What happened to Star Trek?
What happened to all the 'human' aliens?
- Thread starter The Laughing Vulcan
- Start date
Currently has two shows. A couple in the works. And as always rumors of a movie.
And (ahem) various upcoming books and comics.
Because he did not go to Ash Tyler's Klingon surgeon
S'AhBonZ
Maybe McCoy's tricorder was able to identify Darvin as a Klingon because the Starfleet medical database had been updated with the information gained from Tyler's medical scans.
I want to say that Darvin was a surprisingly weak Klingon, given that he caved immediately after Kirk shoved a tribble in his face just once. But Victor Lundin's Klingon lieutenant in "Errand of Mercy" caved just as easily to Kirk's threats. It seems 2260s Klingons were made of flimsier stuff.
Victot Lundin's lieutenant liked being able to breathe.
Blame the Archer virus
Actually, yeah — I’d think the human-looking Klingons are physically weaker and without redundant organs (the virus having had pretty much the opposite effect on Klingon DNA from what had been intended), which specifically makes it easier for them to go undercover as humans, with a lot less surgery, and no Mo’Kai-style frankensteining.
My issue isn't their physical weakness, though. Both Kor's lieutenant and Darvin cave under interrogation/threat in about two seconds. Shouldn't Klingons, regardless of physical strength, take pride in their courage and honor and refuse to submit to the enemy?
Of course, when TOS was made, or at least prior to "The Day of the Dove," the idea of Klingons being honorable warriors didn't exist yet -- rather, they were depicted as treacherous schemers and spies. The Making of Star Trek said Klingons glorified deceit and held honor in contempt, and it was Romulans who were the honorable ones. That started to change when the script of The Search for Spock was rewritten to change the Romulan villains to Klingons, without changing anything else, so suddenly Klingons had cloaking Birds-of-Prey and talked about honor. And TNG ran with the "honorable warrior" trope as a way of redeeming the Klingons now that they were on our side.
Although IDW Comics' Klingons: Blood Will Tell miniseries posited that "Darvin" was a fully ridged Klingon who underwent extensive, painful surgery to disguise him as human. I always found that an odd decision, though it presaged what Discovery would do a decade later.
While there’s no textual basis for it, I’ve sort-of headcanoned (yes, head-continuitied) that the difference between the two Klingon attitudes — honor/foreheads/modern vs treacherous/virus-affected/TOS — is cultural. Because of their affliction, I posit that the virus-Klingons are almost universally disdained and segregated by unaffected Klingons during the century between ENT and TOS (even within the military, which is why we never see them together in the same crew or story). As a result, the virus-Klingons develop a defiant-within-bounds subculture that leers back in the dominant “honor-bound” culture’s face, throwing a lot of that away and instead actually valuing deceit-to-a-purpose — both because it works, and as an outgrowth of how any virus-Klingon has do a lot of underhanded struggling just to get anywhere within the larger Klingon society that despises them.
This results in a lot of virus-Klingon bullies — some of whom, like bullies everywhere, turn into cowards when it doesn’t work. More “noble” virus-Klingons like Kang, or even grandly ruthless ones like Kor, are rare; most are more like that guy in “Friday’s Child” (Kras?).
(Then a few more years down the line, a genetic cure is finally developed, so Kor, Kang, Koloth and the rest get their foreheads and double organs back. Most of them work pretty hard to reintegrate into the dominant culture again, now that they can, or at least can now “pass” in it; and the more open treachery tactics fall by the wayside. Unless you’re, say, in the House of Duras.)
Pure spitballing on my part, of course.
(EDIT: Oh crap, tell me that doesn’t count as a story idea. It’s not a story, just a rationalization!)
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There have already been published stories that have rationalized why TOS-style ridgeless Klingons acted less honorable and more treacherous than TNG-era ridged Klingons, going back to Dayton Ward's debut novel In the Name of Honor in 2002. I touched on it myself in Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: Live by the Code.
I have to admit that I always wondered why the House of Kor was represented by Kol and Kol-Sha in Discovery seasons 1 and 2 rather than Kor himself. Perhaps it was simply a matter of optics. They didn't want someone who carried the virus to represent the house.
This topic has me wondering about something and I don't know whether it merits its own thread but:
Given all the more or less human-looking aliens in Trek, what aliens could be on a Starfleet ship and pass as humans? It's been noted before but such crews could help explain or ameliorate the overabundance of humans on say TOS Enterprise or Voyager. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking the Argelians, Ardanans, Lanthenites, Illyrians, and Betazoids *if you don't look too close. Others?
Given all the more or less human-looking aliens in Trek, what aliens could be on a Starfleet ship and pass as humans? It's been noted before but such crews could help explain or ameliorate the overabundance of humans on say TOS Enterprise or Voyager. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking the Argelians, Ardanans, Lanthenites, Illyrians, and Betazoids *if you don't look too close. Others?
Risians
Kwejian (Booker's species from DSC) were they around in the 23rd/24th Centuries?
Rigelians (of the Kaylar variety seen in SNW "Among the Lotus Eaters")
Capellans (TOS "Friday's Child") in the novels, there's a Capellan admiral who left Capella to join Starfleet
Ramatisian (Riva's species from TNG's "Loud as a Whisper") non-aligned but some may have joined.
Elasians (TOS "Elaan of Troyius") could they have joined the UPF by the 24th Century?
There are very few of them left and might not want to endanger themselves in Starfleet, but yeah maybe. I would have also thought that they wouldn't want to given how old they can typically be but if there's a Lanthanite in the fleet maybe an El-Aurian might find it interesting too.
Its the baby in TOS Friday's child whose mother leaves for Earth as a refugee, (their lives were still in danger) where her child is raised, Admiral Leonard James Akar.
That's a tough question. Was it an alien world or human colony? Are they aliens that look like humans or are they humans?
For example, the people on Ardana in TOS "Cloud Minders."
Yangs and Kohms
People from Miri's planet?
Native Americans from Paradise Syndrome?
Non-host Trills?
The adult Leonard James Akar would be a giant of a man; clearly standing out (no pun intended) among regular humans.
Trek Earth is a diverse planet, no one would bat an eye at a seven foot tall humanoid lolThe adult Leonard James Akar would be a giant of a man; clearly standing out (no pun intended) among regular humans.
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