Did Klingon culture become too stereotyped by the end of DS9?

[USS Einstein]

King Daniel wrote:

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It probably would have helped if they LOOKED different. Every single one in TNG and DS9 had the same hair, same costume. They were generic identikit Klingons. There was none of the variation we saw in the movies, no bald (Chang) or balding (Maltz) Klingons. No short haired (TMP) Klingons. No smooth-headed (Azetbur) Klingons.

The exact same was true of the Romulans (bowl cuts and ridiculous shoulder pads for ALL) and Cardassians (combat armour always! One fugly slicked-back hairstyle for the entire species)

Reports indicate the unmasked Into Darkness Klingons...

Have foreheads basically like the TNG Klingons, but at least one has piercings along their ridges. Individuality!

It's not spoilery that the new Klingons might have ridges (or rather probably do), some pictures have been widely circulated on just about every Star Trek news site, since the last movie, of makeup being done in a way that suggests they will be ridged, and the comics (supervised by the film writers) have shown them with ridges

Makeup for Trek XI:



Finished product (no need to complete ridges, because of mask? ...or ridge-less Klingon?):



It may be that some Klingons have smooth foreheads under those masks in Star Trek XI.

The masks, I originally thought, were unique to Rura Penthe (sort of like hangman's masks, or executioner's masks from the Middle Ages - indicating Rura Penthe's purpose), but the new Klingons in the trailer for Star Trek XII, seem to have them on too.

Comparison shot of Nero in Trek XI with Klingons, and Trek XII trailer:



More from the Trek XII trailer, with Benedict Cumberbatch fighting Klingons:



The original JJTrek comics which were made under supervision from Orci and Kurtzman, featured Klingons without helmets, and they including an appearance by Kor - but the new 'Countdown to Darkness' comics, show the masks:

Kor on the viewscreen of the Narada, as the Klingons capture Nero:



Klingons board the Narada, complete with updated TOS uniforms:



New Countdown to Darkness comic, prequel to Star Trek Into Darkness:



What do people here think of JJ Abrams giving them masks as standard, even on their (rumor) own homeworld?

I'm okay with it, and some people have suggested nuTrek is showing a species that is coming to terms with the Augment virus - wearing the masks to disguise who is suffering and who isn't. I'm not sure about that part of the concept, but I don't mind their new stormtrooper/medieval executioner look.

[starburst]

I think the masks, even if they are on the Klingon homeworld, are fine as long as they are meant to be some form of riot shield helmet used in combat. As long as there arent women and children shown wearing them it will make sense.

The TOS and TOS movie Klingons, while sharing the same look as those shown in TNG, acted very differently as they were more calm and collected where as the TNG/DS9 Klingons seemed more of a "shoot first, think later and if you die at least its in battle" type. The Enterprise Klingons did act a little better but like the rest of the show suffered from continuing with a TNG/DS9/Voy mindset with the writers.

Its a shame the JJ Klingons were cut from the last movie, hopefully there will be some good material from them in the upcoming release other than a large fight scene!

[King Daniel]

USS Einstein wrote:

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It may be that some Klingons have smooth foreheads under those masks in Star Trek XI.

I'm pretty sure the writers are on record from years ago that the idea of the masks originated with them being unsure of how to deal with Klingon forehead continuity.

According to the behind the scenes report, in Into Darkness we see only four unmasked Klingons. So nothing will be explicitly contradicted from Enterprise or TOS, or even old novels that postulated alternative reasons for different-looking Klingons.

The original JJTrek comics which were made under supervision from Orci and Kurtzman, featured Klingons without helmets, and they including an appearance by Kor - but the new 'Countdown to Darkness' comics, show the masks:

I remember the bumpy Klingons from the Nero comic - I really liked their updated TOS uniforms.

But, the comics have some pretty noticable continuity issues with not only the greater Trek universe (IDK for sure, but some have said here that Kor's age is incompatible with him commanding the fleet that captures Nero) but with the first of Abrams' Trek films (in the comics, the Narada has a cloak, transwarp, automatic defences that would have ended Kirk and Spock's infiltration in minutes, the tattoo backstory is contradicted by Nero's wife having tattoos in the movie, the timing of events surrounding the supernova is different etc), so how the Klingons look in them, especially in the earlier issues and miniseries' that predate Into Darkness, isn't quite proof of how they would have appeared unmasked in future films. If that makes sense.

Ditto deleted scenes - they could have gone in a totally different direction from what was cut from the last movie. But clearly they didn't.

What do people here think of JJ Abrams giving them masks as standard, even on their (rumor) own homeworld?

I'm okay with it, and some people have suggested nuTrek is showing a species that is coming to terms with the Augment virus - wearing the masks to disguise who is suffering and who isn't. I'm not sure about that part of the concept, but I don't mind their new stormtrooper/medieval executioner look.

I really like the new look Klingons. I'm hoping (as somebody suggested years ago) that the helmet/trenchcoat look may have been chosen partly because they'd be easy to CG them in huge fight sequences involving whole armies of Klingons!

So long as the masks are part of a military uniform, and it's not like Romulus in "Unification" - where even the woman serving Picard and Data soup had a bowl cut and ridiculous shoulder pads!

[TheRoyalFamily]

99% of the Klingons we see are either warriors or nobles (which are supposed to be the warriorest of warriors), so the sample is a little off. When I see farmers going "I farm with HONOR! Look at me HARVEST this bulb with my BATLETH. HONORABLY! For KAHLESS!" then we might have a point.

[bullethead]

TheRoyalFamily wrote:

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99% of the Klingons we see are either warriors or nobles (which are supposed to be the warriorest of warriors), so the sample is a little off. When I see farmers going "I farm with HONOR! Look at me HARVEST this bulb with my BATLETH. HONORABLY! For KAHLESS!" then we might have a point.

You'll love the last novel of Keith R.A. DeCandidio's IKS Gorkon/Klingon Empire series, where there's a subplot with Klingon farmers and they give no fucks about honor.

[Nerys Ghemor]

King Daniel wrote:

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The exact same was true of the Romulans (bowl cuts and ridiculous shoulder pads for ALL) and Cardassians (combat armour always! One fugly slicked-back hairstyle for the entire species)

At least in the case of Cardassian males it COULD be explained by the extreme conformity forced upon them by the Obsidian Order. And we only saw armor on military officials.

But I think the Cardassians, overall, were treated much better than the Klingons.

Oddly enough, from what I've found, the Klingon Academy game seems to do a heck of a lot better with the Klingons than the later show did! Even the first words out of Chang's mouth here set the contrast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0SI5IyK_w

And this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3bqMZRN_C0

The contrast between Chang's demeanor and those of the "stereotypical" Klingons, and of his mindset and theirs, is shocking to say the least. You could actually believe Chang as a Thought Admiral--someone intelligent enough to actually strategize in the long term and help keep the Empire together. As it is now, you can't really believe that.

[USS Einstein]

Yes, Klingon Academy was a fantastic game, with realistic Undiscovered Country Klingons.

[USS Firefly]

Yes, Klingon Academy was a fantastic game, with realistic Undiscovered Country Klingons.

I agree, in my opinion its one of the best star trek games.
To bad I can't play it on XP

[plynch]

Vulcans are pretty stereotyped: snooty and "logic, logic, logic." There are some who are nuanced, of course, just as there are some nuanced Klingons in Berman-era Trek.

But man, that Klingon HONOR schtick just gets old! I HATE them. The vast majority are just ignorant goons. Like the Vikings on those credit card commercials. Yes, other races are stereotyped. But I like them. I like the Cardassians (the most nuanced alien race, as many others have noted before me), I like the Vulcans, I like . . . name it. But those damned, moronic Klingons we see so often: can't stand 'em.

[hux]

USS Einstein wrote:

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Did Klingon culture become too stereotyped by the end of DS9?

Excellent opening post!

I totally agree.....they were never massively three dimensional in TOS but at least there was some room for possibilites beyond what we saw........In DS9, we're spoon fed Klingon culture (though this process had started before DS9) and given explanations for each area of their existence which became tiresome and left very little open to interpretation - They ended up being slightly ridiculous and lacking any complexities but i kinda understand why that happened as it just makes storry telling easier - how many times have star ships arrived on a planet where there is only one language, one culture, one type of that particular species....like i said, i get why they do it but if they're gonna focus on a particular race (Klingons in the case of DS9) then they need to put a little more effort into it and provide a new angle on that race and show us a deeper complexity of character

although i think they only resorted to stereotype with the main star trek races (Vulcan, Romulan, Klingon, Ferenghi, Bajoran, Cardassian) i think it's just easier to write an episode if the character you're writing is....logical.....politically deceitful....a warrior....a capitalist.....spiritual......oppresive) there's actually often more complexity given to species that are not that regular on the shows (presumably because, as you say....they haven't had their culture completely defined yet)

and why no camp homosexual Klingons?

[Lance]

hux wrote:

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and why no camp homosexual Klingons?

We had Koloth in "The Trouble With Tribbles". The campest Klingon commander this side of Qo'noS.

[USS Einstein]

I basically like where Klingons are being taken by the new movie, having seen it - the next movie has been suggested to be a Klingony film - here is hoping for young Kang, Kor, Koloth and Chang ;-)

[Shaka Zulu]

USS Einstein wrote:

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Exactly - and it's also more natural, because raging barbarians don't make good physicists, physicians, biochemists, etc - and don't run empires that require antimatter powered starships

Nor are they able to fix their own planet when it becomes damaged to the explosion of its natural satellite, as happened in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. At least the Klingons in that movie weren't so one-note (Chang being one example)

[R. Star]

Yeah, as much as I love TNG/DS9 over all they really didn't do the Klingons any service in character development. Their society did become a parody of itself.



The TOS Klingons were more interesting. Especially the Klingons in Star Trek 6. Gorkon especially always struck me as an appealing character. Sure this guy probably was a soldier at one time, but isn't now. Sure he could even maim a guy with that cane at need be, but that doesn't mean it's the "rawr me kill you, now me the leader" caveman society presented once Gowron took over. This guy held his power due to prestige and respect, not because of his status as a great warrior.