What was your reaction to Star Trek: TMP's Klingons?

[Nefud]

Because I was born in 1980 I don't know what fan reaction was like when the Klingons showed up on the big screen when Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out. We all know how much nerd rage there is these days when things change, was it the same back then? Did people gnash their teeth and freak out when the first bumpy-headed klingons appeared?

[fallensaviour]

I was pretty young at the time but I remember thinking it was one of the coolest things ever.
Take in mind I was like eight years old.

[Mikey]

Back in 1980 when I first seen Star Trek The Motion Picture in the theatre I was 15 years old and a HUGE Star Trek fan.

At the time, I truly hated the Klingon's new look.
I thought they looked too contemporary -- meaning late 70's Sci Fi style.
Then when they made them into "Warriors" in the 80's, that was just too much for me.
There was nothing new here -- They just ripped off the current "warrior trend" of the 80's.

I miss the old Klingons.
A nasty bunch that would slit 100 mens throats while they slept.
To me, THAT is a Klingon.

[Nefud]

Back in 1980 when I first seen Star Trek The Motion Picture in the theatre I was 15 years old and a HUGE Star Trek fan.

At the time, I truly hated the Klingon's new look.
I thought they looked too contemporary -- meaning late 70's Sci Fi style.
Then when they made them into "Warriors" in the 80's, that was just too much for me.
There was nothing new here -- They just ripped off the current "warrior trend" of the 80's.

I miss the old Klingons.
A nasty bunch that would slit 100 mens throats while they slept.
To me, THAT is a Klingon.

Hear hear! I'm fairly indifferent to the head thing, honestly, but I completely agree about how they've been made into samurai pirates or something. I didn't even see it until college or so, but I adore the Klingons seen in STIII. Underhanded assholes in a wicked cool ship. There's just a touch of the "warrior culture" thing present, but it never overwhelmes the story (unlike virtually every TNG and Voyager Klingon story).

That being said, yeah, TOS Klngons forever. And if you want a noble warrior adversary in TOS, you still have the Romulans. They got screwed over even worse in the 80s/90s if you ask me.

[trekman101]

The way the TMP Klingon's looked was pretty close to the original concepts the shows makeup designers envisioned but due to budget concerns were never implemented.Thats what I read a few years ago.

[MIB41]

At the time, the new-look Klingons were about the only thing I liked about the movie. The original film did not have the feel of the television show. No one seemed comfortable in their skin and those pajama uniforms were a bust. All of that was fixed with the sequel, "Wrath of Kahn."

[Captain]

I was both confused and intrigued when I first saw the bumpy headed Klingons for TMP. I was only 10 or 11, and there was no internet, etc...so I did what most kids did then and used my imagination to come up with a reasonable answer. I decided, like the Federation, the Klingon Empire was made up of more than one race. Difference being, each race in the Klingon Empire werent as open to new ideas as the Federation was, so each species stuck to its own kind.
I later read in Starlog that Roddenberry explained the difference as the tv Klingons were from the South part of the homeworld, and the bumpheads were from the North. Even though I now know he was joking, I took that statement as justification of my own explanation.

Funny thing, In Trek III, Nimoy (who hated the lobster heads) wanted to go back to the TV style for the Klingons. Plus, one of the designers came up with a green reptillian Klingon design (that was used in several of the storyboards). If either of these (or both!) had been used, the multi species Klingon Empire would have become canon....and made for a more interesting Empire in the films and series to come. In the end, Robert Fletcher convinced Nimoy to use a variation of the TMP Klingons....dropping the lobster head design, and going with unique ridges for each individual Klingon! To me, even that says the species is more varied than we may have been led to believe!

[Eric]

I was 17 years old and was surprised at the new look, but I liked it as it much better for the big screen. I was even more surprised to learn that Mark Lenard (Sarek) played the Klingon captain. He was totally unrecognizable under the makeup.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

....you mean for the thwo minutes or so they're on screen? I dunno; I wasn't too phased by them. I was kinda disappointed with the old new Trek TV show making them Samurai though. KInda took the edge off, and made them like everything else at the time. (This WAS during the 80's ninja boom.)

>the multi species Klingon Empire would have become canon

For a while it was. The old RPG was scrutinized by the show's producers and HAD to conform to the established continuity. According to the game, the old tv ones were hybrids of human and Imperial (bumpy headed) Klingons, engineered to better fight the humans in their own environment. Just before the first movie there was an uprising, and most of the hybrids were killed off. (They were second class citizens in the Empire.) I wonder how much of that was the official explanation, considering how the old new show made a point of demonstrating how advanced Klingon biosciences were.

Don C.

[Nefud]

The way the TMP Klingon's looked was pretty close to the original concepts the shows makeup designers envisioned but due to budget concerns were never implemented.Thats what I read a few years ago.

I've seen this theory before, but never any evidence for it. I mean, no offense, but that seems pretty convenient.

[txteach]

The Klingons finally looked like aliens so I was happy. I also thought the uniforms looked great. I remember years ago at a ST convention Mark Leonard said that his klingon unifurm was way too small so he never turned to the side being afraid to reveal the open back of his uniform. Mark had great stories and I was saddened when I hear he passed away.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I actually remember seeing James Doohan interviewed before the movie came out in December and they showed the Klingon clip and asked him about the make up. He told the reporter that they looked like normal Klingons until he beamed the Tribbles over to their ship and the riled them up

It never bothered me, the Klingon change. What did bother me was the Federation didn't have any "throwbacks" to the TV show. Like I would have thought it would have been cool for the Epsilon crew to be wearing the old uniforms or to see a Galileo styled shuttle delivering Spock. I remember reading in Starlog that they were going to try and have the old style warp drive on the sled when Spock docked, but it was too costly or something like that.

[Nefud]

I actually remember seeing James Doohan interviewed before the movie came out in December and they showed the Klingon clip and asked him about the make up. He told the reporter that they looked like normal Klingons until he beamed the Tribbles over to their ship and the riled them up

God, james doohan really was the S#!t.

[Captain]

^^^ "I've seen this theory before, but never any evidence for it. I mean, no offense, but that seems pretty convenient."

I dont buy it either. I think it was a bit of retconning by Roddenberry.
John Colicos often said in interviews that he and Fred Phillips made up the Klingon look themselves just prior to the start of shooting on "Errand of Mercy". Luckily, when Fred asked John how he wanted to look he didnt say somethings like:
" I want an up-swept bouffant with lots of sparkles, and I should be wearing glasses.....those big novelty type ones....with frikkin laser beams that shoot out of them!"
...If he had.....I dont think we would be having this conversation right now.

[Captain]

Hmmmm....


For a while it was. The old RPG was scrutinized by the show's producers and HAD to conform to the established continuity. According to the game, the old tv ones were hybrids of human and Imperial (bumpy headed) Klingons, engineered to better fight the humans in their own environment. Just before the first movie there was an uprising, and most of the hybrids were killed off. (They were second class citizens in the Empire.) I wonder how much of that was the official explanation, considering how the old new show made a point of demonstrating how advanced Klingon biosciences were.

Don C.

Interesting.....and kind of ties in with the Enterprise explanation. Not all of the Klingon Empire would have been infected....and eventually one would assume those who were...and could not be cured (assuming Kang, Kor, and Koloth were cured ala DS9 appearance) would be killed off as weak and inferior.


I still like the multi species Empire idea the best though (which would also explain the Mego Gorn!)