From what I can recall of both TOS and TNG, the Klingons were pretty much an expy of the Russians/Soviets, and their depiction evolved with the US's perception of Russia.
In TOS, they were a scary militaristic society with technological parity and superb spying. Klingons who appeared in-show were hostile but smart and sneaky. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union was winning the space race, boasting loudly about how much better its technology allegedly was than the US's, and was known for scarily effective espionage (this was right after the Red Scare).
In TNG, they were a race of thugs that weren't the social or technological peers of the humans, but were still a military force to be reckoned with. They'd recently made peace with the Federation, and much was made of olive branches and cultural exchange and getting to understand each other. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the US had clued in to the fact that the USSR was actually about 15 years behind the US technologically, and the cold war was in the process of ending. The USSR was still a scary military power but one that wasn't as cutting-edge as the US, and olive branches were being exchanged.
I'm not entirely sure who the Cardassians were supposed to be an expy of in DS9, but the general themes of the conflicts in each series has always been a mirror of what the US has been concerned about in the real world during the show's production.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-06-25 02:38 am (UTC)In TOS, they were a scary militaristic society with technological parity and superb spying. Klingons who appeared in-show were hostile but smart and sneaky. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union was winning the space race, boasting loudly about how much better its technology allegedly was than the US's, and was known for scarily effective espionage (this was right after the Red Scare).
In TNG, they were a race of thugs that weren't the social or technological peers of the humans, but were still a military force to be reckoned with. They'd recently made peace with the Federation, and much was made of olive branches and cultural exchange and getting to understand each other. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the US had clued in to the fact that the USSR was actually about 15 years behind the US technologically, and the cold war was in the process of ending. The USSR was still a scary military power but one that wasn't as cutting-edge as the US, and olive branches were being exchanged.
I'm not entirely sure who the Cardassians were supposed to be an expy of in DS9, but the general themes of the conflicts in each series has always been a mirror of what the US has been concerned about in the real world during the show's production.