EARTHLINGS - Ugly Bags of Mostly Water

Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Producer: Steve Williams
Executive Producer: David Marchiori
Running Time: 70 minutes
Produced on: Digital Video
Product Category: Comical Documentary, defined as a Picture Show

Synopsis: (full version)
Klingon may be a fictional language to some, but don’t tell that to the very real members of the Klingon Language Institute (KLI).  This hilarious documentary captures them in their over-the-top pursuit of mastering this galactic tongue.  From the father who for over a year, spoke only Klingon to his newborn son; to the Iraqi war vet who conceals his paintball strategy by shouting military commands to his team in Klingon; to the most famous Klingon of all, Michael Dorn (aka Commander Worf of Star Trek fame) who steadfastly believes that when he dies, the Klingon culture will die...

...it’s a guttural, spit soaked cast of characters who take the discipline of their language to an extreme level where the chances of failure are high.  Follow the antics of the members of the KLI during their annual “Qep’-A” (Main Event), watch the visually stunning transformation of a mere mortal to a Klingon Warrior, and witness firsthand what happens when passion, curiosity and fantasy collide head on!

In 1979, Paramount Pictures hired Linguist, Marc Okrand to develop the Klingon language as realistic dialogue for its first feature-length Star Trek film. He was later asked to expand the language for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). He continues to add to the Klingon vocabulary today doling out a short list of new words each year.

Produced within a visually interesting and texture-filled, Sci-Fi style setting, Earthlings is not a Trekkies (1994) imitator, but instead an entertaining view of an intellectual (and not-so-intellectual) endeavor to sort out and to explore humans and language, and the definitions of success and failure.