Season 2 Klingons

[Carl West]

...they were crap.

Although the forehead ridges were years away, at least the S1 and S3 Klingons had the dark brown face make-up.

The Klingons from S2 are, quite simply, dudes with goatees. I'm doing a "marathon" of TOS now (and several episodes I don't think I've ever actually seen over the years). When I got to "Friday's Child," I simply laughed out loud at the sight of "the Klingon." Seriously, did they think the only thing needed to make an alien is a funny beard? I guess my brother is a Klingon, because he sports a goatee too...

That main trouble-maker Klingon in "Tribbles" is, again, just a chap with a goatee. I watched "Day of the Dove" over the weekend and, thank God, we're back to the dark make-up and exotic eyebrows of "Errand of Mercy."

And then 10 years later...

 

[Harvey]

Neither version was particularly impressive to me. There's a reason the Klingons became a continuing adversary instead of the Romulans or some other alien race: their make-up was cheap. Personally, I prefer the season two look. At least the actors weren't in black face. The 1979 movie, of course, improved upon their make-up immeasurably.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Either version is ok. I prefer the brown skinned Klingons, but you can always justify the white Klingons as just fair skinned people. Say they were from the colder areas of the planet like where our white people originate from. Or that the Augment virus made some of them whiter via the DNA featuring racial characteristics from Humans.

And the Klingons weren't in black face. Actually, if you want an origin, it was from the Mongols. John Colicos was responsible for the Klingon's look, as he said Kor should resemble a futuristic Genghis Khan. Hence, brown, bushy, and beareded.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's terrible, simply terrible when you can't tell the villains by the way they look or the color of their skin.

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

lmao, I have thought this for the longest time. Guess they got a little lazy during season 2.

White klingons, though, *shudder*

 

[awiltz2]

Well you've got to consider the budget.

Shatner (in an interview) joked that the entire budget of Star Trek was less than the catering budget for many shows of the time (although I'm sure he's exaggerating a LITTLE )

Nimoy argued (in the same interview) that given the insanely small budget, it almost shouldn't have been attempted, I believe eventually stating that they chose to do the show on the basis that it couldn't be done (thankfully they proved everybody, including themselves, wrong).

If facial prosthetics were to be standard for all Klingon, they'd have to be professionally reapplied every single morning of the shoot (unless all Klingon shots were done on one day, which is certainly possible).

That being said, when it came to the point (which I'm sure it often did) of "Okay, we have to cut something out, ..." I feel makeup is the best start. Cutting out props, actors, audio, wardrobe or anything else seems illogical compared to makeup.

Of course this is all conjecture. *scuttles away*

 

[Harvey]

Star Trek had a comparable budget to other shows of the period. The problem was, of course, that Mission: Impossible could rent whatever it needed, but, unless it was a "Planet of the Hats" episode, Star Trek had to make stuff from scratch -- or cleverly re-use something from a previous episode.

 

[Kelso]

(and several episodes I don't think I've ever actually seen over the years).

Lucky bastard.

 

[Forbin]

I think they were going for the Mongol Horde look with Kor, actually.

 

[BillJ]

It's terrible, simply terrible when you can't tell the villains by the way they look or the color of their skin.

This was my thought as well.

 

[Carl West]

It's terrible, simply terrible when you can't tell the villains by the way they look or the color of their skin.

This was my thought as well.

Okay, if we can cut through the shadowy sarcasm for a moment – are some of you suggesting I’m showing a preconception that villains should have dark skin???

I first latched on to Star Trek in the 80s with the films. Klingons to me were exotic-looking aliens with the dark, Mongol skin (and obviously the ridges by that point). I loved the brown make-up – it just added to the exotic alien quality. It was entirely irrelevant to me whether or not they were “villains,” and I eagerly accepted Worf as a hero / good guy later on.

Since that was my first impression of the Klingons, it’s just been a little absurd looking at the older episodes and seeing them as, like I said, blokes with goatees. Obviously, the Mongol color make-up wasn’t outside of the budget, so it’s disappointing they didn’t use that in S2.

Honestly, I’m someone who completely avoids discussions about race, because some people always inevitably get self-righteous and smug in those discussions. Also, I’m fairly new to the BBS – I don’t know, maybe this is not the right site for me.

 

[Forbin]

It's the internet. I've found over the years that someone will choose to be offended by ANYTHING you may say.

One of my very first posts, on the Sci Fi Channel bboard in the 90s, compliained that Fox cancelled Alien Nation and replaced it with an insulting sitcom about fat women sharing an apartment ("Babes"). The first response was from an overweight girl who called me a bigot and babbled on about how hard her life was and how horrible I was.

 

[Ssosmcin]

It's terrible, simply terrible when you can't tell the villains by the way they look or the color of their skin.

This was my thought as well.

Oh please, let's not look for racial slurs where there aren't any. Racism is alive and well and easy to find in the real world, there's no reason to concoct it here.

The Klingons' look was established as having swarthy make up, goatees and exotic eyebrows. Friday's Child had a balding guy with facial hair stuck in a costume with no other attempt at changing his complexion via makeup. "He looks like my Uncle Bob" to quote an old fan comic. When Day of the Dove was done, they went back to the original make up. Nobody was trying to say "dark skinned people are evil." He was simply looking for consistency in the make up.

And honestly, I can't imagine the budget was so low, they couldn't afford greasepaint that week. They just didn't use it for whatever reason.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

...they were crap.

Although the forehead ridges were years away, at least the S1 and S3 Klingons had the dark brown face make-up.

The Klingons from S2 are, quite simply, dudes with goatees. I'm doing a "marathon" of TOS now (and several episodes I don't think I've ever actually seen over the years). When I got to "Friday's Child," I simply laughed out loud at the sight of "the Klingon." Seriously, did they think the only thing needed to make an alien is a funny beard? I guess my brother is a Klingon, because he sports a goatee too...

Some of them didn't even have goatees. They were just dudes. Check out the extras in the bar scene.

I think they were going for the Mongol Horde look with Kor, actually.

That fits in with Blish's odd passing remark (in the Errand of Mercy adaptation) that the Klingons were "originally from Oriental stock."

 

[Jonas Grumby]

^ IIRC, Klingons being somewhat "oriental" in appearance was also noted in the Star Trek Writer's Guide, which was probably one of the resources from which Blish worked.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

^ IIRC, Klingons being somewhat "oriental" in appearance was also noted in the Star Trek Writer's Guide, which was probably one of the resources from which Blish worked.

Ah. Thanks, Skipper. I guess they were supposed to stand for the Maoist Chinese on some level.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Oy. Here we go.
Think Horatio Hornblower. The different planets visited by Star Trek were supposed to represent singular cultures - foreign lands, really, not foreign planets. At most you'd get two peoples opposed to each other, like the eloi and the morlocks, or the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I can't imagine the budget was so low, they couldn't afford greasepaint that week. They just didn't use it for whatever reason.

Fred Phillips and John Colicos came up with the Klingon look together, in the days leading up to filming: the mustache pieces, the bifurcated eyebrows, the complexion. The greasepaint was a mix of several colours, including green.

Colicos was supposed to return as Kor in "The Trouble With Tribbles". They renamed and recast, and Koloth was born. Fred Phillips admitted years later, he'd simply forgotten what colours they'd used before and, in the haste of preparing actors for the TV grind, the makeup was conceived anew. With one Klingon attempting to pass as human, there didn't seem to be a need to do a big change in skin tones, especially when several actors and stunt people needed to be prepped each day.

Colicos was again supposed to return for "Day of the Dove". They renamed and recast, and Kang was born. Michael Ansara had a reputation for portraying native Americans, so Phillips went for a more reddish tone than green/brown.

Had Colicos made the intended returns as Kor, the makeup design may have remained more consistent. As it is, the Klingon skin tones represent as much variety as we see in humans on Earth.

 

[Harvey]

Interestingly enough, Don Ingalls' first story outline of "A Private Little War" featured Kor, too. Bob Justman criticized this in a memo to Gene Coon dated May 26, 1967, and it was dropped.

Here we are in the outer reaches of our galaxy and who should Captain Kirk run into, but good old Kor – an adversary that he has encountered before and with whom he has been unable to get very far. Just think of it – billions of stars and millions of Class M-type planets and who should he run into, but a fella he has had trouble with before. No wonder Kor doesn’t recognize him at first. The coincidence is so astounding, that he must feel certain that it couldn’t possibly have happened.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Had Colicos made the intended returns as Kor, the makeup design may have remained more consistent. As it is, the Klingon skin tones represent as much variety as we see in humans on Earth.

I guess this complaint is sort of a Planet of Hats phenomenon...