Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
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Suave actor Ricardo Montalban dies

I remember watching The Wrath of Khan at a drive-in theatre when I was young. Khan was scary in a way that horror-movie monsters weren't. He was, essentially, a human being gone berserk. Montalban was such a good actor, he really made you believe there was a whacked-out madman running around up there. For me, as a writer, that drove home the point that if you want to truly terrify your audience, you have to make them empathize with the villain ... put them into a space where they could imagine feeling what he feels. Then you've got 'em. If a door slams in that story, they'll jump.

Suave actor Ricardo Montalban dies
Ricardo Montalban, the suave leading man who was one of the first Mexican-born actors to make it big in Hollywood and who was best known for his roles as Mr. Roarke on ABC's "Fantasy Island" and the villainous Khan of the "Star Trek" franchise, died Wednesday. He was 88.
Tags: garden of repose, science fiction
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  • 6 comments
dragonmyst

dragonmyst

January 16 2009, 04:37:21 UTC 12 years ago

I felt like crying when I heard that. The Wrath of Khan is my favorite of the Star Trek movies and I agree, you empathize with Khan which makes it frighting in that yummy frighting way.
neodaoist

neodaoist

January 16 2009, 11:02:49 UTC 12 years ago

I can empathize with Khan to a degree but not much. He was bred to be the perfect conqueror like the rest of the supermen. If you go back and watch the orignal Space Seed episode from Star Trek: TOS you will see a ruthless and violent psychopath from the beginning. He was perfectly willing to suffocate slowly each member of the command staff while the others watched to gain control of the ship.
neodaoist

neodaoist

January 16 2009, 11:38:17 UTC 12 years ago

I hate to comment on my own comment but I went back and watched Space Seed. I never could understand what Khan wanted in Marla MacGyver after he used her to get control of the ship. There was nothing about her that stood out other than the hero worship that she had for Khan
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

January 16 2009, 17:33:10 UTC 12 years ago

I'd say: 1) hero worship, as you said; and 2) Starfleet Ensign of Gor.
the_vulture

the_vulture

January 16 2009, 17:25:39 UTC 12 years ago

I remember reading about how Montalban had to beef up for his role in Khan. That must've taken a fair bit of work, because he was physically impressive in that film.

I also read that acting Khan took a bit of getting used to after years of Fantasy Island. Apparently, from what he said, the first time he started reading out Khan's lines, he sounded like Mr. Roarke. *chuckle*

I did like how they built empathy for Khan in the film. Afterall, not only was he and the others pretty much genetically programmed for conquest, he believed he was wronged by Kirk and company (i.e. left on a planet that turned into a wasteland, wife died from one of the more interesting fauna, etc.). They built up a solid vengeance motivation for Khan's character. You could understand why he had such a hate-on for Kirk.
silverdust_wolf

silverdust_wolf

January 17 2009, 03:10:58 UTC 12 years ago

He will be missed. I give him a moment of silence....My family is really big on sci fi, so even at my age...*sniffle* "Perhaps today is a good day to die..."