TOS Klingons seem like the Soviet Union before they became generic space barbarians later. Romulans seem simultaneously warlike and isolationist like a Feudal Japan or a more powerful version of North Korea.
General Trek Questions and Observations
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
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True. But if something like socialism could be written into a fictional society and work, it could at least have a chance to be used as a template for a real one.
Both were thinly disguised versions of the West's Cold War adversaries: USSR (Klingons) and China (Romulans). China being the more mysterious foe. Of course "The Enterprise Incident" was inspired by the Pueblo Incident with North Korea.
With their warrior culture and obsession with honor, the Klingons seem more like feudal Japan.
Not in the Sixties.
Some fans have used Communist China under Mao Zedong as the analogy for the Romulan Star Empire.
And duty.
I know TOS Klingons are said to represent the USSR, but I can't see anything remotely 'socialist' about them.
(True, you can have a discussion about how socialist the USSR actually was.)
More the widely perceived and outright territorial aggression and expansionism of the Soviet bloc in the 1960s. Hypermilitarized society that just moves in, takes resources and plants their own imperial flag on foreign soil.
In TOS there isn't. Same with the Romulans. The only comparison is that it's clear both are cold war enemies or antagonists. The reasons behind the conflict are not clear with the exception the Klingons are expansionist and the Romulans are old enemies from a war fought 100 years earlier.
There is no indication what Romulan and Klingon ideologies are. We know little about their government setup or political system. We know the Romulans have a Praetor in TOS but the senate was first mentioned in TNG. The Klingon Chancellor was introduced in TUC.
A Klingon Chancellor was first introduced in TNG season 3, K'mpec. ST VI used the position and had Gorkon in late 1991... "Sins of The Father" aired in March 1990.
We also know they have an Imperial Empire. Still doesn't sound very socialist to me.
To be fair, just because something is named a certain way doesn't mean it actually IS that way. Like the official name of North Korea... Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It definitely is not democratic.
^ Drat. Another illusion shattered.
Come to think of it, adopting the Imperial Empire epithet seems a bit like overcompensating, doesn't it ?
Come to think of it, adopting the Imperial Empire epithet seems a bit like overcompensating, doesn't it ?
Thanks
The Democratic Democracy of....
The United Union....
People's Democratic Republic (oh wait, that's the official name of Laos)
Socialism is not in any way about making people slaves…?
Only for historical reasons (though they did acknowledge Clone!Kahless as an honorary emperor), the leader of the Klingon "Empire" is the "Chancellor of the High Council" which is at least somewhat similar to the "General Secretary of the Central Committee".
^ Much like some monarchies, where the role of the king is mostly ceremonial and actual power is held by a democratically elected government.
They don't actually us the phrase Imperial Empire anywhere, do they?
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