Arcturian The Arcturians were a humanoid species . By the mid - 2270s , Arcturians were serving in Starfleet . ( ) Since they had an appreciation for Shakespeare , a popular version of " Macbeth " was re - envisioned by the Arcturians . Sponsored by the Galactic Cultural Exchange Project , this rendition was notably performed by the Karidian Company of Players , a touring theatrical troupe headed by Anton Karidian , in 2266 . ( ) An Arcturian Starfleet officer was speaking with two Rhaandarites at Starfleet Headquarters air tram station in San Francisco on stardate 7410 . 2 . The three were on a lower platform ( in the background ) when James T . Kirk and Sonak parted ways at the top of a flight of stairs . Shortly thereafter , an Arcturian crew member from the attended a mass briefing on the starship ' s recreation deck . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The Arcturians were designed by Fred Phillips and Robert Fletcher for " The Motion Picture " . With the approval of Gene Roddenberry , the Arcturians , as well as numerous other new species in the film , were named by Fletcher and provided a backstory by him . The following is a brief description , in Fletcher ' s own words : " " ARCTURIANS – A militaristic race of great armies . All are identical – they clone each other , can only tell apart by color of uniforms . Provide infantry for Federation . Planet is enormous and population enormous , subject to any amount of expansion ; 100 billion population , army of 20 billion ready overnight . Costume – contains leather and linen . Boots are separate . ( Bob wanted woven metal tubes for metal rope decorations ; found in obsolete plumbing equipment in an old hardware store ; silver - plated it for bandolier [ jewelry ] and for decoration on shoulders and elbows , denoting rank and regiment . ) Briefcase made of plastic , belt buckle of cast metal and resin . " " ( " " , p . 130 ) Also , their homeworld was referenced as Arcturus . ( " " , p . 131 ) In an interview with Robert Fletcher – published as part one of " The " Star Trek " Costumes " , in the edition of " Fantastic Films " – the Arcturians were described thus ; " " A massive militaristic society , the Arcturians are the race which provides the infantry for the Federation . Their home planet is enormous and likewise their population – over 100 billion strong at last count . Therefore , producing an army of 20 billion overnight is a snap for them . There is , however , one problem . Since all Arcturians are produced by cloning they all look alike . They have overcome this problem easily by using a color coded designation for regiment and rank . But woe to the poor Federation general who suffers from color blindness . " " In an interview appearing in the edition of " Fantastic Films " , part two of " The " Star Trek " Costumes " , Fletcher revealed more information about the Arcturians and the design of their costumes , explaining : " " Only one society was militaristic in our sense of the word . That was the Arcturians , the cloned people who all looked alike . The only way to tell them apart was the coloring of their uniforms . For them we created costumes of leather and linen and originally I wanted woven metal tubes for metal rope decorations . Bob found this material in an obsolete plumbing / hardware store . It was to be silver - plated into a and also used for decorations on the shoulders and elbows denoting rank and regiment . It didn ' t quite work out so you ' ll see very little of it in the film , toned down quite a bit . Also , we even created a small briefcase made of plastic , something like the pilots carry today . " " A documentary , " " , confirmed the militaristic intent for the Arcturians , where it was specifically mentioned that they provided the " infantry for the Federation . " That notion was reaffirmed decades later , in an article appearing in the edition of , entitled " Who is that Alien ? " , which stated : " " A race of clones from the densely populated Arcturas [ sic ] . Fred Phillips and Robert Fletcher speculated that they provided the backbone of the Federation infantry – not least because , if needed , they could clone billions of new soldiers overnight . " " The costume for the Arcturian who is visible on the " Enterprise " s rec deck in " The Motion Picture " was prepared for filming by assistant makeup artist Mike La Valley . ( " " , interior color photographs ) In , Mego released a 3¾ - inch Arcturian action figure as part of its second series . There was also a 12 - inch version . Arcturians also occasionally appeared in the .