More faint praise for the unloved Klingon redesign for Star Trek Discovery…
I wrote a piece recently discussing what did and did not work about the redesign of the Klingons in Star Trek Discovery. The redesign was so unpopular that Klingons weren’t seen in live-action Star Trek for a few years after Discovery season two. Now that we’ve seen Worf in Picard season 3, and a couple of Next Generation-style Klingons in the Strange New Worlds season 2 trailer, it seems that the Discovery redesign has been quietly put out to pasture.
Judging by the comments on that last article, this was a popular move. As much as I may have had one or two good things to say about the redesign, it just wasn’t embraced by fans. But one comment did catch my eye, reminding me of something else I liked about the Discovery Klingons.
Initially, the Discovery Klingons had bald elongated heads, which was probably the most contradictory aspect of the redesign, as the Klingons we’d grown to love from the Next Generation era had long wild hair. So there was a course correction of sorts in Discovery season 2, when the Klingons had hair again. And although the redesign was still bad, this was a 100 percent improvement.
This commenter said that they didn’t remember the in-universe reason for the change, because they’d repressed it.
…But I remember it, and I thought it was really cool at the time. I still do.
Actress Mary Chieffo, who played the Klingon L’rell explained it while presenting the Discovery season 2 trailer at the New York Comic Con Star Trek panel. Klingons, she said, shaved their heads during times of war, in tribute to Kahless the Unforgettable forging the first bat’leth from a lock of his hair.
What made this truly awesome was her response to those for whom this just raised more questions. When one fan tweeted at her, pointing out that the Klingons weren’t bald during the Dominion war, she responded by posting on Twitter…
"“The Dominion War takes place more than 100 years after the events of Discovery. Traditions change and are lost in time. Much of what T’Kuvma predicted about homogenization and assimilation of the Klingon race occurs after the explosion of Praxis & subsequent political shift.”"
This is the sort of answer that only a true fan could give. While she credited the idea of Klingons shaving their heads during wartime to makeup effects department head Glenn Hetrick, the idea of the tradition being lost to time due to cultural homogenization after the explosion of Praxis seems to have come from Chieffo herself.
‘The explosion of Praxis’ of course refers to the events of Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, which begins with the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis, causing an ecological disaster on the Klingon homeworld. The Undiscovered Country came out a year before Chieffo was born.
Speaking of The Undiscovered Country… I guess this makes the Klingon villain, General Chang, a traditionalist, and signifies that he was on a war footing, even as the Federation and the Klingon Empire were in peace talks.
Star Trek is a big tent, and it’s continually expanding. Just as Star Trek gains new fans, everyone involved in the production joins the Star Trek family too. And I love the way new members of the family embrace the lore, paying respect to what’s come before, as they shape the future.
I also just think it’s a really cool idea, and I really hope to see future references to it.
You may disagree, seeing it as merely a convoluted retcon of a bad idea. But it’s hard not to be impressed by the level of engagement with the Star Trek family that it demonstrates.