"What....does...the...yellow...dilithium...crystal...mean?"
Cristopher Lloyd ruined the Klingons!
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"What....does...the...yellow...dilithium...crystal...mean?"
Well, for the VOY stuff there was an interview with Michael Piller who pretty much said that studio interference made them drop the crew tensions, and an article in the Star Trek Magazine about the "Year of Hell" story in VOY says that Braga had wanted it to be a season-long story with lasting consequences but UPN said no since they thought it would've been too confusing to casual viewers, which was also why there wasn't any other lasting damage to the ship.
As for ENT, that comes from an interview with Berman in TV Guide a little bit before ENT debuted on TV.
Watched the movie on Friday night, and well to be honest I enjoyed it as I always did. He fit the time and tone of the movie and the truth is, after a scene chewing contest between Shatner and Montalban you needed someone as OTT as Lloyd to be the protagonist.
I guess he could have set the pattern for future Klingons, but the truth is that that's due to the direction from the writers rather than how he played the character. Afterall there's lots of room for a a hardline idealist striking off on his own for glory regardless of fictional species
I guess he could have set the pattern for future Klingons, but the truth is that that's due to the direction from the writers rather than how he played the character. Afterall there's lots of room for a a hardline idealist striking off on his own for glory regardless of fictional species
While I think that Lloyd did a great job in TSFS, I think the Klingons were already ruined by then. The decision to change their appearanse for TMP was, IMHO, a dreadful idea. By changing their appearance and language and behavior they had already discarded a lot of what made them interesting in TOS, and we were all stuck for DECADES waiting for an explanation for all these changes that, when realized, was painfully unsatisfying. (People bitch that ENT did not adhere to canon, but the switch in the Klingons in TMP is perhaps the greatest violation of canon in all of Star Trek).
In addition, the TOS Klingons were far more free to show some subtlety, as well as different facets of their personality and culture (look at TOS' version of Kang and Kor for great examples).
All of the modern-era Klingons were straightjacketed into the same old "honor-duty-honor-duty" claptrap that got tedious in a hurry.
So, while Lloyd did a good job with Kruge, the die was already cast by then. A good thing had already been ruined.
In addition, the TOS Klingons were far more free to show some subtlety, as well as different facets of their personality and culture (look at TOS' version of Kang and Kor for great examples).
All of the modern-era Klingons were straightjacketed into the same old "honor-duty-honor-duty" claptrap that got tedious in a hurry.
So, while Lloyd did a good job with Kruge, the die was already cast by then. A good thing had already been ruined.
I would say that Worf ruined the Klingons.
The TNG writers/production did their best to make him as growling, simplistic, animalistic, and sub-human as they could.
The TNG writers/production did their best to make him as growling, simplistic, animalistic, and sub-human as they could.
They changed their language, appearance, and behavior. What was left of the original Klingons after those things were altered? None of the modern Klingons even remotely resemble the TOS Klingons in thought or deed. In TOS, Kang seems like someone who could command a starship-a thoughful, mature military man. Similarly, TOS-Kor comes off like a wise, almost philosophical senior officer. Modern Klingons were almost universally portrayed as buffoons obsessed with honor blah blah blah. The old Klingons were MORE fearsome because they seemed more ordered and thoughtful. The modern Klingons just seemed like a bunch of clowns. Hard to believe they could hold an empire together.
Personally I'm glad they changed the makeup, although I do agree it's annoying that the ridges have never been consistent. A lot of the problems are due to the writers, who wrote the race into a one-note corner. Worf is certainly reflective of some of that, but I felt he was better used on TNG.
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The problem with Worf was he was not even a typical Klingon. Regardless of what standard you use to define that. He was raised by Humans. So he seemed to overcompensate. Needing to act more "stereotypical Klingon" than any usual Klingon.
Also the writers used him to contrast with his Human crew members. As a result any Human-like characteristics he had tended to be attributed to his Human upbringing. Not to any similarities that Klingons and Humans may share.
Then when other normal Klingons were introduced they were expected to out do Worf. He was overtly grim and serious, so they had to be overtly boisterous. So any subtly was way out the window!
Also the writers used him to contrast with his Human crew members. As a result any Human-like characteristics he had tended to be attributed to his Human upbringing. Not to any similarities that Klingons and Humans may share.
Then when other normal Klingons were introduced they were expected to out do Worf. He was overtly grim and serious, so they had to be overtly boisterous. So any subtly was way out the window!
You just opened my eyes! The Cardassians are the TOS Klingons! I never thought about that.
They are what the TOS Klingons were. Again, what was so poorly written about Kor and Kang? Or Mara and even Koloth, for that matter? TOS didn't have the luxury of sitting around a space station and having the same few Klingons show up time again to show off facets of their culture. Instead, TOS did it economically in two episodes while trusting the audience to be smart enough to get the gist. That DS9 eventually ended up re-introducing the Klingons and calling them Cardassians* only shows how woefully mis-guided TNG was in trying to reinvent the wheel with Worf.
*I know TNG introduced them but DS9 developed them into Klingons Redux.
Actually, I think it was TNG that developed them before DS9 did, back in "Chain of Command". But they were portrayed rather 3-Dimensionally even in their first appearance in "The Wounded".
It's funny how similar the TOS Klingons are to the Cardassians. Neither of them were even meant to be series villains: Coon just made the Klingons to be one-shot Nazi/Sovietesque villains and the Cardies were never meant to have been in TNG more than their first episode.
It's funny: I'm not crazy about TNG but I count "The Wounded" and "Chain of Command" among the finest hours of Trek--the latter would have been so much better had Riker not been written as such a petulent twit but that's a whole nother thread. (It's also funny that TNG was at its best when it was at its darkest: BOBW, The Defector, Yesterday's Enterprise--again, another thread.)
For all TUC's many faults, Christopher Plummer's Chang could have been a Cardassian which simply means he could have been human. The best Trek aliens--Spock, Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander, Kang and Kor, Dukat and Garak--always came off as essentially human in spite of their cosmetic aliennesss. Worf didn't begin to do that until he moved over to DS9. Had Worf been written like that from the beginning, the Klingon's might have had a chance.
For all TUC's many faults, Christopher Plummer's Chang could have been a Cardassian which simply means he could have been human. The best Trek aliens--Spock, Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander, Kang and Kor, Dukat and Garak--always came off as essentially human in spite of their cosmetic aliennesss. Worf didn't begin to do that until he moved over to DS9. Had Worf been written like that from the beginning, the Klingon's might have had a chance.
Mark me down as one of the Kruge haters. Before then, all the Klingons had all taken Shakespearean diction lessons and understood the value of a good mean pose or two. "It would have been GLORIOUS!" That kind of thing.
Then along comes Reverend Jim the Klingon. "Kirrrrrrrk! Give me Genessssssssissssssss!" The Klingon with a dog. The Klingon who's stupid enough to give the command to activate the transporter right in front of James T. Kirk.
I really cheered when Kirk booted his butt into the lava. "I ... have had ENOUGH ... of YOU!" Me, too!
Then along comes Reverend Jim the Klingon. "Kirrrrrrrk! Give me Genessssssssissssssss!" The Klingon with a dog. The Klingon who's stupid enough to give the command to activate the transporter right in front of James T. Kirk.
I really cheered when Kirk booted his butt into the lava. "I ... have had ENOUGH ... of YOU!" Me, too!
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