The Romulan haven’t been portrayed as very intelligent…

[Draconarius King]

Maybe it’s just me or the overly aggressive races just come off as stupid or at least unimpressive. Like the Klingon policy of shoot first ask questions later is just outright primitive, and the Romulans are no exception. The show always labels the Romulans as fascist Vulcans and sure they have “feats” to back this up but seriously, every encounter Enterprise has with these monkeys I don’t see their behaviors as rational for starters individually they were all overly suspicious which isn’t indicative with intelligence furthermore they just don’t seem have the fortitude to seriously back up their whole imperial Image. In fact the National Federation doesn’t seem all too concerned with them as for most of their ships are designed for exploration in luxury and not true military defense. So far the outcome of this shows that the Federation was right to not really be to concerned with the Romulans. Maybe the show just isn’t properly portraying them either way I almost forget them until they become a slight nuisance once in a while.

 

[Timo]

Dunno. Romulus seems to be the North Korea of Trek (With Vulcan then the obvious South, backed up by the good guys but with loyalties of its very own). Nobody expects North Korea to invade anything much, because it's way too weak for that. But that makes the rabid nation all the more dangerous, because it is not too weak to carry our terror attacks, or to threaten with those.

Romulans seem to have that down pat. Whatever the Tomed Incident was, it stil has the Feds scared stiff. And it seems trivial for Romulus to mount an attack against Vulcan, it taking them about as much time to get to that planet as it would take North Korea to swarm Seoul. Romulans love to feint with such attacks, too, as in "The Defector" or "Unification", if only to keep up their reputation as mad dogs.

It wouldn't follow that everybody in the UFP should carry personal protection against mad dog attack. But the UFP still has to maintain a military presence at the quiet Romulan border absurdly disproportionate to the actual threat, just like the US does at Korea. And sowing of zillions of tripwire sensors at the Neutral Zone is a good example of the necessary absurdity, as per "Face of the Enemy", and well comparable to the stupid fences across the Korean peninsula.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CDP]

@Timo Check out The Lost Era novel Serpents Among The Ruins, by David R George III - it's an excellent book, set on the Ent-B fully covering the events leading up to and then the actual Tomed Incident. Enjoy!

 

[Timo]

I rather disliked the artificial connection to cloaking technology there, but loved the characterizations and all the ittle touches (Foxtrot Sector, so that the Tangos and Sierras of canon Trek become part of a phonetic-alphabet system, too!).

That this would be the IRW Tomed incident is a cute idea, since nobody ever elaborates on it on screen and we thus can't tell if it's a place, a person or indeed a ship. But it's a bit alarming to think that a starship could do that much damage... the 9/11 or Pearl Harbor conspiracy angle could have been done with less destructive power, too.

Having the Romulans be like that sounds plausible in any case. The other novels, such as the Sherman/Shwartz Vulcan's Noun ones, aren't too bad, either...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Oddish]

Despite supposedly being super devious, they let Sisko (not a trained spy) fool them into participating in the Dominion war.

 

[Timo]

Well, half of them would have been itching to do it anyway. From day one in TOS, these honorless bastards have loved to betray each other; if an outsider offers an excuse...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[dupersuper]

these honorless bastards

...Worf?

 

[Timo]

Him, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Nobody smart would wear those shoulder pads.

 

[Rhodan]

Despite supposedly being super devious, they let Sisko (not a trained spy) fool them into participating in the Dominion war.

He did not fool them. An actual trained spy did.

 

[AresB]

Nobody smart would wear those shoulder pads.

They were a thing in the 80's and may very well come back again.

 

[Orphalesion]

Well there's also the little thing cunning/deceptive characters are only as cunning/deceptive as their authors can or care to make them.
If someone who writes a Romulan story and isn't versed in cloak and dagger actions/espionage tactics (or hasn't done enough research into it) then a supposedly cunning/deceptive Empire will end up lacklustre.

Though I agree with above, that the Romulans often come off as the North Korea of Star Trek, or maybe the Nazi Germany; a nation helmed by utter morons held in place by a huge apparatus of military and secret polices.

 

[Farscape One]

I wouldn't say the Romulans have been portrayed as unintelligent. Paranoid and ultra secretive, absolutely. But they are shown to be very intelligent... they just get outwitted by our heroes.

There's a touch of menace when you deal with them... a coldness to them that puts you on guard.

The only time I can think of where they came off as not intelligent was their plan to invade Vulcan in "Unification".

 

[Oddish]

Or when they got duped in "In the Pale Moonlight".

 

[Mojochi]

IMHO, Tomalak is one of the savviest villains TNG ever had imho. He sent a ship into Federation space, to likely spy or worse, & when they crashed & got found out, he turned the circumstances into an advantage, that allowed him to breach the border himself, & still get his people back, (One not alive) & make out that they were the victims...

& THEN because he was personally embarrassed that he didn't completely trounce Picard, he cooked up a defector ruse, to lure him in later on. It took Picard being just as savvy to navigate that one.

In fact, this was a complement Picard paid to Lursa & B'etor

You have manipulated the circumstances, ladies, with the skill of a Romulan

Doesn't sound like they are treated as unintelligent to me. Sounds like they're considered some of the most challenging intellects the UFP has dealings with.

If they ever began coming off as unintelligent, it was later on & increasingly lazy writing imho

 

[Timo]

Indeed, their trademark seems to be embracing defeat (which they always face due to being the underdogs anyway) and making others look bad for triumphing. "See? We just wanted to send a peace delegation to Vulcan - but now that you fiendishly ambushed our envoy convoy, we had no choice but to scuttle the ship and send hundreds if not thousands of our peace-minded dissid... I mean, diplomats to death!"

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unimatrix Q]

This post from Reddit's Daystrom Institute, based on Michael Chabon's notes on the Romulans for Star Trek Picard, perfectly explains their motivations and actions during TNG imho.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromIn...crecy_and_its_impact_on_interstellar?sort=new

Their mindset and psychology may be almost as alien to the Federation and especially humans as that of the Tamarians was.

 

[fireproof78]

They had a spy pose as a Vulcan Ambassador. They have usually been shown with playing a very long game .

 

[Timo]

Goes well with them coming for a species for which 200 years is a life cut short. These guys know how to hold a grudge!

Indeed, when Admiral Jarok in TNG "The Defector" says that "The humiliating defeat at the Battle of Cheron has not been forgotten" by those in charge of the Star Empire, he may not be speaking figuratively at all...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Maurice]

[...] In fact the National Federation doesn’t seem all too concerned with them[...]

And who are they?

They were a thing in the 80's and may very well come back again.

They were around in the 40s before that.