If there's going to be a TV show...

[Lelapinmechant]

...then how should they do the kilrathi? I've enjoyed the puppetry efforts on Farscape... The scarrons are incredibly cool. But then again, CG has it's merit-- like infinite expression(with good animators). I think it might be really neat if they were prosthetics on people... there are quite a few new super-thin prosthetics, through which one can show a great deal of expression. I could also imagine the producers simply avoiding direct shots of the Kilrathi-- maybe even employing cat-helmets, ala WC1.

 

[Ladiesman^]

I dunno...I suppose it'll be what the Kilrathi even look like....game Kilrathi and movie Kilrathi look different. I don't think CG would work for them (as cats are furry....and hair is something CG doesn't do very well...and CG hasn't gotten to the point of really being beleivable yet..)

If they were going to be movie Kilrathi, then they should probably just put people in costumes. If they try to make them more like the game Kilrathi (which is doubtful), then they should use puppets.

 

[DarthVeda]

I thought the cats in Wing Commander III looked the best (they were robotics), in WCIV Melik looked like a muppet, and in the Movie, the cats looked like a bunch of hairless orangutans with claws and fangs.

Unfortunately, the robotic cats clash with Roberts' ideal Kilrathi who are fast, agile, and quite mobile. Three things that robotics certainly are not.

Honestly, I think they could have substituted the 256 Color graphics from Wing Commander one and two into the movie and it would have looked better...

 

[KrisV]

 

[LeHah]

Originally posted by DarthVeda
I thought the cats in Wing Commander III looked the best (they were robotics.

It's called "Anamatronics".

And Melek looked more like the way Roberts originally saw the Kilrathi than they were in WC3.

Finally, Roberts told me via email (which was posted here on the CIC years ago), that if he had the chance to do a second WC movie, he really wanted to try CGI for the Kilrathi.

 

[Lelapinmechant]

Oh dear... I certainly didn't mean to start complaints about the movie again. It wasn't even on my radar screen. I, as a fan, hold dear the franchise and all of it's iconic imagery-- Such as the nifty cat-people. So, without refrencing the movie, how do other folks think they ought to be presented? I suppose it could also be asked how one thinks they should speak... I always thought it would be incredibly cool if Kilrathi talked like it is supposed cats communicate-- with body an facial movement. There could be subtitles, and the occasional growl. What would be really funny is seeing a human trying to speak kilrah-- using their fingers as ears.

 

[junior]

Originally posted by Lelapinmechant
I always thought it would be incredibly cool if Kilrathi talked like it is supposed cats communicate-- with body an facial movement. There could be subtitles, and the occasional growl.

That would easily get to be quite difficult and expensive, though.
Its one thing for a super franchise like Star Trek to come up with a new language (note that the original bearded klingons spoke English, and I have yet to hear a Romulan speak Romulan), but that's because Star Trek has enough money to waste on something like that. Tolkien created his Sindaran language, but he was a specialist in languages, and did it more or less as a hobby. Even George Lucas merely borrows a real language if he wants to something to subtitle.

 

[LeHah]

Or you could be smart like Disney and call up a linguist to make a new language like they did for Atlantis.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Originally posted by LeHah
Or you could be smart like Disney and call up a linguist to make a new language like they did for Atlantis.

Yeah, because that was a great investment. I can't tell you how often I pass some wacky kid practicing his Atlantean on the street.

 

[junior]

The problem is that TV shows have a low enough margin as it is. Movies are much bigger budget, and rake in a lot more cash per minute of screen time, meaning that more money can be spent on things such as a linguist.
And then, once you've blown the cash on the linguist, you've got to train the actors, so they know both what is actually coming out of their lips, and what the line means in English.
And finally, when its all on screen, you've got to hope that your "language" doesn't come across sounding like the creation of five year olds on the playground.
In short, its an expensive pain in the neck for a marginal return. Its much easier to just have them all talk in English.
If you know beforehand that your series is going to be wildly popular, then yes, blowing the money on a linguist might be justified. But a single season animated series and a less than stellar movie don't exactly provide the kind of positive glow that would justify that sort of expenditure.

 

[LeHah]

Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Yeah, because that was a great investment. I can't tell you how often I pass some wacky kid practicing his Atlantean on the street.

Yeah, I think he's friends with the guy that thinks you're funny.