Klingons - Part 1,Klingons - Part 1
The Klingons (and in many respects the Vulcans) have always been the first race to pop out of the head when you ask someone for a Star Trek race; this works best on people who aren’t regular viewers. The Klingons were the main race (if you exclude humans), from the original series and as such they are a worldwide phenomenon. They then continued on into TNG, DS9 and to a lesser extent Voyager.
In “The Next Generation” they developed their ‘great’ forehead ridges, which has led them to be compared to many other item, including a Cornish pasty. This appeared over a very small space of time, and as a result isn’t an evolutionary trait. An additional point is that if you compare Worf’s headpiece from series one to that of series 7 they are remarkably different. Every time this is addressed in the show it remains unanswered, a good example is in DS9 where they travel back in time to TOS episode where they encounter the tribbles and Odo notices the difference between Worf and the Klingons of the time. This is yet another case of scriptwriters playing god, but it really does help to distinguish them from the other races, especially now that there are so many different races, though at the time they changed their foreheads there were few new races, yet since then there have been 2 new “generations” of Star Trek, both of which involved another quadrant and thus needed completely new races, cultures and more bizarre names.
They have always been a race very much concerned with war and honour. Nothing is TOO honourable for a Klingon. Those who act dishonourably or are seen to be without honour and excluded from society, will have their titles and land stripped from them and their family name will be spurned by others. To insult another’s honour is usually followed by violence or a challenge to the death. Yet even the fighting (or at least the initiation) of one is a complex thing. For example if you start a firght by striking your opponent across the face with the back of your hand, then you are automatically initiating a fight to the death. This was shown in the DS9 episode when they feign to be involved in the “Order of the Batleth” in order to infiltrate the Klingon home world since they believed that one of the Klingon high council had been replaced by a changeling. During their “training” to become Klingons, Siquo hits Worf across the cheek wit the back of his gloved hand, and Worf then explains the mistake. Life as a violent warrior with long hair and a short fuse is certainly harder than it looks.
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