There's actually no reason to bring in TOS Klingons unless storylines specifically involve Kor, Kang, or Koloth, the only TOS Klingons of note in TOS. And there needs to be a strong story based reason for them, not just fan service I think. If they have to bring in TOS era Klingons, they could go movie era with Chang, Gorkon, Kruge etc. and they have ridges (however slight in Chang's case).
Do you like the Discovery Klingon look?
- Thread starter jackoverfull
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No it doesn't. It establishes that at some point in Klingon history the Augments were the majority in the Klingon military. It doesn't tell us anything about what had happened in the intervening years. If we have 200ish years from Affliction until then. Why would things just remain static when even Archer replies that surgical reconstruction would come more in vogue?
TOS = never see a bumpy Klingon
DSC = never see a smooth Klingon
Were they always just off camera? DSC made a deliberate choice to ignore the smooth Klingons.
Possibly. Or, given the conflict within the Klingon Empire that T'Kumva was trying to unite the Great Houses, perhaps the Augments were excluded in his vision. And with the upheaval with L'rell that may change in ten years. That's the point is that things are not static.
And the same question can be asked of TMP forward. What changed that the bumpy Klingons were again seen by the heroes?
In-universe, I was going to suggest that T'Kuvma's movement of "Remain Klingon" ostracized the Augments. They did accept an albino, but his defects were still Klingon-based, not due to genetic tampering with human DNA.
As of TOS, the deceitful way in which the humans won the Disco Klingon war with a bomb may have relegated Augment Klingons to be the only ones worth wasting dealing with humans, or something like this. We'll have to see if we get any more Klingon info in Strange New Worlds.
In fairness, I do think that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the opportunity to use Kor in an interesting way if they want to. We know from DS9's "Once More Unto the Breach" that Kor came from a powerful aristocratic family that was considered very conservative, and we know from DIS S1 that the House of Kor was not only one of Great Houses on the High Council, but that its then-leader Kol basically seized de facto control of the Empire during the first part of the Federation-Klingon War, leading to continued conflict between the House of Kor and Chancellor L'Rell in S2. Seeing a young Kor inherit leadership of his House and continue to deal with Chancellor L'Rell could be a very interesting story.
But of course, if they do that, they'd inevitably have to deal with the fact that TOS Kor was what the tie-in creators have called a "Quch'Ha," and that Kor's design in particular was based on incredibly racist anti-Asian stereotypes. So they would have to either have to find a plot contrivance to avoid depicting Kor as looking like the Fu Manchu stereotype he was in TOS (example: "He looked like a DIS Klingon until he got exposed to the Augment virus!"), or they'll have to just retcon his appearance as always-bumpy... or they'll have to actually depict him as looking like his TOS version, which would be an outright racist thing to do (especially in the wake of the wave of anti-Asian violence that has taken hold in North America post-COVID).
So while I can think of interesting stories to do with Kor on SNW, I'm not convinced it would be worth opening up the can of worms that using a famous TOS Klingon character would entail.
I know IDW comic books aren't canon, but the fact that whoever rubberstamps licensed material over at CBS basically let IDW do the story you just described very recently ( https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Discovery_-_Aftermath ), basically young Kor, complete with TOS look, taking charge in his house and dealing with L'Rell, indicates to me that they had no plans to go into Kor at the time. Yes tv shows contradict licensed stuff, but in recent times there's been some attempt at vague continuity coordination.
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As a Chinese American myself, I'm totally fine with this.
I mean, yes and no? For instance, the licensing coordinators let Simon & Schuster do a novel early on in DIS's run where Michael and the Discovery crew teamed up with Spock and the Enterprise under Pike because the show's writers had decided Spock and the 1701 would never appear on DIS... and then Pike, Spock, and the 1701 became major elements of DIS S2.
All in all, I wouldn't take their willingness to let a tie-in do something as an indication that they will or won't do a similar story.
This is a really interesting possibility, and I'm happy to hear that you think it would be acceptable, @Yistaan . Do you think that would be a consensus viewpoint within the East Asian American community?
Totally fair.
There is something about the ENT version of the TOS Klingons that just doesn't read "Klingon" to me. Maybe it's the long hair.¿Why cast exclusively black actors to avoid black face when Klingons aren't black?
The TOS Klingons on Enterprise looked more like vikings (the armor changes and long hair) than do Yellow Peril stereotypes.
As for casting. Klingons have usually been portrayed as having dark skin, in the same shades found in humans. So casting actors who's skins are naturally dark would a be a solution to the "Blackface" problem.
On principle I'm on board with newer shows updating and/or redesigning the classic Trek species to make them look more "alien".
However, something about those latex masks DISC employs, especially the eyes, just look stupid/dopey to me. Like they look like they are supposed to be a bunch of dopey goblins from an old Saturday Morning cartoon.
However, something about those latex masks DISC employs, especially the eyes, just look stupid/dopey to me. Like they look like they are supposed to be a bunch of dopey goblins from an old Saturday Morning cartoon.
Muting continuity and overwriting data points is required to make things progressive, viable, and accessible, while maintaining continuity and keeping data points make them conservative, nonviable, and inaccessible? Ridiculous XD
It really makes very little sense to me
Not completely, he does have DSC style neck ridges, and pointy ears.
Required? Not always. But a show like Star Trek should always be moving forward and not get mired in the past.Muting continuity and overwriting data points is required to make things progressive, viable, and accessible, while maintaining continuity and keeping data points make them conservative, nonviable, and inaccessible? Ridiculous XD
It really makes very little sense to me
Treks been over writing data points since day two. If it didn't work, it got dumped. The fans cherish the data points more than the creators ever did.
Then why were only a few colonies infected? The entire Klingon empire wasn't infected.
I prefer to go with the Novel'verse explanation, the flat heads were used as canon fodder by the ridged ones, which is why Kirk always encountered them.
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