Movies - TV
Why Star Trek: TNG Ditched The Classic Romulan Warbird Design
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In the 1966 "Star Trek" episode "Balance of Terror," the Romulan Bird-of-Prey is a flying saucer-like craft with protruding warp engines and a wicked-looking tail fin.
It's light grey with a large orange bird on its underside, but on "Star Trek: TNG," Romulan Warbirds are ten times larger, solid green, and constricted with bird-like "heads."
In the book "Star Trek: The Next Generation 365" by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann, designer Andrew Probert recalled how the Romulan got its new look.
"I didn't have any information except that the Romulans were coming back and that we had never seen their ship before," Probert said, adding he thought of the bird-like design.
The new draft had no "bottom wing" and was essentially a bird in flight. Eventually, the bottom wing would appear, and a preliminary version of how a Warbird looked manifested.