There have been a ton of potential continuity errors brought up from ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ which have been promised would be resolved in the second season of the show but one of them was explained away ahead of time by Mary Chieffo. The actress plays L’Rell who has a head of hair in the second season trailer and lacked any in the first season. It has long been established that in times of war Klingons might shave their heads in the past but how that fits in the timeline from the first season seemed off.
According to the actress:
“You might have noticed in the trailer, there is a bit of a new aesthetic going on, and that is a really exciting addition that has been made and is inspired by Glenn Hetrick, who is our designer and a huge Trek fan himself, He was inspired by season six, episode 23 of The Next Generation, ‘Rightful Heir.’ There is a reference when Kahless is brought back as a clone. The way he proves himself is he tells the story of how he cut off a lock of his hair and dipped it into a volcano and made the first bat’leth, with which he killed Molor, the terrible tyrant who was running Qo’noS at the time.
So, in the spirit of Discovery, we took that one little beautiful seed that was planted from an earlier iteration and kind of expanded on that, and we see that in a time of war the Klingons would shave their heads, and in a time of peace, we start to grow it back out. I really love the symbolism of that.”
Some fans were quick to point out that at the time of the show, Klingons had already shaved their heads and there wasn’t a war between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. Thankfully, Chieffo had an explanation which she shared on Twitter from another user:
👇👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/yIbDXRgCUb
— Mary Chieffo (@marythechief) October 8, 2018
This internal war within the Klingon Empire means the shaved heads make perfect sense for the time period. It could be argued that when we jump generations forward to ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ that this isn’t always the case as the Klingons didn’t shave their heads when battling The Dominion. Chieffo shows off how much of a Trekkie she is though by responding that:
The Dominion War takes place more than 100 years after the events of Discovery. Traditions change and are lost in time. Much of what T’Kuvma predicted about homogenization and assimilation of the Klingon race occurs after the explosion of Praxis & subsequent political shift. https://t.co/EOjgXpDh9A
— Mary Chieffo (@marythechief) October 8, 2018
Wow. You have to know your “Star Trek” to pull this one up. For those who don’t live and breathe “Star Trek,” the actress is referring to ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’ where we saw Praxis, which is the moon of the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS, destroyed. This occurrence caused the Klingons and Federations to sign the Khitomer Accords which many Klingons were unhappy about. The treaty looked to have changed the Klingon culture and was also referenced in the ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ episode “Blood Oath” where elderly Klingons from before the Khitomer Accords share how the old ways had fallen out of favor.
Talk about a very valid reference but a deep cut. Chieffo is either a pure Trekkie or has done a lot of research on the Klingon race to master her role.
Does this reasoning behind why the Klingons having had shaved heads in the first season and not in the second make sense to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Comic Book
