Klingons as part of the UFP?

[MikeS]

Forgive me if this has been asked elsewhere. In the first season episode "Heart Of Glory" we are definitely given the impression that the Klingons were now a member race of the Federation with as much a place in that organisation as Vulcans, Humans, Andorians etc.

This was retconned.

What were the off-screen, or on-screen reasons behind this?

Cheers

 

[Willieck]

Well er..er...... nope, I give up.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

They were not mentioned as members of the Federation, were they?

As far as I remember a membership was never mentioned on screen, so no retcon was necessary.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

As far as I remember a membership was never mentioned on screen, so no retcon was necessary.

Not a retcon exactly, but there had been statements that implied that the Klingons were part of the UFP, not just an ally of.

Though maybe it was just because people saw the symbols of both the UFP and the Klingon Empire on the screen with Captain K'Nera in Heart of Glory that people developed that perception.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

MikeS probably references the Federation emblem on the bridge of the Klingon ship in "Heart of Glory". In "Samaritan Snare", Wesley also mentions that the Klingons had "joined" the Federation at some point.

It's possible that the original intention was indeed to have the Klingons as full members of the Federation. The fact that our Klingon main cast member was a Starfleet officer might have played a role too (or at least it might have "confused" some of the writers).

From Season 3 onwards they definitely settled on the Klingons as being allies of the Federation instead of full members. Since then, Wesley's line is usually (re-)interpreted as a reference to the Federation-Klingon alliance. The same applies to the Federation emblem on the Klingon ship.

As for the real-world reasons... I guess they simply didn't settle on a exact definition for the nature of the new Federation-Klingon relations in the beginning. Only over the course of the first three seasons they developed a background history for the alliance.

 

[Anwar]

Originally, the idea was that they had indeed joined the Federation. When they realized it was creatively better to keep them separate they just changed the meaning of Wesley's words from "Joined the Federation" to "joined the Federation in peaceful co-existence".

 

[Alrik]

Season Two's The Emissary only helps to muddy the waters. K'Ehleyr was a Special Federation Emissary.

 

[indolover]

I'd think the Federation is too peace/hippy like for Klingon tastes.

Klingons live for battle, would the Klingons have signed the Algeron and Cardassian treaties? Heck no. Would the Klingons have ships for exploration and not combat, or even believe in a Prime Directive? Heck no again.

 

[Anwar]

Season Two's The Emissary only helps to muddy the waters. K'Ehleyr was a Special Federation Emissary.

Well, this isn't so strange. She's half-Klingon, which means if she was born in the Federation she's one of their citizens. And who better to act as an Emissary between the Klingons and the Feds than a hybrid of a Federation species and the Klingons.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Originally, the idea was that they had indeed joined the Federation. When they realized it was creatively better to keep them separate they just changed the meaning of Wesley's words from "Joined the Federation" to "joined the Federation in peaceful co-existence".

Yeah, I agree, it ultimately became a play on words. Wesley's statement is still perfectly valid as the Federation and the Klingons often do work together in maintaining the peace.

 

[Marten]

I never enterpreted it that way, but then I watched it totally out of order at first.

 

[USS Excelsior]

On the Enterprise J it was implied that the Klingons were part of the Federation at that point.

 

[Willieck]

I'd think the Federation is too peace/hippy like for Klingon tastes.

Klingons live for battle, would the Klingons have signed the Algeron and Cardassian treaties? Heck no. Would the Klingons have ships for exploration and not combat, or even believe in a Prime Directive? Heck no again.

But after the explosion of Praxis the Klingons were in a very difficult situation and felt they had to come to heel in order to survive. Many of the "old school" Klingons hated this but had little choice other than to comply.

As subsequent storylines made clear the Klingon Empire did not in fact always comply and much of this is dealt with in DS9.

 

[MikeS]

Thanks for all the interesting replies.

I was wondering if "off-screen" the failure of the Ferengi as the new villains had anything to do with this retconning. It allowed for a little bit of nastiness on the part of the Klingons again.

 

[indolover]

I'd think the Federation is too peace/hippy like for Klingon tastes.

Klingons live for battle, would the Klingons have signed the Algeron and Cardassian treaties? Heck no. Would the Klingons have ships for exploration and not combat, or even believe in a Prime Directive? Heck no again.

But after the explosion of Praxis the Klingons were in a very difficult situation and felt they had to come to heel in order to survive. Many of the "old school" Klingons hated this but had little choice other than to comply.

As subsequent storylines made clear the Klingon Empire did not in fact always comply and much of this is dealt with in DS9.

Perhaps, but KLingon values and Federation values are at odds. the Federation would give the world to be at peace with all. Even in real life, this would be a utopia to us, even if it's unrealistic. Klingon society is not similar. A warrior culture must by definition always have an enemy.

 

[Willieck]

indolover Wrote

Perhaps, but KLingon values and Federation values are at odds. the Federation would give the world to be at peace with all. Even in real life, this would be a utopia to us, even if it's unrealistic. Klingon society is not similar. A warrior culture must by definition always have an enemy.

I think I said that, kinda.