What is your favorite incarnation of "Klingons?"

[ichab]

To me the Klingon makeup for the movies and TNG era are the same. I don't notice much difference. TNG onwards certainly fleshed out the culture and made them more interesting, but they looked the same as they did in the movies.
TOS klingons look silly, Kelvin klingons were far more intimidating and Discovery klingons were horrible. I don't know why they didn't just leave the makeup alone once they had been so well established in TNG and DS9. Just make a new race if you want something different

 

[fireproof78]

I don't know why they didn't just leave the makeup alone

They wanted a more alien look, same as TMP. It's not so vastly different that I can't see they are Klingons. Especially after Season 2.

 

[Jadeb]

To me, the movie Klingons are an extension of the TOS Klingons. They were ruthless, and they weren't going on and on about honor, and all these honor-bound rituals. They generally seemed more cunning and intelligent than the Klingon oafs who would show up in the 24th century. And, significantly, there was absolutely no indication that the movie-era Klingons put any importance on this religious belief system with Sto-vo-kor, Gre'thor, etc.

This is why they’re my favorites. The later Klingons had better visuals (though the TOS Klingon glitter is pretty groovy), but the honor ‘n’ glory business got dull fast and reduced them to a one-note species.

 

[C.E. Evans]

TNG-era Klingons.

 

[Kor]

To me the Klingon makeup for the movies and TNG era are the same. I don't notice much difference. TNG onwards certainly fleshed out the culture and made them more interesting, but they looked the same as they did in the movies.
...

The TNG (and DS9 and VOY) Klingon makeup was more elaborate than the TSFS-TUC Klingon makeup. Michael Westmore added a nosepiece with ornate ridges going all the way down to the tip of the nose, and also those gnarly sharp teeth.

Compare Kruge: https://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0955.jpg
or Klaa: https://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch5/tffhd0526.jpg
or Kerla: https://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tuchd/tuchd0560.jpg
with TNG-era Gowron: https://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/season-4/4x07/reunion-hd-217.jpg

Also, Klingon women in the movies had much less pronounced ridges. If they had showed up in the TNG era looking like that, people would have thought that they weren't full Klingons. That's evident in T'Greth's reaction to B'elanna's small ridges in VOY "Prophecy," when she looked just as Klingon as any of the Klingon women of the TSFS-TUC era.

Kor

 

[Tim Thomason]

There are really only three incarnations of Klingons:

• Original Klingons, seen in TOS, TAS, DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations" and Enterprise's Affliction & Divergence.
• New Klingons, seen in the Star Trek movies (all of them except 2 and 13), all the Berman era shows, Lower Decks, and Picard. We can argue over subsets, such as the ones in TMP versus the ones in TSfS and the ones that showed up in TNG Season 1, vs. the ones in the later seasons and series. But these are all refinements of the same makeup style, and meant to be the same. DS9 tells us that they are meant to be different than the Original Klingons, and Enterprise explains why.
• Disco Klingons, seen in Discovery and Short Treks. The implication I have is that these are genetic mutations, fighting against the changes inflicted during Enterprise (and apparently rampant during TOS), but we don't really know. Season 2 shows them morphing into the New Klingons, so this might be better categorized as a subset of New Klingons, and there might only be two direct incarnations of Klingons.

 

[NCC-73515]

There was a Disco Klingon in LDS?

 

[Tim Thomason]

There was a Disco Klingon in LDS?

My bad. I was working off of old information. There were Algolians seen in Envoys that were confused with Disco Klingons by a few of us at the time. They look very Klingon-y, and not very Algolian-y, but they're wearing Algolian clothing.

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

Kelvin Film Klingons, hands down. Closely followed by DSC Klingons and TUC Klingons. I find the TUC makeup to be enough variety and different to really stand apart on its own.

Kelvin movie Klingons. Those helmets and outfits were soooo badass, and loved the blue eyes of the leader on Kronos. And I loved their D4 fighter and Warbird (which was just a scaled up K'Tinga, with extras bolted on)

Kelvin film Klingons! They're really badass! Of course in the movie they get their collective asses kicked by one man but it's a genetically enhanced one.

I found the Kelvin era Klingons to be a lazy rehash of previous film Klingons. There wasn't much to them. Abrams made no attempt to address any of the "mutation" canon that was established by the Enterprise series.

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

To me, the movie Klingons are an extension of the TOS Klingons. They were ruthless, and they weren't going on and on about honor, and all these honor-bound rituals. They generally seemed more cunning and intelligent than the Klingon oafs who would show up in the 24th century. And, significantly, there was absolutely no indication that the movie-era Klingons put any importance on this religious belief system with Sto-vo-kor, Gre'thor, etc.

Kor

Are we talking appearance or behavior?

It's TNG+ version either way for me

I was referring more to physical appearance, but I can understand where emotional attributes would be a consideration. I think that measure gets a little more nuanced though, especially since they blended the eras (e.g., Kor appering in both TOS and DS9).

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

Kelvin and DSC.

Those versions look like a fierce, alien warrior race (not some guy covered in grease paint).

To me, there is no worse version of Klingons than DSC Klingons. One thing Klingons have never been is expressionless. DSC Klingons have so many prosthetics, that they can't even make facial expressions. Cheap face paint beats expressionless prosthetics 24/7. I agree with @Dukhat when he says DSC Klingons could have easily just been another race.

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

To me the Klingon makeup for the movies and TNG era are the same. I don't notice much difference. TNG onwards certainly fleshed out the culture and made them more interesting, but they looked the same as they did in the movies.
TOS klingons look silly, Kelvin klingons were far more intimidating and Discovery klingons were horrible. I don't know why they didn't just leave the makeup alone once they had been so well established in TNG and DS9. Just make a new race if you want something different

They wanted a more alien look, same as TMP. It's not so vastly different that I can't see they are Klingons. Especially after Season 2.

I read somewhere that DSC Klingons looked very different for proprietary reasons because Paramount and CBS shared different rights to the Star Trek universe. CBS absorbed Paramount in 2019, but the damage had already been done by that point.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I read somewhere that DSC Klingons looked very different for proprietary reasons because Paramount and CBS shared different rights to the Star Trek universe. CBS absorbed Paramount in 2019, but the damage had already been done by that point.

Nah

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

Nah

Then there was absolutely no excuse for that expressionless prosthetic monstrosity.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Then there was absolutely no excuse for that expressionless prosthetic monstrosity.

The same excuse as changing them in TMP and again in TSFS and again in TNG...

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

The same excuse as changing them in TMP and again in TSFS and again in TNG...

They didn't make Klingons expressionless in TMP and again in TSFS and again in TNG... They only accomplished that in DSC.

 

[Dukhat]

The main reason why the DSC Klingons look the way they do is because of the story contrivance that

Spoiler

Voq and Ash Tyler are the same guy, and played by the same actor.

The whole ‘Fuller wanted to change them for the sake of change’ excuse was secondary to the true reason why they have heavy prosthetics.

 

[fireproof78]

The same excuse as changing them in TMP and again in TSFS and again in TNG...

Exactly. Its the nature of art.

 

[fireproof78]

I found the Kelvin era Klingons to be a lazy rehash of previous film Klingons. There wasn't much to them. Abrams made no attempt to address any of the "mutation" canon that was established by the Enterprise series.

Why would he?

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

Why would he?

For the same reasons Enterprise and DS9 chose to acknowledge it.