Maybe it was just me, but I found that when Garak was at his campest, he was at his most sinister.
Re-Doing DS9?
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One of the best treatments of Klingons was ironically in the video game Klingon Academy in which Christopher Plummer reprised his role as Chang. The whole story was all Klingon politics and intrigue, and you really got to dive into Klingon culture and the rivalries of the houses.
Chang was a great villain, but then again he was portrayed by a magnificent actor! He's the one who chose the whole outfit you know. Including the bolted in eye-patch and the baldness.
I think 'Star Trek VI: The undiscovered country' did pretty much the ultimate charactarisation of the klingons. They have never felt more real and vicious. And notice one thing: The word 'honour' is never uttered by a klingon through the entire movie!
Because in this movie, the klingons aren't some kind of space vikings. They are an intelligent, militaristic space-faring race with a strong warrior code. Even chancellor Gorkon could probably have beaten everyone to pulp with his big bone cane. But he talked like an intelligent being. Nobody in this movie cried 'honour' and challenged somebody to a duell. Everyone was smart and had a purposeful job, from judge to border patrol and prison warder, but practised it in a raw and distinct manner.
Nobody needed to say something about a warrior code, because you could see the influence of it on every ordinary, routine act they did. They didn't came across as overly aggressive. They came across as deadly.
Because in this movie, the klingons aren't some kind of space vikings. They are an intelligent, militaristic space-faring race with a strong warrior code. Even chancellor Gorkon could probably have beaten everyone to pulp with his big bone cane. But he talked like an intelligent being. Nobody in this movie cried 'honour' and challenged somebody to a duell. Everyone was smart and had a purposeful job, from judge to border patrol and prison warder, but practised it in a raw and distinct manner.
Nobody needed to say something about a warrior code, because you could see the influence of it on every ordinary, routine act they did. They didn't came across as overly aggressive. They came across as deadly.
Actually, I've always thought the TOS Klingons were the best representation of the race. Sure, they were just cardboard Snively Whiplash villains for the most part, but it was really the only time where they were presented as the whole "U.S. vs. Soviet Union" analogy, with two superpowers of apparently equal technology, one representing democracy and the other representing communism. The Klingons were basically just another race of humans who were looking to expand their territory through invasion. Then STIII came along and turned the Klingons into a bunch of long-haired, leather wearing futuristic-biker thugs who realistically wouldn't have been anywhere near able to have the spacefaring technology they have. And that's how the ST producers decided to continue to portray them, even in ENT which was supposed to be a prequel to TOS.
Yes, that's a great movie. I wish they had done more of the same quality.
Imho the Klingons in TNG and beyond come off as a species/culture that desperately tries to hang on to their warrior past/code in an age of peace, hence their over-eagerness. Several Klingons actually see it emotionally as a decline and softening of their empire, even if they intellectually understand that peace was the only viable option (also not that women are not allowed to become Chancellor anymore, maybe because it was a female Chancellor who initiated the peace talks)
The Klingons in TUC lived the warrior life and so had no reason to advertise their warrior code. The Klingons in TNG and later desperately try to emulate their powerful forefathers and way overshoot the mark on the whole thing with their constant babbling of honour and growling and "Klingon promotions" and all that. It's very clearly portrayed ayway that the honour talk is just pretence, especially among their nobility. Worf seems to e the only Klingon who really takes the whole thing seriously.
At least that's my interpretation/fan-wank.
At least ST III+ actually tried to make them look and act alien. I don't think it is very well done if one of your major alien species is portrayed as, like you say, "just another race of humans."
When you say "alien," if you mean that they now have bumps on their foreheads, then yes, they're aliens all right. Oh, and I guess Kruge's pet lizard-dog would classify them as alien too. But other than that, they kinda just came off as an intergalactic motorcycle gang. Don't get me wrong; I loved Christopher Lloyd's performance, but "alien?" Sorry, I'd have to beg to differ.
It has been years and years since I saw any TOS movie except TMP and TUC. So I can't really say how they are portrayed in ST III.
I however think calling the ST VI Klingons an "intergalactic motorcycle gang" is selling them a bit short.
None of the major alien races in Star Trek are outrageously alien, just look at Betazoids, their species-wide telepathy should have way more impact on them, but the Klingons in TNG, UC and such certainly were a more alien culture than the ones in TOS.
I however think calling the ST VI Klingons an "intergalactic motorcycle gang" is selling them a bit short.
None of the major alien races in Star Trek are outrageously alien, just look at Betazoids, their species-wide telepathy should have way more impact on them, but the Klingons in TNG, UC and such certainly were a more alien culture than the ones in TOS.
The Betazoid (females) all have brown eyes, I think.
In TOS the klingons look like coal miners who forgot to take a shower after their shift.
All in all, I think DS9 is a very good show, so I don’t have that many things that I want to totally change outright in the show. But I do have a few things that I would like to see earlier in the series rather than later.
1. Get the U.S.S. Defiant going from the very beginning of the series.
2. Have Worf as a regular character from the very beginning of season 1.
3. Foreshadow Sisko’s prophet storyline more in the earlier seasons.
4. Foreshadow Bashir’s genetic enhancement storyline more in the earlier seasons.
5. Get O’Brien and Bashir to become friends much earlier. (Ideally by the end of season 1.)
6. Bring in Ezri either as a regular character or as a recurring guest character much earlier in the series. Have Ezri be joined to a symbiont that is not Dax. This way, we can have both Jadzia and Ezri at the same time. (It’s a “Have your cake and eat it too” proposal.)
1. Get the U.S.S. Defiant going from the very beginning of the series.
2. Have Worf as a regular character from the very beginning of season 1.
3. Foreshadow Sisko’s prophet storyline more in the earlier seasons.
4. Foreshadow Bashir’s genetic enhancement storyline more in the earlier seasons.
5. Get O’Brien and Bashir to become friends much earlier. (Ideally by the end of season 1.)
6. Bring in Ezri either as a regular character or as a recurring guest character much earlier in the series. Have Ezri be joined to a symbiont that is not Dax. This way, we can have both Jadzia and Ezri at the same time. (It’s a “Have your cake and eat it too” proposal.)
Well, it was a 60s TV Show on a budget, you can't really expect a whole lot in terms of makeup.
Still, I wonder if the idea wasn't to darken their skin so that they would look more villainous.
Well racism definitely still was pretty rampant in the 60s, so that is definitely a possibility. But I don't know if GR would have intentionally done it that way since he did episodes decrying racism.
I think the DS9 version of Trouble With Tribbles and Worf's "We do not discuss it with outsiders" was an appropriate response to the poor makeup and costume designs 30 years earlier.
Every time Christopher Lloyd opened his mouth in that movie I kept hearing Jim Ignatowski, and started looking around for Louie and Nardo and Latka and the rest of them. Kind of broke the immersion.
Did you have the same problem with the movies Danny DeVito was in?
