Cleopatra/Star Trek Classic, separated at birth?

[Steve Lortz]

I watched "Cleopatra" on AMC last night. The version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Last night was the first time it's been on TV (that we get) since I gave my lecture on Actium earlier this year.

I was blown away by the resemblence between this movie and Star Trek Classic. They must have used the identical same screenwriters.

Give Burton a phaser instead of a gladius, and he would be just like Captain Kirk. The same swaggering. The same bathos. The same line delivery.

Give Taylor a green skin and she would fit in seamlessly among the dozens of alien princesses, slave girls, etc. who always fell into hopeless love with Shatner's starfarer.

The battle of Actium protrayed in the film could just as easily have been a starfleet battle.

Martin Landau played Antony's sidekick, Ruffio. He was certainly Nemoy-like, except for Spock's implacable logic and pointed ears.

Am I hallucinating?

Love,

Steve

[TheInvisibleDan]

lol, Steve. I noticed "Cleopatra" last night while I was channel surfing, but I didn't want to commit to the drama at the time

(sword and sandal epics do tend to be a bit long in the tooth).

AMC also played the 3rd "Star Trek" movie a few nights ago. I thought Kirk/William Shatner got over the slaying of his son rather quickly...perhaps because he's got so many other children (in multifarious forms) all over the universe via all his romps.

I've often wondered if Bill Clinton watched too much Star Trek when he was growing up.

Danny

[Trefor Heywood]

Kirk did not have time to mourn every time he lost a relative (he lost a brother in the first series too) and of course it was important that he rescued Spock or he would have fallen to his death when mountain climbing in one of the later films (the Far Country I think) as Spock rescued him.

But Kirk did seem to have spread himself about a bit, meeting ex girlfriend after ex girlfriend so maybe he had done some boldy going where other men may or may not have gone before! :D-->

[Raf]

I can't believe I'm posting on this, but here goes:

David's death had a profound impact on Kirk. Perhaps losing his son is what gave him the emotional impetus to sacrifice the Enterprise itself (two "sons" lost in one movie).

The death of his son is still weighing on him heavily in Star Trek VI: The Apology for V.

I think that was the name of it.

[ExWayDaryl]

My two favorite ST movies are "The Voyage Home" (IV) and "Nemesis" (TNG).

The interaction between Spock & Kirk in TVH cracks me up! As well as the relationship between Kirk and the whale biologist.

I like "Nemesis" because of the treatment of the characters as well as the special effects, which were totally AWESOME! Then, there's "B4" - his continued existence keeps the door open for more TNG movies.

I have TVH on tape and Nemesis on DVD. The extras on Nemesis are mind blowing!

ExWayDaryl

Lives with his cat in Franklin Park, Illinois

"The proud owner of the entire TNG series on DVD"

[WordWolf]

I think he was able to focus back to the job at hand pretty fast, but he

DID flip out for a few seconds at David's death....

".my son, my son...you Klingon bas*ards, you murdered my son!..."

Yes, it comes up in VI, also. Kirk's personal log.

"I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I'll never forgive them for

the death of my boy." (I think that's the exact line.)

He didn't like them to begin with, and he REALLY hated them after that.

His response in VI to the idea they might die out: "LET them die."

==============

Somebody somewhere noticed the acting before.

Shatner being interviewed on the Daily Show by Kilborn, back a few years....

Craig K said he'd admired Shatner and Adam West growing up, and their style of

acting. Shatner winced, and Kilborn responded.

"Did I say 'Adam West'? I meant 'Richard Burton'..."

I think he may have been referring to the over-emoting of all 3....

[WordWolf]

There was a humourous rumour floating around when ST:TNG was about to start

airing on tv the first time. It was about a Federation starship of the line

at the time of ST:TNG.

The USS Kirk.

Its crew was composed of all Kirk's kids from all the planets he'd stopped

over at...