Did Commander Kruge have Permission?

[cgervasi]

Kruge's lines of "Yes, exhilarating, isn't it" and "Perfect, then that's the way it shall be" seemed kind of like mocking/humorous quips.

I had just turned nine years old when I saw the movie in 1984. I didn't know the word exhilarating. I always thought he was saying "accelerating," as in the planet is aging at an accelerated rate. I've seen the movie enough times on VHS and DVD to remember the lines, yet until I saw this post and looked it up, I really thought he said accelerating.

 

[cgervasi]

Did the Klingon government have any knowlage about what Kruge was doing, destroying the USS Grissom and killing Federation citizens? I mean his actions could have started a war.

I think hawkish elements in the Klingon government called for a preemptive attack against the Federation in response to their developing a WMD. Cooler heads prevailed, and the government began talks about monitoring the use of this technology and sharing its benefits without risking proliferation or an arms race. Kruge disagreed and took matters into his own hands for several reasons.

• It goes against Klingon tradition to talk peace.
• If enough people perceived Kruge had saved Qo'noS, he would escape punishment, just as Kirk and his friends were pardoned for their crimes because they saved Earth.
• If Kruge seized the weapon, it could lead to him taking control of the entire Klingon Empire.

It was a risky move on his part but reasonable. That makes him a good villain. We know why he's doing it. We know he's wrong, but he's not completely insane. And it gives Kirk, who is also rogue in this film, a chance to have an enemy who has roughly the same number of loyal followers as Kirk does. It's Kirk and a few guys against Kruge and a few guys, both acting without backing of their militaries and gov'ts.

 

[bolak]

That's an interesting perspective. And makes it more of a pity that Kirk and Kruge didn't have to work together to escape rather than a typical Hollywood baddy-gets-nasty-death scene.

"Genesis is gone, Kruge. There's nothing here except a dying planet. It's just you and me now. No-one knows we're here, no-one is coming to save us."

Would Kruge have conceded that it made no sense to fight in a burning house?

 

[DonIago]

Well...except Maltz was waiting to beam them up...

 

[bolak]

Yet he locked onto a human and a Vulcan for *mumble mumble* hand-wave reasons. Not even a question of ’Err, where are you Kruge?’

From a story perspective that was always a 'what?' moment for me.

Reverse the scenario with Kruge calling up to the Enterprise 'Scotty, me up now beam!'.

It would have been a braver and more Star Trek script if Kruge had used that Klingon strength to help save Spock from falling into a ravine and then called for beam-out. But instead we got a Star Wars scene of Kirk kicking someone to their death. Yayy?

 

[DonIago]

Kirk did offer to try to save Kruge's life, and Kruge responded by trying to drag Kirk into the pit with him...

 

[johnnybear]

Kruge was good at wrestling with mutated worms and feeding his dog though!
JB

 

[FormerLurker]

Yet he locked onto a human and a Vulcan for *mumble mumble* hand-wave reasons. Not even a question of ’Err, where are you Kruge?’

Klingon sensors aren't as sensitive as Federation sensors. All Maltz knew was that he had a signal to lock onto, and two lifeforms to beam up. That's probably what Kruge told him to wait for, so when he got this garbled comm message in stilted Klingon, he had no way of knowing if it sounded off because of the gravitational flux interfering with electronic signals, or if something else was going on; thus, he did as ordered and beamed up the two at the signal coordinates.

Kruge was good at wrestling with mutated worms and feeding his dog though!
JB

Kruge had his pilot feed the dog!

 

[Timo]

Reverse the scenario with Kruge calling up to the Enterprise 'Scotty, me up now beam!'.

It sort of goes with the flow. I mean, transporter operators are always doing this sort of stuff. "Kirk to Enterprise: three to beam up!" never incites conversations on subjects like "Uh, which three out of that crowd would you happen to mean, exactly, Sir?" or "What happened to the other two landing party members, Sir?". Quick reflexes are called for in most scenarios; thinking is optional.

It would have been a braver and more Star Trek script if Kruge had used that Klingon strength to help save Spock from falling into a ravine and then called for beam-out. But instead we got a Star Wars scene of Kirk kicking someone to their death. Yayy?

Klingons have been well served in that respect IMHO. Some yield gracefully to Kirk's besting them (Kor, Koloth); others die cowardly or grisly deaths for their villainy (Kras); some choose to cooperate and come off all the more victorious for that (Kang). Kruge just happens to be the despicable sort of villain deserving of the middle fate.

I'm more concerned with the henchmen. Kirk spares Maltz' life, but callously guns down the goon guarding the encampent, with the rarely used "kick across the set" setting. What happened to waging war on stun ("Errand of Mercy")?

Then again, wasn't it that very goon who killed Kirk's son? Not that dad would know.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DonIago]

The "kick across the set" setting (I kinda like that one) could have been a fancy version of stun. Obviously the phasers were impacted by the Genesis shenanigans.

Though, stun or otherwise, if you didn't get off the planet you were toast anyhow. Of course, even if Kirk stunned the guard, he may have fallen into a ravine or what-not by the time another round of beam-ups occurred.

 

[Timo]

Kirk does cause quite a few deaths here, through action or inaction. But not exceptionally many, and not with unusual cruelty. That's simply what he does for a living.

I wonder what did happen after Kirk and Spock got beamed away. We see the planet turn into lava, even spitting out lumps of the substance to orbital heights. Moments before, there was a sunrise at the same spot of horizon where there had been a sunset earlier on. So the place was undergoing quite dynamic events...

...But was it lost altogether? Or did it just turn into a different iteration of the Genesis Planet? Or into the classic sperm whale and two potted flowers of optional species?

Further visits to the place, by authorized and unauthorized folks, might be expected. Although probably not successful reproductions of the resurrection trick.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[USS Triumphant]

I mean...intentions aside, Genesis essentially was a WMD if one chose to use it in that manner.

And without getting *too* awfully spoilery and off-topic by talking about Discovery, we now know that the Klingons had a pretty good reason to think it *would* be used that way, too.

 

[Kor]

Yet he locked onto a human and a Vulcan for *mumble mumble* hand-wave reasons. Not even a question of ’Err, where are you Kruge?’

From a story perspective that was always a 'what?' moment for me.

Reverse the scenario with Kruge calling up to the Enterprise 'Scotty, me up now beam!'.

It would have been a braver and more Star Trek script if Kruge had used that Klingon strength to help save Spock from falling into a ravine and then called for beam-out. But instead we got a Star Wars scene of Kirk kicking someone to their death. Yayy?

He homed in on the communicator signal instead of scanning for specific tiny little life signs.

Kor

 

[Lance]

My belief, based mostly on what we saw on screen, is that Klingon ships and crews in general operate much more autonomously than the Starfleet. Not to say there isn't a military or command structure, but that the commanders and crew operate much like mini-kingdoms. Promotion comes through challenging your superiors. Captains on Klingon ships seem to make their own choices and, as long as it brings wealth glory and power to the empire, *how* they do it seems to be up to them.

 

[FormerLurker]

He homed in on the communicator signal instead of scanning for specific tiny little life signs.

Kor

Didn't I say that, albeit more wordily?

 

[Vger23]

It sort of goes with the flow. I mean, transporter operators are always doing this sort of stuff. "Kirk to Enterprise: three to beam up!" never incites conversations on subjects like "Uh, which three out of that crowd would you happen to mean, exactly, Sir?" or "What happened to the other two landing party members, Sir?". Quick reflexes are called for in most scenarios; thinking is optional.



Klingons have been well served in that respect IMHO. Some yield gracefully to Kirk's besting them (Kor, Koloth); others die cowardly or grisly deaths for their villainy (Kras); some choose to cooperate and come off all the more victorious for that (Kang). Kruge just happens to be the despicable sort of villain deserving of the middle fate.

I'm more concerned with the henchmen. Kirk spares Maltz' life, but callously guns down the goon guarding the encampent, with the rarely used "kick across the set" setting. What happened to waging war on stun ("Errand of Mercy")?

Then again, wasn't it that very goon who killed Kirk's son? Not that dad would know.

Timo Saloniemi

I was always under the impression that Kirk's phaser was set to maximum stun.

 

[cgervasi]

I mean, transporter operators are always doing this sort of stuff. "Kirk to Enterprise: three to beam up!" never incites conversations on subjects like "Uh, which three out of that crowd would you happen to mean, exactly, Sir?" or "What happened to the other two landing party members, Sir?". Quick reflexes are called for in most scenarios; thinking is optional.

Whom Gods Destroy is a rare exception.

 

[bolak]

In general I concede that the transporter locks-on according to plot. It just annoys me.

Maybe what Kirk repeated was "beam up alien prisoners!" though in that case it would have been nice to have had Kruge's communicator drop to the ground.

 

[somebuddyX]

I think Kruge is like Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading. he's just a loose unit with delusions of his own self importance who lucked into a situation due to valkris getting him some info about a potential doomsday weapon. he's constantly blundering into situations. his crew blows up Grissom by accident. he gets his ass handed to him by a ship run by 5 people, when he's in an invisible spaceship. then he falls into a volcano. even if he hadn't been beat up by an old man in a toupee General Chang had already prepared a response.

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[FormerLurker]

Maybe what Kirk repeated was "beam up alien prisoners!" though in that case it would have been nice to have had Kruge's communicator drop to the ground.

According to the movie tie-in Klingon Dictionary, the phrase "jol ichu" which Kirk repeated (badly) means "activate beam". It's tie-in merchandise, so it's not canon, but most fans accept it to mean that, mainly because all the Klingon we've heard since appears in all the later editions of the Klingon Dictionary.