The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchise

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I always thought that was a discreet reference to the cast/producers of Star Trek being neo-Nazi's....


lol jk

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Oh, yes. I remember this one well and I agree.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I'm actually a bit more annoyed at Riker than I am at Picard in that episode. Picard at least was under the heavy pressure of finding out if they were being invaded by Romulans and didn't interact with the 20th Century guys much. Riker comes off as pretty nasty and petty to condemn them after meeting them.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I think people are reading way too far into this. However, I suspect Picard's answer would be along the lines of

"The Holodeck allows us to interact with the story, to almost BE the story. It DOES benefit if used correctly. Even Dixon Hill is solving crimes instead of watching someone else do it."

Also, in the Star Trek universe, where we aren't forced to work 9-5 all our lives, I'd say life WOULD be far more interesting.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

That was my thought too. If Riker made his opinion later, after hearing Ralph rant and rave about power and money, then he might have had a good point.

But IIRC, that small talk he had where the only things discussed where Ralph wanting to know about his accounts, and Sonny asking about TV, were the only things at that point.

So to me, that passage strongly implies that Sonny wanting to watch TV, something future humans find backwards, is possibly one of the things that made them look somewhat hopeless according to Riker.

I think the main purpose of episodes like this was to showcase how different and further evolved future humans were compared to past humans.

This is a good point, the problem comes (i think) when a character may add extra commentary that might imply condemning an activity or behavior from the past.

When Phlox said his culture quit TV because they found their real lives more interesting, it could be interpreted as a dig at TV watchers, because they continue waste their time watching other people's lives or something.

Why not just say, 'we did once, but we discovered other forms of media and entertainment to occupy our time'?

Besides, I think Trek and maybe Phlox misunderstood the whole point of TV--most people watch it to escape reality for a while

Sometimes after football practice, violin practice, 10 hours of work or whatever, people want to grab a snack, throw their shoes off and watch a drama or people fighting with swords from another time period.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Indeed. I could really get into that holodeck.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I agree and most of the episodes that try to showcase that point did a pretty good job at it. This one, not so much. As you said, Riker's comment would have fit much better later in the episode.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I do see what you are saying and perhaps Phlox' phrasing of that is quite poor. People use TV as a means to escape, or spice up, very repetitive lives. Im sure we would find our lives more interesting if we didn't need to spend them working to pay bills.

I'd like to think 'ole Phlox isn't quite such a elitist dude though and understands that times have changed.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

In "Day of the Dove" when Kirk told Kang to "Go to the Devil" - that's always irritated me. I guess because it's such a bold example of 1960's censorship. What's the big deal with telling him to "Go to Hell"?

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Just how it was back then. Heck, I like that Star Trek didn't have to curse every few words, like many shows these days, just to get their point across.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I feel the same way.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

"Tell one of your Cracker Jack Starfleet transporter chiefs to keep a lock on me.." -Chakotay in "Caretaker".

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

I'm not exactly looking for an epic F-bomb filled rant from Jim Kirk here. Just some reality. "Hell" isn't exactly high-up on the profanity scale, and Kirk had used it in earlier seasons once or twice in similar situations. The fact that they did such a lame thing in that scene was likely only due to it being season 3 and Gene not being around to fight against studio idiocy.

If they couldn't have said "hell" over "the devil" then just scrap the line. Because as it was, it really is a horrible example of dated dialogue. Christ, that one time Kirk told someone to "go climb a tree" wasn't as cringe-worthy.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Now that you mention it, "hell" was used before.

That "Go to the devil." line may have been scripted that way from the beginning. Didn't Kang have a classy comeback about Klingons not having a devil, but being very familiar with the habits of humans devil, suggesting torture for Kirk.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Using the term cracker, how racist of him.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

He did. Seems strange given that Worf threw a fit about Fek'lhr during "Devil's Due."

--Sran

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

For me, it will always be......Row Row Row your boat.

 

Re: The Single Worst Line of Dialogue in the entire Star Trek Franchis

Meh. That scene doesn't make sense only because a Spock more comfortable with his human half should have been able to appreciate singing around a campfire more than he appeared to. I've always been more bothered by his, "Were we having a good time?" line than anything else.

--Sran