Changes: Denobulan

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Doctor Phlox, a Denobulan male, in 2154

The Denobulans were a humanoid species from the planet Denobula.

Culture

On their homeworld, Denobula, the twelve billion Denobulan inhabitants all shared one continent, resulting in living space being at a premium and Denobulan culture having come to embrace close, communal lifestyles, although this habitation arrangement was due to choice rather than necessity. (ENT: "Doctor's Orders")

Denobulans typically preferred to be among large groups and found solitude uncomfortable. However, Denobulans, at least males, were uncomfortable being touched by persons they were not intimate with. Denobulans were typically polyamorous, where a man typically had three wives, who each had three husbands. This created extremely large extended families; Phlox had 720 familial relationships, 42 with sexual possibilities. In addition, Denobulan marriages were not exclusive, and married Denobulans could be intimate with anyone they chose. The females emitted powerful pheromones during their mating season. Male Denobulans often became combative during this time, and mating could require medical supervision. Denobulan males were more sexually inhibited than the females of their species. (ENT: "Dear Doctor", "Bounty")

Denobulans did not have conversations with each other while eating together as they considered it a waste of time. (ENT: "Fight or Flight")

Among Denobulans, it was considered healthy for a person to hallucinate, as it was seen as a harmless way to release nervous energy. (ENT: "Exile", "Doctor's Orders")

The Denobulan lullaby was a form of song. In 2154, Phlox offered to sing one of these lullabies to Porthos, although the doctor remembered that his singing had often made his Denobulan children cry. (ENT: "Storm Front")

Denobulan medical ethics considered a patient's will to be absolutely binding, including his denial to be cured or live. This was noted to be pretty unlike the Hippocratic Oath followed by Humans, which compelled a physician to save a patient. (ENT: "The Breach") By the 22nd century, the Denobulans had experimented with nanotechnology. (ENT: "Regeneration")

Although Denobulans did not keep pets, they tended to address or greet animals they met by imitating their sounds, even insects. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "The Expanse")

On Denobula, dermal art was very common until sometime before 2153. (ENT: "Stratagem")

Physiology

Phloxes tongue — Phlox scrapes his tongue

Denobulan back — The back with ridges along the spine

Denobulans had prominent facial ridges running down either side of the forehead to the cheeks, an enlarged brow ridge under a high receded hairline, a vertical crevice in the center of the forehead, and a ridged chin.

They also had ridges on their back, along the spine. Their toenails were dark brown and yellow striped, and they grew so rapidly that they needed to be groomed once a week. Denobulans also had very long tongues, and they used tongue scrapers. Denobulan males had a line of hair down the middle of their chest, up to their throat. (ENT: "Bounty", "A Night in Sickbay")

Denobulan females had very potent pheromones that the males could sense, and they released them when they were romantically interested in someone, and presumably during their mating season. Denobulan males were known to become violent during the mating season. (ENT: "Dear Doctor")

Denobulans had a unique ability to enlarge their faces. This was an instinct for when they felt threatened. It was likely similar to the defense mechanism of the blowfish, an aquatic lifeform native to Earth. (ENT: "Home") They also had an unusually wide smile for humanoids. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "A Night in Sickbay", "Stigma", "These Are the Voyages...")

In the case of both "Broken Bow" and "Stigma", this enlarged smile was scripted to appear optically-enhanced, with the help of a visual effect. [1] [2] Such optical enhancements were indeed used to widen the smile in the episodes' final versions. ("Stigma" text commentary, ENT Season 2 DVD, et al.)

Denobulans seemed to change their eye color depending on their moods. (ENT: "Acquisition")

Denobulans normally required very little sleep, but they did hibernate for five to six days each year. However, at a minimum, two days were sufficient. If a Denobulan was awakened prematurely, the results could be somewhat unpredictable; hibernating Denobulans, if woken, appeared extremely disoriented and confused, with oddly-pitched voices, and had difficulty maintaining normal motor skills and cognitive functions. Denobulans did not talk during meals, as they considered it a waste of time. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights", "Fight or Flight", "Similitude")

Denobulans had highly-efficient natural climbing abilities similar to those of Earth lizards, being capable of scaling vertical rock faces at a rapid speed with no equipment whatsoever, appearing to scuttle up the rock face without needing to find handholds. (ENT: "The Breach")

Denobulans appeared to possess particularly powerful immune systems; when Phlox was nearly assimilated by the Borg, his immune system was able to fight off the nanoprobes long enough for him to find a means of destroying them, although he admitted that his immune system would not be able to hold them off indefinitely. (ENT: "Regeneration")

The exact life expectancy of Denobulans is not known, but indications suggest that lifespans were extremely long. Phlox, in the 22nd century, once stated that his grandmother lived through Denobula's last war with the Antarans, a war which ended while Earth was in the 19th century. This indicates that at least three generations of Denobulans had existed during the three-hundred-year span between the events, suggesting a long lifespan. (ENT: "A Night in Sickbay", "The Breach")

Since the 20th century, the Denobulans practiced genetic engineering, with generally positive results. (ENT: "Borderland")

History

The Denobulans believed they were the only intelligent species in the galaxy until the B'Saari made first contact. (ENT: "Future Tense")

Denobulans fought several wars against the Antaran species. The last one was during the late 19th century. Denobulan battle tactics killed twenty million Antarans. The Denobulans demonized the Antarans and made them a faceless enemy (and vice versa). As of the 22nd century, there were still some Denobulans that hated Antarans, although most had outgrown the hatred. (ENT: "The Breach")

Since the Denobulans' last war with the Antarans was in the late 1800s, the B'Saari must have made contact before then.

The Denobulans first met the Human race sometime prior to the 2130s. This was around the time Nathan Samuels was 18, and when his father was killed in a crash involving a Denobulan pilot. (ENT: "Demons") By the 2130s, Denobulans and Humans had built the joint research station Cold Station 12. When the Vulcans formed the Interspecies Medical Exchange, Denobulans were involved and contributed medical personnel. (ENT: "Cold Station 12")

Doctor Phlox mentioned (in ENT: "Cold Front") that he lived on Earth for "a great many years" before being assigned to Enterprise. It is unclear the exact time-frame in which Denobulans and Humans first met each other.

In 2155, a Denobulan ambassador was sent to Earth to join in talks of forming a Coalition of Planets. (ENT: "Demons")

Mirror universe

In the mirror universe, Denobulans were a slave race of the Terran Empire. The Denobulan Phlox served aboard the ISS Enterprise as the ship's doctor.

Denobulans were not part of the rebellion against the Empire, as it was not in their nature. Although Phlox helped the rebels sabotage the commandeered USS Defiant during Jonathan Archer's attempt to overthrow the Emperor, he did so in the hopes that the Emperor would reward him for his help with concubines. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

People

Appendices

Appearances

A list of all appearances of Denobulans (excluding Phlox's ENT appearances).

ENT:
- "Stigma"
- "The Breach"
- "Cold Station 12"
- "Demons"
- "Terra Prime"

Background

The Denobulan species was first canonically named in ENT: "Terra Nova", after a Denobulan had already appeared in four episodes. In fact, the script of Enterprise's pilot episode, "Broken Bow", omits any reference to the name of the species, merely describing Phlox as "an exotic-looking alien." [3]

Following a discussion in which Phlox actor John Billingsley talked with Executive Producer and show co-creator Rick Berman about Phlox's philosophical attitude in general, Billingsley proceeded to imagine what the character's species may be like. Shortly afterwards, he explained, "My own sense is that it's a race of people who are hyperintellectual philosophers who have, in effect, chosen a monastic existence, and have decided to kind of hide away from the rest of the universe because they've got bigger fish to fry inside themselves!" (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 7, p. 28)

Apocrypha

Several Star Trek novels set in the 24th century have Denobulans in them. Some references include the Star Trek: The Lost Era novel The Sundered, which has a Denobulan engineer on the USS Excelsior. A dead Denobulan is featured in the second novel of the Star Trek: Vanguard series, Summon the Thunder. One of the USS Enterprise-E's doctors, Tropp, is a Denobulan in the A Time to... series.

In the game Star Trek: Elite Force II, several Denobulans are among the crew of the USS Enterprise-E.

External link

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 == Culture ==
+On their homeworld, [[Denobula]], the twelve billion Denobulan inhabitants all shared one continent, resulting in living space being at a premium and Denobulan culture having come to embrace close, communal lifestyles, although this habitation arrangement was due to choice rather than necessity. ({{ENT|Doctor's Orders}})
-Denobulans were typically polyamorous, where a man typically had three wives, who each had three husbands. This created extremely large extended families; [[Phlox]] had 720 familial relationships, 42 with sexual possibilities. In addition, Denobulan marriages were not exclusive, and married Denobulans could be intimate with anyone they chose. The females emitted powerful [[pheromone]]s during their mating season. Male Denobulans often became combative during this time, and mating could require medical supervision. Denobulans typically preferred to be among large groups and found solitude uncomfortable. However, Denobulans, at least males, were uncomfortable being touched by persons they were not intimate with. Denobulan males were more sexually inhibited than the females of their species. ({{ENT|Dear Doctor|Bounty}})
+Denobulans typically preferred to be among large groups and found solitude uncomfortable. However, Denobulans, at least males, were uncomfortable being touched by persons they were not intimate with. Denobulans were typically polyamorous, where a man typically had three wives, who each had three husbands. This created extremely large extended families; [[Phlox]] had 720 familial relationships, 42 with sexual possibilities. In addition, Denobulan marriages were not exclusive, and married Denobulans could be intimate with anyone they chose. The females emitted powerful [[pheromone]]s during their mating season. Male Denobulans often became combative during this time, and mating could require medical supervision. Denobulan males were more sexually inhibited than the females of their species. ({{ENT|Dear Doctor|Bounty}})
-Denobulans did not have conversations with each other while eating together as they considered it a waste of time. ({{ENT|Fight or Flight}})
+Denobulans did not have conversations with each other while eating together as they considered it a waste of time. ({{ENT|Fight or Flight}})
-On their homeworld, [[Denobula]], the twelve billion Denobulan inhabitants all shared one continent, resulting in living space being at a premium and Denobulan culture having come to embrace close, communal lifestyles, although this habitation arrangement was due to choice rather than necessity. ({{ENT|Doctor's Orders}})
 Among Denobulans, it was considered healthy for a person to [[hallucination|hallucinate]], as it was seen as a harmless way to release nervous energy. ({{ENT|Exile|Doctor's Orders}})