20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

18. Read It In The Original Klingon

Star Trek General Chang
CBS

In the film, Chancellor Gorkon makes a reference to Shakespeare being read in the Original Klingon. Now, on-screen, that's assumed to be a joke, despite the number of times that General Chang proceeds to quote the Bard throughout the film.

Members of the Klingon Language Institute took this line and ran with it, proceeding to translate Hamlet into Klingon. Mark Okrand had devised a Klingon dictionary prior to the release of Star Trek VI, so the material was there to work with.

Hamlet has since been performed for charity, as has another of Shakespeare's plays - Much Ado About Nothing. Excerpts from both were attended by George Takei, with The Klingon Hamlet being published by Pocket Books in novel form as well.

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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"