I reckon they could’ve gotten away with the whole “The makeup has evolved and that’s it” explanation if they hadn’t drawn attention to the fact the Klingons were ridgeless in “Trials and Tribble-ations”. That episode established that Klingons of the 23rd century really DID look different in-universe, so it needed to be explained.

As “Enterprise” establishes that not all the Klingons were turned ridgeless but only some, I reckon the Klingons in the new movie should be a mix of ridged and ridgeless. The ridged ones should be only at TOS-movie level (not the full 24th-century ‘turtle head”), and the ridgeless ones should look kinda like this: http://www.scifinow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Joel-Harlow-21.jpg

Something wrong with me stating that Michael Westmore is still my fav make up artist?

But if this universe shares same history as the prime universe then the Klingons must have smooth heads. Enterprise has put that into canon. But it could be that some have ridges and some are smooth heads like in recent comics.

LOL!

#19

Agreed! That’s kind of why I think we will see a variety of Klingons in the sequel. Some smooth-headed, some with lots of ridges, some with only a few ridges, etc.

1: “These are Spock?”
2: “No, Spock is a guy. He’s Vulcan. He is from a race that’s very logical. These are aliens called Romulans. They are similar to Vulcans, have Vulcan ears, like Spock’s ears, but when they were building their culture, they went for emotion instead of logic. They’re much more fierce and angry. Spock’s people, the Vulcans, are all about logic.”
1: “So that isn’t Spock?”
2: “No. Spock is from a race called Vulcans. These aren’t Vulcans. These guys are similar–”
1: “Yes, they have Spock’s ears. That one! That one.. isn’t he Spock? He definitely has Spock’s ears. I recognize them.”
2: “Okay… but..”
1: “They really look like Vulcans I think. I think they are.”
2: “No. See the ridges on the forehead?? These guys are a little different. These guys have ridges. Spock didn’t.”
1: “Oh yeah. Okay.”

Whew!

The change in the Romulans from TOS to TNG is a good example of creative tinkering while still maintaining the feel of the race. I wouldn’t want to see Enterprise’s storyline about the ridges voided out for no good reason.

Breaking the canon too much completely nulls out the point the first film’s time travel plot.