#Klingon culture

[dykespirk]

human things I think klingons would be good at:

competitive mobile games where you build kingdoms (like FarmVille)

shotput

drinking beer out of a shoe (a shoey I believe it is called)

pissing off the TSA

being hazed in a fraternity (they think it’s awesome)

pushing a big tire

watching Coyote Peterson videos (which they immediately try to replicate; a very honorable warrior to them)

being extremely opinionated on Top Chef

getting radicalized on Facebook

bringing large containers to 7/11 on the 11th of July

January 6th

Jacksonville, FL

[halfwayinlight]

why am i suddenly head-canoning that Will Riker curses in Klingon when he’s really mad??? It seems like it would be more satisfying to curse in Klingon. I’m suddenly interested in only learning curse words in Klingon. mostly bc I’m trying to clean up my language. I keep worrying something will slip out at an inopportune time.

[kleenexwoman]

Klingon Hamlet this and Klingon Hamlet that, but for my money the most popular Shakespeare play at the Qo'NoS Stratford Festival is Taming of the Shrew. It's clearly written by a Klingon author who has just come to Earth and is used to Klingon culture and mating rituals, including women whose role in mating is to scream and throw things while you read your poetry at them. This is the "Say Anything" of Klingon romance stories, the show every community playhouse puts on around Valentine's Day. Hamlet is the "Swan Lake" of Klingon culture, they teach it in high school, it's the one that's popular with touring Klingon troupes or for official functions, and obviously every director worth their salt has done their take on it, but your average Klingon is pretty much over it by the time they're an adult.

[jonberry555]

Music & Klingon Culture - Star Trek Explain

In this video I will be taking a look at the relation between music and Klingon culture in light of the most recent episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We already know about Klingon Opera and what appears to be ballads, but what do they say about Klingon culture in light of their actions in the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

[thegreaterlink]

Reviewing Star Trek TNG - S4E7 "Reunion"

I really need to start getting these out in a somewhat timely fashion again.

Also, you have no idea how much of a ball ache it was to find images for this review when searching "Star Trek TNG Reunion" kept bringing up news about Picard season 3.

THE PREMISE

Ambassador K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson again) returns to the Enterprise to inform Captain Picard that Klingon Chancellor K'mpec (Charles Cooper) has been poisoned and suspects that one of the two candidates for succession, Duras (Patrick Massett again) and Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) is responsible. As his dying wish, he asks Picard to become the Arbiter of Succession and identify the assassin.

Meanwhile, she brings with her a Klingon boy named Alexander (Jon Paul Steuer). After his previous romantic experiences with her, Worf suspects that the boy may be his son...

MY REVIEW

It only took them four seasons to realise that they should start reusing their wealth of interesting side characters. Better late than never.

I think Worf being the stoic, manly man of the crew makes it all the funnier when he absolutely bricks it at the sight of his ex.

Picard: Lieutenant, please receive our guest.

Worf: Captain, I must request permission to send another officer.

Picard: May I know your reason?

Worf: ...My dishonour among Klingons may offend Ambassador K'Ehleyr.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the only reason.

Picard: Lieutenant, you are a member of this crew, and you will not go into hiding whenever a Klingon vessel uncloaks.

That's a fancy way of saying "stop being a little bitch and just talk to your ex already."

Given her established disregard for Klingon tradition, K'Ehleyr obviously doesn't care about Worf's discommendation, and during their conversation she pretty much confirms that Alexander is indeed Worf's child, the product of that one time they went to pound town on the holodeck.

So... Alexander was conceived near the end of season 2, and here we are in the early stages of season 4 and he's like six years old. How much time passes between seasons?!

Anyway, as the only Klingon child on board, Alexander naturally has difficulty fitting in, almost getting into a fight with the other children before Worf intervenes. Their conversation both reinforces Michael Dorn as an absolute WALL of a human being and also reveals that Alexander *gasp* doesn't actually WANT to be a warrior!

Worf is naturally outraged, but I guess this is what happens when a Klingon has a mother who doesn't give two shits about Klingon tradition, which is a convenient excuse for why Worf (and the audience) is only just finding out about Alexander's existence, since Worf would've insisted that he and K'Ehleyr take the vow of marriage if he had known beforehand. Cue more debates about tradition vs humanity, with Worf refusing to reveal himself as Alexander's father for fear of harming the boy's future.

But we don't have time to unpack all of that. We need to get back to Klingon politics! Otherwise known as more buff dudes in black leather talking about honour and glory and other such junk.

As can be expected, Worf is against Duras leading the Klingon Empire after the little incident of trying to get him and Picard killed, but he seems to immediately dismiss Gowron as a suspect?

Hmm, a mysterious outsider who you've never met, frequently disagrees with the council and who looks like he'd eat a baby if you dared him to?

Yep. No cause for concern there. Good call, Worf.

We get another Klingon ritual of Gowron and Duras tasing K'mpec's body to make sure he's really dead (I don't fucking know, just go with it), but it's interrupted by an explosion in the assembly hall, leaving two Klingon meatbags dead. While Picard and K'Ehleyr are safe, they decide to use an older form of the ceremony to draw out the proceedings and create enough time for a proper investigation, beginning with a forensic analysis of the explosion.

After a couple of scenes to pad the runtime - Worf and K'Ehleyr apparently confirm that they're really in love and nearly bone again before having another fucking debate (and I don't mean that literally), K'Ehleyr tries to find out why Worf was discommended and Worf teaches Alexander how to use a Bat'leth (the weapon's very first appearance) - we're finally ready to move the plot forward again: the forensic tests have determined that the bomb was Romulan in design.

DRAMATIC CHORDS! COMMERCIAL BREAK!

Don't worry, we're not throwing a third suspect into the mix this late in the game. Though this does imply a secret alliance between the Klingons and the Romulans which could majorly screw over the Federation, so there's that. It's later revealed that one of Duras' men had the bomb implanted in his arm, so the whole thing was an inside job.

Look, I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm skimming over stuff here, but all these Klingon succession proceedings just aren't all that interesting. Duras and Gowron don't show any personality aside from being the same generic shouty men we've seen many times before. Hell, if Gowron didn't have his trademark murder eyes, I'm not even sure if anyone would remember him.

Meanwhile, K'Ehleyr goes through Worf's personal logs (which she's apparently allowed access to - great work, Mr Chief of Security) and finds out that Duras was responsible for Worf's discommendation and (rather idiotically) makes it clear to Duras that she knows.

A scene or two later, Worf and Alexander come along and find her covered in blood and bleeding out, living just long enough to tell her that Duras pulled an offscreen stabby-stabby and heavily implying to Alexander that he and Worf have a connection.

Then Alexander watches his estranged father scream in anguish over his mother's mangled corpse, followed by Worf telling him to remember the sight and stay in the same room as it. Nice going, Worf. I’m sure he’ll remember that in therapy.

It's a shame that K'Ehleyr was killed off so soon. I would've liked to see more of her.

Understandably pissed off, Worf arms up with a Bat'leth and beams over to Duras' ship to get revenge, exploiting some loophole that allows him to claim vengeance for a loved one's death. One bland action scene later, Riker and Data arrive just in time to see Worf murder Duras, getting his revenge but also killing the only person who knows the truth about what happened at Khitomer.

Obviously Picard doesn't take too kindly to one of his senior crew murdering someone, and gives him the usual "I understand why you did it, but cut that shit out" reprimand. As for Alexander, Worf confirms that he is his father sends him to live with his own human parents on Earth, reasoning that Alexander deserves a proper upbringing from someone who will be able to raise him properly. That definitely won't come back to bite him in both dicks a few years down the line.

As for the whole murder mystery thing, it never really gets resolved and we never find out who killed K'mpec in the first place. But since there are no other challengers present (I'm not even sure how the challenging system works), Gowron just... gets the throne by default? And everyone seems fine with that? Sure, fuck it.

As a whole, this episode is... fine. It's not a bad episode, just one that I've mostly seen before. I'm not against the idea of Worf having a son, but for the most part Alexander is just kinda... there. It feels like nobody knew how to make it interesting, but they kept it anyway to give this episode some much-needed flavour.

6/10 - Adequate.

Previous Episode | TNG Masterpost | Next Episode

[bumblingbabooshka]

Vulcan teen on Vulcan [tiktok] saying "I have just lost track of my father in the grocery store." The camera turns to show the viewers the grocery store in which almost every single older middle-aged man has a bowlcut and long robes. Camera turns back to show the teen's face which is expressionless and yet communicates all it needs to.

[gitzette]

Dive into the legacy of Kenneth Mitchell, the Star Trek icon who left an indelible mark with his unforgettable roles, courageous battle against ALS, and profound impact on the sci-fi universe. Discover his journey, from portraying Klingons with depth to inspiring with his real-life bravery. Celebrate the star that shines on. #KennethMitchellStarTrekLegacy

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

the thing is that when you look deep enough, Klingons and Klingon society is actually pretty well developed by Star Trek standards. we know the ideals of their society and the way their ideals are corrupted by classism and archaic tradition. we see how "warrior" and "honor" are complex terms that involve more than just warfare and fighting. but we also see Klingon scientists and lawyers who are proud of their work but are pushed aside for not living up to their society's standards. we see how their political relations change over time and how strategic alliances are formed and dissolved. we know their marriage customs and holidays and mythology and history. we see a variety of Klingon characters with varying degrees of attachment to their species and culture. we see how they're stereotyped and discriminated against in the Federation for being "too alien" when the Federation is supposed to be accepting of differences. we have an entire real, usable language for Kahless's sake.

the thing is also that 90% of Klingon stories choose to ignore all this complexity in favor of bioessentialism and racist takes on "warrior society".

[labgrownfemcel]

Ok since vulcans have mating seasons (their pon farr) it means they have estrous cycles and not menstrual cycles which means that they don't have menses.

Imagine a vulcan learning for the first time that human women bleed from their vaginas for a week every month.

Just trying their best to master their emotions and be all calm, like "what a fascinating yet odd physiological phenomenon"

While inside they're like "what the fuck? What the fuck??? what the FUCK!? WHAT! THE! ACTUAL! FUCK! IS! WRONG! WITH! HUMANS!?!?"

Meanwhile a klingon would be like "BLEEDING IS THE SIGN OF A TRUE WARRIOR! THIS IS GLORIOUS!!"

[coolseabird]

DS9 Cast as DnD Characters

Benjamin Sisko – Cleric (Order Domain), Human Kira Nerys – Fighter (Champion), Tiefling Jadzia Dax – Warlock (Great Old One), Genasi Worf – Paladin (Oath of Glory), Half-Orc / Orc Julian Bashir – Artificer (Alchemist), Human Odo – Rogue (Inquisitive), Changeling Quark – Bard (College of Eloquence), Kobold

EDIT FORGOT:

Garak – Rogue (Mastermind), Dragonborn

[isthereintruthnobeauty1968]

do other series at any point do anything with klingons who aren't warrior class. like it just makes sense that there have to be plenty of people doing other work to keep the fabric of the empire intact and there's tiny hints at it with the restauranteur on ds9 and worf's former nursemaid in sins of the father but their roles are tiny. lost opportunity for interesting stuff imo

[shitacademicswrite]

I want an absolutely TERRIFYING alien race whose language sounds exactly like Beaker from The Muppets.

[firstroseofspring]

looking into reading the final reflection because it's cited as a big influence on the depiction of klingons in star trek from tng onward for looking past the warrior stereotype and fleshes them out really well and look at this.

[grayrazor]

My headcanon for the Klingons is that, just like with the vikings and samurai that they're based on, the honor-obsessed warrior elite are maybe 10% of the population at most. If you visit a Klingon planet and go anywhere other than the castles of the great houses you see farmers, industrial workers, scientists, engineers, etc.

Maybe in times of relative peace they start giving the more prestigious bureaucratic and clerical jobs to the warrior class, like Edo-era Japan did, to give them something to do so they don't make mischief, that's why you see "warrior-lawyers" like Colonel Worf, Ch’Pok, and Kolos.

Another data point is Martok, who was a commoner--relegated to being cleaning staff on a starship because of Kor's prejudice--but became a warrior after proving himself in combat.

[rainbowresurrection]

Still Thinking.

In TOS there was a lot of promise on fleshing out the Vulcan culture. You get phrases in Vulcan before you ever get any phrases in Klingon. Which makes it interesting that moving forward, you learn much more about the Klingon language.

As a language lover I'd be interested to know what the body of the Vulcan language would have looked like, had it been more officially explored. You know it would be filled with dichotomy, due to the ancient and ritualistic roots of the language versus the need for utmost logic, which would influence both grammatical structure and the writing system(s).

From what I've seen, the writing leans far more on the "ancient tradition" end of things. It's beautiful, yet it is lacking in terms of practicality.

I like to imagine that they would have multiple modes of writing- the loopy cursive writing for religious and cultural / ceremonial practices, and maybe a more standardized and phonetic script for daily use (likely to also be vertical and cursive, but can be written horizontally as well). Also I'm not sure how phonetic it is to begin with so I'm just making shit up here.

Well I know one thing for sure, they have at least 2 scripts, based on the writing seen on Spock's robes vs other scenarios (perhaps Old Vulcan or Ceremonial Vulcan).

Another fun thing I like to imagine is that perhaps Vulcan follows a root based system like Hebrew or Arabic. For example in the male names, the most common denominator is S----K or S--R--K.

SpocK, SaReK, SuRaK

Women, it is the letter T.

T'Pring, T'Pau

Both genders use the consonant P.

sPock, t'Pring

So, those consonants could be based on a certain shared notion, whereas the vowels change the nuance of the translation.

Arabic (Modern Standard) example, paying attention to the consonants:

KeTeBe = writing

KiTaaB = book

MeKTaB = desk

MeKTaBe = library

(sorry for the weak transliterations, it makes more sense looking at it in Arabic, you'll see the commonality in the consonants):

كتب

كتاب

مكتب

مكتبة

[bumblingbabooshka]

Two people on a small bipartisan science station gently fall in love.