Star Trek Online players are paying tribute to legendary actor Christopher Plummer, who died this week at 91. The Oscar winner, best-known for starring as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, portrayed Klingon General Chang in the 1991 film Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.
Plummer reprised the role of Chang in Star Trek: Klingon Academy, a space flight simulator game developed by 14 Degrees East in 2000. Prior to the events of the game, which explains how Chang lost an eye, the General defeats Kalnor, head of the powerful House of G’Iogh, who attempts a coup d’état against the Klingon government.
Several memorials have been placed within Star Trek Online honoring the late actor. Redditor Lars2510 posted a screenshot of a gathering at the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS on the Star Trek Online subreddit, writing, “We’re on Qo’nos, instance #23, remembering Christopher Plummer/General Chang. Feel free to join us.”
Meanwhile, Twitter user Grumpy Old Nord posted a screenshot of soldiers gathered at the memorial on Deep Space Nine, writing, “In honor of the passing of the great Christopher Plummer, we gathered at the memorial on DS9 to pay tribute to one of the greatest Klingon warriors.”
The official Star Trek Online Twitter page also honored Plummer, writing, “In the hands of a lesser actor, General Chang might have been a stereotype, a one note character. But Christopher Plummer brought a gravitas and a respect to the man that defined Klingons for ages to come. Rest in peace.”
George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original series and movies, also paid tribute to the actor, who he called a “giant of stage and screen,” and William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original series and movies, wrote, “I am so sad to lose him.”
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which earned two Oscar nominations, for Best Makeup and Best Sound Effects, is the only film in the Star Trek series to win the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. The role of Chang was specifically written for Plummer by director and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer, though the actor was initially reluctant to accept it.
The final lines spoken by Chang in the film before he is killed by torpedo fire are taken from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy: “to be, or not to be…” After Plummer was cast, Meyer added more classic quotations, saying, “Whether it’s pretentious or not, I think it depends on how it’s used. […] I don’t quite agree with using too much of that sort of thing, but once you get Plummer, suddenly it’s working.”
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