Lower Decks Season 5’s Proto Klingons confirm a piece of Star Trek lore

Set the stages to Spoilersbecause this article details the main plot of the “Star Trek: Lower Decks” series finale.

It’s finally time for one of the best new additions to the “Star Trek” franchise (and one of its biggest pleasant surprises) to ride off into the sunset, and the “Lower Decks” series finale certainly did right by all its fans. Characters. The fifth and final season as a whole feels like it couldn’t have been planned any better, as it went out of its way to make it happen. Bring things full circle with season one, Some headline-grabbing cameos have been includedAnd even It highlighted its (actual) underappreciated characters. But it wouldn’t be Lower Decks if the show’s writers didn’t deliver at least one final bit of law-changing information on their way out the door.

To the anime series’ credit, it did so with the possible “lower floors” approach. Remember when Episode 4, titled “Farewell to the Farmer,” brought back the troublemaking Klingon brothers Malor (Sam Witwer) and Mah (John Curry), the latter of whom was first introduced during Season 2? That episode that breaks the format and centers around the Klingons Laying the groundwork for their return in the grand finale, the duo plays an unexpectedly important role in saving the multiverse from complete and utter destruction alongside the crew members of the USS Cerritos. But during the climax, just as all hope seems lost, our heroes manage to come together one last time and escape harm by the skin of their teeth.

Amid the chaos, we’re also gathering some shocking thoughts on the (admittedly) sensitive topic of Klingon evolution – or should we say devolution?

The trips are known as, er, maximum Passion when it comes to the most clever details in the franchise’s lore. whether You are absolutely in love with spacecraft designs or I simply can’t get enough of the syntax and characters of entire fictional languagesThere’s something for every type of “Star Trek” nerd. One such topic has always revolved around the appearance of Klingon aliens, who have since become famous for their pronounced forehead ridges, dark skin, and long hair. However, exhibitors may be surprised to learn that this was not always the case. The “Star Trek” series stepped right into this landmine “Discovery” and its controversial Klingon design had a few of those distinctive traits, which later had to be reversed in “Strange New Worlds.” Subsequent shows have steadily added their own complexities over the decades, much to the delight and dismay of fans everywhere.

We can now add “Lower Decks” to the list of series that have put their own spin on fan-favorite aliens.

The Cerritos’ most dangerous mission puts them in harm’s way from all sorts of multiverse shenanigans during the finale, as waves of tachyon radiation threaten to transform everyone (and everything) caught in its wake into endless alternates of parallel dimensions. This means that Cerritos itself could suddenly become older or more futuristic models of spacecraft at any moment… which could mean life or death when traveling through such dangerous regions of space. This also applies to human beings, as invading Klingons discover that this puts them in danger. Stripped of their armor thanks to some last-minute ingenuity, the Rebels are exposed to the brunt of the multiverse and are suddenly transformed into their most primitive selves: proto-Klingons.

Despite being a constant source of speculation among fans, these ancient versions that Malor calls proto-Klingons have never before been seen in the “Trek” series. Full of rage (well, okay, more than they usually are) and far more animalistic in their brutality, the unsophisticated beings turn in on themselves and poetically spell their own doom. Given all the discrepancies in appearance between their strikingly human-like design in “The Original Series,” their more iconic appearance in “The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine,” and that disaster seen in “Discovery,” Klingon evolution has always been a source of debate Violence in popular circles. At the last possible moment, Below Decks may have provided the “missing link” we’ve been searching for all along.

The idea of ​​proto-Klingons has been referenced in previous “Trek” installments (particularly in “Deep Space 9”), where they largely highlighted mythological figures like Kahless or the behavior of primitive Klingons whose development was hindered by warring with each other. In order to build their first empire. In “Lower Decks,” we actually get that See What these individuals looked like on their homeworld Qo’noS thousands of years ago. Sporting lizard-like eyes, facial appendages that definitely give off the same vibes as the Yautja from the “Predator” franchise, and deadly spikes sticking out of their bodies along with razor-sharp teeth, this reinterpretation of the Klingon form may very well be the most radical in the franchise yet. In one fell swoop, the animated series has added what’s sure to be an entire section of a “Trek”-focused wiki page — and an official part of Klingon lore forever.

You can watch every episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+.