When Did Fans Learn of Klingon/Federation Peace?

[The Historian]

Hi all,

I'm doing some research, and it would be helpful to know when fans first learned that in the TNG era, the Klingons and Federation had signed a peace treaty. As I recall, the news was pretty controversial for some Trekkers.

The earliest mention of it I could find online was in a newspaper article from late July, 1987, before the show first aired. But I suspect that news was made public earlier than that? Say even in the spring of '87?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, especially if memories can be backed up with a link to an article, or anything like that.

 

[BillJ]

I'm not sure we learned about it until Michael Dorn (Worf) was added to the cast. Which was relatively late in the process.

Starlog and TV Guide would probably be your best bets for the information you're looking for. There was also tidbits of information in the DC Comics Star Trek letter column leading up to the premiere of TNG.

 

[BillJ]

It looks like issue 114 of Starlog is where they start reporting on TNG.

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Starlog_(magazine)

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Compendium may also have some information. I don't have mine handy at the moment.

 

[The Historian]

Hi BillJ,

From what I can tell (mostly from The Next Generation Companion), Worf wasn't made public until David Gerrold's Starlog column only a month before Encounter at Farpoint aired in late September.

But I know peace between Klingons and the Federation was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily News in July 1987, and I remember it being a topic argued in fanzines that entire summer. Maybe Roddenberry disclosed the news in an interview sometime between October 1986 and July?

 

[BillJ]

Hi BillJ,

From what I can tell (mostly from The Next Generation Companion), Worf wasn't made public until David Gerrold's Starlog column only a month before Encounter at Farpoint aired in late September.

But I know peace between Klingons and the Federation was mentioned in the Los Angeles Daily News in July 1987, and I remember it being a topic argued in fanzines that entire summer. Maybe Roddenberry disclosed the news in an interview sometime between October 1986 and July?

I know that we knew of Worf before August of 1987. There was a people magazine article about the shooting of the pilot and it probably published in June or July, if I remember correctly, I'm getting old.

 

[BillJ]

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097009,00.html

It was the August 31, 1987 issue.

Where The Next Generation really goes into warp drive, however, is with its principal players. As the title implies, this is an all-new crew, and with the exception of LeVar (Roots) Burton, who plays blind Lieutenant La Forge, and Wil (Stand By Me) Wheaton, who plays young Wes Crusher, the actors are less well-known. Royal Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart plays Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and Jonathan Frakes is his trusty sidekick, Commander William "Number One" Riker. Denise Crosby, Bing's granddaughter, is security chief Tasha Yar. Gates McFadden takes over Sick Bay as chief medical officer Dr. Beverly Crusher. Brent Spiner plays Lieutenant Commander Data, an android whose muscular prowess is matched by his memory. Michael Dorn is Lieutenant Worf, one of the now-chummy Klingons. Marina Sirtis is Deanna Troi, a half-human, half-Betazoid Starfleet counselor.

It looks like the earliest mention of the peace in Starlog is a comic in issue 123, page 27.

https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-123/123#page/n25/mode/2up

 

[Richard Baker]

"Michael Dorn is Lieutenant Worf, one of the now-chummy Klingons"
I think this is also the first and last time anybody dared to call a Klingon 'Chummy'

 

[stardream]

Some of us knew Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow.

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Michael Dorn is Lieutenant Worf, one of the now-chummy Klingons"
I think this is also the first and last time anybody dared to call a Klingon 'Chummy'

cH'uMMy is Klingon honorific.

 

[Ithekro]

The first time we saw other Klingons it was implied that the Klingons were even part of the Federation, or at the very least allied almost to the level of Vulcan and Earth back in the first season of TOS era. But by the second season it became clear the Klingons were still separate from the Federation and the alliance was more distant.

 

[The Historian]

Thanks for all the responses, everyone!

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097009,00.html

It was the August 31, 1987 issue.
---------------------------------------------
It looks like the earliest mention of the peace in Starlog is a comic in issue 123, page 27.

https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-123/123#page/n25/mode/2up

Appreciate the links, BillJ. All of that backs up my vague memory the Klingon peace was something fans had picked up on by the summer. Guess it can be confirmed it had happened by that August.

 

[The Wormhole]

The first time we saw other Klingons it was implied that the Klingons were even part of the Federation, or at the very least allied almost to the level of Vulcan and Earth back in the first season of TOS era. But by the second season it became clear the Klingons were still separate from the Federation and the alliance was more distant.

Actually, the second season still acted as though the Klingons were part of the Federation. It was Samaritan Snare when Wesley asked Picard about his story taking place "before the Klingons joined the Federation." It wasn't until the third season that it was decided the Klingons were just allied with the Federation rather than actual members.

 

[TheSubCommander]

I learned of Federation-Klingon peace shortly before Encounter at Farpoint debuted, thanks to Cherios!

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/09/star-trek-and-cheerios-part-of-a-balanced-breakfast/

 

[chevron]

I can remember when I learned of it. I had missed Star Trek IV in the cinemas because my local cinema didn't bother showing it. So I had to wait for the video rental which was probably a year later, so probably mid to late 1987.

At the start of the video tape there was a trailer for The Next Generation. It kind of introduced all the crew and there was a Klingon on the bridge! That was my one and only glimpse of the show for years as the BBC didn't start broadcasting it until 1990.

 

[BillJ]

I can remember when I learned of it. I had missed Star Trek IV in the cinemas because my local cinema didn't bother showing it. So I had to wait for the video rental which was probably a year later, so probably mid to late 1987.

At the start of the video tape there was a trailer for The Next Generation. It kind of introduced all the crew and there was a Klingon on the bridge! That was my one and only glimpse of the show for years as the BBC didn't start broadcasting it until 1990.

Wikipedia says the Star Trek IV VHS released on September 30, 1987 here in the States, which seems late. As the show itself started showing up in syndication on September 28th.

 

[chevron]

I can't find the UK release date, but I did just find the video intro on YouTube including the TNG trailer. I've watched it for the first time in 28 years. Good lord, 28 years...

I don't know if there any YouTube link rules so just search for Star Trek IV VHS opening.

 

[The Wormhole]

Nothing wrong with providing links to YouTube around here. Here's the video in question, which I think was shown on TV on US channels.

 

[BillJ]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKUmCS_Gyg[/yt]

 

[USS Triumphant]

I know when *I* first learned of it - the evening of October 24th, 1987. I had bought the novelization of Encounter at Farpoint earlier that day. That novel was also how I learned of the existence of the series, period - the cable system in the town I lived in at the time (Dwight, Illinois) did not have a channel that carried it! (Which resulted in me discovering that I could *just barely* pick up a channel that did out of Milwaukee if I sat on the floor behind my dad's recliner with my Sony Watchman - I had to keep an extra set of four rechargeable AA batteries to change out at the mid-show commercial break to watch a whole episode.)

But I don't know when that was first made public *anywhere*. So I've completely wasted your time here.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I've learned about the peace by just watching TNG (It was the first Trek show I saw).