Klingons: Canon or Ford?

[malchya]

I admit that I'm addicted to Role Playing Games. I've been a game master for more than 33 years....(ouch). I'm also a Star Trek fan. And a voracious reader. Add all of those together and you get someone who has spent a great deal of time with Klingons.

I've watched them in all of their incarnations, from Kor and Koloth and Kang to Worf and Gowron and Chang. I've usually enjoyed them, often been amused by them and, once only, actually been a bit frightened of them (Kruge). But I've also usually had a bit of difficulty taking them seriously. On film at any rate.

Literature is different. I have never had trouble taking the late John M. Ford's Klingons seriously. I found them fascinating in The Final Reflection, amazingly entertaining in How Much for Just the Planet and simply interesting beyond belief in FASA's RPG version of them, also penned by Ford. For a long time (early 80s till TNG started revising them) I took Ford's version of them as canon. I know that Paramount tossed all of that into the rubbish heap, but I can't just excise years of belief from the ol' brain pan.

So my question to my eminent colleagues on the BBS is simple: Which do you prefer? Would you have rather seen Ford's Klingons brought to the screen or the culture and back story that we were actually given on film? I very much look forward to reading opinions.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Ford's Klingons--easily.

They were warriors, yes, but you could actually believe their society wouldn't implode from sheer testosterone driven-stupidity.

BTW, didn't notice we had someone from Fayetteville until now! I am SOOOOOO jealous of what it's going to look like around there when the leaves start changing...

 

[malchya]

Sigh...I hate to disillusion you, but I'm not in Fayetteville at the moment. My work moved me to Florida. Alaska three years ago, Arkansas til a few months ago, then Florida. I wish I were there for the leaves also, but at least I have a white sand beach where I'm at now....

Thread highjack and out of context posting break over. Thank you for indulging me.

 

[Timo]

De nada... I'm for mixing Fordisms to the onscreen portrayal in modest amounts. For example, I do like the Ford idea that Klingons die extremely young, after a hectic "childhood" - but I also think this is compatible with the onscreen portrayal of Klingons who manage to survive for decades upon decades, and sometimes over a century. It's simply that we get to see the lucky ones: Worf on UFP medicare, Kang/Koloth/Kor who have climbed to the very top of the Klingon food chain, a few politicians who let others die the violent deaths for them.

Ford's Klingons were a secretive bunch, and revealed little of their way to the outsider. Thus, surprisingly enough, they would probably look exactly like the TNG/DS9 violent braggards to the audience even if they were master schemers back home...

One characteristic of the TNG/DS9 Klingons I actually prefer over the Ford interpretation. The warriors of modern Trek are a hedonistic bunch, making the most of their typically miserable lives and really looking like they'd be having a lot of fun slaying their enemies and bettering their comrades. Sure, Ford's Klingons would have every incentive to remain calm and detached when infiltrating the heart of the Federation - but we failed to see the merrier side of Klingon existence, having to settle for the melancholy happiness of Vrenn/Krenn's mentor.

Then again, perhaps that only goes to show how miserable a Klingon Vrenn/Krenn was, in the Hugo sense. Somebody with a House might have been a much more cheerful drinker and womanizer!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Ford, his klingons looked like they could actually be a threat to the federation.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Ford's Klingon Empire was fantastic. Captured Vulcans, with the telepathic centres of their brains cut out, used as slaves? Subjugated species? A diverse Klingon Empire (Imperials and Human Fusions)? That's how it's done.

The TNG/DS9 Klingons were drunken fools.

 

[SheliakBob]

Ah, The Final Reflection! Long my favorite Trek novel EVAH.
I truly miss that wonderful vision of Klingons. Playing years worth of the old FASA Trek rpg with many, many Klingon campaign sessions sort of cemented that version in my heart.

I've been disappointed with Klingons ever since.

 

[Valin]

Another pro-Ford vote here. I'm really going to have to find my copy of "Final Reflection" and reread it. It has literally been decades since I read it last.

 

[malchya]

I'm pleased to find that I may have helped recall fond memories. My copy of "Final Reflection" was lost when a through hull on my sloop failed and she flooded up over the cabin sole. Now I'm going to have to find a copy. At least I still have my FASA "Klingons" suppliment!

I far prefer the more subtle and complex nature of Ford's Klingon Empire. The official version began to feel too much like a school kid's idea of Samurai rather than a viable and believable culture.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Most good used bookstores that I've seen carry copies of The Final Reflection. A small one might not, but most ones of any decent size seem to have it. Failing that, there's always eBay.

 

[siskokid888]

De nada... I'm for mixing Fordisms to the onscreen portrayal in modest amounts. For example, I do like the Ford idea that Klingons die extremely young, after a hectic "childhood" - but I also think this is compatible with the onscreen portrayal of Klingons who manage to survive for decades upon decades, and sometimes over a century. It's simply that we get to see the lucky ones: Worf on UFP medicare, Kang/Koloth/Kor who have climbed to the very top of the Klingon food chain, a few politicians who let others die the violent deaths for them.

Ford's Klingons were a secretive bunch, and revealed little of their way to the outsider. Thus, surprisingly enough, they would probably look exactly like the TNG/DS9 violent braggards to the audience even if they were master schemers back home...

One characteristic of the TNG/DS9 Klingons I actually prefer over the Ford interpretation. The warriors of modern Trek are a hedonistic bunch, making the most of their typically miserable lives and really looking like they'd be having a lot of fun slaying their enemies and bettering their comrades. Sure, Ford's Klingons would have every incentive to remain calm and detached when infiltrating the heart of the Federation - but we failed to see the merrier side of Klingon existence, having to settle for the melancholy happiness of Vrenn/Krenn's mentor.

Then again, perhaps that only goes to show how miserable a Klingon Vrenn/Krenn was, in the Hugo sense. Somebody with a House might have been a much more cheerful drinker and womanizer!

Timo Saloniemi

It has been a while since I read "Final Reflection", so my memory of it is iffy, but I thought the Klingons were genetically short lived, which led to their rambunctious lifestlye - live fast, die young. I always thought that this was a great way to explain their culture. Anyway, much preferred the Ford interpetation of Klingons to the canon view.

 

[Anwar]

Well, this isn't a fair comparison since literature can have deeper descriptions that televised media can't compare to.

 

[malchya]

Fair? Perhaps not, but I can't help but feel that the filmed media could have made more of an effort. The best thing would have been for G.R. to pay a little attention to his licensed products, other than to class them as "too military," and integrate the excellent leg work already put in by Ford, Okrand and others into his ongoing Trek.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I liked the depiction of Klingons on TFR, I am still trying to figure out the rules to that game they were playing.

Actually I once thought that the Klingons in that novel acted very much like what we now know as...Cardassians.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I had the same impression--that what we see in that novel is closer to the Cardassians (though there are certainly differences).

 

[SeerSGB]

Ford. The TNG type Klingons are okay, but the are hard to see as a serious threat, or even a viable interstellar empire for that matter.

 

[Anwar]

The TOS Klingons were basically just supposed to be generic militant conqueror types, not really Soviet stand-ins (there's nothing Communist about them, really). Extrapolate from that, give more episodes to examine them as characters and their military culture and you pretty much get the Cardassians.

 

[siskokid888]

Another interpertation of the Klingons is found in Joe Haldeman's "World Without End", where he portrays them as kind of martial religious fanatics. It is an interesting take on them, and one I liked as well.

 

[SilentP]

Another interpertation of the Klingons is found in Joe Haldeman's "World Without End", where he portrays them as kind of martial religious fanatics. It is an interesting take on them, and one I liked as well.

This portrayal intrigues me, though this may be because it reminds me of the Imperium of Man of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

 

[DrBashir]

More diversity among Klingons would be a good thing. If there's clerics on Boreth, why can't there be some that still worship the old gods that the other Klingons claim to have slain?

As the series that gave us Infinite Diversity, Trek sure treats cultures as monolithic most times.