Efrosian The Efrosians were a sentient , humanoid species , whose homeworld was a member of the United Federation of Planets by the late 23rd century . Efrosians served in Starfleet by 2286 , and an Efrosian served as the Federation President as of 2293 . Efrosian males had cranial ridges and were generally seen wearing long , white hair and flowing mustaches . ( , ) Appendices . Background information . The name for this species never appeared in any script , dialogue , or production graphic . It was noted , however , in Paramount ' s initial publicity photos for " Star Trek IV " . The name " Efrosian " was invented by Kirk Thatcher , an associate producer on " Star Trek IV " , in honor of unit production manager Mel Efros . The design was based on a sketch by fantasy artist Thomas Blackshear . The name of this species comes from FASA ' s " Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update " . While strictly a non - canon source , it is the only widely for names of most of the " Star Trek IV " alien s . The name was never formally adopted by Paramount beyond the publicity photos , in fact , the , for example , goes out of its way to avoid using the name . The Efrosian appliances were memorably uncomfortable for actor Kurtwood Smith , who played the Efrosian president . In a interview , he stated , " " What I remember most about " Star Trek VI " was the outfit , the hair and mustache . I was so uncomfortable because I could " not " lie down . And those contacts ! I wore blue contacts , so everything was blue all the time . That was very strange . The makeup took much longer than you would think from looking at the final product . I had a whole forehead piece and this wig . That stuff took four hours to apply and a couple more to take off . I was punchy during that shoot , because I couldn ' t take a nap or I would ruin the hair , and because of those blue contacts . " " ( ) In the DVD audio commentary for " " , Nicholas Meyer states that the Federation President is blind . This would seem to be inconsistent with the necessity of having visual aids for a briefing to the president by Colonel West , although the president is seen to use special glasses to read the briefing notes of Operation Retrieve . He has vivid blue irises and the other Efrosian , the helmsman of " Star Trek IV " , has white - colored irises , leading to non - canon fan speculation that vision impairment is common among Efrosians . According to featured actress Lena Banks who portrayed the Federation president ' s assistant in " Star Trek VI " , the president was meant to be blind and her part was to guide him into the conference room . The scene was only part of the trailer for " Star Trek VI " and was cut out of the final film . ( " Information provided by Lena Banks " ) According to the reference book " " , the Efrosian homeworld was once a province of the Klingon Empire before joining the Federation ; Ra - ghoratreii ( the name given to the Efrosian president in non - canon works ) thinks it significant that a man whose people had previously been subjugated by the Klingons is given the task of finally making peace with them . Apocrypha . In several novels published after , the name for this species was Deltan , though differing from Lieutenant Ilia . The description of a long - haired male Deltan was introduced in Vonda N . McIntyre ' s and was applied to the Federation President ' s race in J . M . Dillard ' s . More recent novels , such as " In the Name of Honor " and " Articles of the Federation " , use the name Efrosian . They are now said to come from a planet called Efros Delta ( in the " " novel " Taking Wing " ) . In , Decipher issued a book for their role - playing game called " " in which the species name was given as " Atreonid " . There has been unconfirmed speculation that this was at Paramount ' s request , although the name " Atreonid " has not appeared in any " Star Trek " productions .