So name a subtle moment in any ST that you thought was well done.

[EnriqueH]

I'm not sure this qualifies as "subtle", but another one of my all time favorite Trek moments happens in TSFS.

The whole rapport between Kirk and McCoy:

McCoy: "You're taking me to the Promised Land?"
Kirk: "What are friends for?"
McCoy laughs.

Everything about that scene, EVERYTHING, is priceless. It's beyond the lines, it's the camaraderie, the friendship between the actors, their facial expressions. Years of working together, making a relatively minor moment into a shining example of what happens when two actors work well together.

 

[JRoss]

Garak and Tain having that conversation in Tain ' first episode that was basically, "Hey, son, I'm thinking about killing your mom."

 

[Forbin]

I watched Whom Gods Destroy last night. While Marta is outside in the poisonous atmosphere suffering, and Garth is telling Kirk how he's about to blow her to sexy green smithereens, Shatner does a great little frustrated body-language/facial expression thing, showing that he was DYING to leap up and save her, but was trapped and couldn't. It was a nice counterpoint to the usual over-the-top acting.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Spock's final scene with Kirk in TWOK. So much good stuff there - especially Spock adjusting his uniform before addressing his commanding officer, and also the little bump into the window - so out of character that you just KNEW how badly Spock was injured.

 

[BillJ]

Spock's final scene with Kirk in TWOK. So much good stuff there - especially Spock adjusting his uniform before addressing his commanding officer, and also the little bump into the window - so out of character that you just KNEW how badly Spock was injured.

+1

I'd go with Kirk tapping Stiles board in "Balance of Terror" while the latter is staring down Spock.

 

[Cyke101]

Another not-so-subtle one, but Kirk eating the apple in TWOK. In literature, an apple tends to be an analogy for the apple that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The movie doesn't hide the fact that Kirk and Co. are in the Garden of Eden spurned by Genesis. However, Kirk eats the apple to indicate that he and Spock have an ace up their sleeve, all before Kirk actually reveals his plan to McCoy and Saavik (and the audience), while also regaling Saavik with tales of how he beat the Kobayashi Maru.

I like how the apple was repeated in ST09. It's a throwback to the scene, but it also indicates (this time blatantly, since Trekkies know their history) that Kirk knew something that Spock and the instructors didn't know. And the instructors took the apple to mean arrogance rather than knowledge.

This trope is used often in fiction, but even Riker had an apple scene in Encounter at Farpoint, as his first clue that somethign was wrong with the station.

 

[BK613]

opening bridge sequence of TNG's "The Child." Shows us the changes of Season 2, with Data working at Science 1 (or 2), Worf at Security, and Wesley at the helm, all in one continuous shot, before Riker goes into the Ready Room where we meet the E-D's newly-anointed Chief Engineer.

 

[E-DUB]

I don't even remember which episode it was it but there was a moment where Picard is discussing his family with Riker and he says "Well, sometimes fathers and sons............." And Riker simply replies, "Understood."

It worked fine just as it was but you knowing Riker's situation with his father gave the line a little extra oomph.

 

[Vandervecken]

In Force of Nature in TNG, Data is trying to train Spot. I think that, coupled with Data's own immediate serving reactions to Spot's meows, that that would have been enough, certainly for cat owners, to make it clear that someone is getting trained here, but it isn't Spot. Unfortunately, they wrote in Geordi's comment "seems to me your training is coming along just fine." Thus, unfortunately, destroying the subtlety.

But there's an earlier moment in the same scene that is priceless and, since it's on Data's face, subtle. Data is looking down at Spot and says "I am teaching Spot to jump down from the desk on my command." Geordi asks, "how's it going?" Brent Spiner looks up from Spot and the look on his face and extra-nervous nodding he does as he says "I have not been entirely successful" are--perfect. It's the look of suppressed derangement that you will see on the face of anyone who has ever tried to train a cat. That it is on emotionless/always-ready-for-anything Data's face just makes it so much better. Even Data, a deliberately calm by design and in some ways hypersane machine, can be driven a little insane by a feline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auHXg1H0bAQ

 

[FormerLurker]

Not the most subtle, but one of my faves:

About a few years ago, during the 17th or 29th time I watched TUC, I finally saw Spock placing the tracker on Kirk's shoulder. My eye had been trained for years to watch Kirk and Spock's faces as they talk to each other.

I'm also not sure, but I wonder if the standard TV format from a few years ago had something to do with concealing the tracker as well. It's visible and to the left in widescreen, but still sneaky.

I remember wondering why Spock was patting Kirk on the back the first time I saw that. It seemed odd, but remembering it later it made sense. Ever after I knew what was going on, and had no problem with it.

Another great one from TWOK was when Khan was recounting everything to Chekov and Terrell and the forboding music was playing. It was all Horner's original score but for 2 or three seconds there a part which is essentially a series of notes playing up and down that was often played during moments of great tension in TOS.

I thought it was awesome because it was a nod to TOS and one that only big fans of the series would notice and even then it was easy to miss if you weren't really playing attention.

Also even though it was obvious Khan had really bad intentions, it just reinforced the "Uh oh.....some really bad things are about to happen." Because something bad always happened or was about to happen when you heard it on TOS.

The TWOK score is rife with references to TOS themes. "Khan's Pets", as it's called in the score, is the most blatant with them, from the slow descent down the scale on the strings as the scene begins, while Khan removes his helmet.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

A scene between Martok and Sisko - I forget the episode - where they are discussing battle strategies or something, and Martok just can't keep his hands off of Sisko's ball. (His baseball! On the desk!) Finally, as the conversation dies down, an exasperated Sisko just takes the baseball back and places it back on the desk as they go on their way.

I found it funny, and a mark of good direction, that the characters are 'doing something' rather than just talking back and forth. Too, it hints that Martok wasn't familiar with baseball...

 

[EnriqueH]

When Chapel leaves the bridge to beam down to see Dr. Corby and she and Uhura share a girlie moment on Chapel's way out.

 

[EnriqueH]

OOOH! I just saw a good one!

In Relics, when Scotty and LaForge first beam onto the Enterprise, Scotty turns and looks at a panel of isolinear chips. LaForge explains it and puts the cover back on, which Scotty then bangs it shut lightly.

It felt like an ad lib, and in it's own way---a nice analogy for the episode with Scotty eventually helping save the Enterprise one more time.

 

[BK613]

TWOK: The camera push on the bridge just after Saavik gives the order to leave Spacedock and the transition to the external camera moving outside the Enterprise.

 

[Green Shirt]

Reminds me of the less-subtle scene of the ensign watching Riker's ass in "Encounter at Farpoint"

Less subtle for sure. I thought she was about to start barking and panting Curly Howard style.

 

[Richard Baker]

The way Picard got Ralph Offenhouse to shut up with just a look (The Neutral Zone)
Power respects power...

 

[Shawnster]

I think it's at the end of Balance of Terror. Kirk had just comforted Matine over the death of her fiance. He's posture is still "at ease" before he leaves the chapel. After he steps out of the chapel and starts walking down the corridor, he stands more erect as a captain should as if he's thinking "I need to look like a strong leader for the crew and not like I'm mourning a loss."

 

[Bad Atom]

One of my favorite bits of subtlety is from Voyager. In "Hunters" when Janeway silently reads the letter from Mark. We don't see or hear the content of the letter, and Kate Mulgrew plays the scene with a variety of subtle facial expressions that tell you exactly what she's reading. This, combined with the music, really creates an effective moment without needing any dialogue or voice-overs.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Some favorite subtle moments off the top of my head:

-The end of "City on the Edge of Forever", where Kirk doesn't say anything after he stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler -- Everything Kirk is feeling is written on Shatner's face. And then that thousand yard stare Kirk has when they return to their own time, followed by, "Let's get the hell out of here." Classic.

-In "The Trouble With Tribbles," I love how the Klingon Korax apes Scotty's accent when he says, "Yer'right. I SHOULD." David Gerrold loved that moment, too.

-I love the little knowing glance that Sulu & Chekov share when Kirk brings up "Corbomite" at the end of "The Deadly Years."

-I love the moment in "Mirror, Mirror" where Scotty grabs Kirk's arm and says, "Jim!" as Kirk volunteers to stay in the Mirror Universe. Kirk just quietly says, "That's an order, Scotty" and that's the end of it. I believe that this is the only time that Scotty ever calls Kirk by his first name, and it's gold.

-I like the brief look of dismay that Kirk has at the beginning of TWOK when Spock asks him where he's going, before resignedly saying, "Home" with a half-hearted smile. Nice bit of acting by Shatner there, and it's our first glimpse as to just how unhappy Kirk is with his life. He hates that he has nothing else to do with his day, and that there's no one waiting for him when he gets home. Shatner gave his best performances in Nick Meyer's movies.

-I like how gingerly everyone dances around Data's Tasha hologram in "The Measure of a Man."

-Picard's last line in "Cause and Effect" where Captain Morgan Bateson is stranded in the 24th Century: "Would you mind beaming over here? There's something that we need to discuss."

-Similarly, the "Oh, SHIT" look on Rasmussen's face when Picard tells him "Welcome to the 24th Century" just as he's being hauled off to prison in "A Matter of Time."

-And the moment in "Unification, Part I" where Picard coaxes a Klingon ship out of the High Command with just a few well-chosen words. One of my all-time favorite Picard moments.

-"The Visitor" - The look of heartbreak on Ben Sisko's face when he realizes how much of his life Jake has thrown away in the hopes of seeing his father again.

 

[Dexter Remmick]

Just noticed a subtle one in Code of Honor. Picard notices he is giving an unwarranted speech to Data, La Forge and Troi. It's not a look I've seen too often from the Cpt. in TNG. He apologizes and exits stage left.