Earth's first all Klingon opera debuts

Earth has witnessed its first Klingon opera. On Friday in The Hague, Netherlands, the Terran Research Ensemble raised the curtain on "U," the first Earth opera performed entirely in Klingon. "U" is the Klingon word for "universe" or "universal," and the opera tells the story of Kahless the Unforgettable, said to be the first …

[Anonymous Coward]

wtf

ok someone just needs laid.

[Elmer Phud]

wtf mk2

I realise the opera is in Klingon but it would help us mere earthlings if comments were made in a language that comes from Terra ;-)

[Anonymous Coward]

three tenors and london philharmonic?

I’m just trying to visualize the three tenors performing in Klingon, backed up by Romulans, Vulcans. I also wonder if anybody has translated “Dark Side of the Moon” into Klingon yet?

[Peter Holgate]

wrong

There are in Italian and how many of the audience can actually speak Italian?

[Sooty]

invited the people of Klingon

Surely that should either be "invited the Klingon people", or "invited the people of Qo'noS*".

*Kling or Klinzhai would have also been acceptable, at a pinch.

[miknik]

When being a pedant...

it would be good to remember that people is the collective noun for a group of humans, no?

[Trevor_Pott]

Not quite.

Qo'noS is the Klingon homeworld, but it is only one planet among many. Kling or more properly Klinzhai would refer to the "Citizens of the empire." Mostly Klingons, but some subjugated races that had been integrated into Klingon society as fully citizens as well. To invite the totality of the Klinzhai would be to invite members of many various species that made up an empire spanning hundreds of light years and dozens of habitable planets.

Mine’s the one with the misspent youth in the pocket…

[Aculeo]

When Geeks Disagree

Actually I believe Kling was originally intended to be the name of the world, until someone on the TOS writing staff pointed out that it'd sound really silly. In fact, I'm not sure whether there wasn't an on-screen reference to Kling as the Klingon capital at one stage, because once it was agreed that, yes, it did indeed sound silly, the homeworld just became 'the Klingon Homeworld' until someone decided to call it Qo'noS. The solitary reference to 'Kling', I believe, was retconned to refer to the capital district on the said planet.

As for Klinzhai, I'm fairly sure it refers to the written language of the Klingons, not to the people or the planet. Or it may just be the lettering system. Anyone got Marc Okrand's address?

Also coat.

[Trevor_Pott]

@Aculeo

Depends on if you allow certain "Expanded universe" elements to be cannon. E.G. the "A time to X" series, and the post DS9/Voyager novels. Nerd wars have been fought over less.

[The Nameless Mist]

pIqaD

Actually the written form is referred to as pIqadD

[Anonymous Coward]

To be highly pedantic about it

Its all fictional. There are no Klingons. Get over it and go find a life rather than arguing over grammatical errors in for a non-existent situation.

[Trevor_Pott]

To be really highly pendantic about it

You have no joy in your soul. How lovely for you that you must sneer at what other people enjoy. Who is sadder? The people who get a moment's passing interest and amusement from debating the pedantry related to a series of Televisions shows they found interesting, or the individual who feels so threatened by this that they feel they must lash out at these harmless nerds?

TL;DR: It’s not a playground and folk ‘round here pity (rather than respect or fear) bullies. Grow the fnord up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually

"thlIngan" is the preferred spelling.

As you've used thte correct spelling of Qo'Nos, I would have expected you to use that rather than the tera'ngan mu'qaD.

from memory thIIngan'pu'Wi would be appropriate for Klingon as a population, or thlIngannugh as a social group.

[Anonymous Coward]

can't see the point really

To quote Memory Alpha* :

"Its strident tones are considered ear-shattering by most non-Klingons. "

.

*http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Klingon_opera

[Doug Glass]

1st ...

... Klingon should love it.

[pctechxp]

Someone needs a strait jacket

and a padded cell.

[Sampler]

Well if Kirk can...

..sling a bird of prey around the sun and go back in time surely the guys who built them can?

[Octoberon]

@Sooty

Quite right. There goes that blokes credibility.

[shay mclachlan]

Dont encourage them.

Don't encourage them. They will be wanting to put on a weekend festival of Vogon poetry readings next.

[Anonymous Coward]

That'd be brilliant!

We need to get more dedicated groups of nerds together to do this sort of thing.

Expect riots in the streets as the Klingons try to assert their dominance over the fans of the Vogons- and watch them come together and flee the latest public reading by Grunthos the Flatulent.

[W. Keith Wingate]

Synthehol perhaps....

.... or more of those coffee houses the likes of which can most famously be found in Amsterdam, might provide the necessary muse.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Worse still

They could get the poet laureate of the Azgoths of Kria (Grunthos the Flatulent's poem "Ode to a small lump of green putty I found under my left armpit one midsummer morning" springs to mind)

[deadlockvictim]

Vogon poetry

I was thinking the same as I scrolled down through the comments. Klingon is so boring and serious. Vogon poetry is the only way to go.

On the topic of Klingon, I think that the august organ that is 'The Onion' has shown us what is very likely the truth, so I suppose that I should just accept Klingon opera:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/klingon-speakers-now-outnumber-navajo-speakers,709/

[tirk]

Next logical step...

Narn opera.

[Don S.]

Title, we don't need no stinkin' title.

It has to be Aktuh and Maylota if you wanna dance with me.

[Arctic fox]

If they are seriously staging an opera in Klingon then.......

............it is indisputably a good day to die.

Qapla' batlh je!

If, success and honour can actually be squared with the idea of a Klingon singing.

[Danny 4]

tlhIngan Hol translator or rot13()

Just how many Klingon-speaking Trekkies do they expect to find in the land of the tulips? Or will us mere Earthlings and other non-Klingons be issued with a Universal Translator...

As they say on Kronos, "Gbqnl vf n tbbq qnl gb qvr." That and something about revenge and cold soup.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that strange

In school I was taken to lots of operas in languages that none of us spoke.

[mmiied]

it is a opra

the POIN T is that you do not under stand what they are saying tto qoute terry pratched they might as well dbe singing "dam this door sticks, dam this door stciks"

[AceRimmer1980]

Surely you must know

at least one theme, from ' Aktuh and Maylota'

[Will 28]

Wouldn't it be beautiful

If an alien ship passed by at just the right time, and scanned just the "wrong" channel, such that the first ever contact was made in Klingon!

[Elron Hubward]

On a related note...

...I'm looking forward to the (no doubt now inevitable) establishment of Earth's first Klingon theatre company.

After all, you've not experienced Shakespeare until you've seen it in the original Klingon.

Qapla' !!!!

[Arctic fox]

Weeell, I tried it.

"TaH pagh taHbe'". I have to say that those fricatives really destroy the poetry. It sounds like a seventy year old chain smoker who thinks he can cough his way to glory!

[Martin Lyne]

Excellent

Considering Opera is often enjoyed by people who don't know what they're actually singing about anyway (i have friends that read the english translation as they listen) I think this is great.

BBC Proms next year? :P

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares

Opera in any language all sounds like scat to me.

[Henry Wertz 1]

ear-shattering?

*shrug*. German doesn't sound so smooth either, but there's various german operas. And, as a few have commented, ppl watch operas in languages they don't understand anyway (how many watching an italian opera speak italian?) so that's not a problem apparently.

[Scott Broukell]

When they get to Hollywood ....

will it be called Kling Film ?

(it had to be asked)

[FozzyBear]

Title

I was going to make any number of smart-arsed comments about this, but all cognitive functions have been interrupted. I am now forced to visualize the bridge crew of the enterprise bursting out into Klingon song.

[Trevor_Pott]

@FozzyBear

This has occured. You just need to watch more Trek.

[The Nameless Mist]

the appropriate songs would be ...

Uhura, Rand and Chapel singing Three Little Maids (Mikado)

Klingon Ensemble (lead by Worf) singing Pour, Oh Pour the Pirate Sherry "Bloodwine" (Pirates of Penzance)

General/Chancellor Martok singing "I am the very model of a modern Major General" (PoP).

(which I would desperately love to see sung in tlhIngon.

Bridge Crew Enterprise singing "We Sail the Ocean Blue" (HMS Pinafore)

with a rebuttal by the engineering/security teams of Enterprise NX01 of singing

A British Tar (HMS Pinafore again).

[Anonymous Coward]

I was about to post "Where's the IT angle"...

... then reality struck.

[Roger Greenwood]

The IT angle . . .

Is surely my mistake in assuming the headline referred to a Norwegian Software company and their most famous product.

Just me then.

[Anonymous Coward]

But...

...where's the post from Dr. Sheldon Cooper?

[Tony S]

Proms

@ Martin Lyne

One of the most popular nights of the BBC proms for the last few years has been the Dr Who night - some great music, video and people dressed up in costume. The kids love it (and even though they will deny it, so do the parents). I reckon a Trek evening could be just as popular as there is some really good music (some of which is almost impossible to get hold of).

at others...

With reference to the language, Renee Fleming sang the part of Britannia during the LNOTP - it was in English, and I know the words, but I damned if I could make out more than a few words. This didn't stop it being a really great performance by a fantastic diva and the old goosebumps were working overtime. Not sure that the helmet matched the Vivian Westwood though - perhaps if she had carried a trident and shield as well....

[Anonymous Coward]

ghe'naQ

ghe'naQlu'Di' mobbe'lu'chugh QaQpu' hegh wanI'.

[steward]

Google translate...

auto-identifies Klingon as Italian.

So perhaps Klingonaase -is- particularly suited for opera. :-)

[David Kesterson]

reverse look

I went to hear the opera - only got a face and whirling dots which were never satisfied to stop. I did right-click and a little box came up offering me the opportunity to open my microphone and camera to BBC. Is that unusual? Does BBC normally spy on those who watch?

[paul-s]

Lojban Next?

Now we need an opera in the ultimate logical language, one that even Vulcans would be proud of.

[.aionys.]

{.i.i'o mi cpedu lo jbopre}

[Appreciation] I'll ask the Lojbanistani.

{.i.ianai do pensi lodu'u la.vylcan. glekyxau me.o'a lonu sagzgi draci na'e bau la.vylcan.}

Do you really think Vulcans would be proud of an opera in a language other than Vulcan?

[Rogerborg]

Inalienable?

>"it would be good to remember that people is the collective noun for a group of humans, no?"

Yet more evidence that the Federation is no more than a homo sapiens only club.