Captain Kirk of Star Trek is based on Captain James Cook, the explorer.
Furthermore, the USS Enterprise was named after Cook's ship, the HMS Endeavour.
The mission of the Starship Enterprise was “to boldly go where no man has gone before”. These words were inspired by Cook’s journal entry, “ambition leads me … farther than any other man has been before me”.
The original television series creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, a great admirer of James Cook, also based Spock on Cook's scientist companion, Sir Joseph Banks.
However, whilst Spook was rational and emotionless, Banks became one of England's wealthiest men and was described in 1776 as "a wild eccentric character" who obviously, still dreamed of his "voyage to Otaheite" (Tahiti).
It was in Tahiti that Banks gained his reputation as a libertine. Cook is known as a responsible man of laconic understatement.
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| Captain James Cook, Public Domain |
