So many Klingons, and still no raktajino.
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
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They design changed in every TOS era film in which they appeared, TNG where Klingon women finally got the same level of ridges as the men, "Into Darkness", Disco twice, and now the most recent episode of SNW. Some of the changes are more subtle than others, but that doesn't mean they weren't changes. If the bonehawk Klingons from TMP showed up in TNG, you wouldn't automatically assume they were Klingons.
As for the augment virus in ENT, it is actually an extremely poor explanation which doesn't account for things like the Excalbian recreation of Kahless appearing in "The Savage Curtain", or the fact that Kor, Kang, and Koloth are all in both TOS and DS9 looking appropriate for their era. Fortunately ENT never flat out says the augment virus is the reason for the different appearances, so it can be safely ignored so far as this conversation goes.
Throwing my own 2 slips in, I think that Enterprise went the complete wrong way with it, by trying to "logically" explain the visual differences in Klingons, like DS9 trying to logically extrapolate the mirror universe (Enterprise also didn't help there).
No explanation was needed (although it might have been funny to put Worf in the classic Klingon makeup), and adding one just made things a bit worse.
I meant to specifically say up until Enterprise, besides Into Darkness the scenes were cut where they take their helmets off iirc
As for the rest, they were always treated as variations of the same thing from TMP-ENT, and it wasn't until Discovery introduced the reimagination that things got messy again. Plus the s2 Discovery change isn't so much a whole new makeup again but the S1 makeup, now with Hair™️.
Now SNW is back to the TMP-ENT iteration, so hopefully we'll see like, a flat foreheaded Kor/Kang/or Koloth alongside the L'Rell this season to unify it all.
Treated as such by whom? Certainly not the production teams who didn't stick with a consistent design approach from one movie to the next.
In season one L'Rell and other Klingon women had elongated skulls that are no longer present in season two. There are other changes as well beyond their growing hair, but that's the major one.
Memory Alpha and Ex Astris Scientia both treated the Klingons as consistent from TMP through ENT. It wasn't until the deleted scenes from Into Darkness came out that the design was actually changed, and even then if they hadn't changed the eyes one could've just assumed they were Blinged up versions of the TMP iteration.
There's a few background klingons with the elongated heads. This is a case where the stated change doesn't line up with the production change.
Point is, small variations to the same design ≠ total redesigns, which have happened only twice.
Do they, though?
The Klingon redesign from "Into Darkness" isn't just in the movie proper, it's in the trailer, Bud.
yes, they do
He literally groups them into TOS, TMP, Into Darkness, and DIS. By your logic, the table on the linked EAS page should have at least 7 distinct columns instead of the listed 4.
He does that in service of his bizarre insistence that Disco is not part of the prime timeline.
He technically acknowledges that it's the same timeline but a "visually rebooted"universe, at least elsewhere on the site. There used to be stuff on his website about the STID Klingons pre-Disco too. I've been visiting it for 13 years.
I don't see what's so bizarre about it, it's pretty much impossible to believe TOS unfolded as shown without the visual reboot conceit.