EARTHLINGS: UGLY BAGS OF MOSTLY WATER

US, 2004, 70 minutes, Colour.
Marc Okrand.
Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe.

The subtitle of this bizarre documentary is ‘Ugly Bags of Mostly Water’. Apparently, at least to non-Trekkies, this is how the Klingons describe humans.

It takes all types to make a world – and many of them prefer to be in another world, that of Star Trek. Their enterprise is to go where no one else has gone. And, for once, in this documentary some of the Trekkies have achieved this. For the audience ignorant of Star Trek and its legendary impact, the film is a lost cause and tedious to boot. For the fans, this is a film about the Klingon language! The IMDb, the Internet Movie Database always notes the language of the film. Here it states objectively: Language: Klingon and English.

Some years ago there was a very funny parody of fans at a Star Trek convention where aliens really landed. It was called Galaxy Quest. This is Beyond Galaxy Quest.

The creator of Klingon is interviewed, explaining his method of developing the language. Fair enough. But then come the fans who are committed to learning and using Klingon. A number of experts on language and on psychology turn up, but it is the fans (who remind us of where the word comes from, ‘fanatic’) who study, do exams and communicate in Klingon who make us wonder what planet we are on.

When someone recites ‘To be or not to be’ in Klingon, well… Where do you go from there? The only place left is ‘beyond’.

1.The audience for this documentary? Its resemblance to extras on a DVD of a Star Trek film? Its not having any Star Trek footage in it?

2.The audience, Star Trek fans, fans of Klingon? Linguists? Eccentrics?

3.The dull style of the filming, the interviews, the colour quality and lack of quality, the framing of the interviewees? The verbal focus on the Klingon?

4.Marc Okrand as the inventor of Klingon, for the third Star Trek film? The 80s, the nature of the creation, his play on words, his control over the language? - and the worry about who will inherit the language?

5.The construction of Klingon, the linguistic interest of the film?

6.The fans, their attitude towards Klingon, learning, courses, tests, exams? The recitations of songs, Hamlet’s Soliloquy, To Be or Not To Be? The eccentricity of these sections?

7.The personalities of the interviewees, sensible or eccentric?

8.An exotic example of eccentricity, intelligence, wit – and mania?