Titan Fleet Yards

Tall males

Two tall men in robes are seen during the reception. Although there is a possibility they were just humans, the casting of particularly tall background extras, and then dressing them up in such elaborate outfits, probably indicates they are supposed to be aliens. There’s a possibility they are both a different type of alien, but they seem to form a pair like some of the other delegates.

Ithenites

Perhaps the most well-remembered alien delegates from “Journey to Babel” are the two short copper-skinned delegates who are prominently in view while they pour a drink during the reception. From their appearance and actions, it can be presumed that the one on the left, with the scarf, is the ambassador, while the other is his aide.

In issue 11 of FASA’s Stardate magazine, these aliens were described as the Dayen from planet Orodanga in the Eta Virginis system. But even more interesting, they were at one time supposed to re-appear in Enterprise’s season four episode “Terra Prime” as the Ithenites. The Ithenites had already been mentioned by agent Daniels in the earlier “Azati Prime”, although the name was not linked to these aliens at that time.

Men in drag

Undoubtedly the strangest of all the background extras in “Journey to Babel” are two elderly men in drag. I suppose these fit in the tradition started with the Talosians in “The Cage”, where actors depict aliens of the opposite gender.

Conclusions

In conclusion, I have identified 15 background extras that make up the Babel Conference delegation (not counting the Tellarites, Andorians and Vulcans). Of these, there are 9 (1 purple alien, 2 big wig aliens, 2 Ithenites, 2 tall aliens and 2 drag aliens) that are meant to be aliens. The other 6 could all be human delegates, whether from Earth itself, Alpha Centauri (a founding member) or any of the large colony worlds (Mars, Vega, Deneva).

As far as Federation members go that could be identified from this, we can only be sure of the aliens as being from a distinct Federation world:

1. Purple alien’s homeworld (possibly Huan as per Articles of the Federation, if those purple aliens are the same as these).
2. Big wig homeworld
3. Ithenite homeworld
4. Tall alien homeworld
5. Drag homeworld

Of the 6 other delegates, one appears to be a Federation official, not necessarily representing any particular planet. This leaves 5 more possible Federation ambassadors. So, Journey to Babel presents us with 2 prominent new Federation members (the Andorians and Tellarites), and then around 5 to 10 possible additional Federation members.