Star Trek: 10 Production Secrets You Never Knew About Klingons
7. Yes, Those Original Klingons Were A Racist Stereotype
Errand Of Mercy was the first episode that the Klingons appeared in. The script described them as 'Orientals', 'Hard-faced, uniformed, heavily armed, wearing a vest of mail.' With this as the starting point, and with the budget restricting the make-up team into making them appear as close to Human as possible. While John Colicos would be heavily involved in how they turned out in that episode, make-up artist Rick Stratton recalled some very uncomfortable facts about the colouring used on the Klingons.
Stratton was hired by Fred Phillips, who was the lead make-up designer for Star Trek, to assist on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Stratton described the paint being used to darken the actors' skin as 'Mexican #1 and Mexican #2', or even 'Negro #1'.
There is little doubt that the original Klingons were meant to portray a stereotype, though it's not entirely clear as to which stereotype that was. They were conceived as stand-ins for the Russians, while also serving as Star Trek's answer to the Chinese, the Mongols, the North Koreans and the North Vietnamese. The Klingons in Errand Of Mercy were a warrior-like people, while those that appeared in The Trouble With Tribbles were described by William Campbell, who played Koloth, as a bureaucratic people. This would change again by the time The Motion Picture rolled around.