I’d like to know the sources for the lines that Christopher Plummer’s character is using as he bombs away at the Enterprise.
Hamlet, for the most part, ifn’ I recalls correctly. I ain’t gonna rent the movie just to remember which lines, though. The title of the movie is from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy about facing death.
Which is ironic. Those Star Trek guys love to use Shakespeare, and usually that’s quite enjoyable. But in that film they screwed up big time. Just think of the scene where humans and Klingons all toast “the undiscovered country”, meaning the future, when in Hamlet, that phrase clearly refers to death: “… the thought of something after death – the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns – puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of.”
As he bombs away at the Enterprise, Kang is repeating a line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act III- Scene 1. Marc Anthony’s line, “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war…”
The famous soliloquy from Hamlet is used in the formal dinner at the beginning of the movie and the title of Star Trek VI. From Hamlet, Act III, Scene I:
*The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear the ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?*
The same act and scene is used when by General Kang when his ship is facing destruction, and that is the famous first line-- “To be, or not to be…”
“…send lawyers, guns, and money…”
Warren ZevonYep, there is very little true originality left anymore. Even Playboy magazine uses the same jokes from the 70’s today & just changes the words.
Are you guys sure Mjollnir isn’t referring to the ‘let loose the dogs of war’ line? I haven’t read Hamlet lately, and while I’m fairly certain the line is from Shakespeare (maybe one of the ‘Henry’ plays?), I don’t recall it in Hamlet’s soliloquy. I’m thinking of the play with “Once more into the breech, dear friends, once more!”
Damn – Bluepony’s stomped my ass into the ground . . .
TheIncredibleHolg-
Uh, you’ll notice that after Chancellor Gorkon proposes his toast, there is a distinct pause, sort of an unspoken “Huh?” going around the table. Then he clarifies: “The future”, and everyone relaxes. I’m pretty sure they knew fully well what the line meant, and were perhaps taking the opportunity to foreshadow the drama to come…
Or maybe they weren’t, and I need to get a life.
Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty!
I just have to say that the line following the quoting of Shakespear at the table about hearing it in the original Klingon is one of the funniest frikkin’ things I’ve seen on the big screen.
…
Ok, I have an odd sense of humour…
‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’
Last words of General John Sedgwick
That kind of thing really happens. The Hungarian Consul in NYC told a friend of mine that Kalmann’s Die Czardasfuerstin had a “really good German translation.”
And Germans have spoken for years of “unserer [our] Shakespeare”.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
John, along the same lines, I was in an annual meeting of the local theatre group, where we were voting on next season’s bill. Someone had proposed Hedda Gabler, by Ibsen (of course). A member of the group (who also at the time was a prominent local judge and has subesequently gone on to be a Circuit Court judge) got up to endorse it, saying,"I think this is a great play! I think it’s one of the great plays of the English language . . . "
I and the woman across the aisle from me had to beat a hasty exit to keep from bursting with laughter.
Certainly someone has taken the time to actually translate Shake into Klingon, haven’t they? As a matter of fact, yes. You can send your hard-earned money to these guys, if you like:
"Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project
Taking its cue from Star Trek VI, the KSRP has as its goal the restoration of the complete works of Shakespeare to the “original Klingon.” One of the KLI’s proudest accomplishments was the publication of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (The Restored Klingon Version) in March 1996, with a paperback version from Pocket Books anticipated in 1999. We hope to publish translations of Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth in the future; these translations are already in progress. To find out how you can help others to experience the Bard in his native language send a SASE to:
Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project
P.O. Pox 634
Flourtown, PA 19031-0634 USA
e-mail: lawrence@kli.org "
ripped from: http://www.kli.org/kli/projects.html#KSRP
Sofa King writes:
There is an obvious tie in to a recent
Onion article Klingon Speakers Now Outnumber Navajo Speakers.
Excerpts:
If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.
Once more into the breach dear friends is from Henry V, as far as there being more Kingon speakers than Navajo, get a life
How does the number of Klingon speakers compare to the number of Espranto speakers?
Hey, I speak Esperanto like a native . . .
-andros-
“Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!” Exceptions? None!
-Doc Bronner
To me, the best line in that movie was when Worf said — no, scratch that, the IMDB says that it was Spock’s line, I remembered it as Worf quoting a Klingon saying — anyway, when Spock said: “There is the old Vulcan proverb: Only Nixon could go to China.”
neuro-trash grrrl – I wasn’t aware of that. But it still doesn’t seem right to me. I mean, it makes sense as an in-joke, but they chose the phrase as the title of the film itself! Nah, I don’t quite buy it.
Sofa King:
Okay, Hamlet and Macbeth I understand. But Much Ado About Nothing just doesn’t seem very Klingon-like to me…
The KLI (Klingon Language Institute) is involved in the process to translate both the bible and the works of Shakespeare. They have a website at: www.kli.org. Theres even a mailing list for language afficionados. Oh and according to an article done on that “The Onion” article at www.langmaker.com, there are perhaps dozens of fluent speakers of Klingon compared to 100,000 native speakers of Navajo.
‘The beginning calls for courage; the end demands care’