

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

The depiction of the Klingon species, the iconic aggressive warrior race from the planet Qo'noS, has evolved throughout the years from a simple analogy of the American fear of Cold War-era Russians to a depiction of a complex and proud tradition-bound people who value honor as well as combat prestige. As Klingons became more and more popular, attention was placed into evolving the make-up effects, into establishing a unique Klingonese language and into exploring the ever more complex history, society, politics, culture, psychology and religion of the Klingon species.

Contents show]

First televised appearances

Klingons were introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series, making their first appearance in the season one episode "Errand of Mercy". They were originally meant to be involved in only that installment. (Star Trek Magazine issue 125, p. 37) The episode's writer, Gene Coon, was the person who initially imagined the species and their culture. However, both aspects were among multiple elements of the series which Star Trek Producer Gene Roddenberry joked originated from his "cousin in Ohio." (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, paperback ed., p. 136)

Gene Coon primarily modeled the Klingons, metaphorically, on contemporary Russians, making the standoff between the species and the Federation representative of that between the Russians and the Americans during the then-ongoing Cold War. (Star Trek: The Original Series 365, p. 139) This view of the Klingons had their sociology theoretically aimed at "the collective good" rather than "individuality," as pointed out by Kor actor John Colicos. (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 15, pp. 16-17) The Klingon Empire was also a metaphor for Communist China and its allies in the Vietnam War, namely North Vietnam and North Korea. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One) David A. McIntee explained, "There is some suggestion that the Klingons represent a Cold Warrior's view of China in the 1960s – swarthy, brutally repressive." (Star Trek Magazine issue 153, p. 66) Dave Rossi agreed, "In many ways, the Klingons were born out of our fear, as Americans, of [...] the Communists." ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray) According to D.C. Fontana, there were a range of other real-world sources that additionally gave rise to Coon's creation of the Klingons. "What did he want to accomplish? I think he just wanted a good, tough villain... for Kirk," Fontana speculated. "And I think he was basing a lot of it on the kind of attitude of the Japanese in World War II, the Nazis in World War II, because Gene was a World War II veteran marine and he really took all this to heart. And as a result, he modeled them on the worst villains he knew." ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray) McIntee concurred, "The Klingons with their conquests and military structure echo the Axis forces of World War Two as much as the Communist powers in Vietnam." (Star Trek Magazine issue 153, p. 66) Chekov actor Walter Koenig specified, "They [the Klingons] were evil and nationalistic. But Star Trek did not address the baser things in man. There was no imperialism or colonialism. We addressed this obliquely, hoping that someone would pick up our message out there." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 61)

After Gene Coon conceived the Klingons, a name for the species did not immediately come to mind. He took inspiration from a name which came into earshot, that of Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan – a friend of Gene Roddenberry who served with him in the Los Angeles Police Department. (Star Trek: The Original Series 365, p. 141; Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry, p. 131) Even when retired years later, Clingan was still proud to introduce himself as the first Klingon. Commented Robert Justman, "The question remains whether Gene named these creatures out of homage or revenge. I've heard it both ways." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, pp. 22-23) Also under dispute is the nature of the production staff's reception to the name. According to the book Star Trek: The Original Series 365 (p. 141), the series' production staff liked how the moniker sounded, which led to Coon altering the spelling and using it for the fictional species. However, D.C. Fontana stated, "We never liked the name. We said, 'Gene, can't you come up with a different name than Klingon? We hate it.' It was odd-sounding. You know, Kling-on – as in clinging." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One) The detractors of the name were apparently unable to come up with a better one, and there wasn't enough time to settle on something else, so they left the name as it was. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 40; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One)

The script of "Errand of Mercy" introduces the Klingon look by saying, "We see the Klingons are Orientals," thereafter repeatedly describing them as "hard-faced, uniformed, heavily armed, wearing what looks like vests of mail (see the material used as mail by the Romulans.)" Indeed, the Klingons originally appeared as fairly ordinary Humans with heavy makeup as well as emboldened eyebrows, with some of the males having mustaches and goatees. The reason the Klingons were accepted as looking so Human-like, delineated from Humans mainly by their mannerisms and characters, was that the series had neither the materials, budget nor time necessary to create elaborate makeup for the Klingons. ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray)

The introduction of the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy" caused the casting of that episode to become a longer and more involved process than normal. This was because the production staff had little idea what a Klingon should look like. "I had never heard of a Klingon before," related Makeup Designer Fred Phillips. "And nothing in the script that I read told me what it was." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One) Because John Colicos had likewise never previously heard of Klingons, he was also initially uncertain how they should be. "My first thought was 'What the hell is a Klingon? What does a Klingon look like? Well, they'll know what it's all about.'" ("The Sword of Colicos", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Official Poster Magazine, No. 8) Colicos assumed the Star Trek makeup department, in particular, would know precisely how a Klingon should look. "When I arrived at Paramount," the actor continued, "the make-up man said to me, 'What in the hell does a Klingon look like?'" (Star Trek: Communicator issue 104, p. 19) Recalling his own response, Colicos related, "I said, 'You don't know either?'" (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 59)

John Colicos and the relevant makeup artist sat down and began to devise how the Klingons should look. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 59) That makeup worker, Fred Phillips, started the process of designing the species by directly asking Colicos how he wanted to look. Despite thinking of the Klingons as the futuristic Russians they were intended to be, Colicos took inspiration from Genghis Khan, as Kor was likewise an ambitious military commander. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 40) "He thought that was a hell of a good idea," Colicos said, regarding Phillips' reaction. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 104, p. 19) Colicos' hair happened to be very short and combed forward. He asked for it to be sprayed and slightly "kinked up." Due to the Genghis Khan influence, Colicos then proposed "a vaguely Asian, Tartar appearance," with an alien-looking "brown-green makeup." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 40) Colicos also took inspiration from Fu Manchu as an influence on his look as Kor. He instructed the makeup department, "Spray my hair black, give me a kind of swamp creature green olivey mud reptilian make-up, and we'll borrow some stuff from Fu Manchu, and put a long moustache and eyebrows on me." ("The Sword of Colicos", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Official Poster Magazine, No. 8) The makeup scheme was therefore actually a combination of a wide variety of sources, Colicos advising the makeup team, "Make me a little touch of Fu Man Chu [sic], and a little touch of Slavic Russian, and a little touch of everything." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 59) He later remembered, "Within two hours, this thing emerged and that was it." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 40)

John Colicos was pleased with how he had influenced the layout of the Klingon makeup. "I thought I was pretty crafty [...] because it only took 20 minutes to put on," he said. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 104, p. 19) Thus, Colicos set a precedent for all other members of the species. He concluded, "Everybody else after me took that as the prototype of the Klingons." ("The Sword of Colicos", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Official Poster Magazine, No. 8) Even the early conception of Klingons as ferocious conquerors was cemented largely by the initial portrayal of Kor. (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 15, p. 16)

The swarthy appearance of the Klingon faces was actually created with a dark brown cream base, which was applied to the actors' faces. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 42) Rick Stratton, who was part of a small team of young makeup artists enlisted by Fred Phillips to work with him on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, uncertainly recollected, "I think the makeup was called 'Mexican #1 or #2.' That was the name of the original makeup foundation – they actually had kind of racist names at the time, like 'Negro #1' and 'Mexican #2' – which was the basis for the original Star Trek makeups." (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 59)

The males' facial hair appliances were lace, glued on using spirit gum, and their eyebrows were made to look bushy. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 42) Noted Michael Westmore, "They actually shaped and penciled in the eyebrows with pencil." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 110, p. 59) Due to the minimalism of the makeup used, the Klingons were easy to create, from a makeup standpoint, and were therefore able to be shown in groups. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 42)

The first time any Klingons were filmed was on Friday 27 January 1967. (Star Trek Magazine issue 164, p. 70) However, several minor changes were made between how the Klingons were initially planned to be portrayed in "Errand of Mercy" and how they ended up being shown in that installment. For example, a pair of Klingons guarding a munitions dump were scripted to have a couple lines of dialogue, though they don't speak in the episode's final version. [1] Also, two mere moments which acted as the set-up and payoff of a "stare-off" gag were shot but deleted from "Errand of Mercy". The gag involved, at one point, a Klingon shooting a hard stare at Kirk in a courtyard on Organia and – on another occasion, at the doors to Kor's office on the planet – another Klingon soldier receiving the same kind of look from Kirk. (Star Trek Magazine issue 164, p. 70)

As the makeup procedures for the Romulans were too costly for that species to be featured on a regular basis (despite the Romulans having been meant as an ongoing villain), the Klingons – much cheaper to create – replaced them as the show's chief antagonists. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 42) "In the original series, all they wore was a dark face and their black hair," Michael Westmore observed. "Also, they didn't have the degree of facial hair that we had on them." ("Michael Westmore's Aliens: Season Two", DS9 Season 2 DVD special features) Although the creative staff hadn't intended for the Klingons to be recurring villains and never thought they would be as successful as they were, these expectations were changed by the fact they were considerably easy to do, basically requiring merely facial hair and slightly darkened skin. ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One) "Once we figured that out," reflected D.C. Fontana, "the Klingons became regulars." ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray) "It didn't happen at first, but they were good villains," offered Robert Justman. "A lot of these things didn't enter my consciousness at the time, but looking back on it now, I can see how unerring Gene [Coon]'s instincts were." (Star Trek Magazine issue 125, p. 37) In agreement, Fontana described the ease at which the Klingons could be done as "the beauty of them." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 22) She said further, "They became a very good adversary, because once you established them, you had to find out ways to explore them." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 40)

After "Errand of Mercy"

The first installment in which the Klingons reappeared, the season 2 outing "Friday's Child", at first hardly involved the species. Although D.C. Fontana wrote multiple drafts of the episode (between January 1967 and April of the same year), her version of the story featured no Klingons on Capella IV, where most of the episode's events take place. In fact, other than a subplot featuring a Klingon ship – which Fontana added at Gene Roddenberry's request – the Klingons were discussed but not seen in Fontana's form of the plot. It wasn't until Roddenberry did a rewrite of the episode's script (in May 1967) that the Klingons factored more heavily into the installment. Even though Gene Coon had created the species, Robert Justman included – among comments he sent Coon about the changes Roddenberry had made – the reminder, "We are not at war with the Klingon Empire in this show." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

In the review of the 29 May 1967 script for TOS: "Amok Time", de Forest Research referred to the "Now firmly established" Klingon Empire "as interstellar S.M.E.R.S.H.."

David Gerrold proposed reusing Klingons in the second season episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", which was at that time a story entitled "A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me...". The suggestion, later described by Gerrold as "almost accidental," was inspired by a statement made by Gene Coon, while he and Gerrold were seeking a villain for the installment. Gerrold recounted, "'The threat has to come from outside the Federation.' And when he said that, something went twang in my mind, something I'd seen on a first-season rerun – I opened my mouth, wondering what I was going to say, and said, 'Klingons!' [....] Perhaps the fact that I had just seen the episode the week before had something to do with it." Gerrold believed the Klingons fit perfectly into the story. (The Trouble with Tribbles, pp. 80-82) He subsequently asked Coon if he could reuse them as the alien menace required for the episode. ("The Trouble with Tribbles" audio commentary & Starfleet Access, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray) "He said, 'You know, we've been talking about having a continuing threat, a continuing nemesis for Kirk, and the Klingons are probably the best way to go,'" recalled Gerrold. ("The Trouble with Tribbles" audio commentary, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray) Despite Coon revealing that the producers had been discussing the option to have the Klingons become a recurring nemesis, he also mentioned that there hadn't been a suitable story form to feature their return, so he gave Gerrold the go-ahead to write them into "The Trouble with Tribbles". ("The Trouble with Tribbles" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray) Coon approved of this course of action in agreement with Gerrold's belief that the Klingons were a good fit for the story. Gerrold commented, "This would fit in nicely with his overall plans for the series." (The Trouble with Tribbles, p. 81) Concluded Gerrold, "So, the tribble episode was where we made the decision to have the Klingons be the continuing nemesis for the Enterprise." ("The Trouble with Tribbles" audio commentary, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray)

Klingon Psychology was one of several topics which David Gerrold thereafter found himself having to hurriedly research before writing the episode's teleplay. Even so, while scripting the installment, Gerrold temporarily had some slight difficulty with making the Klingons as nasty as Gene Coon wanted them to be. Coon thoroughly approved of another element of the episode's Klingons, though, Gerrold later recalling, "Gene Coon thought the names I used for the Klingons were deliciously evil-sounding." (The Trouble with Tribbles, pp. 121, 135 & 186)

In the script for "The Trouble with Tribbles", David Gerrold described both Koloth and "the last Klingon commander that we saw" as "an evil-looking S.O.B." The last Klingon commander featured on Star Trek before that episode was Kras in "Friday's Child", though Gerrold's comment was most likely aimed at the highly influential character of Kor from "Errand of Mercy". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

David Gerrold thought up the idea of Klingons hating tribbles (and vice versa) as a way of determining, in the story, the true identity of Arne Darvin as a Klingon spy. Gerrold later recalled this story point having come to him "almost at the last moment" and said, "It just came to me on the spur of the moment." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

The overbearing nature of the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy" influenced Charlie Brill's depiction of Arne Darvin in "The Trouble with Tribbles". Brill was pleased that, because Darvin was a Klingon disguised as a Human, he didn't have to wear the Klingon makeup. [2]

William Campbell approved of how the Klingons are portrayed in "The Trouble with Tribbles", with the character of Korax being what Campbell perceived as "the nasty one," as opposed to his own character of Koloth. Said Campbell, "I thought that was a good idea; it gave them depth." (The World of Star Trek, 1994 UK ed., p. 121)

Comic book writer Scott Tipton, who co-wrote the mini-series Klingons: Blood Will Tell, characterized the Klingons in "The Trouble with Tribbles" as generally "very different" from those in "Errand of Mercy". He noticed that they are not only less like Mongol warriors by having less of a swarthy appearance but also by being slightly not as fierce, allowing them to be shown aboard Deep Space Station K-7. "These are kind of more like suburban Klingons," he said. "You know, they're a little laid back, you know, it's like they've been working in an office, they just wanna come in, you know, get some R&R, maybe use a snack room [....] It's enough of a keystone back to what we've seen before that it still feels familiar but it works well because you couldn't put the 'Errand of Mercy' Klingons in this episode, 'cause you wouldn't let those guys onto your space station so they can come have a drink at the bar! So, by the nature of the story, you have to kind of make them a little more refined." ("The Trouble with Tribbles" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray)

Regarding the fact that the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" concludes with many tribbles having been beamed aboard a Klingon ship, David Gerrold supposed about the Klingons, "I'll bet that they didn't let any thoughts of inhumanity trouble them....." (The Trouble with Tribbles, p. 116) When William Campbell was questioned about what the Klingons did with all the tribbles, he responded, "We ate them." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 98) Dave Rossi imagined that the Klingons were "shoveling these things into the engines" at the end of the episode. ("The Trouble with Tribbles" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray)

"A Private Little War" continued the analogous use of the Klingons. In that outing, they were meant to represent the Communist foes of the United States specifically during the Vietnam War, which was being controversially fought at that time. (Star Trek: The Original Series 365, p. 222) The species was metaphorically used, in this way, since the very first story outline for "A Private Little War" was submitted. Therein, the Klingons were established as having familiarized some of the inhabitants of planet Neural with rifles. Upon criticizing the story outline, Robert Justman wondered, "Why have the Klingons introduced rifles to this civilization instead of their own particular weapons, which we have previously established in another show? I think I know why, but perhaps we ought to spell it out, so that the audience understands that the Klingons still wish to retain absolute control and don't want this civilization to get too advanced, or to be difficult to handle eventually." Gene Roddenberry was interested in increasing the degree to which the Klingons allegorically resembled North Vietnam, politically. He wrote to Coon, "I think it is terribly important that the Klingons are operating in complete secrecy. It is vital to this story, to the whole logic of it that the Klingons attempt to preserve the illusion that all this is 'normal' planet development; that the people with their guns developed gun powder themselves. Thus, if Earth people interfere, the Klingons can argue that it is Earth people who are upsetting the delicate balance of a world here.… In other words, the situation is even closer to the Viet Nam situation. North Viet Nam tries to preserve the illusion, or at least tried to preserve it for some time, that they were not sending men and materials to South Viet Nam. And that way they insisted it was the United States which was the meddler and the aggressor." Coon thereafter stressed to Ingalls the importance of the Klingons being defeated by Starfleet due to secret instructions to counterbalance them, stating, "If we do not play it this way and it is admittedly the hard way, the Klingons will take over and threaten the Federation, even as the situation is in Vietnam, which is, as I remember, if Vietnam falls all Southeast Asia falls." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

While the story for "A Private Little War" underwent development, D.C. Fontana suggested substituting the Klingons with the Romulans, as a way of differentiating the episode from "Friday's Child". Gene Coon was determined to keep making the Klingons recurring villains, though. On the other hand, Robert Justman feared, in common with Fontana, that another "nose-to-nose confrontation between Captain Kirk and his Klingon adversary" was one of numerous factors which made the installment too similar to "Friday's Child". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

An undeveloped, untitled story which Alan Dean Foster proposed for a two-parter in the third season of TOS involved a Klingon named Kumara. Foster was told to resubmit the idea for the show's fourth season, though the series was ultimately cancelled at the end of its third season. [3]

At first, no Klingon ships were intended to be shown on The Original Series. "We had no need for a Klingon ship," stated Designer Matt Jefferies, "nor did we have a budget to do one, or the time to design it or build it." Taking advantage of a merchandising opportunity with Aluminum Metal Toys (AMT), however, the Star Trek creative team eventually designed and built the D7 class model of Klingon ship, which ended up appearing in only one episode. That installment, "Elaan of Troyius", was far from a major Klingon story and the Klingons played only a peripheral role in it. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p. 66) However, the Klingons' physical conflict with the Enterprise in the episode's genesis, a story springboard called "Helen of Troyius" and written by Gene Roddenberry, was a major factor in attracting John Meredyth Lucas to write the episode. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three) The Klingon species was well known to the production staff by this time. Stated Fred Phillips, "We had already established the essential character of the Klingons [....] The Klingon character was [...] clearly defined in several scripts [...] [as] cold and, in a sense, vicious." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three, "Embarking on Season Three: Additions & Changes")

In Jerome Bixby's TOS story "For They Shall Inherit", a colony of Klingons residing on a farming world near the Federation border was endangered by the planet's sun being about to go nova, so the Enterprise was sent to rescue them. As discovered by a landing party from the Enterprise, though, the Klingon colonists were now dead, all seeming to have been tortured; they had been subjugated by a malevolent race called the Dorn and all the weak Klingons had been killed by them, sparing only the strongest warriors. The Klingon survivors were forced by their oppressors into fighting against larger, stronger Dorns, in gladiatorial games which the Klingons always lost. A small group of hate-filled Klingons were pitted against the Starfleet landing party, as part of the Dorn's sadistic contests. At one point, Kirk asked the Klingon leader, Tarnok, "Why didn’t you warn us?!" Tarnok replied, "Humans can't find out such things for themselves?" Kirk retorted, "We came to help you!" Tarnok concluded, "And you failed." Discovering that the Dorn fed on hatred and violence explained why only the strongest Klingons were being kept alive, as "food" the Dorn required. The Klingon survivors thus made a concentrated effort, along with the group from the Enterprise, to contain their anger and hatred, instead displaying merriment and conviviality. This behavior weakened the Dorn, who met their doom in the supernova while the remaining Klingons escaped aboard the Enterprise. Paraphrasing Biblical scripture, Dr. McCoy told Tarnok, "Blessed be the meek – for you shall inherit another planet. Hopefully without any Dorns on it." This story outline, the first draft of which was delivered on 28 March 1968, gradually evolved into third season's "Day of the Dove". (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three, [4], [5])

In a second revised outline Jerome Bixby submitted on 7 May 1968 (by which time the episode had been retitled "Day of the Dove"), the colony that was on the edge of Klingon and Federation space and needed to be saved by the Enterprise was changed from being Klingon, replaced instead with an Earth colony. In a third revised outline by Bixby and dated 28 May 1968, the Klingons no longer faced the Dorn, who had been replaced by an entity which could alter the thinking and memories of the Klingons as well as their Federation foes. Also, the Klingons, assumed responsible for destroying the Earth colony, were now brought aboard the Enterprise as prisoners, with the ship providing the battleground between them and the Starfleet officers. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

At one point while "Day of the Dove" was in development, Robert Justman wrote to Fred Freiberger, "I venture to state that we would be better off with the Klingon Empire as a running antagonist in this series if we did not establish that there might be some Klingons who can determine that in this particular instance, discretion would be the better part of valor -- but let us never set up a situation whereby those adversaries of ours give any indication of ever being anything but highly aggressive and self-seeking opponents." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

In an early story outline for "Day of the Dove" (dated 3 June 1968), Uhura was to have made a remark, while sitting at her communications station early in the installment, which smacked of "hard-core racism against the Klingons," entirely unsure why she made such a comment. At the end of the episode, Captain Kirk was to have mused that the Klingons might become more like the Humans by developing a love of peace, the captain pondering, "Perhaps someday the Klingons will learn the truth of it." Neither of these moments were included in the episode. Similarly, the group of Klingons who, in both the outline and the outing's final version, beam aboard the Enterprise was originally to have included numerous women as well as the female Mara, all of whom (except for Mara) were implied as being a "harem" for the service of the Klingon warriors. [6]

During "Day of the Dove"'s post-production, a scene featuring the leader of the Klingons, renamed Kang, and Mara was deleted. The scene, which took place on the Enterprise's bridge, made it clear the Klingon troop was being dropped from the Enterprise on a neutral planet near the Klingon/Federation border. Cautioning the Klingons against warring, Kirk referred to the idea that, without cooperation, fighting "uselessly, for all eternity" is the result as "a universal rule you Klingons had better learn." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

The first draft script for "The Enterprise Incident" (dated 7 June 1968) established that the Klingon Empire had been trading with the Romulan Empire. Also, Spock referred to the Klingons, in duplicitous conversation with the Romulan Commander, as "known to have little honor." [7] In fact, D.C. Fontana included, in the same first draft teleplay, a couple sections of dialogue where the Klingons' alliance with the Romulans was spoken of with concern by Kirk and his crew. Fred Freiberger and Arthur Singer removed these references. Consequently, an account of the Klingons' treaty with the Romulans – explaining why the Romulans were now using formerly Klingon ships – had to be provided for the fans afterwards, in Ruth Berman's column of the official Star Trek newsletter, Inside Star Trek. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Three)

The Klingons were not always portrayed allegorically. Years after playing Kang in "Day of the Dove", Michael Ansara declared, "We weren't playing them to resemble any earthly nationality or race. We were from Outer Space." (Star Trek Magazine issue 175, p. 46)

No specific rules were ever stipulated for writing about Klingons. "They had a certain culture and a certain kind of way of thinking that we didn't really line out in the bible or anything like that but we knew from past experience on other scripts how we had developed them," D.C. Fontana reflected. "So, if a writer was going to use them, we just let them read those other scripts or watch the episodes, so they could get a handle on it." [8]

D.C. Fontana was highly approving of several of the actors who played Klingons, enthusing, "We had some really good ones." [9] Klingon-playing performers John Colicos and William Campbell, who featured as Kor and Koloth in "Errand of Mercy" and "The Trouble with Tribbles" respectively, were veteran television actors. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 23)

Although no Klingons ultimately made any more than one appearance in the original series, Gene Roddenberry believed the series could benefit from a regular Klingon character, a counterpart of Kirk's with whom he would frequently clash. As such, both John Colicos and William Campbell were intended to return as their respective characters of Kor and Koloth. Campbell played Koloth in the knowledge that he might subsequently be hired for as many as thirteen episodes per season. Though Colicos was asked to reprise his role as Kor in both "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Day of the Dove" whereas Campbell was invited for the first of what was meant to be multiple reappearances as Koloth, other commitments kept both actors from returning. (The World of Star Trek, 1994 UK ed., pp. 120 & 121; Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 61; "The Trouble with Tribbles" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 2 Blu-ray)

The Klingons' appearance changed within the original Star Trek series; although dark makeup and heavy eyebrows were the norm, the Klingons of "The Trouble with Tribbles" were much lighter-skinned and more Human-like in appearance. Regarding this change, William Campbell remarked, "Mike Ansara had a certain gypsy look to him, and John Colicos actually used the name Genghis when describing his character and the kind of make-up. My character in 'The Trouble with Tribbles' was just a guy with a widow's peak and a beard, so basically, we looked like they [the actors playing Humans] looked." (Star Trek Monthly issue 11, p. 53) Explained Robert Justman, "The second time [the Klingons appeared], something went wrong. I didn't see them in their makeup before they were photographed, as I usually did. The first time I saw the Klingons revisited, I was horrified. They were much paler and didn't match what we'd done before. I blew a gasket, but in television, unless it's a total disaster, you can't afford to reshoot. The third outing, we went back to them being darker." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 24) Trying to account for these makeup differences, Ruth Berman stated they were "Because there are different races of Klingons, just as there are different races of Earthmen. Also, because, when Fred Phillips looked up information on Klingons for 'The Trouble with Tribbles', the photos he found were poorly lit and gave the appearance of light skin and ordinary eyebrows. Since then, he has followed the 'Errand of Mercy' style of Klingon." (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

Another changing element was the depiction of Klingon females. A line by Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles" was meant to suggest that females ("non-essentials," as Koloth puts it) don't serve on Klingon vessels. (The Trouble with Tribbles, p. 187) In "Day of the Dove", however, two women (including Mara) are shown as crew members from Kang's battle cruiser. "Day of the Dove" marks the only appearance of any female Klingons in the original series. It was Fred Phillips who created the female variant of the Klingon makeup. (The Star Trek Compendium, p. 119)

Gene Roddenberry always wanted the TOS Klingons to look more alien than they did, but this desire was stumped by TV budgets of the era. (Star Trek Monthly issue 93, p. 37) Additionally, Roddenberry was unsettled by the way Klingons were portrayed on the original series, coming to realize that they were at loggerheads with the ethos of Star Trek by being shown as entirely villainous. (Star Trek Monthly issue 10, p. 50; The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, pp. 215-216) In 1980, Susan Sackett relayed about this opinion of Roddenberry's, "He believes that the Klingons emerged as too simply the epitome of evil – the bad guys who always wear black – whereas one of Star Trek's philosophical cornerstones was that there are many forms of truth, and other life forms (or other humans, for that matter) should not be branded good or evil solely on the basis of our own customs." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, pp. 215-216) During a SeaTrek convention a decade later in 1990, Majel Barrett agreed, "Gene [Roddenberry] never did like the Klingons because they were represented as being 'all bad.' Gene said, 'There is no such thing as a whole race that is all bad.' He really hated that." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 20)

D.C. Fontana personally found the Klingons less interesting than the Romulans. [10] Comparing the two groups, she stated, "[The Klingons] were interesting villains with an agenda, not quite as mysterious as the Romulans. The Romulans were a keepout group. The Klingons were operating in our territory which could lead to more direct contact–and conflict–with the Federation." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, pp. 22-23)

David Gerrold wrote, "All of the Klingon episodes were, in one way or another, restatements of the original: Klingons and Earthmen must not fight." He also approved of the Klingons, if they were to be shown on a regular basis, as not engaging in all-out conflict with the Federation, saying, "Not only does this provide a good background for a wide variety of stories, both humorous and dramatic, but it is a lot more optimistic and (hopefully) believable than a space war. After all, a race that can achieve space travel is going to have done so only through large scale programs of social cooperation, and it is hoped, in the process will have learned that there are better ways than aggression to accomplish one's goals." (The World of Star Trek, 1994 UK ed., p. 32)

The portrayals of Klingons in TOS are largely consistent with one another, though new attitudes were attributed to them in later years. Whereas TOS Klingons were played with what Robert Justman once termed bravura, no one thought of them as honorable warriors yet. "When you got right down to it," said Justman, "they were worthy adversaries and they were killers. They were 100 per cent bad, evil, motivated by the need to be evil. They were thrilled to be evil." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 24) Mike Sussman pointed out, "They really seemed much more interested in glory and treachery than honor in those days. Maybe they found the whole 'honor' thing wasn't working for them." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 139, p. 47) Quark actor Armin Shimerman noticed that the TOS Klingons are "sort of one dimensional bad guys." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 48) Richard Arnold pointed out they "were not very bright," either. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 27) Ronald D. Moore felt the original series included "very, very little" about Klingon culture. ("Sins of the Father" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) He elaborated, "They were villains, it was built around conquest, and there were certain attributes you could identify, but there wasn't that much to go from." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 19, p. 64)

After TOS

While working on Remastered TOS, neither Dave Rossi nor Michael and Denise Okuda were ever tempted to add computer-generated wrinkles to the Klingon foreheads, matching the look of the species in later appearances. "Although, I gotta tell ya, the three of us talked about it for a while," recalled Mike Okuda, "and we thought, 'We should propose digitally retouching the foreheads just so we could see [Visual Effects Supervisor] Niel Wray's head explode,' because once he figured out the amount of time it would take to retouch every single frame with every single scene with every single Klingon, they'd still be working today." ("Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access, TOS Season 1 Blu-ray)

While Star Trek: The Animated Series was in early development during 1969, one of three never-produced story outlines which were submitted by Don Christensen and were considered for production by Filmation was entitled "Klingon Attack". (Star Trek Magazine Souvenir Special, p. 55) Klingons subsequently represented one element which David Gerrold felt he undoubtedly had to "shoehorn" into the animated episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles". (Star Trek Magazine issue 132, p. 19) The installment's creative staff even copied the way the Klingons were used in "The Trouble with Tribbles", involving diplomatic relations between them and Captain Kirk. Gerrold felt a recap in the episode's dialogue was necessary to address the species' hatred of tribbles. ("More Tribbles, More Troubles" audio commentary, TAS DVD special features) However, Klingons turned out to be an aspect of the episode which amounted to it seeming "contrived" to him. (Star Trek Magazine issue 132, p. 19) Only one other installment of the short-lived animated Star Trek series featured Klingons: "The Time Trap". In "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and "The Time Trap", the same animated footage was evidently used for the Klingon characters of Koloth and Kuri respectively. Making both Klingons look identical was done as a money-saving exercise. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 17, p. 71)

In 1976, the Klingons were planned to feature in the ultimately never-produced film Star Trek: Planet of the Titans. The Klingons would have fought with the Federation over a planet once owned by a technological super-race. According to the director, Philip Kaufman, one of the Klingons, hopefully played by Toshiro Mifune, would have battled with Spock while both characters were "tripping out in outer space." (The A-Z of Star Trek, Special SFX Edition, p. 106)

During development of the unrealized TV series Star Trek: Phase II, John Meredyth Lucas wrote a two-part episode entitled "Kitumba" which, if filmed, would have established a radically different Klingon culture to the one developed in subsequent series and films. For a start, it would have been revealed only members of the Empire's warrior caste are called Klingons. The other castes are called the technos, who are the scientists and technicians, and the subjects. A relationship similar to the Emperor and Chancellor in later series would also be established, with the ceremonial Kitumba residing on the Sacred Planet that orbits closer to the sun, while the Warlord presides over political and military decisions on Ultar, the story's name for the Klingon homeworld. (Star Trek: Phase II - The Making of the Lost Series) In essence, the Klingon Empire of this story took major influence from Japan. (The A-Z of Star Trek, Special SFX Edition, p. 105) Lucas explained, "I wanted something that we had never seen before on the series, and that's a penetration deep into enemy space. I then began to think how the Klingons lived [....] The Japanese came to mind, so basically that's what it was. You know, the sacred Emperor, the Warlord and so on." (Starlog, issue 112, p. 34)

Film redesign

Beginning with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, improved makeup techniques and bigger budgets led to the Klingon makeup design becoming more elaborate than it had been in TOS. Faced with the prospect of having much more finances to work with for the Klingons in The Motion Picture, Fred Phillips initially asked Gene Roddenberry if he could do some very alien-looking Klingons, a request Roddenberry approved. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 104, p. 12) "They decided to make aliens true aliens, and so that's how it happened," commented Michael Dorn. "I guess they never thought that they'd have to deal with [fictionally explaining] it at some point." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 94) Not only did more finances assist with the creation of a cinematic version of the Klingons for The Motion Picture but so did more time. Both elements enabled Phillips to give "character" to the Klingon faces. (Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook, p. 209)

Costume Designer Robert Fletcher was instrumental in giving the Klingons a new "look" for The Motion Picture. Maggie Schpak noted, "We had a lot of time [...] so Bob just designed and designed and designed those Klingons." ("Klingon and Vulcan Costumes", Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

The new makeup design included the original complexion and facial hair of the TOS Klingons but also added a bony head crest. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 59) The head thus became one of the most significant features in the Klingon makeup scheme. "The rest of the makeup was lots of hair and a beard," stated Mark Lenard. "There is a lot of hair on the sides of the Klingon appliances." (Starlog #42, p. 24)

The inspiration for the post-TOS Klingon makeup came from Planet Earth, an unsold 1974 Gene Roddenberry pilot which starred Diana Muldaur and Ted Cassidy. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 37, No. 2, p. 40) That pilot featured a Klingon-inspired, warlike race of mutant Humans called the Kreeg who had ridges down the center of their foreheads. Robert Fletcher was largely responsible for the addition of the Klingon cranial ridges. "I did sketches for the Klingon, including the knobby forehead and head. The makeup department, very generously, said, 'That's great, we'd like to use it.' Gene Roddenberry was not too enthusiastic. He thought they should look more like just people. I said, 'Yes, but these are real aliens, and they're evil aliens.' I think the people, the audience, wants to see something that is not just folks, that goes beyond just folks." ("Klingon and Vulcan Costumes", Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray)) In production notes Fletcher wrote about the movie's various aliens, he specified about the Klingons, "Spine comes up over head and down forehead (different from series). Hair on side of head as though trying to cover spine." (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 133)

It was Gene Roddenberry's idea that the newly added head ridges were actually an outgrowth of the Klingon spinal cord, proceeding up the back of the neck and over the head. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, pp. 59-60) Robert Fletcher was of a similar opinion. While considering the Klingons as "a race of reptiles," he also thought their distinctive spines were from a type of crustaceans. (The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 52) "In my mind, all the bumps on the forehead and so forth are vestigial remains of a people that evolved like crustaceans, like lobsters, who have their skeleton on the outside of their bodies," Fletcher explained. "And over the millions of years, they've lost that complete outside skeleton, but now retain only vestiges of it." ("Klingon and Vulcan Costumes", Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray)) Fletcher also believed that the evolutionary roots of the Klingons were symbolized by an ornamental spine piece that runs down the back of some Klingon uniforms, such as those designed for and shown in The Motion Picture. ("Klingon and Vulcan Costumes", Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

Once thought up, the Klingon head ridges required considerable experimentation. "Fred Phillips did a makeup test by putting a bald cap on the actor and sculpting the entire thing out of mortician's wax so he would have a crude version of what it looked like in three dimensions," Rick Stratton explained. However, Director Robert Wise – thinking the test makeup was slightly too extreme – was inspired by noticing the knuckles of one of his hands in moonlight. "He had the idea for a more subtle bone structure than the big gnarly spinal cord thing," continued Stratton, "but we thought to ourselves, 'Oh, knuckleheads!' So we did a makeup test with the subtle 'knuckles,' but it wasn't extreme enough. So, we went back to the more vertebrae-like look." (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 60) Stratton also noted of the final design, "It might have looked like a lobster tail." (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, pp. 59-60)

The head piece came down over the brows and back over the head. "It was made in two segments, and they were joined together with cement," reported Mark Lenard. One of these parts was a nose piece that extended down from the upper area of the head piece, over the actor's nose. "So that was pretty warm," said Lenard of the entire head piece. (Starlog #42, p. 24)

The creation of the prosthetics meant the makeup team had to take molds of the actors' faces. (Starlog #42, p. 26) The Klingon appliances were sculpted by Rick Stratton along with Mark Seigel and Mike LaValley. (Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook, p. 209) Commented Mark Lenard, "The fellows who did the mask, helpers of Fred Phillips, weren't my idea of professionals. They kind of left you alone. And they took a long time putting it on." (Starlog #42, p. 24)

While helping to sculpt the prosthetics, Rick Stratton suggested adding teeth. "When we began running out of stuff to do," he admitted, "I wanted to get an extra day's pay, so I said, 'How about if we make some messed-up teeth for these guys?' It would save time staining their teeth and make them look like they had been chewing on bones or something, but it was all because I wanted another day's pay!" (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 60) The dental appliances remained as part of The Motion Picture's Klingon makeup. (Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook, p. 209)

Ve Neill arranged the Klingon makeups for usage, actually applying the makeup for The Motion Picture's main Klingons, of which there were three. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 60) This required the actors to spend several hours each day just being made up for their Klingon roles. Mark Lenard calculated that this duration was between one-and-a-half to three hours, a time span which varied to enable the makeup artists to redo the makeup in time for the beginning of the day's shoot. (Starlog #42, p. 24) "I put all the heads together, dressed the hairpieces, and glued all the hair on the heads [....] Fred [Phillips] hired some old cronies to do the rest of them, and they came in and brushed out all the hairpieces!" Neill remembered. "All they had to do was put on the heads with the hairpieces on them, and take a rat-tail comb and blend the hairpieces onto the heads, but they brushed them all out, and totally messed up all of the makeups. Every one of those actors came to me and said, 'Hey, you've got to fix my makeup!' and I had to say, 'Oh, no, I'm not going to fix anything!' I don't want any of those old guys mad at me!" (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 60)

Once applied, the Klingon makeup in The Motion Picture was so elaborate that it obscured the faces of the actors. In fact, the only way to tell the Klingons apart from one another, according to Mark Lenard, was the build of their bodies. "One was skinny, another fatter, another taller," noted Lenard. (Starlog #138, p. 35)

Gene Roddenberry tried to explain the differences between The Motion Picture's Klingons and the original ones by saying that the original show had simply never had the budget and makeup technology to envision the species as it should have been seen, so the apparently new Klingons were just Klingons as they were always intended to have been. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 37, No. 2, p. 40) He additionally contemplated, "Just as there are different races of humans, there are different races of Klingons, and the Klingons seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture are not the same race as the ones we saw on the original series." Since Fred Phillips expected that the fans would wonder about how the Klingons could possibly have head ridges newly added to their faces, he and Roddenberry came up with the explanation of there being a variety of Klingon races, even before the release of The Motion Picture. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 145, pp. 71-72) According to Michael and Denise Okuda, the two men "reportedly joked that the difference was because only 'southern' Klingons were seen in the original series, but those seen in the movies were 'northern' Klingons." (Star Trek Chronology, 2nd ed., p. 80) Despite this, the transformation continued to be regarded as a mystery, and would not be addressed onscreen, for decades to come.

Roddenberry also stipulated that the Klingons would preemptively attack any foreign entity discovered within Klingon space, such as they do to V'Ger in The Motion Picture. (audio commentary, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition))

Mark Lenard admitted that, before playing the Klingon Captain in The Motion Picture, he had never imagined playing a Klingon and said this was "because they are the arch enemies of the galaxy." (Starlog #42, p. 24) The actor had trouble with the film's Klingon prosthetics, though, complaining, "This Klingon makeup was very uncomfortable and painful." (Starlog #117, p. 48) He clarified, "[It] was so full of hair, and it was so hot–and it itched." (Starlog #138, p. 35) Despite the discomfort, Lenard found that the makeup was sufficiently movable for the required performances, remarking, "Oh yeah, you could be expressive – even as a Klingon." (Starlog #42, p. 26) Richard Arnold once noted that, despite appearing in only a few brief scenes, Lenard was instrumental in developing a key aspect of the Klingon character. Arnold specified that, by making the Klingon Captain "sympathetic," Lenard changed the Klingons "into having more honor." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 27)

The Klingon style for all subsequent Star Trek productions was influenced by the design of the Klingon bridge in The Motion Picture. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 171)

Gene Roddenberry planned for the second Star Trek film to focus on the Klingons, including an exploration of their culture and the motives regarding their passion for battle. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 215) He specifically wanted the second movie to feature a group of Klingons who, having discovered the Guardian of Forever, had traveled through time to 1963 Earth. There, they had prevented the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though their efforts were ultimately thwarted by the crew of the Enterprise, which had followed the Klingons into the past. However, this storyline did not come to be, instead rejected by Paramount. (Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, "Log Entry 21" & "Log Entry 22")

Star Trek III

Although Harve Bennett originally planned for the Romulans to be the primary villains in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the Klingons were instead made the film's adversaries at the recommendation of Leonard Nimoy, as he convinced Bennett that the Klingons were Star Trek's main antagonists. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8, p. 30) "I've always been more intrigued by the Klingons," Nimoy conceded, "so I suggested the switch, which Harve readily embraced [....] It was Bill Shatner who reminded me that Gene Coon [...] gave us the gift of Klingons." (I Am Spock, hardback ed., p. 223) Nimoy also perceived that the addition of the Klingons was made out of considerations regarding the Genesis Device, which had been established in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. "They would have heard about it and would have been threatened by it," Nimoy supposed. "It had overtones of a Soviet-US kind of combat." (Captain's Log, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray)) Bennett himself added, "That gave us the perfect foil [....] And, of course, Leonard had a marvelous insight into what they should look like. His knowledge of how we could do it made the Klingons the perfect fit; we had our Nazis." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8, p. 30) Bennett also related, "It was only as I was writing it that I realized the Klingons were as dastardly a group of heavies [as the Romulans], and that I had made them so. I'd resurrected them from the series, where they were ill-defined or non-defined." He revealed, too, that his decision to replace the Romulans with the Klingons as the movie's villains was because, after viewing all the episodes of TOS, he perceived a "sense of determination and absolutism" in the Klingon episodes that he felt wasn't so evident with the Romulans. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock audio commentary, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

In Star Trek III, Leonard Nimoy wanted to thoroughly explore the Klingon mindset. "My thrust always was, 'Let's learn something,' and I think that's the best of Star Trek, always. 'Let's get under the skin of these characters, under the skin of their story, under the skin of their society. Why are they so paranoid [...] angry and hostile?'" (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock audio commentary, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

One unrealized plot thread from Star Trek III, conceived and briefly considered for inclusion, was that the Klingons had stolen a Bird-of-Prey from the Romulans (accounting for the reused name). "We agreed that the Klingons would steal the best from anybody," Harve Bennett recalled, "though we didn't have time to show it in the story." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8, p. 30) Another changed concept was that, on the surface of the Genesis Planet, the Klingons were originally intended to meet with fierce, carnivorous "rock eels", which were physically planned in concept drawings. One of the Klingons was even devoured by an eel. As the character of the Klingons continued to develop, it became clear that they themselves should be the most ferocious lifeforms on the planet, so the idea of the eels was dropped. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 228) The Klingons also appeared in concept art for Star Trek III, storyboarded to appear much as they had been seen in The Motion Picture. ("The Klingons Attack" and other storyboard sequences, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition) DVD special features)

Leonard Nimoy believed that having the relationship between Klingons Valkris and Kruge established near the start of Star Trek III was "very interesting and helpful in establishing the context in which the story was going to take place." Nimoy was additionally of the opinion that the audience was taught about an aspect of the Klingon mentality via the on-screen interactions between the two Klingons, particularly that Kruge is willing to sacrifice his beloved Valkris, by killing her himself, simply because she has learned all about the secretive Genesis Device. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock audio commentary, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

Klingon aesthetics played into the designing of the Bird-of-Prey, such as Leonard Nimoy giving Art Director Nilo Rodis an idea of what a Bird-of-Prey even meant by showing him an image of a Klingon. "I looked at that and I thought, 'OK, I think I understand,'" Rodis remembered. Particular aspects that he took inspiration from, in designing the Bird-of-Prey, were the Klingons' color scheme and that they apparently like decoration. "If you look at the Klingons, there is something fairly gothic and art deco about them," Rodis pointed out. "If you notice, they never wear simple, undecorated costumes; it's all kind of metallic and leather, with piping and stuff [....] Also, even though the Klingons aren't green, they are definitely not blue. They lean more toward gray/green." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 8, p. 58)

Specifically at the request of Leonard Nimoy, Robert Fletcher was made responsible for duties encompassing Star Trek III's redesign of Fred Phillips' redesign of the Klingons. Fletcher collaborated with Tom Burman of the Burman Studio, who fabricated Fletcher's designs; they thus created the third-generation version of Klingons, whose bony foreheads were less pronounced than those shown in The Motion Picture. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 226) "We tried to make them somewhat less brutal, less prominent," stated Fletcher, "so that you get a better sense of the Klingons' individual faces." Burman shared Fletcher's conclusion that the Klingon forehead had to be revised. "It was just too cartoonish, and I didn't want a Star Wars look in this movie," Burman related. "There had never been a good marriage between the forehead appliance and the actors' faces. We tried to keep them in character rather than have these obtrusive things on their heads." Burman believed that doing each of the Klingons right took two hours. (The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 52) According to Maltz actor John Larroquette, though, application of the makeup required five hours. (Starlog #138, p. 25) The makeup process began with the application of a bald cap and forehead appliance. Still included as part of the makeup was faux facial hair. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 17, No. 3/4, p. 83) Owing to the fact that the makeup artists used a different base on the prosthetic pieces than on the actors' skin, there was a difference between the color of the prosthetics and the skin tones. (Starlog #138, p. 30)

Director of Photography Charles Correll was tasked with using lighting to ensure the Klingon makeup in Star Trek III looked believable throughout the movie, so that any naturally occurring anomalies in the makeup were not highlighted. Given that the bridge set for the film's Klingon Bird-of-Prey was top-lit and deliberately kept dark, Correll said about the Klingons being shown on their own ship, "We were lucky [...] and I think we accomplished what we had to do." The dim lighting not only helped make the Klingon prosthetics less pronounced but also added to how dramatic the Klingons appeared, which the framing of the shots also aided. "Shooting these guys on the Klingon bridge was all about getting in tight, getting mysterious, getting intense," commented Leonard Nimoy. "Very tight, very up-close, intense stuff, to emphasize the power of them, the presence of them, the danger of them, and their conspiratorial attitude, their whispering and the tension that grew out of that." (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock audio commentary, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray))

The Star Trek III portrayal of Klingons took inspiration from Japanese history. "Harve [Bennett] had the notion that the Klingons were like Samurai warriors," explained linguist Marc Okrand. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 27) Robert Fletcher agreed with Bennett, later saying of the Klingons, "I always liked to think of them as authoritarian, almost feudal, like Japan had been." (The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 52) As such, both the Klingon costumes and Klingonese language in Star Trek III were influenced by the feudal Japanese culture. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 226; Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 27; The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 52)

One actor who auditioned for the part of a Klingon in Star Trek III was Robert Beltran. When he walked into an audition with Leonard Nimoy, he forthrightly asked, "So, what's a Klingon?" Though his naivete obviously resulted in him losing the role he was trying out for, Beltran went on to regularly appear as Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager, years afterwards. (The Finest Crew in the Fleet, p. 84)

At one point, Leonard Nimoy remarked that, on Star Trek III, he was "happier than ever to be working with Klingons!" and that this was due to Kruge actor Christopher Lloyd's portrayal in the film. (I Am Spock, hardcover ed., p. 226) For his part, Lloyd once expressed that he thought the Klingon makeup was helpful to performances, commenting, "That kind of makeup, when it’s put on well, it enhances what you’re doing and gives you more confidence that you’re going to be able to portray the character and make it believable." [11] One drawback of the makeup was that it was difficult to endure. "It was very heavy from the wig all the way down," attested John Larroquette. "It was claustrophobic." (Starlog #138, p. 25)

Multiple Klingon props and hand weapons in Star Trek III were designed by Industrial Light & Magic. (The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 53)

Gene Roddenberry didn't find the Klingons in Star Trek III bothersome. This was because they were portrayed with much of the same attitudes as they had always had. (Star Trek Movie Memories, hardback ed., p. 289)

Star Trek IV

Even by the mid-1980s, Klingon makeup was still extremely thick. Klingon-portraying performers such as John Larroquette, in his role as Maltz, and John Schuck, who portrayed the Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, were thereby made to look barely recognizable in their Klingon personas. (Starlog #138, pp. 25 & 28) On the other hand, contrasting films of this period with The Motion Picture, Mark Lenard proclaimed, "They've modified the Klingon makeup a bit so now you show a little more of the face and can distinguish who's who." (Starlog #138, p. 35)

Leonard Nimoy selected a single forehead design to be used for all the Klingons in Star Trek IV. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 254) Richard Snell commented, "We did what I called cookie cutter work [....] Basically it was done that way because that's the way it'd been done before." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 5, p. 33) Said John Schuck, "It involved taking a full head cast. They bury you under mounds of dental compound, making a positive mold out of that, upon which they built the appliances." The duration required for applying Star Trek IV's Klingon makeup (at least in Schuck's case) was four-and-a-half hours. (Starlog #138, pp. 29 & 30) The actor complained, "It was heavy makeup. Getting it on was hard and, I always say, getting it off was harder." [12]

John Schuck thought the Klingons had begun to undergo a gradual transformation of ultimately becoming a tad friendlier by the time of Star Trek IV's creation. After discussing this subject with Gene Roddenberry, Schuck recalled, "It seemed to me that in the minds of the creators, the Klingons had matured [....] I asked him about it. He said it was time for the Klingons to take on a dimension which showed that the culture had changed. Alliances change. There can be progress." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 28) The actor also remembered about Roddenberry, "He felt that maybe the time had come for the Klingons – not that they shouldn't be adversaries and a dark, moody group – to be a little more accessible, make them a little more interesting in that way." (Starlog #138, p. 30)

Much of the focus on the Klingons in the Star Trek films preceding the advent of Star Trek: The Next Generation was not on their culture. Ronald D. Moore perceived, "The movies were sort of more about art direction, sort of how they behaved, and sort of changing their makeup than about anything cultural." ("Sins of the Father" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Regarding the make-up, Michael Westmore observed, "Until now, Klingons were brown. Some had a bony ridge running down the middle of their foreheads, long black wigs and facial hair." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 28)

Becoming heroes

Immediately prior to the genesis of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Klingons were planned to be depicted in an ultimately undeveloped idea for a new Star Trek series, which was thought up by the father-and-son producing team of Sam and Greg Strangis. In that discarded series concept, the Klingons were no longer antagonistic and were, instead, allies of Starfleet. (The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, p. 44)

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry was originally averse to Klingons appearing at all. (Star Trek Monthly issue 10, p. 50; Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, p. 6) This was because he wanted to avoid them returning until the new series had been accepted on its own merits. As such, the Klingons were one of several original-series aliens (also including Vulcans and Romulans) which were initially vetoed by Roddenberry. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, p. 6) Another issue that resulted in him planning the omission of the Klingons was that, by the time he opened TNG pre-1987 for story concepts from writers, the Klingon backstory had become so extensive it was now a problem. Said Richard Arnold, "Gene kept getting stories from professional writers about wars with the Klingons and he kept saying, 'Star Trek is not about Klingons!'" (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 56)

Robert Justman began an 18 October 1986 memo to Gene Roddenberry, concerning the show's bible, with the sentence, "Despite your aversion to using Klingons in the new series, I think I've thought of something which might just change your mind." Justman went on to propose a resident Klingon serving aboard the Enterprise, suggesting that the military skills and prowess of the Klingon species might cause such a person to be well-suited for a role in the ship's crew. (Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission, p. 15) Roddenberry's response was adamant about excluding the species, saying, "Bob, we've passed all that. We don't need Klingons." However, Justman insistently challenged this opinion, pointing out that the acceptance of a Klingon in Starfleet could imply that Human attitudes had grown, which fit well with Roddenberry's optimistic view of the future. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 56) On 10 November 1986, the subject of Klingons was brought up by D.C. Fontana. She proposed that the TNG production staff either leave them as a violent adversary, ignore them, eliminate them entirely, or have them be at peace with the Federation, Fontana suggesting that the fourth option seemed to open the most story opportunities. She pointed out, "Story situations can grow from interaction with ambassadors, trading ships, other 'alliance' vessels with Klingon personnel..." (SciFiNow – Star Trek: The Complete Manual, p. 53) Roddenberry was finally tiring of people asking about Klingons, which led him to authorize the character concept that then became Worf. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 92) At last, he agreed that a Klingon alliance with the Federation might be indicated via the inclusion of the new character, limiting the focus on the warlike nature of the species. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 139, p. 70)

Whoopi Goldberg once cited the fact that "the Klingons have cooled out" as an indication that "things are going well for the world." ("Mission Overview", TNG Season 2 DVD/Blu-ray special features) On the other hand, she also cited the Klingons as a group of people which the Federation couldn't cooperate with, Goldberg specifying, "I don't care what they do; Klingons are just tough, you know." ("Beyond the Five Year Mission, The Evolution of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Part Three: The Noosphere", TNG Season 6 Blu-ray special features) The adoption of Plan B indeed involved retaining not only the Klingon species itself but also their fierce image of "guys you've got to watch out for," meanwhile having them join the Federation. (Star Trek Monthly issue 10, p. 50) Nonetheless, at least in the opinion of Raphael Hernandez – the producer and writer of the CD-ROM game Klingon Academy – the TNG Klingons turned out to be much less "dramatic" than previous Klingons. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 118, p. 65) Disagreeing, Worf actor Michael Dorn argued that, with the advent of TNG, "the Klingons started talking more like Shakespeare, and they started getting very big." (The A-Z of Star Trek, Special SFX Edition, p. 85) Susan Sackett implied that having the Klingons now be Federation members, a decision made by Gene Roddenberry, was inspired by his efforts to ease hostilities between himself and Paramount, following the rejection of his Klingon-centric script for the second Star Trek film. (Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, "Log Entry 35") Though the Klingons ultimately weren't made Federation members, Garfield Reeves-Stevens later reckoned, "You could project into the future that at some point the Klingons might join the Federation." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue 55, p. 15) Commented Ronald D. Moore, "The Klingon alliance was cool and interesting because they had been villains on the original series [...] [but] they sort of got defanged." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 101)

In the first writer's/director's guide for TNG, Gene Roddenberry stipulated that "no stories about warfare with Klingons" should be submitted. However, he and the rest of the staff soon realized that TNG had quickly established a style of its own, so they allowed Worf's Klingon background to be explored. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 92) As a result, the Klingons made the occasional guest appearance in the first two seasons of TNG. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 19, p. 64)

Gene Roddenberry thought of the Klingons as actual people, often asking himself such questions as "Would the Klingons be happy with that kind of government or philosophy?" He reflected, "You spend years dreaming them up, and they begin to build up into a rather real thing. I don't for a moment think they are real subjects, but they have a reality for me. I take the fact of their fictional existence very seriously. If I am going to write something about them, and they are going to be seen by Arthur C. Clarke or Ray Bradbury, people I love and respect, I have to pretend that they are real, and that this is serious." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 20)

African-American actors were often cast as Klingons in TNG and subsequent Star Trek productions. This practice wasn't racially motivated but was instead carried out because it lessened makeup time, as the performers already had a brown complexion without having to have their skin painted that color. (Stardate Revisited: The Origin of Star Trek: TNG, Part 2: Launch, TNG Season 1 Blu-ray) Tony Todd, who portrayed the recurring Klingon character Kurn, stated, "I don't look at the Klingons necessarily as African-Americans, but it's about tapping into something–they're certainly an alienated people, so maybe that's why African-American actors can identify with those characters. But that doesn't mean it's exclusive to them." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 116, p. 54)

In relation to the casting of Michael Dorn as Worf, Dorn's manager and many people Dorn knew were at first puzzled as to what a Klingon was. Having been a Star Trek fan since the start of TOS, Dorn knew much about Klingons by now and was consequently able to explain the nature of the species to his curious acquaintances. (Starlog issue #138, p. 64) As Dorn and Robert Beltran were friends, Beltran informed Dorn about his unsuccessful auditioning experience for a Klingon role in Star Trek III, a story which influenced Dorn to devise a strategy for his own audition, which he attended with a Klingon mindset. (The Finest Crew in the Fleet, p. 84)

While Michael Dorn was preparing to play Worf, Gene Roddenberry wanted previous Klingons to have minimal influence on the forthcoming portrayal, advising Dorn, "Forget everything you've ever read or heard about Klingons." (The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 15, p. 46) Dorn was well aware that the species was intended to be shown in a different light than in TOS. "Roddenberry is saying that even Klingons have redeeming qualities," observed the actor. "That everybody has some good. I agree with him." (The Finest Crew in the Fleet, p. 85) However, Dorn also acknowledged, "Making them allies in the first place flew in the face of what the Klingon race is all about." (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before, paperback ed., p. 201)

The Klingon makeup schemes for TNG were influenced by previous Klingon facial appearances. "I already had the basic design from the motion pictures," Michael Westmore observed. (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 59) However, he wanted to depart from what had gone before, later claiming that the "subtlety of the original ridges did not translate onto television." (Star Trek 30 Years, p. 57) Westmore made his decision of wanting to deviate from the features of past Klingons upon first thinking about the species for The Next Generation and talking about them with the series' other creative personnel. Believing the addition of prosthetic heads was insufficient, Westmore wanted to differ the TNG Klingons not only from those shown in the previous films but also from the Klingons of the original television series. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 61; Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 28) "I felt that for such a fierce warrior race, copying old designs just wasn't enough for The Next Generation," Westmore explained. "I wanted to lend a little more ferocity to their overall appearance, so I asked Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry to let me try something different from what 'had gone before.'" (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 28) Berman offered, "Gene Roddenberry [also] wanted to redesign the look of the Klingons. That's the real reason for the change in appearance." (Star Trek Monthly issue 100, p. 18) Altering the Klingon makeup scheme for TNG was considered a positive development because it helped to differentiate Klingons from other species. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 20) Westmore continued, "It's one area where I had a lot of license with it, because I was given photographs of former Klingons and there were no two alike. They were all different. So, I was given the opportunity to go ahead and create a new Klingon look that hadn't been done yet." ("The Making of a Legend", TNG Season 1 DVD & Blu-ray special feature) The Klingon makeup for The Next Generation was thereafter specifically based on the Klingon look Fred Phillips had developed for The Motion Picture. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 92)

Michael Westmore actually changed the Klingon facial design in numerous ways, though. He stated, "I added a Shakespearean style of facial hair and a forehead bone structure based on dinosaur vertebrae and I was able to modify motion picture Klingons for television." (Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts, p. 59) He also explained, "I suggested bringing their makeup down into their face by using noses and teeth, rather than having just a forehead." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12, p. 25)

Michael Westmore believed adding a ridged "latex nose," an idea he first thought up while designing Michael Dorn's makeup for the character of Worf, ended up as "one of my biggest changes" to the Klingons. The nose appliance connected into the forehead makeup piece and covered the bridge of the nose, thereby bringing the ridged look previously introduced by the forehead into the center of the actor's face. "The idea turned out to be quite successful," Westmore stated, "and became one of our signatures on the series." Each of the actors portraying a Klingon on TNG had a unique latex nose crafted for him or her. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 28)

After incorporating a nose piece into the Klingon facial design, Michael Westmore hit upon the notion of also including newly crafted Klingon teeth, which he made look discolored, broken and uneven. The teeth were acrylic caps which fit over the performer's own teeth. A unique set of teeth was cast for each speaking actor who was to play a Klingon on TNG. This enabled the false teeth to fit perfectly and have, similar to real teeth, an individual appearance. Westmore routinely issued the teeth to the performers one or two days before the actors began working, so they had time to practice with them. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, pp. 28-29)

Michael Westmore based TNG's elaborate Klingon foreheads on images of dinosaur vertebrae sections, for instance by isolating and studying a small part of a single vertebrae. "There are several books that I used as reference material," he noted. One such book was about the anatomy of dinosaurs. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 30)

An early policy was devised by Michael Westmore whereby each Klingon forehead was cast with a different ridge pattern. Westmore soon came to regret this policy, however. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 3rd ed., p. 21) "As I started sculpting the first forehead pieces for our Klingon guest stars," Westmore revealed, "I was under the mistaken impression that each design had to be different, as opposed to using the same mold more than once. It was the beginning of what I would eventually call 'Klingon Hell'; the self-imposed task of sculpting a new and different head for virtually every Klingon actor [on TNG]." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 29) The makeup department of TNG nevertheless amassed a gigantic backlog of different Klingon foreheads over the years. This was in addition to a supply of different Klingon noses available to the makeup staff. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Makeup FX Journal, p. 28)

At about the start of the series, the duration needed to apply the makeup for a single Klingon was two hours per day. (Starlog issue #138, p. 37) Especially due to the series featuring Worf as a regular character, the Klingon makeup scheme for TNG continued to become more refined throughout the series. (The Art of Star Trek, p. 92) Stated Michael Dorn, "I feel I've been a model for all Klingons." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 104, p. 60) He elaborated, "I would like to think that I was the next generation of Klingons and because of my character, we really started opening up and seeing what these guys are really like, and it's a very interesting, very interesting show." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 92) Indeed, Dorn hoped his influence on the species had been a positive one, saying, "I would like to think I've had a hand in [...] making the Klingons interesting." (Star Trek Monthly issue 110, p. 7) Gowron actor Robert O'Reilly enjoyed jokingly telling fans that, because Dorn wore size fourteen shoes and established the mold for Klingons of the TNG era, every other performer of Klingons had to learn to walk in size fourteen footwear. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 107)

A characteristic design ethos was applied to the Klingons on TNG. "Klingon design is very harsh angles," Senior Illustrator Rick Sternbach pointed out, "and the colors are lots of olive drabs, rusty reds, very hard." (The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 15, p. 14)

While having lunch with Gene Roddenberry one day very early in TNG's first season, Susan Sackett pitched a Klingon episode to him. She later recollected, "I told him I wanted to write a story about a group of renegade Klingons who had not seen the wisdom of the new order in which Klingons [...] were now loyal adherents of the Federation." As Sackett proceeded to outline her rough ideas for the plot, Roddenberry kept nodding his head. "When I finished," Sackett remembered, "he said simply, 'It won't work. Not on this show. All Klingons are now loyal.' End of discussion. Not even Gene could foresee the direction the Klingon story arc would take." (Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, "Log Entry 37")

Early Klingon forehead prosthetics caused some skin problems. Michael Dorn said, "The glue was the number one thing I had a major problem with." This was remedied, after Dorn complained about it to the producers, in the second season of TNG. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 63) "They changed a lot of the makeup process," he continued, "because my skin wasn't doing very well [....] To their credit they stopped and said, 'OK, wait a minute, let's try to change this.'" (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 94) Korris actor Vaughn Armstrong's Klingon forehead prosthetic in the episode "Heart of Glory" likewise caused him to develop a rash by the time it was first removed, as he had an allergic reaction to the makeup. "They were very concerned," Armstrong related, "because they knew they were going to use it a lot, but they fixed it and it never happened again." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p. 43)

It was "Heart of Glory" which introduced The Next Generation Klingons (except for Worf's previous appearances and an illusory Klingon temptress in "Hide and Q"). Ronald D. Moore once referred to "Heart of Glory" as a notable episode for developing the Klingons. ("Sins of the Father" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Owing to the Klingon death ritual established therein, Moore regarded the episode as an uncommon insight into the ritualistic aspect of Klingon culture which "left a mark that the Klingons were very ritualistic." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 114, p. 58) Michael Dorn commented, "For my money, that was the first real Klingon episode of that first season [....] I think that episode worked because it showed Klingons could be eloquent beings. We gave audiences something where they could ask, 'Wait a minute! Who are these people?'" (Star Trek Generations - Official Movie Souvenir Magazine) He was also of the opinion that the outing not only inspired questions regarding the Klingons but also answered some. Dorn remarked, "I consider 'Heart of Glory' to be an information episode because it gave you everything you wanted to know about what happened with the Klingons. Why did they become allies? [....] That type of thing." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 165) Dorn thought it "nice to see that they weren't just savages." (Starlog issue #138, p. 38) Another facet of the episode's Klingons that Dorn was pleased with was the selection of actors playing them. "[They] were probably some of the best actors we've had on the show," he enthused. "They were steady, they were strong, they were right there, and it really made it a joy to work with them. You had to rise to the occasion." (Starlog issue #138, p. 38) The outing set a precedent for Klingon mythology that was later to be followed in many other installments. "And I think this is something that they probably didn't realize," Dorn said of the TNG producers and writing staff, "when they started down this road of Klingon stuff, that they were gonna have this mythology." ("Making It So: Continuing Star Trek: The Next Generation, Part 1: Strange New Worlds", TNG Season 2 Blu-ray)

Maurice Hurley, who co-wrote the story and scripted the teleplay for "Heart of Glory", observed that the Klingons helped bring a sense of balance to the series. "With the Klingons you're dealing with emotion and passion. You've got somebody who can say something. You need that balance in the show sometimes," he opined. "The show gets so intellectually smug and self-serving, and you need something like that to break it off; someone willing to storm the barricades." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 182) Additionally, Hurley expressed that "Heart of Glory" presented the Klingons in such a way as to be highly relatable, saying, "The hunter remains within us all. That need to stalk and kill, drink warm blood and howl at the moon is part of who we are." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12, p. 53) This approach helped the Klingon-playing actors to find their characters' mindsets. "You always start from the Human element of these people," stated Vaughn Armstrong. "You find out what it is about them that you can relate to, and then you add other little characteristics as you go along and see the makeup, talk to the director, and all of that." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p. 43)

Director Rob Bowman was extremely familiar with the Klingons before directing "Heart of Glory", later saying, "I knew the Klingons very, very well from the movies and the original series." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12, p. 21) Vaughn Armstrong noted about Bowman, "He also said, 'We want the Klingons to be the bikers of the universe!'" (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p. 42) In "Heart of Glory", Bowman introduced the idea that it took three phaser hits to down a Klingon, with killing blows. "I wanted to make these guys as tough and as bad as I could," he said. ("Rob Bowman – Director of a Dozen", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 10)

The Klingon alliance with the Federation was at first meant to feature in the story which became "Conspiracy". In the episode's original form, fears that the peace with the Klingons had made the Federation complacent motivated a Starfleet conspiracy based solely on paranoia. The notion of the concern over the alliance was omitted because Gene Roddenberry rejected this early version of the installment. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, pp. 168-169)

TNG Season 2

In the interval between the first and second seasons of TNG, Michael Dorn voiced some hopes on how the Klingons might proceed to be developed. "In the future, I would like to see a half-human, half-Klingon," he said. "And I would like to see the Klingons interacting more with the Federation. I don't think Klingons should be that much integrated into the Federation. I love their unanimity, their separateness, because they are such a straight-laced people. Once you start integrating the Klingons too much, they lose their edge." (Starlog #138, p. 38)

Although TNG Klingons had collectively featured in "Heart of Glory", Klag actor Brian Thompson considered "A Matter Of Honor" "the first episode of The Next Generation to venture into the Klingon realm and to give audiences more of an in-depth look at this unique warrior race." (TV Zone, Special #29, p. 56)

Rob Bowman thought the Klingon action in "A Matter Of Honor" made it a fun episode to direct; after doing so, he remarked, "I guess there's a spirit inherent in the Klingons that seems to push it forth in a certain direction with the characters and the camera." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 176)

In "A Matter Of Honor", the Klingons were intended to be used to shed some light on a common social problem prevalent at the time of the episode's making. This was, namely, what it was like to be the only person of either white or black skin coloration while surrounded by people of the other color. The Klingons were selected to illustrate this theme as a spin on the usual arrangement of a predominantly Human crew serving aboard the Enterprise-D alongside Worf. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 176)

Michael Dorn once cited the Klingon crew in "A Matter of Honor" as rare evidence that Klingons can appreciate humor. "Those Klingons had a wonderful sense of humor," the actor opined. "A very sardonic sort of wit." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 59)

Producer Burton Armus not only co-wrote the story and wrote the teleplay for the Klingon-centric episode "A Matter Of Honor" but was also interested in an ultimately undeveloped Klingon story that was written and pitched for the series by freelance writer Marc Scott Zicree. This never-produced episode would have established why the Klingons looked differently in the new series and films to how they had appeared in TOS. Though Armus wanted to buy the story concept, he had left the series before he could. (Star Trek Magazine issue 172, p. 60)

Star Trek V

As co-writer of the story for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and the director of that film, William Shatner observed that the Klingons provided an important structural function to the film's writers. "The Klingons were always regarded as an added threat," he stated. "We kept them alive throughout the story–almost mathematically mapped it out–so that the element of tension would be there. Otherwise, it would become, 'Are they going to see God, or aren't they–yes or no, yes or no,' like Ping-Pong balls. This way the elements of the unknown were kept alive, adding more tension and interest to the story. And, of course, they became an interesting way to resolve the final problem of how to get Kirk back on the ship." Harve Bennett cited the Klingons' rescue of Kirk from Sha Ka Ree as contributing to the surprises throughout the movie, saying the reveal of the Klingons as Kirk's rescuers was meant as a "big surprise." (Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, pp. 51 & 50)

William Shatner was pleased with the casting of Todd Bryant and Spice Williams in the Klingon roles of Klaa and Vixis respectively, commenting, "They were physically right for the Klingons and were obviously talented enough to do the roles justice." These two actors spent a great deal of time preparing for their roles. (Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, pp. 78 & 147-148) For instance, because Star Trek V was to be the first time when Klingons with bare arms were shown, Williams and Bryant began to adhere to a strict fitness workout routine and a diet to improve the physical appearance of their bodies. ("That Klingon Couple", Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) DVD & Blu-ray)

Some of the Klingon-playing actors in Star Trek V revised previous Klingon characterizations. Art Director Nilo Rodis provided Korrd actor Charles Cooper with advice on Klingon culture, recommending Star Trek III and IV to Cooper with the statement, "That's where the Klingons are really presented." (Starlog #149, pp. 60 & 61) Despite Todd Bryant having already viewed all of the earlier Star Trek movies as well as TOS, he rented VHS tapes of the original Star Trek episodes which featured Klingons and repeatedly re-watched Christopher Lloyd's performance as Kruge in Star Trek III. "I looked for their attitude and how they acted toward humans; I tried to find the differences between the two [....] I learned that Klingons were aggressive and warlike, and I added some thoughts of my own, as to what I believed they would be like." Aware that Klingons had originally been patterned after Genghis Khan, Bryant also studied up on famous historical warriors and rented old pirate films that starred Errol Flynn. "It's a conquering personality that all Klingons have inbred in them," he mused. "They all want to conquer the universe." (Starlog #149, p. 63)

Further helping them prepare for their Star Trek V scenes, Todd Bryant and Spice Williams rehearsed extensively together over several eight-hour days, with the intention of absolutely perfecting their performances. (Starlog #149, p. 63) During this period, Williams decided that the Klingons they were playing should be far different from earlier-established members of the species. "We feel we're playing the Klingons as being much more real," she commented. "You can only go so far in creating a race that's only known for its evil. Seeing Klingons as having wants and desires is much more interesting. Vixis and Klaa are the new generation of Klingons. We're like spoiled rebellious yuppie Klingons. We're not just barking commands at each other. We're sharing and exchanging dialogue and we're showing that there's more than just a working relationship between the two. How Klingons are portrayed in Star Trek V appears to be the historical link when Klingons stopped being the committed enemy of the Federation and began working with them. The fact that a Klingon plays a prominent role in Star Trek: The Next Generation probably results from what takes place in Star Trek V." (Starlog #149, p. 67) The notion that, typically, the Klingon hierarchy would never permit a female Klingon first officer to become a captain was central to the portrayal of the relationship between Klaa and Vixis. Williams explained about herself and Bryant, "We both love Star Trek, we both saw an opportunity to contribute something far greater, a relationship, back story, and we literally sat down [...] and we would go through, 'Who are we? What are we doing here? Why are we here?' I mean, we even discussed, I think, 'What do Klingons brush their teeth with?' And I think Todd said, 'They don't brush their teeth.' That was brilliant!" ("That Klingon Couple", Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) DVD & Blu-ray)

Part of conceiving the back story regarding Klaa and Vixis involved Spice Williams and Todd Bryant imagining the nature of the connection between the characters. Said Williams, "We wanted this sensual, sexual relationship that was never done before." Bryant offered, "[It] was something I don't think people got because they cut it out of the film. It's a lot of guesswork there but, yeah, there was a lot of that going on, undercurrent that we had a serious relationship that no-one was supposed to know about." ("That Klingon Couple", Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) DVD & Blu-ray)

According to Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (p. 148), Todd Bryant and Spice Williams had to endure a three-hour makeup session each morning to look sufficiently Klingon. According to Starlog #149 (p. 64), however, Bryant's makeup required a daily duration of four hours to be put on. He himself specified, "We'd both get there real early, 3.45 a.m. for an 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock a.m. call. So, we'd be sitting in the makeup chair for a good four hours." ("That Klingon Couple", Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) DVD & Blu-ray) Charles Cooper's makeup as Korrd took four-and-a-half hours to apply and an hour to remove. (Starlog #149, p. 62)

For each of the performers cast to portray a Klingon in Star Trek V, the application process began with a bald cap being positioned over the performer's hair, after which one of the Klingon forehead appliances was added. (Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, p. 148) William Shatner permitted Richard Snell to produce each of the film's Klingon foreheads as a distinctive design. "I always felt that their foreheads should be like a thumbprint," admitted Snell, "and on V, Shatner said, 'Go ahead, make 'em different.' I thank him for that. That opened the door and now the sky's the limit." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 22, No. 5, p. 33) The forehead prosthetic was attached to the actor's skin using a strong adhesive glue. Both the newly added appliance and the skin were then painted with makeup, which was a mixture of acrylic and adhesive. Each performer then donned a hairpiece, helping complete the illusion. Unlike Todd Bryant and Spice Williams, Charles Cooper underwent an additional step in the procedure, as his makeup was completed with a layer of KY jelly that was used to give his skin a slick, oily appearance. (Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, pp. 148 & 149) The only Klingon which Makeup Effects Artist Kenny Myers created for Star Trek V was a Klingon god, of which he said, "I knew I wanted something that would imply a little more history to their race." In an attempt to imbue a sense of Klingon evolution in the design, Myers redesigned the forehead slightly, so it was a little higher than usual. (The Making of the Trek Films, UK 3rd ed., p. 90)

Unusually, Todd Bryant enjoyed being in the heavy, dark makeup required for his appearance as a Klingon, as well as the big wig associated with Klaa. He subsequently noted, "There wasn't really a sweat problem. It didn't really get that hot." (Starlog #149, p. 64)

Given the extreme degree of preparation involved, William Shatner was very excited to film the Klingons. He was not disappointed, thrilled with the performances of Spice Williams and Todd Bryant. (Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, pp. 147 & 148) Indeed, the efforts they had gone to in order to prepare for their Klingon roles turned out to be successful. "It worked," stated Bryant, "because, by the time we got there, we were so well-versed and we knew exactly how it was going to be blocked; everything went very quickly, and we did one or two takes most of the time." (Starlog #149, pp. 63-64) Commented Williams, "Todd and I were so well-rehearsed that they were able to shoot all our scenes in three days. In fact, Shatner would come up to us after almost every scene and say something like, 'You're the most well-rehearsed actors I've ever seen.'" (Starlog #149, p. 67) The pair of actors continued their diet even during production. Williams noted, "We were eating cans of tuna before shooting a scene." (Starlog #149, p. 64)

As with the Klingons in Star Trek III, Gene Roddenberry wasn't bothered by the Klingons in Star Trek V. Again, this was due to them being portrayed with much the same attitudes as had been usual for them. (Star Trek Movie Memories, hardback ed., p. 289)

TNG Season 3

At one stage, Ron Moore cited "The Emissary" as a significant installment for developing the Klingons. ("Sins of the Father" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray) Brannon Braga, who later served on the writing staff of TNG, and Moore agreed that Michael Dorn and K'Ehleyr actress Suzie Plakson were "very good together," first acting alongside each other in "The Emissary". ("Reunion" audio commentary, TNG Season 4 Blu-ray) Dorn himself, however, wished the episode had gone deeper into the relationship between Worf and K'Ehleyr, feeling the installment merely "scratched the surface" and that the idea of the romance was "sort of a teaser." Co