Klingon first contact: "Welcome to the Klingon Empire. Here is your complementary bat'leth. You will now dedicate your existence to honor and glory, predominantly in the realm of combat."

Klingon exploration: How it started: Hey look at that weird green planet with all the shiny rock people let's go learn about it! How it ended: So anyway I started blasting

Klingon "Exploration" is just a bunch of reconnaissance missions finding new and interesting species to fight. If they fight back, and have some level of sentience, that's an added bonus.

"Klingons do not explore. They conquer the unknown. It is more honorable." - me, channeling Worf.

Another great example of the KDF appoach to science is seen in the V'ger incident. "A huge mysterious energy cloud is approaching. Let's poke it with photon torpedoes, maybe it will do something interesting." Well, it did, but that something wasn't exactly conducive to the well-being of the Klingon squadron.

I would love a Klingon Epic centered on a great and mighty explorer. A captain who took his band of warriors and fellows out into the unknown. One struck by wanderlust and bringing glory for House and Empire through discovery. Staying in one place only as long as nbeeded. Leaving others for the pacification of natives, securing of mineral wealth, and seeing his talants best used in seeing how far his banner could fly. This being a klingon opera death and glory are his reward. Falling at the hands of some then unknown power. His final orders being for engineering to destabilize his ship's core then jettison in boarding pods to be picked up by the rest of the fleet as he flies a now ship sized bomb straight down the enemy's throat.

See species, conquer species, take maps- rinse and repeat. Now, to hit play and see what the more canon answer is

I liked the Star Trek hypothesis that "Yesterday's Enterprise" changed the relationship between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. In an episode before "Yesterday's Enterprise", Wesley mentioned the Klingons being members of the Federation. After Yesterday's Enterprise events, the Empire is regarded as an ally instead. The hypothesis is that the time ripples from that event caused the Federation and Klingon Empire to be slightly more distant from each other, with the Empire remaining apart from the Federation instead of joining it. (What? No, it has nothing to do with the TNG writers not having established the Star Trek lore fully, nope, it was time travel!!!!)

tldr of klingon exploration: Fuck it, we ball!

The Klingons are a good use of the "Planet of Hats" trope. They were a "warrior race" because their society forced them to be. Once they were no longer slammed into that mold, they showed they had just as wide a range of talents as humanity

Spare a thought for all the intelligent Klingons throughout their history who helped develop their technology and advanced their civilization but were not given the respect they deserved and had no songs sung about them.

I mean, even the Terrans know, in order to conquer something, you have to know where it is and what they have worth taking, first...

We never did find out how the Empire was doing in the 32nd century.

There was a graphic novel set in the Kelvin timeline that showed the Klingon's version of the Enterprise's 5 year mission. Second sons, orphans and other Klingons without a chance to become the head of their house were sent on a very large ship into unexplored space. They were tasked with conquering worlds for the glory of the Empire. Then they ran smack dab into Kirk's Enterprise, and well things didn't go as planned.

"So why don't Klingons like the 'explorer' types?" "Well, remember. It was a Klingon explorer that came home with an 'interesting livestock specimen candidate' and released the First Tribble Plaque on Qo'noS." "Oh, right. That would give their explorers a bad reputation."

For some reason, the thought of Klingons just picking a direction and _going_ for it even if they don't have a ship fast enough to get back in a reasonable timeframe just brings a smile to face. At their heart, they seek challenge. And what greater challenge than the unknown? I suppose a good comparison would be how the two organisations would go down a cliff. Starfleet would debate, check out the steepness or whether there are loose rocks and then carefully send someone down to put up the rope attachments so they can safely descent and then get back up again. Meanwhile, the Klingons would race off the cliff in a soapbox cart. Possibly waving Bat'leth around.

To quote Commander Spock: "Fascinating."

Can't find new glorious battles without looking for them!

I've felt for a long time that even during the run of TNG the Klingons are basically on a near inevitable path to joining the UFP as their goals and ideals really seem to be converging over time, despite a few hiccups along the way. It's true they have a lot of stubborn traditions and their way of life would be quite different if they couldn't solve their issues with a fight to the death, but their sense of honor as time goes on seems to fit into the Federation's ideals relatively well and nothing says their culture cannot adapt slightly to be less lethal but still maintain those traditions. Also the fact that it is implied that Sto-vo-kor is real and genuinely functions as described including possibly the ability to influence the world of the living in a very minor way is awesome and I want it to be fully canon

Honestly I always thought there was probably a very Rogue Trader (from Warhammer 40,000) vibe to Klingon exploration and your description certainly fits that.

Since "peacefull" exploration often was the first step of conquest in Humon history, reconaisance might be a more acurate term.

They would have mapped their systems and planets for resources. Of course, a growing Empire would need more and more resources. So they would have hunted out new planets and in turn come across stuff new to them. Like everything else you would have people better than others at doing that. The Empire would have had ships crewed with people who would be good at finding resource rich planets and systems.

The Klingons were flying around in our 14th century and the Vulcans and Romulans split over 2 millenia ago yet the Earthlings established the Federation in just a couple centuries, interesting how prevalent the "human progress much more quickly" trope is in sci-fi. Also I've always liked the Nova-class (7:51), it's such a cool little ship that I wish we saw more of (though I never liked that secondary deflector, it just looks out of place.)

Given the Vikings tendency to explore and their reasons for doing so... the Klingons being similar in that regard is unsurprising to anyone who knows how the Klingons work. I would love to see more about Klingon or Romulan exploration missions in Trek, especially how they differ from Federation type missions. More of this kind of lower stakes but meaningful story, less of "the Federation/Galaxy is about to be destroyed and only one ship can save it!" action-oriented fluff we have seen in newer Star Trek.

Anybody else just turn the volume all the way down and find something else to look at when the unskippable commercials come on?

i find klingon lore much more fascinating than any other within star trek thanks for more lore and history of the klingons

Simple, Klingons explore things by standing on them with awesome spikey boots! 👢 I should know.

Klingon Exploration Corps motto: YEET!

Klingon Diplomatic Communique to a new world: "Attention inhabitants, I am Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus; I have brought with me the finest warriors numbering..." *Flipping through the papers* Wait sorry I picked up the wrong series' paperwork. Ah here's the Klingons: "Attention inhabitants, I am Admiral Kol of the House Maltus; I have brought with me a division of my finest warriors..."

Space Conquistadors.

It seemed to me the TOS Klingons were more of a dark mirror of future humanity rather than just space barbarians. While sticking with that wouldn’t have made them as iconic I think it would have made for a more well rounded race.

Love to see a video on the kilngon defense force

i wonder how the klingon are doing in the post dominion era late 24 century early 25 century like are we still allied with them how is there fleet and what about in the 32 century are they still arround

Love your lore videos, Rick. Keep up the great work!

Thank you!

I have always imagined Klingon exploration fleets to be basically Spanish/Portugese/British exploration fleets of the Age of Discovery (15th - 17th century). So, ships that are mostly not up to the task, captains hailed as great explorers but really just merchants and grifters, big time colonialism, slavery, corporations, all the good stuff. Klingons hate tlaking about it because of how inglorious most of it is, but yet they totally keep doing it because it's very profitable. This also totally works in terms of how they most of the time see the Federation as a colonial rival, so they don't have a huge war but random encounters out in the void lead to shots fired constantly.

I don't think the vulcan model is really what starfleet adopted. The vulcans had been spacefaring for thousands of years and hadn't really made it far. And on several instances, tpol criticized archer for exploring just because he could.

Coming soon: Klingon scientists and their struggles with the Tribbles!

_Prodigy_ S02 had a really cool portrayal of a Klingon scientist / explorer. Without spoiling anything: our plucky crew discovers him carrying out his research on a desolate world, unable to return home until his research is complete so as to satisfy his honor. Minor spoiler: it was hilarious to see, at the successful conclusion of an experiment, him lead the gang in a spirited rendition of Worf's "lullaby" from _Birthright, Part II._

Klingons are Sontarans, minus the charm

I find the idea that Starfleet's earjy dealings wuth the Klingons perhaps only involved a few of the more aggressive Houses rather than the Empire as a whole a fascinating one. Reminds me of an episode early on in the new Doctor Who where Rose, the Doctor, and MO Harriet Jones encounter aliebs called the Slitheen. Onky to discover that these particular ones are all members of a singke criminal famiky and not necessarily represented of their apecies *at all* . Slitheen even turns out to be the family name, which zero clear indication where the species calls itself. Its like "Your spacers is The Slitheen?" "What? No. We are the Slitheen family!"

what a great video.

Klingon first contact message: greetings and welcome to the klingon empire! Please resist

The Klingquistadors

Nice video as always man! Could you maybe do a video on ground combat? I often wonder about how starfleet conducts planetary invasions.

This is something I've always wandered.... this and first contact

very awesomes this is very true for the klingon empire.

It needs to also be understood that there are different methods to honor than purely warfare. Though yes warriors are on the upper part of the totem pole, scientists are definitely required and so are engineers. In fact warriors songs are supposed to name these engineers. So these people are definitely necessary but all people need to learn how to fight one of the things that isn't explored is what species are in the Klingon empire? Do Klingon ships have other species on on lower levels? Are there methods for other species to acquire honor? I predict after the Dominion war many other species probably became more powerful as so many Klingons died they needed to have a more diverse military just to be capable of defending themselves. I predict that after the Dominion war you would have seen a more diverse crowd in a Klingon ship. This probably gave these species more bargaining power in the Klingon empire. I really wish that after deep space nine in Voyager ended the next series explored what the new alpha quadrant would look like

I never thought about it but it makes sense , you have to find them to conquer them .

Ah yes, the gothic monastery of STO's Boreth...

I wonder if any other Klingons joined Star fleet after Worf

In the Stellaris Star Trek Mod one of the first things I did as the Klingon Empire was to conquer, occupy and enslave the Gorn Hegemony

With HONOR!

Klingons: _Do you have a flag?_

Interesting. The way you put it, the Klingon exploitation model is very similar to that of the Ferengi.

5:00 that’s my favorite Klingon warship of all time as one who got started in Star Trek with TOS reruns on VHS.

I feel like the Klingons were just ridiculously lucky that they didn't run into a more advanced civilization with a lot less patience. "You want us to submit to you? That's interesting. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your civilization that a massive scale genetic engineering project can't fix." "Captain Krug, I think today is a good day to blow up the ship before they get our planet's coordinates."

Yay!!!

klingon explores more like conquistadors in space.

Violently.

Right off the bat, an insecticide creature has a tiny ember on its head.

I would love to explore the concept of klingon vassal planets, I doubt they are as bad as those mining colonies show on ENT, not that they are walk in the parks. But if you consider the size of the empire there should be dozens of races

I'm not sure how the Klingon philosophy and exploration wouldn't coexist. Empires are all about expansion. They explore, they acquire resources and they conquer the native inhabitants. That's very Klingon.

Need a TV show that follows the "exploits" of brave Klingon explorers and scientists. A Klingon Science Team, bat'leths included.

ho encoutererd the breen first ? and how did the breen look at exploration ? any video on this or somthing.

This was a fun video. Thank you. I quite enjoyed the thumbnail for this one. Glorious Klingon expansion, lol. God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

Hey Rick will you do a Prodigy breakdown?

I claim this planet in the name of Qo'noS!

Klingon Great Houses = Earth's historical Feudal Lords, but with starships.

It would be great to follow up with a companion video about the vassal species within the Klingon Empire in both Alpha and Beta canon.

I can’t believe that Klingons ever developed space travel given how violent they are. Wouldn’t they have destroyed theirselves a long time ago?

🖖

unsure if they was ever a complete history of the mirror universe as a whole not just the Terran empire by itself. would be intresting to see what can be found. Espically the Klingon empire

Like the thumbnail, can I get the yarmok sauce?

Imperial powers that take inspiration from human antiquity, and some

It would be interesting if we ever encounter subject species of the empire in canon, I bet do to the Klingons feudal nature, they would instead of governing them directedly, they would instead allow the subject species to be governed by vassal states of under their domain. They would allow a largely hand of approach toward them in exchange for tribute. Subject species of the Klingons would be interesting concept to explore in canon trek media. It's kind of interesting that despite the fact that they're an expansionist species, we never see any conquered species like we do with the cardassians, who conquered the bajorians.

Wouldn't klingons be more proud to call their military "offense forces" rather than "defense forces"?

I wonder what the galaxy would look like if Mankind's first contact had been established with the Klingons instead of the Vulcans. I don't think the Klingons would have simply invaded, plundered, and exterminated Earth at that stage. After all, the technology disparity would mean Mankind would not have been able to put up much of a worthwhile fight, so from the Klingon perspective, there'd be no glory in the battle. The entire Sol system doesn't even have any dilithium, latinum, or other mineral wealth worth the time for a post-warp empire to plunder, and while the location is strategic enough with respect to the Romulans, the only marginally habitable planet in the system was a radioactive ruin at that point. But that to me reveals the real value of contacting the Humans: Earth was a smoking wreck because Humanity had just fought an apocalyptic war against itself, pushing nearly to the last drop of blood before taking a breather. Rather than bomb or invade, I think the Klingons might have offered Mankind a place at their table, if not as a junior partner then at least as a vassal state. I mean, the Klingons would have thought a species that hotwired its own genetics to create armies of super-soldiers, nearly nuked itself to dust, and then immediately turned around and announced itself on the galactic stage by riding a jury-rigged _ICBM,_ would sound pretty cool. Sure, those monkeys might struggle to take a punch like a true-born Son or Daughter of Qo'noS, but with a history like that, the heart of a Human is clearly the heart of a warrior.

Well done, interesting to hear and see into the society that promotes games for their kiddos like a. Torcher for Fun and Profit. b. Skull Me, Klingon c. Grand Thief Mayhem, Klingon Style. d. Targ' Hunters e. Bat' Leth for the Young and Old f. DoM'Jught ??!!?? Kling??

Why do Klingons explore the Galaxy? For the glory of the Empire🫡

🤘😆🤘

Same way the British did only with less headbutting and less booze (Klingons are lightweights)

Make terraforming or Kronosforming an epic challenge. Only the strong can do it, blah, blah, blah.

Klongona don't explore, they conduct reconnaissance.

I like to think that a majority of Nerdsteampunk sciencey Klingons were solar sailing around making ends meet somehow before and after the 13th ce. That would explain the populations of Negh Var and Vor'Cha. Peace!

Where did a civ of jocks find enough nerds to do the science and engineering?

We see aspects civil Klingon culture, food, cuisine, music, literature, Issue is a militant society conquers worlds for resources so the creative class can convey "Culture" Federation comes from cultures knew full well exploitive sad history and fought to avoid it, realized grand aspect is Not fight over resources but make them last longer. in 2280s Spock applied then theoretical dilithium re-crystalization technique which by 24th century became standardized technology. Later 2300s Starfleet developed Dilithium techniques that more efficient. 2300-2350 truly an era of relative peace and prosperity, Fought Long and hard to forgo having conquer and kill. Klingons are warrior race by virtue of history.. - Conquered and invaded by periodic races in past - THeir brutish physical appearance is intimidating - the planets they conquer have few resources utilize

poor tribbles

More invasion then exploring

Straight away, colonial expansion.

Why would a civ that is all about aggression and conquest call their military a "defence force" ?

the question is are they any good at this science game

FOR THE EMPEROR! oh.. wait... Wrong universe. Klingons Explore like the Vikings of Old.

I mean they probably did it the same all Empires in history and sci fi that being hippity hoppity this is now my property

SCIENCE!!!

To say a scientist is no warrior is an insult to the honor of the profession. It is a constant battle to push back ingorance of the unknown, to better understand how the world works is the ultimate battle. A 'warrior' is useless without his tools/weapons/proper knowledge of how best kill his foe, and owes that to the scientists, engineers, teachers, and so on. They would do well to remember that next they want their disrupter fixed because they used it to tap a keg of bloodwine again.

Conquering. 😂

"Exploration"

so,kahless (?)was reimagined to an historical figure in early Klingon space travel era(?)meh.

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