Who do you like better? Commander Kruge or General Chang? I have often listed Chang as one of my all time favorite villains; "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war", but recently I've really developed a fondness for #3 in no small part to Christopher Lloyd's Kruge.
Kruge is everything I think an Evil Klingon should be. Worf is everything I think a Good Klingon should be. If Chang were so Klingon, he wouldn't keep quoting a Human.
Kruge is a bit wooden at times, but excels at others. Chang may be spouting more Shakespeare, but he does so well, and there's a more consistent build-up to his villainy, which oddly feels less 2D - maybe because VI's plot has more depth than III's. And, that's the other question: 2D or not 2D, which one is? so, ultimately, I voted for Chang.
Now I wish Christopher Plummer had showed up as a Cardassian at some point. ...perhaps in an episode with Gul Madred... But I agree that Kruge and Chang are two very different Klingons and I appreciate both of them for different reasons.
If I have too choose, Chang, largely because his interesting take on pragmatism of war reminds me a bit of Kang. Kruge has moments of decent villainy, with moments of pure absurdity. It doesn't always work. But, for the movie he's in it works well enough.
Kruge, and I quote myself: I forgot of when he almost shot Torg too. "My lord?" "Say the wrong thing!" You really can't out-Klingon him.
Kruge didn't intend to destroy the Grissom, though. He wanted prisoners. I love his annoyed reaction. I like both characters for different reasons. Kruge is a delightfully villainous villain. Chang was a commanding presence. Or something. Both of them seemed like the type of Klingon that could have been encountered in TOS. None of this 'honor this, honor that' rigmarole that had started in TNG. Kor
Another thing to consider is that Klingons may have studied Earth literature in a way that Earthlings hadn't looked at Klingons' and using this to subtly mock Kirk with, since Kirk (and more of the bridge crew than we'd ever considered before) loved Shakespeare. This makes Chang even more fascinating, given how he first boasts "To be or not to be!" with all the other Klingons bursting out loud in laughter, before it quickly becomes serious about the fate of their people. (or did I reverse the two moments? Am rewatching today after buying popcorn and coffee latte...) Chang later spouts out the line during his attack on Enterprise as the torpedo is heading toward his ship, so there is some certainty that - regardless of what piqued their interest - Chang and others relished the style and ideas Shakespeare had... As Data might inquire, "Is imitation not the most sincere form of flattery?" Also, sausage omelets are cool. Or ST6 was just parodying Chekov by saying Klingons did it all first as a weird backhanded joke. Which seems less likely, but as there are invariably a statistical quantity of people love the taste of coffee with spirulina flavoring then anything is truly possible...
It was just a take on Nazi attempts to claim Shakespeare as part of the Germanic cultural sphere. Kor
Good and interesting point... Chang did also recite "We need breathing room!", and I didn't know the attempt was made in real life: https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...earean-drama/3136CCD50F282E6A606A2D528424ED61
I like Kruge. He's got great villain qualities, in a gangster kind of way, but Chang just seems like a more formidable foe. Dude's literally trying to undermine the entire Federation. He's like a Star Trek Bond villain