tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 16 08:25:02 1998
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Re: betor DawI'
SuSvaj wrote:
: Hoghvam *DS9* jabbI'ID vIbejtaHvIS, betor DawI' vIleghlaw'. tlhIngan be'
: chu' DalI'. pIm QuchDaj, 'ach jatlhDI' betor ghogh vIQoylaw'. betor woS
: rur woSDaj je'. pongDaj vISovbe', 'ach toQDuj chI'tang meH yaS ghaH 'ej
: qaStaHvIS jabbI'ID naQ, pIj jatlh. ngoDvam tu''a' vay'?
When I heard the actress in this week's episode "Once More Unto the Breach"
speak, I too thought it was Gwynyth Walsh at first. Their voices are that
close. The Closed Captions revealed that the Ch'Tang's operations officer (?)
was named "Kolana" and was played by Nancy Youngblut, according to the
credits. B'Etor (spelled <be'etor> by Okrand) is -- or was -- played by
Gwynyth Walsh.
The unnamed female helmsman (DeghwI') also sounded a bit like Walsh at times.
It must have something to do with the jagged prosthetic Klingon teeth the
actors (men included) wear which forces them to speak with their mouth
slightly
open. In women's voices of a certain register you can sometimes hear a very
slight "buzz" (for lack of a better word) which may happen when the
prosthetics
don't fit tightly over their natural teeth. BTW, notice that Michael Dorn
(Worf) has a special custom-made set -- he probably has several, depending on
whether he'll be seen in close-up or not -- which aren't quite as jagged as
the
other teeth and are probably much more comfortable.
But whatever the mechanics, these prosthetics give the actors a similar
breathy
"Klingon" accent. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but it is definitely a nice
side effect of the make-up.
_________________________________________________________________________
Voragh "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons lis est." Horace (Ars Poetica)