Did I get this right? I am not sure if it was voyager or enteprise, but I think it was enterprise. They are now saying that the klingons stole the DNA that Data's dad was working on (which was extracted from Khan/others like khan) and then these goofy klingons injected themselves and...then...they had turtle heads that could come and go (meaning Kor TOS and kor DS9)? And, for all we know, it may have indeed come from Khan making all bumpy headed klingons somehow related to Mister Roark himself??? or was I on acid what I saw that... Rob
Yes, Klingon's stole genetically engineered Super Human DNA in a failed attempt to create Super Klingons which caused most of them to have smooth foreheads for a few generations, this was Enterprise's attempt to explain why Klingons had smooth foreheads in the TOS era but not in the first three season's of Enterprise or the TNG era series.
Not quite. It caused the Klingons that specifically were infected with the virus that altered their DNA that way to have smooth foreheads. The rest of the Klingons - probably most of the Empire - were normal. Maybe the regular Klingons didn't want to serve on ships with the smooth-heads, due to distaste or fear of infection. And since the infected worlds were on the side of the Empire that faced the Federation, it makes some sense that the ships we saw that were based in that region might have been predominantly smooth-heads for a while. Remember, though, that we didn't see anywhere close to all of Kang, Koloth, or Kor's crews - there may have been at least some of the other Klingons aboard. The three captains I just mentioned lived long enough to see a treatment to undo the virus developed, you'll note - even they were back to looking "Imperial Klingon" by the time of the DS9 episode they were all in.
It actually hangs together quite well. As explanations go it wasn't too bad and utilized the most popular fan theories.
I admit that I haven't read any of their "Shatnerverse" novels, but normally I wouldn't say that Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens are on acid.
I just tell people to "Shut the hell up" whenever they ask me about the Klingon thing. The above answers are good, but I like mine more.
LOLing over "shut the hell up". I liked what they had said in.....gah! Which incarnation? I think it was Worf who said, "That is something we do not discuss with outsiders". Or something to that effect. Its a mystery!
The thing I like about this explanation is that they took what (I consider to be) was a minor inconsistancy in the Trek U and turned it into an entertaining story with a moral about the potential dangers of messing with genetic ingineering, which is something we need to be increasingly mindful of these days.
Yeah..that is a good point. Agree totally. Scares me to think about where we will be as a society as genetic engineering/cloning really take off. Rob
And the cure for the virus came from Archer himself, so adding that to his encounter with Klaang (in "Broken Bow"), and the crimes that put Archer on Rura Penthe ("Judgment"), it all fits with Picard mentioning that history noted that first contact with the Klingons was "disastrous". And something Worf doesn't care to discuss in "Trials and Tribble-ations".
I'm of two minds on the smooth forehead explanation. On the one hand, props to the writers for creating a somewhat convoluted but interesting explanation and compelling story. On the other hand, I sometimes prefer Worf's line from Trials & Tribbleations, that Klingons don't speak of it. Nice tongue-in-cheek explanation! I just hope we never have a Romulan forehead story! -- RR
The line itself is "We do not discuss it with outsiders." And it was obvious from Worf's expression that it was embarrassing.
That would be a good answer for people who actually ask in real life. To make it worse you could say that and then stare at them coldly for several minutes.
The Augment DNA could not have come from Khan --- he was soundly asleep on the Botany Bay during Archer's era.
I've always assumed Romulan foreheads is just a racial thing. Some have ridges, some don't. After all, in Unification, no one in the streets of Romulus found Spock's lack of ridges to be unusual.