But, surprisingly, it’s Deep Space Nine that holds the title for most Shakespearean actors on-screen at once: René Auberjonois (Odo), Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), and Armin Shimerman (Quark) all trod the boards at one time or another. Kate Mulgrew went from Shakespeare in the Park to the USS Voyager. Star Trek: The Next Generation gave us Patrick Stewart, member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Trek actor most synonymous with the bard. The movies brought in noted Shakesepearean thespians Christopher Plummer and David Warner as Klingons (and posited that Shakespeare himself was one of the warrior aliens).

And, in fact, it’s been theorized that his … unique acting style was a holdover from his time on the stage, where broader actions were more commonplace. William Shatner was, at the time of the original series’ premiere, known as much for his theater credentials as anything else.

Given all the other Shakespearean references, it seems unlikely he wouldn’t have been familiar with such an eminently perfect quote.īut it wasn’t only the writing and creation of Star Trek that fell under Shakespeare’s shadow the cast, too, was stacked with actors well-versed in the bard’s work.

Įven the USS Enterprise itself may very well have been inspired by a line from Julius Caesar: “The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!” The story goes that Roddenberry nearly named the starship the Yorktown before having a sudden and unexplained change of heart. “Elaan of Troyius,” from season three, was a retelling of Taming of the Shrew (with a little of the Iliad’s Helen of Troy thrown in for good measure). Season two’s “Catspaw” found inspiration in Macbeth, with the Enterprise crew confronted by three chanting witches, a medieval castle, and a clear Lady Macbeth-type for a villain. The original series’ season one episode “The Conscience of the King” not only takes its title from a line in Hamlet, but borrows the plot: Captain Kirk spends the hour trying to suss out a suspected murderer while watching a theater troupe putting on productions of Macbeth and, yes, Hamlet.

Avery brooks talking about start rek