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Tench745

Klingon Forehead Problem

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One day I was reading on some website about a very... interesting topic. The Klingon Forehead Problem was what they referred to it as. As most of us know, the Klingon in TOS had no ridges on their foreheads. When TNG came out they had ridges. No problem. Everyone accepted that TOS was low budget and couldn't afford the fancy foreheads. So Klingons always had ridges. Now for the problem... In DS9 Trials and Tribbleations No Klingons had Ridges, and Worf commented that the Klingons didn't talk about that time because the thing where they had no ridges was embarrassing. Well... that was a problem because in Voyager the crew come upon... KLINGONS! However, that is not all. These Klingons all have ridges, and they left the alpha Quadrant about the time of TOS. does anyone have any Ideas why this is?

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I'm not positive, and would have to rewatch the ep, but I think the Klingons you're referring to in VOY stated they had left Klingon space close to 50 yrs. ago. That would put them closer to the time of the Ent-B and C, when Klingons had forehead ridges. Other than that, yeh it's a big continuity issue and alot of people think ENT passed up an oportunity to explain it. :assimilated:

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They Actually Got The Ridges In 'The Motion Picture', But Anywas Yes. This Has Been Am Issue...Especially After Enterprise Aired

 

ENT - Pre-TOS Ridges

 

TOS - Pre-Movie No Ridges

 

TOS Movies - Now Ridges

 

 

 

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH :assimilated::borg2::borg2::dude:

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One day I was reading on some website about a very... interesting topic. The Klingon Forehead Problem was what they referred to it as. As most of us know, the Klingon in TOS had no ridges on their foreheads. When TNG came out they had ridges. No problem. Everyone accepted that TOS was low budget and couldn't afford the fancy foreheads. So Klingons always had ridges. Now for the problem... In DS9 Trials and Tribbleations No Klingons had Ridges, and Worf commented that the Klingons didn't talk about that time because the thing where they had no ridges was embarrassing. Well... that was a problem because in Voyager the crew come upon... KLINGONS! However, that is not all. These Klingons all have ridges, and they left the alpha Quadrant about the time of TOS. does anyone have any Ideas why this is?

The way I see it, TOS had a low budget. They were allways ment to be seen as they were in the movies and TNG. As for DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations", that was DS9's 100th episode and a spoof at that. The scene about Klingon foreheads was a joke and not ment to be taken serriously. That's my take on the issue. :assimilated:

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One day I was reading on some website about a very... interesting topic. The Klingon Forehead Problem was what they referred to it as. As most of us know, the Klingon in TOS had no ridges on their foreheads. When TNG came out they had ridges. No problem. Everyone accepted that TOS was low budget and couldn't afford the fancy foreheads. So Klingons always had ridges. Now for the problem... In DS9 Trials and Tribbleations No Klingons had Ridges, and Worf commented that the Klingons didn't talk about that time because the thing where they had no ridges was embarrassing. Well... that was a problem because in Voyager the crew come upon... KLINGONS! However, that is not all. These Klingons all have ridges, and they left the alpha Quadrant about the time of TOS. does anyone have any Ideas why this is?

The way I see it, TOS had a low budget. They were allways ment to be seen as they were in the movies and TNG. As for DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations", that was DS9's 100th episode and a spoof at that. The scene about Klingon foreheads was a joke and not ment to be taken serriously. That's my take on the issue. :assimilated:

Stardate:21426.9

 

 

 

Exactly what CLJP said.Yeh its a big continuity issue but I think its accepted that TOS could not afford the ridges on thier budget

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Exactly what CLJP said.Yeh its a big continuity issue but I think its accepted that TOS could not afford the ridges on thier budget

Yes, but we could also argue that not only could they not afford the ridges, they didn't think to use them.

Edited by cassidy

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I have read the theories to explain this, on the net, in the past. I can't remember them all but they were something like this:

 

That a disease struck the Klingons at this time causing them to temporarily loose their ridges

 

That the Klingons shown on TOS had been surgically altered so as to be able to infiltrate the Federation covertly on spy missions

 

That the increased human presence caused a fashion trend (!!!!) amongst some races to look more human

 

That an omnipotent being (like a Q) thought it would be funny to make Klingons look a bit more human for a while

 

Silly things like that. Do you have any more possible explanations - just for laughs!!!

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The 'Klingon's all catching a genetic disease that caused them to temporarily lose their ridges' explanation would be the most fitting within the Trek universe, but I believe it was purely down to the low budget of TOS that they didnt originally have them

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Exactly my point, Perhaps that's why Worf didnt want to explain the story, passing it off as 'embarrasing'!!!!!

 

(Ok, maybe not, but its a funny idea)

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Well, I heard theories similar to those of prometheus, but if a genetic disease had been the culprit, it would have been a rather quick recovery.

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Remember that genetics had travelled a long way by that point, once thy isolated the gene that was causeing the problem, they could eradicate it

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I never really have had a problem with the changing foreheads. I suspect tptb have a plan to eventualy address (and solve) it on ENT and if they do; great but if they don't - o'well. *waits patiently to see*

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Exactly my point, Perhaps that's why Worf didnt want to explain the story, passing it off as 'embarrasing'!!!!!

 

(Ok, maybe not, but its a funny idea)

Perhaps the klingons all died about the time of TOS, and a new race secretly stepped in and pretended they were klingons.. That's why Worf passes it off as embarrassing, he is afraid that the truth might be revealed! :laugh:

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Exactly my point, Perhaps that's why Worf didnt want to explain the story, passing it off as 'embarrasing'!!!!!

 

(Ok, maybe not, but its a funny idea)

Perhaps the klingons all died about the time of TOS, and a new race secretly stepped in and pretended they were klingons.. That's why Worf passes it off as embarrassing, he is afraid that the truth might be revealed! :)

OMG i've started off a trek conspiricy!

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Exactly my point, Perhaps that's why Worf didnt want to explain the story, passing it off as 'embarrasing'!!!!!

 

(Ok, maybe not, but its a funny idea)

Perhaps the klingons all died about the time of TOS, and a new race secretly stepped in and pretended they were klingons.. That's why Worf passes it off as embarrassing, he is afraid that the truth might be revealed! :)

OMG i've started off a trek conspiricy!

Perhaps you are the one responsible for this, ARMS!

You destroyed an entire race, for that I challenge you!

:)

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I find the first Q theory, and the Under-Resourced Creator Theory to be most believable. The creator being, of course, Gene Roddenberry.

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Of course if you want to talk about a discontinuity, Khaless and Kor have been portrayed as both smooth-headed and ridge-headed. In fact, both the smooth and ridged Kor were played by the same actor! Now try explaining that!

 

In fact, a powerful Klingon insult is "Hab SoSlI' Quch!". It means "Your mother has a smooth forehead."

Edited by lt_van_roy

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Guest -*Tench745*-

Well that issue is discussed in the article in Mike_Hines01's post.

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Interesting thread, I missed it the first go around it looks like. Of course the whole debate has been resolved by Enterprise season 4 episodes Affliction and Divergence. So we now know that the whole "Ridgeless vs. Ridges" story.

 

I myself liked the way they explained it. It was better than just leaving it at "We don't talk about it".

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