[Yoda] ...which leads to more suf-fer-ing! [/Yoda] 
Spoilers Is the Klingon War within canon?
- Thread starter timmy84
- Start date
It really is this simple in the end. The absence of something said doesn't mean something couldn't have happen or didn't happen. What is canon is what was said to happen. Even then stuff that was directly said gets retconed or altered. There simply isn't anything saying that what is happening in Discovery didn't happen. So Discovery isn't breaking anything, only adding to the canon and lore.
I know some people might want to kept what they've thought up over the years. Or what might have come out in books, etc. I know that feeling. I grew up reading tons of the Star Wars expanded universe novels and content. It's still hard to see it tossed out in favor of the new films, books, and comics but I have to accept The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are the official words on characters I read all my youth. I still enjoy those novels though, hell even prefer them, even as I go to the see the new films but I'm was going to stand there and say what happen in Rogue One couldn't have happen simply because it was never mentioned before that film came out. I wanted to see what the addition would be and thought they did a good job and it worked.
I do not think CBS should be limited in what they decide to add to the Star Trek universe. If they want want to go back and fill in the gap between TOS and the Motion Picture in live action with Kirk and crew they have the right to do so for example and I think it should be given a chance because its more Trek.
James R. Kirk recorded that piece of Klingon history.
If it was that Romulans take no prisoners, then it would confirm Balance of Terror's "no one has seen a Romulan" bit.
It is now
Sounds like the best of all worlds. There's a brief war where initially very little happens, then a more intense stage where Klingons do a lot of raiding, then a cessation of said raiding but nothing we could consider peace. Neither side won, nothing got completed, and it's obvious the Klingons will seek a rematch within a decade (now with Tyler's kids in charge?).
Really, the trouble now is at the opposite end: how was this type of hostility "unremitting" in the first thirty years of Spock's seventy, when there's this supposed relative silence before 2256 as first described in DSC? Of course, we can argue about the absolutes of this relative silence, but the show keeps referring to lack of contact and intel for the past century. What motivates the people of 2256 to declare the preceding decades uneventful, and how should we interpret those declarations?
(No inconsistency, though - no Klingons attacked Earth prior to the Breen raid.)
Timo Saloniemi
Really, the trouble now is at the opposite end: how was this type of hostility "unremitting" in the first thirty years of Spock's seventy, when there's this supposed relative silence before 2256 as first described in DSC? Of course, we can argue about the absolutes of this relative silence, but the show keeps referring to lack of contact and intel for the past century. What motivates the people of 2256 to declare the preceding decades uneventful, and how should we interpret those declarations?
(No inconsistency, though - no Klingons attacked Earth prior to the Breen raid.)
Timo Saloniemi
They attempted to launch an attack on Earth when Martok says they never did before.
Yeah need to add it to the "characters didn't know what they were talking about in that scene" or "gets classified later" pile.
You put this so well. Having grown up with TOS and TAS in their first run, and enjoyed the comics and books over the years, I've had to adjust what the "history" in my head is so many times. I'm still sad that the Spaceflight Chronology isn't gospel/canon, and that the events of First Contact contradict some of the best novels. But it is what it is, and the franchise should not be held to a canon stretched to the limits of credibility. The writers of this show clearly cared, a lot, and they deserve the credit. Let them play in the sandbox.
This. These are not just historians writing history. They are creative people attempting to do a difficult job while exploring in an established world.
Are some things going to rub others the wrong way? Sure! Is Discovery the way I would have done it? Nope. But, that's the thing-coming at it as a replication of what has come before isn't honoring the creative process at all.
What I take great delight in is the way DSC went against expectations here. What a way to end a war! Nobody dies. Nobody wins. Nothing gets shot up. The Emperor walks. Tyler walks. L'Rell walks. And nothing gets resolved.
Nevertheless, the solution is far from being canon-neutral: it creates issues that affect the fictional history. How will the Klingon society change as the result of this? How will Starfleet? What about the cloaks and the spore drive? What about the big bomb? Which is great for future drama, even though (and exactly because) it seems certain none of this has been set in stone by the current set of writers yet.
On the other hand, we now have the war in which Kirk was a warrior, unless Starfleet instigates more of those in the upcoming seasons. And we are none the wiser about the mechanisms of exactly how Klingons are so different in each and every one of their appearances, but the tradition of difference is upheld.
All in all, par for the course for Trek Arc Conclusions vs. Canon. The possible complications and violations tend to comer mid-arc, not at conclusions, and the cloaks etc. follow that form.
Timo Saloniemi
Nevertheless, the solution is far from being canon-neutral: it creates issues that affect the fictional history. How will the Klingon society change as the result of this? How will Starfleet? What about the cloaks and the spore drive? What about the big bomb? Which is great for future drama, even though (and exactly because) it seems certain none of this has been set in stone by the current set of writers yet.
On the other hand, we now have the war in which Kirk was a warrior, unless Starfleet instigates more of those in the upcoming seasons. And we are none the wiser about the mechanisms of exactly how Klingons are so different in each and every one of their appearances, but the tradition of difference is upheld.
All in all, par for the course for Trek Arc Conclusions vs. Canon. The possible complications and violations tend to comer mid-arc, not at conclusions, and the cloaks etc. follow that form.
Timo Saloniemi
Martok was referring specifically to Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, not Earth in general. Since we didn't see the Klingons attempt an attack on SF, there's no contradiction.
