Kirk and Hornblower
Tim North
Roddenberry has been heard to say that the character of Kirk was based upon
C.S. Forrester's fictional character Horatio Hornblower (as, I suspect, may
have been Picard). Anyway, I finally got around to reading the Hornblower
series to see just how closely related the characters were.
My point is I LOVED this series (10 books). Hornblower/Kirk/Picard are all
mem from very similar molds. If you like/respect Kirk and Picard I would
strongly recommend reading the Hornblower books -- the man is the archetypal
*HERO*. His notions of Honour and Duty are very inspiring.
The 10 books detail Horblower's life from midshipman to Admiral and start
with the novel "Mr Midshipman Hornblower. If anyone would like more info
on the series/titles/ISBN numbers I'll be happy to post it to you.
Cheers,
Tim North
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Cinderella Man
>Now this is only peripherally 'Trek, so I'll keep it short.
>Roddenberry has been heard to say that the character of Kirk was based upon
>C.S. Forrester's fictional character Horatio Hornblower (as, I suspect, may
>have been Picard). Anyway, I finally got around to reading the Hornblower
>series to see just how closely related the characters were.
>My point is I LOVED this series (10 books). Hornblower/Kirk/Picard are all
>mem from very similar molds. If you like/respect Kirk and Picard I would
>strongly recommend reading the Hornblower books -- the man is the archetypal
>*HERO*. His notions of Honour and Duty are very inspiring.
Absolutely. The internal conflict of Hornblower, his self-
confidence against ambition (just my way of characterizing it) is one of
the best I've seen in any adventure fiction.
>The 10 books detail Horblower's life from midshipman to Admiral and start
>with the novel "Mr Midshipman Hornblower. If anyone would like more info
>on the series/titles/ISBN numbers I'll be happy to post it to you.
I read them in the order they were published, my first time around,
and then in fictional chronological order, and I don't know if there's much
of a difference in how well the stories come across. I will say, however,
that if you want a good encapsulation of the series as a whole, read the
first three books (publishing order; it's the middle of the series
chronologically): _Beat_To_Quarters_, _Ship_of_the_Line_, and _Flying
Colours_. By the way, although I've picked up the reissues of the novels
(large-size paperbacks using the original plates, with very nice cover
art), there doesn't seem to be one for _The_Hornblower_Companion_, a book
with historical background on the wars, maps of the fictional battles, and
personal information on Forrester. I borrowed it once and I'd love to have
it for myself.
Some of the most fun historical fiction I've ever read.
>Tim North
Derek L.
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Richard Joltes
>Roddenberry has been heard to say that the character of Kirk was based upon
>C.S. Forrester's fictional character Horatio Hornblower (as, I suspect, may
>have been Picard). Anyway, I finally got around to reading the Hornblower
>series to see just how closely related the characters were.
>>mem from very similar molds. If you like/respect Kirk and Picard I would
>>strongly recommend reading the Hornblower books -- the man is the archetypal
>>*HERO*. His notions of Honour and Duty are very inspiring.
>Tim North
Gene has more than just SAID that Kirk and Trek in general is very much based
on Hornblower. Read _The Making of Star Trek_ by Gene R. and Stephen Whitfield
and you'll find direct references to "Horatio Hornblower in space."
Gene has always felt that the E operates in much the same atmosphere (well, not
LITERALLY ;-) ) as the Lydia (Hornblower's ship) since it travels in more or
less uncharted areas, explores, defends outposts, conducts research, assists
down-in-the-heels adventurers and travellers, etc. Also, Hornblower had broad
discretionary powers when responding to acts of aggression (a perfect Trek
example is "Balance of Terror" when Kirk had to decide to cross the Neutral
Zone without waiting for Starfleet to o.k. it) and in other situations since he
couldn't always count on help from the Admiralty/Starfleet.
Of course, one of the early descriptive phrases for TOS (probably so that pin
headed Network Execs could reference it) was "Wagon Train to the Stars." Makes
ya wanna barf, eh?
Dick Joltes jol...@husc4.harvard.edu
"A sword is a pen that writes in red ink..."
Brandon Lovested
are many more between Picard and Hornblower. Both are stiff, proper,
and not realy the *ladies' men*. While Picard is in the presence of a
beautiful women, I still expect to hear "ahhhhhhemmmm..."
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BRANDON G. LOVESTED . .. . . . . . .. .
Software Design Engineer .. . ---==<(BRANDONIUS)>==--- . .
Grass Valley Group . . (=) \ / (=) . . .
bran...@gold.gvg.tek.com . . . . l_{((o))}_l . . . .
. . . . . .
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George Lambert
Not just Hornblower, but old Gene was inspired quite a bit by the film
"Forbidden Planet". There is a supplementary section on Criterion's laser
disk that reveals a number of ways that "FP" laid out the much of what came
to be the Star Trek universe.
And it wasn't just philosophy....remember the costume that Pike wears as
he watches the Orion slave woman (Vina or Susan Oliver) dance in the Cage?
That costume was actually designed for Walter Pidgeon (Morbius) but never
actually worn by him during the film's shooting. As FP came from MGM and
Star Trek comes from Paramount, a distinct effort had to be made to
acquire that costume for ST.
If you have access to a laser disk player, I strongly recommend this disk.
Its a beutiful wide screen (letterbox) transfer, digital stereo sound, and
some very interesting supplementary material.
George Lambert
Brian Scearce
was modeled after Jacques Cousteau, more the explorer-tempered-
with-academic type. Sorry, I can't remember where I heard this.
--
Brian Scearce | "Of all of these cities, Mountain View has the
(not on CDCs behalf) | worst view of the mountains."
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shamash.cdc.com!u02!bls | How many sides does a circular argument have?
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In article <12...@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> bran...@gold.GVG.TEK.COM (Brandon Lovested) writes:
>Indeed, there are many similarities between Kirk and Hornblower, but there
>are many more between Picard and Hornblower. Both are stiff, proper,
>and not realy the *ladies' men*. While Picard is in the presence of a
>beautiful women, I still expect to hear "ahhhhhhemmmm..."
>
The resemblence is fitting, Hornblower is not described as the American
"heartthrob" which Kirk was. One thing Hornblower did which we must
assume Picard wouldn't is have a cold shower on his quarterdeck, in full
view of his crew. :-)
Of course, in the presence of a beautiful woman, having this shower
and then going "ahhhhhhemmmm...." would get him time on the couch
with Troi. :-)
BOB
Bill Grother
>My understanding was that Kirk *was* based on Hornblower, but Picard
>was modeled after Jacques Cousteau, more the explorer-tempered-
>with-academic type. Sorry, I can't remember where I heard this.
>
introductory special about Star Trek, hosted by Patrick Stewart (this was in
December '88 if memory serves). In it, Gene R. discussed his original concept
of Star Trek, and mentioned that Kirk was in fact representative of Capt.
Horatio Hornblower.
Just my $0.02...
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