Tim Russ as the "black vulcan".

[Mr. Scott]

About casing an Afircan American as a Vulcan.

Was the show looking for a black actor to play the role in the first place or did Tim Russ just happen to audition for the role?

I have seen black actors as Klingons, Cardassians (the leader after Damar who was killed in the last episode during the Cardassian genocide), and one actress who played a Romulan talking on the TV phone on DS9.

 

[od0_ital]

Prior to VOY, Tim Russ had a history with the franchise. He was the runner up to play Geordi La Forge when LeVar Burton was cast. He already appeared as a human thief on TNG and a Klingon mercenary on DS9 before VOY. And he went on to play a human officer in GEN and the mirror version of Tuvok on DS9 after VOY began.

Its entirely possible that the producers had Tim Russ in mind for the part of Tuvok because they knew him from his previous roles and auditions.

As for the rest, I don't think skin tone matters when playin' roles like Klingons (Christopher Lloyd, J.G. Hertzler, John Larroquette, Robert O'Reilly - all white guys, all played Klingons) and Cardassians (full body make-up, ya know).

 

[Itachi]

Does this really matter? I've seen black actors as presidents before Obama got into office. My point is, black, white, or khaki, no one should really care.

 

[RoJoHen]

No, it shouldn't matter, but in the case of alien races, one wonders about ethnicities. As far as I know, we had never seen a black Vulcan before Tuvok showed up, so one might have wondered if black Vulcans exist at all.

 

[Mr. Scott]

John Larroquette played a Klingon? In what series or movies?

Did he drink the blood wine?

 

[JanewayRulz!]

John was the Klingon on Christopher Lloyd's ship in the movie In Search of Spock. He's the one who said he'd rather die than help Kirk. Kirk told him, okay, I'll kill you later. When the Klingon reminded him of the promise to kill him, Kirk smirked I lied!As for the question of different races on other worlds, we saw it in TOS when the half black/half white guys were trying to kill each other. It only stands to reason that Earth and that doomed planet aren't the only ones that have multiracial species.

 

[Piano&Startrek]

There is an interview with Tim Russ on one of the DVD seasons where he discussed this issue. Of course he'd be biased, but his argument was that Humans have different skin tones from white to olive to black, and why shouldn't other races? I always just assumed that the producers thought of Vulcan like earth; different regions had different skin tones. Considering Russ' history with the franchise and the fact that he can be the part so incredibly well, that his race, while maybe a part of the factors, was not the main reason he got cast.

Would it be more logical if they had created a Vulcan with a more green skin tone?

 

[Hober Mallow]

No, it shouldn't matter, but in the case of alien races, one wonders about ethnicities. As far as I know, we had never seen a black Vulcan before Tuvok showed up, so one might have wondered if black Vulcans exist at all.

There was a black Vulcan in STV, if I remember right (the Vulcan woman who says, "Sarek, your son") and there was a black Romulan in TNG's "The Pegasus." Oh, and don't forget the black Vulcan in this old show.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I remember seeing Russ on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and his portrayal of a security guard there was about as wooden as Tuvok or that guy from Dragnet, which may have just been a choice rather than a lack of range, and I was thinking: "if that's all he's got, no wonder they had to cast him as a Vulcan."

Everyone came from Africa originally, and those that stayed became or stayed quite black, others moving to less temperate places where they had to invent clothing to stop from freezing to death or towards deserts where they had to invent other sorts of clothing to stop the environment from also killing them... This is like Goldilocks and the three bears. The Middle east was Toooooo hot, and Canada was tooooooooooo cold but the Sudan was juuuuuuust right.

the point I am trying to get to is how much of a uniformly desert world is Vulcan that a couple million years environmental impact of their biology would be creating different hues given different geological locuses?

maybe it's that because vulcans are tougher than humans that nude to near nude Vulcans can thrive in the desert so that a million years of baking at different tempretures from the poles to the equator has also created the dermal spectrum we enjoy here, oerver there so well?

 

[Sykonee]

We've already seen an 'Asian' Vulcan, in STIII (the guy bangin' the gong at the end), so why not an 'African' Vulcan?

That said, could you imagine just how smug a 'French' Vulcan would be?

 

[Udat]

^ Like a French captain with an english accent?

 

[Linnis Paris]

I think Tim got the role because he's so great at it. I couldn't imagine a better Tuvok.

We didn't see Vulcan until Enterprise - right? How do we know there aren't more dark skinned Vulcans.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

We saw Vulcan in Amok Time.

 

[froot]

We also saw Vulcan in "Yesteryear." And its...um, "moon."

And Tim Russ? Wooden? He has my favorite scene in "Spaceballs!"

 

[od0_ital]

... We didn't see Vulcan until Enterprise - right?

Oh, dear god...this makes me want to cry.

 

[RoJoHen]

We didn't see Vulcan until Enterprise - right? How do we know there aren't more dark skinned Vulcans.

Um...we saw Vulcan way before that.

 

[Hober Mallow]

We didn't see Vulcan until Enterprise - right? How do we know there aren't more dark skinned Vulcans.

We saw Vulcan in the original series, the movies, and TNG.

 

[indolover]

I'm guessing that Russ aced the audition, and due to him being black the producers simply thought "what the hey, let's have a black Vulcan".

I never understood how Vulcans are, or even should be, multi-racial like humans. All of Vulcan is hot and arid, or so we have been shown in many of the series. So really all Vulcans should be dark-skinned.

 

[di_mar]

I quite like Tim Russ being Tuvok. For me, he plays the part well - especially the way his jaw clenches when something 'illogical' happens. To be honest, race doesn't matter to me (it does to Harry Kim.. haha ), but Tim Russ really does make Tuvok one of the most interesting characters in the whole Star Trek franchise.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I quite like Tim Russ being Tuvok. For me, he plays the part well - especially the way his jaw clenches when something 'illogical' happens. To be honest, race doesn't matter to me (it does to Harry Kim.. haha ), but Tim Russ really does make Tuvok one of the most interesting characters in the whole Star Trek franchise.

Okay I'll bite. What is this Harry Kim stuff you are on about?