Some time ago I began noticing a problem with the make-up on sci-fi shows.
It’s only skin deep.
Sure, the alien may have funny colored skin (blue, green, whatever), but his mouth is always human-red.
Bad idea.
If an alien really has funny body chemistry, blood, and pigmentation, his mouth shouldn’t be the same color on the inside as ours.
I decided that if I were ever in a position to make a sci-fi series, I would have the alien actors rinse their mouths out with food coloring (or something) to change the color of them on the inside.
Well, someone who actually does make a sci-fi series finally got the same idea!
If you look closely on Star Trek Enterprise, you’ll notice that the Andorians have blue not only on their outer skin but also on the insides of their mouths.
Yee-haw!
Improved alien make-up realism!
I noticed this a piece back, and have been meaning to blog about it, but my memory was jogged when last night on Enterprise Shran the Andorian (played by the immortal Jeffrey Coombs–a.k.a. Weyoun, Brunt) was being choked by someone and we got a really good shot of his face with his bright blue tongue protruding out.
Kewl!
Incidentally, in fairness to the make-up artists, it may be that we have only recently developed something that you can put in your mouth to change it’s color without having it last an unduly long time (or it may be only recently they have worked up the gumption to ask actors to dye their mouths for long periods).
Either way, I’m a happy camper.
It’s the simple things in life (like a food coloring mouthwash) that really matter.
HM…..Do you remember what color his teeth were? It seems to me that anything that would last short term would also be removed by a good brushin’. On the other hand, Jeffry Combs seems the type that would go all out for realism. Who knows, his mouth might still be blue to this day. 😉
It occurs to me that the desired effect might now be achieved with just a bit of digital jiggery-pokery. Post-production, ya know.
I don’t know, but for the actors it would make the whole process easier to swallow.
Unfortunately the Andorians’ skins did have pink showing through at points.
The pig makup was the worse I’ve seen in a long time. The masks had visible separation from the actors’ faces.
Why couldn’t it be blue pigment, rather than extreme cyanosis? That is possible in the animal kingdom.
IIRC, one of the reasons they had Trance on Andromeda change from blue to orange in places, is that the paint isn’t all that good for you if it covers too much of your skin, whereas the orangish material could just be makeup.