Worst lines of dialogue in Trek?
- Thread starter BlueStuff
- Start date
Silence would have worked, I guess. The line "this is one year I'd like to forget" would have been adequate last words.
But be that as it may, I didn't see it as an anticlimax, or even a climax purely speaking. I saw it as the end of a journey that had been going on all episode. Janeway and Voyager deteriorate together. It goes from a pristine white starship into a blackened, broken, barely functional wreck. Janeway goes from her neat buttoned up self to burned, scarred, and half crazy. She refuses to abandon Voyager, and ultimately, their journey reaches its end and they die together.
She could have done her own version of a COMMANDO one liner...
"Get off the time-stream, Annorax!"
"Get off the time-stream, Annorax!"
"Remember when I said I'd kill you last, Annorax? I lied!"
Actually, my point was what I said it was. We're still on this, by the way?
In the otherwise fascinating "Voyager" episode, "Before and After," Tom Paris's character really suffers. It's one thing to have him marry Kes after losing B'Elanna, but Tom's dialogue in that episode was written by someone who shipped Paris/Kes and Staned Kes hard. Tom is completely out of character when married to her, acting like Edward Cullen on sedatives. The worst part?
"When we got married, I thought that was the best day of my life, but each day just kept getting better and better!"
This in an episode after the show had already begun to make it clear that it was going the Paris/Torres route.
That single line inspired my personal head-canon that Ocampans telepathically affect their mates' mind, and that it can cause problems if an Ocampa mates with a non-Ocampa.
"When we got married, I thought that was the best day of my life, but each day just kept getting better and better!"
This in an episode after the show had already begun to make it clear that it was going the Paris/Torres route.
That single line inspired my personal head-canon that Ocampans telepathically affect their mates' mind, and that it can cause problems if an Ocampa mates with a non-Ocampa.
Good god, I forgot about that one. I honestly can't even watch that episode after reading about what happened to Grace Lee Whitney on set.
Is this line actually that bad though? I'll agree it sounds dumb, but in the context of the episode it makes sense. They have to check for biological contamination, which you would normally do in a biolab, which they don't have, Sickbay probably being the next best alternative in terms of facilities and such. Probably the line would have been a lot better with a simple addition: 'Get the cheese to sickbay for analysis'.
Honestly, I love the line, in part because of its delivery.
"A Night in Sickbay" is easy pickings but this line manages to annoy me every time I watch the episode:
ARCHER: I'll tell you one thing, Sub-Commander. If anything happens to Porthos, I'll be the one watering their Alvera trees.
There you go, ladies and gentlemen. Starfleet's greatest explorer threatening to pee on the sacred treasures of another culture.
ARCHER: I'll tell you one thing, Sub-Commander. If anything happens to Porthos, I'll be the one watering their Alvera trees.
There you go, ladies and gentlemen. Starfleet's greatest explorer threatening to pee on the sacred treasures of another culture.
I say that as a dog lover...
... but Porthos shouldn't have been there in the first place. Not at the meeting with those aliens, and not on the ship.
... but Porthos shouldn't have been there in the first place. Not at the meeting with those aliens, and not on the ship.
^ Well, at least it's a step up from exiting the ship with a flag, planting it, and declaring this planet to now be territory under the British (or whichever) crown, before even talking to the natives, as in the finest tradition of Europe's "great explorers" ....
So?
That's supposed to be an achievement?
No. But an improvement nonetheless
(Which makes me wonder, by the way, how these things went over in the Mirror Universe. Did those guys at least have the "courtesy" to first plant that flag and wait for the aliens to resist, or would they begin bombing alien planets without even first making contact?)
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No. But an improvement nonetheless
That's true.
I just meant we shouldn't give Archer bonus points for not acting like a barbarian who steals land from its native population
That's true.
I just meant we shouldn't give Archer bonus points for not acting like a barbarian who steals land from its native population
Completely agree. In fact, I think we see a gradually increasing reticence between the 22nd and the 24th century. By his own admission, Archer still had no compunctions watering an alien sacred tree to air his feelings (though saying that to his trusted First Officer during a heated moment obviously is very different still from actually doing it). Kirk probably never would have done that, but wasn't shy in imposing 'freedom and self-determination' upon species he never encountered before, which in turn Picard probably never would have done before doing some more research.
EDIT: just rewatched the ep. So, Porthos pees on a sacred tree, and Archer has to ritually apologize by (chain)sawing a tree in small slices arrange those slices in geometric patterns, and present those to the "elders" or some such persons. The same tree Porthos peed upon? If so, that's one messed up culture ....
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It's like in the US Flag Code, which talks about the proper way to honorably dispose of an old flag (via burning) as opposed to those who would disrespect the flag (via burning). The sacred tree has been dishonored, (literally) soiled by this alien creature, and Archer needs to destroy it and restore its honor.
It's the only way to be sure.No. But an improvement nonetheless
(Which makes me wonder, by the way, how these things went over in the Mirror Universe. Did those guys at least have the "courtesy" to first plant that flag and wait for the aliens to resist, or would they begin bombing alien planets without even first making contact?)
