At the moment we join the Enterprise, the ship is in orbit of Vulcan, waiting for the Vulcan delegation to arrive. In total, the Enterprise is taking 144 delegates to the Babel conference, 32 of which are ambassadors. This could be a ballpark estimate for the size of the Federation at this time.

Ambassadors Surak, Shras and Gav.

The most prominent Federation delegates that feature in the story are of course the Andorians and Tellarites, two races that would eventually come to prominence as the founders of the Federation. A number of other aliens were created for the background scenes.

Purple alien

The first obvious alien we see among the delegates is a purple skinned woman. She appears in the corridor when Kirk and McCoy exit Kirk’s quarters, and is seen standing next to the door during the reception, before walking around and mingling with the guests.

Purple alien sharing a drink with a delegate.

Interestingly, there are also purple aliens in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It could be these were intended as a tribute to the purple alien seen in TOS, and therefore of the same unidentified species.

Purple alien in The Voyage Home

Purple alien in The Undiscovered Country (behind the scenes)

In novels, several aliens with purple skinned appear. The Huanni are depicted in Christie Golden’s The Last Roundup and in Keith R.A. DeCandido’s Articles of the Federation as purple-skinned Federation members with elongated ears. In the Stargazer series, the Cataxxians are bald purple-skinned humanoids, and in the Corps of Engineers e-book range, the Icorians are described as purple or grey skinned humanoids. I do not know whether any of them were specifically supposed to be the aliens seen in “Journey to Babel”.

Woman in colorful dress

An Asian woman in a colorful dress can be seen among the guests standing outside Kirk’s quarters. She is later seen standing in a corridor talking with another delegate, and later is seen mixing with guests during the reception.

Woman in red dress

A woman in a red dress is seen walking through the hallway, and mingling with guests during the reception.

Federation official

This backgound character wears the same uniform as High Commissioner Ferris from “The Galileo Seven”. Of all the recycled costumes, this one actually seems to work in the context of the story. The man in the Federation uniform is probably a commissioner or other government official attending the conference.

Antedeans undergoing medical checks.

• Federation Member: Antede III
• Member since: circa 2365
• Rationale: Membership process disrupted by assassins in 2365.

The Antedeans featured in TNG’s “Manhunt” as somewhat peculiar fish-like ‘humanoids’. The Enterprise-D ferried two Antedean dignitaries from their homeworld of Antede III to Pacifica for a conference, to give the Antedeans  the opportunity to join the Federation. Unfortunately, these particular Antedean dignitaries were revealed to be assassins by Ambassador Lwaxana Troi.

Antedeans are apparently somewhat unaccustomed to space travel, as they prefer to go into a self-induced coma during travel. Part of the Antedean diet is vermicula, a fish-like substance. They consume large quantities of it after coming out of their self-induced stasis.

An Antedean called Nelino Quafina serves on Federation President Min Zife’s cabinet as Secretary of Military Intelligence in David Mack’s A Time to… series of novels, set in 2379.

In Keith R. DeCandido’s Articles of the Federation, Antede III is a full Federation member by 2380, 15 years after the TNG episode. Antedean Councilor Selora Quintor represents Antede on the Federation Council. The Antedeans have no history (or even concept) of slavery. Antede III is also depicted as an opponent to the Federation alliance with the Klingons.

Starfleet Academy

Star Trek (or Star Trek 2009 as I will call it when there is confusion) has a very distinct look that sets it apart from other Star Trek. Just as the space ships, uniforms and sets, the aliens have a different style. Although sadly the majority of alien designs barely made it into the final movie, appearing only in far away background shots, the few major aliens and the behind-the-scenes features show very elaborate  masks with moving parts, sometimes even combined with post-production digital effects. Most of the Star Trek movies have used their larger budgets to create more alien looking aliens than the television shows could afford. But it’s also true that in nearly all cases, these aliens appear only in the background, and we never really get to admire the wonderful designs in much detail. I hope we’ll get more information on the weird and wonderful aliens in this Star Trek, but until then, we have to rely mostly on blurry screengrabs for a lot of them. As this post intends to list new Federation aliens, I’ll limit myself to aliens seen in Starfleet uniforms.

Monchezke

Alnschloss K'Bentayr of Monchezke

The first alien we see is an officer on the bridge of the USS Kelvin in the opening act of the movie. According to the script this is Alnschloss K’Bentayr. The Intel viral website Starfleet Shipyard states that comes from the planet Monchezke.  And yes, it appears to be a male. The Aliens feature on the DVD explains that, like the Talosians in “The Cage”, this alien was played by a woman yet intended to be a male alien. Physically, the Monchezkeans (Monchezkites?) appear to be be slender humanoids with webbed hands and a large head.

The making of Alnschloss K'Bentayr

Alien doctor

The Kelvin doctor

Another alien crewmember of the Kelvin is the doctor that accompanies Winona Kirk during the evacuation. This particular alien is largely human-like, with the exception of her enormous CGI-enhanced eyes.

Orion

An Orion science officer.

Together with the Vulcans and the Romulans, the only other recurring alien race in the movie are the green-skinned Orions. Surprisingly, they appear to be regular Starfleet crewmembers. Gaila, Kirk’s fling, is in enrolled at the Academy, and a deleted scene (where the above image is taken from) features another Orion lieutenant in a sciences division uniform. We must assume that something happened to make this possible in the alternate 2250s. Either relations with the Orions are dramatically different in this universe, or, as Roberto Orci suggested, these may be Orion slave girls that found a way out. Or, keeping in mind the revelations in Enterprises’s “Bound”, the Orions may have actually succesfully infiltrated Starfleet.

Enterprise bridge officer

Enterprise bridge officer

On the Enterprise, we actually see very few aliens outside of the Vulcans. One of the aliens we do see is a bridge officer with a dark, almost metallic like skin. This alien is known as ‘Madeline’ in behind-the-scenes material, and in the Aliens featurette, the actress under the mask, Kimberly Arland, mentions her homeworld has four suns. She’s playing the character, so I suppose she would know these things!

Keenser

Keenser

Keenser, Scotty’s engineering buddy, is an “oyster-faced small alien” (description by Simon Pegg) with small, moving rods in place of eyes. He appeared to be in Starfleet service. We know very little about Keenser, apart from the fact that he apparently eats very little and has a tendency to sit on things.

.. and the rest.

Various aliens

The rest of the aliens are quite hard to identify in the final cut of the movie. Most of them appear in the background multiple times however. The above 12 I could pick up, although I now believe that #9 is the same as #6. I will come back to this once the Art of the Film book comes out, and maybe shines some more light on these. In conclusion, it appears that we can add around a dozen new candidates for the Federation to our lists. On the other hand, nearly all of these appear only in very minor background rolls, leading to a Starfleet that still seems to be almost entirely human (although a clear effort was made to include many different types of people). And although I admire the extremely intricate designs in the movie, I would like to see some ‘classic’ aliens return for the sequel. I still feel that the Andorians and Tellarites are underused, silly as their concepts may be.

An Antaran male

• Federation Member: Beta Antares IV
• Member since: 23rd century
• Rationale: Star Trek: Star Charts and several earlier novels indicate membership.

The Antares system is the source of such items as Antarean brandy and Antarean glow water.When Captain Kirk of the Enterprise invented the game fizzbin, he claimed it was played on Beta Antares IV. The Beta Antares Ship Yards are mentioned on the dedication plaque of the USS Prometheus in Voyager’s “Message in a Bottle”.

In a nutshell, that is all to go on for Antares in televised Star Trek until the Antarans were featured on Enterprise in “The Breach”. These Antarans, who we can presume to come from the Antares system, and likely from Beta Antares IV, had a history of warfare with the Denobulans. In the later Titan novel Sword of Damocles, one of these Antarans named Loolooa Tereshini serves aboard the USS Titan in the 24th century.

In other novels Antares is also frequently portrayed as a Federation world. The 1981 TOS novel Death’s Angel features the Antaran ambassador Marmaluke, who heads the Federation Diplomatic Corps. In Prime Directive, the Antares Corona Worlds is the government of the Antarans, and is represented on the Federation Council.

In conclusion, Antares is generally portrayed as a Federation world in novels, and canon works seem to indicate it is an allied planet. For the purposes of this list, I’d go with the novels on this one.

Angosian Prime Minister Nayrok.

• Federation Member: Angosia III
• Member since: Late 24th century
• Rationale: The Angosian membership bid was postponed in 2366, it’s possible they joined at a later date.

The Angosian Senate petitioned for Federation membership in 2366. Although seemingly a peaceful society, the starship Enterprise revealed a scandal involving Tarsian War veterans. These soldiers, genetically enhanced and conditioned, were being held prisoner at a camp on the Angosian Lunar V colony. Former Angosian subahdar Roga Danar escaped the penal colony during the Enteprise’s visit, and was eventually held in the Enterprise’s brig. Danar escaped again during transfer to Angosian custody, and managed to make hostages out of several Angosian senators. By recommendation of Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard, Angosian membership was postponed until these internal affairs would be solved.

The Angosians were near-humans seen in TNG’s “The Hunted”. They did however have a very distinct symbol, seen above on the Angosian uniforms.It’s not entirely clear the Angosians had warp drive, but they did have police shuttles and transports capable of travelling between the Angosian moons. 

In the Strange New Worlds short story “Orphans”, Roga Danar and a team of Angosian soldiers are recruited by Section 31 to defend the Guardian of Forever from Dominion forces in 2374. Roga Danar, after asking the Guardian what it desires most, allows the Guardian to depart its planet.

Flag of the United Federation of Planets, 2161

You could easily write whole books on the four major Federation species, but to keep things under control, I’ve decided to lump them together in one article and be done with them. I will provide links for further reading.

The first time the founding members of the Federation are canonically revealed isn’t until the third season of Enterprise, in “Zero Hour”. Of course, it revealed exactly those species that had already long been accepted as the founders since the Star Fleet Technical Manual published in 1975. The SFTM refers to the “Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets”, the “Planetary Confederation of 40 Eridani” (Vulcan), the “United Planets of 61 Cygni” (Tellar) and the “Star Empire of Epsilon Indii” (Andor)  joining Earth as the signers of the original Federation charter. Alpha Centauri’s status as a founder is ambiguous in the televized material, although background material for First Contact confirms it was.

Earth

Lt. Uhura of Earth

Earth is the is the capital world of the Federation. The planet is home to the Federation Council, the President and Starfleet Headquarters. The presidential offices are in Paris, France, possibly making it the capital city of the whole Federation. San Francisco, however, is home to the majority of the government and Starfleet.

Earth is home to humans, arguably the most prominent race in Starfleet, and several species of sentient cetaceans. Voyager wants us to believe some dinosaur species developed sentience and flew out into space.

• Earth at Memory Alpha
• Earth at Memory Beta

Vulcan

Lt. Taurik of Vulcan

The logical Vulcans are probably the second-most prominent member of the Federation, with many of them serving in Starfleet and in top government positions. The Vulcans were the first aliens that Earth made contact with in 2063, after Zefram Cochrane’s first superluminal flight.  Originally a very emotional and violent people, 2 millenia ago the Vulcans eventually settled for a life dedicated to logic without emotion. Their brothers, who had denounced the new way of life, left Vulcan in search for a new home, eventually forming the Romulan Star Empire. The Romulans fought a war with Earth in the 22nd century. Shortly after the war, the Federation was formed.

The government of Vulcan is called, variously, the Confederacy of Vulcan (Kobayashi Maru, ENT novel), the Confederacy of Surak (Star Trek: Star Charts) or the Planetary Confederation (SFTM). The location of planet Vulcan is generally accepted to be the 40 Eridani A system, about 16 lightyears from Earth.

• Vulcan at Memory Alpha
  
• Vulcan at Memory Beta

Andoria

Andorian Starfleet admiral

Andor, or Andoria, is the icy moon of a gas giant, home to the Andorians and the pale-skinned, telepathic Aenar. Prior to the formation of the Federation, Enterprise depictcs Andor and Vulcan has having had history of conflict.

• Andoria at Memory Alpha
  
• Andor at Memory Beta
• A Rogue’s Gallery of Andorians

Tellar

Tellarite ambassador Gav

Tellar is the homeworld of the Tellarites. These porcine humanoids are famous for their love of debates and arguing. Besides ENT, we had seen very little of the Tellarites, only appearing in TOS and in the background of several movies. Tellar is probably located in the 61 Cygni system, as per SFTM.

• Tellar at Memory Alpha
  
• Tellar at Memory Beta

A Bzzit Khaht ambassador.

• Federation Member: Althos IV
• Member since: 23rd century
• Rationale: Member of the Federation Council

This is the first Federation Members entry focusing on one of the FASA derived aliens. In the 1986 Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update, the chapter on Federation members lists the majority of aliens seen in the Council chamber scenes of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. 

There are three reasons I include FASA’s names in this list of Federation members. Firstly, there is some circumstantial evidence that at least some of the names originated from production sources. The Efrosians were named after Mel Efros for example. Secondly, even for the completely made-up names, the FASA sourcebook seems to be the only widely referenced and accepted source of names for these particular aliens. Finally, at the time of publication, FASA was a licensed party. This usually has no bearing on the ‘truthfulness’ of material, there are several cases of later productions using FASA information as canon (most importantly the various Constitution-class registry numbers).

The alien in question was actually a puppet only very briefly seen in the Council chamber scenes. The puppet is ’seated’ on the right side of the room, close to the viewing screen. The image above is from a behind-the-scenes feature on the DVD. The puppet was also showcased in an episode of Hollywood Stuntmakers with makeup artist Richard Snell. 

FASA calls the alien a Bzzit Khaht from the planet Althos IV. It goes on to describe Bzzit Khaht society in detail. These kinds of background descriptions are of course not based on anything canon, but I will briefly summarize the information.

Althos IV is described as a cool, water rich planet with major gemstone deposits. It is home to a Federation research facility. The Bzzit Khaht are a species of amphibious reptiles, who spend significant time in the water, living in beaver dam like ’seatowns’ and living from seabed agriculture. Seatowns are egalitarian communities, although there are specialized roles. The Bzzit Khaht have some psionic powers that allows a world-wide sense of purpose, negating the need for governments. According to the story, the Bzzit Khaht were only contacted (and immediately made Federation member) 5 years prior to the movie, and are effectively a pre-warp civilization with some intra system spaceflight capabilties. They are still being extensively studied by the Federation. It’s not made clear how and why they became Federation members.

An Algolian member of the Federation Archaeology Council.

• Federation Member: Algol
• Member since: Late 23rd or mid-24th century
• Rationale: Algolians took part in 2 distinct official Federation gatherings.

An Algolian was first seen in The Next Generation’s “Ménage à Troi”, playing traditional Algolian musical rythms during the closing reception of the 2366 Trade Agreements Conference. A second Algolian is seen in “Qpid”, as a member of the Federation Archaeology Council meeting on the Enterprise in 2367 (pictured above). The Algolians are presumably from the Algol system,  a trinary star system about 98 lightyears from Earth. It also seems likely, given their attendance of these events, that they are Federation members.

The distinct cranial ridge of the Algolians was a re-use of the Promellian makeup seen in TNG: “Booby Trap”. The Promellians had been extinct for several centuries.

An alien in the Ajilon Prime field hospital.

The same cranial ridge appliance was re-used again for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country to represent a USS Excelsior bridge crewmember. This particular type of alien was afterwards seen in several episodes of TNG and DS9. One appearance of such an alien was on Ajilon Prime, a Federation planet near the Klingon border. This, together with the aforementioned Excelsior crewmember, probably indicates these aliens are Federation citizens.

Despite both the Algolians and the STVI race being obvious re-uses of the Promellian makeup, there are some key differences that make it difficult to claim both are the same species. The Algolians have a noticably more ‘wrinkled’ look, and have distinctly hooked noses that the other type of alien lacks. On the other hand, we have seen several examples of aliens with different looks representing the same species (Andorians and Klingons, to name just two), and with some imagination, we could claim all the ‘ridge-heads’ are Algolians, and that these Algolians are direct descendants of the Promellians.

In the Early Voyages comics, the Algol system is home to Starbase 45 and Algol II was home to a now-extinct civilisation. It seems highly unlikely this can be reconciled with the Algolians seen in TNG.

Zefram Cochrane, who lived in the Alpha Centauri system in the early 22nd century.

• Federation Member: Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri colonies.
• Member since: 2161
• Rationale: Star Fleet Technical Manual and later fandom assume its status as a founding member. Background material for Star Trek: Generations also included this assumption.

The Alpha Centauri system is a binary star system consisting of 2 stars that are similar to Sol. A third star, Proxima Centauri, is a red dwarf orbiting the binary system at a distance of about 0,21 lightyears. Both the binary system and the companion star support planetary systems.

The first significant mention of Alpha Centauri occured in TOS: “Metamorphosis”, where the crew meet Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri. Although we later learn Cochrane was a human, at the time it may have been intended he was a native of the Centauri system. It’s generally assumed (and somewhat established in Enterprise’s “Broken Bow” and “Future Tense”) that Cochrane moved to Alpha Centauri from Earth in the early 22nd century. At any rate, it did establish Alpha Centauri as an inhabited star system with close ties to Earth and the Federation. In “Requiem for Methuselah”, the immortal Flint had some of the works of the artist Taranullus of “Centauri VII” in his collection.

Canonically, this is all we really hear about Alpha Centauri until Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. In DS9: “Past Tense”, Sisko has been invited to a dinner with Admiral Drazman of the Proxima Maintenance Yards, which we can assume is referring to the Proxima Centauri system. In the same episode, the alterations in the timeline created by the transporter malfunction cause Alpha Centauri to become part of Romulan territory. In “In the Pale Moonlight”, Alpha Centauri is listed among major worlds like Vulcan, Andor and Tellar as being threatened by the Dominion. This is the first vague hint in the television series that Alpha Centauri has any singificance as an inhabited system. In Enterprise’s “Twilight”, another alternate timeline sees the Xindi destroying a human colony in the Alpha Centauri system in the mid 22nd century. “Borderland” and “Affliction” mention as Proxima colony as well.

In newspaper clippings created for Star Trek: Generations (but ultimately never seen on screen), the “newly independent” Alpha Centuari colony signs the Federation charter in 2161.

Outside these few mentions in canon, however, Alpha Centauri has a more prominent story in fandom.

Conjectural flag and seal of Alpha Centauri colony, based on the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph.

In the 1975 Star Fleet Technical Manual, the Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets is described as a founding member of the Federation. This Concordium uses a centaur and the Greek alphabet on its flag. In the 1980 Star Trek Maps, the Alpha Centauri system is described in detail: seven planets orbit the binary stars, with planets IV, V and VII inhabited. Centauri VII is home to a population of ancient Greeks, transplanted from Earth in the 3rd century BC.

This basic history of Alpha Centauri having one native humanoid (or actually human) species seems to have been respected througout the majority of fandom. Only recently, especially with the allusions to human colonies in ENT, have novels shifted towards Alpha Centauri having no native inhabitants, just Earth colonies.

In conclusion, Alpha Centauri is home to at least one inhabited planet called Centauri VII. In the late 21st or early 22nd century, a human colony was established somewhere in the system, which became a founding member of the Federation in 2161. The companion planetary system of Proxima Centauri is home to another human colony by the 22nd century, and a Starfleet shipyard in the 24th century. Possibly, Centauri VII has been home to a displaced group of humans since ancient times (of which Taranullus could have been one, I guess), but this is something I’ll leave for the reader to accept.

Artist impression of Aldebaran III

• Federation Member: Aldebaran III
• Member since: Early 23rd century
• Rationale: Colony world, status as member technically unconfirmed but generally accepted.

The Aldebaran colony is mentioned very early on in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the second pilot of Star Trek. At the start of the episode, the Enterprise has just picked up Dr. Elizabeth Dehner from the Aldebaran colony, where she was posted to complete a thesis on psionic abilities in humans for the College of Medical Sciences of the Tri-Planetary Academy. Most of this information comes from personnel files briefly shown in the episode. The Aldebaran colony may or may not be the same as Aldebaran III, but it certainly would be in the same solar system.

In TOS: “The Deadly Years”, Janet Wallace tells us she worked with her husband on researching methods to stop aging in plants while stationed on Aldebaran III. Much later, in DS9’s “Shadowplay”, we learn that Miles O’Brien’s father wanted him to go to the Aldebaran Music Academy, but instead O’Brien chose a Starfleet career. Also in DS9, a nephew of the Ferengi Grand Nagus was held by Starfleet on Aldebaran III.

An Aldebaran serpent

Things originating on Aldebaran are mentioned a few more times: Aldebaran shellmouths are creatures mentioned in “Amok Time”, Aldebaran whiskey is a famous green drink in TNG and DS9, an Aldebaran serpent is a rather strange creature seen in “Hide and Q”, and Doctor Phlox is not afraid to use Aldebaran mud leeches for various purposes on ENT.

These references all seem to indicate that Aldebaran is a sizable settlement, with Starfleet facilities and various centers of learning, including the prestiguous Music Academy. Although all this does not necessarily mean the world is a Federation member, it has generally been regarded as such. I don’t know exactly where this notion first appeared, but I suspect the “Where No Man…” novelization may be an early contender (if anyone can clarify this, I’d love to know).

However the idea started, the planet Aldebaran III (or Alpha Tauri III, to give it it’s precise name) was featured in a lot of fan material. In Star Trek: Maps, Aldebaran is described as a major Federation port, home to the New Aberdeen Naval Yards and a small native humanoid population. The Aldebaran shellmouth is a well-known delicacy. Aldebaran became a UFP member in 2207. The New Aberdeen shipyards are also name checked in the TNG novel Infiltrator by W. R. Thompson and in the USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual by Kevin McNulty. Ships of the Star Fleet mentions New Canberra as a port on Aldebaran.

The DS9 short story “Old Souls”, published in The Lives of Dax, recalls the 2224 Olympic Games held on Aldebaran. There are also a few starships named after the world: FASA lists the Loknar-class frigate USS Aldebaran existing in the 23rd century, and a Nebula-class USS Aldebaran plays a role in the Deep Space Nine: Avatar novels.