One has to wonder what happened to the medical industry in James Kirk’s time.
In The Wrath Of Kahn we learn a bit of allergy information when Kirk tells McCoy that he’s allergic to Retinax V and as a result, he occasionally used old-fashioned corrective lenses to adjust for his increasing farsightedness.
Isn’t it amazing that in a world where medical professionals have developed a pill that can make you grow a new kidney, they can no longer perform Lasix eye surgery?
Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander in "Balance Of Terror"
The University of Michigan graduate was best known as the actor who played Spock’s father, Sarek, in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and later in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was the first actor to appear in more than one Star Trek series as the same character as well as the first actor to play more than one character in Star Trek. In the TOS episode “Balance Of Terror” he played the first Romulan to appear on the show and in Star Trek: The Motion Picture he played the first Klingon with a ridged forehead to appear in the franchise. Lenard wanted to appear in The Motion Picture, and, since Sarek was not a character in the film, he was cast as the Klingon commander in the beginning of the film. He did eventually appear as Sarek in The Search For Spock, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country, as well as two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Outside of Star Trek, Lenard was known for several roles. In the 1968 Clint Eastwood movie Hang ‘Em High he played the prosecutor in Fort Grant. He played Arron Stemple in Here Come The Brides and the Urko, the hostile gorilla in the Planet Of The Apes television series. He made guest appearances in Little House On The Prairie, Gunsmoke, as well as several episodes of the original Mission: Impossible (including one with Leonard Nimoy) and a two-part episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Lenard died of Multiple myeloma in New York City, New York in 1996 at the age of 72.
Technorati Tags: science+fiction, star+trek, celebrity+birthdays, mark+lenard, sarek
People have argued for literally decades about which was better: Star Trek or Star Wars. Here is an interview in which William Shatner gives his opinion on this widely debated topic:
Personally, I feel the debate is like comparing apples and oranges. One takes place in our future and one tells a story that happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
It goes without saying that Star Wars had better special effects than the original Star Trek series, but that’s the difference made by 10 or 12 years worth of technological advances in movie making. If Star Trek had been made in the late 1970s instead of 1966 then the special effects would have been very different. To see this, all you have to do is watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture and pay a little less attention to how slowly the story seems to move along and a little more attention to the special effects.
Technorati Tags: science+fiction, star+trek, star+wars, debate, opinion, william+shatner, interview, video
In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) makes the comment, “You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon”.
Nick Nicholas, a business analyst and linguist in Melbourne, Australia, took those words to heart and, as a public service, has translated some of Shakespeare’s work into Klingon along with several Christmas Carols and popular songs.
Here is Hamlet’s “To Be Or Not To Be” soliloquy from Hamlet:
'Crude Terran Forgery'
To be, or not to be: --- that is the question: ---
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? --- To die: --- to sleep; ---
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, --- 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, --- to sleep; ---
To sleep! perchance to dream: --- ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
Romanised Klingon text
taH pagh taHbe'. DaH mu'tlheghvam vIqelnIS.
quv'a', yabDaq San vaQ cha, pu' je SIQDI'?
pagh, Seng bIQ'a'Hey SuvmeH nuHmey SuqDI',
'ej, Suvmo', rInmoHDI'? Hegh. Qong --- Qong neH ---
'ej QongDI', tIq 'oy', wa'SanID Daw''e' je
cho'nISbogh porghDaj rInmoHlaH net Har.
yIn mevbogh mIwvam'e' wIruchqangbej.
Hegh. Qong. QongDI' chaq naj. toH, waQlaw' ghu'vam!
HeghDaq maQongtaHvIS, tugh nuq wInajlaH,
volchaHmajvo' jubbe'wI' bep wIwoDDI';
'e' wIqelDI', maHeDnIS. Qugh DISIQnIS,
SIQmoHmo' qechvam. Qugh yIn nI'moH 'oH.
Translating the Romanised Klingon text to English yeilds the following:
It either endures, or it does not endure. Now, I must consider this sentence. Is it honourable, when one endures the torpedoes and phasers of agressive fate? Or, when one obtains weapons to fight a seeming ocean of troubles, And when, by fighting, one finishes them? One dies. One sleeps. One merely sleeps. And when one sleeps, its is believed that one can finish the pain of the heart And the thousand revolts which one's body must succeed to. We are certainly willing to initiate this way to finish life. One dies. One sleeps. When one sleeps, perhaps one dreams. Well, this situation seems to be the obstacle! What we can soon dream of, while sleeping in death, Having thrown away from our shoulders the cargo of the mortal --- When we consider that, we must retreat. We must endure disasters, Because this idea makes us endure them. It lengthens the life of the disasters.
For those who have some trouble reading Klingon, Mr. Nicholas has been kind enough to provide this audio file.
The “original Klingon” is very different than the “crude Terran forgery”. The Klingon Christmas carols are also quite interesting.
Technorati Tags: science+fiction, star+trek, the+undiscovered+country, david+warner, klingon, shakespeare, hamlet
Need a laugh? How about a laugh that pokes a little fun at J. J. Abrams’s Star Trek reboot?
The folks at HowItShouldHaveEnded.com have posted a youtube video depicting an alternate ending for Star Trek. Embedding seems to be disabled, otherwise we’d post it here, but the best we can do is to provide this link so you can watch the video on YouTube.com.
Now, we’re off to go check out their alternate ending for Star Wars IV A New Hope.
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