posted
Here's another thing -- Kor may not be that old after all. The following statement by Odo in "Blood Oath" is neither too accurate nor serious, but certainly suggestive as I'll show later:
"There's a drunk Klingon [Kor] in my holding cell who must be a hundred years old singing battle songs. Even his best friend [Koloth] who's probably a hundred and fifty years old won't have anything to do with him... so I get the pleasure of listening to his repertoire. "Kor! Dahar Master of the Klingons."
An earlier script note does suggest that Koloth is somewhat older than Kor.
Now, we also learn that Kor fought in the victorious battle of Klach D'kel Brakt against the Romulans, "almost a century ago". Later, when he's fighting the Albino, we get this script note about Kor:
"And he's back at Klach D'Kel Brakt again... he's twenty again..."
It really seems that the writer thought of Kor as being no more than 120 years old. So maybe he was 17 or so when he met Kirk at Organia, his greatest achievements still to come. In his own words, being a military governor was a bad position, and as far as we can tell, he didn't even have his own ship. If he'd scored a major victory once, then fallen out of favor, it would've been a while ago when he'd be too young, even for the possibly fast-aging Klingons.
Hence, I think he was just a "Commander" Sisko type at Organia -- after all, how hard could it have been to govern that planet given what they knew about it -- and only later gained command of the Klothos, met Kang, and went on to fight his biggest battles until about 2289, when he'd meet Curzon during peace negotiations mentioned in "Blood Oath", likely the same as in "Star Trek III".
posted
Nevertheless, given the evidence we have, the simpler and more likely explanation is that the Klingons didn't have cloaks until the 2270s and that the D-5 cruisers were used until then. We've seen captains grow attached to piles of junk like the Stargazer: I don't see a problem with that.
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posted
But at the same time, if you're going to make an attack on a well-defended Federation outpost, you're going to want the most advanced warships and weaponry that you can get. Sending a group of old D5 cruisers makes little sense when you have the latest D7's (or even the K't'inga's, if this is post-2270).
Personally, I think that Kor was telling a tall tale when it came to the cloaking device. We all know how Klingons like to exaggerate their tales to increase their glory and battlefield accomplishments; why not assume that Kor was stretching the bounds of credibility? We don't have to assume that every word spoken on the show is objectively and precisely true.
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posted
If the story had that large a truth gap in it, though, surely Martok would have taken notice, considering his rather dim view of Kor in general.
"Cloaks? Bah! We didn't even have them yet." And so on.
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
yeah Martok said 'bah!' a lot
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posted
Who said that all of the ships were D5 cruisers? There was an entire division commanded by Kang, and another one commanded by Kor. Furthermore, Klingons are very traditional when it comes to battle, using knives and bat'leths along with disruptors. It's not all about having the latest technology.
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posted
Tell that to the European armies that would clash unprotected, out in the open, for centuries. The Klingons used cloaks to hide their fleet! You can't be more dishonorable than that.
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posted
Um...yeah. Napoleonic tactics were not pointless exercises in drama, you know. That's more or less how you have to fight if you want large armies armed with relatively primitive firearms.
And your second statement seems to prove my point.
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quote: It really seems that the writer thought of Kor as being no more than 120 years old. So maybe he was 17 or so when he met Kirk at Organia, his greatest achievements still to come. In his own words, being a military governor was a bad position, and as far as we can tell, he didn't even have his own ship. If he'd scored a major victory once, then fallen out of favor, it would've been a while ago when he'd be too young, even for the possibly fast-aging Klingons.
I'm sorry, Phelps, but I don't think that makes sense. Military governor may not be a position where you can wallow in glory, but you still wouldn't put a wet-behind-the-ears kid in charge of a strategic outpost (Organia must have some strategic value, else why would the Federation and the Empire both be interested in it?). Starfleet could always send an invasion force to Organia, and then what kind of battle experience is the rookie going to fall back on for his defense?
Besides, by that logic, what is the Enterprise doing there? Starfleet obviously felt the situation warranted sending an experienced crew and a top-of-the-line heavy cruiser, not some junior officer in a less powerful vessel. I think its safe to assume the Empire would have a similar level of concern.
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
I think we are using the 'Klingons grow up fast like Alexander' theory there.. which i hate to apply in this case.. John Colicos was in his 30s for the episode and i think we should assume Kor was late 20s/mid 30s (adding a little fudge factor there for the klingon aging difference) theres really nothing to be gained by making him in his teens, and it seems a little stupid. There would seem to be just a little age difference Kor/Koloth wise, probably on the order of 10 years.. i dont think they are fifty years apart.. odo's generalization was just that.. a generalization
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The Klingons and the Feds might have taken a different approach to the issue of Organia. The Empire might decide to send a ship or two there to pick an easy target and then leave a token occupation force there, in hopes of annoying a counterreaction out of the Feds. The Feds would feel obligated to sacrifice a lot of resources to defend/counter-conquer this planet of seeming humans. And Kor could have been sent in there simply to die, to act as human-bait so that the Klingons could advance on other fronts.
Thus, what the Feds see as a planet of strategic value is not of such value to the Klingons, except as a clever feint. And Kor has an inkling of why he wasn't given more forces, or replaced by a more experienced officer, which is why he's in a bad mood - but as a Klingon, he's not all that worried about dying in a glorious (if rigged) battle.
posted
The Klingon Empire sent 8 eight ships and hundreds of troops to secure Organia. Kor had a sizeable force. He hated two things-being a military governor and governing, in his words, a population of sheep.
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posted
Target: This eight ships and 100 troops is actually mentioned on screen? Trimble's Concordance also mentions a "Unit XY-75847" of Starfleet ships patrolling near Organia. Any idea how many ships it comprised?
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