STAR TREK TOP FIVE: TOS Klingons

This week’s Top Five was suggested by Dr. Peter Bryan — follow him on twitter Peter Cullen Bryan and marvel at his pop culture analysis.

The Klingons are the counterbalance to Those Old Scientists — an authoritarian regime of warriors, beholden to no one but their own honor and the glory of the empire. TNG and DS9 did a lot of heavy lifting to give the Klingons depth and culture, but it’s a testament to the following characters that in only a handful of episodes, TOS created such an enduring legacy on pop culture.

COMMANDER KOR

You know him and you fear him. He’s the first and he’s the best. He’s a wolf among lambs, and he’s not afraid to use the Mind Sifter to get what he wants.

John Colicos’ Kor set the tone for the entire species — drastic but efficient, and eloquently menacing. DS9 significantly fleshed out his character and made him a Dahar Master in search of glory, but it was his SINGLE APPEARANCE IN TOS that made him and the Klingons so beloved.

CAPTAIN KOLOTH

Koloth and Kirk: Star Trek’s Frenemies. Or at least that’s how it was originally conceived. Their mutual…