Sunday, May 31, 2009

Klingons weren't in the new Star Trek, but no one told the sponsors.

Fans around the world cried out in shock when it was announced that an entire Klingon sub-plot had been removed from the new Trek movie.
There were to be NO Klingons in the film.


“We actually had a sequence that ended up getting cut from the movie that took place on Rura Penthe, in a Klingon prison,” co-writer Alex Kurtzman told SCI FI Wire, explaining the deletion. “And there was definitely Klingon spoken in the movie, and it ended up getting cut.”



WHAT?!


Klingons have been in EVERY Star Trek movie! All 10 of them!
But sadly, after viewing the movie twice, no actual Klingons show up on the big screen.
The most we get is a simulated attack by three Klingon ships during Kirk's Kobiashi Maru. Which happens to be what we got in Star Trek II.


We've been informed that the Klingons will be available as a deleted scene on the DVD.

But did Klingon fans miss out entirely?

We didn't.


It seems the Klingons were cut at the last minute. Therefore, all of the marketing (official and otherwise) assumed the presence of Klingons.



Kellogg's

It started with Kellogg's cereal.

Inside select boxes of Kellogg's cereal were "beam up badges". Three Starfleet badges, one Romulan, and our favorite, Klingon.
As you can tell, it looks like a Klingon communicator, and it lights up.
It looks SO much cooler than the Romulan badge.

















Burger King


We shall now move onto my friends over at Burger King.
Burger King went all out this year. They filmed their commercials on the actual Star Trek sets and they even revamped their mascot, The King.

Behold, the Kingons! (Get it? King-ons.)



Yes. According to Burger King, "Kingons" may be the product of a 'special moment' between The King and a female Klingon.

Burger King even set up a special site Kingon Defense Academy.
On this site you can complete your training to protect your BK glasses from Kingons.
After you complete your training, it allows you to print out a diploma and rank badge.
It even comes with a Kingon mask for your friend to wear while he attacks you.

Yes, Burger King put A LOT of effort into this.



But that's not all!
Besides having Kingons, they also had toys!
Yes toys.
And if you were lucky, you scored a Kingon Warbird.
































Scene It?


>

Like all of you, I bought Star Trek Scene It? when it came out a few months ago.
And of course all of the tokens (game pieces) were Federation ships. Big deal.
But wait! At Best Buy, and Best Buy only, you can get your very own Klingon Bird-of-Prey token!
All you have to do is buy Star Trek on a fancy blue disc.
Or pay for it.



Yes, now you can challenge your friends to the ultimate test of Star Trek trivia, and show of your Klingon pride!




Ultralingua


Ultralingua has come out with their Regulation Starfleet Klingon Language Suite for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now you too can learn the warrior's tongue. And on the go!
Their Klingon -English dictionary is also available for Windows.

I'm currently downloading the free trial, so I don't know too much about it. But I've heard from people who have the suite that if you don't have an iPhone/iPod, you'll want one now.


Trek Phrase


In competition with the official Ultralinga app, Trek Phrase has released their own Klingon language app for the iPhone.
It's not currently available, so I haven't heard any reviews. It's also not "official", unlike the Ultralingua app that's made in cooperation with Simon & Schuster. So we'll see if they even get approved to sell their app. I hope they do.









Sophos Klingon Anti-Virus


And now my personal favorite, a Klingon language anti-virus! Translated by me!!!
Okay, I'll admit that I'd rather play with a Warbird than scan my laptop for viruses. But I'm still excited about having this big translation project under my belt.
There's not much else to say about this one. It's a Klingon version of thier Anti-Virus scan. That I translated! Download it!










So, with all of the media attention on the Klingons this year, hopefully CBS Paramount will take a hint and include them in the next film.




Honorable Mention


Movie or not, Diamond Select Toys released this Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Worf/Gowron 2-pack. This is another one that I haven't been able to acquire, but it's on my list.







Sadly, there were two not connected to the recent film that also got cut.

Kruge-and Maltz from Star Trek III had their own 2-pack planned.
Reports from DST indicate a lack of Internet pre-orders, therefore not warranting production.
This had been my one "must have" item of the year.
Star Trek III is a GREAT film. It's the reason we have the Klingon language that we have today.
It's the reason that the Klingons STILL have the ridges that they have today.
And Maltz is the Klingon informant that Marc Okrand gets all of our new Klingon words from.

This picture is as close as we're going to get.