Who were those Klingons??

[USS Excelsior]

Klingons were segregated according to their foreheads? Kor got plastic surgery to add the forehead ridges?

With the case of Kang, Koloth, and Kor they simply got better and their ridges appeared for the first time.

That DS9 episode does throw that ENT explanation off a bit.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I honestly don't know how anyone can refer to the Enterprise "explanation" for the forehead difference as either elegant, or creative. Read the Ex Astris Scientia link posted above. There is a TON of rationalization you have to do for it to make any sense. Klingons were segregated according to their foreheads? Kor got plastic surgery to add the forehead ridges? Dr. Bashir had no knowledge of the existence of smooth-forehead Klingons? Sure, you CAN explain it all away if you try hard enough, but that sure doesn't make it "elegant".

Its about as elegant as any other explanation for Trek's inconsistencies.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Klingons were segregated according to their foreheads? Kor got plastic surgery to add the forehead ridges?

With the case of Kang, Koloth, and Kor they simply got better and their ridges appeared for the first time.

That DS9 episode does throw that ENT explanation off a bit.

No, at the end of said Enterprise episodes, someone remarks that there will probably be a big demand for cosmetic surgery... which I assume is what Kang got later.

 

[Hermiod]

This is such a common question I'm sure it's already been asked, however, I can't find it, so... In "Trouble with Tribbles" was it ever explained who those Klingons were. In the DS-9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" when questioned by the Chief, Bashir and Odo, Warf tell them it is an issue that Klingons do not discuss with outsiders. Was it ever explained in any greater detail, even the a book??

Well basically Manny Coto believed the fans needed a multi-episode arc to explain that in the 1960's, they just didn't have the budget for elaborate Klingon headpieces.

Thankfully, by the time his explanation aired, few were watching.

Unfortunately for your argument it was DS9 that caused the problem at a time when they were going through the 30th anniversary, they had two shows on the air and they were coming off the back of Star Trek: First Contact, one of the more successful Star Trek films.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Yes, I agree, it was DS9 that made a huge mistake, by assuming that Trek fans had a sense of humor, and would just laugh at the in-joke and let that be the end of it.

Personally, I'm waiting for the movie trilogy that explains why some Trill have forehead ridges and some have spots.

 

[Astraea]

Yes, I agree, it was DS9 that made a huge mistake, by assuming that Trek fans had a sense of humor, and would just laugh at the in-joke and let that be the end of it.

Personally, I'm waiting for the movie trilogy that explains why some Trill have forehead ridges and some have spots.

According to the novel Forged in Fire, the Trill with forehead ridges are from a Trill colony world that was infected with a strain of the Augment virus.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, I agree, it was DS9 that made a huge mistake, by assuming that Trek fans had a sense of humor, and would just laugh at the in-joke and let that be the end of it.

Personally, I'm waiting for the movie trilogy that explains why some Trill have forehead ridges and some have spots.

The humor comes from the fact we do talk about and talk about it and talk about.....

Still the ENT solution isn't that bad. 22nd Century: Klingons afflicted by a disfiguring virus. 23rd Century: A cure is found. 24th Century: Most non Klingons have forgotten about the virus.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

According to the novel Forged in Fire, the Trill with forehead ridges are from a Trill colony world that was infected with a strain of the Augment virus.

You've got to be joking.

EVERYTIME YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT SEEMS OUT OF CONTINUITY, IT WAS BECAUSE THE AUGMENT VIRUS OR Q DID IT!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There is a TON of rationalization you have to do for it to make any sense. Klingons were segregated according to their foreheads?

Maybe not overtly, but they could have been so self-conscious about it (as we know Klingons can be) that they *voluntarily* did so, to themselves. They are, after all, called QuchHa' - the unhappy ones.

Kor got plastic surgery to add the forehead ridges?

That makes perfect sense to me. Klingons would want to get their true appearance back, any way they could.

Dr. Bashir had no knowledge of the existence of smooth-forehead Klingons?

Why would he? He's never met any, never had to treat any. McCoy in ST VI didn't have the medical knowledge *he* needed for Klingon anatomy, either.

I mean, would you ask why Kahless was presented in TOS as a QuchHa' when we all know he wasn't? It's because the image of him was taken from the mind of Captain Kirk, who had only ever met that type of Klingon.

 

[Nerys Myk]

According to the novel Forged in Fire, the Trill with forehead ridges are from a Trill colony world that was infected with a strain of the Augment virus.

You've got to be joking.

EVERYTIME YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT SEEMS OUT OF CONTINUITY, IT WAS BECAUSE THE AUGMENT VIRUS OR Q DID IT!

No, but that one makes some sense.

 

[Ziz]

Granted, the forehead issue didn't NEED explaining, but I thought Affliction/Divergence was a creative way of doing it. Frankly, it was "Tribble-ations" which brought the whole issue to the fore to begin with.

Now someone will accuse you of bumping the thread.

Compare my quoting of his post to his original. I added the emphasis to point out a joke that he may or may not have realized he was making.