Best Case: Reconcile the Klingon Problem
Bryan Fuller’s decision to completely redesign the Klingon race was a stupid one. The Klingons have had more episodes and screen time devoted to them than any other non-human species in Trek history. Out of the whole galaxy, those behind Discovery somehow picked the worst species to retcon. Over the 60 years preceding the new series a rich cultural history and cohesive visual design were built for the Klingons and Discovery has all but tossed that away, even though it’s supposedly canon.
People can defend the changes to the Klingons as just being a “visual reboot” all they want. Discovery is not a visual reboot. Discovery changes fundamental elements of pre-established canon. Klingons are no longer the honor-bound warriors we saw so much of in TNG and DS9. Now they’re warmongering and sneaky, with little personality besides being unapproachable villains. Even the Klingons in The Original Series had more nuance than these brutes, and it’s a slap in the face to the people who dedicated so much time to making the Klingons one of the most narratively developed alien races in sci-fi history.
Of all the criticism of Discovery, the Klingon problem is the one that keeps surfacing, and it’s evident that it was a misstep to go the direction they did. I’ve got a solution, though, and I won’t even charge for it: The new Klingons are actually the Gorn. Discovery has already retconned the entire Klingon race without a word, so why not do a quick retcon of the first season. Just pretend like every time a character said “Klingon” in the first season they said “Gorn” instead.
Think about it. Gorn are bald, we’ve never seen any of their ships, we know almost nothing of their culture, it’s perfect. The new Klingons look vaguely reptilian already, so no redesign is even needed. The one time Star Trek gets a pass for a redesign is when a species makes the transition from The Original Series to a new one, so I don’t think anyone would be too upset with this change. Sure we’ve seen a Gorn or two in the background since TOS, but who cares if it fixes the Klingon issue.
This solution is a win-win for everyone. We get to learn more about the Gorn, the Klingons get to go back to being Klingons, and the most significant criticism of Discovery disappears. Trust me, I’m only half joking when I suggest this as a solution.
Worst-Case: Discovery Goes All in With the New Klingons
They spent a ton of money on the designs and props for the revamped Klingons, so you can bet CBS is going to be heated if they don’t reuse them. Unfortunately, that probably means that the Klingons are going to continue to appear on Discovery. I have my fingers crossed that there will be some sort of creative way they’re going to reconcile the change and bring back the old Klingons, but that’s likely not going to happen.
Instead, Discovery will likely continue to muck about in Star Trek‘s past, retconning and changing things to suit whatever narrative they want to create. The unfortunate fact is that every time we see the new Klingons on screen, it destroys a little bit more of the history that was built for them throughout TNG and DS9.
A lot of people will argue, “who cares about the canon?” If that’s the case, then why have Discovery be a Star Trek show at all? If the show doesn’t respect the franchise’s pre-established history, then logic dictates that it’s only using the Star Trek name as a crutch for marketing.
If Discovery continues to go all in with their new interpretation of the Klingons, then the series is only going to catch more flak and turn more long-time fans away. There’s also the fact that TNG and DS9 did Klingons to death, and chaining Discovery to them is ensuring it won’t cut its own path in the Star Trek mythos.
