Should the new Klingon's still use Bat'leth's?
- Thread starter Jayson1
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Kill one of them. I don't care which.
Don't even have to go that far, dramatically speaking I think the hollow cruelty of David's death made the Klingons feel quite real and threatening.
That combined with the cunning and charisma of the TOS Klingons like Kor and Kang would be my hope for them.
As far as the Bat'leth's are concerned... I mean, yeah, sure, bring them back. As far as practically is concerned does that really matter? This is the series that every jokester has to remark on how dumb it is that the ships don't have seat belts, so... I don't think practicality is a concern. Hand phasers should have some kind of a means of manually aiming them(iron sights), but they don't.
Don't even have to go that far, dramatically speaking I think the hollow cruelty of David's death made the Klingons feel quite real and threatening.
That combined with the cunning and charisma of the TOS Klingons like Kor and Kang would be my hope for them.
As far as the Bat'leth's are concerned... I mean, yeah, sure, bring them back. As far as practically is concerned does that really matter? This is the series that every jokester has to remark on how dumb it is that the ships don't have seat belts, so... I don't think practicality is a concern. Hand phasers should have some kind of a means of manually aiming them(iron sights), but they don't.
I would agree, the Klingons look ridiculous when they bring swords to gun fight and it takes away from any menace they have. They seemed pathetic when they tried to conquer DS9 using blade weapons, how do these guys conquer any planet that made it to the industrial age?
The bat'leths and other knives should saved for certain ceremonial contexts, perhaps ritual suicides or executions, but I don't want to see Klingons charging at Star Fleet officers with swords, they should be not be that stupid.
C
C57D
Guest
One of the many (in my eyes) irational things about TNG+ Klingons. All "Warriors" but reliant on bladed hand weapons. I totally agree that all those should be purely martial arts/ceremonial and not for actual battles. One more stupidity in how these samuri-biker-vikings have been represented. Bring back the true people of Klin of "The Final Reflection" !!!
Sights would be cool but I'll settle for proper grips. I've handled blocks of wood with better grips than a phaser.
Are Bat'leths really so impractical?
Whenever I hear people compare them to other swords it seems like they never take into account the low narrow corridors on these space ships.
All the stuff a Bat'leth can't do; a Katana can't do that either in a Bird of Prey corridor.
It's good at defense and it's also a handy pry bar for forcing open doors.
It really seems like a pretty good space siege weapon if they're just determined not to use their disruptors.
Whenever I hear people compare them to other swords it seems like they never take into account the low narrow corridors on these space ships.
All the stuff a Bat'leth can't do; a Katana can't do that either in a Bird of Prey corridor.
It's good at defense and it's also a handy pry bar for forcing open doors.
It really seems like a pretty good space siege weapon if they're just determined not to use their disruptors.
They are impractical if you have Klingons with Bat'leths fighting Star Fleet officers with phasers. Imperial Japanese soldiers did not charge Americans with guns armed only with kanatas, ISIS uses guns when attacking American soldiers and uses knives off the battle field.
The Klingons using a Bat'leths to kill a POW is creepy and sinister, having waves of Klingons armed with Bat'leths getting mowed down by Star Fleet officers with phasers makes them look silly and not menacing. Klingons should just have those small knifes on their person that if they lose their guns, they have a weapon on hand, that makes some sense.
I think you can expect to see Klingons using more organized CQB tactics in DSC. Otherwise, they'll look pretty silly to modern audiences. I think bladed weapons may still play a role in those tactics, in concert with speed and stealth. A Bat'leth is basically a big hook that let's you quickly drag an unaware opponent to the ground, which could look very cool on screen.
There have certainly been various real-life bladed weapons that curved inward like a hook. So I don't see what makes the bat'leth so farfetched in comparison, especially since the weapon itself and the movements associated with its use were designed by a martial arts expert (Dan Curry).
Kor
Kor
Depends on how effective the phasers are against Klingon armor. In TNG, it took two shots from a Starfleet phaser to pierce a Klingon's chest piece.
You can always use a combination of tactics, especially on starships, were quarters are tighter, and bladed weapons can offer and element of surprise, especially if you are physically stronger than your opponent.
The problem is when you have battles like the Klingon seige of DS9, where Star Fleet officers and Cardassians are mowing down Klingons who are trying to attack them with blades, it makes the Klingons look stupid.
There is a reason why most modern battles are fought with guns, not swords.
For zerging marauders like Klingons, using melee weapons can be beneficial since all the red shirts with phasers would have to suffer that -4 penalty to attack. 
Please note I'm not arguing for only bladed weapons. I'm arguing for a combination, especially with such close quarters on a starship, like Discovery.
The thing is, whatever those fancy sickle swords are, it's not Klingon weapons of war - they are weapons wielded by Dahar Masters and expats who learned the Klingon Ways by correspondence course. They may also be farming implements, as per "Birthright II", perhaps converted to weapons by the downtrodden.
We only saw the Klingons take the swords to modern battle two times, once in "Way of the Warrior" (which may have been more a Shtrafbat for getting a maximal number of Gowron's political opponents killed) and once in "The Killing Game" (where it was explicitly anachronistic fiction).
I'd love to see Klingon bladed weapons in DIS, but hopefully all-new ones - odd little knives for the all-important shipboard duels, practical ones for field use, a great range of designs to match their ceremonial importance to the culture. Heck, the wielder of the obligatory bat'leth might be explicitly labeled a Neo-Kahlessian and ridiculed for it...
Timo Saloniemi
We only saw the Klingons take the swords to modern battle two times, once in "Way of the Warrior" (which may have been more a Shtrafbat for getting a maximal number of Gowron's political opponents killed) and once in "The Killing Game" (where it was explicitly anachronistic fiction).
I'd love to see Klingon bladed weapons in DIS, but hopefully all-new ones - odd little knives for the all-important shipboard duels, practical ones for field use, a great range of designs to match their ceremonial importance to the culture. Heck, the wielder of the obligatory bat'leth might be explicitly labeled a Neo-Kahlessian and ridiculed for it...
Timo Saloniemi
Only to be vindicated when their adversary, the Captain of the Shenzhou, turns out to be a legendary sword fighter as well.
Of course they're dull. They hurt more.
/Rickman
/Rickman
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