Spoilers Problem: Klingon Technology
- Thread starter Photon
- Start date
For all we know, Klingons gave Romulans the secret of cloaking. Or Romulans stole it from the Klingons.
It's not as if it should matter, though - everybody in the Star Trek universe learns to cloak sooner or later, and most players have already done so hundreds, thousands or millions of years before either the Klingons or the Romulans. Invisibility shouldn't be completely new to our heroes as a concept. But it certainly is allowed to be a novel experience to any specific set of heroes, in the sense of "Wow, I have never seen invisible ships before!".
Timo Saloniemi
It's not as if it should matter, though - everybody in the Star Trek universe learns to cloak sooner or later, and most players have already done so hundreds, thousands or millions of years before either the Klingons or the Romulans. Invisibility shouldn't be completely new to our heroes as a concept. But it certainly is allowed to be a novel experience to any specific set of heroes, in the sense of "Wow, I have never seen invisible ships before!".
Timo Saloniemi
This wasn't high level cloak like tos romulans. They had a large distortion field including a visual distortion that Shenzsou picked up in the first half. Communications and sensors were jammed. It's usefulness will be less in the future as Starfleet gives such fields a Vulcan Hello and Keplan goodbye.
The classic "problem" with cloaking continuity isn't tied to the quality of the cloak. The Romulan one in "Balance of Terror" was piss-poor: Spock could follow the Romulans whenever they made a maneuver. Nevertheless, our heroes there were extremely impressed by the fact that the Romulans were invisible to the eye.
This should not be. Seasoned space travelers in Trek should be used to the enemy popping out of nowhere, and/which-is-to-say to the enemy decloaking from under a shroud of invisibility. And the spinoffs (and even other TOS episodes) get this right, with invisibility never being all that astounding as a concept, even if individual feats (such as cloaking a whole planet or a single person) may still impress. But as said, individual heroes can still be very impressed at their first personal exposure to cloaking. And it seems we just have to read Kirk and Spock as reacting this way in "Balance of Terror".
...Heck, they more or less warded off a cloaked Klingon attack in "Errand of Mercy" already. The Klingons there managed to enter weapons range even though our heroes supposedly were extremely alert against that very threat. If the Klingon ship did not approach under cloak, our heroes look incompetent. But if he did, this shouldn't warrant special mention in the episode, as Klingons would be expected to do the very thing.
Timo Saloniemi
This should not be. Seasoned space travelers in Trek should be used to the enemy popping out of nowhere, and/which-is-to-say to the enemy decloaking from under a shroud of invisibility. And the spinoffs (and even other TOS episodes) get this right, with invisibility never being all that astounding as a concept, even if individual feats (such as cloaking a whole planet or a single person) may still impress. But as said, individual heroes can still be very impressed at their first personal exposure to cloaking. And it seems we just have to read Kirk and Spock as reacting this way in "Balance of Terror".
...Heck, they more or less warded off a cloaked Klingon attack in "Errand of Mercy" already. The Klingons there managed to enter weapons range even though our heroes supposedly were extremely alert against that very threat. If the Klingon ship did not approach under cloak, our heroes look incompetent. But if he did, this shouldn't warrant special mention in the episode, as Klingons would be expected to do the very thing.
Timo Saloniemi
The idea that Klingons got the cloak from Romulans comes from the Star Trek III script. Early versions had Kruge steal a Romulan Bird of Prey. Later versions excluded this, and just had Klingons with birds-of-prey that cloaked without explanation. Later Treks retconned the Bird of Prey design into the past of the Trek universe too (Enterprise) and others had Klingon ships cloaking pre-STIII too (ST'09, decades of novels and comics)
The movie itself appears to tell a very different story from the one intended in the early script: Kirk recognizes the Klingon Kloak for what it is by sight, identifying a telltale imperfection and associating it with a specific Klingon ship type. The possibility of the cloak being Romulan or otherwise non-Klingon never arises.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Yeah, this was a moment where I groaned. But ENT had already made the same mistake before, so I didn't take it that hard. But realistically, there shouldn't exist such a technology before "Balance of Terror". And even then, only for the Romulans. The Klingons didn't have any cloaking technology until after the Klingon-Romulan alliance during TOS.
A clear canon inconsistency. But not the first in Trek. Not even the first time for this topic specifically. How serious anyone takes that is a personal decision. I don't like it. But I can easily live with it.
A clear canon inconsistency. But not the first in Trek. Not even the first time for this topic specifically. How serious anyone takes that is a personal decision. I don't like it. But I can easily live with it.
A Romulan-Klingon alliance in TOS times was intended, but never explicitly stated. I believe "The Making of Star Trek" said something about it, but I could be remembering wrong.
The only thing close to a hint that we got in the series itself was in "The Enterprise Incident," when Spock said, "Intelligence reports Romulans now using Klingon design."
Kor
The only thing close to a hint that we got in the series itself was in "The Enterprise Incident," when Spock said, "Intelligence reports Romulans now using Klingon design."
Kor
This. There was a line that said that T'Kuvma brought that tech to the Klingons.
To the contrary, realistically "Balance of Terror" should not exist. Kirk is a seasoned explorer of space - it's inconceivable he wouldn't already be thoroughly familiar with the fact that most spacefarers know how to become invisible, and that most of them knew this before Kirk's species was born.
There may be common Trek technologies that Kirk is unaware of at a conceptual level, because they are too alien or futuristic to be recognized. But the concept of invisibility is easy to grasp.
The only in-universe reference to such is in TNG, where Riker worries about the possibility of a "new Klingon alliance with Romulans". Doesn't mean there ever was an "old" one, though - the whole idea could simply be new, that is, recent, and certainly the choice of an unprecedented partner for the alliance could warrant the "new" bit.
And ENT has them using Tellarite, Andorian, Vulcan and Terran design, too. Those devious bastards, appropriating the designs of their enemies!
Timo Saloniemi
I always figured they were talking about the general looks of the ships, not necessarily anything specific about all of the tech -- such as cloaking tech.
As a side note, I find it ironic that the very first time in TOS that we ever see that classic D7 "Klingon ship" look was in the episode where it was a Romulan ship...
...Although, "Elaan of Troyious" had a D7 with Klingons, an episode that as made before "The Enterprise" incident, but didn't air until after the "Enterprise Incident" (and is after it in the official episode order). But still, in the order of the TOS episodes, we see Romulans using the D7 design before we ever see Klingons using it.
Last edited:
Cloaking technology was invented by wizards on Earth, stolen by Vulcan observers who visited Hogwarts, then stolen by Romulan infiltrators, then given to Klingons in exchange for a great recipe for gagh, and then used by the OverTheTop Klingons for a cool reveal shot.
Klingon-Romulan Alliance:
The Klingons gave Romulans their superior D7 Battlecruisers.
The Romulans gave Klingons their superior cloaking system.
The Klingons gave Romulans their superior D7 Battlecruisers.
The Romulans gave Klingons their superior cloaking system.
Similar threads
