Semi-Daily Journal

If you had read the Aubrey - Maturin books by Patrick O'Brien, you would never equate Maturin with Spock. I have not (yet) seen the movie, and as one who loves the books, I'm not sure I will.

But I have read the Aubrey series, from _Master and Commander_ all the way through to the _Nutmeg of Consolation_. And I say it again: Stephen Maturin is Dr. Spock--an early nineteenth century Irish-Catalonian human Spock in thrall to Diana Villiers, who deploys her decolletage with malice aforethought, but Spock.

Spock fights against emotion and rejects its place in human experience. Maturin displays far more understanding of the motivations of everyone around him than does Aubrey. He understands his own as well; he simply cannot change himself. In addition, Spock is humorless, always the butt of other's jokes. Maturin's wit is legendary, especially to the appreciative but slightly leaden Aubrey, who repeats the Maturin quip about the dog watch originating "because it was cur-tailed" on every possible occasion). Although I admit that the most hilarious scene of all is not deliberate on Maturin's part: after Aubrey befriends Maturin's pet by feeding him bread soaked in grog every day, he says "You have debauched my sloth".

(I confess to having read the entire series though from beginning to end at least five times...largely because I wish Maturin lived next door.)

Geez, I'm so out of it. I always thought that Jack Aubrey was just a stand in for Jackie Fisher!

I can't claim cafl's level of enthusiasm, having read the series through only twice. (And I must concede, it flags a bit, no pun intended, in the later books.) Still, I love the series well enough to suspect I won't see the film.

Crowe as Aubrey - well, maybe. I'm prepared to give some benefit of the doubt until I see the evidence against him. And, as I said, I probably won't, because of the a priorily appalling miscasting of Crowe's imaginary Princeton room-mate as Maturin. Is it not obvious that there is only one right choice for the role, the man born to play it - Stephen Rea?

"Stephen Maturin is Dr. Spock"

- time to be picky here, but I think that's "Mr. Spock"? Or was child-rearing a big thing on the stormy seas?

:-)

*Snort*

Spock doesn't reject the place of emotion in the human experience; that would be like rejecting the place of the moon in the rise and fall of the tides. He merely attempts to reject its place in his own experience, holding the (Vulcan) life of the mind to be better than the (Terran) life of the gut--and the best writers seem to realize that deep down inside, Spock knows this rejection to be futile. Worthwhile nonetheless, but.

And Spock protests too much, anyway; after all, he has a terribly subtle, bone-dry sense of humor. (Watch those eyebrows!)

The mapping isn't perfect; no map ever is. But Aubrey as Kirk and Maturin as Spock works well enough for me. I haven't seen Master and Commander--I intend to, in part because I have enjoyed the 7 or 8 or so O'Brien books I've read. But I'll definitely be clocking the flick in part on how it rates on the Star Trek scale. (Hee hee!)

Kirk as Hornblower? Hornblower is an introverted, neurotic intellectual; totally un-Kirklike. Beloved by his men and inexplicably seduced by every woman who gets within striking range, so that sounds Kirkish, but that's not enough to build an identity on.

Lucky Jack is much closer to Kirk, and was clearly written as an anti-Hornblower (all that fiddling is an obvious differentiation from Hornblower's tone-deafness; in the first few books Aubrey is a mathematical dunce, although O'Brien had to backtrack on that one because a successful captain who couldn't do spherical trig made no sense... there's plenty more.)

Very true. But from the *outside* Hornblower looks *exactly* like Kirk. It's from the inside that Hornblower seems different--and that's a big part of what Forester is trying to accomplish. Consider, for example, the end of _Flying Colours_...

Aubrey and Maturin are not Kirk and Spock. They're both inversed Holmes and Watson. (And they're twisted Johnson and Boswell, but that's for another day.)

Anyway, the best Star Trek movie is Red River.

"PITCH BLACK"

Spock with a domeshave, brawn, hottie sunglasses and a voice at its own entry on the Richter scale.

Plus, *everybody* wears the red jersey.

I believe Roddenberry stated that he modelled Kirk on Hornblower, for what it's worth.

I think Kellen Winslow's interview after Miami's loss to Tennessee is the best example of Klingon culture I have ever encountered, making him the fourth best Star Trek film I have ever seen.

Moreover, Stephen Rea is an awesome pick for Maturin. Though, I think a dirty Johnny Depp wouldn't fair too badly. Ultimately I am more concerned about the details of M&C mixing with FSoTW-- Sophie's capture of Cacafuego is my favorite scene in either book, but how will it play out?

Leonard Nemoi would have made an excellent Gandalf, btw.