Shakespeare and Star Trek
The Star Trek franchise, begun in 1966, has frequently included stories inspired by and alluding to the works of William Shakespeare.
The science fiction franchise includes television series, films, comic books, novels and games, and has material both Star Trek canon and non-canon.
Many of the actors involved have been part of Shakespearean productions, including Patrick Stewart and Christopher Plummer.
—Picard's advice to Riker about what to say in his wedding vows, from " 'Til Death", short story by Bob Ingersoll and Thomas F. Zahler, 2007 Shakespeare's work has a strong presence in the Star Trek universe.
Suggestions and speculation include the creators' appreciation of, and pleasure in, these works; their inclusion may also signal that something is "high culture", "elitist", or "repressive".
The character Jean-Luc Picard (Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart) argues that Shakespeare provides moving insights into the human condition.
[1]: 182 [7] Shakespearean scholar Brandon Christopher argued that "'Shakespeare' for Star Trek should be understood not simply as a collection of culturally valued texts but as emblematic of a nineteenth-century ethos of Anglo-American world dominance repackaged for a 1980s audience".
[8]: 238 [9] Star Trek began in 1966 and used Shakespeare's works as one of many "preexisting motifs", including gangsters, the Old West, and Greco-Roman mythology.
[4]: 9 According to Shakespeare actor Andy Kirtland, "Smart writers won't try to reinvent the wheel, and so plots and characters are borrowed in such a way as to nod to the past, but be relevant to the present".
He says that The Tempest is probably the Shakespeare play that best fits in a science fiction context, "reconciling the past with the future and in general, dealing with a world in transition".
[27][28] In the film, while attacking the Enterprise, Chang's Shakespeare quotations become so abundant that Leonard McCoy exclaims "I'd give real money if he'd shut up!"
[6]: 46 In the 1999 comedy Free Enterprise, Shatner, playing himself, is approached by two trekkies and hopes with their help to produce a musical version of Julius Caesar.
[1]: 19 [32] When Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) began in 1987, Patrick Stewart was referred to as an "unknown British Shakespearean actor" by the Los Angeles Times.
TNG actor Brent Spiner put this "title" on a sign and hung it on Stewart's trailer door.
Stewart's Shakespearean background was one aspect that made Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, consider him for the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Picard attempts to persuade a landlady that they are, in fact, a group of actors performing A Midsummer Night's Dream.
[37]: 102 [39]: 144 David Warner, who had appeared in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and VI, played a character who tortures Picard in "Chain of Command".
Avery Brooks was an experienced Shakespearean actor before playing Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9, 1993).
[5]: 3 [47] René Auberjonois (who plays Odo in DS9) said that "Actors with a background in the larger-than-life works of Shakespeare — or even musical comedy — adapt easily to non-real characters and bring a sense of truth to them".
In the Enterprise episode "Cogenitor", an alien captain receives a gift of Earth literature, including Shakespeare.
