Star Trek did the right thing by burying the Discovery-era Klingons

Star Trek did the right thing by ignoring the Star Trek: Discovery era Klingons

When Star Trek: Discovery emerged on the scene, they tried to re-do the entire idea of Star Trek. From how it was shot, to the stories it told, the need for week-to-week viewing to understand grander narratives and even the design of the series.

No change was as disastrous and rejected soundly by fans as the change to the Klingons. The iconic alien race of Star Trek has constantly been revamped as the series and seasons move on. Originally, they were tall hobbits, with facial hair that grew everywhere. They were just hairy and covered in brown patches of makeup. They were far from the terror they would become.

Then when the films came around, and a bigger budget was allowed, they were changed to the ridged-foreheads, sharp-tooth warriors we all fell in love with. Sure, minor changes were made as advancements in technology were made. Worf in season one of The Next Generation does not look anything like Worf in season seven of Deep Space Nine. That’s all because technology had improved and the look they wanted was able to be better achieved.

But Discovery shook all that up and turned the iconic Klingons into hairless, purple orcs. To say fans hated this decision would be an understatement. Shockingly, the producers of the franchise heard the fandom and made changes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Picard erased the hideous Klingons from existence

So when the trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds came out, we saw the Klingons once again in all their glory. While Worf looked like himself on Star Trek: Picard, that show is so far ahead of the timeline from Discovery, that it was just accepted Worf wouldn’t look like a Garbage Pale Kid.

Yet, Strange New Worlds is a spinoff of Discovery and set only a few years ahead of where Discovery was in the timeline when they introduced the My Little Pony version of the Klingons.

It remains to be seen what the franchise will do going forward with the rejected Klingons. Will they be explained away as a fever dream? Will they be some subsect of the Klingons, sort of like how the Vulcans, Romulans, and Remans are all related?

That’s going to be the big question, how do you retcon returning the awful-looking Klingons back into the cool-looking Klingons?