Not many fictional alien species get namechecked in number one records. So when a stop-motion animated incarnation of Lt Uhura started singing about "Klingons on the starboard bow" in The Firm's 1987 novelty hit "Star Trekkin'" ("scrape them off, Jim!"), it was clear that the residents of Qo'noS (pronounced something like Kronos) had long since attained celebrity status. Besides, you can't learn Wookiee on Duolingo.
The Klingons had made their debut 20 years earlier in Original Series episode "Errand of Mercy", and — although the Romulans debuted before them — it was the honor-obsessed warriors who'd become renowned as arch-enemies of the Federation. (That may owe something to the fact they turned up in another six "TOS" episodes, including a famously furry close encounter in "The Trouble with Tribbles".)
