I have been streaming all of the Star Trek The Next Generation episodes and it occurs to me that of all the aliens on that show, Klingons have probably made the greatest impression among Trekkies. There are Klingon costumes, Klingon-English language dictionaries, Klingon conventions, the whole Megillah.
What is so bloody great about Klingons?
They are about as attractive as a badly-designed gorilla.
It is impossible to speak to them without looking at that shit on their forehead and wondering if those ridges channel the water into their eyes when it rains.
They have that bumpy shit all the way down their spine (see the episode where they operate on the paralyzed Worf.)
Their long, coarse hair is probably smelly.
They eat stuff that wriggles and looks like it came out of a sewer.
They are violent and glorify war.
Their architecture is heavy and downright ugly.
They are grouchy and humourless
Their teeth look like they were designed for a Halloween mask.
Their language is revoltingly ugly and makes German, Arabic and Hebrew sound melodious by comparison.
What about the Klingon “Empire”??? Empires are generally formed when war-mongers take over weaker nations and exploit them. Imagine the poor aliens who have these gorillas as their imperial overlords.
Finally, the name “Klingon” is ugly. Q. When is the Starship enterprise like toilet paper?** A.** When it travels around Uranus looking for Klingons.
This is a common impression, but remember that when Riker served aboard the Klingon ship, he learned that they thought the same thing about humans. He also found that they laughed and carried on quite jovially among each other.
I don’t hate them, but a lot of your points are valid. Though ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I find them less un-appealing than Tellerites, or Andorians, or Cardassians.
I guess I like Worf. But he’s not typical.
I think it’s the “honor” thing. Klingons are supposed to be (at TNG time) honorable fighters. (In TOS time, they were slave holding, murderous thugs. But they were the baddies then, so that was acceptable.) So you can like their code as long as the cognitive dissonance between that and what they actually do with that code doesn’t bug you too much. But I guess people enjoyed The Shield, so it is possible.
A good episode like A Matter of Honor or The Emissary does a lot for Klingon good will.
You know, this reminds me of what I do like about them.
I was going down a stairwell in a mall, a long time ago, and there was a sign reading “Please use handrail”. It occurred to me there that Klingons would never bother with a sign like that. If you fell down, it was your own damn fault. Klingons would just assume personal responsibility. Klingons would never sue over stupidity.
On the other hand, Klingons sure seem to get themselves into situations where they die. Even in the aforementioned A Matter of Honor, if it wasn’t for Riker all those Klingons would be dead because their captain was an idiot. Same in the Emissary.
A friend of mine who is big in local Klingon fandom (costume, persona, goes to conventions in costume and persona, attends demonstrations of Klingon ceremonies, had studied the language a little) told me something I think is very instructive.
When a Klingon speaks of honor, substitute the word renown.
The remind us about components of human society, perhaps something deep down inside of us connects with this nature, even an envy to not to be afraid of death.
That’s the thing, though: because Worf was supposedly the biggest badass on the Enterprise, so often when they needed to establish that an opponent was major trouble, they did it by having Worf get smacked around.
I presume different fans project their own unique assumptions on the inner character of a Klingon.
But anywho, they’re (the TNG-era ones] generally big, strong, brave, and have a code of honor [of a sorts]. Those qualities many people feel are positive traits to have. Sure, they’re ugly, but they don’t give a crap about that.