Comments on: Oscar Nominee Barney Burman Talks Star Trek Makeup

By: Barking Alien

Barking Alien — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:58:02 +0000

While I feel the look of the Vulcans was excellent, the rest of the onscreen aliens in the film were very meh at best. I can only clearly recall about 3 or 4. I’m not sure where all those masks and hands in photo #3 came from but I certainly don’t recall them in the movie.

By: LordEdzo

LordEdzo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:47:31 +0000

#19 RedShark

I agree with you. The finished Romulans *did* have very slightly pronounced brows. If you’ve looked through the “Art of Star Trek” book, then you saw that some of Burman’s other Romulan attempts had much more pronounced foreheads. Too bad J.J. didn’t go with them.

By: LordEdzo

LordEdzo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:42:48 +0000

#16 Rastaman: Where in the movie did a Salt Vampire and a Gorn appear? I gotta check those out. I totally missed ‘em. Thanks.

By: RedShark

RedShark — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:40:41 +0000

@#18 LordEdzo

An excellent point, I would have loved some Andorians. But if you look closely at the Romulans they almost seem to have very slight eyebrow ridges, more like bony plates but still there. However, since Nero and his crew were 24th century Romulans, you’d think they’d have more pronounced ridges.
-RedShark

By: LordEdzo

LordEdzo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:31:37 +0000

Well, Barney, kudos on “Long-Faced Brian,” but how come there were no Andorians or Tellarites among your aliens? That’s a serious oversight if your directive from J.J. was to incorporate “old stuff that had been on the shows,” like the Orions.

And why didn’t your Romulans have pronounced brows like in all the contemporary TV shows (and in the last movie, “Star Trek Nemesis”)? The cranial tattoos were a great idea, but there was still room for you to have included the forehead ridges.

By: Captain Dunsel

Captain Dunsel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:59:25 +0000

I wonder if a “double casting” method might overcome the weight problem of a silicone applicance for large scale additions. In other words, a silicone outer “shell” for the surface quality, with a foam latex inner core to achieve bulk at a lighter weight.

Anyone who works with the stuff know?

By: Rastaman

Rastaman — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:23:00 +0000

I dunno “No Khan,” I recognized the Salt Creature just fine. Remember what a change the Klingon make-up was in Star Trek TMP. I would call that “unrecognizable” compared to the original but still an improvement. Same goes for the Gorn. The 1960s lizard suit needs some SERIOUS updating. I enjoy all the creativity he can muster, so long as Vulcans still look like Vulcans! (And humans still look like humans.)

By: No Khan

No Khan — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:23:53 +0000

He did a good job on original designs but the retro designs didn’t look anything like the originals. If he’s going to do things like the Gorn & Salt Creature he needs to make them close enough to the original so we at least recognize them.

By: Pragmaticus

Pragmaticus — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:28:15 +0000

Out of all the categories, this is the one I think Star Trek will definitely win.

By: CarlG

CarlG — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:06:40 +0000

He did a fantastic job, but it’s a pity he didn’t get to try his CGI+makeup combo that he wanted. Some of that type of design ended up in the Art of Star Trek book and they would have looked amazing onscreen.