If I asked you to name a famous line from Shakespeare you might say one of the following:
1- Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo...
2- Parting is such sweet sorrow...
3- To be, or not to be...
4- Let slip the dogs of war...
All but one of these are uttered in Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country by this guy:
The Undiscovered Country basically follows the Federation's rocky path to a ceasefire with the Klingons. Kirk doesn't want to do it. Everyone still hates Klingons. Klingons still mostly hate humans. At one point, all seems lost and it's the crew of the Enterprise who have pull it all back together for the sake of peace.
This is probably the Shakespearey-ist thing in all of Star Trek. From the title (which is pulled from Hamlet's to be or not to be speech) to Change casually mentioning that you haven't appreciated Hamlet until you've read it in the original Klingon, to the very end, this thing is full of quotes from the bard. Unfortunately, aside from the title, and Gorkon's use of "the undiscovered country" as an analogy for the unknown yet to come when they move into a time of peace, the Shakespeare quotes end up being more of one character's affectation than anything else. And, at the end, Change is just shouting snippets of Shakespearean phrases at Kirk as if, off screen, he were scrolling down a Wikipedia entry called, "Famous Lines From Shakespeare." It seems to me it would've been a lot more effective to just give FREAKING CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER a full monologue from Hamlet or Henry V. Would it not be more satisfying to see this great villain (and classically trained thespian) going out with at least the through line from, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends..."
Oh well. I think that maybe the most interesting thing about The Undiscovered Country is that the most powerful quotation (in a movie full of some of the most well-known, most evocative strings of words in the English language) is actually not from Shakespeare. It's from Peter Pan. And, it's the best goodbye I can imagine for this crew, ship and captain.
Consider yourself warned. This clip is from the end of the film:
"And, at the end, Change is just shouting snippets of Shakespearean phrases at Kirk as if, off screen, he were scrolling down a Wikipedia entry called, 'Famous Lines From Shakespeare.'"
ReplyDeleteThis. This. All of this.
When he's about to die and spouts off "To be or not to be," it's all I can do to keep myself from yelling "NOT TO BE, THERE'S A PHOTON TORPEDO SPEEDING TOWARD YOUR FACE." They could have done a lot better with that. Which is too bad, because I think that the movie is pretty good when it's not spouting off ill-fitting Shakespeare quotes like a pretentious thirteen-year-old.