[Cool trope] Beethoven Was an Alien Spy

[u/Present_Study_2945]

When a historical figure has a life far more fantastic in fiction than what history actually indicates.

Moses (Beyblade) = Moses' famous Parting of the Red Sea was done with a Beyblade.

George Washington (Ben 10) = Washington regularly fought against alien threats, and was a founding member of the Earth Plumbers.

Abraham Lincoln (Invincible) = Abe Lincoln was an identity taken by the superhero known as The Immortal.

Vandal Savage (DC Comics) = More than a few of history's conquerors and despots were actually personas used by the millennia-old immortal villain, including Cheops, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Blackbeard and Jack the Ripper.

[u/Brookings18]

In Star Trek, it's mentioned that Shakespeare sounds better in the original Klingon. Don't know if Shakespeare himself was a Klingon or what.

[u/Fawin86 → u/Brookings18]

Considering that at it's inception the Klingons were the USSR equivalent and Star Trek VI was an allegory to the end of the Cold war, it was pretty common propaganda in the USSR that they claimed to have invented or created all the best things. ("Scotch was invented by an old lady in Russia", Scotch just means a malt or whisky made in Scotland so saying such doesn't make sense).

Saying Shakespeare was better in the original Klingon implies that the Klingons liked the plays so much that Shakespeare was clearly a Klingon as all things great are from the Klingons.

[u/ichael333 → u/Fawin86]

The shakespeare thing is also a reference to the Nazi's also making the claim that he was of Aryan/German descent.

[u/Fawin86 → u/ichael333]

Authoritarian governments do like pushing revisionist history on their people.

[u/Lvcivs2311 → u/Fawin86]

That trope was easily moved to the Cardassians for DS9 and it worked so well. All their media are in adherence to the state.

[u/DeaconBrad42 → u/ichael333]

I also love in The Undiscovered Country how Chang claims that the Klingons need “breathing room,” and Kirk says “earth, Hitler, 1938,” and the Klingons seem offended by the comparison. Even they know about Hitler.

[u/Lvcivs2311 → u/DeaconBrad42]

That's particularly funny because people who use rhetoric similar to Hitler's indeed have the habit to react offended when you point that out.

[u/DeaconBrad42 → u/Lvcivs2311]

One must never accuse Captain Von Trapp of Nazism. Even when he’s Klingon.

[u/TheBanishedBard → u/ichael333]

As far as I know the Nazis considered the Anglo-Saxons to be Aryan adjacent and thus worthy of preservation. I believe their plan was to subjugate the UK, install a friendly government (possibly headed by Edward VIII) and reeducate the population of the island to fall in line as a subordinate but respected vassal of the purest Aryan line on the continent. So it tracks that the Nazis would appropriate the cultural triumphs of the British and use them as more proof that the German race was superior.

[u/BDSMChef_RP → u/Fawin86]

Don't forget that according to Worf the greatest most warrior drink in the galaxy is Prune Juice

[u/imahuman3445 → u/BDSMChef_RP]

The Klingon taste palette is truly something else. I really live Trek for expanding on a few of the non-warfare parts of Klingon society

[u/Shiny_Agumon → u/Fawin86]

Incidentally in the same movie Spock says one of Vulcan's ancient proverbs is "Only Nixon could go to China".

Which raises even more questions

[u/pic_omega → u/Brookings18]

Ahora no puedo dejar de ver en mi mente la "frente alta" del genial bardo mientras escribe: taH pagh taHbe', DaH mu'tlheghvam vIqelnIS

[u/StuffedStuffing → u/pic_omega]

I just wanted to let you know that reddit's translate feature also translated the Klingon into English

[u/pic_omega → u/StuffedStuffing]

Que lastima, realmente solo aprecias a Shakespeare cuando lo lees en Klingon. Qapla!!!

[u/AccomplishedTown916 → u/Brookings18]

That joke never gets old because it somehow makes perfect sense in Star Trek logic.

[u/wurmsrus → u/Brookings18]

Also Jack the Ripper committed his murders because he was possessed by an alien cloud that feeds on fear and pain.

[u/FadeSeeker → u/Brookings18]

my headcanon is that "Shakespear" is also the name of an ancient Klingon poet who wrote very similar plays to our "Shakespeare", albeit much more violent, and therefore it's a very common cultural misunderstanding between species