Star Trek: The Motion Picture created an iconic look for Ilia but never revisited her

Star Trek: The Motion Pictured created an iconic look for the alien Ilia.

It’s interesting to look back and wonder what happened. While the first foray into the Star Trek films wasn’t an overwhelming success, the first film did create an iconic look for a never-before-seen alien type, in the Deltans. The most famous Deltan is, of course, Ilia.

Ilia was played by Indian actress, Persis Khambatta

The Deltans are a race of aliens who were so sexually proficient that if a human slept with one, they’d be ruined for life, leading the Deltans to be celibate during their time in Starfleet. Gene Roddenberry was kind of a weird dude.

Ilia became pretty popular after the first film and was used in advertisements for the movie and for subsequent merchandise. Her entire look was wholly unique for the alien race, something that wouldn’t always be the case. (See Kriosian vs. Trill/Vulcan vs. Romulan).

For Ilia, it wasn’t so much her character, which little more than to provide exposition for the film, but her iconic look that sold well. Her 60s inspired dress coat was a fascinating addition to an otherwise drab-looking production. With the rest of the officers and cast in rather dull white and grey uniforms, Ilia’s dress-coat stood out and was eye-catching, cementing her place in Star Trek lore as one of the most well-dressed characters to appear on screen.

Why didn’t Ilia or the Deltans ever get another shot?

Ilia ends up dying in the film, being replaced by a copy, and then the copy died. That doesn’t mean that Ilia can’t return; it’s Star Trek after all. It does explain why she doesn’t return in the sequel films, however. So why not bring the alien race back then?

Well, Roddenberry had some unique sexual proclivities that came through when it came to his character creations. Like making the Ferengi well-endowed, sadomasochists originally before that got changed, or the Orion women being sex slaves. So it might have something to do with the Deltans being too sexual or too ingrained in their sexuality to be worth using in modern times.

Too many people would have a problem with that on both sides of the aisle, and that could be just the death nail to stay away from using them again.

Their look and fashion make them visually stunning, and simple to bring back. It seems rather odd that they haven’t been given another chance on screen. After all, Enterprise updated the Orion’s mythology, so you’d think that it’d be possible to do more with the Deltans.