Favorite TOS fight

Mine would have to be Kirk fighting his Counterpart from the Exeter Captain Tracey. It was nice seeing Kirk fight someone with the same training. It was strength and experience vs youthfulness and determination. I wish Kirk had fought more Starfleet Captains. Kirk really had to give it his all unlike usual other times. I wish we could have seen Kirk fight more Starfleet Captains or Commodores.

 

Decker fighting the security guard, a fight of (near) equals.

 

Kirk vs Flint

 

Spock versus Kirk in TOS S2 "Amok Time" (The background music alone makes it a real classic)

 

I've always liked the Kirk vs Atoz fight in "All Our Yesterdays" for having Kirk holding on and fighting from inside the Atavachron portal. It's a nice touch that they went the extra mile for, that makes Kirk's peril quite dramatic.

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Lotta good suggestions so far. In the end I don't have a very favorite one, because there are several with their own pluses that stand out from the others.

Krik vs Spock in "Amok Time" is a standout for sure.

I think the landing party vs the villagers in "The Apple" is a noteworthy for showing that the female crewmembers can fight too, something rarely if ever done elsewhere on the show.

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Kirk vs. Gorn. Iconic. Or Kirk v. Spock in Amok Time.

 

I'll second all of the above and add Kirk vs Khan, Kirk vs Gary Mitchell and Kirk vs faux Finnegan

 

"Court Martial"

Kirk vs. Finney.

When almost-look-a-like-Kirk picks himself off the deck and shakes his head.

 

For fun factor- it's gotta be Kirk vs. Finnegan. That fight went on for like 10 full min. They fought, went to commercial break, and continued to fight. It's a fistfight that seems to last about as long as the final battle in Star Trek: Nemesis. Absolutely ridiculous. Also- it has smack talk and one of my favorite line deliveries by Shatner "I'm not a plebe!!"

For drama- it's Kirk vs. Ronald Tracy. This is a "to the death" battle with an enemy who is as highly trained and as intelligent as Kirk is. He's proven his willingness to murder fellow officers already. He's obsessed and highly dangerous. I actually put him up there with the very best TOS enemies. Also- this fight has a vicious desperate realism that many of the others don't have.

 

That is an excellent point on Kirk vs. Mitchell. That would rival my choice of Kirk vs. Tracy in terms of sheer emotion, desperation and viciousness.

 

Even more vicious before they edited out the kick in the crotch from the aired version. The bonus version from the season 3 sat includes the unedited version

 

What, no votes for the Bar fight with Scotty & the Klingons?

 

My personal favourite is Kirk vs Finnegan
For most of the fight Kirk got leathered, but seeing as he´s our hero, he had to nail him in the end.

 

Kirk vs. Mitchell had that level of intensity and danger, thanks to the kind of raw tension of close friends becoming enemies.

For pure Kirk efficiency / badass-ery, his fights in "A Taste of Armageddon" and "Mirror, Mirror" take center stage.

 

I can see the Kirk-Tracey fight for sure, but two I've always liked are the sickbay battle in "Mirror, Mirror" and the brief transporter room scuffle in "Assignment: Earth."

The former is well choreographed and portrays Spock's far superior strength well. Only Kirk can even cope with him. Some of the Shatnerian Kirk Fu moves are fantastic, too. And it's Uhura who saves the day!

The latter is quick but excellent. If I recall correctly Nimoy lets out a notable surprised grunt when Seven resists the nerve pinch and hits Spock, clearly quite hard. It's shocking to see Spock dispatched so easily. And Shatner's jump off the transporter pad is completely awesome for reasons both out-of-universe and in. First, the jump. There's no way that Shatner didn't suggest that or just come up with it on the fly during a take. And second, instead of charging in to help against Seven hand-to-hand as you might expect, Kirk coolly assesses the situation like a trained military tactician and grabs the fallen phaser to subdue the intruder.

 

Any where the stunt doubles aren't obvious on even a 15" color TV with a horrendous 0.3mm dot pitch that was standard in 1967. As much as I adore "I, Mudd", that fight scene is one of the worst and they didn't bother to use angles to hide the fact Norman went from a somewhat meaty and delicious mid-30s android body to a thinner, faster, yet early-50s stunt double android body - complete with a completely different (and shorter!) hairstyled model in a number of cuts to ensure the added mass and related weight wouldn't cause excess drag factor to slow him up... Silly laws of physics...

But one of the best from TOS? Kirk/Mitchell didn't look too out of sorts with the stunt doubles.

 

That was a very good one - fast paced, excellent and proper use of camera cuts to sell the confusion such a fight scene will bring, and a sweet bonus that half the patrons there were stunt doubles already (so fewer people to swap out, phew!) and I don't recall any badly-placed ones taking place for Scotty, Koloth's first officer with the to-be-trendy 70s perm, et al...

Kirk vs the Andorian in "Journey to Babel" was another good fight and I don't recall seeing gratuitous stunt double either, though in some shots there undoubtedly was one...

 

I always liked the Mirror, Mirror sick bay fight.

 

Totally agree, my favorites are those where the stunt doubles are either well hidden or not there at all. When Shatner did his own fights, they were amazing. He had great physical prowess and a great flair. He could really throw a powerful stage punch. With that in mind:

1. Tomorrow is Yesterday: all Shatner and a lot of fun. A gripping fight while still being lighthearted.
2. The Gamesters of Triskelion: Shatner did all of his own stunts here and the fights are really nicely done (even when he misses the colors he's supposed to hit). The teaser, when he fights Lars, is great. Watch how he dodges the knife and then hammers Lars with a left and a right. It's a shame Shanna couldn't have defeated Kirk more convincingly.
3. The Omega Glory: OMG this is the best of the Shatner brawls. He and Morgan Woodward are fantastic. Woodward powers through his blows and Shatner handles all of it with great athleticism.
4. Spectre of the Gun: fun! Shatner does his flying kick and then actually winds up his punches, raining blows upon Wyatt Earp.
5: Whom Gods Destroy: Kirk vis Garth as Kirk. The BEST double I've seen for Shatner. They FINALLY fitted the stunt guy with a Kirk toupee and found a guy with the same build. Some shots are very difficult to see who is whom.

Journey to Babel almost makes this list, but the flying butt slam and Kirk keeping his back to the guy with the knife was just unforgivable. There was a cut scene posted here some time ago that joins the fight a few moments earlier. It was actually pretty exciting because it started with a tracking shot. The whole thing was mostly one take, which is great too. So you know, maybe it deserves to be on the list. It's still better than the "tall skinny guy as Kirk" fights we kept seeing.