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The Trouble With Tribbles

In my opinion, the first part of that story (Affliction) was very good, the best episode in season 4, but they completely screwed it up in the second part (Divergence). Talk about a waste of Section 31.
 
When Dick Sargent replaced Dick York in the role of Darrin on Bewitched, no explanation was given for the change in Darrin's appearance. None was necessary. It was a sitcom about a guy who's married to a WITCH, for chrissakes.
Actually, the Bewitched folks handled it in a way in which a lot of people didn't even notice the change. In York's last season, health problems kept him from filming a large number of episodes. Before the new season started, they had the network rerun every episode in which York did not appear. So when the new season started with the new Darin, viewers hadn't even seen Darin in months.

I don't think an explanation for the change in the Klingons' appearance was necessary either. It would have been sufficient for Worf to say, “It's a long story -- we don't talk about it,” and to leave the reason for the change up to the viewer's imagination.
Yes, that was really the best way to handle it. I didn't watch ENT, don't know the story behind the look of the Klingons, and, frankly, don't care.
 
In DS9 "trials and tribble ations" bashir, dax and the others are stunned to see ridgeless klingons.
Okay, how in the name of hell does DAX of all people not know about ridgeless Klingons, thre of her closest Klingon friends, in the 23rd century, had no ridges.

I think the way it should have been handled is like this, at the begining of the episode Worf looks the way Worf always does. After they travel back in time Worf would look just like all 23rd century ridgeless Klingons, no one from the DS9 crew would find this the least bit unusual. At the end of the episode, in the 24th century, Worf would once again look like he has since the first episode of TNG.

No surgery, no augment, no (Final Reflection) fusion, no explanation of any kind. Worf would just turn to his chair with a smooth forehead.

292pxmichaeldorn.jpg



:)
 
In DS9 "trials and tribble ations" bashir, dax and the others are stunned to see ridgeless klingons.
Okay, how in the name of hell does DAX of all people not know about ridgeless Klingons, thre of her closest Klingon friends, in the 23rd century, had no ridges.

If I recall the episode right Dax wasn't present in that scene, just Odo, Bashir, and O'Brien.
 
In DS9 "trials and tribble ations" bashir, dax and the others are stunned to see ridgeless klingons.
Okay, how in the name of hell does DAX of all people not know about ridgeless Klingons, thre of her closest Klingon friends, in the 23rd century, had no ridges.

If I recall the episode right Dax wasn't present in that scene, just Odo, Bashir, and O'Brien.

Dax was with Sisko. Odo, Bashir, O'Brien and Worf were in that scene. Everyone went in pairs but those four ended up in the cafeteria well Dax and Sisko were checking other areas.
 
Even Odo, Bashir, and O'Brien not recognizing them is silly. Don't they have documentaries or Wikipedia in the 24th Century?

I haven't visited the 19th Century, but I'm 99.7% certain that Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria did not have forehead ridges. (I can't say with much certainty that Madame Curie did not possess them, but that's a different matter entirely.)

Did Klingon spies doctor every image of smooth-headed Klingons in Starfleet's logs? Did Klingon diplomats routinely wear prosthetic foreheads when visiting Federation worlds?
 
Of course, we could argue beyond the ENT rationalization and say that the smoothheaded Klingons were a very small minority even during TOS.

How many would remember a century later that WWI featured lots and lots of black soldiers from the main combatants' African colonies? Their presence has repeatedly come as a surprise to educated people watching documentaries with me. The flathead Klingon situation might be even more extreme: the flatheads might have been a minority comparable to, say, the Gurkhas. Kirk seemed to know Koloth from before "Trouble with Tribbles", so Koloth's flat, high forehead would not surprise him - but it might surprise Commodore Stone or Captain Ramart a lot!

Timo Saloniemi
 
i wouldn't care about it too much. it's the klingon empire. should span a great many different people who embrace klingon values, without necessarily looking like turtles.
 
I think the way it should have been handled is like this, at the begining of the episode Worf looks the way Worf always does. After they travel back in time Worf would look just like all 23rd century ridgeless Klingons, no one from the DS9 crew would find this the least bit unusual. At the end of the episode, in the 24th century, Worf would once again look like he has since the first episode of TNG.

No surgery, no augment, no (Final Reflection) fusion, no explanation of any kind. Worf would just turn to his chair with a smooth forehead.
:)

I like that idea.
 
Eh, the trick with Michael Dorn looking different might have been interesting, but the difference in makeup between TOS and TMP is so great that I can't see not ever doing anything with it. The theories established in fanon in the 80's regarding the different races in the Empire always seemed like a great start to me, and I didn't mind seeing ENT try their hand at an explanation, but I'll always feel like there could be more. Like maybe a combination of the two theories, with the illness in ENT bringing up recessive genes that the ridged Klingon's are ashamed of for some reason.

I sometimes get bothered by people's comments on forums like this when they say things like "they should have left it well enough alone". To me, it was a storytelling opportunity that could have greatly enriched the franchise's mythology, and the greater sin in these cases is only doing it half-assed.
 
Due South was a series that handled a change of actor best.
Well, he was supposed to be a different character undercover as the original character. But, yeah, it made for a funny season three premiere episode where Frasier can't understand why no one seems to notice the change.
 
I think the way it should have been handled is like this, at the begining of the episode Worf looks the way Worf always does. After they travel back in time Worf would look just like all 23rd century ridgeless Klingons, no one from the DS9 crew would find this the least bit unusual. At the end of the episode, in the 24th century, Worf would once again look like he has since the first episode of TNG.

No surgery, no augment, no (Final Reflection) fusion, no explanation of any kind. Worf would just turn to his chair with a smooth forehead.
Just one word can describe for what that would be like: stupid. No, actually two words: incredibly stupid. :eek:

Absurd, ridiculous, idiotic, nonsense also work.
 
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