Skip to main content

star trek - Why are the Klingons so friendly in The Undiscovered Country?



I recently watched Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, and it surprised me how un-Klingon-like the Klingons were.


When this film was released, we had already seen quite a lot of examples from TNG of Klingon culture and behavior from Worf's experiences dealing with the Klingon High Council.


I realize that The Undiscovered Country was at an earlier time point in the timeline, and it was part of the plot of the film that they were desperate for peace, but still - it just doesn't feel quite right.


Was there something that was supposed to have happened to the Klingons after the time of The Undiscovered Country and before the time of The Next Generation that would account for the drastically different portrayal?



Answer



Because they just lost the moon Praxis and the Klingon Empire is crumbling


The question seems to really hit the core of the movie's plot. Right away, we know the Klingons are in real trouble:



SPOCK: Jim, there is an historic opportunity here.


KIRK: Don't believe them! Don't trust them!



SPOCK: They're dying.


KIRK: Let them die! ...Has it occurred to you that this crew is due to stand down in three months? We've done our bit for King and Country. ...You should have trusted me.



But as Kirk shows, not everyone is ready to simply give up the war. Remembering that the Klingons Kirk hosts are basically diplomats trying to save their empire, yet the dialogue remains ... unpolitical:



CHANG: Come now, Captain, there's no need to mince words. In space, all warriors are cold warriors.



And



AZETBUR: Inalien... If only you could hear yourselves? 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club.



CHANG: Present company excepted, of course.


KERLA: In any case, we know where this is leading. The annihilation of our culture.



So we are seeing Klingons in a new light because they are in an unprecedented situation and are trying to solve things diplomatically with their former enemies. As for Klingons still being Klingons, lets us not forgot (massive spoiler warning):



SPOCK: The Klingons have a new weapon. A Bird-of-Prey that can fire while cloaked. She torpedoed Gorkon's ship.



So its not like all Klingons think peace is the way out.


Out of universe, remember that the movie's plot is meant to parallel the end of the Cold War. Hence the angle of diplomacy instead of some kind of all out war (which might be more "Klingon" like). Also, this is not exactly the first time Klingons have changed in Star Trek.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more