Due to the success of the previous incarnation, I’d figure we do another ‘OSNews Asks’ item; it’s a nice way to get to know each other a little more on matters that are in itself fairly irrelevant. We’ll continue down the path of irrelevance by asking: What Star Trek race would you want to be, given the choice? And, of course, why? I’ll start: definitely Betazoid. Reading minds, telepathy, maybe even empathic abilities, no weird ridges or other facial deformations, black eyes – what’s not to like? Post your choice in the comments!
I would want to be a Furling :B
Ancient… oh, I mean Q.
…a joined Trill, as in DS9.
I would have to go with Trill; immortality alone is overrated, but the possibility of immortality with several separate and unique lifetimes is quite intriguing.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Trill
A Shape Shifter, turn into just about anything and be a fly on the wall to spy on all the important meetings.
Dont tell me you wouldn’t want to be!
Ohh,, a Klingon female for sure !!!
Absolutely… besides:
“Hyoo-mon females are so repulsive.”
-Lursa and B’Etor (Duras Sisters)
I’ve always had a place in my heart for Vulcans despite them not really be the coolest species around.
This might be a tad cliché of me, but I’d like to be Vulcan:
-Long life, and an ‘eternal soul’ (katra)
-High intelligence and excellent memory
-Empathic abilities
-Ration, Logic, meditation, and restraint as a way of life
-Physical strength
-…not being a slave to your irrational emotions.
None. Some people just have a life
I could say that people who “have a life” don’t reply to these types of posts but… oh wait I just did, snap!
Tribble
A Caitan. (Schrodinger’s Canon.)
The most notable of the StarTrek characters I would like to be is a T’Khasian, a.k.a. Vulcan.
The Vulcan character has an ability for intellectual decontruction of emotional patterns.
Similar to my basic Buddhist beliefs, it’s a lifelong process which strives for absolute detachment from all emotion, greed, deception, anger, and all other vices which plague those without any internal controls.
There’s a difference between controlling emotions and deyning them. Vulcans seems to have a stoic philosophy rather than a budhist one.
Who’s this “Star Trek?”
If I were to choose, I would choose humans. They were cool and had awesome technology.
However, I really liked the Cardassians and their warfaring culture. They had some weird taste in art and a really weird justice systems. But they were always proud and knew how to negotiate.
And then there’s Q, of course.
Q of course, they can be and do anything…
But actually i’d rather be human… cause in the end humans always save the day
If I had my druthers, I’d prefer to be a half breed like Spock. He has the right mix of traits that I like. If I were to be a Vulcan, I would move away from their home planet and their weird customs – like their marriage ceremonies. Spock’s human side at least seemed to represent the best of humanity, and not the worst.
Roger
A Q, come on ability to do anything.
Q doesn’t have the ability to not be a total prick
ehh, people, you’re all so short-sighted
I’d like to be a wormhole alien/bajoran prophet 
time is non-issue, the rest is a piece of cake 
from that website id pick this:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Greek_god
The OS wars are so violent. 🙂
Of course I’d like to be a Soong-type android. Like Data. Not immortal, but incredibly resilient. Having tons of things to aspire to and to discover. Being very often right, but not always.
Being Q might be cool, but they really seem to have no goal in life. Vulcans are good too, but their old-age weakness that makes them affect other people’s minds and the side-effect the illnes has: feelings. Blah!
If I couldn’t choose being an android, like Data, I’d go for Klingon. Berserk, always eager to kick some butts, true to the warrior code and loyal to the mighty empire, and never commenting their own code. Kaplah!
I’m surprised it hasn’t been mentioned yet:
Romulan.
Totally with you on that. Registered just for this too.
Subtle, manipulative, aggressive. Hell yes.
Romulan here, too. But less paranoid than the average.
Human.
Why? We dominate the Federation, have great health care and cool spaceships.
Agreed. Especially living on Earth must be quite nice. It’s seems that all technology developement allowed people to create Utopia – every episode portraying Earth shows people living however they like, usually without stress and at slow pace – I’d love that.
I would be a human from the 21st century, Earth.
Put me down as a 23rd century Vulcan. Long life, superior intellectual capacity, a balanced, pragmatic philosophy conducive to serenity, and a chance to have a little fun every seven years.
What’s with the Vulcan preference in here? Never feel love, happiness, joy, relief, fear…?
God what a boring life that would be. Emotions are nature’s drugs.
I think Vulcans feel all of those things but control them. Like Vulcans, I am occasionally prone to extreme emotional trips, and I’d like to control that.
I would like peace, science, and exploration to be the focus of our civilization. Vulcans also create art, play musical instruments, and so on.
If you met me, you’d probably guess I’d be into Klingons, but in fact, Vulcans in the Star Trek universe represent the direction (not the destination, perhaps) that I would like to see the human species move in.
I always hated people giving Spock shit for being collected. When he found something beautiful and awe-inspiring, he said so. He just didn’t feel the need to rhapsodize and go into histrionics every ten minutes like, say, McCoy.
I don’t agree that Vulcans are cold. They merely do not let their emotions carry them away. I would have no interest in them if I thought they were incapable of experiencing beauty and awe. But they do, and they are definitely the species I’d like to be more like.
Unfortunately, in life, I’m a bull in a china shop.
dont forget that spock was half human…
—
T’Pol: You presume that my time spent with humans has left me susceptible to their emotions?
Ambassador V’Lar: They’re our emotions, as well. We simply hide them better.
—
Being a Vulcan is a different thing than the pursuit of Kohlinar. Few Vulcans choose that sterile path. Sarek chose not to, finding such a life to be too sterile for his tastes. Observe the bond between Sarek and Amanda, and tell me that it is less fulfilling than a human marriage. Observe the troubled relationship, spanning over a century, between Spock and his father, and tell me there is no feeling there.
Watch Spock in The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country… and note the aura of serenity and self acceptance that he projects. Then tell me about how undesirable it is be to be Vulcan. (Admittedly, Spock is half-human, and spent decades struggling with his identity before achieving that serene state.)
To be a Vulcan, and to follow the Vulcan path is, first and foremost, to acknowledge and accept the existence of the passions within us… passions so intense that they once threatened to obliterate our civilisation, and to master them, so that they serve us and thus enhance our lives, rather than the converse, which once led our entire race to the very brink of destruction.
20th century humans have much to learn from our history. And it would be supremely unfortunate if they failed to do so before it is too late.
Edited 2008-04-08 17:00 UTC
7 years is a little on the long side for my taste. Just saying.
– Master, what it this “star trek” everybody is talking about?
– Find your answer in the Force, young padawan.
I’d like to be Richard
– Who are you?
– I am Richard, Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead. And the major of a little village along the coast, very scenic during springtime. You should visit sometime.
Outside of the Borg <-> communism allegory which I am not going to get into . They had the coolest toys, and they could travel in time .
yep, borg. but with a bit more personal freedom
i always had a thing for cyberpunk/transhumanism.
and i thought that klingons was the original communists…
Edited 2008-04-08 17:51 UTC
I’ve never seen anything communistic about them. They were warlike totalitarians during the cold war years in the old series.
Just make me Betazoid and put me on Risa. ;D
and if that isnt the “description” of communist russia in those days, i dont know what is…
7 of 9?
sad to say, im not fully up to speed on that part of the star trek timeline. but something to that effect, yes. still, the gender would be all wrong…
Traveller…
Then again, a human with a Holo Deck might be just as much fun…
A Vulcan and if not that then a borg. easier to upgrade u see.
I would choose half Klingon half Vulcan.
Being half Saudi half German in reality it seems only fitting …
In order to represent the German part better, you should exchange one of the half parts into a Cardassian, because they are the better Germans (see first mentioning above). 🙂
This would mean that I’d have to be a Cardassian employed at the Obsidian Order… how strange… =^_^=
..<sigh> … I knew someone would say that!
I want to be BORG obviously..
(Befriender Of Raunchy Girls..)
Edited 2008-04-08 17:34 UTC
There are 3 races I would be interested in being other than human…. Trill, Q, or…. GORN!!!
Love the GORN, the way it talked when it fought Kirk on Cestus 3 – “You have lost admit it to yourself!”
I simply can not believe that no one here wants to be a Ferengi!
Listen, you get to be greedy, with no apologies.
Women aren’t allowed to be clothed! (+1!)
Beetlesnuff is great stuff!
All you have to do is follow a few Rules of Aquisition…
Ear sex rules!
Changeling, Q (becoming anything sounds like great fun, but Q has no purpose and all that), or a Borg separated from the collective (so 7 of 9 and I would have something in common).
William Henry Gates III is already exactly what he wants to be: The Queen of the Borg. 😉
Part of me would like to be Vulcan, and the more mischievous side of me would like to be a member of the Q Continuum.
detto
Edited 2008-04-09 12:17 UTC
I’d like to be human but the race I would like to be WITH? orion
haha
Jem’Hadar
Obviously
I think Klingons is the most attractive race , its respect for the traditions … its power and anatomy… but… there’s another race really interesting …. DATA !! the one and only !
Best Regards to my colleagues in T-SYSTEMS !
I’d be one of the whales from “The Voyage Home”.
It’s nice to be missed.
energy-draining space creature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immunity_Syndrome_(Star_Trek)
😛
The computer of the Star Ship Enterprise. Infinite memory, fantastic travel, and I get to count backwards from a hundred every few months.
Or a Horta.
Hologram + (Secured) Holo-emitter
“Renaissance Man” shows exactly why.
that can get that T’Pal (sp?) chick in the sack.
Data is my hero! Fastest typer on the enterprise… Imagine the amount of code I could crank out.
I could be a Ferrenghi in Batu Ferrenghi, Malaysia but I’d rather be Klingon since that’s more like my Japanese/Samurai family heritage.
I would be Goa’uld… uhhh I mean… Ferengi
Uhm…never watched Star Trek :/ Ask something else instead, something even I can answer
Being Piscean, Betazoid would make a comfortable choice though I’m also drawn towards the Q or perhaps even the traveler race from Tau Alpha C (OK, I’m not /that/ much of a geek – I had to look that up!).
I always like the Bajorans. Feisty bunch of aliens.
Though, I’d rather be a Sebacean, coz Farscape is way cooler than the Star Trek franchise.
If I could sample only one foodstuff from the Trek universe, it will certainly be a Hasperat 😉
I’d choose Ferengi. The best traders in known space and able to find (or make) a bargain on anything.
“They adorn themselves with GOLD and put CLOTHES on their females!”
Quark is my hero.
Creators of the Dyson Sphere anyone?
I am a Vulcan and proud of it, you can see it
…which is a “reference” to one of /. tags, I’ve been always fascinated by the race of Vulcans. I even acquainted myself with basics of stoicism. And I think it was logical course of action since that philosophy was one of the closest things (in the real world) to the teachings of Surak.
Vulcan…without a doubt.
While they did have the ability to emote in an uncontrolled fashion, they chose not too. Much like the 17th-18th century stoicism here in western societies, they valued logic and reason over emotion. Quite often I have found myself torn by emotion requiring logic to rescue the situation. The character that most closely mirrors the characteristics I admire was Spock. While he wasn’t entirely Vulcan he strove to be more logically driven each day. It is the quest to be able to acknowledge the emotion without giving in to it that is the whole point of his struggles.
I could really see myself in that position. As a science teacher I find that the quest for logic is the constant struggle of the scientific mind. It is a struggle that probably cannot be won, but often it is the pursuit that is the most important anyway.
Live long and prosper.
Magna Roman probably a gladiator and get lots of babes after the fights
No doubt Cardassian – if it wasn’t for their technological inferiority the Cardassians would have overrun the soft pansy rainbow coalition starfleet, the honor before winning Klingons and the moustache twirling Romulans.
Seriously, anyone else ever notice that a StarFleet ‘uniforms’ come in a rainbow of colors, civilians on starfleet vessels (like Wesley Crusher) have rainbows on the shoulders, and their headquarters is in SAN FRANCISCO. I can hear Sulu now. “Guys, tone it down…”
Not that the soft comfortable starfleet qualifies as an actual military anyways. I still say the best Starfleet Captain is Edward Jellico – talk about a TNG episode that shows just how big a punch of whiney pansies Starfleet personnel really are.
Though at least they aren’t as big a bunch of pretentious stuck up holier than thou dillwads as say… the Jedi.
Edited 2008-04-11 06:00 UTC
How about the mysterious race that sent Gary Seven back to 1968. You never see them, you really don’t know who they are, but they still have ways of getting things done.
As Gary said, “Even in your time, they will still remain unknown to you.”
I’ve seen the Federation (of Picard’s time) compared with communism. The key indicator is the no money thing and the seeming fact that everything large is government-run. They’re very socialist, at the least, and while that may seem to be nice to some there’s enough uniformity to bother me. At least they’re not too obviously totalitarian. (Totalitarianism is the scary part of both extremes of the political spectrum.) As for what I’d want to be, the Federation’s science resources are most tempting, but key advances are made by individual scientists, who are often recluses. (The biggest example may be Data’s creator.) This is not an indicator of a healthy scientific community, rather it indicates a restraint on free thought.
With no government to my taste I’d like to be a free agent like 7’s parents, despite the risk. The Federation may still offer the least restricted education so the race I choose is Vulcan, for the mental capacity. If it were somehow possible I would prefer Romulan for the greater emotional freedom, but I suspect I could not escape the Romulan empire.
Why would you want to be anything else?
seriously.
I’d be a human. In specific, Kirk. He got all the women. Plus – look at those residuals!