# Klingons - From "Normal" to "Ewww.." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530 "2008-06-28T01:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hekk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@hekk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hekk)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/1 "2008-06-28T01:34:23Z")
I am not a huge Star Trek fan, but I do watch alot of TNG and Voyager. When I catch a TOS episode, and it features Klingons (to be blunt, I only remember one Klingon episode, something about a bar fight on the enterprise… Tribbles?), they are relatively normal looking humanoids, but in the later series they have facial ridges and fangs and stuff. How was this change explained away in the later series? Or is it only explained unofficially? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/2 "2008-06-28T01:54:01Z")
[QUOTE=hekk] How was this change explained away in the later series? Or is it only explained unofficially? [/QUOTE] Worf: We don’t talk about it to outsiders. (or ‘with outsiders’ or ‘among outsiders’ or something like that.) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/3 "2008-06-28T02:12:19Z")
[Waaaaay more than you wanted to know.](http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Klingon_augment_virus) ---
**Author:** ![hekk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@hekk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hekk)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/4 "2008-06-28T02:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] [Waaaaay more than you wanted to know.](http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Klingon_augment_virus) [/QUOTE] Thanks! Seems awfully convoluted, though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/5 "2008-06-28T02:28:52Z")
The answer is simple. The original Star Trek was made in the 60s, with 60s TV technology. By the time the Next Generation came along twenty years later, 1980s TV technology had improved. Thus the facial ridges, etc. were now picked up by the camera. They were always there, but the old technology didn’t pick them up. It’s much like the change from black and white to color TV: the color was always there, but the technology didn’t allow the color to be broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/6 "2008-06-28T02:30:59Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZPBRuXyXac) Starting about 4:30 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/7 "2008-06-28T04:45:05Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The answer is simple. The original Star Trek was made in the 60s, with 60s TV technology. By the time the Next Generation came along twenty years later, 1980s TV technology had improved. Thus the facial ridges, etc. were now picked up by the camera. They were always there, but the old technology didn’t pick them up. It’s much like the change from black and white to color TV: the color was always there, but the technology didn’t allow the color to be broadcast. [/QUOTE] You’re confused, TV had been in color the whole time, but _the world_ was black-and-white until some time in the 50’s. Old paintings are in color because artists were mostly insane. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/8 "2008-06-28T04:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] You’re confused, TV had been in color the whole time, but _the world_ was black-and-white until some time in the 50’s. Old paintings are in color because artists were mostly insane. 🆒 [/QUOTE] And the sun spends the nighttime somewhere in Arizona, right? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/9 "2008-06-28T07:48:27Z")
[QUOTE=Leaper] And the sun spends the nighttime somewhere in Arizona, right? [/QUOTE] Yeah, probably around Phoenix, because I didn’t see it at night when I lived in Sierra Vista. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/10 "2008-06-28T09:18:01Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] You’re confused, TV had been in color the whole time, but _the world_ was black-and-white until some time in the 50’s. Old paintings are in color because artists were mostly insane. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Probably Calvin’s Dad’s finest hour. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/11 "2008-06-28T14:26:18Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The answer is simple. The original Star Trek was made in the 60s, with 60s TV technology. By the time the Next Generation came along twenty years later, 1980s TV technology had improved. Thus the facial ridges, etc. were now picked up by the camera. They were always there, but the old technology didn’t pick them up. It’s much like the change from black and white to color TV: the color was always there, but the technology didn’t allow the color to be broadcast. [/QUOTE] Color, hell. Black and white TV couldn’t pick up _stripes_ – it sez right here at [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp). Bumps would have been a no-brainer. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/12 "2008-06-28T14:31:34Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] By the time the Next Generation came along twenty years later, 1980s TV technology had improved. Thus the facial ridges, etc. were now picked up by the camera. [/QUOTE] Nitpick: the movie cameras used for _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ were the first to be able to pick up these details. I understand director Robert Wise crapped his pants when he saw the first dailies. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/13 "2008-06-28T21:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] Nitpick: the movie cameras used for _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ were the first to be able to pick up these details. I understand director Robert Wise crapped his pants when he saw the first dailies. [/QUOTE] Actually there weren’t any facial ridges for the camera in the first place in TOS. The Klingons were originally supposed to look like Mongols. Roddenberry had the Klingon makeup changed for ST:TMP to look more like that of the Kreeg, a race of mutants from his failed TV pilot **Planet Earth**. Twenty years later the Trill got the same treatment. When they were first introduced on a episode of ST:TNG they brow ridges instead of spots. The makeup was changed for ST: DS9. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/klingons-from-normal-to-ewww/454530/14 "2008-06-29T01:08:21Z")
^^^Either you got whooshed, or you’re whooshing me by making it sound like you are taking **KneadToKnow** ’s very tongue in cheek post in deadly earnest. Sir Rhosis