Why klingons have ridges

Any other Klingon who is given the antivirus as a cure against the mutated virus loses his forehead ridges just like the Augments. Phlox says that the children of the so treated Klingons would inherit their look. Even if the trait were recessive, it would perfectly explain the existence of smooth-headed Klingon still more than a century later. Although skeptics may object that the story arc with the Klingon Augments is still no proof for the existence of flat-headed Klingons still years later, there are unmistakable hints in the two episodes that the Klingons treated with the antivirus are indeed the same type of Klingons that would be dominant in the TOS era.

First of all, their looks are nearly identical. The Klingon Augments have dark skin and they otherwise look just like humans. Even their fashion doesn't seem to have changed in more than years. It is implausible that the smooth-headed Klingons would develop cultural distinctiveness so soon, still the broad hint was devised to dispel any doubts about the connection of the Enterprise arc to TOS. Furthermore, if possibly millions of Klingons are treated with the antivirus, lose their forehead ridges and pass on this trait to their children, we would expect them to still exist in the 23rd century.

Yet, it is harder to explain why there are several entire starship crews composed only of these flat-headed Klingons in the 23rd century. It would be more plausible if the Empire either integrated the smooth-headed Klingons or killed them.

Racial segregation doesn't exactly seem to be the Klingon way. On the other hand, the flatheads could have isolated themselves mostly voluntarily. We have to bear in mind that there are different castes and houses with their own ships and troops already among the ridgeheads. Moreover, we can assume that major Klingon houses are affected by the plague as well which would justify that flat-headed Klingons hold some power in their hands in the 23rd century even if their sight is not accepted.

This, however, is only possible if the trait is dominant and if there are no mixed families. Furthermore, one aspect of the otherwise silly notion that the flat-headed Klingons were intended to spy on the Federation may help us find an explanation. According to "Divergence" they all retain some human DNA, and at some point the Klingon Defense Force may have decided that these Klingons were the best to deal with the human-dominated Starfleet.

It still wouldn't explain why we don't see a single "real" Klingon in TOS though. It is also possible that, because of their human DNA, the flatheads themselves may have a special interest in dealing with humans in one way or another, so it wouldn't be surprising to meet many of them on ships near the Federation borders. On the other hand, the leadership of the Defense Force may be rather concerned about possible fraternization with humans.

Side note Interestingly, while the origin of the smooth-headed Klingons as outlined in the two Enterprise episodes sounds very similar as the above theory 2 illness , the outcome of the episodes could lead to much the same implications in the 23rd century as described in theory 1 two races. So our considerations are not really useless since the principal question about the Klingon foreheads was answered.

The metamorphosis of Kang, Koloth and Kor may be justified rather easily. If smooth-headed Klingons were still commonplace in the 's, a fast progress in cosmetic surgery may have allowed most of them to have their foreheads reconstructed until Probably no Klingon would forego such an opportunity. It is quite plausible that until the time of TNG not a single flat-headed Klingon would be left. But this would also imply that prior to there was no efficient technique to restore the foreheads.

A genetic therapy for an authentic reconstruction of the ridges may turn out futile once the virus or antivirus strikes back and flattens the forehead again. But what about cosmetic surgery, a simple procedure that is already available on 21st century Earth?

Even if we imagine that Klingon plastic surgery is far behind human standards, it would be somewhat ridiculous if the Klingons were not capable of enlarging their forehead bones with simple implants. The only reason for not getting them might be that Klingons are not fond of fake things the plastic ridges would be like silicone boobs.

Only one puzzle is left, but this is rather a peculiarity of DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations" than a general problem. The episode was made well before the ultimate explanation of the Klingon forehead dilemma in Enterprise. Yet, it didn't stick to the silent agreement of the time that Klingons always looked the same. The DS9 episode bluntly commented on the then obvious divergence that was not supposed to exist. We may try to find individual excuses for Odo's, O'Brien's and even Dr.

Bashir's alarming lack of knowledge about 23rd century Klingons. Maybe Odo as an outsider, who never had any courses in galactic history, really doesn't know how some or many 23rd century Klingons looked like although at some point he should have encountered old pictures of Klingons in the course of his meticulous investigations.

Miles O'Brien may have been a lousy history student who was only interested in technical matters, but we would still expect him to recall such a fundamental fact once it is directly pointed out to him by Worf. It seems unlikely that he could have missed or forgotten about a depiction of human-looking Klingons, for this would be something very memorable from a human point-of-view.

Bashir, who was still keeping the secret of being genetically enhanced, on the other hand, may have wanted to evade the topic of genetic engineering that was cropping up and hence played the ignoramus.

On the other hand, it is no apology for their failure to identify Klingons that O'Brien and Bashir likewise mistook a relatively low-ranking Enterprise crew member for Captain Kirk. The Klingon named T'Kuvma and his house are the most prominent. Set 10 years prior to the five-year mission of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek: Discovery follows the adventures of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself.

The series will feature a new ship, new characters, and new missions while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers. However, Starfleet decided that the Maquis were wrong about their methods and that they were criminals, so they tried stopping the rebellious faction. Voyager was sent to capture a certain Maquis ship that was lost in the Badlands, a particularly dangerous part of space.

Both ships were caught in some sort of energy beam that transported them to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant. She had a smaller stature than other Klingons, and she appeared mostly human. While she was disciplined for her actions, Captain Janeway realized that she was very skilled and passionate about Engineering and chose her for that position.

However, the Doctor ran a family simulation, complete with a holo-wife and two holo-children. His son had Klingon friends, which looked like the Klingons of the Next Generation era. Star Trek: Discovery showed their fans a new Klingon that defied any logic in their appearance. Discovery Klingons were bald, had different cranial ridges, and had spikes on the sides of their skulls. Remember that Discovery was set ten years before James Kirk took command of the Enterprise when Klingons appeared human-like.

It seems that when Klingons were at war with another race, or when they had a civil war amongst the houses, they shaved their heads to be more war-like. When the hostilities ceased, they let their hair grow back. One explanation that will be fully explained later in this article is that some Klingons were not affected by the new virus that swept through the Klingon Empire and killed millions of Klingons.

Why did the Klingons all of a sudden look almost human in only years? Sometime in the 22nd century, the Klingons heard about humans creating genetically superior humans in the late s. It was the same genetic engineering that created Khan and his people.

They learned about a ship carrying Augmented humans that had crashed near the Klingon homeworld. Because they thought that humans were working on the way to overpower the Klingons and conquer them, they raced to the crash site and took the Augmented embryos to glean the DNA from them. Once their top scientists created a drug from the DNA samples, they tested it on a few willing subjects. The few volunteers that took this died agonizing deaths, even after they began showing enhanced characteristics.

Almost immediately, the cranial ridges disappeared, they became weak, and they contracted a flu-like illness that killed many Klingons. And because this drug affected the DNA sequences, it became a virus that continued for many generations of those who took the drug.

The virus, known as the Levodian Flu, would have wiped out the entire race had it not been for the Klingons requesting help from Dr. The Klingon Forehead Problem - the history of the legendary continuity problem and its new twist in Enterprise. Thanks to Matt Rudawsky for spotting some mislabeled pics, to Barryg for the note about forehead variety being a natural means of incest avoidance and to Colin W.

Warde for a note about the Klingon woman in "Future Imperfect". Back to Investigations index. Info Starships Fleet Yards Treknology. Comments Related links. Kang in DS9: "Blood Oath". Koloth in DS9: "Blood Oath". Klingon commander in "Star Trek I".

Korrd in "Star Trek V". Gorkon in "Star Trek VI". Chang in "Star Trek VI". Klingon officer in "Star Trek VI". Noggra in DS9: "Sons of Mogh". Kohlar in VOY: "Prophecy". Kolos in ENT: "Judgment". Vixis in "Star Trek V". Azetbur in "Star Trek VI". Kurak in TNG: "Suspicions". Lursa in DS9: "Past Prologue". B'etor in DS9: "Past Prologue". Ba'el in TNG: "Birthright". Klingon-human hybrid in DS9: "Children of Time".

Alexander in TNG: "Reunion". Alexander in DS9: "Sons and Daughters". Duras in TNG: "Reunion". Toral in TNG: "Redemption". Darvin in DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations". Worf as monster in TNG: "Genesis". Klingon with helmet in "Star Trek Into Darkness". Klingon without helmet in "Star Trek Into Darkness". Footage of Worf in PIC.

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