Star Trek: Discovery

is the title of a Star Trek TV-series that premiered on September 24, 2017 on CBS All Access in the USA, on CraveTV in Canada and one day later on Netflix worldwide. The first season ended in February 2018 . The production for season 2 had begun in April 2018, the second season started on January 17, 2019 . The first season was very Klingon-related, that's why Netflix provided Klingon subtitles for the first season. The second season also showed some Klingons, including Klingon language.

Development of the Klingon language

Im Summer 2017, it was publically announced that the Klingons in Discovery would definitely speak real Klingon . The Klingon language for the show is provided by Robyn Stewart Rea Nolan is assisting her as a vocal coach. Alan Anderson was included as a backup and proofreader for Robyn, but he is not listed in the show's credits.

[9:17] Because of the story we're telling about the Klingons in this season of Star Trek, it was very important for us to have the Klingons speak Klingon. [...] You'll have to get out your glasses, reading subtitles. [10:35] If you speak and understand Klingon, you will understand... without subtitles.

During a panel on San Diego Comic Con on July 23 2017 , producer Gretchen J. Berg announced that the Klingons would speak real Klingon:

[10:40] We have someone who's ... like if we... as we're cutting, if we wanted to adjust lines or anything, it goes through a filter all the time to make sure that every word is correct. So there's someone policing this all the time. [...] we've gone to great lengths to be incredibly accurate in our Klingon.

Alex Kurtzmann added:

In January 2017, Klingon actor Christopher Obi released a short clip on Twitter (which he quickly deleted shortly after) in which he spoke the phrase tlhIngan maH taHjaj .

. Later that month, voice coach Rea Nolan mentioned working with the Klingon actors.

In a private message of February 2017, Marc Okrand assured that he was not involved in the production of the series (at that time).

For a long time, it was not clear whether there would be Klingon spoken in the new series at all, and whether it would be true Klingon or just Paramount Hol . There were few clues though:

Klingon in season 2

Therre was a lot less spoken Klingon language in season 2.

First, there are no Klingon subtitles on the episodes, as they were only on Netflix, which had them in Season 1. CBS never had them to begin with, and still don't. Furthermore, they've decided to do the cinematic thing where Klingons will start speaking in Klingon during a scene (with English subtitles), and switch to English mid-sentence with the understanding that the audience can hear in their own language through cinematic magic. So whenever there's a gathering of Klingons, instead of entire scenes in Klingon, it's just the opening sentences now.

It was a very common complaint among casual viewers of Season 1 that there was too much spoken Klingon, that the spoken Klingon was stilted and slow, and that the actors couldn't emote properly through makeup. Not among Klingon speakers, of course. Clearly, the show runners made the changes they did to address that complaint. It probably was the right choice from the perspective of making the dialogue involving Klingons easier to follow for a general audience. Of course, it's unfortunate from the point of view as Klingon speakers that this means less spoken Klingon on the show.

Notable Quotes

Klingon translation tlhIngan maH taHjaj We are Klingons, may it endure qul yIchu' Light the fire

In the first season, the following two sentence can be heard very often:

The Klingons also speak a few phrases that seem to be a Kahless prayer

Klingon letters, pIqaD

See main article pIqaD used in Star Trek: Discovery

Klingon characters

The Klingon character names were released during the above mentioned announcement, but their Klingon spelling appeared on an artwork published on Star Trek Las Vegas Convention 2017 (STLV).

Klingon subtitles

Netflix offers Klingon subtitles for all episodes of season 1. They were created by Lieven L. Litaer

Season 2 does not have any Klingon subtitles, nor are they available on the DVD/BluRay release.

Episodes

References

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External Links