Nope.Cause there's a difference between minor changes in detail and a major redesign
Guess you wouldn't mind Vulcans having 3 long points on their blue ears, cause in-universe they'd still look Vulcan then
Would you say Picard is prime timeline or part of the Discoverse?
- Thread starter Yes Man the Great
- Start date
Before 2005, I figured how the Klingons looked in TOS was something best shrugged off and/or left off to creative theories on places like here.
Then the ENT two-parter came out. Then this board lit up with mock outrage that went passed the series forum and spilled over into effected areas. ENT combined the two most common theories, that Bashir and O'Brien also wondered about on DS9 about a decade earlier. "What happened? Was it a viral mutation?" "Some sort of genetic engineering?" Then Worf wisely says "We do not discuss it with outsiders." I sided with Worf. It's silly, everyone knows it, let's move on. That's what I thought. Nevertheless, we had the ENT two-parter, and that's what they went with. Thanks Augments.
Fast-forward to today. Well, not quite today. 2017. I see the Klingons on DSC. My thought was: This was one of the Klingons' first attempts to correct the Augment Virus but it went too far in the other direction. It's going to take them a while to get the right balance. That's my theory. And one day, CBS All Access Trek will probably use this or some other common theory. Hopefully they limit it to one line. Kind of like when Burnham said, "I heard the Klingons are growing their hair again." Works for me. Something as simple as "It looks like there are all kinds of Klingons." One line and done. Take the same approach as PIC has done with the Romulans. "Oh! The Klingons from that region! You can tell who they are immediately. Always trying to be more Klingon than Klingon! But they're not! We're Klingon!" And that's it.
Then the ENT two-parter came out. Then this board lit up with mock outrage that went passed the series forum and spilled over into effected areas. ENT combined the two most common theories, that Bashir and O'Brien also wondered about on DS9 about a decade earlier. "What happened? Was it a viral mutation?" "Some sort of genetic engineering?" Then Worf wisely says "We do not discuss it with outsiders." I sided with Worf. It's silly, everyone knows it, let's move on. That's what I thought. Nevertheless, we had the ENT two-parter, and that's what they went with. Thanks Augments.
Fast-forward to today. Well, not quite today. 2017. I see the Klingons on DSC. My thought was: This was one of the Klingons' first attempts to correct the Augment Virus but it went too far in the other direction. It's going to take them a while to get the right balance. That's my theory. And one day, CBS All Access Trek will probably use this or some other common theory. Hopefully they limit it to one line. Kind of like when Burnham said, "I heard the Klingons are growing their hair again." Works for me. Something as simple as "It looks like there are all kinds of Klingons." One line and done. Take the same approach as PIC has done with the Romulans. "Oh! The Klingons from that region! You can tell who they are immediately. Always trying to be more Klingon than Klingon! But they're not! We're Klingon!" And that's it.
Last edited:
I like the Enterprise two parter though in retrospect with all the fan nonsense its caused, i wish they had just left it as an in-joke with DS9.
I agree, and I like the episodes too.
Indeed. There is this need to overcomplicate it and its tiresome. It's the Klingon Empire that likely has multiple races and genetic and physical differences. Study the human race and you'll realize that there is a huge level of variation on this one planet.
On a show called Star Trek back in the sixties.
I’d say that everything is now disco between roughly 2233 and 2258 (minus individual incidents like Pike’s injury c. 2267 or the Talos IV visit c. 2254), continuing in the 2380s and later. Obviously there is a good chance of more DiscoVision in flashbacks or further projects, but otherwise the original remains simply because there was no cause for further overwrite, and then we just have to squint at tears and seams and unexplained reality switching. 
Canon is in the Head Canon of the Beholder. Whatever one wants to be canon IS canon.
Jason
No, that’s personal canon, as opposed to headcanon (speculation consistent with official canon).
IMO the reason why you can't ever really change the Klingon look to much anymore simply comes down to the fact that the look established in the TOS movies and carried into TNG has basically become the definitive look for them. It was hugely popular as you can see at conventions with people dressing up like them. At this point to change them to much would be like making Vulcan ears less pointy. Sometimes changes come along and they become so popular it's hard to ever make another change. Of course you can use different latex and the uniforms and even haircuts, as long as it isn't bald, can change but I think the ridges are pretty much iconic now.
Jason
Jason
Wait, now there's a distinction between "personal canon" and "head canon"?!? Where will it end??? 
can we add Quasi-Interpersonal Canon; Dissident Canon, and "I was High when I posted that" Canon?Wait, now there's a distinction between "personal canon" and "head canon"?!? Where will it end???
Picard takes place after everything else, except DSC S3. Discovery Season 3 takes place after everything else, period (except for possibly "Calypso", but we won't get into that here). PIC and DSC are also building on top of what came before.
So when they're looking on what to build on, they're looking at everything. They're not stopping to think, "Okay... but what about this person's personal canon?" If it worked like that, then Picard as we know it wouldn't exist. "Can we ignore the TNG Movies?" "Can we ignore the 2009 film?" You'd have people asking that. And then we would've ended up with a weaker series.
So there's no such thing as "personal canon". It's a slippery slope. Here's another example of why it doesn't work. One I posted here a little while back. Cutting and pasting...
Random Poster: When did they ever travel back to the 1960s?
Lord Garth: In "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth", through the Slingshot Effect.
Random Poster: The Slingshot Effect is so stupid I don't acknowledge it! They never traveled to the 1960s!
Lord Garth: They did. I cited two episodes where they did.
Random Poster: I don't acknowledge it! I don't like it! It didn't happen. Your evidence is null and void.
Lord Garth: Okay...
Random Poster: I also don't like that they eat food that looks like real food in TNG.
Lord Garth: Why not?
Random Poster: Because in TOS they had colored cubes with celery! That's what they eat in Star Trek! It doesn't feel like Star Trek unless they do!
Lord Garth: So you ignored "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth" but not colored cubes on a tray?
Random Poster: That's right! I like them! They remind me of Starbursts!
Lord Garth: So what about when Picard orders "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot!" in TNG? That's one of the staples of the show.
Random Poster: And does he ever have Starbursts with his tea?
Lord Garth: No...
Random Poster: So I don't acknowledge it! I don't acknowledge tea in Star Trek!
Lord Garth: I'm going to have to drop out of this discussion.
Random Poster: Why? What's wrong? You can't take the heat.
Lord Garth: No, it's not that. But as Spock said in Star Trek IV, "It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference."
Random Poster: Star Trek IV? As far as I'm concerned they only made one Star Trek movie. Back in 1979.
Lord Garth: Someone please shoot me...
So when they're looking on what to build on, they're looking at everything. They're not stopping to think, "Okay... but what about this person's personal canon?" If it worked like that, then Picard as we know it wouldn't exist. "Can we ignore the TNG Movies?" "Can we ignore the 2009 film?" You'd have people asking that. And then we would've ended up with a weaker series.
So there's no such thing as "personal canon". It's a slippery slope. Here's another example of why it doesn't work. One I posted here a little while back. Cutting and pasting...
Random Poster: When did they ever travel back to the 1960s?
Lord Garth: In "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth", through the Slingshot Effect.
Random Poster: The Slingshot Effect is so stupid I don't acknowledge it! They never traveled to the 1960s!
Lord Garth: They did. I cited two episodes where they did.
Random Poster: I don't acknowledge it! I don't like it! It didn't happen. Your evidence is null and void.
Lord Garth: Okay...
Random Poster: I also don't like that they eat food that looks like real food in TNG.
Lord Garth: Why not?
Random Poster: Because in TOS they had colored cubes with celery! That's what they eat in Star Trek! It doesn't feel like Star Trek unless they do!
Lord Garth: So you ignored "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth" but not colored cubes on a tray?
Random Poster: That's right! I like them! They remind me of Starbursts!
Lord Garth: So what about when Picard orders "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot!" in TNG? That's one of the staples of the show.
Random Poster: And does he ever have Starbursts with his tea?
Lord Garth: No...
Random Poster: So I don't acknowledge it! I don't acknowledge tea in Star Trek!
Lord Garth: I'm going to have to drop out of this discussion.
Random Poster: Why? What's wrong? You can't take the heat.
Lord Garth: No, it's not that. But as Spock said in Star Trek IV, "It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference."
Random Poster: Star Trek IV? As far as I'm concerned they only made one Star Trek movie. Back in 1979.
Lord Garth: Someone please shoot me...
It’s not just the physical appearances of the Klingons. It’s the ship designs too, which are out of sync with what has been traditionally shown in Star Trek. Although DSC S2 started to address that.
Which is why, if I’m expected to see DSC as a part of the Prime timeline and not a part of its own universe, I treat as a Klingon Medieval period where they embraced creativity far more as a by-product of the Augment virus.
What are the fundamental differences for you?
I think that's getting needlessly personal.
Which is inline with continuity from Enterprise that the warrior caste was seeing a growing in power, indicating other segments of the Empire also existed.
It is not a far stretch for me to believe that an interstellar power would have variation in ship design, much less in phenotype.
As pointed out, at the time, they were not minor. More than that, Roddenberry basically said, "They've always been like that."
And since in Disco we saw a variety in terms of physical appearance it stands to reason that there are more to Klingons physically than just TOS, TMP, TNG or DSC.
Similar threads
