The Vegans were a humanoid species. By the mid-2270s, Vegans were serving in Starfleet.
Two Vegans were present at Starfleet Headquarters air tram station in San Francisco on stardate 7410.2. They were seen speaking to an Arcturian on the lower platform in the background when James T. Kirk and Sonak parted ways at the top of the stairs.
A Vegan ensign served aboard the USS Enterprise during its refit.
About the same time, a Vegan served aboard the orbital office complex. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Appendices
Background information
While two interviews with Robert Fletcher described this species as Rhaandarites, the shooting script for The Motion Picture mentioned "high-domed Vegans" as an example of the aliens present in the Starfleet Headquarters scenes. Steven Lance's character was described as a Vegan in publicity material. [1]
The head piece created by Steve Neill
The Vegans were designed by Fred Phillips and Robert Fletcher for The Motion Picture.
In an article appearing in the January 2002 edition of Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, entitled "Who is that Alien?", the following information about the Rhaandarites, how Fletcher named them, as taken from Fletcher's original background notes, added:
"The Rhaandarites were a simple, gregarious people who were much better at taking orders than giving them. They were very long-lived and didn't really reach maturity until they were 150 or so. Unfortunately, the Rhaandarite on the Enterprise bridge was only supposed to be 85 years old."
Detail of attire
In an interview appearing in the March 1980 edition of Fantastic Films, entitled "The Star Trek Costumes", Fletcher revealed information about the Rhaandarites and the design of their costumes:
"These are the Rhaandarites. The lady is on the right; remember that the jewelry denotes the sex. This material is a black and silver lame, a very sensuous, clinging, sex material and these two guys are very big men. I thought it might be fun to dress them in this particular material. The necklace serves two purposes, first it is a lovely piece of jewelry, and second, it can be used for communication – an all-purpose jewelry with machinery built in. The necklace is made of a poured resin and a dark grey plastic. If you got very close to this piece you could look inside and see the tiny toy parts that were placed inside to simulate a working apparatus."
According to backstage info, the name of the Rhaandarite homeworld was Rhaandaran. Rhaandar (Alpha Indi) was the name of a star in the Beta Quadrant. The primary was a class F star. The magnitude of this star was +3, which was ten times brighter than Sol. Rhaandar was the name of a planet in the system, too, and had, by 2378, become a member of the Federation. (Star Trek: Star Charts, United Federation of Planets I)
Apocrypha
In non-canon, the Rhaandarite species and the unnamed crewman from ST:TMP were given a much fuller treatment in the book by Christopher L. Bennett Ex Machina. Further, the planet Rhaandar was mentioned offhand by Federation politicians in Star Trek: Destiny "Lost Souls".
External link
- Rhaandarite at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works