Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalban has passed away. He was 88. I know him as Khan from the Wrath of Khan, and also I saw him on the third and fourth Planet of the Apes movies.

In his memory, I'm going to post some of my favorite lines from his Star Trek episode ("Space Seed"), The Wrath of Khan, and the Planet of the Apes movies he appeared in.

"Are you going to choke me or cut my throat?" Dr. McCoy said that when Khan was strangling him and holding a knife to his throat.

"Captain, have you ever heard of Milton?" Khan said this when Captain Kirk exiled him to a turbulent planet, where Khan could use his intellect to rule and bring order. Khan was referring to Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost, who said it was better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. One person I know didn't follow the classics, but he knew of Milton from this episode of Star Trek.

"I have three times your strength!" Khan said this when he was fighting Kirk, or, more accurately, their bad stunt doubles were fighting. After Khan said that, my dad remarked, "Yeah, but Kirk beats Khan with this little piece of wood!"

"Khan!" "...and your name is Chekhov." This was on the Wrath of Khan, in which Chekhov and Khan recognized each other, even though Chevkov wasn't even on the "Space Seed" episode! He wasn't even part of the cast yet! People have tried to explain this in a number of ways. One explanation is that Chekhov encountered Khan in the bathroom. Another is that Chekhov escorted Khan to his new planet.

"KHAAAAN!!!" That's what Kirk said when he and Khan were battling in the Wrath of Khan.

"The answer is yes!" In Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Ricardo Montalban played a circus man, who offered to take care of the new ape baby. That brings us to the next line:

"MAMA!" That's what the baby ape said at the end of the movie, even though you can't get more masculine than the muscular Ricardo Montalban. People thought his chest was artificial in Wrath of Khan, but that wasn't the case. This guy worked out, even when he got old!

"I said inhuman swine!" This was in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. The ape Cornelius called the cops "human swine" when they were beating up an ape, and the authorities got suspicious. They knew the legend that a talking ape would arise and overthrow humanity, and they thought Cornelius might be it. But Montalban tried to claim to the authorities that he (not Cornelius) was the one who said that. "Then why'd you say human?," they asked. "I said inhuman," he replied.

Montalban also played on Fantasy Island, but I never saw that show. In any case, this is my way of honoring his acting career.