post-Praxis the Klingon Empire
- Thread starter cwl
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Well, the real reason the TNG Klingons were able to have an Empire capable of fighting a 20 year war with the Federation in the "Yesterday's Enterprise" alternate timeline was because YE was written years before TUC so as far as they knew the Klingons were never weakened to begin with, nor was the homeworld in trouble.
I know seems a bit strange that the Empire rested solely on a single planet.
Actually, snippets of the dialogue seem to imply that 'praxis' is one of Qu'no's moons and that it's destruction has damaged the atmosphere. I just checked the script and their is unfilmed dialogue in Spock's initial speech that supports that. Also, in the film more snippets of dialogue duing the "assasination" scene mention the evacuation of the planet.
So I guess the issue is not only the loss of their key energy production, but thier homeworld as well.
So I guess the issue is not only the loss of their key energy production, but thier homeworld as well.
The whole thing rests on the notion that the Klingons weren't very smart when it came to the organization of their infrastructure. They put their eggs all in one basket on Praxis, and went it went KA-BOOM! they were royally screwed. Qo'noS got FUBARed.
Something like Praxis would never have happened in the Federation, but then Klingons will be Klingons...
Something like Praxis would never have happened in the Federation, but then Klingons will be Klingons...
It severely damaged Qo'noS' ozone layer, enough that the planet would become inhospitable to humanoid life within 50 years.
IIRC, it was intended to be a subtle hint that we ought to be taking better care of our own environment in the here and now...
IIRC, it was intended to be a subtle hint that we ought to be taking better care of our own environment in the here and now...
Praxis was just the most obvious symptom--it wasn't the disease, it was a result of the disease. Chernobyl didn't bring down the Soviet Union, either, but it displayed for the world to see the weaknesses of the Soviet system.
I'm also not sure the economic disarray which eventually led to peace in the "real" universe necessarily precludes the Klingons from fighting a twenty year war with the Feds, either. If the Klingon Empire declined as the Soviet state did, the Federation and other powers probably aided the ailing nation with measures which were painful and prone to creating a lasting bad impression of the Feds with many of Klingon people. And even with the economy in tatters, the Klingons would still have been formidable--the machinery of the Klingon Defense Force, the thousands of starships and millions of soldiers, did not vanish with the economic contractions. At the same time, I imagine looking at a Klingon world in the YE timeline would yield a very depressing picture of abject poverty. (Of course, abject poverty in 24th century terms probably means they live merely slightly better than we are accustomed to.
)
Still, in the "real" universe, the Klingons eventually managed to return to their place as the no. 2 or 3 power in the AQ by nursing at the Federation teat instead of squandering the resources they had left with an unwinnable war of revenge, which led to a particularly neurotic inferiority complex amongst some leaders compelling them to oppose Federation policy and eventually attack the Federation in a totally self-destructive effort.
I view the relationship after the DW especially as similiar to that of the United States (Feds) and United Kingdom (Klings) after World War II. Sorry about your colonial empire, losers, America believes in freedom! Also culturally ignorant and overly aggressive anti-communism!
Btw: Praxis need not have been a moon of Kronos to have destroyed its ozone layer. If the somehow-superluminal phenomenon (I hate that) included a significant component of x/gamma rays, the intensity could still be enough to photodissociate the ozone, leading to ultraviolet poisoning of plant life and ecological catastrophe, etc. Although you'd think in the 23d century ozone wouldn't be that hard to replace.
I'm also not sure the economic disarray which eventually led to peace in the "real" universe necessarily precludes the Klingons from fighting a twenty year war with the Feds, either. If the Klingon Empire declined as the Soviet state did, the Federation and other powers probably aided the ailing nation with measures which were painful and prone to creating a lasting bad impression of the Feds with many of Klingon people. And even with the economy in tatters, the Klingons would still have been formidable--the machinery of the Klingon Defense Force, the thousands of starships and millions of soldiers, did not vanish with the economic contractions. At the same time, I imagine looking at a Klingon world in the YE timeline would yield a very depressing picture of abject poverty. (Of course, abject poverty in 24th century terms probably means they live merely slightly better than we are accustomed to.
)Still, in the "real" universe, the Klingons eventually managed to return to their place as the no. 2 or 3 power in the AQ by nursing at the Federation teat instead of squandering the resources they had left with an unwinnable war of revenge, which led to a particularly neurotic inferiority complex amongst some leaders compelling them to oppose Federation policy and eventually attack the Federation in a totally self-destructive effort.
I view the relationship after the DW especially as similiar to that of the United States (Feds) and United Kingdom (Klings) after World War II. Sorry about your colonial empire, losers, America believes in freedom! Also culturally ignorant and overly aggressive anti-communism!
Btw: Praxis need not have been a moon of Kronos to have destroyed its ozone layer. If the somehow-superluminal phenomenon (I hate that) included a significant component of x/gamma rays, the intensity could still be enough to photodissociate the ozone, leading to ultraviolet poisoning of plant life and ecological catastrophe, etc. Although you'd think in the 23d century ozone wouldn't be that hard to replace.
^Also, I think there's too much attribution of importance to the homeworld.
Earth's been destroyed! Oh no, we've lost .6% of the Federation's population! We only have... several hundred or perhaps thousand colony worlds and a hundred forty-nine full Federation members left!
A homeworld might be more important to a monolithic empire like the Klings, but would its loss be truly crippling?
Earth's been destroyed! Oh no, we've lost .6% of the Federation's population! We only have... several hundred or perhaps thousand colony worlds and a hundred forty-nine full Federation members left!
A homeworld might be more important to a monolithic empire like the Klings, but would its loss be truly crippling?
Nevermind me, just generalized rambling. 
I agree that it's probably a different planet. I think that's kind of a neat premise, anyway. Qo'noS 2, only on NBC.
I agree that it's probably a different planet. I think that's kind of a neat premise, anyway. Qo'noS 2, only on NBC.
I always assumed that its destruction was representative of problems that were beginning to become impossible to ignore. Sort of like a domino effect.
yes. so by the TNG era, the klings would have had to adapt the infrastructure on Qo'noS in order to stay there.
Its been awhile but I can't remember ever seeing a Qo'noS scene on TNG/DS9 in which the characters interacted "outside." Could be wrong, but at least as I remember it, all the interaction *always* took place indoors...in corridors, chambers, etc.
And the exterior shots in TNG seemed to indicate the homeworld's atmosphere was anything but bright and clear -- it was always dark, ominous, and stormy-looking. Also, the buildings we see look as if they're connected with a network of enclosed tubes or tunnels.
This pic is all I could find but I do remember seeing other shots that were more panned out...and do remember seeing connecting tube-like structures winding below a dark environment.
In other words, I always thought the dark, enclosed depictions of Qo'noS in TNG were pretty consistent with the past environmental disaster in TUC.
Maybe they used some technology gleamed from Project Genesis to make it still be inhabitable in the future even if a little rough around the edges.
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