SPOCK OR SHAKESPEARE?

Do you know your Star Trek from your Shakespeare? Take our fiendish quiz to find out

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry used Shakespearean references in his storylines and episode titles

TO be or to boldly go? That is the question.

Next month marks the 400th anniversary of the first publication of William Shakespeare’s plays.

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Do you know your Star Trek from your Shakespeare? Take our quiz and find out

It’s also a year since another ­famous William — this time Shatner — released his own book, Boldly Go, about his time on TV as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek.

Shakespeare’s works are said to have influenced Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who used Shakespearean references in his storylines and episode titles.

The Bard’s legacy includes countless phrases that are still in use today.

But do you know your Captain Kirk from your King Lear?

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Take our quiz on whether these well-known sayings were coined by Shakespeare or Spock and Co.

1. Who said: “You can let death win, or you can fight back”?

Was it Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare? Or by William Shatner as Captain Kirk in Star Trek?

2. Was the question, “What is a man?” uttered by Shatner in Star Trek or by star-crossed lover Romeo Montague in Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo And Juliet?

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3. Does the phrase “You’ve got to be cruel to be kind” derive from Shakespeare’s Hamlet?

Or was it said by Captain Jean-Luc Picard on board the USS Enterprise?

4. Did “Knock, knock, who’s there?” appear in Act III of Macbeth? Or was it said by engin-eer Scotty in the hit space show?

5. “It' life, but not as we know it” is often attributed to both Shakespeare and Star Trek. But what is the misquote inspired by?

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6. “Live long and prosper” is a well-known catchphrase, but was it coined by Shakespeare or by pointy-eared half-Vulcan first officer Mr Spock on Star Trek?

7. “I don't believe in the no-win scenario” sounds like fighting talk. But was it uttered by Shakespeare’s King Lear or Shat-ner’s Captain Kirk?

8. Does the phrase “heart of gold” come from Shakespeare’s Henry V? Or from George Takei as helmsman Mr Sulu in Star Trek?

9. “Fear is the true enemy. The only enemy” — uttered by Commander Riker in Star Trek or Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

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10. Was “green-eyed monster” used in Shakespeare’s Othello? Or by someone fighting an alien on board the USS Enterprise?

Answers

  1. Star Trek
  2. Star Trek
  3. Shakespeare
  4. Shakespeare
  5. Star Trek
  6. Star Trek
  7. Star Trek
  8. Shakespeare
  9. Star Trek
  10. Shakespeare

RESULTS: 1-3: You need to boldly go . . . and get yourself a Complete Works Of Shakespeare. 4-7: You’re stuck at the final frontier between popular ­culture and literary greatness. 8-10: Congratulations, you are a virtuoso of the vernacular and a literary legend

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