Shakespeare References in The Making Of Star Trek

It is no surprise that a book about Star Trek contains some Shakespeare references, for that series (or, rather, a collection of series) has fairly regularly referred to Shakespeare. The first reference in this book is to Shakespeare himself, with author Stephen E. Whitfield writing, “Roddenberry insisted that literature is literature, be it called science fiction, Shakespeare, or Cowboys and Indians” (p. 35). The next reference is to The Tempest, and it comes from something Morris Chapnick is quoted as saying: “I can give you a Brave New World because that is something I can see, but some of the stuff Gene does on the show – I don’t understand it” (p. 101). In Act V of The Tempest, Miranda says, “O brave new world/That has such people in ‘t.”

The section on William Shatner of course mentions Shakespeare. Whitfield writes: “Shatner took a giant step forward when he joined the famous Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare festival as an understudy. He started with walk-on and bit parts and eventually graduated to co-starring roles in The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, and others” (p. 219). And then: “Several months later they were married and spent their honeymoon in Scotland, where Shatner played a featured role in the Edinburgh Festival production of Henry V” (p. 220). And: “Hollywood film-making also offered him the chance to act in westerns, and the Shakespearean-trained Shatner learned to rope, shoot, and ride bareback” (p. 220). Shatner is quoted as saying, “To everyone’s surprise, I turned down starring roles in Romeo and Juliet and King John at Stratford, just to remain in Hollywood and keep my name in front of the Hierarchy” (p. 220). Likewise, the section on Leonard Nimoy mentions Shakespeare: “In preparing for his TV role, Leonard’s reading habits underwent a decided change, as he normally leans toward Salinger, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare” (p. 235). And regarding James Doohan, Whitfield writes: “His theatrical appearances number more than one hundred and include roles in King Lear and Macbeth. He says his ultimate goal in the theater is to play Lear at the age of fifty-five” (p. 246).

The book ends with a section listing all the episodes from the show’s first two seasons. Three of those episode titles refer to Shakespeare: “Dagger of the Mind,” “Conscience of the King” and “By Any Other Name.” The first is a reference to Macbeth’s line “Or art thou/A dagger of the mind, a false creation.” The second refers to Hamlet’s line “The play’s the thing/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” The third refers to Romeo And Juliet, but to the First Quarto (the bad Quarto) reading of “By any other name would smell as sweet.” The Second Quarto and First Folio editions read, “That which we call a rose/By any other word would smell as sweet.”

The Making Of Shakespeare was published in September of 1968. The copy I read was from the fourth printing, March of 1969.