Star Wars & Sc-Fi Talk
- Thread starter bd popeye
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AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
By TNG the Klingons were a mix of Viking (more than Russian), Japanese, and Chinese. Their architecture was Egyptian, Japanese, Chinese.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
The Changes started with the movies In Startrek the Motion picture the Klingons got there reintroduction in a bit part where three cruisers are destroyed by V'ger The Klingon Commander had ridges and Armor and spoke Klingon. Incidentally that commander though only seen once on screen was a Actor who had quite a history with the series.
He also created the basics of the Klingon and Vulcan "Languages"
every Klingon Apperance increased there growth and the final step was Worf. He in essence recreated the Klingon image, And is the most seen Klingon in the history of Trek
Miragedriver
Brigadier
I hope the next post is not in Kilngon.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Miragedriver
Brigadier
Mmmmmm... a klingon girlfriend.......I`ll check my insurance policy first. You may make a star trek fan out of me yet.
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AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I think Star Trek The Motion Picture was a period Klingons would like to forget. If I recall correctly in the TV series "lobster head" was used as a derogatory name for Klingons by Q I believe. That was actually the term fans used from watching the first movie. Yeah you see the origins of the ridges and the language but basically they were playing their traditional role of being war-mongering savages. The Klingons looked terrible in the movie.
The Klingons in trek have been described as Mongolian, Russian, Viking, Samurai, Orc Bikers
With that said the fear of Chinese fanaticism is just another example of status quo powers fearing the rise of a revolutionary entity, much in the same way ancien regime powers feared Jacobin France or Europeans and Americans in the 1920s feared the USSR.
Also the problem with China not being featured much as a cultural entity beyond a vague yellow peril type threat is because of lack of representation in mainstream American thinking, this despite the fact that Chinese diaspora have worked in numerous areas of American life, hell one of the main make up, monster suit and costume designers who worked on TOS was Chinese himself, his most famous creation being the Gorn design and the Romulan Bird of Prey.
Though i can see some aspects of Chinese culture existing in other cultures, such as in the Cardassians with the very strong emphasis in the family unit being the primary basis of all social and political power in Cardassian culture. Other than that, i thought the whole culture of order and service to the state to be a bit of a caricature of Soviet/Totalitarian stereotypes and i think was revealed as such as the Cardassians do have a revolution at the start of season 4 of DS9 and create a civilian government.
With that said the fear of Chinese fanaticism is just another example of status quo powers fearing the rise of a revolutionary entity, much in the same way ancien regime powers feared Jacobin France or Europeans and Americans in the 1920s feared the USSR.
Also the problem with China not being featured much as a cultural entity beyond a vague yellow peril type threat is because of lack of representation in mainstream American thinking, this despite the fact that Chinese diaspora have worked in numerous areas of American life, hell one of the main make up, monster suit and costume designers who worked on TOS was Chinese himself, his most famous creation being the Gorn design and the Romulan Bird of Prey.
Though i can see some aspects of Chinese culture existing in other cultures, such as in the Cardassians with the very strong emphasis in the family unit being the primary basis of all social and political power in Cardassian culture. Other than that, i thought the whole culture of order and service to the state to be a bit of a caricature of Soviet/Totalitarian stereotypes and i think was revealed as such as the Cardassians do have a revolution at the start of season 4 of DS9 and create a civilian government.
For those who haven't seen this, here's the timeline connecting Trek's history from the year 2379 to the year 2409, as part of the storyline of the MMORPG Star Trek Online.
Anyone else fans of this game?
Also just to continue the previous rant from before, storywise the comparison between Romulans and Chinese in the cold war makes no sense other than the isolationist aspects as the romulans aren't in a state of revolutionary turmoil but just cultural isolationism, that they had a period of expansion against Earth and its allies in the 22nd century and just stopped, one forum i went to suggested that the Romulans were basically a space based post-Constantine or post-Justinian Byzantine empire that after having reached the climax of its imperial strength has stagnated and cannot grow any longer, but is looking for a new ideology to fill in spiritual and cultural stagnation, which came in the form of Vulcan philosophies being re-introduced by Spock and his unification movement.
But that's a constant theme you see throughout Trek, especially with the Klingons who constantly seek out conflict and even create a clone of their first emperor to stave off cultural decay. The problem is that it all leads to the same thing, the Federation becomes the dominant culture, at least DS9 tried pretty hard to buck this trend as did ST6 by having Starfleet become more right wing or the Maquis point out the hypocrisy and imperialism inherent in Federation universalist ideology.
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TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
The Romulans were a far closer equivalent in the TOS era as China was isolated and little was know, add to that the Taiwan angle although reversed. After Nixon though the whom situation changed. the parables stopped more or less when TOS ended. The events of the TNG verse took on there own existence.
I mean the Romulans of TOS only had two technologies that edged them out the cloak and Plasma torpedoes, they were dependent on the Klingons for ships then when we see them again the Romulans have a ship bigger then the Enterprise D! The Klingons became frienemys, the cardassians show up and bring there own issues. The first cardassians we meet in TNG are playing a north Korea or Iranian like game of shuffling secret cargos. The whole Marquee dispute is based around human settlements in disputed territory. The closest parible being the Israeli Palestinian conflict or the Cashmere dispute. Where one group wants to keep the homes they settled in another wants them out. And a conflict brews, added the issue that as Starfleet is supposed to enact the will of the federation they have to issue the evictions.
star trek 6 is based on the end of the cold war but borrowed its plot from The Package, and the Hunt for red October. A cabal of military officers on both sides Human and Klingons along with Romulans siding to start a war.
STO is a its own take, it starts out with a event. The destruction of Romulus. Romulans become refugees and Klingons start a war with the Gorn. The federation is trying to keep the peace but then come species 8472 to mess with the pot. The Klingons conquer the Gorn and turn to Earth, the Borg mess around and the remains of the Romulan empire feud as empress would be turns on Empress would be.
you might think the federation will come out on top but the game is ever changing and plot threads shift all the time.
I mean the Romulans of TOS only had two technologies that edged them out the cloak and Plasma torpedoes, they were dependent on the Klingons for ships then when we see them again the Romulans have a ship bigger then the Enterprise D! The Klingons became frienemys, the cardassians show up and bring there own issues. The first cardassians we meet in TNG are playing a north Korea or Iranian like game of shuffling secret cargos. The whole Marquee dispute is based around human settlements in disputed territory. The closest parible being the Israeli Palestinian conflict or the Cashmere dispute. Where one group wants to keep the homes they settled in another wants them out. And a conflict brews, added the issue that as Starfleet is supposed to enact the will of the federation they have to issue the evictions.
star trek 6 is based on the end of the cold war but borrowed its plot from The Package, and the Hunt for red October. A cabal of military officers on both sides Human and Klingons along with Romulans siding to start a war.
STO is a its own take, it starts out with a event. The destruction of Romulus. Romulans become refugees and Klingons start a war with the Gorn. The federation is trying to keep the peace but then come species 8472 to mess with the pot. The Klingons conquer the Gorn and turn to Earth, the Borg mess around and the remains of the Romulan empire feud as empress would be turns on Empress would be.
you might think the federation will come out on top but the game is ever changing and plot threads shift all the time.