Hallmark Bird-of-Prey Christmas Ornament Commercial
About
In this commercial Klingon commander Gowron (as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation) rewards his officers for victory in battle by giving them a gift – a Klingon Bird-of-Prey Christmas ornament. Gowron is played by Robert O’Reilly, Crewman 1 by Guy Vardaman.
Transcript
| Gowron | Qapla’
Greetings! |
|---|---|
| Gowron | pIj maSuvpu’ batlh maSuvpu’ ’ej maQapbejta’
In our many battles, we have fought with honor and achieved... victory! |
| Gowron | vaj malopmeH tlhIHvaD nob SaSuqpu’
So to celebrate, I’ve gotten you all a gift. |
| Gowron | tlhIngan toQDujHom ’oH
It’s a Klingon Bird-of-Prey ornament. |
| Crewman 1 | toQDujna’ rurchu’
It looks so real! |
| Crewman 2 | Qapqu’ wovmoHbogh janHommey
It even has working lights! |
| Speaker | Hallmark introduces the exclusive Klingon keepsake ornament. Call 1-800-HALLMARK for a Gold Crown store near you. |
| Crewman 1 | (peghmo’ ... ) [?!?]
That was real nice of him. |
| Crewman 2 | HIja’ <gibberish> wISuqnIS [??]
Yeah, we should get him a thank you card. |
The last two lines are badly garbled. Whatever gibberish Crewman 2 is saying, from the verb prefix wI- it should be a singular object noun, probably formed from tlho’ (v) thank or tlho’ (n) appreciation, gratitude – *tlho’meH nav/ghItlh “thank you card”?
Glen Proechel: “The commercial switches to Federation Standard displaying the ship and giving the sales pitch. After that we see the warriors speaking to one another as they leave through the door. [This scene seems to follow the rule: ‘If you can’t remember your lines, mumble a lot.’ We can only surmise that Dr. Okrand gave them some legitimate lines and they chose to fake it instead.]”
Marc Okrand: “I haven’t seen the commercial in a while, but I don’t think wov was used as a noun there. Though the Klingons in the ad may have ad libbed a bit, the phrase the one Klingon was supposed to say regarding the little lights in the Bird of Prey ornament was: ‘wovmoHbogh janHommey’. That is, little devices that cause (something) to be light or bright or little devices that brighten (something) or little devices that light (something) up or the like. wov is a verb be light, bright followed by the suffix -moH cause (thus, cause to be light).” [News 1997-06-18b]