Monday, February 13, 2017

Today in fictional lumpy space Vikings...

Brace yourselves, we're about to go deep nerd here because there's been a leaked photo from the set of the new Star Trek show and it is downright scandalous. You know, as scandalous as Star Trek news can get.
"Klingons have never been trustworthy."
-James Tiberius Kirk in
Star Trek VI: The Racist One
"You have to knock it off with the...racism!
And learn to...get along! With...one another."

-Kirk, season 3 episode 13
These surprisingly racist-well, space racist (spacist?) words coming from the hero of television's least subtle show about not being a racist were proven totally correct Saturday when Andrew MacKay, an actor playing a background Klingon in Star Trek: Discovery, posted a behind the scenes shot of some of his cast mates in full make-up and costume which is, given how secretive everyone's being about the new series, probably frowned upon. MacKay's already deleted it but, you know, the internet. Incidentally, Toronto area actor Andrew MacKay is probably now available and looking for new projects.

Anyway, after like two years of Bryan Fuller being coy and showing us pretty much nothing about the new show, MacKay's indiscreet Instagram gives us a look at this series' version of Klingons and yes, they're different. What's that? Are you shrugging indifferently?
They shall sings songs of the glorious
conquest of the craft services table.
Above: The original Klingon look was,
um, let's say insensitive at best...
That's because you probably have a well-rounded life with a wide range on interests. Trekkies however would notice immediately that Discovery's Klingons are pretty different from the ones we're used to on the other Star Trek shows. The make-up looks more elaborate with more ridges and longer skulls and they're bald which is kinda weird. Klingon foreheads are already a point of contention among Star Trek fans ever since the first Star Trek movie updated the look from a bunch of guys with gold lamé sashes and goatees to space-faring Vikings with lumpy foreheads.

See? Oh and fun fact, that's John
 Larroquette, pointing at Christopher
Lloyd. I can't make this shit up.
We eventually got a preposterous in-universe explanation involving Khan and Mr. Data's creator's grandpa or something, but really the change was about having a decent make-up budget. Ok, so the Klingons are sporting a new look, what's the scandal alluded to before? Well, if there's one thing that gets under fans' skin it's inconsistencies and a sudden, unexplained change might piss people off. It turns out that Trekkies are like, super-detail oriented and if say a control on the bridge of the Enterprise fires phasers in one episode and scans for life forms in the next, there will be hell to pay. Hell in the form of angry emails from fans.

The point is even the most minor deviation from canon are met with resistance and scathing blog posts. No, not from me of course, I've matured, but I do hope that Discovery's producers know what they're doing. Trekkies have been known to hold grudges. Again, not referring to myself of course...just other fans. Obsessed fans...
Pictured: director J.J. Abrams, currently in witness protection
after mis-locating planet Delta Vega in the Star Trek reboot

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