Every single time I listen to a commentary or hear someone talking about Captain Kirk on Star Trek, they can't help but mention he's the Horatio Hornblower of the Wagon Train to the Stars.

Come on, Can't Kirk have his own niche and not constantly be compared to some C. S. Forester character? He's his own character. Why compare one fictional character to another?

Mainly because Roddenberry himself said Hornblower was a major influence in creating the character.

Yep, you really can't escape that, since it was done on purpose.

Watch the movie with Peck. The bad guy even looks like a TOS Klingon. The only difference is Peck played it awkward around women.

Watch the movie with Peck. The bad guy even looks like a TOS Klingon. The only difference is Peck played it awkward around women.
Which is consistent with the early conception of Kirk. Look at some of the earliest episodes, especially "Mudd's Women."

As for the Kirk-Hornblower comparison, it's the same reason every eccentric but brilliant detective is compared to Sherlock Holmes. Kirk is a certain character type and Hornblower, if not the first, was the character that really defined that type.

Along the same lines, when I saw Master And Commander, I felt as if I were watching a back-dated Star Trek adventure on the high seas. Russell Crowe's Captain Aubrey is cut from the same cloth as Hornblower, Kirk, and even Bruce Greenwood's Capt Pike.

John O.

Master and Commander is my favorite Star Trek film!

Galaxy Quest is my favorite Trek film of all time! :D

Master and Commander is my favorite Star Trek film!

Agreed! My only problem was the inclusion of the little Starfleet cadet kids.

The E. M. Forster 'Hornblower' stories are cracking good fiction. Highly recommended.

So is the A&E 'mini-series' about Hornblower starring Mr. Fantastic - Ioan Gruffudd.

For those who haven't seen it before, this short video that matches footage from the Horatio Hornblower miniseries to Martin Mull's song "Men" is an absolute hoot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-xZ4gz4MM