I was eight years old in second grade in America, and our history project was to make a puppet presentation of any historical figure we wanted. Some chose George Washington, some chose Abraham Lincoln, some chose Paul Revere, I think someone even chose Helen Keller too. Me? I chose none other than Sigmund Freud, of whom the majority in the class never heard. Of course, given Freud's infamous reputation as a psychologist and his not so secret love for the white powdery stuff, my parents and my teacher were concerned about what I might say during my presentation, and they just couldn't believe where I had heard of Dr. Freud: I first learned about him from Star Trek. With the limitless possibilities of science fiction, not excluding the invention of the Holodeck during the Next Generation era, historical figures are often used as comic relief in the Star Trek franchise. Of course, with many of these historical figures long since deceased at airtime, the writers didn't have much personality to work with so they had to improvise. As the old adage says, "history is written by the victors," and the same could be said for admirers of these historical figures because if some of these portrayals were accurate then history was far too kind. Some figures were portrayed as overbearing, some as villainous, and the one surviving historical figure who we'll get to later could surprisingly pull off one helluva poker face. After the jump we review the six most (in)famous portrayals in the franchise of the great minds read about in school textbooks for generations past, present and future.
Steve is an unrepentant nerd who enjoys all things Disney, Doctor Who, and Star Trek. He is currently finishing his undergraduate degree in political science at Temple University and divides his time between his homes in Philadelphia and Orlando.
