# Bumpy Headed Klingons to be Explained **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876 "2004-12-20T22:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/1 "2004-12-20T22:59:08Z")
[There’s no real details in the article, so despite their spoiler warning you still don’t know much.](http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/8695.html) > [@](#): > > Well, rest assured the writers have taken all that into account and have come up with a scenario consistent with all those elements. We won’t give it away here, of course, but we will say that it ties very neatly into other aspects of Trek history. > > To briefly synopsize the story, Enterprise heads back to Earth for the official launch of the Columbia NX-02, commanded by Erika Hernandez. After visiting his favorite Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, Phlox is abducted by aliens (Rigelians, actually). He finds himself in the presence of Klingons who tell him the Empire is facing its gravest threat in centuries. Along the way, as Archer and company investigate and pursue, it’s revealed that one of our main characters has a secret past which comes into play. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/2 "2004-12-21T02:15:01Z")
Well, it’s about time they explained this. It’s been weighing on my mind for lo these many years. Really. They had the chance to deal with it in “Trials and Tribble-ations” but didn’t seem to have enough time. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/3 "2004-12-21T02:35:23Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > It’s been weighing on my mind for lo these many years. There’s a bumpy skull joke there someplace but I’m too tired to dig for it. I’m not sure this is a good idea or not. I have to confess, I find it darkly amusing to know there are major production discontinuities in the Trekverse forcefully preventing the hardcore Trekkers from pretending the show represents “Reality.” ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/4 "2004-12-21T02:38:52Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > There’s a bumpy skull joke there someplace but I’m too tired to dig for it. > > I’m not sure this is a good idea or not. I have to confess, I find it darkly amusing to know there are major production discontinuities in the Trekverse forcefully preventing the hardcore Trekkers from pretending the show represents “Reality.” Oh yeah, like the _Star Wars_ continuity is much better. 😛 At least _Star Trek_ fans can explain it away by saying that the creator’s dead and the series has been ran into the ground by a couple of nimrods who don’t understand the series. _Star Wars_ fans have had their series continuity ruined by it’s creator, who doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone, dagnabbit! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/5 "2004-12-21T03:10:16Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I find it darkly amusing to know there are major production discontinuities in the Trekverse forcefully preventing the hardcore Trekkers from pretending the show represents “Reality.” I’m probably about as hardcore Trekker as one might find outside of the dress up in pointy ears people, and I’ve never heard anyone say that Trek represents reality. Who have you been talkin’ to? I, for one, hope they DON’T explain it. ENT has already given us Movie/TNG style Klingons. Why muddy the waters with some far fetched scenario, Manny? Besides, maybe we’re reading too much into this spoiler, and it has nothing to do with brow ridges. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/6 "2004-12-21T04:03:35Z")
I thought that one of the novelists had accounted for it by a race war- the smooth-headed Klingons were the dominant race during Kirk’s youth, but a rather bloody coup had put the bumpy-headed Klingons firmly in control later. I know the Star Trek novels aren’t canon, but the explanation made perfect sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/7 "2004-12-21T04:09:54Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > I thought that one of the novelists had accounted for it by a race war- the smooth-headed Klingons were the dominant race during Kirk’s youth, but a rather bloody coup had put the bumpy-headed Klingons firmly in control later. > > I know the Star Trek novels aren’t canon, but the explanation made perfect sense to me. Except, of course, for the fact that in DS9, Klingons from Kirk’s era show up and they’re all bumpy headed with no explaination. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/8 "2004-12-21T04:10:04Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > I thought that one of the novelists had accounted for it by a race war- the smooth-headed Klingons were the dominant race during Kirk’s youth, but a rather bloody coup had put the bumpy-headed Klingons firmly in control later. > > I know the Star Trek novels aren’t canon, but the explanation made perfect sense to me. If you’d read the link in the OP you’d know that explanation doesn’t work, because three Klingon characters who’d appeared as smoothies in the original series were brought back (by the original actors, no less) in _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_ as bumpies. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/9 "2004-12-21T04:11:15Z")
It does work that way, in an after the fact type of way. Still, as you already noted, not canon. The main reason has been written about for several years now by various different people involved in Trek. Gene had neither the mony nor the time to do anything other than what he did for TOS. When he got the money behind him for a second go at things, he made them look alien, first seen in TMP. No other explanation is needed, really. Greedo shot first and all that doesn’t have to happen here. Would the BBC go back and give the Doctor a fully functioning TARDIS? Not needed, imho. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/10 "2004-12-21T04:13:51Z")
Perhaps the TOS cameras had special filters on them which adjusted the bumps into smoothness. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/11 "2004-12-21T04:17:49Z")
There has also been speculation that if Gene had actually got a second _series_ off the ground in the 70s, he had in mind an episode to explain the change. The series idea morphed into TMP, however, and the idea (if, indeed, there actually was one) was shelved. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/12 "2004-12-21T04:23:04Z")
As a WAG, I’ll say that they do something totally stupid like it being a phage type illness like in Voyager, which really made no sense at all since, if the aliens are advanced enough to work out the anti-rejection factors which would come into play from incorporating the organs of an alien species, they can surely find a cure for a disease. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/13 "2004-12-21T04:56:00Z")
_“For cryin’ out loud, its just a TV show!”_ I for one loved the way that DS9 episode made fun of how serious some Trekkies take the whole Klingon forehead thing. They just did a blatant deux ex machina with Worf’s line, “We do not speak of it with outsiders”. I mean why not ask this: **Why is it that in the Next Generation time all Klingons look like African-Americans whereas in TOS they just looked like George Hamilton? 😃** ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/14 "2004-12-21T07:09:41Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > I mean why not ask this: **Why is it that in the Next Generation time all Klingons look like African-Americans whereas in TOS they just looked like George Hamilton? 😃** By the time _Next Gen_ rolled around, the Klingons were tanned and rested. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/15 "2004-12-21T07:22:14Z")
I could of sworn that that british guy who sits at the back of the bridge (his name escapes me) had thought that the Enterprise from the future that was in the past in the **E^2** episode was actually the NX-02 or, the **Yorktown** as he called it. Not the **Columbia**. Am I delusional? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/16 "2004-12-21T10:44:36Z")
I was certain that I saw an episode where Worf saw smoothies and said (words to the effect) “Look what they have done to themselves, it’s dishonorable!” (implying that the smoothies had cosmetically removed their bumps). Anyone else remember this or am I imagining that I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/17 "2004-12-21T10:47:43Z")
Having said that, isn’t this just one of a rather long list of discrepancies to be explained? (like how the starships in Kirk’s era abandoned touch screen controls, moody lighting, blue LEDs…) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/18 "2004-12-21T11:37:03Z")
You’re imagining things. The only smooth browed Klingons to ever appear outside of TOS were in _Trials and Tribble-ations_, which was set inside a TOS episode itself. And personally, I don’t care either way. If it’s explained, I won’t mind but I won’t care if they don’t either. Will be nice to have a definitive answer for the periodic thread about it htough so I guess it’s good for something. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/19 "2004-12-21T14:40:18Z")
I am sure I read in some Star Trek directory or concordance that the explanation is that the Klingon Empire sent scout teams which were, either naturally or through genetic manipulation, a more humanoid breed. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876/20 "2004-12-21T14:49:17Z")
I would have plumped for just ignoring it, the way we ignore the improving of non-personal special effects, but DS9, however amusingly, aknowledged that the characters saw the change. Unless we can just cut anything with ‘tribble’ in from cannon. Another possibility is that there were two races, or a mutation or something, AND THEN a few klingons a surgery to fit in, who were seen on DS9. A plague or something would be really shtupid, but I bet that’s what they end up doing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumpy-headed-klingons-to-be-explained/280876.md?page=2)