Hallmark Commercial

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.

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 the verb tlho' <thank> or the noun tlho' <appreciation, gratitude> -- *tlho'meH nav/ghItlh <thank you card>?

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.]" (Glen Proechel)

Marc Okrand commented on the old MSN BBS (6/18/1997):

"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')."