- This article is about about the Federation member. You may be looking for the non-aligned Arcturans.
An Arcturian clone who visited Starfleet Headquarters in 2273
The Arcturians were a humanoid species from the Alpha Quadrant, and long-standing members of the United Federation of Planets. Many Arcturians served in Starfleet. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Their homeworld was the planet Arcturia, which often led to confusion with the well-known planet Arcturus and its native race, the Arcturans. (Star Trek: Pendragon)
An Arcturian clone serving in Starfleet during the 2270s
A race of clones, Arcturians were all physically identical. They had reddish-gray skin which formed heavy folds, and their native dress typically consisted of leather and fur tunics, color coded by rank and position. The population of their homeworld numbered over 100 billion. They were known as a militaristic species, and provided the backbone of Federation ground forces in the mid-to-late 23rd century. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
An Arcturian in typical dress, circa 2273
Names[]
- Adjani • Neelakanta • Tagsut • Taskul
Appendices[]
Notes[]
- The identification of these aliens as Arcturians comes from the backstory conceived by Robert Fletcher and Fred Phillips for the alien races they created for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which was subsequently published in The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which also called their homeworld Arcturus, the name of a real-world star.
- The unnamed alien transport captain from the bar in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was identified as an Arcturan in the novel The Lost Years, which presented the race as independent and their homeworld of Arcturus as a "smuggler's haven." Most other sources agree with this depiction of Arcturus, though some do use the TMP version, leading to frequent confusion and conflation of the two species.
- In an effort to clarify the situation, the Star Trek: Pendragon writers have decided that the Arcturans of The Search for Spock and The Lost Years hail from the actual Arcturus, while the Arcturians of The Motion Picture come from the planet Arcturia, the similarity of the two names thereby explaining the confusion between two visibly distinct species.
- References to "Arcturan" or "Arcturian" things, like an Arcturian fizz, Arcturian dog bird, Arcturan musk oil or Arcturian wood, are evaluated individually, in order to determine which world or species they may refer to based on context.
External links[]
- Arcturian article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Arcturian article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Arcturian article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.