Re-Used Make-ups in VOY: "Tsunkatse"

by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

There is probably no other occasion in Star Trek Voyager that shows us as many different alien races as the spectators in VOY: "Tsunkatse".

The Tsunkatse games take place on the Norcadian homeworld, or that is what the people think who come there to watch them. The actual arena is located on a ship and transmitted to a holographic projector on the homeworld. Besides the crew of Voyager we can see several members of Penk's race with two characteristic forehead bulges. They are among his aides as well as in the audience. Though never explicitly mentioned, these were obviously meant to be the Norcadians at the time "Tsunkatse" was being produced, although it will be unmistakably stated in two later episodes that actually Mezoti is Norcadian.

Penk in VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Three spectators of Penk's race in VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Analysis

Most of the spectators belong to various other alien races. And it seems none of their make-ups is new. The following images depict and identify most of the alien visitors that can be seen in the episode.

Collage #1

Here we can see the following alien make-ups:

A Tygarian. The species first appeared and received its name in DS9: "The Homecoming" but could be seen no less than 35 more times as a background alien on DS9.
Two Ankari. They appeared in VOY: "Equinox", where it was also implicitly established that they must possess a very advanced propulsion system that might allow them to visit the Tsunkatse arena. The Ankari make-up is quite similar to that of the Tygarian. It is probably no coincidence that the two are standing side by side. They are apparently meant to be the same species here.
DS9 alien #1. This unnamed alien with his long face was first seen in DS9: "Armageddon Game" and showed up ten more times, mostly on the promenade.
DS9 alien #2. This species with a triangular face first appeared as soon as in the second season. In DS9: "Cardassians" and "Sanctuary" we could see these aliens with big gray hats that were omitted for the following nine appearances.
A healthy Vidiian. This is the healthy look of the race as seen on Danara Pel in VOY: "Lifesigns", as opposed to the patchwork faces of the Vidiians with the phage. Although it is unlikely that the spectator could really be a Vidiian, it would confirm Kurros' statement that the Think Tank eventually cured the Vidiian phage.
A Voth. The vastly advanced descendents of Earth dinosaurs seen in VOY: "Distant Origin". Although the Voth do have transwarp drive and hence would be able to bridge the vast distance to the Norcadian homeworld, they consider non-reptilian humanoids inferior and wouldn't really like to watch such a primitive fight. We could want to explain the presence of the Voth with him performing a cultural study, but we can see him cheer just likely everyone else does.
A Boslic. This female make-up could be seen in three DS9 episodes, and the look is considerably different than that of the men of the same species. While the real-world reason for the existence of two make-ups is likely just inattention, it may qualify as a quite definite sexual dimorphism. Anyway, while the original Boslic woman has purple hair, it may be brown on the Tsunkatse spectator.

Collage #1 from VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Collage #2 from VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Collage #2

This collage allows to identify the following additional alien make-ups:

A hostile alien from VOY: "Latent Image". We could see them only in a flashback in the episode as they boarded a shuttle, the event dating back 18 months, tens of thousands of light years from the Norcadian homeworld.
DS9 "tailhead" alien. This fellow appeared as soon as in DS9: "Emissary" and TNG: "Tapestry" and in 13 more episodes. The wrinkles in the face appear to have been toned down for "Tsunkatse" but the tail is definitely there, as the reverse angle of the scene proves. Purportedly the quite fitting name "tailhead" was used by Michael Westmore behind the scenes.
A Reptohumanoid. They could be seen in VOY: "Parturition", as early as in the second season of the series.
A member of Abaddon's race. The make-up (from VOY: "Alice") appears to have been slightly modified. Yet, the spectator could be well another member of this race that was encountered earlier in the same season.
A member of Yost's race (Renovation Team Nova). Exactly as seen in VOY: "Gravity".
A combination of Torat's race and the Evora. The make-up visible in "Tsunkatse" is composed of Torat's face (VOY: "Counterpoint") and the back of the head of the Evora ("Star Trek: Insurrection"). Interestingly, in VOY: "Survival Instinct", on the space station, we could still see both of them as individual make-ups.

Collage #3

This one depicts still more alien make-ups:

A Kressari. After the first appearance of this race in DS9: "The Circle" we can see more members no less than 27 times as background aliens.
A Parada. The race first appeared in DS9: "Whispers" (then still in a bad light, literally and figuratively). After that we could see them 24 more times on DS9.
A member of the "Swarm". These nasty aliens showed up in VOY: "The Swarm". We could also see this species in Seven's nightmares in VOY: "Infinite Regress". Obviously members of the Swarm have been assimilated by the Borg.

Collage #3 from VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Collage #4 from VOY: "Tsunkatse"

Collage #4

This collage has one more alien make-up:

A Kobheerian. It is definitely a Kobheerian, as first seen in DS9: "Dramatis Personae", not a Dopterian, although it is easy to confuse the two races.

Conclusion

So we have seen almost all of the spectators before, many of them tens of thousands of light years away in the Delta Quadrant or even in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. It is clear that none of these could possibly attend the Tsunkatse show on the Norcadian homeworld, unless they had advanced propulsion systems such as the Voth or the Ankari. But even though we might be able to explain away the presence of single races that normally shouldn't be there, there is no way to justify their amassment. Ultimately we were are supposed to perceive the audience as a colorful bunch of aliens, and not as members of particular known races.