What Has Discovery Added To Star Trek Lore?
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That could be so. This redundancy carries with it a whole host of cultural implications that have yet to be explored.
Why the transformation surgery is so painful.
Especially when we are presented with information later in TNG that Klingons' biological ancestors were humanoids with exoskeletons (TNG: Genesis). I'm ignoring the absurdity of the idea from "TNG: The Chase" that an ancient race had the ability to guide 4 billion years of evolution -- evolution that is mostly dependent on the varied environmental conditions on a planet like Earth over those 4 billion years -- simply by initial genetic coding in the primordial soup.
But Star Trek is only "lite fare" sci-fi, so I'll let that slide.
I also let slide other ideas presented in-universe by Star Trek that seemingly contradict the science in "The Chase". I mean, while keeping in mind the stuff we were told in "The Chase", the idea floated by "Genesis" about Klingon ancestors with exoskeleton seems like such a evolutionary departure off the path to modern Klingons that the scientifically sensible part of me finds it hard to believe that Klingon evolution would ever result in the Klingons we see today.
As I said, I let it slide in-universe because any Star Trek fan can reconcile the two seemingly contradictory ideas presented in "TNG: The Chase" and later in "TNG: Genesis". All it takes some mental gymnastics to do so -- and I think those particular metal gymnastic are more involved than the ones some people seem unwilling to do for DSC.
I generally liked DSC Season 1, but there were some story-telling and tone issues I had with it. However, I had no problems reconciling anything said or shown in DSC with existing Star Trek TV shows and the films directly derived from those shows. Some people who seem to be keying on "trying to reconcile DSC with canon" as being their main problem with the show need to remember that we Star Trek fans have always needed to be very inventive in the past with making previous Star Trek series remain consistent with each other, and even each series being internally consistent with itself.
All of this is true.
But Trek is visionary because it "predicted" flip phones.*
*Remember flip phones?
They're about to be back with a vengeance:
https://www.complex.com/life/2019/01/motorola-razr-flip-phone-returning-this-year
I still like them. I carried one as my personal phone, since work assigns me an iphone, until it wasn't an option. New advances plus bendable displays are going to bring it back.
I just want a phone that won't break when I drop it.
Buy a Samsung.*
*It may explode in your pocket. Other than that one little thing, they're pretty durable.
I'm hell on phones. Work has been outfitting me with otterbox covers for the last few years and it seems to be working.I just want a phone that won't break when I drop it.
I love those
Yeah aaa, had two of those through the years, one burned itself out and the other was defective before it even hit the floor.
I'm an LG kinda guy now (cause I can't afford anything with an apple on it) and over the last 4 years I've essentially worn them out from use rather than from droppage.
I'm currently engaged to a Stylo 4 and so far (knock on my wooden head) I'm quite happy with it.
Well... I don't think that a lot of what we see in "Genesis" should necessarily be taken as evidence of direct descent. That would mean humans are descended from big multi-eyed spiders (which also have exoskeletons), and cats are descended from iguanas.
What an episode!
Kor
Still have one. What do you mean "remember?"
That's funny.
<major nerdage incoming>
I still have my very first phone in a box somewhere around here as well.
It was my very first working Trek Communicator waaaay back in 2001.
Yup. I enjoy flip phones for this reason. My daughters even enjoy playing with my communicator toys as phones
True, I forgot about Barclay. Leave it to Reg to become a spider.Well... I don't think that a lot of what we see in "Genesis" should necessarily be taken as evidence of direct descent. That would mean humans are descended from big multi-eyed spiders (which also have exoskeletons), and cats are descended from iguanas.
What an episode!
Kor
But in Spot's case, Earth mammals (including humans) probably do have a direct lineage to iguana-like reptiles. Early proto-mammals were possum-like, weasel-like, and shrew-like creatures who had things in common with land reptiles.
It’s just a story. The point of Spock is that he’s a man torn between two peoples trying to find his own way and finding it through his friends and crew. Star Trek isn’t about science, it about the people doing the science. Warp drives, transporters, spore drives, holograms, replicators, they’re all just tools used to tell that story. They have very little importance to it. Hell the Enterprise only means anything to us because it means so much to Kirk and the crew.
The Mirror-Enterprise instantly conveys the impression of being dimmer and more eerily lit from the moment Our Heroes™ materialize on her transporter pad instead of their own, if only due to swapping out its whitish backing panels for greenish ones, and forgoing the upper lights.
If not every subsequent scene went out of its way to maintain that impression, so what? It's not as if we can really take lighting in TOS all that literally, anyway. (I quite like @Timo's suggestion elsewhere that the eyes of Our Heroes™ quickly adjust to the murkiness, with the cinematography shifting accordingly.)
And on the other side of the looking glass, our first glimpse of Mirror-Kirk and company comes after they've already been caught onto, and are being escorted to the brig. When they initially materialized, and were no doubt found blinded, flailing around the Enterprise-Prime's transporter room screaming in pain and cursing violently, with no apparent explanation (or would it instead be immediately apparent to Spock?), the very first thing that would be done is they'd be rushed to sickbay to get checked out, where Chapel would have administered them the very same treatment Mirror-Lorca received. Why not?
Elsewhere, the MU is pretty much always lit darkly (as indeed DS9-Prime was by comparison to TOS/TNG/VGR), so what DSC posits only requires minimal squinting (both on our part and that of the characters).
Even before that, we had B'Etor threatening to eat Garak's tongue in "Past Prologue" (DS9).
And then there's this...
Metaphorical or not, there is a nice synchronicity to be observed there, and in the earlier exchange where Korris asks of Worf's affiliations with humans and Starfleet: "Tell me, what it is like for the hunter to lie down with the prey?" Not just with DSC, but reaching back to "Day Of The Dove" (TOS) where Mara describes her people and their aggressive expansionism thusly: "We are hunters, Captain, tracking and taking what we need...to survive." And also forward to "Birthright" (TNG), where the significance of hunting in Klingon culture (even in childhood) is further expounded upon in various ways, and among the lessons Toq learns is: "You do not kill an animal unless you intend to eat it." How far does that philosophy extend, and how literally? Who could say but the writers? (By which of course I mean current and future ones, too, not merely the ones who wrote those particular episodes.) Ha'DIbaH, meaning "animal," is an oft-used Klingon insult, after all.
Well, the very episode you cite here seems to set taking the action at least once in life as among the requirements for entering Sto-vo-kor, although it also establishes that there is at least one way to circumvent this, posthumously: a loved one winning a battle in the name of the deceased. Easy enough for a Klingon, I suppose.
Nevertheless, I agree with you that DSC has added plenty to the tapestry of Klingon lore, from the Black Fleet to the Followers of Molor...and beyond.
We also have the man at the Klingon outpost in "Firstborn" (TNG) claiming, if dubiously, to be in possession of the mummified head of Molor. And while not a reference to mummification specifically, "The Ship" (DS9) establishes the ritual of ak'voh, "an old Klingon tradition" in which the comrades of a fallen warrior watch over the body to ward off predators while the spirit prepares to make its way to Sto-vo-kor. (Assuming Worf didn't make it all up for O'Brien's benefit, of course.)
That the bodies of those who have fallen within the predator-free confines of the Enterprise-D in "Heart Of Glory" (TNG) happen to be deemed "empty shells" requiring no further care almost immediately may reflect only the particular circumstances there, with their spirits having made their way swiftly to the afterlife, not wanting to linger among Federation petaQ. With all of these practices, we could well be dealing with variations on a theme, rather than deep contrasts of fundamental belief (although the latter could readily be involved as well).
Returning to "Blood Oath" for a moment, in context not only of this particular subject but others as well, we should make general note of elder Kang's lament that "the old Klingon ways are passing." As for exactly which ways he means, and precisely how old they might be, there is a wide latitude for interpretation (and reinterpretation). After all, two centuries earlier in "Judgment" (ENT), we find Kolos too lamenting shifts in Klingon culture that he has witnessed over the course of his career, shifts seemingly toward that of which Kang regrets the loss. And let's not forget Jadzia's editorial annotations to Sirella's family saga in "You Are Cordially Invited" (DS9)...
DAX: ...but the second Dynasty ended when General K'Trelan assassinated Emperor Reclaw. For the next ten years, the Empire was ruled by a Council elected by the people. Modern-day Klingon historians refer to this as "The Dark Time," but it's interesting to note that this first and only experiment in Klingon democracy actually produced several reforms that—
SIRELLA: You are straying from the saga!
DAX: Am I?
SIRELLA: Your task is to recite the complete chronicle of the women in my family.
DAX: I just thought I'd give you a broader historical perspective along the way.
SIRELLA: I am familiar with Klingon history. Now, return to the story of my twenty-third maternal grandmother, Shenara, daughter of Emperor Reclaw in the Second Dynasty.
DAX: Well, that's where we run into a little bit of a problem. You see, I did some research, and when Emperor Reclaw was killed, all of the members of the Imperial Family were put to death, including Shenara. When the Third Dynasty was founded ten years later, a new group of Klingons were given the titles and the names of the original Imperial Family, to create the illusion of an unbroken line. So the woman that you think of as your twenty-third maternal grandmother isn't related to you at all. Your real ancestor's name was Karana, a concubine living outside the Imperial stables.
SIRELLA: [insistently] My grandmother's name was Shenara.
DAX: That may be what's been passed down from generation to generation, but it has no basis in fact. But who cares about facts? The chronicle says that you have imperial blood in your veins, and that's exactly what we'll keep telling everyone.
SIRELLA: You are straying from the saga!
DAX: Am I?
SIRELLA: Your task is to recite the complete chronicle of the women in my family.
DAX: I just thought I'd give you a broader historical perspective along the way.
SIRELLA: I am familiar with Klingon history. Now, return to the story of my twenty-third maternal grandmother, Shenara, daughter of Emperor Reclaw in the Second Dynasty.
DAX: Well, that's where we run into a little bit of a problem. You see, I did some research, and when Emperor Reclaw was killed, all of the members of the Imperial Family were put to death, including Shenara. When the Third Dynasty was founded ten years later, a new group of Klingons were given the titles and the names of the original Imperial Family, to create the illusion of an unbroken line. So the woman that you think of as your twenty-third maternal grandmother isn't related to you at all. Your real ancestor's name was Karana, a concubine living outside the Imperial stables.
SIRELLA: [insistently] My grandmother's name was Shenara.
DAX: That may be what's been passed down from generation to generation, but it has no basis in fact. But who cares about facts? The chronicle says that you have imperial blood in your veins, and that's exactly what we'll keep telling everyone.
That any given tradition may be "ancient," or claimed to be, does not by any stretch necessarily mean it has remained unchanged or uninterrupted through the course of history. Quite the opposite, in fact, more often than not. And we find further reinforcement of this axiom in "Reunion" (TNG), where K'Ehleyr and Picard hit upon the play of invoking the ja'chuq, an element of the Rite of Succession considered "obsolete" in the "modern" form of the ceremony, yet one still in the playbook awaiting the whim of any Arbiter so disposed.
And they were also the ones originally characterized (if only through hearsay, or jest) as being in the habit of eating their business associates as well! But then, they were meant to be the "new Klingons" for TNG, after all...
For the record, here is the passage in question from "Ethics" (TNG)...
RUSSELL: Overdesigned...Klingon anatomy. Twenty-three ribs, two livers, eight-chambered heart, double-lined neural pia mater...I've never seen so many unnecessary redundancies in one body.
CRUSHER: Unnecessary? The Klingons refer to it as the brak'lul. Almost every vital function in their bodies has a built-in redundancy in case any primary organ or system fails.
RUSSELL: It's a good design in theory, but in practice, all the extra organs means just that much more can go wrong.
CRUSHER: Unnecessary? The Klingons refer to it as the brak'lul. Almost every vital function in their bodies has a built-in redundancy in case any primary organ or system fails.
RUSSELL: It's a good design in theory, but in practice, all the extra organs means just that much more can go wrong.
"Macrocosm" (VGR) and "Lineage" (VGR) further specify a second stomach and a third lung, at least in the cases of B'Elanna Torres and Miral Paris, respectively.
Possibly, but the female equivalent of the penis is neither the vagina nor the womb...it is the clitoris. Think about that!
Such reactions are precisely what that redundant Klingon stomach is supposed to help with!It's revolting. Also I don't want to think about Klingon sexual organs. Now I'm left pondering how Worf had sex with Troi and both Daxes. And no, I don't want any suggestions
In all seriousness, you might find the idea revolting, but there must be plenty of human women who wouldn't...else, whither so many double-pronged sex toys manufactured and sold worldwide?
As above, it merely proves the point(s) Guinan emphasized to Worf in "Yesterday's Enterprise" (TNG)...
GUINAN: All right, try this.
WORF: [tentatively] What is it?
GUINAN: Just try it!
GUINAN: [off his pleasant surprise] You see? It's an Earth drink. Prune juice.
WORF: A warrior's drink.
GUINAN: You know, you always drink alone. It wouldn't hurt you to seek out a little...companionship.
WORF: I would require a Klingon woman for companionship. Earth females are too fragile.
GUINAN: Not all of them. There are a few on this ship that would find you tame.
WORF: [bellows laughter] Impossible!
GUINAN: You never know 'til you try.
WORF: Then I will never know.
GUINAN: Coward.
WORF: I was merely concerned for the safety of my crewmates.
GUINAN: Drink your prune juice...
WORF: [tentatively] What is it?
GUINAN: Just try it!
GUINAN: [off his pleasant surprise] You see? It's an Earth drink. Prune juice.
WORF: A warrior's drink.
GUINAN: You know, you always drink alone. It wouldn't hurt you to seek out a little...companionship.
WORF: I would require a Klingon woman for companionship. Earth females are too fragile.
GUINAN: Not all of them. There are a few on this ship that would find you tame.
WORF: [bellows laughter] Impossible!
GUINAN: You never know 'til you try.
WORF: Then I will never know.
GUINAN: Coward.
WORF: I was merely concerned for the safety of my crewmates.
GUINAN: Drink your prune juice...
"The Emissary" (TNG) seems to imply that full humans and full Klingons cannot breed without medical assistance/intervention:
TROI: I didn't know it was possible for a human and a Klingon to produce a child.
K'EHLEYR: Actually, the DNA is compatible, with a fair amount of help...rather like my parents.
K'EHLEYR: Actually, the DNA is compatible, with a fair amount of help...rather like my parents.
Note that in both instances of natural conception that we saw, namely Alexander Rozhenko and Miral Paris, one of the parents was already a half-human/half-Klingon hybrid to begin with.
(Or does K'Ehleyr merely refer to the creative positions involved? Possibly so.)
All real-world biological absurdities aside, just within the fiction on its own terms, those don't seem contradictory to me. How on Earth (or rather Qo'noS) could a race of glorified lobsters evolve into humanoid form, you ask? Under the overriding direction of ancient genetic programming which inexorably leads to that result in spite of all confounding factors, comes the answer! It may indeed be as scientifically nonsensical as any number of other firmly-established Trek concepts, but if, as you say (and I agree with your thrust here), the order of the day is to let things slide, then my palate finds this one already fairly well-lubricated. (Something surely key to human-Klingon relations!)
Except, even by most pre-DSC indications, and all Spock's deep-seated insecurities notwithstanding, Sarek would seem to be rather the last person we'd expect to prefer a more "traditional Vulcan" child to one "so human" as him.
In "Journey To Babel" (TOS) Amanda tells Kirk that "Sarek wanted Spock to follow his teachings, as Sarek followed the teachings of his own father." What we know of Sarek's own father, Skon, is that he translated Vulcan works into Earth languages for the consumption of humans, per "Two Days And Two Nights" (ENT). And Skon's father, Solkar, was the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth, per "The Catwalk" (ENT). This is not a lineage of insular "traditional Vulcans" seeking to keep humans and other volatile beings at arm's length to avoid discomfort, but of those who reach out to engage and embrace humans, and it is these teachings that Sarek himself follows in every way possible, including by marrying at least two, first Amanda and later Perrin from "Sarek" (TNG). Per "Yesteryear" (TAS) and ST'09, he may even have been considered a "shame" and a "traitor" by some on his homeworld for this reason. He unabashedly trumpets from the top of Mount Seleya that his emotions for Spock outweigh his logic in STIII. Per STV, his first (?) son, Sybok, somehow came to reject logic altogether and proselytize the abandonment of traditional Vulcan beliefs in the name of "self-knowledge." While we don't know exactly what if any role Sarek played in sparking that, it's worth noting that in "Profit And Loss" (DS9), Garak suggests Bashir's maxim of "before you can be loyal to another, you must be loyal to yourself" to be a sentiment Sarek might well have shared...a far cry from "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one"!
Sarek may not have been himself a V'tosh ka'tur—though he could well have been labeled such by hardliners, as "Fusion" (ENT) and "Stigma" (ENT) suggest many undeservingly were a century earlier—despite having fathered one. But on the other hand, he was certainly no Logic Extremist, nor anything remotely resembling one.
Thus, to me, what DSC adds in builds upon and flows organically from what we already knew of Sarek. He sought to buck the xenophobic attitudes of his culture's prevailing establishment by introducing to it Michael and Spock in all their glorious humanity. He wanted his children to bring their heritage of acceptance and integration of such humanity within Vulcan society to full fruition, and by the same token wanted each of them to accept what he saw as the positive aspects of being Vulcan. His ideal was fusion of the best of both worlds, a combination of diversity which recognized that "Vulcan offers much," yet also that "some human blood in [the] family line...is not fatal."
And really, if Sarek had simply wanted Spock to play the role of "traditional Vulcan" in life, the Science Academy would be among the least opportune places for success in this outcome, because it's precisely where he would stand the slimmest chance of ever being accepted as such, no matter how hard he tried. (Much like Worf among his own people.) Serving in Starfleet on a ship full of humans for whom he would forever represent (truly or falsely) the quintessential exemplar of his father's race, simply by virtue of being the only such representative (or at least one of relatively few), would seem an eminently more logical choice then, were that the case.
DSC's take on it makes sense for the character, IMO.
-MMoM
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