ussacclaim 0 Posted June 17, 2004 Well, I'm sure this has been addressed already, but it hit me one day so I thought I'd mention it. The debate over the physical change of Klingons between TOS and TNG. It just has to be the makeup thing. I have considered the two-species theory (or something to that effect) but I saw an episode that kills that idea. In the TOS episode "The savage Curtain" they have Kahless in the TOS Klingon style. Then in "Rightful Heir" Kahless is the new Klingon style. Again, just thought I'd mention it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted June 17, 2004 (edited) Imo all Klingons are born with ridges, PERIOD. During the time of TOS many of them (the ones we saw) were Klingons who opted to have cosmetic surgery done to remove the ridges so they'd look like Humans... (that is the, "shameful thing" Worf means by; "they don't speak of", in Trials & Tribbulations) ...as part of some stupid ill-conceived plan* of deception against Humans that failed. Perhaps they'd been unable to score a major victory against Humans since the time of Archer. The Duras family was probably behind the plan that used cosmetic surgery as part of the *plan. (<whatever it was, we don't know except for McCoys finding out about the alterations) Edited June 17, 2004 by Alterego Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeanway 0 Posted June 17, 2004 (edited) I did notice how exceptionally large Worf's head was in TOS, it seemed to have shrunk later though. What was that about? Edited June 17, 2004 by Jeanway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ussacclaim 0 Posted June 18, 2004 Imo all Klingons are born with ridges, PERIOD. During the time of TOS many of them (the ones we saw) were Klingons who opted to have cosmetic surgery done to remove the ridges so they'd look like Humans... (that is the, "shameful thing" Worf means by; "they don't speak of", in Trials & Tribbulations) ...as part of some stupid ill-conceived plan* of deception against Humans that failed. Perhaps they'd been unable to score a major victory against Humans since the time of Archer. The Duras family was probably behind the plan that used cosmetic surgery as part of the *plan. (<whatever it was, we don't know except for McCoys finding out about the alterations) Ah, but that still doesn't explain Kahless's non-ridge appearance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tina 0 Posted June 18, 2004 So does this mean we can expect that the Enterprise Klingons will have the ridges or will they follow the TOS tradition Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted June 18, 2004 Imo all Klingons are born with ridges, PERIOD. During the time of TOS many of them (the ones we saw) were Klingons who opted to have cosmetic surgery done to remove the ridges so they'd look like Humans... (that is the, "shameful thing" Worf means by; "they don't speak of", in Trials & Tribbulations) ...as part of some stupid ill-conceived plan* of deception against Humans that failed. Perhaps they'd been unable to score a major victory against Humans since the time of Archer. The Duras family was probably behind the plan that used cosmetic surgery as part of the *plan. (<whatever it was, we don't know except for McCoys finding out about the alterations) Ah, but that still doesn't explain Kahless's non-ridge appearance. Oh yeah, thanks for pointing that out. Well I've said it before, Trek continuity isn't perfect; never has been. Still, I'm open to any possibility someone may come up with to explain that one, if an explanation is never given it won't effect my love of Trek. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welfconfed 2 Posted June 19, 2004 In the TOS episode "The savage Curtain" they have Kahless in the TOS Klingon style. Then in "Rightful Heir" Kahless is the new Klingon style. In "The Savage Curtain", we see Kirk and Spock fight against and along side various historical figures. However, as the Excalbian stated, they were 'representations' of those figures taken from Kirk and Spocks minds and made flesh by transforming other Excalbians. The fact that the 'virtual' Kahless had no ridges only means that neither Kirk or Spock knew what the 'real' Kahless looked like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted June 19, 2004 I was gonna say that too welfconfed but how could Spock not know Klingons have ridges? That's almost harder to swallow than T'Pol not knowing she was screwing up. This is why I want a TOS special edition with every Klingon sporting a nice bumpy forehead. But then Worfs statement in T & T's wouldn't make sense. I guess Spock not knowing about them is the best we have. So does this mean we can expect that the Enterprise Klingons will have the ridges or will they follow the TOS tradition Hopefully Tina, someday a story will be written which perfectly explains the ridgeless Klingons of TOS. For now I like the idea of them being surgical altered, what we need to know is why, what was the plan behind the alterations...? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WEAREBORG4102 0 Posted June 19, 2004 I think it was makeup. There is a piece of evidence for this. If you watch the TNG episode where Barclay is injected with the antibody. You can see worf in his de-evolved form and you see the head with huge ridges. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
A l t e r E g o 9 Posted June 19, 2004 We know it was make-up. We know the real reason was lack of budget to make a more alien looking Klingon. Now, in four series outta five Klingons have ridges. What we are trying to uncover (if possible) is a GOOD reason WHY in TOS they did not have them OTHER than budget restrictions. Two possibility's I've heard: 1. Flatheads come from a different area of Kronos. Why haven't we seen them since, were they all killed off? (<that could work) 2. Volunteers were surgically altered for some (unknown) reason except in one case; in The Trouble with Tribbles, the flathead Klingon was shown to be a "spy" of sorts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ussacclaim 0 Posted June 22, 2004 An explanation was given in a book (I know not canon) where all non-ridge Klingons defected to The Mist, a people that live in cloak, like the Aldeans(sp?) the people from "When the Bough Breaks" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
He Who Shall Not Be Named 2 Posted August 15, 2010 Forget the ridges, I want to know how they became taller, stockier, and with bigger boobs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites