Spoilers The Klingon Empire in Star Trek: Discovery
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Yeah I must say, that explanation doesn't seem convincing, but it may just have been misread, as production designers have a tendency to talk out of context.
It's a bit late so I don't want to look for the original original article, but the way I remember it, there might be some ambiguity of meaning - like maybe the Klingons don't have to be bald, but the show-runners have chosen it using reasoning that in the past the snake-like heat sensors wouldn't have been obscured - so maybe it's more of a suggestive cultural practice now, suggesting they are being more spartan, like back when it was actually important to their distant biological ancestors - maybe they can grow hair still, it's just out of fashion right now.
Here is some background on Klingon design, because it's pertinent to this thread:
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What do we know about the new Klingons, in light of recent interviews? Seems they are tying in concepts from several different eras - again this article on Memory Alpha is well worth a read - I'll re-post some highlights for those who missed it:
Gene Coon primarily modeled the Klingons, metaphorically, on contemporary Russians, making the standoff between the species and the Federation representative of that between the Russians and the Americans during the then-ongoing Cold War. This view of the Klingons had their sociology theoretically aimed at "the collective good" rather than "individuality," as pointed out by Kor actor John Colicos. The Klingon Empire was also a metaphor for Communist China and its allies in the Vietnam War, namely North Vietnam and North Korea. David A. McIntee explained, "There is some suggestion that the Klingons represent a Cold Warrior's view of China in the 1960s – swarthy, brutally repressive." Dave Rossi agreed, "In many ways, the Klingons were born out of our fear, as Americans, of [...] the Communists." According to D.C. Fontana, there were a range of other real-world sources that additionally gave rise to Coon's creation of the Klingons. "What did he want to accomplish? I think he just wanted a good, tough villain... for Kirk," Fontana speculated. "And I think he was basing a lot of it on the kind of attitude of the Japanese in World War II, the Nazis in World War II, because Gene was a World War II veteran marine and he really took all this to heart. And as a result, he modeled them on the worst villains he knew." McIntee concurred, "The Klingons with their conquests and military structure echo the Axis forces of World War Two as much as the Communist powers in Vietnam." Chekov actor Walter Koenig specified, "They [the Klingons] were evil and nationalistic. But Star Trek did not address the baser things in man. There was no imperialism or colonialism. We addressed this obliquely, hoping that someone would pick up our message out there."
The introduction of the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy" caused the casting of that episode to become a longer and more involved process than normal. This was because the production staff had little idea what a Klingon should look like. "I had never heard of a Klingon before," related Makeup Designer Fred Phillips. "And nothing in the script that I read told me what it was." Because John Colicos had likewise never previously heard of Klingons, he was also initially uncertain how they should be. "My first thought was 'What the hell is a Klingon? What does a Klingon look like? Well, they'll know what it's all about.'" Colicos assumed the Star Trek makeup department, in particular, would know precisely how a Klingon should look. "When I arrived at Paramount," the actor continued, "the make-up man said to me, 'What in the hell does a Klingon look like?'" Recalling his own response, Colicos related, "I said, 'You don't know either?'"
John Colicos and the relevant makeup artist sat down and began to devise how the Klingons should look. That makeup worker, Fred Phillips, started the process of designing the species by directly asking Colicos how he wanted to look. Despite thinking of the Klingons as the futuristic Russians they were intended to be, Colicos took inspiration from Genghis Khan, as Kor was likewise an ambitious military commander.
The inspiration for the post-TOS Klingon makeup came from Planet Earth, an unsold 1974 Gene Roddenberry pilot which starred Diana Muldaur and Ted Cassidy. That pilot featured a Klingon-inspired, warlike race of mutant Humans called the Kreeg who had ridges down the center of their foreheads. Robert Fletcher was largely responsible for the addition of the Klingon cranial ridges. "I did sketches for the Klingon, including the knobby forehead and head. The makeup department, very generously, said, 'That's great, we'd like to use it.' Gene Roddenberry was not too enthusiastic. He thought they should look more like just people. I said, 'Yes, but these are real aliens, and they're evil aliens.' I think the people, the audience, wants to see something that is not just folks, that goes beyond just folks." In production notes Fletcher wrote about the movie's various aliens, he specified about the Klingons, "Spine comes up over head and down forehead (different from series). Hair on side of head as though trying to cover spine."
It was Gene Roddenberry's idea that the newly added head ridges were actually an outgrowth of the Klingon spinal cord, proceeding up the back of the neck and over the head. Robert Fletcher was of a similar opinion. While considering the Klingons as "a race of reptiles," he also thought their distinctive spines were from a type of crustaceans. "In my mind, all the bumps on the forehead and so forth are vestigial remains of a people that evolved like crustaceans, like lobsters, who have their skeleton on the outside of their bodies," Fletcher explained. "And over the millions of years, they've lost that complete outside skeleton, but now retain only vestiges of it." Fletcher also believed that the evolutionary roots of the Klingons were symbolized by an ornamental spine piece that runs down the back of some Klingon uniforms, such as those designed for and shown in The Motion Picture.
The inspiration for the post-TOS Klingon makeup came from Planet Earth, an unsold 1974 Gene Roddenberry pilot which starred Diana Muldaur and Ted Cassidy. That pilot featured a Klingon-inspired, warlike race of mutant Humans called the Kreeg who had ridges down the center of their foreheads. Robert Fletcher was largely responsible for the addition of the Klingon cranial ridges. "I did sketches for the Klingon, including the knobby forehead and head. The makeup department, very generously, said, 'That's great, we'd like to use it.' Gene Roddenberry was not too enthusiastic. He thought they should look more like just people. I said, 'Yes, but these are real aliens, and they're evil aliens.' I think the people, the audience, wants to see something that is not just folks, that goes beyond just folks." In production notes Fletcher wrote about the movie's various aliens, he specified about the Klingons, "Spine comes up over head and down forehead (different from series). Hair on side of head as though trying to cover spine."
It was Gene Roddenberry's idea that the newly added head ridges were actually an outgrowth of the Klingon spinal cord, proceeding up the back of the neck and over the head. Robert Fletcher was of a similar opinion. While considering the Klingons as "a race of reptiles," he also thought their distinctive spines were from a type of crustaceans. "In my mind, all the bumps on the forehead and so forth are vestigial remains of a people that evolved like crustaceans, like lobsters, who have their skeleton on the outside of their bodies," Fletcher explained. "And over the millions of years, they've lost that complete outside skeleton, but now retain only vestiges of it." Fletcher also believed that the evolutionary roots of the Klingons were symbolized by an ornamental spine piece that runs down the back of some Klingon uniforms, such as those designed for and shown in The Motion Picture.
During development of the unrealized TV series Star Trek: Phase II, John Meredyth Lucas wrote a two-part episode entitled "Kitumba" which, if filmed, would have established a radically different Klingon culture to the one developed in subsequent series and films. For a start, it would have been revealed only members of the Empire's warrior caste are called Klingons. The other castes are called the technos, who are the scientists and technicians, and the subjects. A relationship similar to the Emperor and Chancellor in later series would also be established, with the ceremonial Kitumba residing on the Sacred Planet that orbits closer to the sun, while the Warlord presides over political and military decisions on Ultar, the story's name for the Klingon homeworld. Lucas explained, "I wanted something that we had never seen before on the series, and that's a penetration deep into enemy space. I then began to think how the Klingons lived [....] The Japanese came to mind, so basically that's what it was. You know, the sacred Emperor, the Warlord and so on."
John Schuck thought the Klingons had begun to undergo a gradual transformation of ultimately becoming a tad friendlier by the time of Star Trek IV's creation. After discussing this subject with Gene Roddenberry, Schuck recalled, "It seemed to me that in the minds of the creators, the Klingons had matured [....] I asked him about it. He said it was time for the Klingons to take on a dimension which showed that the culture had changed. Alliances change. There can be progress."
...the fact that very little had been firmly established about the Klingons, canonically, provided Ron Moore with a lot of creative freedom to invent facets of their culture in the memo, so he wrote his own personal ideas regarding the species into the document. Two historical societies, the Samurai and Vikings, served as other inspirations, Moore perceiving about Klingon culture, "There was the calm, elegant reserve associated with the Samurai but there was the 'party-down' like the Vikings."
Entitled "Klingon History and Culture: A Brief Overview" and running two pages long, Ron Moore's descriptive memo about the Klingons began with a description of the Klingon Empire, outlining that the planets therein enjoyed "many advantages and benefits of their association with the Klingons." The memo went on to say, "The Klingons are not evil, tyrannical pirates bent only on pillage and plunder. They have a strict, almost unyielding code of ethics and honor and take their responsibilities as rulers seriously." Following a description of the Klingon homeworld, the memo continued by saying, "Klingon society could most closely be compared to that of Sparta or feudal Japan." A description of the Klingon Empire's political system followed, involving the High Council and establishing that there was an Emperor. The document continued, "Klingons have a very complex and highly developed code of conduct, involving almost every aspect of their lives. Their sense of honor and integrity is integral to their very being."
The irony of using Sparta to describe a non-evil society amuses me.
I have always thought that even in the novelverse, the Klingon stuff in "The Final Reflection" should be taken with a big grain of salt because it was all from a book-within-a-book based on the speculations made by a human researcher who had apparently never actually spent time among the Klingons himself.
Kor
Kor
Jesus Christ OP that was thorough.
good job
good job
I always thought it was dumb the Federation were close allies with the Klingons in the TNG era, early on it seemed like the Klingons might have been members of the Federation. Why? Cause it seemed a culture that lives for war no doubt has subjugated dozens of worlds, even pre-warp worlds.
I just kind of headcanon'd that it was part of the Khitomer accords and the aid the Federation gave after Praxis blew up. But couldn't the Klingons have many colonies that are the equivalent to Bajor and the Cardies?
I just kind of headcanon'd that it was part of the Khitomer accords and the aid the Federation gave after Praxis blew up. But couldn't the Klingons have many colonies that are the equivalent to Bajor and the Cardies?
Going with Meyer's Star Trek than Roddenberry's, the Klingon Empire would probably be broken up the same way the Soviet Union was broken up. It actually fits in with DS9's take as we see them trying to retake lost territories and rebuild their former empire.
Which I suppose makes Gowron Putin.
I'd prefer the Klingons as the Chinese were they are still controlling many territories with ruthless authoritarianism but we turn a blind eye and they try to not be overtly malignant.
I think it's probably neither a deal with the devil, or a reformed empire, but something in between - enlightened compromise. The Klingon Empire probably still holds conquered colonies in TNG, but perhaps in the interests of galactic peace, the Federation has agreed not to interfere - both sides stepping back from a balance of terror that threatened the quadrant. Perhaps the Klingons in turn have become somewhat more open and fair in dealing with their subjects - try to provide a fair judiciary and route of appeal, such as it is in Klingon law. Sometimes, and maybe a Vulcan diplomat like Sarek would say this too, perhaps the first steps to peace matter more than uncompromising rigidity, and pave the way for more reform in the Klingon Empire. I highly recommend Steven Pinker's history of war and violence "The Better Angels of Our Nature".
It is funny how Russia and China both reflect the two ways this could go.
Russia=Breakup and returned colonies.
China=Retained and gained.
In "A Matter of Honor" in TNG Season 1 the Klingon battle cruiser that comes to take the three renegade Klingons into custody has a bridge displaying both the Klingon and Federation symbols behind the commander's head. The implication at that point in TNG seemed to be that the Federation not only defeated the Klingon Empire at some point after the TOS movie era but had accepted them as members of the UFP or had at least founded some sort of political union with the Empire.
I'm glad they didn't establish that the Klingons were members of the Federation, at least not this early in history. Daniels tells Archer in ENT that the Klingons are one of its member species in the mid-26th century, but that's another two hundred years into the future. This early and close to TOS it was a helluva jump and made no sense.
There was that scene in 'Samaritan Snare,' where Wesley and Picard are in the shuttlecraft together. I forget the conversation, but Wesley says "that must've been before the Klingons joined the Federation?" I guess we can rationalise that away easily enough, though. "Joined us as allies," perhaps.
So, did the showrunners say that Klingons are now a hairless race, or just that the Klingons of this particular time period shave their heads for some kind of sensory advantage?
Cause if they are now a hairless species, how did Kahless make the first bat'leth in this timeline? Visual continuity is one thing, but for a show so apparently concerned with Klingon mythology, they seem to have ignored a fairly significant, explicitly established Klingon legend that specifically involves hair.
Sword of Kahless - Memory Alpha
My impression is that while the Discovery showrunners have paid attention to Enterprise and TOS when considering canon, they really haven't spent as much time considering the 24th century shows. I hope I'm wrong.
While I would like the story to lead to the Klingon government getting overthrown by TOS Klingons, I'm skeptical of that happening.
HOWEVER, I'm willing to let the story unfold completely before judging it.
HOWEVER, I'm willing to let the story unfold completely before judging it.
Can you imagine writing such a bold chain of events where a group of warriors of almost Terrian appearance showing up and overthrowing the 24 houses, and therefore imortalised in Trek canon - all because of some logistical issues with make up back in the 1960s...
My impression is that they have paid a lot of attention to Ronald D Moore's TNG era Klingons, complete with their cultural obsession with Kahless, pseudo-Norse/Samurai culture, but I would like to see them somehow also pay heed to the TOS Klingons practical militarism - they were portrayed as a rational army, organized along principles we could understand - not a band or gang.
I was thinking a little about this. My guess would be cousin or brother maybe.
Isn't that Kol? He wasn't having any of that Kahless stuff and viewed the war merely as a means of personal advancement and an opportunity to position himself and his house advantageously in the postwar period. He's practical to the point of being cynical.
About the only thing he didn't predict was a strong, professional standing army (i.e. the KDF) whose purpose is to defend the entirety of the empire. However, such an organization could well spring up over the course of the war naturally.
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