francini@argus.DEC (This Space Available for Rent or Lease) (09/04/85)
> Most of the juicy statements that Khan Noonian Singh >utters in the movie, The Wrath of Khan, are taken from the >Herman Melville book Moby Dick. They are uttered by Captain >Ahab at the Great White Whale. > > Things like (paraphrasing, since I don't have the book >with me): " ... with my last breath I spit at thee.." "... from >the darkess depths of hell I stab at thee". etc. You can find >all of these in the book or the Moby Dick movie. Watch Gregory >Peck utter these words after he has pulled himself up onto the >whale and is stabbing it with a harpoon. Funny about that... don't you remember the scene where Chekov is examining the inside of the cargo carrier before Khan & co. come on the scene? In that scene Chekov looks at a shelf of books and grabs onto a retaining belt with the words "SS BOTANY BAY" on it? One of the PROMINENTLY displayed books on the shelf is a copy of "Moby Dick". What else did he have to do while attempting to keep his group alive? He must have thought himself to be Ahab, with Kirk being the whale. There's nothing at all wrong with his use of the quote. He must have known every word of that book by heart. John Francini ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-argus!francini