Worene Worene was a female alien humanoid crewman with an upturned nose who lived during the latter half of the 23rd century . She served as an enlisted Starfleet crewman aboard of the under Captain James T . Kirk during the mid - 2270s . During that time , she attended the " V ' ger " briefing on the recreation deck . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Worene was played by stunt actress Paula Crist . The alien , including the name , was her own creation . " Worene " came about when Susan Sackett , Gene Roddenberry ' s personal assistant , saw Paula in her " Thorwor " [ a male alien entirely from her own imagination ] costume and mentioned Paula to GR when they needed " bridge aliens " for the first ST film . He didn ' t feel that " Thorwor " was a good alien to use in the movie because that character has a very strong personality not suitable for background parts . In discussion with GR , Paula conceived " Worene , " a female relative to " Thorwor " who would be a lot less weird and slightly more human - looking . Paula worked on " Worene " for some time before she was ready to show the result to the studio . By the time Paramount casting wanted some " bridge aliens , " Paula was ready to show off " Worene " and made some tests . Gene and Paramount loved the tests , but director Robert Wise felt the makeup was too good and would detract from the principal actors . That is a puzzle , since Mr . Wise evidently did not feel that large , purple , globby - headed or aliens would be distracting , but " Worene " would be . For one thing , " Worene " was short , while the other aliens were almost always tall males , which is a tad more noticeable . We all felt that the main actors could handle having aliens on the bridge , that their acting abilities would have prevented any extra attention being paid to the non - humans , but Mr . Wise ' s decision was final . " Worene " could appear , with the rest of us , on the rec deck and nowhere else . " Worene " was put into a Starfleet uniform and given a small " cameo " walk - on in the scene . Even that got badly cut , and much of Paula ' s hoped - for Big Moment ended up on the cutting room floor . She was philosophical about this , commenting " Even though I got cut badly , it was an honor to be chosen by Gene Roddenberry to appear in ST : TMP . He also made sure I got screen credit . It wasn ' t my biggest break , but how many actresses get the chance to do their own creation in a large film ? " ( " On the Good Ship Enterprise " , pp . 274 - 275 ) The part that Crist was originally supposed to have as a bridge alien went to the Rhaandarite ensign played by Billy Van Zandt . On the day of filming , actress Crist told fellow background actor Dennis Fischer that her species was " Czintii " ( which he assumed was not intended to be related to the Kzinti ) . He thought she resembled a female Tellarite . Apocrypha . In Christopher L . Bennett ' s novel " Ex Machina " , Crewman Worene plays a small role . She is said to be a member of the Aulacri species , a feral humanoid species with tails . " Forgotten History " has her getting in a fight started by Betelgeusian crewman , only to give her the mistaken impression that he was flirting with her .