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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.