Star Trek: 10 Secrets About The Klingon Bird-of-Prey You Need To Know
Today is a good day to deep dive.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello, hello, and welcome back to this latest video of...
00:05We are going to be going through one of the most famous ships in all of Star Trek history
00:09now, in a moment.
00:11Before we do that, please don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
00:14We are so close to 250,000 subscribers.
00:18You are amazing and awesome, and we massively, massively appreciate your support.
00:22Thank you so much, everyone.
00:24Remember as well to give the original article that this video was based on a read.
00:28It was written by the astounding Paul Sutherland, who I fully believe will be running Utopia
00:35Planitia shipyards given half a chance.
00:38Now, as you've probably guessed from the thumbnail, we're going to be going through
00:41the Klingon Bird of Prey, which is probably the most famous alien ship of them all.
00:47This ship is almost as recognizable as the Klingons themselves, famously beginning life
00:52as a Romulan vessel before being retconned to being part of the Empire.
00:57This has gone through several different iterations and sizes.
01:00We will be going through the Birel, Kvart and D-12 class ships as well.
01:06Grab yourself a gallon or two of blood wine, and let's get to it.
01:11Hejlovme!
01:12Kaj!
01:13Zazhvam!
01:14Welcome to 10 Secrets of the Klingon Bird of Prey.
01:18Number 10, Romulan Retcon.
01:20Now, as I just noted, the Klingon Bird of Prey was originally intended to be a motion
01:25picture era style redesign of the classic Romulan Bird of Prey from the original series.
01:32Initial drafts of the ship would refer to the ship as Romulan, and that's where the
01:36Bird of Prey title came from.
01:38However, as the scripting process went on, the Romulans were swapped out for Klingons,
01:44and their proprietary Bird of Prey was swapped out to be a stolen one.
01:48Ultimately, in the version of the script that was filmed and released, the Bird of Prey
01:53was simply a Klingon Bird of Prey with no reference to the Romulan connection whatsoever.
01:58There was, however, an in-universe explanation.
02:01According to writer-producer Harv Bennett,
02:13Bennett's explanation would remain as part of FANON for decades, and like the Romulan
02:19use of Klingon battlecruisers in the original series, it was simply a way of explaining it away.
02:24That is, until Star Trek Enterprise came along and showed the Klingons using 22nd century
02:29variations of the Bird of Prey, thus completely retconning that in-universe explanation.
02:36It was nice while it lasted, though.
02:38Number 9, Vonderful Muscles.
02:41While you can easily trace the configuration and inspiration for the Klingon Bird of Prey
02:46back to the original series episode Balance of Terror, the filmmakers didn't rely solely
02:51on Wa Chang's original design.
02:53In a somewhat novel move for Star Trek films at the time, the art department itself was
02:58bypassed and Leonard Nimoy handed off design of the Klingon Bird of Prey to ILM, which
03:05was doing the effects for the film.
03:07During early discussions with Nimoy, ILM's Nilo Rodas, David Carson and Bill George were
03:12inspired by the director's imitation of a predatory bird, arms outstretched like wings.
03:18Nimoy's guidance also included the directive that the ship should possess an elongated
03:22neck, again a characteristic of an attacking bird and one that would be incorporated in
03:27Klingon starship designs for decades to come.
03:30Further exploring various concepts for the ship, Nilo Rodas drew a vague impression of
03:35a muscled man, and then based the Bird of Prey as this man flexing his muscles in a
03:42downward position.
03:44Model maker Bill George then designed the ship around that, with the railed vents above
03:48the wings as the shoulders of this muscled man, and the wings down in an attack position
03:53like the arms being outstretched.
03:55There was even red piping added around the head of the Bird of Prey to simulate the chin
04:00guard on a football player's helmet.
04:03As instantly iconic as the ship would become, it started life with Leonard Nimoy pretending
04:09to be a bird and modelling it on a football player.
04:12Number 8.
04:13Honourable Movement.
04:14At first for the franchise, the Bird of Prey model featured mechanised wings that could
04:20be lowered and raised as per command.
04:23There were three different configurations displayed in the search for Spock.
04:27Horizontal for flight configuration, down for attack configuration, and then raised
04:33for landing configuration.
04:35Now while all three were on show in the search for Spock, they would be used again over the
04:40course of the TOS movies, but they would become less and less frequent going into Next Generation
04:45and beyond.
04:46This is because the physical model itself began to break down and the mechanised components
04:52stopped working, which is why for the most part you see Birds of Prey in the Next Generation
04:58permanently in a horizontal flight position.
05:02This would eventually change with the move to CGI in Deep Space Nine.
05:06Number 7.
05:07Down Periscope.
05:08Continuing on with the franchise's long-running effort to save money, the Klingon Bridge from
05:14Star Trek 3 The Search for Spock was actually a reuse of a set from another series, the
05:19name of which has unfortunately been lost to time.
05:22Now it incorporated various elements that have been left over from the motion picture
05:26and the Wrath of Khan, and such futuristic elements as plastic sandwich boxes, but the
05:33main feature of Crooge's Bird of Prey is the monstrous looking dog that was sitting
05:39beside the captain's chair for the majority of the film.
05:43This was a practical model that was operated by Ken Ralston, who was the ILM VFX supervisor
05:50who hid under the floor and moved it with his arms.
05:52Bizarrely, the set was totally redesigned for Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home, and the very
05:57same ship, now dubbed the HMS Bounty, was used by the renegade crew of the USS Enterprise
06:02for their titular voyage home.
06:04More than the design used in Star Trek 3, this version from Star Trek 4 would effectively
06:09set the template for all Klingon ships to follow.
06:13Newcomer Mike Okuda also contributed to that design.
06:17In Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier, the set was more or less the same, although they added
06:22a periscope that could be lowered over the gunner's chair.
06:256.
06:26Kahless Take the Wheel
06:27As stated, the bridge for Captain Klaas' Bird of Prey in Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier
06:34was a new build, although based on the build from Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home, it would
06:39be used almost wholesale again in Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country.
06:44It was given a bit of a different colour scheme to represent General Chang's Bird of Prey.
06:49Remaining largely unchanged, the green lighting scale depicted the ship while at battle stations,
06:55there was a console added behind the general's chair, and there was something else that was
06:59a first for this ship as well.
07:02A steering wheel.
07:03Described by director Nicholas Meyer as an enormous thing that was impossible to move,
07:07the Bird of Prey's steering wheel is barely visible in the finished film, but an unnamed
07:11Klingon officer can be seen operating the antiquated technology in the background of
07:16a couple of shots during the movie's climax.
07:18Sadly, while many aspects of both Klaas' and Chang's Bird of Prey bridge were incorporated
07:23into future versions of the Klingon Bird of Prey as well, this steering wheel was gifted
07:27to Meyer when production wrapped on Star Trek 6, and it has since long ago disappeared.
07:355.
07:36Everybody Remember Where We Parked
07:38Because of its relative small size, we'll get to it, the Klingon Bird of Prey turns
07:43up in various different locations in Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home, including landing
07:47in Golden Gate Park, hovering and intimidating a Norwegian whaling ship, and of course crashing
07:54into San Francisco Bay.
07:56To achieve this last shot, a version of the Bird of Prey was built and crashed into a
08:00water tank, combined with footage of a miniature Golden Gate Bridge.
08:05However, the final section of the film required Kirk and crew to escape the sinking Bird of
08:11Prey into the bay, which required a full-scale section of the ship to be built.
08:17Obviously unable to actually film the scene in open ocean, the filmmakers instead constructed
08:21the Bird of Prey's nose section in Paramount Studios' disused water tank, at the time
08:26being used as a parking lot.
08:28As Mike Okuda described the location, this parking lot at Paramount Pictures was known
08:32as B-Tank.
08:33With short walls on two sides, raised beams on the other two, and the blue sky backing
08:38behind, it could be flooded to simulate an open ocean.
08:40One of the very rare times that a full-scale section was built for Star Trek, and it was
08:45parked in Paramount Pictures' parking lot.
08:49Appropriate.
08:50Number 4.
08:51Size Matters Long before fans were left scratching their
08:54heads about the TARDIS-like interior of the Discovery A, people have been wondering what
09:00in the name of Grethor is up with the various sizes of Klingon Birds of Prey.
09:04There's been many in-depth articles, and YouTuber EC Henry has actually done a fantastic
09:09video breaking down just how exactly two humpback whales could fit inside a Klingon Bird of
09:15Prey.
09:16The Bird of Prey seems to fluctuate between 50 and 150 metres long in the voyage home
09:21itself, and then in several episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation, for example, Reunion
09:26and The Defector, it could be up to 350 metres long.
09:31To clear this whole mess up, the writers of TNG and Deep Space Nine have referred to two
09:35types of Bird of Prey, the Birel and Kvort classes, and Star Trek Generations introduced
09:40the retired D-12 type Bird of Prey, which also retroactively appeared in DS9's past
09:45prologue.
09:46What's the difference between these three styles?
09:49Well, the episodes and movies themselves, along with Michael and Denise Okuda's Star
09:53Trek Encyclopedia, don't really help matters.
09:56Initially telling us that the Birel is the larger of the three variants, then saying
10:00it's the Kvort, Rick Sternbach's Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual muddies
10:05the waters even more by suggesting there's a 685 metre long Jumbo Bird of Prey that's
10:11roughly the same size as a Galaxy-class Starship.
10:15But sure, go on and tell me how Discovery is the one that ruined continuity.
10:203.
10:21Klingon Keepsakes
10:22As we've previously mentioned in this Dolphin series, it's always loads of fun when Star
10:27Trek merch turns up on screen.
10:30For example, there's the AMT model kit of the Enterprise that turned up on screen in
10:34Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, and then there's Playmate's Borg Cube, which
10:39turned up as definitely not a toy in the episode Dark Frontier of Star Trek Voyager.
10:44Now we've got one more for you, Hallmark's Klingon Bird of Prey turned up in the DS9
10:50season 4 Klingon extravaganza The Way of the Warrior.
10:54While the producers initially commissioned illustrator John Eaves to create a batch of
10:58new Klingon Starships for The Way of the Warrior, the massive scale of the episode's centrepiece
11:02battle sequence meant the budget was tight and existing models would have to suffice.
11:06To fill out the Klingon fleet, Deep Space Nine's in-house VFX crew brought the old
11:10Bird of Prey, Vortigaunt-class attack cruiser, and Katinga-class battlecruiser filmy models
11:15out from storage and quickly recalled the All Good Things Nagvar model from a touring
11:21exhibition.
11:22Still, the sheer quantity of ships that were on show meant they had to reach out to other
11:26ways of getting them on screen, including model kits and, yes, Hallmark ornaments.
11:34In fact, quite a few of the Birds of Prey that are shown on screen in The Way of the
11:39Warrior are those exact same Christmas ornaments that could be hanging from your Christmas
11:45tree this Christmas.
11:46Number Two
11:47Mmmbop.
11:48Paul, some of these titles work lovely on the page, but then you don't have to say
11:53them.
11:55After the destruction of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek 3 The Search for Spock, the Bird
11:59of Prey became the main starship setting of Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home.
12:03To quote producer Harve Bennett, they had a lot of fun designing that one, and I think
12:07the colour selection, a kind of serpentine kind of green, went on to help us.
12:12Not only there, but later, we utilised it in Star Trek 4 because it's so dramatic
12:16a look.
12:17Now, the drama of the ship must have been contagious, because it went on to appear in
12:20Star Trek 5 as Captain Klaas' ship, Star Trek 6 as General Chang's ship, and Star
12:26Trek Generations as the Jurassisters, RIP, ship as well.
12:31Despite these major motion picture appearances, and the aforementioned Star Trek The Next
12:35Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Short Treks, Lower Decks and Star Trek Prodigy,
12:40the ship was actually slated for more appearances than even that.
12:43The scripts for the TNG episodes Aqueal and The Chase, and the DS9 episodes Dramatis Personae
12:49and Crossover all indicated the use of the Bird of Prey, though the ship was ultimately
12:53replaced with the Vortigaunt-class attack cruiser itself created for TNG to replace
12:58the Bird of Prey, but only moderately successful.
13:01And to note, while General Chang's Bird of Prey was able to fire while cloaked in
13:05Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country, there was an additional prologue planned that would
13:09have seen the HMS Bounty being deconstructed and studied by Captain Montgomery Scott.
13:161.
13:17KVALTH – LEGACY
13:20The legacy of the Klingon Bird of Prey extends well past the movies, the episodes, the toys,
13:25the Hallmark ornaments, and goes into Star Trek design language to this day.
13:30While Star Trek's producers commissioned Rick Sternbach to create a new Vortigaunt-class
13:35attack cruiser to replace the Klingon Bird of Prey, the popularity of the ship ensured
13:41that it would continue to make appearances.
13:43In fact, it's one of Star Trek's longest-lived ships.
13:46It was so popular, in fact, with executive producer Rick Berman that he would often encourage
13:51illustrators and designers to use elements of the Bird of Prey when he felt other designs
13:57weren't working, including in the film Star Trek Nemesis.
14:00Both the Valdor-type Warbird and the Reimann Scimitar incorporate elements of the Bird
14:04of Prey, despite them having Romulan as opposed to Klingon design.
14:09A seeming anachronism, Star Trek Enterprise featured a new spin on the Klingon Bird of
14:13Prey, designed by John Eaves after several other 22nd century Klingon vessels were created
14:18for the show but failed to meet the producers' approval.
14:21Even Star Trek Discovery featured a Bird of Prey in its Klingon-centric first season,
14:25a ship that was heavily influenced by Gothic architecture and H.R. Giger's biomechanical
14:30style, but still clearly bearing all the hallmarks of that very first Bird of Prey.
14:35It has since appeared in Star Trek Prodigy and of course in Star Trek Lower Decks, most
14:40notably in the episode Wey'dush, where a lot of the interior are recreated so faithfully
14:47the only thing we're still waiting to see in live action again is another one of those
14:52dogs.
14:53Give us one of those monster dogs, you pataks!
14:55Thank you so much for watching this video, thank you so much Paul Sutherland for putting
14:59together an amazing article again, please don't forget to go and check that out.
15:02Everyone remember you can catch us over on Twitter at TrekCulture, you can catch myself
15:06at SeanFerric on Twitter as well at Sean.Ferric88 on Instagram, and you can catch our editor
15:12at EditChrisEdit on Twitter.
15:14You are all amazing and wonderful, thank you so much, we'll see you again soon.
15:18Our friends in Ukraine, stay strong.
15:21Our friends in Iran, we are so proud of you.
15:24Everyone, live long and prosper, we'll see you soon.