Star Trek: Discovery explains why its Klingons look so different from TOS

August 4th 2017, 2:45pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY – the series' long-awaited return to television – has been both highly anticipated, and highly criticized. While it has said that it would be more character-driven (following a single character's journey rather than that of a single ship's crew), as well as more violent, gritty, and sexy, there have been some misgivings on things such as being yet another prequel, the anachronistic Starfleet outfits, and the weird-looking Klingons.

To be fair, Klingons are kinda weird-looking in general (is that speciesist to say?), but with DISCOVERY it's more how noncanonical their looks are. However, according to an actor's panel, there's a reason for that! Actress Mary Chieffo talked a bit about the ridges, for instance:

Obviously the hair was the biggest thing people noticed, or the lack thereof. And I will attest to the fact there is a reason my ridge goes back the way it does. There are sensors and pheromones…There is a whole reasoning behind it that is adhering to what has always been true in Klingon canon…So I deeply believe we are in line with what has come before but is also adding a new kind of nuance.

And alien designer Neville Page added:

The Empire is very big. They don’t all grow up on Qo’noS. They don’t all live on the same planets and certainly those different planets would have different environments. So how would the cultures have evolved differently?” Page said. “We tried to come up with cultural axioms for each house so each looks different and they bear a cultural patina like our cultures do here on Earth.

Hmmm…so no mention of the genetic experiments Klingons did on themselves from ENTERPRISE? Probably a smart move.