10 Star Trek Debates That Tear The Fandom Apart
4. 60s Racism
The Klingons have never really been ones to shy away from controversy, particularly when it comes to a spot of genocide. We’re not even joking - Errand Of Mercy saw Kor give the order to execute a large group of Organians. It was hardly his fault they were non-corporeal, was it? The Klingons, as the films went on, became more alien with the addition of forehead ridges. This was thanks to a budget bump and was something Gene Roddenberry claimed would have been the case since day one, had they the resources.
Though the Klingons of the movies, The Next Generation and beyond would use more prostheses to complete their look, the Klingons of The Original Series had no such adornments. John Colicos famously workshopped the idea for what Kor would look like when he arrived to receive his makeup and realised no one had any idea what a Klingon should be. Therefore, they used liberal amounts of ‘orient’ shaded make-up, and gave him a Fu Manchu moustache.
This look would effectively be the template for every other Klingon in the series, with successive warriors becoming increasingly darker in tone. While William Campbell was very fair as Koloth, Michael Ansara is clearly caked in paint as Kang - which makes The Day Of The Dove an uncomfortable rewatch in the modern era.
However, there are those who argue online that, as these actors were playing aliens and clearly not parodying people of colour, nor the minstrel shows that so widely showcased blackface, that this doesn’t actually count. Then there are those who believe that this look, well intentioned as it may have been, is a product of a bygone era, and should therefore remain.
This topic frequently rears in the cosplay community. Are Original Series Klingons ok to portray in 2024? Depending on who you ask, there remains a vocal part of the community who argue that Star Trek, a series known for pushing equality, would never knowingly use blackface to degrade anyone. Is this an argument that will die down as more and more examples of different Klingons appear, or is it one that will remain loud and poignant as those 60s Klingons are in our memories forever?