Klingon redundancies

[DaveyNY]

While the recent discussion about the reproductive complexities of the Klingon race has been quite entertaining...,
I'm guessing since the area we saw was an Orion Encampment and we know they are simply fascinated with the more overt sexual aspects of bodily functions.
(not to mention the financial implications that go with such)

The character depicted was probably a lower-class hustler that chose to have (or was forced by his pimp) his sexual anatomy surgically "up-graded" shall we say.

 

[OpenMaw]

Well, the horrifying implication is that VOQ would have to give up one for the team, no?

 

[Yistaan]

The thing about the biological redundancies is that if they really work the way they're described in Ethics, it should be impossible to kill a Klingon with something as simple as one stab with a dagger and yet we constantly see Klingons killed in exactly that manner.

This. With the redundancy described, there's no way Duras should have been killed the way he was.

With Gowron, he was stabbed by 2 bat'leth pieces so maybe Worf strategically stabbed 2 copies of vital organs to ensure a kill?

Has any Vulcan ever nerve pinched a Klingon? (Tuvok, Spock, T'Pol, etc.). I can't remember it they have. If they haven't, Klingon redundancy may protect against this too.

EDIT: Does Spock nerve pinch Klingons in Day of the Dove? Maybe it only works on Augment virus Klingons?

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Are we to assume then, that Klingons also have two bum holes? Given the general organ redundancy, dual uninary systems, and the volume of unprocessed food matter they devoure at those battle after parties.

Well, they do have a redundant stomach per "Macrocosm" (VGR). Of course, as with the reproductive system, we probably shouldn't assume that duplication of internal features and external ones must necessarily go hand in hand. They could well have dual digestive tracts that terminate in a single orifice, just as both begin with a single one.

If Klingon's have lots of redundancy's why aren't they bigger then they are? If they have more internal organs than humans, would they not need bigger bodies to contain them?

On average, they are bigger than humans, aren't they? Voq's body required a lot of "reduction" to become Ash Tyler, and even then, he was still "a very tall man." Nevertheless (pun seriously not intended), organs being packed close together might well be the very reason why a single puncture wound can prove so deadly despite all redundancies.

I'm guessing since the area we saw was an Orion Encampment and we know they are simply fascinated with the more overt sexual aspects of bodily functions.
(not to mention the financial implications that go with such)

The character depicted was probably a lower-class hustler that chose to have (or was forced by his pimp) his sexual anatomy surgically "up-graded" shall we say.

The suggestion that genital multiplicity might be a feature of Klingon males came well before that, in "Choose Your Pain" (DSC), as Lorca teased L'Rell about her relations with "Tyler":

LORCA: I hear you're seeking solace in the arms of a human male. We don't even have the right number of organs for you. Why so hard-up?​

-MMoM

 

[Nerys Myk]

If Klingon's have lots of redundancy's why aren't they bigger then they are? If they have more internal organs than humans, would they not need bigger bodies to contain them?

They're bigger on the inside.
Why assume their organs are the same size as a human's?

 

[Philip Guyott]

...Of course, as with the reproductive system, we probably shouldn't assume that duplication of internal features and external ones must necessarily go hand in hand...

Ha, I saw what you did there

 

[Kor]

If Klingon redundancies apply to bodily orifices, then they should have two faces as well.

Ah, perhaps this explains the weird double-nostril thing going on with a lot of the STDsc Klingons. In case their regular nostrils get blocked and they can't sneeze properly, then that outer set of nostrils comes into play.

Kor

 

[Yistaan]

They're bigger on the inside.
Why assume their organs are the same size as a human's?

Klingon organs occupy the same dimension that the Founders' masses are shunted to every time they shapeshift. Klingon biology goes way beyond three dimensional space, and that's more or less what McCoy meant when he said he didn't know Klingon anatomy.

 

[BillJ]

As far as the Klingon peeing two streams goes, I just figure he has prostate issues.

 

[dahj]

As far as the Klingon peeing two streams goes, I just figure he has prostate issues.

Or an unfortunate accident while sharpening his bat'leth...

 

[matthunter]

This. With the redundancy described, there's no way Duras should have been killed the way he was.

Unless Worf knew where to strike to hit something that would cause death anyway. Even with a backup, there's the potential for systemic shock if a major organ suffers too much damage. Or simply cause enough internal bleeding - this might actually be more of a problem for Klingons as the extra organs would need then to either have more blood than humans or more efficient blood... if the latter, causing enough internal bleeding would rapidly deprive the other organs of oxygen.

The redundancy of the spinal cord is also only alluded to as a double-lined pia mater, and Worf's own injury suggests the spinal nerves might be one area that isn't especially redundant, so a sword thrust could sever the spinal cord and affect the nerves controlling major organs.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

These are all non-canonical except for the top-center one, but here are some views of Klingon anatomy for Dr. McCoy to brush up on.

 

[Tuskin38]

Memory-Alpha says the left one was also seen in ENT. But they don't give a screen cap.

Here is the prop though

https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/mo...ned-poster-2005-total-2-items-/a/7176-89184.s

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Here are some screencaps of it, from about twenty minutes into "Affliction" (ENT). Unfortunately, they're not HD versions, in which it would probably be better visible (no pun intended):

-MMoM

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Note the apparently retractable "raptor claw" that corresponds to the traditional Klingon boot spur:

Shot of Worf's feet from "Ethics" (TNG) showing the slight bump when retracted:

Cool little detail!

-MMoM

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I always thought the little claw flourish on the boots was so when a klingon kicks someone in the shin it REALLY hurts. I had no idea it was because they all had a really badly ingrown toenail.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

I always thought the little claw flourish on the boots was so when a klingon kicks someone in the shin it REALLY hurts. I had no idea it was because they all had a really badly ingrown toenail.

It would be interesting to find out what Robert Fletcher's original inspiration for the spiked boots was. I do know that he reasoned their head ridges/spines were the vestigial remnants of an exoskeleton that had once covered the entire bodies of what he conceived of as being their crustacean ancestors, with some elements of their armored costumes being symbolic of this. I presume it would have been Michael Westmore who gave Worf the corresponding nubs for TNG. Dan Curry's painting, of course, postdated both. I wonder if the talon was Curry's own idea building upon that, or if he picked it up from one of them, or from some other source altogether?

-MMoM

 

[Hey Missy]

We all know the real reason why we see a Klingon with two...
"That was an ongoing writers' room debate. According to canon, Klingons have two organs, they have two of everything, right? So we had this debate. When we say two of everything, does that include the penis? I think this was something that [director Akiva Goldsman] really liked the notion of. He just kept joking, 'Klingons have two dicks, Klingons have two dicks.' And then he finally went ahead and showed it on television."

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

We all know the real reason why we see a Klingon with two...
"That was an ongoing writers' room debate. According to canon, Klingons have two organs, they have two of everything, right? So we had this debate. When we say two of everything, does that include the penis? I think this was something that [director Akiva Goldsman] really liked the notion of. He just kept joking, 'Klingons have two dicks, Klingons have two dicks.' And then he finally went ahead and showed it on television."

Correct. It was an idea that grew out of and built upon what had come before, a logical extension. (Puns!)

@Locutus of Bored's pic above reminded me that Geoffrey Mandel's/Doug Drexler's/Anthony Fredrickson's Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual was positing duplication of (select) organs in Klingons as far back as the '70s!

-MMoM

 

[Hey Missy]

More like there wasn't anyone to reel Goldsman in over his obsession with double Klingon dongs like there was for Roddenberry when he insisted Troi have three breasts.