What Happened to the Klingons

[ray gower]

Ignoring the change in foreheads Ent/TOS/TNG for the time being at least.

In Enterprise the Klingons are an advanced race- probably more so than the Vulcans, who appear to be actively wary (scared) of them.

By TOS humans have more than caught up, then by all accounts they manage to keep level-ish from there on.

What were the Klingons doing for the intervening 100 years?

 

[Dave]

Official canon answer: I don't know.

Speculation: Probably in-fighting among themselves between Houses. They haven't had an Emperor for some time, and there would be political power struggles for Chancellorship. Even in TOS time (see starfleet military report at start of 'Undiscovered Country') a majority of their budget was spent on warmongering and defence.

 

[Technomage]

I think Dave is on the right track here, as races that have strong tribal affiliations tend to lag behind those that develop a more relaxed and open society.

I tend to think that tribalism impedes the flow of knowledge, as each tribe is reluctant to share what they know with another, possibly hostile tribe and that new ideas tend to be regarded as a threat to the leaders of these tribes and are therefore prevented from being implemented. This can be seen in the way that tribal nations, like those in Africa, are still many years behind the European type nations, in most, if not all, aspects of cultural and technical development.

 

[skoon]

well just look at the dark ages, Religion & science didn't get along & advancements suffered for it...

 

[Highlander II]

Didn't the Klingons have an issue w/ the tribbles at one point too? when was that? I know Worf mentions it on DS9 - but don't recall the year - if he gave one ----

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by Highlander II
Didn't the Klingons have an issue w/ the tribbles at one point too? when was that? I know Worf mentions it on DS9 - but don't recall the year - if he gave one ----

I had read that they wiped out whole Tribble planets. I wasn't sure that was canon fact though, and not from a novel or a fan-fiction.

But you are correct, in 'DS9' Worf does say that the Klingons considered the Tribbles to be an ecological menace, a plague to be wiped out. In the latter part of the 23rd century, hundreds of Klingon warriors were sent to track them down throughout the galaxy. An armada obliterated the Tribble homeworld, and before the 24th century, Tribbles had been eradicated. ("Trials and Tribble-ations" [DS9])

Tribble Genocide!

I hardly think that Tribbles can be blamed for everything that's wrong in the Empire though.

 

[Highlander II]

When does Enterprise take place? I always forget this date stuff --



And how do *you* know? Those Tribbles could be horrendously hard to get rid of! And maybe there was a race of mutated Tribbles that went after the Klingons - bwahahaha --

No - kidding, really -

I have no idea - I'm not that *up* on all my Star Trek backstory - the show just has way too much of it to keep up with everything - and I didn't like VOY enough to watch, so missed any backstory established there anyway -- -lalalala -- living in my lovely wonderland where it doesn't really matter anyway --- and I've gone totally loopy -- must be time to watch Buffy again!

 

[ray gower]

LOL!

The Klingons did go to war big style with Tribbles, even commemorated in song and verse http://www.ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9006&perpage=20#post1198861

 

[Highlander II]

LOL! I read that a while back -- heehee ---

You know it was those Tribbles that messed up the Klingons!

 

[imported_polymath]

Unfortunately, the "Tribbles" theory just doesn't work, since the humans had already caught up with the Klingons by that time.

Also, the "tribalism" theory seems rather shaky, as technical advancement is often driven by conflict (i.e. an arms race), especially when there are outside sources (all nearby species) from which an agressive society can "acquire" advances in technology.

My personal theory is that the solution to the apparent slow progress of the Klingons is actually the same as the solution to the "forehead" question: the Klingons clearly sufferred some kind of genetic-modifying virus (probably a bio-weapon that got out of hand) that drastically changed their appearance, and for an extended time their resources were dedicated to "curing" this.