"Amok Time" Line by Line

SPOCK: No. No. It is not. We shield it with ritual and customs shrouded in antiquity. You humans have no conception. It strips our minds from us. It brings a madness which rips away our veneer of civilization. It is the pon farr. The time of mating. There are precedents in nature, Captain. The giant eelbirds of Regulus Five, once each eleven years they must return to the caverns where they hatched. On your Earth, the salmon. They must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn or die in trying.

 

KIRK: But you're not a fish, Mister Spock. You're...

 

SPOCK: No. Nor am I a man. I'm a Vulcan. I'd hoped I would be spared this, but the ancient drives are too strong. Eventually, they catch up with us, and we are driven by forces we cannot control to return home and take a wife. Or die.

 

KIRK: I haven't heard a word you've said, and I'll get you to Vulcan somehow...

[Bridge]

KIRK [OC]: Lieutenant, get me Admiral Komack at Starfleet Command, Sector Nine. Pipe it down to McCoy's office.

 

UHURA: Starfleet Command. Yes, sir.

 

CHEKOV: Mister Sulu, you don't think...

 

SULU: Maybe you ought to plot a course back for Vulcan, just in case.

 

[Spock's quarters]

(Spock is playing his lyre when the intercom whistles.)

UHURA (over comm): Communication to Mister Spock. Lieutenant Uhura here. The captain asked me to

 

SPOCK: Let me alone. Let me alone!

(He pounds his desk monitor into a pulp.)

 

^ Ah, yes, one of the greatest TOS moments...

[Sickbay]

KOMACK (on monitor): Captain, you're making a most unusual request.

 

KIRK: I'm aware of that, sir, but it's of the utmost importance. You must give me permission to divert to Vulcan.

 

KOMACK (on monitor): But you refuse to explain why it is so important.

(Of course, you'd think there'd be some precedent for allowing a Vulcan crewmember to take a leave when going through the pon-farr)

 

^ Couldn't Kirk just give him a shuttle?


KIRK: I can't, sir, but believe me, I wouldn't make such a request...

 

^ The trip probably would have taken longer by shuttle. Spock was not the first Vulcan in Starfleet, so this shouldn't a new and unique scenario. What if this situation arose on a ship with an all-Vulcan crew and some admiral said, "No, you have to take your ship to that all-important inaugural ceremony."

KOMACK (on monitor): Altair Six is no ordinary matter. That area is just putting itself together after a long interplanetary conflict. This inauguration will stabilize the entire Altair system. Our appearance there is a demonstration of friendship and strength which will cause ripples clear to the Klingon Empire.

 

^ They could just have T'Pau make excuses for each of them.


KIRK: Sir, the delay would be, at most, a day. I can hardly believe that...

 

Komack: (on screen) You will proceed to Altair 6 as ordered. You have your orders. Starfleet out.

And the audience booos the Admiral, proving once again that most Admirals are out of touch idiots.

 

MCCOY: Well, that's that.

 

KIRK: No, it's not. I know the Altair situation. We would be one of three starships. Very impressive, very diplomatic, but it's simply not that vital.

 

McCoy: You can't go off to Vulcan against Starfleet orders, you'll be busted for...!

 

KIRK: I can't let Spock die, can I, Bones? And he will if we go to Altair. I owe him my life a dozen times over. Isn't that worth a career? He's my friend. Bridge. Navigation.