TOS Klingons had ridges!

[WarpFactorZ]

I was watching Errand of Mercy this evening, and I couldn't help but notice that Kor and most of the other Klingons sported make-up that accentuated their forehead wrinkles.

This also seemed to be the case with Kang on Day of the Dove:

Now, both John Colicos and Michael Ansara had pronounced wrinkles, but were these accentuated? Were Klingons always supposed to have ridges?

Discuss!

 

[Pauln6]

I suppose the reason Mara went into the unappealing career of science was because she wasn't pretty enough to be a warrior with her unsightly smooth forehead.

 

[Cγrano Mudd]

Were Klingons always supposed to have ridges?

Discuss!

Oh, without a doubt. In Françoise Depardieu's "Trek and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" during the interview with Majel Barrett, Majel states explicitly that

...nobody had any idea at the time, but Gene had always said to me that Klingons were always supposed to have ridges.

So, there you go. The answer is an unequivocal YES!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Now, both John Colicos and Michael Ansara had pronounced wrinkles, but were these accentuated?

No.

Were Klingons always supposed to have ridges?

No.

Oh, without a doubt. In Françoise Depardieu's "Trek and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" during the interview with Majel Barrett, Majel states explicitly that "...nobody had any idea at the time, but Gene had always said to me that Klingons were always supposed to have ridges."
So, there you go. The answer is an unequivocal YES!

More Roddenberry after-the-fact BS. Roddenberry wasn't the producer by late season one, so I doubt he would've been involved with something as trivial as the makeup for the guest aliens of the week (which is all the Klingons were, to start).

The conception of the Klingon makeup is fairly well-documented as a creation of Fred Phillips, working from the suggestion of Jon Colicos to make them look Genghis Khan-like. One of the reasons they kept bringing the Klingons back was because their makeup was so simple in comparison to the Romulans. It makes absolutely no sense for them to originally have something more elaborate planned, especially considering how many Klingon extras there were in "Errand of Mercy."

The bumpy-headed Klingons came from a makeup done in one of the failed pilots Roddenberry did in the 70s (I'm blanking on the name of it right now, but I'm sure someone else will be providing the name and a photo from it before long).

 

[mb22]

http://www.startrek.com/article/john-colicos-full-expression

 

[johnnybear]

Somehow between Errand of Mercy and A Private Little War they forgot to add the brown gravy colour to the Klingons! Hence Kras, in Friday's Child and Koloth and Korax in Trouble With Tribbles! I can't say I noticed any ridges on Kor and Kang though!
JB

 

[2takesfrakes]

T'was Robert Fletcher, the costume designer from TMP through TVH who invented the bumpyheaded Klingons ...

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[WarpFactorZ]

T'was Robert Fletcher, the costume designer from TMP through TVH who invented the bumpyheaded Klingons ...

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Well, shucks. I'm just gonna blur my eyes during TOS and pretend that, yes indeed, the Klingons always had forehead ridges.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

No.
The bumpy-headed Klingons came from a makeup done in one of the failed pilots Roddenberry did in the 70s (I'm blanking on the name of it right now, but I'm sure someone else will be providing the name and a photo from it before long).

You're thinking of the Kreeg from "Planet Earth", they are without a doubt the inspiration for the TMP Klingons, though they are less pronounced, the ridges are basically the same,A clip "Commander soldiers."

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[JonnyQuest037]

You're thinking of the Kreeg from "Planet Earth", they are without a doubt the inspiration for the TMP Klingons, though they are less pronounced, the ridges are basically the same,A clip "Commander soldiers."

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Thank you, yes. That was exactly what I was thinking of.

 

[johnnybear]

Well, shucks. I'm just gonna blur my eyes during TOS and pretend that, yes indeed, the Klingons always had forehead ridges.

But then you might be ignoring the reason that Klingons look similar to us from ENT?
JB

 

[Discofan]

I think the only reason most of the aliens in TOS looked human, is because they couldn't afford to put a whole bunch of actors in heavy makeup back then otherwise, they would have looked as little as humans as possible.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Ruffles Have Ridges...

 

[Cγrano Mudd]

And Roddenberry was a huge fan of Ruffles®!

I rest my case.

 

[Herbert]

Ruffles Have Ridges...

Trelaine must have gotten the idea for that shirt watching Seinfeld

 

[A beaker full of death]

I think the only reason most of the aliens in TOS looked human, is because they couldn't afford to put a whole bunch of actors in heavy makeup back then otherwise, they would have looked as little as humans as possible.

Better human (especially as they came up with the "parallel development" theory to answer the question) than the garbage Mike Westmore came up with - nostrils and foreheads. Yawn. Give me a horta or a gorn any day.

 

[BillJ]

Just no.

The Klingons in TOS did not have ridges. Ever.

 

[Mojochi]

Those be wrinkles... not ridges

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I think the only reason most of the aliens in TOS looked human, is because they couldn't afford to put a whole bunch of actors in heavy makeup back then otherwise, they would have looked as little as humans as possible.

I don't think it was a question of "Oh, gee, it'd sure look great if we could do more extensive makeup on these guest aliens, but we can't afford it, too bad." I don't think they even considered it. That just wasn't the way people made up actors as aliens back then. You'd get some different colored skin, a wig, and maybe some antennae or something, and that was it. I can't think of any show or movie that was doing extensive facial prosthesis makeup like that for aliens until Planet of the Apes in 1968.

 

[Discofan]

I don't think it was a question of "Oh, gee, it'd sure look great if we could do more extensive makeup on these guest aliens, but we can't afford it, too bad." I don't think they even considered it. That just wasn't the way people made up actors as aliens back then. You'd get some different colored skin, a wig, and maybe some antennae or something, and that was it. I can't think of any show or movie that was doing extensive facial prosthesis makeup like that for aliens until Planet of the Apes in 1968.

You forget about "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" that were much older than TOS and yet had often aliens and all manners of monsters in them. I remember one in particular with a very young Martin Landau who was a very deformed man who could, thanks to some telepathic powers, make it look like he was normal. So he spent half of the episode in very heavy makeup and the other half as himself. This was long before TOS!