• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

WTF moments in TOS & TAS....

The other thing that cracks me up about that particular still is that you can see Roc coming around the corner in the background, and Kirk has this dreamy look on his face like he's just imagining what he's going to do with his new rock dildo...
 
Thanks, this makes a lot more sense.


To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
Kirk's expression changes instantly when he realises it's not Spock rubbing his back. If Kirk had just confused the person, he would have corrected himself and then continued enjoying the back rub. Instead he looks embarrassed, as if he said too much. And like you said, it's not really like Spock to massage another man's back like that for no reason, especially if you consider that touch is a sensitive thing for Vulcans.

It just seems oddly intimate for Spock to give a back rub and Kirk seems uncomfortable with the idea of someone else doing it. I'm not sure what else we can possibly read from the scene.

In television shows at the time, a woman giving a massage to a man implied something sexual whereas the general viewing audience would not assume the same about guy rubbing another guy's shoulders cuz that was just, you know, guy stuff. I'm basing this off being a member of the viewing audience during its initial broadcast.Your mileage may vary.
 
In television shows at the time, a woman giving a massage to a man implied something sexual whereas the general viewing audience would not assume the same about guy rubbing another guy's shoulders cuz that was just, you know, guy stuff. I'm basing this off being a member of the viewing audience during its initial broadcast.Your mileage may vary.
That's interesting and would be appropriate for Kirk's character. Kirk had many love interests (even considering that he actually didn't sleep around much) but he didn't involve himself with his crew.
 
What always confounded me even more about Kirk and that rock is the way he's holding the fat end. Like if you're going to use a bat as a weapon, you would naturally hold the fat end, right? It's like the way he holds it is very deliberate and I never knew what to make of that.

Robert
 
Isn't this picture banned on this website? :( :( :(
And I have watched Star Trek for decades and never even thought about this being anything but a weapon until someone mentioned it on this website and now I can't watch this episode without giggling in anticipation.
I told my Trekkie friend about it the other day and didn't believe me - another I've watched Star Trek for decades and would have noticed. Now the picture's on her Twitter account. Maybe she should have #WilliamShatner
Baned? Nah.
 
In television shows at the time, a woman giving a massage to a man implied something sexual whereas the general viewing audience would not assume the same about guy rubbing another guy's shoulders cuz that was just, you know, guy stuff. I'm basing this off being a member of the viewing audience during its initial broadcast.Your mileage may vary.

Winner.

A friend of close rank helping out? Ok.

Female of far lesser rank: not ok. Even though she volunteers w/o saying anything (unasked-for touching btw).
 
Ruk giving Kirk a backrub off screen :)

tumblr_of0gf9kWMB1vy747uo1_640.jpg
 
Last edited:
What always confounded me even more about Kirk and that rock is the way he's holding the fat end. Like if you're going to use a bat as a weapon, you would naturally hold the fat end, right? It's like the way he holds it is very deliberate and I never knew what to make of that.

Robert
I recall a quote from either Nimoy or Shatner discussing the props and their handling of them. They recall being really worried about breaking the props so they handled them delicately. Maybe that's why.
 
Not sure if you’d call this a WTF moment, but what was Bill Theiss thinking when he put the menacing android Ruk in a long bathrobe and pink ruffled nightgown?

A film making trick, perhaps. Ruk, Rok. Big scary looking characters but pussycat at heart, or child.
 
I guess you could read a gay subtext into the back massage, but for me Spock’s explanation in “Amok Time” was believable -- “When I thought I had killed the captain, I found I had lost all interest in T'Pring. The madness was gone.”
Not sure if you’d call this a WTF moment, but what was Bill Theiss thinking when he put the menacing android Ruk in a long bathrobe and pink ruffled nightgown?

ted-cassidy-star-trek1.jpg
If you look at it and think about it in terms of red, green, and blue primaries, it makes a lot of sense, actually.

Ruk's pink colors are desaturated red, which align with the desaturated colors of the caverns. That indicates Ruk's origin as from the caverns themselves. The desaturation suggests great age, as if the colors have washed out.

On the other hand, the blue and green binary patterns of Dr. Korby's party complement and round out Ruk's and the cavern's region of color space. The binary patterns suggest "two" which is the theme of the duplication machine.

:bolian:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ruk was built by the Old Ones to work on machinery and wound up being a bodyguard...from that perspective it doesn't make sense to actively move around in a long robe and skirt. Maybe Theiss was going for a maximum contrast between the monster makeup and the costume.... like the Talosian males being acted by women....I dunno.
 
Last edited:
Ruk was built by the Old Ones to work on machinery and wound up being a bodyguard...from that perspective it doesn't make sense to actively move around in a long robe and skirt. Maybe Theiss was going for a maximum contrast between the monster makeup and the costume.... like the Talosian males being acted by women....I dunno.

Or that aliens just think differently than we do.
 
I've long wondered which take was used for Kirk's first encounter with Ruk. Specifically, did Shatner know beforehand his feet would be leaving the floor?
 
I've long wondered which take was used for Kirk's first encounter with Ruk. Specifically, did Shatner know beforehand his feet would be leaving the floor?

In his Starlog interview, Ian Wolfe said Shatner personally worked out their stunt moves to ensure the elderly Wolfe wouldn't get hurt. I hardly believe Shatner would neglect to work things out with Ted Cassidy in a scene where Bill himself might get hurt. I'd say the Ruk stunts were all planned out and staged.
 
I always thought it was a bit WTF that Kirk and company so quickly went to an antagonistic mode with Trelene. Obviously this is a highly advanced and unique alien, with tremendous powers and capabilities. I would think "playing along" and learning more about Trelene would have been right in the Enterprise's mission wheelhouse. Of course, we know because of the way the story unfolds later that Kirk's earlier reactions were correct...but at first you'd think that their curiosity and duty as explorers would have tempered their impatience a bit, and they would have viewed this as a "first contact" protocol.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top