Star Trek: 10 Production Secrets You Never Knew About Klingons

10. There Was Exactly One Reason For The Original Redesign Of The Klingons - $$$

Star Trek The Original Series had introduced and kept the Klingons as they were one of the cheapest recurring aliens in the series. The Romulans presented an issue because of the costly ears that were required, so they were quickly overtaken by the Klingons. All that was required in their case was dark face paint, bushy eyebrows, and beards, then costumes that were made of burlap sacks and painted bubble wrap.

Then, ten years after Star Trek's cancellation, The Motion Picture went into production. Being a feature film, it had a vastly increased budget compared to the series. Makeup designer Fred Phillips, who had been instrumental in the design of the Klingons in the series, immediately approached Gene Roddenberry, and requested permission to make them look much more alien in the films.

Michael Dorn would later recall that the decision was inspired purely because they could, thanks to the budget. At the time, they probably never worried about having to explain why the Klingons looked different this time around. In fact, it would take another twenty five years or so before a reason was given on-screen for this, with the events of Star Trek: Enterprise's Augment storyline.