The Undiscovered Country...

[Therin of Andor]

Wow, I had no idea they had intended to bring Colicos back as Kor. However, as David Gerrold himself noted (with specific examples), "Tribbles" was rather hurriedly directed; Colicos as Kor in a comedy, if not well handled, might have (retrospectively) had a bad effect on fans' memory of Colicos' performance in "Errand of Mercy."

Hey, Colicos is a talented guy.

IIRC, Gerrold's first draft had a role for Rand, too, but by the time the episode was firming up, Rand had gone - but there was a plan by the producers that Kor should be a recurring antagonist for Kirk.

 

[CoveTom]

I don't see anything in "Tribbles" that would have potentially tarnished fans' view of Kor. When you look at it overall, Koloth actually had a fairly small role to play in that episode, and he wasn't doing anything overly comedic. I think you could have put Kor in that role without much difficulty.

 

[Satyrquaze]

Balance of Terror and The Day of the Dove.

"Balance of Terror" was, of course, a story about the Romulans. While it might be argued that it showed some racism, it did not establish a pattern of racism toward the Klingons. Even still, I'm not sure I would agree that it shows racism or bigotry, except in Mr. Stiles reactions to Spock after seeing the Romulans, which is immediately dealt with by Kirk.

Does something that is "dealt with" (read: shouted down) by a superior officer simply cease to exist? Racism is still racism regardless of the target. Balance of Terror, if nothing else shows that some form of bigotry and racism does still exist among humanity by the 23rd century.

 

[CoveTom]

But we're not talking about whether any form of racism, at all, exists amongst anyone in the 23rd century. We're talking about whether extremely strong, outright racism toward the Klingons exists among the senior staff/main characters that we'd come to know throughout the 79 episodes and 5 previous movies.

If anything, I'd argue that "Balance of Terror" proves the opposite, because Stiles' attitude and behavior is viewed very negatively by the senior staff. They appear to be shocked at the way he acts, and he is dressed down by Kirk very publicly and very quickly.

 

[BillJ]

But we're not talking about whether any form of racism, at all, exists amongst anyone in the 23rd century. We're talking about whether extremely strong, outright racism toward the Klingons exists among the senior staff/main characters that we'd come to know throughout the 79 episodes and 5 previous movies.

If anything, I'd argue that "Balance of Terror" proves the opposite, because Stiles' attitude and behavior is viewed very negatively by the senior staff. They appear to be shocked at the way he acts, and he is dressed down by Kirk very publicly and very quickly.

But is that actually it? Or is it the fact that Stiles is very publicly accusing Kirk's friend of being a traitor?