How might SNW explain the physiology of the Klingons that have ridged foreheads versus the smooth foreheads that come from the failed augment experiment in ENT? A refresher: during the run of ENT, Klingons attempted to replicate the experiment of Human Augments. It ends up failing, which results in the physiology of the population changing, thus giving a in-universe explanation for why the makeup in TOS varies from how they appear TMP and onward.

How might SNW address this bit of lore? TOS takes place during 2265-2269. SNW first episode “Strange New Worlds” is 2259, six years prior. We already know Klingons with ridged foreheads exist thanks to DIS. We even see some during “The Broken Circle”. Might one possible way of explaining the change be a shift in the military and/or political factions of the Empire that lead to more of the smooth foreheads Klingons dominating?

  • T156@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    13 hours ago

    If they really wanted to go into canon, you could say there was the augment era during ENT, then they fixed their ridges with a hypospray, and then just before SNW reaches TOS times, there was a recurrence of the augment craze on Qronos. Or a COVID like virus escaped from a lab. It would be odd because all the characters we know from TOS never comment on this oddity - Spock, Kirk, Uhura have all seen ridged Klingons, then the smooth kind, and then ridged again in the movies.

    There’s also an in-universe explanation where a lot of the Klingons we saw were supremacists who specifically focused on their Klinginess, and had the technology to genetically engineer themselves. In the aftermath of the augment virus, they could well have overcorrected to exaggerate their Klingon features.

    • FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      13 hours ago

      Fair point. It suffers from the same inconsistency issue in regards to nobody commenting on it when I think it deserves a mention. But you’re right. There is another gray area to explore.