How THE ROMULANS Changed - LORE EVOLUTION

Been a while since I did a Lore Evolution video and seeing as how Star Trek Picard just wrapped up, I thought it would be a good time to tackle Star Trek's oldest foe, The Romulans and The Romulan Empire.
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[@AaronTelfordUK]

The appearance of the Romulans in DS9 was greatly interesting especially in the episode In The Pale Moonlight.

[@MGSBigBoss77]

"Its a fakeeeeeeeeee!!!" (lol).😆

[@ericdarden2751]

@@MGSBigBoss77 It's real!!

[@maxwell_edison]

yeah where is the big talk about those

[@lemonworm]

you mean the best trek episode ever made

[@alexpratt71]

Best ever episode, indeed 👍👍👍

[@mnmseven]

Vulcans: Elves Romulans: Dark elves Remans: Orcs

[@3Rayfire]

Remans: Blood Elves

[@JCDenton2012Modder]

I thought Klingons were the Orcs?

[@danielkellyuk]

@@JCDenton2012Modder Klingons are more like dwarves - except for the height thing.

[@eriveltomartinsbarrosjunio9022]

I'd say the Klingons were more like trolls.

[@MGSBigBoss77]

Vulcans: Elves Romulans: Dark elves Andorians: Goblins Tellarites: Dwarves Klingons: Orcs Orions: Trolls ^Its hard to quantify; 'The Remans' per se but yes as 3Rayfire says?, they're possibly 'Blood Elves' if they were to be given a "fantasy" style comparison as it were?! their design in Star Trek Nemesis was made to be too different from their Romulan cousins though for silly reasons. They should've been made to look closer to their; Romulans brothers and sisters regardless.

[@musicalnotextr]

The main reason for giving the Romulans “Klingon-design” ships specifically later on was that a PA accidentally stepped on the Romulan Bird of Prey model and broke it.

[@Gauntlet1212]

Really?

[@musicalnotextr]

Read it from Mark Altman & Edward Gross’s oral history novel, ‘The Fifty-Year Mission’.

[@Vaultboy-ke2jj]

That’s not confirmed to have happened, it’s only a theory. There’s another theory that it was because they needed to show off the expensive new D7 model which had been gifted to them

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

I heard the orginal Romulan BoP model was stolen.

[@Raguleader]

@@TheMrPeteChannel My theory is that someone left the cloaking device on by mistake and it was misplaced as a result. ... What? It doesn't actually turn invisible? That's disappointing.

[@mrsamaritan6881]

I would rather the next Star Trek movie take place in neither the Kelvin Timeline nor the Prime Timeline but go back and take place in the original universe. I've had enough of the JJAbramsverse. You forget to mention the DS9 episodes featuring the Romulans and their involvement in the Dominion War.

[@idontremembermylogin]

I know this comment is four months old but I just want to point out that the Prime timeline is the original universe. Everything made before Star Trek 2009 was Prime timeline, JJ-verse is Star Trek 09, Into Darkness and Beyond.

[@davidlewis5312]

I wish, to this day, that the Tal Shi'ar officer for the Defiant's cloak was a recurring character

[@vergeofchaos]

@Tyler Durden I absolutely agree. JJ took Trek and made it into Star Wars. We already have star wars. My idea has always been to just create a movie crew of new characters. In response to the original poster, the Dominion War may have been the most amazing Romulan arc in the entire trek universe.

[@thePOPKOM]

@@vergeofchaos There is already a chance, that Picard will continue the Prime Timeline

[@rodferguson3515]

@Tyler Durden absolutely I agree with you 100% plus JJ or should I say jar jar Abrams gas torched and wrecked BOTH Star Trek and Star Wars with his total debauchery of Canon !!!.. Before he finished the 2009 Trek movie Abrams even stated in a interview that he NEVER watched TOS as a kid or as an Adult To me that says a lot about the out come of all three of his Trek movies including all of the post George Lucus movies ,; attempting to attach his own "Spin," and interjection into 🌟 Wars Canon ,thus calling it his own original content.

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

I have to admit, the Romulans are my favourite Star Trek species, even if their TNG era costumes look ridiculous.

[@RapidCityJM]

Remember the Cardassians' uniforms?

[@amiscellaneoushuman3516]

@@RapidCityJM which ones, the TNG ones or the DS9 ones?

[@STSWB5SG1FAN]

@@amiscellaneoushuman3516 "If anyone could use a good tailor, it would be them" Odo's quote when asked if it was the Romulans behind Garak's attempted assassination (DS9, forgot the name of the episode).

[@jolantru3085]

@@STSWB5SG1FAN "Improbable Cause" the first of a fantastic two-part episode from Season 3 and one of my top-10 DS9 episodes.

[@wanderinghistorian]

When you remember those costumes were introduced in the 80s, they make a lot more sense. My grandmother rocked a pantsuit that looked a lot like a Romulan uniform back in the 80s :)

[@TheWarBird01]

I hate to nitpick but John Colicos played Kor. Michael Ansara was the actor who played Kang. I sure someone in the comments has already posted this. Jolan Tru

[@danielyeshe]

Beat me to it!

[@JimPlaysGames]

In the background material for the tabletop game Starfleet Battles it's stated that the Klingons and the Romulans had a brief alliance and exchange of technology. Which is why Klingon ships ended up with cloaking devices and why Romulans were using the D7 design.

[@Freddie1980]

Mark Leonards performance as the Romulan commander in TOS was probably is one of my favourites in all of trek history.

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

I liked Joanne Linville who played the Romulan Cmdr who had the hots for Spock.

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

STO did the Romulans justice with the Empire still existing, the formation of the Romulan Republic and the Tal'Shiar up to their old games trying to become the the top Romulan faction.

[@Balooh]

Crossing my fingers that the next Lore Evolution will be on the Cardassians.

[@iona2225]

THERE ARE LORE LIGHTS!

[@JBX07]

The fact I can say the word Cardassian architecture in reference to Deep Space Nine makes me look forward to this even harder.

[@mbaxter22]

The Cardassians and the Romulans were definitely the most interesting baddies in the Trek universe.

[@spencersholden]

Season 5 of Enterprise was supposed to have the Romulan Earth War?!? I am so mad now!

[@JonathanJK]

And to reveal who Future Man was.

[@EspenSGX]

There are Enterprise novels that cover it, but yes, it's really sad we didn't see it.

[@timjaggers2545]

I don't recall where I heard it, but there is a lore explanation for the Romulans having D7 cruisers. In "Balance of Terror", we are told that the Romulans did not have warp drive (yet the Bird of Prey had warp nacelles). Also in TOS, the Klingons do not have cloaking technology. At some point, the Romulans traded cloaking technology for Klingon warp technology which included plans for the D7. This is why we see Romulan D7s and cloaking Klingon vessels in the movies.

[@willtor]

One possible explanation for the Bird of Prey having warp nacelles is that it had non-tactical warp. The idea is that a ship with tactical warp capabilities unequivocally outclasses one without... except that the Romulans had the cloaking device.

[@toomanyaccounts]

watch again. scotty is speaking about the power of the ship towards weapons etc not the drive system. www.ditl.org/article-page.php?ArticleID=12&ListID=Articles#:~:text=Romulan%20Warp%20Drive%20One%20of%20the%20stranger%20facets,new%20Romulan%20ship%20encountered%20in%20that%20episode%20%3A

[@gimmeboobes]

John Colicos was Kor, went to play him again on DS9, and of course, the original Baltar. Keep on flying, Rowan.

[@bcn1gh7h4wk]

the one thing I liked about ST Picard, is how the Romulan compliment of the space station is a mixture of all the styles they used over the years: grey uniforms and black wigs from TNG, black checkerboard uniforms from Nemesis, bald soldiers like in 2009, _black_ Romulans, etc.

[@Re_269]

Also Picard explained ridges and said that Romulans has talk shows. And these are the only advantages of this... product. :)

[@shmee123ful]

Didn't a single Romulan show up in voyager but he was in their past

[@Kirifairy]

yes, and a couple more in "message in a bottle" (Prometheus episode)

[@shmee123ful]

@@Kirifairy oh right yeah, the sneaky butt heads tryed to Nick a ship

[@Dann0343]

the romulan from the past is one of the only who gets portrayed as a good guy, it was an all right episode imo

[@3Rayfire]

Two Romulan appearances, impressive for a show a quadrant away.

[@danielkellyuk]

The was a Romulan ex-Borg in VOY too.

[@jedanderson8172]

ST: Enterprise was a lost opportunity to show the entirety of the Earth-Romulan War, and the original establishment of the neutral zone. It would have made for an epic story arc. I simply cannot understand why they decided to devote the show to an endless succession of convoluted unnecessary time travel plots.

[@UndyingNephalim]

It was strange for them to ignore the Romulans for the entire first three seasons, sans a one off episode. I will also never understand why they did not use the Romulans surprise attacking Florida with an atomic weapon in favor of the Xindi launching a surprise attack. The entire third season could have been about the Enterprise trying to put together clues about who attacked earth and discovering who the Romulans were. At the very least they could have made the Xindi puppets of the Romulans who got them to attack earth for them.... instead of the weird Sphere Builders.

[@BirthQuakeRecords]

Enterprise was a whole series of weird decisions. Gotta love it, redheaded stepchild though it is. (Also is the phrase redheaded stepchild still socially acceptable? It made me feel weird as soon as I typed it, bc obv redheads and stepchildren are blameless and harmless. Or have we as a society collectively agreed that it’s just a harmless, albeit weird outdated phrase out of context?)

[@claytonberg721]

@@UndyingNephalim that would have been better, agreed. I struggle with ENT season 3 for the same reason I once struggled with voyager... why test a doomsday weapon that isn't ready on the planet you plan to use it on? If they had tested the weapon elsewhere, and then just rocked up to earth with a functioning weapon... similar to voyager, did janeway not know about time bombs? As time has marched on both Voy and Ent have become favorites but at the time I couldn't wrap my head around that stuff and just instead rewatched TNG.

[@claytonberg721]

Well I can only speak for myself, but I think it's fair to say that alot of us who had been with what we today call the berman era since 1987, 18 years later in 2005 when Enterprise got the axe... let's just say franchise fatigue was a thing. ENT was not getting the ratings anymore and even die hards like myself were just tired of it. That may sound blasphemous but if 12 years from now the kurtzman era is still airing I challenge anyone to still be excited on a weekly basis. absence makes the heart grow fonder and it was probably only 2 years after ENT left the air and us die hard trekkies were binging the VOY and ENT episodes we missed, and were ready for it to come back on the air.

[@jacksteed7199]

enterprise is another universe, reason behind photons being early is temporal war, could it be that romulans felt that earth was even stronger and forming federation faster even. many reason why romulan war didn't play out

[@TheStarTrekApologist]

It should be noted that Remus was mentioned in "The Balance of Terror" and was only explained in Nemesis.

[@sarinhighwind]

I've always enjoyed and been drawn to the Romulans. And yes, I think you nailed it. Their characters are always somebody you remember unlike a lot of other 1 time people you just could care less for. Their devious nature make them fun, and the actors really ham up the parts to really drive their culture home every time. You never know their purpose, just know that its' going to be interesting with a romulan involved.

[@331Grabber]

8:36 Let's appreciate for a moment the flat out obvious appearance of Colonial Vipers from Battlestar Galactica on the cover of the Star Trek book :) And sorry I hope the Kelvin timeline dies as soon as possible.

[@davidstowers1964]

I'm glad you spotted the colonial vipers. I saw this book as a child in a library and never even noticed them.

[@Deevo037]

One thing they have managed is to have some terrific actors play Romulans. From Mark Lenard in TOS through to Andreas Katsulas (sp?) in TNG they have always been interesting portrayals.

[@AshPrimeDCFC]

I'm disappointed you haven't touched upon DS9 at all. The Romulans were portrayed brilliantly there. Scheming, cunning, surprisingly becoming Federation allies but still loads of scheming on both sides as they prepare for a post-war Alpha Quadrant. It was very much the start of a US-USSR cold war setting.

[@donpula6349]

True, till their homeworld is about to be vaporise from the supernova that lead tens of millions of offworld Romulans homeless. 18 Billion natives on Romulus were perished.

[@captianblitz]

When I am going trough the original series I often find little details that remind me just how old the show is, both in terms of production tech and in series development. But they did such a good job with the Romulans out the gate that I don't find anything like that with them.

[@jalan8171]

Actor John Calicos portrayed the Klingon Commander Kor in ST:TOS and decades later the same Kor, the long lived High Master in ST:DS9. Michael Anzara portrayed Kang, young and aged respectively, in both series.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

My fan canon has always been that Surak's Awakening simply did not take in a particular region. Since I have never seen ridged Vulcans, I am going to go with this, especially since I have seen more variety to skin tones than with the two tone (now three tone) Romulans. I think the people who refused the Awakening were from a particular region with most having a particular look indicative of it. Then they left en masse.

[@3Rayfire]

I like the ST Picard explanation that ridges are from Northern Romulans. Personally I feel like they appear as a specific result of Vulcanoid physiology versus environment. I came up with the idea that Vulcans have a glandular network in their forehead that keeps their brains cool in Vulcan's extremely hot environment. In cooler environments like Romulus or even Mintaka, it gets...stuffed up and swells, hence forehead ridges.

[@gilwoodring288]

Thank you for including "The Romulan Way". I read this a long time ago and thought it really explained how the Romulans came to be, while also giving up so much of their Vulcan heritage.

[@lovipoekimo176]

I love love LOVE the TNG Romulans, particularly the D'deridex Warbird.

[@injunsun]

Your comprehensive examinations are worthy of attention. The novel, "Spock's World" gave a narration closer to the one mentioned in, "The Romulan Way," so I'm surprised you missed that, but then, there have been dozens of books in each series' lines, of which I have long since lost count and ability to buy (I worked for B&N from 1995-97, so I used to have income, and a discount). Your analysis is succinct and fulsome. Thank you. I just subscribed, and look forward to more. I'm an Aspie, so it's hard for me to connect irl. Sci-fi, Marvel Universe, etc., showed me potentials within which I could live. The human mind creates universes, which reflect real potentials both here, and Multiverseally. Live long, and Prosper. #IDIC #CThia

[@erichtomanek4739]

I have read the books, The Romulan Way and Spock's World many times. To me they are canon.

[@ricconway8719]

Thanks for doing this video. The Romulan Way is one of my favorite books, and is my personal Head-Canon for the Romulans!

[@trevocity5589]

I just found this channel so glad I did!

[@misterangel8486]

The Romulan Empire will live😎👍

[@blackromulan]

Word

[@cannoneer155mm]

I'd love to see the agents of the temporal Corps go in and prevent Spock's failure and thus preventing the destruction of Romulus and the maniacal revenge fueled chaos by Nero and the destruction of the USS Kelvin. Thus setting the timeline back on its original course.

[@MAAivoges]

the Romulans were the best species of the Star Trek Universe.

[@jameshead9119]

My personal view was that shortly after the Vulcans became a Spacefaring civilisation they were driven back to their home world by some threat ( there’s plenty of indications that happened int the alpha quadrant by the number of destroyed and elder races who have also abandoned space travel ) while the Romlians were left to fend for themselves who in the original series seen to be Harding their borders more than expanding them to the point I felt that the war was caused by humans trying to colonise In their neutral zone ( much like the opium wars between Britain and China )

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

In Picard the Romulans look more like the Elves from Lord of the Rings.

[@paulsarnik8506]

That's OK the Klingons were orcs.

[@paulsarnik8506]

In Disco.

[@kimbelsimpson7535]

​@paulsarnik8506 Yeah, you gotta admit Klingon have gotten f****ng ugly since since the original series.

[@TheRealLaughingGravy]

_Romulans - so predictably treacherous._ - Weyoun

[@HeffryCuddles]

3:50 I see you Dukat you can hide from me, you rascal.

[@stevenewman1393]

🖖😎👍Very nicely well done and very well informatively executed and nicely explained indeed 👌.

[@ronaldfinkelstein6335]

John Colicos played Kor(TOS "Errand of Mercy"). Michael Amsara played Kang

[@georgeghleung]

In my opinion, if Klingons are used to represent USSR/Russia, Romulans as a whole represent the culture of a certain East Asian culture, which I will say begin with Nemesis and then amplified in Picard; depend on how you see it, thus split, with one side going very high in secrecy, the other keeping old traditions. This is especially when you look at Qowat Milat and Elnor's design.

[@pqsk]

Nice, you mentioned the og books. Great video

[@misterbeans3590]

I wish we could learn even more about those space elves

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

The only time I ever saw any personality trait in a Romulan was in DS9: "It's a fa-a-ake!"

[@icecold9511]

Kelvin timeline. High school jocks and cheerleaders in space. I could only take Bones seriously as an officer. Go back to Prime. Kelvin reminds me o Jar Jar Binks.

[@mrklean0292]

I like to call the Kelvin timeline Star Trek Fast and Furious.

[@kenetickups6146]

Too bad std and stp are just as bad

[@rodferguson3515]

@@mrklean0292 I think that was the appeal of the Kelvin line for fans of that ... Fast and the furious meets outer space...lol...

[@OffRampTourist]

I did like the new Doctor McCoy. He seemed the truest and most respectful reimaging.

[@rodferguson3515]

@@OffRampTourist I agree.. Karl Urban is a very good versatilel actor As far as I am concerned he was SPOT ON was Dr Leanerd "Bones" McCoy he brought with him his own. Touches and talents that DeForest Kelly made as a character worthy of endearment. The same can also be said of the fellow that played Pavlo Checkov and how he reimagined Walter Keoing 's version on this character.. Also the actor who played Montgomery Scott was very good as well ..

[@johnlin3959]

Romulans are Romans who never lost power...just like my Civ game.

[@Sephirothwolf]

I always chalk it up as the earlier appearance of the cloak either being temporal shenanigans or being a significantly less advanced version that's easier to detect and Balance of Terror was a perfected version.

[@VadulTharys]

In a way you are right, in both Enterprise and Discovery what they are calling "cloaks" are actually more like stealth technology we use today, it kept sensors from detecting them too easily but they could be seen when close enough. By the time of TOS the Romulans had perfected the light bending technology and the ship in "Balance of Terror" was the first equipped with it, as well as the new weapon.

[@hornet370]

you forgot the Romulans in DS9, they had the most notable shift in uniform as well as more footage of their warbirds in action

[@JasonAndrew1973]

Thanks for the recommend of a book.

[@ExUSSailor]

Was that Marc Alaimo in those Romulan costume pics? I love how the various Berman era series used a pretty steady stable of actors as various aliens.

[@keiths81ca]

Yes, Alaimo played the Romulan commander in The Neutral Zone.

[@walterlyzohub8112]

While thinking about the new brow compared to “Balance of Terror” I was wondering if they had a caste-like system. Strong brows being pushed into leadership roles. I wonder if anyone else here considered this?

[@sumanadasawijayapala5372]

It's more likely that the TOS Romulans were intended to resemble Vulcans, whereas the creators of TNG wanted the Romulans to look distinct. That's it.

[@Robert_Douglass]

Star Trek Picard Season One has established that the Romulans with brow ridges are Southerners while the ones without brow ridges are Northerners, and they tend to make fun of each other as evidenced by the banter between Laris and Zhaban in the Picard home in Labarre, France.

[@DrewLSsix]

I dont think the idea was holograms were a new thing in TNG, I think the idea was, or at least can reasonably be taken as the level of holographic technology seen in TNG was new. At least to the characters in the show. Theres a fair difference between rendering a single object like a ship that needs to be convincing from a distance and rendering a fully immersive space with perfect replicas of trees grass water wind sound scents etc. Not only that but it is able to alter the apparent perspective of people in the holodeck space, two people can appear hundreds of feet apart while sharing the same smallish room. I think we can also allow that not everything in trek holds up to scrutiny and thus cant really be relied upon as solid canon, that same episode had the Enterprise able to detect the romulan ship so well that they could shadow the ship perfectly. Matching course and speed to appear as a sensor glitch, yet despite clearly having the exact position course and speed of this ship they couldn't fire on it without a visual?? Targeting via sensors was a thing all the way back in WW2 when many on staff had been fighting, and was a common thing in the military by the mid to late 60s. This just doesnt hold up even in the shows contemporary period, DSC did a light recon of this where the Klingon cloak in season one didnt completely hid the presence of the ship but did actively disrupt sensors to make accurately targeting the ship difficult. And while you might argue that BoT establishes that cloaks are a brand new thing theres no dialogue that actually says that. From the crews perspective accounting for season one of discovery Starfleet had seen cloaks before, but had found a way to effectively penetrate it. Then ate confronted with a refined cloak that left them starting over from step one. As stories involving cloaks usually do. This different cloak may be why the Romulans couldn't warp away, their solution to the Klingon cloak being busted required the warp core to be entirely off line. Season 2 of DSC shows Klingons using their cloaks at warp but they are also detected by Disco before they arrive.

[@3Rayfire]

The Balance of Terror was based on a film and book written by a veteran of the Battle of the Atlantic based on his experiences in World War II against U-Boats. So to maintain the dramatic consistency the tech may certainly seem inconsistent. However the facts of that episode actually support your later interpretation of Discovery's events. Enterprise was tracking the Bird of Prey via Motion detector, not their normal sensors. They couldn't actually get a lock. In other words, she couldn't see them if they didn't move. It's entirely possible that without normal sensors attacking would've only given away their position without any guarantee of hitting them at the range they were at. However, Discovery detecting the Klingons actually had nothing to do with them using warp drive. Discovery's battle with the Sarcophagus ship before their trip to the Mirror Universe provided sufficient sensor data for Starfleet to completely defeat that iteration of the Klingon cloaking device.

[@joe9739]

Honestly, I liked the original Balance of Terror Romulans. The 'Space Roman' design just fit so well with the rest of the Greco-Roman themes of ST:ToS

[@jameshead9119]

My take up Until first contact came out was that that Vulcans that soon after they developed star travel were driven back to Vulcan where they mostly stayed ( this being the cause of upheaval that lead to surak’s teachings ) while the romulans were born from colonists abandoned or for some reason failed to return and and hid out in a nebula where they stayed up till humans Colonised on their territory this being why their tech was not much better than earths till kirk’s time and were forced to buy Klingon tech.

[@p.j.w7564]

Please do a lore evolution on the Andorians ! 👍🏻😎

[@KimKhan]

Will you consider including i future episodes, or even make an episode in on itself about, the 70's and 80's Star Trek roleplaying games' lore, and how it connected or diverged or even influence movies and tv-shows?

[@grantt1589]

Ironically the klingons originally liked large cruses while the Romulans liked more agility. In the 24th century they basically swapped ship design doctrines with klingons closing the bird of prey and the Romulans choosing the D'Deridex

[@intetx]

I’m really surprised Discovery has gotten so good with the third season. I wouldn’t have thought it possible.

[@pir8prod]

I liked the TNG design better than the Kelvin timeline Hot Topic style Romulans.

[@plmokm33]

The background music in this video made me think I left Star Trek Online idling in the background 😂

[@thomaskirkness-little5809]

I still wonder about the parallel universe where the ST3 Bird of Prey stayed as a Romulan ship and the TNG D'deridex was a Klingon battlecruiser.

[@homelessjesse9453]

JJ Abrams: Romulans? You mean futuristic Elves wielding cool looking swords?

[@griffinshaffer83]

Whoa. Somebody forgot about DS9! They joined the Star Fleet Alliance as one of three armies. They fought the Dominion. Their pragmatism and shrewd world view became more prominent and contrasted very well with the Klingon Empire and Starfleet. And they were important to one of DS9's best episodes "Pale Moonlight".

[@RowanJColeman]

I didn't forget about DS9. They just weren't significantly different than they were in TNG.

[@Yora21]

I think Romulans would be a great alien counterpart to the Federation in a post-Voyager show.

[@oS2006DE]

ngl I'd love to see a video from you explaining how Beyond is a stronger film than Into Darkness for you. I'm curious!!!

[@thomashill6347]

Hi Romulans Most loved enemy in my early star trek. Enterprise was good and should have been given the full seven years to take it to the level that many fans feel it would have reach. I agree Star Trek into Darkness was a bad choice to build a story that could NEVER come near Wrath of Khan. I would like a new Star Trek with the the Chris Pine crew, Thank for sharing your work on the history of a great race.

[@joshperry7643]

What is the music that starts at 7:10 ? I've heard it in a few mobile games, but could never find the original source.

[@amichels]

I would like to know too

[@flyingfoamtv2169]

@@amichels its from star trek online

[@johnohalloran3446]

I have long thought that part of the split between Vulcans and Romulans was different philosophies on how to deal with a critical issue. In Star Trek: Enterprise there are episodes dealing with The Vulcans nearly wiping themselves out. One of the main issues was the strength of Vulcan emotion and how contact with aliens had caused them to lose control and lead them to a war that nearly killed them all. Sarak's solution was to learn to suppress all emotions. So the often related statement that Vulcans have no emotions is a lie, they have simply learned not to express them. Romulans chose a different path. First was to become xenophobic. Any alien influence was suspect. The second half was a rigidly structured society. While Vulcans exerted control inwardly, Romulans exert the control outwardly.

[@toomanyaccounts]

the vulcans had always been warlike. its just that with tech advancing they got better at killing one another and ruining what was left of their planet

[@anthonylivesay6358]

Romulans can't all be bad. Look a all those cool Beetles haircuts.

[@glenncordova4027]

Mo from the Three Stooges wore it best and was first.

[@ToEuropa]

Diane Duane's Rihannsu series, along with her "Spock's World" novel, were the first serious attempts at fleshing out Romulan culture and history. It ranks up with John M. Ford's excellent book "The Final Reflection", which did the same for the Klingons. I always thought it unfortunate that the Next Generation etc. didn't use more of this background material. And - off topic - as long as I'm here, I also highly recommend Janet Kagan's excellent novel, "Uhura's Song", one of my personal favorites.

[@Rivercoon]

What about the Romulan/Vulcan origin hinted at in The Paradise Syndrome where representatives of one was (or both) were kidnapped and relocated to another world long ago by an ancient race? Maybe both originated on an as yet unknown planet.

[@benvolio15]

TOS: There's no doubt in my mind that after "Balance of Terror" and "The Deadly Years", the original Romulan bird-of-prey remained one of the workhorses of the Romulan fleet. By the time of "The Enterprise Incident", it is widely believed that the Romulans formed a temporary alliance with the Klingons, hence the use of their battlecruisers in that episode, along the first Klingon ship with a cloaking device we ever saw in Star Trek III.

[@doctorclu]

Wow, did you wax over the DS9 involvement and the first Kelvin-verse movie which started in Prime?

[@KaiserVonDoom]

The Romulans are my favourite faction and race from Star Trek

[@johnnyscifi]

My favourite star trek race!!!

[@jeeshadow1]

Interesting to revisit this after Discovery Season 3 and SPOILERS Learning about Ni'Var! Just very interesting!

[@MGSBigBoss77]

I've always preferred the Romulans over the Klingons. Even the bird-of-prey in Star Trek III The Search For Spock was originally intended to be a Romulan warbird of some kind. before the villains of that film were switched to Klingons etc's! Looking exactly like Vulcans but being completely opposite was always fascinating to me. if Vulcans can be compared to Elves? then Romulans would naturally be Dark Elves by comparison. The Picard show pisses me off how they've ruined them. Hell even JJ Abrams got'em right in the 2009 Star Trek film. I wish the original series featured more episodes on the Romulans as i didn't like the Next Generation era episodes of them, but certainly liked and understood the DS9 and the sparse Voyager ones which expanded on them overall.

[@3Rayfire]

How are they ruined? Keep in mind we were primarily dealing with a psycho cult and not dealing with the Romulan people at large.

[@MGSBigBoss77]

@@3Rayfire They're ruined because Romulans didn't need that kind of exposure into their society, Romulans always worked best as Cold War soviet for the Russians in the classic series. an ongoing threat of further Russian hostilities in the TNG era shows of; TNG, and DS9. Picard doesn't do anything creative or new with'em at all. except make'em out to be scheming extremist with a grudge cos they're now played off as; "oh woe is me" salty victims now. Nero in Star Trek 2009 was done far better by comparisons. Kelvin timeline comparison or not, why aren't these Romulans shaving their hair off and putting painted tattoos on their bodies as a form of grieving and reverence to their lost ones?the shit is all over the place and not even interesting anymores'. i'll be quite happy just going over old TOS episodes and the TNG era stuff thank you for my Romulan fixes!

[@stipe3124]

In DS9 one of best episodes is Romulan centric with Cardassian spice, In Pale Moonlight deserved a mention here

[@mrbojangles8133]

I would like both Prime and Kelvin movies, with perhaps a technobabble crossover here and there

[@Vaultboy-ke2jj]

0:50 it was his son’s obsession with the Romulan empire which led him to create the Romulans 😂 Oopsie!

[@Breakfast_and_Bullets]

Glad I'm not the only one that heard it

[@Kyrieru]

7:16 and the video is over, gosh what a short video!

[@Thrazkar]

John Colicos played Kor. It was Michael Ansara that played Kang.

[@maxrander0101]

the Romulan ships were also called warbirds not bird of prey it was in the show due to the full lore of the race being done yet and the reason they have the d7 is explained later as the same reason the Klingons have cloaks they swapped tech at some point and had an alliance for a short time

[@toomanyaccounts]

bird of prey, warbird are ship class names like battlecruiser, destroyer etc. both klingons and romulans have bird of prey ships with the functions being fast attack or reconnaissance.

[@toddnolastname4485]

I've always thought it made much more sense that the Vulcans left Romulus, or whatever they called their homeworld. Surak grew tired of the infighting, and he and his followers were expelled from the planet, possibly pre-warp, but fell through a temporary wormhole that dropped them on Vulcan. Was it my imagination, or was that TNG Romulan example the actor who plays Ducat?

[@toddnolastname4485]

Answer: Yes, it was. He was in the episode that reintroduced them to TNG.

[@toddnolastname4485]

Speaking of Dukat, I read a novel that told more about Macet, the first Cardassian we meet, and it said Macet and Dukat are relatives. But I always thought they should have kept Macet and his crew as being from a Cardassian colony that had lost contact with the homeworld after a horrible war, and they had evolved slightly different from regular Cardassians.

[@CondosNkarens]

That romulan at 4:00 is Gull Ducott ..I think.

[@richardjohnson9543]

The change to the Romulans' physical appearance in TNG is not unlike what was done with the Klingons for Discovery and both were really unnecessary. The Romulans were established in TOS as being nearly indistinguishable from Vulcans, different only in culture. At least Picard cleaned up the mess by simply giving us every Romulan variant ever seen. This also fixed the common Trek problem of nearly all representatives of any given alien species being the same in culture, language, and dress. Hopefully the Klingons will get the same treatment soon

[@purplegreenredyellow]

Agreed on everything - except the Kelvin timeline. PLEASE reboot that. I left the theater after the Kirk/product placement shot.

[@GabrielaLabanda]

💜

[@Mike-rt2vp]

A video on the dark space elves.

[@grothdrakk-slayer725]

Balance of terror, in my opinion, remains one of the best star trek episodes to date. TNG is often depicted as the best show; but this is possibly my favourite episode.

[@ravenknight4876]

What about romulans in DS9 ? Was there so little change ?

[@raenfox]

I prefer the story of STO. I know STO is not canon, but still. They tell the war story, meaning the Vulcans almost tore themselves apart until Surak somehow managed to convince the majority of his species to suppress their emotions using logic. Some Vulcans, however, didn't want to give up love, passion, and, yes, also hate. They were known as "Those Who Marched Under The Raptor's Wings". They left Vulcan in huge colony ships some 2000 years ago, in an event that was called "The Sundering". They first settled on the old Dewan homeworld, but later left again (not sure if that's explained) and settled on Romulus. Since only around 2000 years have passed, they're genetically still virtually identically to Vulcans, and their language is based on an old Vulcan language. I explain the forehead ridges as diversity that existed in Vulcans 2000 years ago. However, Vulcans preferred smooth foreheads (looked more distinguished and refined), while Romulans preferred the ridged look (because it looks more aggressive), so it mostly disappeared among Vulcans, and became prevalent in Romulans (this is possible within 2000 years). The lack of telepathic abilities is because while they are inherent to their species, they are weak, and a lot of mental discipline and training are required to use them, to a level emotional beings, such as Romulans, are simply not capable of. All this would mean that the Remans (unless they're the result of genetic modifications) are a separate species, as they're too different from Vulcans/Romulans (evolution isn't that fast, also Nemesis shows them as having a completely different language and writing system). STO also shows that not all Romulans are war-mongering imperialist conspirators, they do have a spiritual side, and some of them are genuinely nice guys. There's the whole Romulan Republic arc, where they just want to find a new homeworld after Romulus and Remus were destroyed by the Hobus supernova, and live in peace with their neighbors, but the Empire and the Tal Shiar keep bothering them.

[@admiralpercy]

It's just like Enemy Below but I could have sworn the writer said it wasn't the inspiration

[@DanSolo871]

I don’t know why they simply didn’t explain Romulans, Vulcans and Remans similar to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans. Like Earth they walked the planet at the same time but had different evolutionary outcomes. Rather than dying off, they went “flying off” to another world.

[@henry7696]

"they arent the united super faction they once were" that is, until a mere splinter group of romulans shows up with -literally- a fleet of over 200 state of the art ships.

[@esprit101]

Picard can't decide if the Romulans are empoverished refugees or a massive empire. If you care about previous ST lore, or even the basic premise of ST, Picard is so full of inconsistencies that it makes your head spin.

[@KingArthur0725]

John Colicos did not portray Kang. He portrayed Kor, in the first season episode Errand of Mercy, the first appearance of the Klingons. Kang was portrayed by the late, great Michael Ansara, in the third season episode Day of the Dove. Get your references straight.

[@Werezilla]

Actually concerning how the Remans fit into all of this, their introduction in Nemesis, very late into the series, it begs one question. Prior to their introduction, what was the second planet "Beneath the Raptors Wings" as it were on the Romulan insignia, supposed to represent?

[@dilsnikdilznik]

Remans were not introduced there. Nosferatu looking Remans were.

[@3Rayfire]

@@dilsnikdilznik Well Remans were speculated before as the planet has been there since TOS. Nobody ever saw or bothered depicting a Reman before in the main canon or many supplemental materials.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@3Rayfire Remans are an off shoot of the Romulans. genetically enginnered to do a task on that planet.

[@3Rayfire]

@@toomanyaccounts Yeah, though there's the other theory that they evolved into their current form adapting to Remus. I forgot the theory.

[@apostolispouliakis7401]

I would love to see a lore evolution on my favourite Star Trek race the Cardassians but it would be difficult to do an "evolution" as they feature only in DS9 and TNG

[@RowanJColeman]

A Cardassian episode is in the works

[@danielyeshe]

They also appear in Voyager.

[@STSWB5SG1FAN]

@@danielyeshe Just Seska. I believe she was Obsidian Order.

[@danielyeshe]

@@STSWB5SG1FAN And briefly Gul Evek plus two holograms.

[@davidcatania9910]

Kang was portrayed by the actor Michael Ansara, John Colicos Played Kor

[@Jenjen-qc5eq]

I always wondered if the Romulans were inspired by the ancient King of Italy Romulus?

[@AshtonCoolman]

I think I liked Picard mostly because of how they portrayed the Romulans and unified the different looks of their species. They even have varied cultures like a real civilization would(using humanity as the only known example). Each Star Trek faction should be fleshed out in this way going forward.

[@matsu11177]

picard is shit.