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Was "Mark VI" meant as a Biblical Reference?

albion432

albion432

Lieutenant Commander
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Over the weekend I rewatched The Wrath of Khan on its 40th anniversary. It occurred to me that the name on the photon torpedo tube used as Spock's casket is also the name of a chapter in the New Testament.
twokhd1166.jpg


Knowing that the movie if full of literary references I looked up the chapter to see what it was about. While I didn't notice any overt connection, I might have overlooked something. There are other Biblical references in the movie, does anyone know if Mark VI was intended as one?
 
albion432 said:
Over the weekend I rewatched The Wrath of Khan on its 40th anniversary. It occurred to me that the name on the photon torpedo tube used as Spock's casket is also the name of a chapter in the New Testament.
twokhd1166.jpg


Knowing that the movie if full of literary references I looked up the chapter to see what it was about. While I didn't notice any overt connection, I might have overlooked something. There are other Biblical references in the movie, does anyone know if Mark VI was intended as one?
Click to expand...

While there are Biblical references in TWOK, I believe the name of the Photon torpedo tube was not a scriptural reference, as it would not apply to the container or its landing on the Genesis planet.
 
The Genesis device seems to be the pretty obvious one. The story of God creating the universe with his magical powers in a week.

Bones even paraphrases the Book of Genesis, to paraphrase his paraphrase :

"According to myth the Earth was created in 6 days, now watch out! Here comes Genesis, we'll do it for you in 6 minutes!"
 
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I'd say no. If you push hard enough you can get similarities but I don't think it was intentional. Spock is the obvious Jesus parallel but I think that wasn't even certain when the film was being shot, more when III came around. Kirk is the one who came back to teach but he didn't send his disciples out two by two. Carol Marcus built a planet building device that could feed way more than five thousand but she never did. Nobody walked on water, even metaphorically.
 
One of the fun things about art and freedom of thought is that even if not one of the hundreds of artists working on this movie intended such a reference, you're still free to read whatever you want into it. Great art exceeds the intentions of its creators.
 
google found a random Bible listing for me:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark 6&version=NIV

which includes the text:
14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
Click to expand...

So a strenuous hint at Spock's resurrection in the next film?

dJe
 
It's anything but Biblical. "Mark #" is a standard military usage for a distinct model or variety of an item numbered by their order of adoption, like a Mark I tank or a Mark III grenade. It's "mark" in the sense of a symbol or identifier, like a trademark, not the name "Mark." A Mark VI photon torpedo would simply be the sixth version of a photon torpedo, replacing the Mark V.

As a military usage, it's fairly common in Trek -- for instance, the opening sequence in The Wrath of Khan takes place in the Mark IV bridge simulator, according to the signage (and there's a floor directory mentioning a Mark III simulator, presumably a less advanced model). And in DS9: "Family Business," when Sisko first met Kasidy Yates, she complained about only having an old Mark V transporter on her ship instead of a Mark VII capable of handling unstable biomatter. More recently, in Strange New Worlds, La'an said that she was cast adrift as a child in a Mark IV life raft.

It's often used in civilian contexts too, such as car models; the novel version of Goldfinger had James Bond drive an Aston Martin DB Mark III. Jack Webb's production company (which made Dragnet, the show that gave Gene Roddenberry his start in TV writing) was called Mark VII Limited, reputedly for no particular reason other than Webb liking the sound of it.
 
Christopher said:
the opening sequence in The Wrath of Khan takes place in the Mark IV bridge simulator, according to the signage.
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I never even noticed that sign before! I tried to find out more about this sign online, but there's not much on it. But Christopher's mention of it got me wondering, does anyone know when in the development of the movie the simulator was given that name? I'm specifically interested in knowing if it was named before or after Spock's death was connected to the simulator sequence.
 
Orac said:
One of the fun things about art and freedom of thought is that even if not one of the hundreds of artists working on this movie intended such a reference, you're still free to read whatever you want into it. Great art exceeds the intentions of its creators.
Click to expand...
Nicholas Myers himself discusses this same idea in his google talk. Here it is for anyone interested:
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albion432 said:
I never even noticed that sign before! I tried to find out more about this sign online, but there's not much on it. But Christopher's mention of it got me wondering, does anyone know when in the development of the movie the simulator was given that name? I'm specifically interested in knowing if it was named before or after Spock's death was connected to the simulator sequence.
Click to expand...

There is no mention of the simulator model in the script. It's just a bit of background set dressing, a sign the art department whipped up during production, with no real significance. Or rather, the significance was probably Nicholas Meyer's desire to make Starfleet come off as more militaristic, with military-style signage designating the "mark n" models of the items being used.
 
One theme in Mark 4 is a parable of the Sower (seed planter) and one about the tiny Mustard seed growing to gigantic size.

The tube is shaped like some kinds of oblong seeds.

ETA: I have been informed below that the tube is a Mark 6, not 4. Thank you.
 
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