Why Can't Klingon Blood Be Purple Again?

One detail I loved about Star Trek VI is that Klingon blood was a light purple color. I liked it because it made them seem a bit more alien and otherwordly than before (as opposed to simply a recycled humanoid species just like us). I don't pretend to understand the chemistry of Klingon purple blood (as opposed to Vulcan and Earth-crustacean green blood from copper oxidation) but I thought it gave them a fun, extra alien touch.

Yet in the newer incarnations of Trek, Klingon blood is as dark red as ours. What gives? Why would anyone involved in Trek want to reduce the alien novelties of their aliens?

 

i couldn't find any proof in screen caps, but according to trekcore's canon connections for "point of light", the blood in that episode is both red and pink.

 

It was done as a one-off to keep TUC in the PG rating.

 

The simple answer is for ratings.

The more complex solution is likely the level of genetic engineering done to counter the augment virus.

 

I know, because the space-suited assassins' trip to Gorkon's room was pretty blood-splattered. But regardless of the reason it should have been kept for the alien novelty. Also, I see nothing wrong with a Star Trek movie being rated PG-13. The demonstrably best Trek movie, First Contact, was rated PG-13 because it did have some brutally violent scenes and more Borg-related blood & guts than you'd expect. But that didn't harm the movie in any way I know of.

 

But even with Klingon genetic engineering, it's still a possibility that Klingons were always naturally designed to have lavender-colored blood.

 

Depends on the person.

Absolutely it is possible. I would be curious to revisit TOS and see if there was any Klingon blood in there. One aspect would be that Augment virus impacted their blood in some way.

 

That was still at a point in time when PG was considered a "safe" rating to have wide appeal and rake in the dough.

Kor

 

The world was a different place in 1991 than it was in 1996.

 

Probably either because the creators on the Berman team didn't think of it, or just because it was easier to do standard red blood.

Isn't that an urban myth? It seems pretty obvious to me that the pink/purple blood in STVI was decided at the script stage as a clue for the climax at Khitomer.

@Harvey, have you ever looked into this one?

 

Would it obviously be blood on camera?

 

Actually, the Klingon assassin really being Colonel West in disguise was an addition to the VHS version of the movie. In the theatrical cut, there was no "that's not Klingon blood" and the assassin was indeed Klingon.

 

I have a faint memory that Meyer denied this in his memoir, but faint memories of memoirs aren’t the most reliable of sources. If I revisit the Meyer papers in Iowa, I’ll have to look for this. Your skepticism seems warranted, though.

 

True, but the extended climax wasn’t shot specifically for the home video release. It was just cut from the theatrical version in post-production and then reinstated on video.

 

Because Nicholas Meyer is not in charge.

 

Yeah, you don't shoot scenes knowing that they're going to be deleted scenes. If they shot it, I'm sure that they had every expectation that it would be in the movie.

I have a copy of The View From The Bridge. I'll see if I can find anything on the blood/rating question.

 

Why can't Klingon blood be purple? I don't know, why can't it? We live in an age when it's possible to change the look of anything in Star Trek if it benefits the story and creative vision. Uniforms, ship designs, even the way some species look. TOS Tellarites had 4 digits per hand, ENT Tellerites had 5. Klingons went from smooth forehead to ridged, to long hair, to no hair and senor like organs behind their ears to back to having hair.

Sounds like Klingon blood can be any color the story dictates.