Can any Trekkies answer...

[Nuclear Unicorn]

I was cracking-wise in a GD thread about Klingons and it got me thinking but I didn't want to threadjack. So I'll ask here in more appropriate environs. I've only seen a few of the older series and not many more of the newer ones.



I heard in the original series the Klingons were an allegory for the USSR.

But in more recent times they seem to have a heavy samurai influence.

Do Klingons have archetypes and has it shifted over the years?

kbaithnx

[MicaelS]

1. Yes, yes and yes

In the Original Series, the Klingon's were set up as the main antagonists of the Federation. They had slant eyebrows, and Fu-Manchu mustaches. The Klingons started changing with the first movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Their backstory / mythos was developed in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

[CBGLuthier]

2. The Klingons were often depicted as adversaries in fights over smaller countries

I mean planets. Several episodes focused upon the issues involved when two superpowers attempt to control events in what they regard as less advanced civilizations with the single most famous example probably being the episode Errand of Mercy which featured Captain Kirk arguing for the right to wage war.

Th Klingons of the 60's were very much adversaries of the "good guys", which was us.

The STNG Klinogons on the other hand were now our friends and allies and so they developed characteristics which could be admired by some. The whole warrior culture thing began the. They also radically changed appearance (movies first) but that's another matter called increased budget.

[TZ]

3. Did you ever seen ST VI The Undiscovered Country?

It was a straight up Klingon/ Soviet Union metaphor. Even to Kirk being imprisoned in a Klingon GULAG (yes that exact term). While their culture got more sophisticated as the years went on, many influences were used depending on what culturally was relevant at that time. Also bear in mind, different writers...different visions. Gene Roddenberry's vision of the 70's and 80's was a little different from Rick Berman's vision in the early 90's....