Rubber Forehead Aliens: Difference between revisions

Sometimes they're not even that far away. They look totally human and sound human. In some cases, this may well be a disguise, but in others this appears to be their natural appearance. See [[Human Aliens]].

 

 

[[Gene Roddenberry]] gave more reasons for this in an interview once. Budget constraints aside, if you try to make aliens look completely alien, you'll firstly make them look ridiculous (cf. ''[[Doctor Who]]''), and secondly make it doubly hard for the actor playing the alien to do anything mildly resembling acting. This has actually been isolated to extremely specific requirements: if an audience can't see an actor's ''eyes'' or ''mouth'', their ability to empathize with or emotionally invest in that character is significantly impaired. This is one reason why [[Mooks]], especially SF mooks like the [[Battlestar Galactica|Cylons]] or the [[Star Wars|Imperial Stormtroopers]], are so often uniformed in [[Faceless Goons|face-obscuring helmets]].

Rubber foreheads also tend to be paired up with [[Humans Are White]] for some reason, likely the fact that back in the 60s/70s it was easier to get a black, Latino, or Asian actor on TV by gluing something to their heads and claiming that were [[Mukokuseki|raceless]] otherworldly beings instead.

 

 

{{examples}}

*** Of course, there is [[Justified Trope|a reason for this]], as noted above: the Bajoran makeup was designed the way it is specifically to make sure that the (numerous) Bajoran females who would appear in the franchise [[Rule of Sexy|would all still be good-looking]].

*** The Bajorans were also planned from the outset [[Planet of Hats|to be refugees]]. The minimal makeup was convenient for costuming large crowds and child actors.

** There's another [[Lampshade Hanging]] when the Bajoran Ro Laren, who has something of a chip on her shoulder, refers to herself as "the token bumpy-forehead".

** Parodied [http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32439 in this article] from [[The Onion]].

** The in-universe setting book Xenology references this; while the Eldar and Tau, and to a lesser extent the Orks, look outwardly like slightly modified humans inside the races are nothing alike. The Tech-Priest doing the dissections is extremely confused by this, especially since his other subjects aren't remotely humanoid.

* ''Space [[Munchkin]] the RPG'' parodies this trope with the "Bumpy Headed Alien" racial choice. You choose, among other things, your facial bumps, the [[Planet of Hats|concept your entire species is devoted to]], and the one aspect of human culture your species doesn't understand ("we do not have a word for this thing you call 'hygiene'")

 

 

* The dominant race in the ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series are basically humans with excessively long pointy ears.

* Subverted in ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' with Newmans/Numans, and later Beasts in Phantasy Star Universe. Sure, they look human enough, save for their ears and (in the case of Beasts) their harelips and eyes ... but they aren't actually aliens at all. They're actually genetically engineered ''humans.''

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': Asari fit the trope perfectly, being [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|blue-skinned alien space babes]]. Although their tentacles are actually on the ''back'' of their heads, where a human would have hair. It should be noted that, while they wear the same armor as humans in-game, ''every'' race sees them as their equivalent of [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|blue-skinned alien space babes]] except possibly the Krogan, who still see them as attractive.

** In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', if a male Shepard romanced Tali and {{spoiler|saved the quarian fleet}}, Tali will leave a photo of herself without mask or helmet on his nightstand. It turns out that {{spoiler|were it not for the skin markings, the three-fingered hands, and the avian legs, she could pass for human.}}

 

== Webcomics ==

* The [[All Trolls Are Different|trolls]] in ''[[Homestuck]]'' make reference to a ''lot'' of [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] endemic to their species, like "chitinous windholes", "auricular sponge clots", "porous cranial plates", and various colors of blood, but outwardly just look like grey-skinned humans with [[Eyes of Gold|yellow-orange eyes]], horns, and fangs.