News Harberts: The Klingons Are Americans

[AutoAdmin]

A new news article has been published at TrekToday:

Star Trek: Discovery Showrunner Aaron Harberts and Executive Producer Heather Kadin were interviewed at San Diego Comic-Con and the two spoke about...

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[KennyB]

A new news article has been published at TrekToday:

Star Trek: Discovery Showrunner Aaron Harberts and Executive Producer Heather Kadin were interviewed at San Diego Comic-Con and the two spoke about...

Continue reading...

I can see their point........#MQGA

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Apparently DSC's way of winning over American fans is to base their show's bad guys on them. Yeah, that'll work.

 

[Christopher]

When originally conceived, the Klingons were based on the Russians, America’s enemy at the time of the original series.

That's not exactly true. They were originally conceived more as "space Mongols," in the vein of the "Oriental" villains that were common in American media of the time. Certainly there was a Cold War allegory behind them, but the creators were probably thinking at least as much of Communist China and the Viet Cong as the USSR.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think now I'll read The Final Reflection and take pride in rooting for the Klingons.

 

[PSWallace]

Well, I'm really looking forward to this, because I think some lightweight dilettante philosopher-sages from Hollywood are going to be pretty easy to handle.

 

[Rahul]

From the article:

"The Klingons are not necessarily the Russians anymore. The Klingons – I think we will see far more in, frankly, people in the United States and different factions in the United States."

“And that is not to say they are bad, but what we really wanted to do too is understand two differing points of view and really explore it."

"You know, like wearing spike-y uniforms, growling a lot, not washing oneself, stab each other with knives while shouting about honour, and generally being assholes about pretty much anything."

Okay... the third one might not be from the article. But the first two definitely are

 

[Mudd]

Well, this won't cause any controversy on the Internet.

Bumpheads are probably big Duck Dynasty fans.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I think that it's high time for some self reflection about the USA (and to some extent, Canada) on a Star Trek show, rather than have all of the aliens be other cultures (people bitching about this forget the Ferengi, who were a comment on then-current day American-and Terran-capitalism and society, and how people love to be greedy and acquire things.) Now that the producers are making the Klingons be like us, we can see our negative parts and why we are what we are these days.

 

[Mudd]

Reading between the lines I think he's probably talking about - among other things - conflicts between Klingon nationalists like T'Kuvma and more outward-looking political factions.

 

[m.lp.ql.m]

Apparently DSC's way of winning over American fans is to base their show's bad guys on them. Yeah, that'll work.

Americans aren't exactly the brightest bunch, especially the ones that these new Klingons are meant to be portraying. The smarter ones will probably unknowingly start identifying with them and cheer them on.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Americans aren't exactly the brightest bunch

Geez, thanks a lot.

Reading between the lines I think he's probably talking about - among other things - conflicts between Klingon nationalists like T'Kuvma and more outward-looking political factions.

Now that I can understand.

 

[Kor]

Of course the Klingons will be antagonistic toward the Federation at this point in Trek history. But I think we will get a more nuanced portrayal than just one-dimensional, mustache-twirling evil villains. So it's probably too soon to assume that the portrayal of Klingons in STD would be painting any real-life people as "bad guys."

Kor

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I totally read "Harberts" as "Herberts", by the way.

 

[fireproof78]

From the article:

"The Klingons are not necessarily the Russians anymore. The Klingons – I think we will see far more in, frankly, people in the United States and different factions in the United States."

“And that is not to say they are bad, but what we really wanted to do too is understand two differing points of view and really explore it."

"You know, like wearing spike-y uniforms, growling a lot, not washing oneself, stab each other with knives while shouting about honour, and generally being assholes about pretty much anything."

Okay... the third one might not be from the article. But the first two definitely are

Well, that second statement felt surprisingly like Star Trek. The first one feels more like political pandering but we'll see how it plays out. I certainly like the concept of the Klingons in this era, so IDIC everyone.

 

[section9]

This is only a decade after a major interstellar conflict with the Klingons in the Forties which was comparable in Federation History to our Second War. The notion that there wouldn't be a Cold War going on between the two powers is silly.

 

[Mudd]

There's no canon military conflict with the Klingons in the recent past of this series.

 

[rhllot]

"You know, like wearing spike-y uniforms, growling a lot, not washing oneself, stab each other with knives while shouting about honour, and generally being assholes about pretty much anything."

Okay... the third one might not be from the article. But the first two definitely are

 

[fireproof78]

There's no canon military conflict with the Klingons in the recent past of this series.

I don't believe there are any established canon wars with the Klingons except in DS9.

A lot of posturing though.

 

[Arpy]

I'm curious to see what they'll come up with. Anyone who can't see room in themselves to improve isn't seeing the whole picture. At the same time, I find myself differing with some of my fellow Americans for the reasons why we seem to be in upheaval these days and hope "exploring some contemporary American themes" in the Klingons won't be simplistic and unhelpful.

I also hope they keep some of the Russian and Mongolian and Viking and Samurai, etc, stuff that we've come to know in the Klingons, for consistency's sake. I mean, if they're completely different, then why make them Klingons?

I'm also interested in some of the new races they come up with. They said earlier that they didn't want to spend too much time on revisiting old ones again and again, at least until they've had time to establish new ones.

...man I'd start a Kickstarter FOR them if they made a non-humanoid race (with an out-there culture) one of the majors.