Kirk's first encounter with bumpy-headed Klingons

[F. King Daniel]

I have a vague recollection of a novel set during TOS, where Kirk for the first time saw a bumpy-headed Klingon. IIRC, the author took the liberty of giving this Klingon yellow catlike eyes too - which was somewhat jarring, coming to it after seeing the TMP-and-beyond Klingon look so thoroughly established in TV and film Trek.

Does anyone remember the book? Please tell me this isn't a figment of my imagination, like that TNG/Tholian novel I asked about several months ago.

 

[chris_masters5]

I haven't read many TOS novels but I've been adding books to my list to read and Faces of Fire by Michael Jan Friedman has a movie era Klingon with 5yr mission Kirk on the front cover - could be this one?

 

[ryan123450]

There is a bumpy headed klingon in one of the My Brothers Keeper books. Don't remember any other details.

 

[Christopher]

I haven't read many TOS novels but I've been adding books to my list to read and Faces of Fire by Michael Jan Friedman has a movie era Klingon with 5yr mission Kirk on the front cover - could be this one?

No -- Kirk is actually on a different planet when the Klingons raid the colony and doesn't meet them face-to-face. And there's no mention in the book of anyone finding the Klingons' appearance unusual for the species.

However, a later Friedman novel, My Brother's Keeper: Enterprise, shows Kirk encountering a genetically engineered breed of Klingons who are more savage than the norm, and it's implied (though I don't think it's stated outright) that this was the origin of the ridged Klingons (since it came out before ENT established the official origin). This might be what the OP is thinking of.

 

[Relayer1]

Δ I'll put that down to a botched Klingon attempt to reverse the genetic problem...

 

[F. King Daniel]

Thanks guys, I'll check those out.

 

[Markonian]

Does anyone remember the book? Please tell me this isn't a figment of my imagination, like that TNG/Tholian novel I asked about several months ago.

I might be mistaken, but I think there is a story where the Enterprise-D encounters the Tholian from The Tholian Web again and because of their long life span, Loskene actually believes it is the very same Enterprise he encountered previously.

 

[bullethead]

Does anyone remember the book? Please tell me this isn't a figment of my imagination, like that TNG/Tholian novel I asked about several months ago.

I might be mistaken, but I think there is a story where the Enterprise-D encounters the Tholian from The Tholian Web again and because of their long life span, Loskene actually believes it is the very same Enterprise he encountered previously.

IIRC, it might have been Vendetta.

 

[JoeZhang]

This isn't Timetrap is it?

 

[Christopher]

No, Timetrap is set in the post-TMP era, so Kirk would've at least seen ridged Klingons on the Epsilon 9 image feed, if not earlier. (In fact, it has a reference to Kirk needing reading glasses, which suggests it might be an Enterprise-A-era story, though the Pocket timeline puts in in 2276.)

 

[tomswift2002]

No, Timetrap is set in the post-TMP era, so Kirk would've at least seen ridged Klingons on the Epsilon 9 image feed, if not earlier. (In fact, it has a reference to Kirk needing reading glasses, which suggests it might be an Enterprise-A-era story, though the Pocket timeline puts in in 2276.)

McCoy gave Kirk the reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a birthday present. TWOK is clearly before the E-A shows up (Kirk even had the glasses in 1986 San Francisco, minus the lenses, before he got command of the A).

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Does anyone remember the book? Please tell me this isn't a figment of my imagination, like that TNG/Tholian novel I asked about several months ago.

I might be mistaken, but I think there is a story where the Enterprise-D encounters the Tholian from The Tholian Web again and because of their long life span, Loskene actually believes it is the very same Enterprise he encountered previously.

IIRC, it might have been Vendetta.

Yeah, it was I remember that scene.

 

[ATimson]

McCoy gave Kirk the reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a birthday present. TWOK is clearly before the E-A shows up (Kirk even had the glasses in 1986 San Francisco, minus the lenses, before he got command of the A).

Right. Until he received that first pair from McCoy, reading glasses probably wouldn't be something Kirk thought he needed - else why wouldn't he have gotten them for himself already? So if there's such a reference, I'd think it's more likely to be post-TWOK.

 

[Jarvisimo]

Surely it is entirely possible there was no 'encounter' - merely that bumpy and non-bumpy Klingons were a common facet of their society: appearing in the media, as ambassadors, in art, etc, from his childhood onwards. There was no actual encounter - just as much of an awareness of physical difference as a child growing up today is aware of different human races?

 

[Christopher]

McCoy gave Kirk the reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a birthday present. TWOK is clearly before the E-A shows up (Kirk even had the glasses in 1986 San Francisco, minus the lenses, before he got command of the A).

Uhh, yes, that is of course the whole point -- that if Kirk needs glasses in the novel, it must be after TWOK. But it also has Kirk at captain's rank and has him, Spock, and the rest of the crew aboard the Enterprise, and the only way that can happen after TWOK is if it's also after TVH.

 

[vegaslover62]

McCoy gave Kirk the reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a birthday present. TWOK is clearly before the E-A shows up (Kirk even had the glasses in 1986 San Francisco, minus the lenses, before he got command of the A).

Uhh, yes, that is of course the whole point -- that if Kirk needs glasses in the novel, it must be after TWOK. But it also has Kirk at captain's rank and has him, Spock, and the rest of the crew aboard the Enterprise, and the only way that can happen after TWOK is if it's also after TVH.

Well, there is the fact that anybody who commands a starship is referred to as "captain," regardless of their actual rank.

 

[Christopher]

Well, there is the fact that anybody who commands a starship is referred to as "captain," regardless of their actual rank.

Tell that to the people who wrote the second through fourth movies, in which Kirk was consistently called "Admiral" even when he was in command of a starship. Canonical Trek has almost never acknowledged that tradition (except in a few DS9 episodes), presumably because it would confuse audience members who were unfamiliar with naval conventions.

Anyway, it's a moot point. Regardless of his title, Kirk is portrayed in the novel as the regular commanding officer of the ship and has his entire standard command crew serving under him, including Spock. The only time those things could be the case after he starts wearing glasses in TWOK would be following TVH.

The problem with this idea, though, is that Spock is addressed in the novel as "Mr. Spock" rather than "Captain Spock." So the chronology of the novel is a bit confused. The glasses reference may simply be a continuity error.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I've finally had a look through some novels, and I suspect I might have been misremembering Faces of Fire, which has a bumpy-headed Klingon on the cover (and is described as such within) and the aliens had yellow eyes. Although there is no scene where Kirk speaks to a Klingon on the viewscreen.