Star Trek: Voyager

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Bill-Lee
10/08/09

In reply to What's Up, Doc? (Twenty of the Best Physicians in Science Fiction)
"The Doctor might be an Emergency Medical Hologram, but he's more than just a bit of hardware." That's because he's not hardware at all. The Emergency Medical Hologram is software stored on Voyager's hard drive. He can also be downloaded into a mobile hologram emitter from the 29th Century.
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PVIII
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
That little mind controlling worm from TWOK also scared the crap outta me.
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BlueBeard
08/21/09

@PVIII: That thing scarred me for life.
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PlaidNinja
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
I agree with the Daleks, black oil, 456, and Vorlons, but the others, while cool, don't really seem to be dirt cheap. I can't imagine the Alien suit being low budget. And the Jem Hadar makeup had to be seriously time consuming. Time being money...
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Stevil2001
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
Your comments about Remembrance of the Daleks are a lie! I showed that to a bunch of people as their first Doctor Who. They laughed in Part One and again when the Emperor showed up... but by the time the Special Weapons Dalek made his appearance, they were cheering.
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KhaiJB
08/23/09

@Stevil2001: I hope he'll make a return someday..

I just imagining this deep growling Dalek voice for him...
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Edited by KhaiJB at 08/23/09 11:51 AM KhaiJB was starred KhaiJB was unstarred

botanicidal
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
There was an episode of X-Files (I think it was first or second season) where an alien ship crashes, and the military quarantine a whole area because it's semi radioactive, and people keep getting 'radiation burns' when they get too close to the alien/ship. The alien in question has 'masking/invisibility' abilities and so in parts of the show, all you see of the alien is a bending of light near his body. In the "making of the x-files", they show how the effect was done: dressing a guy in bright red jumpsuit, head to toe (kinda like a greenscreen) and having him walk around while they filmed. They just altered the image to make it seem as though the light was bending around an invisible figure. That's cheap, but very very effective. ;)
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HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
I don't think I'd count the Daleks on this list; they're really effective in spite of how they look, not because of it. IMHO, they look really silly -- like giant pepper shakers.
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atrus123
08/23/09

@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.: Ok, truth time: I've never seen an episode of Dr. Who. One reason why I've never seen Dr. Who is because every time I see a picture of a Dalek, I just can't take them seriously.
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Dug
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
There's a legend that the Vorlon Puppet was so f'ing annoying to work with that when the show was over, the Babylon 5 crew gave it an Office Space style send off. The fiberglass shell was said to have been tied to the back of a truck and dragged around a parking lot, and then attacked with hammers and such.
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Hello Mister Walrus
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
So according to Ridley Scott, the only way to make a convincingly terrifying grotesque alien was to use someone from Africa? Racist!
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templepriest
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
Brilliant bit Charlie Jane - glad you did this because I have been thinking about this ever since Torchwood : Children of Earth aired. One of the reasons I felt this was among tv's finest was the way the aliens were presented . . . every second the alien was on screen it was terrifying , but there wasn't anything about it that could not have been duplicated by a high-school drama production.
Telling a story compellingly on a tv budget is one of the skills that GOOD television exhibits.
I would also add that much as you, and all of us, tired of the "rubber-forehead-of-the-week" on the Trek incarnations, it is at least a continuing example of the same thing - the story of Trek isn't about monsters, its about the shared "humanity", -for lack of a better word - of all creation. So human-like aliens are the best vehicles for telling that kind of story.
So,despite our ennui, those prosthetics still deserve a place on this list.
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SeeingI
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
The thing is, the original 1963 Daleks were not exactly cheap - they cost about £125 apiece, which is about £1,960 in today's money (or $3,231).

That means they dropped nearly £10,000 in today's money on the four original Dalek props, some of which (or bits of which) were used right up until "Remembrance of the Daleks."
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Marcus
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
I don't know that I would call the Jem'Hadar "dirt cheap". DS9 had tons of cash. On the flip side, considering the shoestring budget Babylon 5 had, you have to admit the Narns, Drazi, Pak'Ma'Ra, and all the other races they managed to bring to life were doggone impressive, even when compared to shows/films with much larger prosthesis budgets.
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Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment Marcus was starred Marcus was unstarred

jchasse
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
You would think by now people/alien would realize not to mess with California!

V, Airwolf, A-Team...

To many mountains to crash behind/into

You want a successful invasion? Do it in the desert.
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AdrianTheRed
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
I motion to have the little guys from Batteries Not Included added to this list. All in favor say "Aye"................Aye.

All opposed say "Nay"................

Motion passed with a landslide victory. The Aye's have it with 100% of the vote.
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J_Frank_Parnell
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome
Not really alien but a mutant, I'd like to vote for the radioactive liver fluke man from X Files. Low budget man in a rubber suit, but effectively creeped the hell out of me. I have a serious phobia about parasites.
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HalOfBorg
08/21/09

In reply to Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome

The CHEAPEST of the cheap aliens has to be the one from "Darkstar".
It was a beachball with feet!
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