They say Hamlet is one of the most challenging roles ever created for the theatre, so it’s appropriate that Brian Cox has started training young Theo so early. By the time he’s in second grade, the kid will really understand this soliloquy:

After the jump,  I’m going to list the full text of this famous speech. Then I’m going to list the many pop culture projects whose titles have been inspired by it. (Or at least, I’m going to list every one I can think of.)

And then I’m going to suggest future projects that can borrow their names from this beloved text.

(hat tip to Roommate Joe for Tweeting the video and to the Fametracker folk for inspiring the structure of this post)

The Soliloquy

To be or not to be – that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep⎯
No more – and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to – ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep⎯
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. — Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

Titles That Are Inspired By the Soliloquy:

Movies:

* Outrageous Fortune

* Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

* What Dreams May Come

* To Be Or Not to Be — (A Mel Brooks movie that I think was based on a movie by Lubitsch)

TV Shows:

* Slings and Arrows

Have I forgotten anything?

Future Projects That Should Take Their Name From the Soliloquy:

* Oy, There’s the Rub! — TV series— After a mix-up with their real estate agent unexpectedly transplants them from Brooklyn to Las Vegas, a Jewish matriarch (Tovah Feldshuh) and her unemployed son (David Krumholtz) decide to make ends meet by opening a massage parlor. They try to keep things legit, but the clients keep expecting more than just a backrub… wink-wink! Hopefully, the nice man who runs the local bodega (George Lopez) and the sassy kid who lives upstairs (Elle Fanning) can help these two misfits navigate the ciy of sin!

* The Fardel Bears — animated film — Coming from Pixar in 2013, The Fardel Bears introduces us to America’s favorite  Alaskan Grizzly, Mort Fardel (Jim Belushi). Mort has always been a geek—with a name like Fardel, what choice did he have?—but when he’s not reading comics, he’s hard at work on a top secret invention: HoneyComb 3000. Honey’s a robot built to look like a lady bear, and when Fardel gives her a voicebox (Gwyneth Paltrow), he steps out on the town with the prettiest gal in town. Mort’s new robot girlfriend gives him so much confidence that he becomes one of the most popular bears around! But what will happen when a thuggish gang of hedgehogs tries to steal his technology? And will Mort ever look past Honey and see that Bette Malone (Bette Midler), a librarian badger, loves him for who he is?

* Bare My Bodkin — reality series — Join host Vivica A. Fox as she sends her team of “undercover spies” into the streets of New York. Every week, the spies will try to convince unsuspecting tourists to “bare their bodkins” for cold, hard cash. When you see what these folks think a bodkin is, you’re gonna reach an undiscovered country… of laughter!

* Native Hues of Resolution — reality series — Let’s not pretend we’re in a postracial society. After all, the Model United Nations doesn’t. To help launch her upcoming OWN Network, Oprah Winfrey will host this hard-hitting reality series about American kids of all colors who participate in Model United Nations competitions around the country. Every week, Oprah will examine the most shocking resolutions that these committed high schoolers and middle schoolers have drafted to address the problems of the world. Don’t miss the unforgettable season finale, when Oprah picks her favorite resolution and gets it adopted by the actual United Nations++.

++ Outcome of finale not guaranteed