That episode with Trip trying his hardest to keep Phlox's wife away because she was interested the doffrent culture clash and Phlox asking why wouldnt you want to sleep with my wife. Trip's reaction is priceless.
Now that I think about it, I wonder now if the whole thing was some kind of "in joke" among the Denobulans knowing that other, more.... innocent?.... races would react the way Trip did, especially when they both say "Humans!" and just start laughing heartily after Trip leaves.
@Tiche CoMC I'd probably say the Doctor from Voyager, but it's very close. I don't think it's even because one is all that better than the other, but it seems to me the Doctor from Voyager just had more stories focused upon him. So had more time to flesh out his character.
@@piobmhor8529 I'm forced to agree, but then again I'm a softy for history. I do think the Doctor was probably the best part of Voyager and a great character. Bashir was good towards the end, so he's third. He just wasn't that interesting from the beginning like the Doctor was.
I'm not sure, myself. I think, for me, it's a toss-up between McCoy, Phlox, and The Doctor from Voyager. My least favorite is Bashir as there are only a couple of episodes that I liked him as a character in.
That's it, really! Billingsley is a great actor, not only here in ENT. But Bones, it's impossible to compare both characters, they have different purposes, Phlox is alien and curious and not like doctor McCoy
You don't take 4 and a half seasons to start working out kinks. TNG took a season and a half, DS9 too. That's more than most networks would tolerate already.
Looking at the Denobulans, one would imagine that there would be a lot more of them in Starfleet than are shown on screen. They're eager, social, and highly curious, which are the traits that humanity often exhibits in the series, and the traits that are shown to be why humanity is so indispensable to the Federation.
It's pretty easy to imagine they were always around, ... I think some of the same general makeup scheme was used on other background species, so it'd be easy to not notice another set of face-ridges.
@polyopoly They are a highly communal society.Unlike humanity they never had the desire to expand their territory.Nor were they very interested in exploration even at the dawn of their space age.So chances are as the video mentioned you might stumble upon a denobulan or a team within the federation or elsewhere here and there.But since they have not setup colonies it is safe to say it would be an extremely rare encounter.
They weren't part of the federation. And during ENT, there was no federation. Starfleet at that point was just an earth organization. Phlox was just part of an early exchange program. Earth only had something like 10K aliens on the entire planet near the end of the series. So it wouldn't really make sense that starfleet would be full of denobulans.
One of my favorite races in Star Trek universe...but you forgot something, Rick. Male denobulans are to shy when they are in a relantionship with a female (Pholx Said that female denobulans look for a partner...an not the other way around)
Ah, Denobulans. They're fvorites for being some of the most *likeable* people out there. It's probably just a lot of fun to hang out with Denobulan people socially, I've always thought. Oh, though. Actually, that sudden face-puffing thing actually probably *could* startle a lot of vertebrates of various species. If you've ever been caught by surprise by similar defense mechanisms in certain Earth animals, there *is* often an interrupt in the limbic responses that can cause at *least* hesitation. People tend to overthink this like, 'Animals might think the prey became bigger, but we know they're not,' but a startle response is something that *can* leave a good opening for, say, someone trained, to exploit to fight or flee. Phlox just doesn't seem to be that sort of *guy,* is all. He's a friendly doctor who had a reflexive response and was mostly just shocked, confused and embarrassed. If he were a fighting Denobulan, though... that probably could have been useful.
Some of my favorite episodes of Star Trek are from Phlox's perspective. Wisdom mixed with wild curiosity, with just a hint of dramatic irony in that the audience knew that Denobulans knew far less than they portended. Lovely character.
I have to wonder if the in-universe (as opposed to out of universe, where they hadn't been invented yet) explanation as to why they aren't around in the TOS and TNG era is simply that Denobulan aren't interested in being of Starfleet and would rather just keep working as semi-independent or under the Denobulan government (or other organizations from Denobula). Then again, the TNG era kept mentioning but never showing Andorian and Tellarite so we have to assume they simply were around but never appeared on-screen.
There was an Andorian seen in the background shots on Risa when Picard went there. We also learned that Starfleet ships didn't have to be mixed crews, that they could have crews exclusively from their own worlds. Andorians and Tellarites always portrayed as seeing humans with disgust and may not have been comfortable with them in person.
In the Enterprise books written about the Romulan War, Denobula suffered a catastrophic attack by the Romulans. It wasn't wiped out. But, it killed a great deal of their population and changed their priorities for generations. That was written to explain things for ToS and TNG.
Great video, the denobulans is one my favorite species from ST:Enterprise, the Dr. Phlox was a great character, some episodes with the Doctor are Dear Doctor, Doctor's Orders and The Augments
The Denobulans quickly became a favorite of mine on Enterprise. I sort of wished they had been a founding member of the Federation since Alpha Centauri was a human colony, sort of taking the place of the fifth founding world. Ah well.
Ah yes, the ‘why’ of the new Enterprise races. I mean, I like Phlox and the debobulans should have been a race in the Star Trek universe, but they couldn’t have gotten another species that was previously encountered in TOS for Phlox? Like a Tellarite? We know more about this species, Klingons, Vulcans, and the ‘enigmatic’ Borg, then we have do two whole species that founded the Federation. It’s a lack of information that borders on lore-abuse.
Well it's the tragedy of Enterprise. With the execs saying add time travel to make it futuristic we got sidetracked for most of the series from the meat and potatoes we wanted to see, if season 4 had been season 3 (and I respect the Xindi arc independently) then they might not have been able to cancel it when the network merger happened. But we did learn and see a lot of the Andorians, so only the Tellarites were really shortchanged overall. Three more seasons and the Earth Romulan War would've been plenty of time to get to know them....but alas. If you look at the what the plan is for the series then not having Phlox be a Tellarite makes sense. The point of Enterprise was to go out into space and meet the other races that would found and shape the Federation. It loses the punch if we've already met the Tellarites and the Andorians.
My suggestion for a race to do at some future point is the Kelvan Empire of Star Trek. They are a looming threat that will finally arrive and attack the entire Milky Way in the 123rd Century but they were first shown in TOS.
123rd? From the very little we know of that empire I thinks it's likely by then the federation (or whoever runs the milkyway at that point) would outclass them by a large margin
@@wingedfish1175 They _do_ own the entire Andromeda Galaxy, and will be evacuating the entirety of that galaxy in the form of their invading force. It's possible the Milky Way might still be divided at that point, and the entirety of Andromeda would be desperate for a new home thanks to radiation ruining their old home. The Kelvans would have at the very least a huge numbers advantage, and there's nothing to say they won't continue to advance their own tech.
Denobula was also conquered during the Earth/Romulan war of the 2150's and the Romulans murdered millions of Denobulans. As the Romulans used Denobula as a strong hold in the failed attack on Earth. Towards the end of the war the Denobulans sent a fleet with one NX ship to Romulas as a luring attack whilst the main battle at Cheron happened. When the Romulans saw that the Denobulans were about to attack their home world they retreated from Cheron hence the battle was lost and Earth won the war in a stalemate.
Phillip Hall that’s the best explanation for why we never see any Denobulans “after” Enterprise. Obviously they hadn’t been invented yet during TNG, DS9, VOY, but killing millions would probably make them more fearful of venturing out plus there’d be a lot less of them to encounter. I think the only non-Enterprise Denobulan I can remember was that one crew member on the Enterprise-E in Elite Force II.
@@mb2000 The slaughter and damage the Romulans caused is the main reason why the Denobulans didn't join the UFP till about Christopher Pike time I believe as I know the Trill, Saurians and Deltans became members before the Denobulans did. A Denobulan is mentioned in the Vanguard books and then again as the deputy chief medical officer on the Enterprise E in the Time To books.
Facing Denobulans in a war must be terrifying. I find that the more empathic and friendly a person (or species in this case) is under normal circumstances the more effective they are in confrontations once you somehow managed to really piss them off. So imagine a thousand extremely angry Denobulans charging at your position with puffed faces and loaded weapons. And empathy is extremely useful because it allows one to better predict other peoples actions. You better have your last will in order.
@@JanetStarChild klingons are fierce fighters but they tend to do stupid crap to seem heroic, underestimate opponents and while their lack of self preservation instincs might come in handy sometimes most of the time that means they die needlessly. Just look at their boarding assault on DS9. More than half of them beamed in with a Bat'leth in hand instead of their distuptor. When that strategy works it is brutally effective, but how many of them were just shot before they could close even the little gap that existed. With a disruptor they could have immediatly started firing instead of having to run at armed men with phasers. That would not have made it easier for them but it would have cut losses. When a Klingon has the choice between a safe/easy strategy or a daring/risky one they will almost always go for the daring one becaude it makes for better songs. I love the guys, but if they had that aspect of their personality better under control they would be truly terrifying opponents.
I vaguely recall somewhere in an episode of TOS or two, where somebody was insulting someone else by calling him a “Denubulan slime devil”. It may have been in Trouble With Tribbles or something Harry Mudd said. I always wondered if the ENT writers used that as a basis for the Denobulans but with different spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps Denobula has a particularly gross animal that is used as an insult when comparing someone to it.
The puffing would not work on sentient species? I beg to differ sir. Just imagine one of those Denobulan's all puffed up, their face is an exaggerated grimace with their 16" tongue sticking out. F that, I would be GONE!
I wonder if their species is the reason there's no social media in the Star Trek universe. They would consider it a form of extremely addictive drug like crack or cocaine.
Their advanced immune systems are because *Sexually Transmitted Diseases* would be a _serious_ issue, and that could explain their medical expertise. As for climbing, human shoulders are adapted to throwing objects, otherwise we could be very effective climbers, perhaps the Denobilans didn't make that adaption? We did when we moved out into the plains as there were no trees to climb, and being able to hurl rocks is what got us started on the road to hunting, as well as being a defense against predators. As for their scientific focus, that could just be a matter of selection in that only scientist tend to leave the homeworld, non scientist having no need. Their society could be otherwise not very scientifically inclined, considering their slow advancement.
I didn't like Phlox at first in the Enterprise series, but soon learned to appreciate his character and I thought John Billingsley brought that character to life with so many fascinating attributes.
Denobulans are my favourite, of the more mysterious species. I never picked up on the detail that their clothing is relatively plain because I always saw female Denobulan hairstyles as moderately ornate. Excellent research! Thank you for this episode :)
We've often been called "Earthlings" and we are sometimes referred to as "Terrans" because the Latin name for the Earth is "Terra". The Klingon home world is "Quo-nos". So, they don't quite match up either. ✌
Wasn't the Denobulon home planet taken over by Borg?? If they tended to never leave home that means they must have all died out, or atleast nearly all of them.
😒 "Oh... you probably shouldn't sit on my chair. I caught a bad case of "PHLOX" from a truck stop toilet seat, and the doctor says I'm still contagious. Might want to wash your hands too. Beer?" 🍻 😂😂🤢 ✌
I always thought Pholx reminded me of Needlix, although not as bad looking. They were at times over the top and very social. They had an element of physical comedy for both races.
Cultural Index ,You should do a cultural index for the Carmians, they are the flying humanoids from the popular books, Green Glory, The Adventures of Retro Rahnee and Green Glory, Heroes of Carmi.
I always felt that they could have linked a common ancestry between Denobulans and Cardassians, considering there are some physical similarities between the two, similar(ish) to heritage of Vulcans and Romulans.
Because of how important the sciences seem to be in their society, it makes me wonder how a team of Denobulans physicians would have handled the Phage.
I love how their behavior was depicted. Because they are more social than humans picking up food, taking a bite and passing the partially eaten food along was no big thing. Everything is shared.
My new suggestion idea; Is to add the Denobulans, into the spinoff shows of, both (STAR TREK: DISCOVERY) show, and of (STAR TREK: PICARD) show series. I would like to see descendants of Dr.Phlox, appear in a few of the spinoff shows, of (STAR TREK: DISCOVERY) show series. I also would like to see a few Denobulans, appear in spinoff shows, of (STAR TREK: PICARD) show series.
both planned indexi would be excellent...would be curious as to the name and species encountered on Voyager episode Scientific Method and their rationale for the experimentation they did on the crew
This isn’t likely to work on sentient life Uhhh. If I wasn’t at war with a dude or his people And he randomly made his face puff up, I’m gonna think “dam wtf, is he sick. Or is he gonna spit at me”.
The denobulans are among the jolliest niceguy aliens you could imagine... But maybe that is just because of phlox. Maybe apart of being notorious polyamorous... not all of them are that nice at all.
I don’t get why your beliefs or biblical type people have to throw away those beliefs just because they know they arnt alone...I still have my beliefs and such but space is big and that could change people I guess but to me that doesn’t make sense to me..lol
like most of startreks races these aliens look like humans with extrastuff glued to their face. i always liked races like the borg or maybe the caretaker from voyagers first episode... it would not feel that obvious with races like that. its also okay to show aliens take a human form so they wont scare us. at least that way i can convince myself its supposed to be an alien.
With a world that seems to be 80% land with a few giant lakes/oceans I personally think it can handle a much, much larger population than our planet can. Also 12 billion is very doable for our species & world. We went from about 4.7 billion in the 80's to nearly 8billion just 40 years later. and with better food management using vertical farms and the like I'm sure earth can handle 12 billion
off topic. Thanks for talking about this species. I have a world building species and a few traits seem quite similar such as generally avoiding major conflicts due to patience.
I recently binged watched enterprise and felt like they should have fleshed out Denoblia and other early contact species more, rather than the "species of the week" that they gave. That show needed a clearer direction with where the story was going.
I think the biggest thing Enterprise dropped the ball on was going into that 'Expanse' for al those seasons instead of making it all about exploring the Federation places that would be taken for granted by Kirk's time. (Probably the Xindi would be part of that, too, but why did they need to pretend Enterprise may as well be in another quadrant? They just had *done* that with Voyager.*
So comparing their biology is like comparing PlayStation to Xbox. Both are built and programed differently giving them their own advantages and disadvantages
