Mr. Flint
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mr. Flint | |
|---|---|
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| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Male |
| Home planet: | Earth |
| Occupation: | Recluse/Financier |
| Portrayed by: | James Daly |
Mr. Flint, played by James Daly, was an immortal human in the fictional Star Trek universe. He was born in 3834 BC as Akharin in Mesopotamia, Earth. He was a soldier, a bully, and a fool by his own admission. He learned that he was immortal when he fell in battle pierced in the heart and did not die. He also learned to conceal the fact—and to pretend to age and move on.
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[edit] History
He was many famous people throughout history: Johannes Brahms, Leonardo da Vinci, Solomon, Alexander the Great, Lazarus, Methuselah, Merlin, Abrahmson, and a hundred other people we do not know. He knew some of the greatest minds in history: Galileo, Socrates and Moses. He was present in Constantinople in 1334 and witnessed bubonic plague kill half of Europe. He has married hundreds of times and to his anguish watched his loved ones age and die.
In 2237, Mr. Flint purchased the planet Holberg 917G in the Omega system using the assumed name of Mr. Brack. He built a magnificent home there that resembled the Rigel VII Fortress. He was found living on that planet by the crew of the starship Enterprise in 2269.
Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) of the starship Enterprise discovered Mr. Flint's true identity when he identified a recently written Brahms manuscript using contemporary paper and inks and in Brahms own handwriting which Mr. Spock recognized. Mr. Spock also discovered a recent da Vinci painting utilizing contemporary materials using da Vinci's own painting strokes which again Mr. Spock recognized.
Years later, in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Janeway would recreate Leonardo da Vinci on the holodeck. She mentioned in the episode "Concerning Flight" that Captain Kirk "claims to have met da Vinci, but that the evidence was hardly conclusive."
[edit] Accomplishments
Mr. Flint acquired a large collection of original works of art throughout his enormous life span. Some of these works were his own creations. Among his collection:
- A Shakespeare first folio,
- A Gutenberg Bible
- Creation lithographs of Taranullus of Centauri VII
- Paintings from Reginald Pollack
- Paintings from Sten of Marcus II.
- Some of his own original da Vinci works, several unpublished works of Shakespeare, and a manuscript from Brahms.
Flint also constructed a remarkable mechanical robot called M4. M4 served as personal butler, gardener, Housekeeper, security sentry and overall Handyman.
[edit] Demise
During his tenure on Holberg 917G Mr. Flint constructed a companion for himself to last for all time. Because his previous companions had all died, he wanted someone as intelligent and as immortal as himself. His masterpiece was the female android Rayna Kapec (Louise Sorel). Flint designed Rayna to have the equivalent of 17 university degrees. Rayna was constructed to appear as a beautiful woman in her thirties. The one attribute she lacked was emotion. Flint introduces Rayna as his ward to the Enterprise landing party.
It was Flint's intention to have Rayna's emotions awaken using the charms and attraction that Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) had for Rayna. Eventually Rayna self-destructs as she cannot resolve the affections she has developed for both Flint and Kirk.
In the end, the complex energy fields of Earth that had sustained Flint were not present on Holberg 917G. This caused Flint to begin aging normally, eventually to die. Flint stated that he would devote the remaining portion of his life to the improvement of the human condition.
[edit] Flint in Novels (non-canon)
Flint has appeared in at least three novels based on Star Trek.
In Cry of the Onlies, he has produced a cloaking device for Starfleet, but it fell into the hands of a mischievous individual.
In Federation, it is evident that during the mid-21st Century, Flint was using the identity of Micah Brack, the same surname under which he would later purchase Holberg 917G. Flint ran several industries, had attempted to contribute the development of matter replication and inertial dampers, but his chief contribution in 2061 was the warp drive. This device was developed by the engineering team led by Zefram Cochrane, financed liberally by Brack. After Cochrane makes a first successful interstellar flight, Brack reveals he intends to give away the patents to ensure that humanity reaches the stars quickly; he knows a terrible war is about to take place that only can be survivable with interstellar colonies that can help Earth recover. Brack has disappeared well before 2078, with rumors placing him in different locales. Cochrane is left with a mystery, among them the inability to find a musical composition that had been playing in the Titan colony hours after he arrived back from his historic voyage.
In Immortal Coil he is presented as an android creator and is involved in an adventure featuring the crew of the Enterprise-E in helping Data realize that he is not alone, and that there are many other sentient artifical life forms spread out throughout the galaxy.
[edit] Trivia
- The matte painting of Flint's Home was a re-use of the Rigel VII Fortress from the Trek episode "The Cage"/"The Menagerie".
- The name Rayna Kapec is a reference to Czechoslovakian writer Karel Čapek, who coined the term "robot" in the classic sci-fi play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots).
- James Daly is the father of Tim Daly better known as Joe Hackett from the television series "Wings". He is also the father of Tyne Daly, best known as Lacey in Cagney and Lacey.
- The episode Requiem for Methuselah, like the classic sci-fi film Forbidden Planet is based on Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".
[edit] See also
- Requiem for Methuselah — Trek episode featuring Mr. Flint.
