Web comic/Animation project

[TuupAq]

Hello everyone, I'm new here..and I have a question, or more of in need of an opinion, I suppose.. My friend and I, over the last year or more have been compiling ideas and artwork in preparation for starting up a Klingon-based web comic, that we hope to turn into an animation. It will be overall comedy based, and like most other series', it will have it's serious bits, and the main characters will be a pair of Brothers, with a slew of different other characters thrown in throughout the series. We want this to be as accurate as possible, but with a main focus on humor.

I guess what I'm asking is, What are some opinions on this? Some ideas, or suggestions? We are still trying to learn everything we can about Klingon lore, in order to do them Justice, and so far this forum has provided ALOT.

So, what do you guys (and Gals) think? Any input would be appreciated.

[qurgh_]

I think this is a great idea. I wish I had the skills to do a web comic, but my web comic would be in tlhIngan Hol so I doubt I'd get many readers.

I hope it works out for you and if you need help with any translations (or want to post a tlhIngan Hol version every week), let me know!

[Klythe]

    Klingons and comedy.  It works so well I think because Klingons take themselves so seriously.  I think the trick will be keeping the Klingons duely serious abot the things Klngons are serious about while keeping it funny and amusing to the reader...  You definately will need some non Klingon perspective characters to help bring out how serious the Klingons are being about the very silly situations they have found themselves in (most likely because they took some other situation too seriously and created this other problem)...

    It does sound like a glorious writing project.  I would wish this to happen and help where ever I could.   I am pleased perfectly that these forums have been helpful.  I wish they continue to be helpful, so please, if you find yourself with any questions, ask!   It is our honor and glory to try to figure out anything we can about Klngons, no matter how silly.

[qoSagh]

I will probably be the lone dissenter here, but I do not think that Klingons and comedy generally work well together. Now this pairing is done fairly frequently but I think it is because such comedy is a defense mechanism. Klingons are aliens to humans and our human sensibilities. We are by our very nature uncomfortable when confronted with the alien, and I think comedy is often used to hide that discomfort. Of all the races seen in Star Trek, with the exception of Vulcans, Klingons are possibly the least comedic. When I think of comedic aliens on trek, my #1 is the Pakleds and my #2 is the Ferengi. They behave in a way that I find humorous. Klingons, even Mr. Worf, are generally seen as humorless. Even when they do smile, it is often far more creepy than it is funny.

[TuupAq]

This is precisely why, actually. We plan to make it comedic, without making the klingons all giggly, and silly..We're really hoping that it will be a good mixture of Klingon hardcore-ness, and goofy situations.. 

I appreciate all forms of feedback, good, or bad..  Thank you all for your replies so far 

[Klythe]

     There is a huge difference between the humor of laughing WITH a jovial jokester, verses laughing AT a character that is so stupid or greedy that it is hard to envision how they function at all, as further more laughing at  people who take themselves way to seriously and make problems because they are compotent but they try too hard and overdo it.  But both are deserving targets of heaped ridicule but for different reasons.

    Klingons make great straight men, setting up jokes for others, even silent jokes that the audience can tell themselves.  Their dead pan stoicism provides deep contrast to make simple slapstick seem more sophisticated.   Leslie Neilson's matter of fact statement of a completely inane situation cracks me up any time.  Ben Stein's disinterested monotone droning adds immensely to his comedy.  Stephen Wrights' comedy would be sorely lacking without his murmuring meter.  Many many comedians use this contrast to comedic advantage without devaluing the currency of the style.

    Furthermore Klingons are far from humourless, but their ideas of humour are very different from those of Earth hyoomins.  So far we know that some Klingons have a strong sense of the ironic.  Ironic and poetic justice for the dishonorable and those who try to skirt what honor expects to their advantage or twist the demands of honor to put another into a weakened position where they would be vulnerable, would be a fertile starting ground, but many other ironies are possible for the Klingon characters to appreciate and yes, even laugh at and still remain true to being Klingon.    There could be a Klingon who makes puns in tlhIngan Hol... You may very well lose part of your audience there, but it might be enough to explain that it's funny in the original Klingon, and the joke is that none of the other characters 'get it'.

     Klingons for have a flare for the dramatic, for the epic story, whether it really happened or not.  A Klingon braggart or over embellisher could also see some good solid humour potential...

    I'm almost jealous of you for what you are about to do. 

*This marks my 1000th post) so I'm not too jealous

[qoSagh]

Another problem with comedic Klingons (and I am not suggesting this is happening in your web comic, just that I have seen it far too often in fandom) is another defense mechanism or sorts. I find that allot of fans while wanting to play at being Klingon seem to feel the need to soften what we have seen of Klingons so as to not make them too alien. This softening often takes the form of comedy. I remember picking up a pamphlet for a Klingon club once several years ago. The back page of this pamphlet contained instructions on how to be Klingon. Almost all were comedic. The only one I remember specifically was the instruction to make "goofy points about honor" with the example given of declaring loudly that a parking space one is walking past has no honor. This club had decided that the only way to make Klingons acceptable was to make them clowns, while I would say that a neither Klingons or clowns are more acceptable when being forced into each others forms.

[qurgh_]

I think that part of the issue is also that most fans don't understand Klingon humor. It's very different from human humor. So they don't know how to be "funny" in a way a Klingon would really be funny, so they go back to the "clown" role, which I can't personally stand. If I want clowns I'll go to the circus!

In the classic scene from Star Trek VI where Uhara communicates with the Morska listening post we learn that Klingon's find bugs very humorous (ghewmey SuqQo' - Don't catch any bugs!). Okrand expands on this a bit with the classic Klingon joke:

Qo'noSDaq paw cha' DIvI' beq (Two federation crewmen arrive on Qo'noS)
tlhIngan 'avwI' lughom (They meet a Klingon guard)
lutlhob: naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq majaHlaH'a' (They ask him: Can we get the great hall from here?)
jang 'avwI': lIchopbe'chugh ghewmey (The guard replies: If the bugs do not bite you)

For some reason I now find all those Power Klingon jokes really funny (which could be due to the total confusion of the people hearing it).