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The Klingon Empire In This Show

I don't care what their heads look like so long as they don't look like any of the Into Darkness concepts.
I also hope they stop all of that stupid TNG growling nonsense!
 
I think what is interesting about the Klingon code of honor is it is like religion, it can be used to justify good or evil acts, depending on who is interpreting it and how good or bad that person is.

And in fact, all cultures hold up ideals and supposedly "correct" ways of behavior while accepting ranges of real behavior among their members which both fall short of and actively contradict those ideal values.
 
I tend to agree with this. They were never my favorite aliens to begin with, and the emphasis that they got throughout TNG and DS9 started to feel, I don't know, stale? I don't think that's the right word, because the storylines were, for the most part, interesting. But, it was a lot.

I concur. We always seem to get way too much of the Klingons. I don't know what the fascination is with them myself.
They shout. They scream. They wave their swords. That and every other sentence out of them seems to contain the word "honour."

Couldn't they have come up with something a bit more interesting for Discovery?
 
I'd like to see both smooth & bumpy headed Klingons with one being a minority race of Klingons who are not thought of as the "true" Klingons. Maybe that can be a source of contention & why the new Klingon captain wants to unite the the houses.
 
Why are people saying there could be both ridged and smooth foreheads? Was it stated in canon that the augment virus didn't spread to every Klingon or that in several generations only some would be born without ridges? I think all Klingons in the mid 2200s didn't have ridges until they started to come back into the gene pool in the 2270s.
 
Why are people saying there could be both ridged and smooth foreheads? Was it stated in canon that the augment virus didn't spread to every Klingon or that in several generations only some would be born without ridges? I think all Klingons in the mid 2200s didn't have ridges until they started to come back into the gene pool in the 2270s.

It is open territory. Nothing was definitively stated, but I think the assumption is that there are both bumpy heads and smooth heads thereafter. Certainly non canon works run under this idea.
 
I think they've been portrayed pretty poorly outside of TOS. I mean DS9 had great Klingon characters that worked well, but once you got into the Klingon culture and Empire it began to fall apart a bit, the whole honour thing really strangles them at times. Romulans are just way better and more interesting.
 
I liked the scheming Klingons from early TNG that were willing to sacrifice their personal codes of ethics for the greater good in a vain attempt to hold a fragmented empire together by projecting an honorable public facade.

There was markedly less than that during the Gowon era and beyond. Though, they straight up said Gowon was whitewashing history (and likely purging rivals). Which would explain subsequent personalities and actions later on. TNG Klingons, generally, had a couple of subtle threads going on all under the cover of honor and swordfighting. Can't speak on DS9, I just started rewatching it for the first time in about a decade and I'm only in season 2.

Although, yeah, a bit too much growling some times.

I think Klingons would be better served with emphasizing some of the more complex politics (smart villains are good villains) and ruthlessness. They still have to be distinct from Romulans though. Some scheming, but more brutality, as opposed to mind games and cold calculation.
 
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I like the bumpy heads, there is no need for the smooth heads in this day and age.

I just think by the TNG era, we hardly saw the Klingons engage in actual imperialism (except for trying to annex Cardassia in the DS9 era), we saw some imperialism in the TOS era, but not that much and this is before the Klingons were retooled in the TOS era. I would like to know who is in the Klingon Empire besides the Klingons and how do they treat subjugated species.

That is why I suggested the noble captain and the scum bag superior officer, you can still some of the honor and nobility in the captain, but see all the negative qualities in the superior officer. Make the Captain a hard working man with no status who earned his position through hard work, while the superior officer is someone with strong family connections, who had everything handed to him due to his family. The Captain is someone who is ruthless, but not blood thirsty, while the superior officer has no problem with mass murder achieve whatever end he wants. It makes the Captain more sympathetic and gives the audience a villain to root for and a villain to root against. It shows that there good people in the Klingon Empire, but the system itself is bad, if a total scum bag can get a position of major importance.

There is some canon evidence of how Klingons treat subject races.

"Errand of Mercy":

KIRK: No, sir. With the Federation, you have a choice. You have none with the Klingons. The Klingons are a military dictatorship. War is their way of life. Life under the Klingon rule would be very unpleasant. We offer you protection.

KIRK: Gentlemen, I have seen what the Klingons do to planets like yours. They are organised into vast slave labour camps. No freedoms whatsoever. Your goods will be confiscated. Hostages taken and killed, your leaders confined. You'd be far better off on a penal planet. Infinitely better off.

KOR: Good honest hatred. Very refreshing. However, it makes no difference whether you welcome me or not. I am here and will stay. You are now subjects of the Klingon Empire. You'll find there are many rules and regulations. They will be posted. Violation of the smallest of them will be punished by death.

KOR: Have I asked whether or not you want it? We Klingons have a reputation for ruthlessness. You will find that it is deserved. Should one Klingon soldier be killed, a thousand Organians will die. I will have order. Is that clear?

KOR: From this day on, no public assemblages of more than three people. All publications to be cleared through this office. Neighbourhood controls will be established, hostages selected. A somewhat lengthy list of crimes against the state.

AYELBORNE: Unless both sides agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities, all your armed forces, wherever they may be, will be immediately immobilised.
KIRK: We have legitimate grievances against the Klingons. They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens. They're openly aggressive. They've boasted that they'll take over half the galaxy.
KOR: Why not? We're the stronger! You've tried to hem us in, cut off vital supplies, strangle our trade! You've been asking for war!
KIRK: You're the ones who issued the ultimatum to withdraw from the disputed areas!
KOR: They are not disputed! They're clearly ours. And now you step in with some kind of trick.

"A Private Little War":

APELLA: I thought my people would grow tired of killing. But you were right. They see that it is easier than trading and it has pleasures. I feel it myself. Like the hunt, but with richer rewards.
KRELL: You will be rich one day, Apella, beyond your dreams. The leader of a whole world. A governor in the Klingon Empire.

"The Day of the Dove":

MARA: We have always fought. We must. We are hunters, Captain, tracking and taking what we need. There are poor planets in the Klingon systems, we must push outward if we are to survive.

In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the Klingon Prison Rura Pente contains people of many different species, most of them probably Klingon subjects.
 
Have them dress like this and I'm happy. I love this look.
klingons.jpg
 
There is some canon evidence of how Klingons treat subject races.

"Errand of Mercy":













"A Private Little War":



"The Day of the Dove":



In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the Klingon Prison Rura Pente contains people of many different species, most of them probably Klingon subjects.

I want to see more of this though, rather then have it mentioned.

The Klingons seemed to be getting a bit soft in the TNG era. Lets see a more brutal Klingon Empire with enslavement and massacres, an actual empire with several slave species in it.
 
Didn't we see the Kriosians, a subjugated people, revolt against their Klingon masters in TNG's "The Mind's Eye"? The suppliers of the insurrection were the Romulans, who were attempting to drive a wedge between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

(Of course, in reality, after the Treaty of Alliance, the Federation must have turned a blind eye to such uncomfortable cries for freedom and the subsequent Klingon crashes of rebellion).
 
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