were used as recurring characters, most notably in

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1856-706: The Black Lagoon , made in 1954 by Jack Arnold . Ferengi The Ferengi ( / f ə ˈ r ɛ ŋ ɡ i / ) are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek . They were devised in 1987 for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation , played a prominent role in the following series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and have made brief appearances in subsequent series such as Star Trek: Voyager , Star Trek: Enterprise , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard . When launching Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, Gene Roddenberry and

1914-406: The Ferengi bartender Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . The Ferengi outfits designed for "The Last Outpost" featured fur wrap-arounds. As weapons, they were given blue whips that fired energy bolts when cracked; these were subsequently dropped from the series and not used in later depictions of the species. Mike Okuda designed the Ferengi insignia to present the idea of " dog eat dog ". It

1972-502: The Ferengi represent Jews?" In England, they ask "Do the Ferengi represent the Irish?" In Australia, they ask if the Ferengi represent the Chinese ;... The Ferengi represent the outcast ... it's the person who lives among us that we don't fully understand. Robert Hewitt Wolfe , writer for Deep Space Nine , has stated that the creative team (several of whom were Jewish) were aware at

2030-458: The Ferengi spaceship, but these did not make it into the episode. Series writer Rick Berman later noted that because of their "silliness quotient", the Ferengi became "a disappointment as a major adversary". For the second-season episode " Peak Performance ", written by David Kemper and directed by Robert Scheerer, the Enterprise is depicted encountering a hostile Ferengi ship while engaging in

2088-454: The Ferengi while pursuing one of their vessels, which has stolen a T-9 energy converter. Both ships are immobilized over an unknown planet, leading both to send away parties to investigate, where they encounter each other. One of the actors who played a Ferengi in "The Last Outpost", Armin Shimerman , would go on to play a Ferengi again in the later episode "Peak Performance" before being cast as

2146-537: The United Federation of Planets. Andorians appeared in four episodes of The Original Series, and were background elements in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , but remained largely undeveloped until Enterprise . Showrunner Brannon Braga originally wanted to limit the number of original series elements on Enterprise , but came to see the challenge of "tak(ing)

2204-437: The acquisition of profit as the highest goal. Many episodes portray this as taken to a comical extreme, as, for example, Ferengi prayer involves paying bribes to the gods, and Ferengi funeral rites involve auctioning off the deceased's remains. Ferengi characters frequently quote the " Rules of Acquisition ", a collection of proverbs that are said to govern Ferengi business practices (such as "Never place friendship above profit" );

2262-476: The case of the Ferengi, the ears. During the 1990s, this issue was discussed on electronic mailing lists devoted to the franchise, with some commentators arguing that there were parallels and others objecting to the comparison. In his 2007 critique of The Next Generation for the National Review , the commentator Jonah Goldberg described the Ferengi as "runaway capitalists with bullwhips who looked like

2320-529: The discrepancy, but continued varying usage across canon, reference, and licensed sources have not fully resolved the discrepancy. Most of Andoria's cities are built underground to take advantage of geothermal warmth. Temperatures have been known to reach −28 ° C in the summer. Andoria has at least one moon or neighboring planet. Andorians share their homeworld with an obscure telepathic subspecies, Aenar , which have either light blue or white skin. The non-canonical Star Trek Star Charts (2002) cites Andoria as

2378-630: The explanation offered for the humanoid appearance of the Wraith is that the Wraith evolved from a parasite which incorporated human DNA into its own genome after feeding on humans, giving the Wraith their present form. In the field of ufology , humanoid refers to any of the claimed extraterrestrials which abduct human victims, such as the Greys , the Reptilians , Nordics , and Martians . In fantasy settings

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2436-483: The first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation , the idea of the Ferengi was devised by Gene Roddenberry and Herbert Wright . The new alien species initially appeared in the first season's fourth episode, " The Last Outpost ", which was based on a story by Richard Krzemien and a teleplay by Wright. In this story, the USS Enterprise -D —whose crew are the main protagonists of the series—makes first contact with

2494-459: The goofiest aliens from The Original Series and make them a real culture that’s cool and believable." Andorians have blue blood, blue skin, white hair, and antennae on the crown of the skull. By the time of the 2001 – 2005 TV series Star Trek: Enterprise , the antennae were depicted as protruding from the forehead, and capable of movement, used for gesturing and balancing . The design of Andorians has changed with every new production; including

2552-486: The latter case, they often overlap with anthropomorphic characters, with humanoid characters being a subtype of anthropomorphism, specifically in terms of physical characteristics. Although there are no known humanoid species outside the genus Homo , the theory of convergent evolution speculates that different species may evolve similar traits, and in the case of a humanoid these traits may include intelligence and bipedalism and other humanoid skeletal changes , as

2610-511: The person of Thy'lek Shran , a starship commander who maintained a sometimes adversarial and begrudging friendship with Enterprise Captain Jonathan Archer . The series revealed more about Andorian ships, the home world Andoria, and the culture and history of Andorians and their subspecies, the Aenar . The 2004 episode " Zero Hour " established that Andorians were one of the four founding members of

2668-403: The placement of their antennae, additional makeup appliances, and the blue shade of their skin. Andoria (sometimes referred to as Andor), is an icy moon orbiting a ringed gas giant . In a DVD bonus feature for the 4th season of Enterprise , episode writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens stated that Andor was the gas giant, Andoria the moon, and that this was a conscious effort to address

2726-421: The progressive reforms of Grand Nagus Rom and his wife First Clerk Leeta had taken root in Ferengi society with the arms trade being discouraged with the greater longer-term economic benefits of more benign industries, such as hospitality, being encouraged. As such, Ferenginar is in the process of joining the United Federation of Planets . Ferengi culture is depicted, especially on Deep Space Nine , as focused on

2784-470: The rest of the series, Ferengi characters were primarily used for comedic effect. When creating Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the show's writers decided to introduce the Ferengi bartender Quark ( Armin Shimerman ) as a major character, and subsequently his brother Rom ( Max Grodénchik ) and nephew Nog ( Aron Eisenberg ) as recurring characters, again frequently using them for comedic purposes. Ferengi culture, especially as portrayed on Deep Space Nine ,

2842-629: The seventh planet in orbit around the star Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris) in the Beta quadrant , but previous material has Andoria as the eighth planet of the orange dwarf Epsilon Indi in the Alpha quadrant . Andoria is near Betazed , Earth , Tellar , and Vulcan . In 2017, Den of Geek ranked the Andorians the 9th best aliens of the Star Trek franchise, behind the Ferengi . Humanoid Although this usage

2900-463: The show's writers decided to introduce a new alien species to serve as antagonists for the crew of the USS Enterprise -D . The Ferengi first appeared in " The Last Outpost ", the show's fourth episode, which was set in the year 2364. The writers decided that the Ferengi ultimately failed to appear sufficiently menacing, instead replacing them with the Romulans and Borg as primary antagonists. Throughout

2958-403: The tape of life were re-wound and played back, life would have taken a very different course. Simon Conway Morris counters this argument, arguing that convergence is a dominant force in evolution and that since the same environmental and physical constraints act on all life, there is an "optimum" body plan that life will inevitably evolve toward, with evolution bound to stumble upon intelligence,

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3016-588: The term humanoid is used to refer to a human-like fantastical creature, such as a dwarf , elf , gnome , halfling , goblin , troll , orc or an ogre , and Bigfoot . In some cases, such as older versions of the game Dungeons & Dragons , a distinction is made between demi-humans , which are relatively similar to humans, and humanoids, which exhibit larger differences from humans. Animals that are humanoid are also shown in fantasy. Humanoids are also used in some old horror movies, for example in Creature From

3074-646: The trend in Troodon evolution had continued to the present, its brain case could by now measure 1,100 cm ; comparable to that of a human. Troodontids had semi-manipulative fingers, able to grasp and hold objects to a certain degree, and binocular vision. Russell proposed that this " Dinosauroid ", like most dinosaurs of the troodontid family, would have had large eyes and three fingers on each hand, one of which would have been partially opposed . As with most modern reptiles (and birds), he conceived of its genitalia as internal. Russell speculated that it would have required

3132-406: The woodlands (the hybrid fauns ), of wells or waterways ( Nereids , Necks ), etc. With regard to extraterrestrials in fiction , the term humanoid is most commonly used to refer to alien beings with a body plan that is generally like that of a human, including upright stance and bipedalism , as well as intelligence. In much of science fiction , humanoid aliens are abundant. One explanation

3190-410: Was colored green because of that color's associations with greed, envy, and money. The Ferengi ship featured in the episode was designed by Andy Probert , who used a horseshoe crab on Wright's desk as inspiration, with the model then being constructed by Greg Jein . The Ferengi were reused for the season's ninth episode, " The Battle ", based on a story by Larry Forrester that Wright converted into

3248-759: Was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it is now considered rare. More generally, the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations, such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb - appendages (i.e. thumbs), visible spectrum - binocular vision (i.e. having two eyes), or biomechanic plantigrade - bipedalism (i.e. the ability to walk on heels and metatarsals in an upright position). Humanoids may also include human-animal hybrids (where each cell has partly human and partly animal genetic contents) and human-animal chimeras (where some cells are human and some cells are animal in origin). Science fiction media frequently present sentient extraterrestrial lifeforms as humanoid as

3306-459: Was surprising that Starfleet would take him on. They suggested that this might indicate that Starfleet had some form of affirmative action policy to benefit species not presently represented in Starfleet. Other online commentators argued that this viewpoint was racist , and that Nog would have been accepted as a Starfleet cadet because he was qualified, not because of his racial identity. By 2381,

3364-471: Was there from day one". Through the character of Quark and his family, Deep Space Nine developed the culture and politics of the Ferengi in some detail. Episodes of the series portray the Ferengi's hyper-capitalistic emphasis on profit and sexist social norms (at the beginning of the series, Ferengi females are not permitted to earn profit or even wear clothing), and the society's gradual evolution away from those norms as, for example, Quark's mother becomes

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