Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Andorians
One of Star Trek's most iconic aliens weren't fully developed until Star Trek: Enterprise.
The Andorians debuted in the now classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode Journey to Babel, as one of the many species sending dignitaries to a diplomatic conference. With the possible exception of the Gorn, the Andorians, with their blue skin, white hair, and antennae, resembled the pulp science fiction concept of the bug-eyed monster more than any other Star Trek alien. The time and expense that went into creating this now iconic look limited them to a handful of appearances until 2001 and the arrival of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Star Trek: Enterprise’s executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman initially decided to bring back the Andorians when thinking about who should appear as antagonists in the episode that became The Andorian Incident.
According to Braga, their goal was to take a silly-looking alien and make them both look cool and a believable culture. With each subsequent appearance on Enterprise, the writers further fleshed out their initially vague culture and history.
On Enterprise, the Andorians became passionate warriors, rivals with the Vulcans, and founding members of the United Federation of Planets along with humans, Vulcans, and Tellarites. With that in mind, these are 10 things you didn't know about the Andorians.
10. Their Makeup Design Was Created By Fred Phillips...On Very Little Notice
Makeup artist Fred Phillips was given very little notice that he'd have to design the Andorians for their first appearance. He ended up working overnight so they'd be ready in time for filming. Phillips based his design on writer D.C. Fontana's broad description of their appearance in the script. She described them as tall, slim humanoids with delicate antennae "curling from the head."
Phillips created the Andorians' blue skin with a combination of Max Factor Aqua Blue cream stick makeup for the base and a darker blue cream liner for shadows and details. He sculpted the antennae from modeling clay and then, according to Star Trek archivist Richard Arnold, topped them off with the ends of thread spools. The antennae's supportive stems were made from a rigid material and attached toward the back of the actor's white wig to hide the connection.
Creating the Andorians was time consuming and expensive. According to actor William O'Connell, who played Thelev in Journey to Babel, it took nearly two hours to apply his makeup. The time and expense limited the number of appearances for the Andorians to only three more episodes of the series after Journey to Babel.