IDWEEK: SCOTT AND DAVID TIPTON TALK KLINGONS

[MattBrady]

by Scott and David Tipton

Chris Ryall, IDW Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: I’ve known Scott Tipton for a decade now, and count him among my very best friends. He was there the day I plunked down too much cash (well, credit, anyway) to buy a copy of Fantastic Four #1, he helped me build MoviePoopShoot.com into what it was for the four years we ran it, he’s been a sounding board for all kinds of things since I started at IDW, and knows comics better than anyone I know (he proves this weekly at Comics101.com). But all of that isn’t the reason I originally got him involved in writing some comics at IDW (see: Spike: Old Wounds, Spike: Lost & Found, Doomed, an Angel: Masks tale, Angel Spotlight: Wesley, and the just-concluded Angel: Auld Lang Syne miniseries). No, that all came about because he’s a damn good comic writer, and he’s been proving it with each gig he’s taken.

I know what a big Star Trek fan he is, too, so when we planned to do a miniseries that focused on the Klingons, one that looked at well-known Star Trek tales through their eyes instead of those of the Federation, I had him pitch me a proposal for the series (even friends don’t get free rides… especially friends who once “Ackbar’d” my head… long story). His proposal was great, and really got into exactly what I wanted to do with this book. It was so good it also convinced longtime Angel artist David Messina, Scott’s Auld Lang Syne partner, to step outside his comfort zone and tackle his first Star Trek project.

Scott recruited another knowledgeable Star Trek writer to work with him on this book, someone he’s known to be as big a Trek fan as he is. Someone whose knowledge of the show was first obtained about the same time as Scott’s, since they watched all the old episodes together while growing up. Scott and his brother, David Tipton, are on the cusp of seeing their first issue of the series released, and to commemorate the occasion, I thought it’d be more interesting to have the brothers interview one another, rather than have me ask inane questions of them both. And if you stay tuned to the end, you’ll also get an exclusive five-page preview of issue two, along with writers’ commentary for each of the pages.*

(*)Sorry, no Klingon-language edition for issue #2 (in stores on May 23), but you can get a version of issue 1 that one goes on sale the same day as the regular book (due out tomorrow, April 25th), and features the entire comic story translated in the Klingon language as well as the original script in the back, too.

David Tipton: What do you think explains the continuing popularity of Klingons?

Scott Tipton: A couple of things, really. I think a large part of it can be chalked up to the charisma of the three actors who played the most famous Klingons in the Original Series; John Colicos, William Campbell and Michael Ansara all really chewed up the scenery in those episodes (in a good way, mind you), and when you're sharing a scene with Shatner, it's easy to be upstaged. Nobody upstaged those three.

What really cemented the Klingons in the culture, I think, was the way they were handled in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Including a Klingon in the crew in the character of Worf served as a great metaphor for the U.S.-Soviet détente of the times, and over the course of the next seven seasons, viewers saw the Klingons go from fairly stereotypical villains to arguably the most well-developed new culture created for a work of fiction. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember people dressing up like Klingons and organizing to attend conventions before ST: TNG. That's a big part of what I've enjoyed about writing this series: applying the modern Klingon mindset to the original appearances.

DT: In our miniseries, we addressed the Klingon perspective for these four Original Series episodes: "Errand of Mercy," "The Trouble with Tribbles," "A Private Little War," and "The Day of the Dove." Looking back now, has our work on these issues led you to reconsider your thoughts on any of those episodes?

ST: I don't know if I'd say "reconsider," but it's definitely changed the way I look at them. When I watch "The Trouble With Tribbles" now, I can't help but think of Arne Darvin -- or rather, Gralmek, the Klingon he was before he volunteered for the spy mission, as we detail in our second issue.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see how much continuity there was between those episodes, as they all subtly deal with and refer to the shaky truce between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.

DT: We reviewed the appearances by Klingons in the Star Trek animated series as part of our research for this project. What's your thought on the animated series?

ST: I've always really liked the animated series. The scripts were for the most part solid, it's some of Filmation's best design work ever (except for a few color glitches like the Klingons sporting pink vests) and with all the actors in place... it just felt like Star Trek to me, especially with writers like D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold on board. I never understood why so many fans always wanted to discount it. To my mind, that was always the fourth season.

DT: You've been reading the Checker reprints of the Gold Key Star Trek comics from the 1960s and 1970s. How do you think they hold up today?

ST: Well, the first few issues are pretty rough -- they were being done by folks who weren't at all familiar with the TV show (in some cases, I don't think they'd ever even seen it), so you had stuff like Spock carpet-bombing alien worlds from orbit, and the Enterprise actually parking on a planet. Later on, things settled in, and thanks to some strong stories from writers like Len Wein, they were putting out some very satisfying Trek stories. Of course, you still occasionally got stories like Kirk and crew posing as space pirates -- complete with earrings and buccaneer boots, mind you!

Still, they're a lot of fun, even the bad ones. I actually wrote a retrospective on the Gold Key Treks over at my Web site, Comics 101.com.

DT: We're working on a story with the Gorn next. You've always particularly liked the Gorn. Why?

ST: Ahh, the Gorn. I freakin' love the Gorn. Part of his appeal was that, with as low-budget as the Original Series was, there weren't a lot of really alien aliens on the show. You'd get lots of facepaint -- brown for Klingons, blue for Andorians, green for Orions -- but nothing really ambitious. However, every now and then, you'd get something really impressive showing up, like, say, a Horta, or the Gorn.

The Gorn was something special, a full-figure alien who looked both truly inhuman and really cool. But it wasn't just the visuals. The Gorn also had character -- he was clearly intelligent (after all, he was a starship captain), went toe-to-toe with Kirk and had him beaten handily, and it took a goddamned diamond cannon to bring him down. Sure, Kirk's a badass and all, but I'll put my money on the Gorn any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

What was really demoralizing was, when it came time for Mego to make a Gorn action figure back in the 1970s, rather than spend the money on an authentic-looking sculpt, they just painted the Lizard figure (you know, the Spidey villain) brown, and stuck him in a Klingon uniform!

Oh, the indignity...

ST: You've been up to your eyes in research for this series, between the films, the various TV series, the reference books, and so on. In looking back at the Original Series Klingon appearances to prepare for this, what surprised you the most?

DT: I think what surprised me the most is that Klingons on the original show are not as different from the later depictions of Klingons as I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to find a great deal of consistency about Klingons over the course of the different series and movies. Ultimately, that made our project a little easier.

ST: Did you find yourself feeling handcuffed by having to stick to the established Classic stories, or did you prefer having the established Trek history to work around?

DT: Either is fine with me. It’s nice to have a blank tablet for a whole new story, but I also think there’s considerable creative energy to be found in working within certain limits. You have to think harder and focus on bringing everything together in a reasonable way when you’re writing within narrative constraints.

ST: You've been reading Trek comics for years, just like me. What makes for a good Star Trek story?

DT: I think there are many different ways to write for Star Trek. I think those that do it best emphasize storytelling and character development while also paying attention to the issues of continuity. The audience likes to see details that are consistent with other Star Trek stories.

ST: Kor (the smooth, dangerous Klingon from "Errand of Mercy"), Koloth (the smarmy Klingon from "The Trouble with Tribbles"), Kang (the badass Klingon commander from "Day of the Dove") or Kruge (the Christopher Lloyd Klingon from TREK III): who wins in a fight?

DT: Probably Kang. Kor is crafty, Koloth manipulative, and Kruge devious, but Kang seems particularly menacing. Michael Ansara is great in “Day of the Dove.”

ST: You've just finished up five issues of Klingons, and we've got a Gorn adventure on deck next. What other Trek characters or concepts would you like to get your hands on?

DT: I particularly liked some of the non-humanoid aliens from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m thinking of the Tin Man or the Crystalline Entity. I like stories that show humans trying to understand a very foreign form of intelligence.



KLINGONS #2 Commentary Track

Page 1

ST: Believe it or not, there was a great deal of debate about what Klingons wear when they're working out. Our first thought was "the bloody corpses of their enemies," but we had to admit that seemed impractical.

DT: David Messina’s work here shows some Japanese art influence, which I think works well with Klingons. Perhaps because of that influence, the first panel reminds me of the old video game Karateka.



Page 2

ST: One of the coolest things to come from the NEXT GENERATION Klingon mythology was the bat'leth, so working in at least a glimpse of a bat'leth duel was a must.

DT: I think the NEXT GENERATION introduction of the bat'leth fits in nicely with Kirk saying in “Day of the Dove” that the Klingon Empire had maintained a dueling tradition.



Page 3

ST: Maybe my favorite bit of work in the series thus far is seeing Messina's rendition of Original Series guest star Charlie Brill in the modern Klingon makeup. He nailed it.

DT: Messina does a good job of giving Klingons very distinct, unique facial characteristics.



Page 4

ST: It's the little details I like. Check out Gralmek in Panel 1, who not only can't decapitate his training dummy, he's practically stumbling into it.

DT: We included this sequence in part because we thought survival training seemed particularly characteristic of Klingons.



Page 5

ST: Our Klingon drill sergeant here clearly goes to the same stylist as Reed Richards and Nick Fury...

DT: We thought it was important to note that Gralmek volunteers for the very dangerous and painful mission here. We wanted to show him as a complex character with a mix of qualities that would make him admirable and yet also disappointing in the eyes of Klingons.



IDWeek to date:

30 Days of Night
Steve Niles
Ben Templesmith
Bill Sienkiewicz
David Slade

Star Trek
Editor Dan Taylor Talks Trek

[mattharvest]

So, is this going to be an exploration of the psychology of why the Klingons engaged in the genetic manipulations (based on the Khan-era superhumans) that led to the smooth-forehead Klingons of TOS?

Could be interesting.

[spacekicker]

It actually looks really cool, I'll be picking up a couple.

Now we just need to do a movie...called 300...with Klingons

[DanteHicks1972]

I have enjoyed Scott's other stuff and his weekly colum over at comics101.com is always a great read. That said I love Star Trek and I really like the classic look the Klinon book has I'll definitly pick this one up.

[beta-ray]

Hmnn interesting. Klingons were never my favorite, but they are ok. Let's see some painsticks!

I'd like to see more of the "alien" aliens too...

[iwarrior]

Hmmmm. Are they related to Glen Tipton of Judas Priest?

[TheToileteer]

Of course "Mach Ghotti" cannot LITERALLY mean "small fish". I mean, didn't we learn from the in-fighting on the translation committee for the Klingon New Testament that the Klingon language has no word for "fish"? Since their homeworld has no fish? So when Jesus divides the loaves and fishes, the Klingon/Greek translators sparred (figuratively?) over whether to resort to a neologism, or the functional equivalent of fish from Klingon culture (the Rigilian blood-worm, apparently).

Mach bortas bir jablu' Dl'relt QaQqu' nay'!
("Fish is a dish best served cold!")

[OM]

ST: Well, the first few issues are pretty rough -- they were being done by folks who weren't at all familiar with the TV show (in some cases, I don't think they'd ever even seen it), so you had stuff like Spock carpet-bombing alien worlds from orbit, and the Enterprise actually parking on a planet. Later on, things settled in, and thanks to some strong stories from writers like Len Wein, they were putting out some very satisfying Trek stories. Of course, you still occasionally got stories like Kirk and crew posing as space pirates -- complete with earrings and buccaneer boots, mind you!

...Correct. In fact, for the first 7 or 8 issues - depending on who's telling the tale - the Italian artist had only about two dozen promotional stills to use for reference, and most of those were of the cast, and half of those were in Black and White. That's why the first issue has Janice Rand wearing a hat; the artist thought her goofy hair weave *was* a hat! Same thing applies to the total absence of red shirts, Spock having the only non-green shirt, and *none* of the sets looking anything like what was seen on the series. Hell, even the cutaway of the Enterprise was so off-scale, that the bridge took up all three of the decks on the top bubble!

....Of course, the poor guy did a fairly good job working with what he had. Unlike Mike Sekowsky's ghost-pencilling on Gold Key's early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He had access to the actual *show* on TV, and still couldn't draw the Seaview's inside *or* outside accurately to save his ass!

...As for the scripting, same cause and effect, although by the third issue someone had gotten the writer to watch the show, and we quit having Spock be as bloodthirsty as he was logical. Some of those stories were actually pretty good when you get past the facts behind how they came about, although there was one about the planet "Numero Uno" and its two competing leaders, both named "Justin", that was...well, let's just say that had this been submitted as an actual script for the series, it would have fit in well with the Fred Freiberger season - it smelled about as bad as "And Those Brats Shall Push Us Around!"

I gotta look up those names on the creative team for those first few issues...

[OM]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Mach bortas bir jablu' Dl'relt QaQqu' nay'!
("Fish is a dish best served cold!")

"...NaDev tlhIn'gan putu'lu!" ("I smell Klingons around here!")

...Ok, back to the creators' credits for the Gold Key/Whitman run. Had to pull this off of Memory Alpha, but here it is:

Writers:

• Len Wein (#9-16)
• Doug Drexler (#47-48)
• Arnold Drake (#48, #50, #55, #57, #59)
• George Kashdan (#47, #49, #51-54, #56, #58, #61)
• John Warner (#60)

Artists:

• Nevio Zeccara (#1-2)
• Alberto Giolitti (#3-27, #30-37, #45)
• Alden McWilliams (#38, #40-44, #46-61)

Cover Artists:

• George Wilson (cover art for #10-29, #31-44, #46-59)
• Frank Bolle (cover art for #60-61)

Notes:

• As with most Gold Key/Dell/Whitman comics. writers and artists were rarely given credits in the issue. Most of what's known is based recollections of those who finally came forth in the late 80's - early 90's to talk about their work. IIRC, Len Wein used to be *very* embarassed about his work on this book.
• Other writers either known or suspected of having worked on this series include: Dick Wood, Gerry Boudreau, Allan Moniz, and possibly Paul S. Newman. In fact, Newman may have written about half of the stories between issues 20 and 47 by some accounts.
• Other artists mentioned in recollections but not 100% confirmed include inker Giovanni Ticci, Massimo Belardinelli, Giorgio Cambiotti, and Mario Pedrazzi, all of whom were working with Giolitti. IIRC, Cambiotti may have done two or three pages of Zeccara's second issue.
• Of the two Italian artists, Zeccara reportedly *never* saw one single episode of the series before his death in the mid-70's. Giolitti finally saw the show in the mid-70's, when it was syndicated in Italy.
• Note the lack of cover artists for issues before #10. That's because issues 1-9 all used covers featuring promo photos C&P'd artistically, some in color, some in tinted B&W. One of the most popular covers with collectors is one that features the cast on the transporter platform, taken from a rather hard-to-get third season NBC promo photo.

...All in all, the series wasn't as bad as most people like to claim. It wasn't great, but then again we've all been spoiled by PAD's run on the DC era. Again, some of them were actually even better than most of the complete and utter crap that Friedman's delivered in his comics *and* his novels.

[Reliant]

Just picked this up today and I'd recommend it myself, especially if you're even just remotely a fan of Star Trek. I think it's a clever tie-in to the original series episode "Errand of Mercy," and there's one particular panel featuring two fleets of ships that is clearly a "now that's kewl" moment. I've actually forgotten how fun Klingons were during TOS, and seeing how they viewed the Federation during this time is a nice twist.

Originally Posted by mattharvest

So, is this going to be an exploration of the psychology of why the Klingons engaged in the genetic manipulations (based on the Khan-era superhumans) that led to the smooth-forehead Klingons of TOS?

There's some of that, yes, and it's treated in a neat kind of way, IMO. I'm looking forward to issue #2 myself.

And this story also has Klingon babes...'nuff said.