Best trek lines, good or evil
- Thread starter Commander K
- Start date
I'm afraid.
I knowww.
Drat.
I knowww.
Drat.
Kirk from "Return to Tomorrow":
"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk--risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her."
Perhaps the next best dialogue defining Star Trek after the main title preamble, as only Shatner could deliver it.
"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk--risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her."
Perhaps the next best dialogue defining Star Trek after the main title preamble, as only Shatner could deliver it.
"I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on...hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her, marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet. Buried alive. Buried alive."
Edited to add "as you left her"
Edited to add "as you left her"
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See, I love this bit, but I don’t think it’s in the lines, it’s in the performance. The sheer Ricardo Montalbanism of it.
Half of what makes a great line great is the delivery.
True. And sometimes, a character says it best when they say nothing at all. Like Adm. Henry in "The Drumhead".
The Siege of AR-558:
Nog: That soldier over there... you see his necklace? Those are Ketracel White tubes.
QUARK So?
NOG You know how he got them?
QUARK (dry) Mail order?
NOG He took them off the bodies of dead Jem'Hadar -- Jem'Hadar he killed. It's his way of keeping score.
QUARK And you find that impressive?
NOG Isn't it?
QUARK (exasperated) I don't think so. Take a look around you, Nog. This isn't the Starfleet you know.
NOG (defensive) Sure it is. It's just that these people have been through a lot. They've been holed up here for a long time... seen two thirds of their unit killed... but they haven't surrendered. And you know why? Because they're heroes.
QUARK Maybe -- but I still don't want you anywhere near them. Let me tell you something about Hew- mons, Nog. They're a wonderful, friendly people -- as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts... deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers... put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time... and those same
friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me?
Just look at those faces... look in their eyes.
<Nog glances around the compound of the soldiers, at their posts, waiting. They all have the look Quark just described. -->
QUARK You know I'm right, don't you?
<But Nog doesn't answer.>
QUARK Well? Aren't you going to say something?
NOG I feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.
So much for those 'evolved humans' of early TNG, I guess.
Nog: That soldier over there... you see his necklace? Those are Ketracel White tubes.
QUARK So?
NOG You know how he got them?
QUARK (dry) Mail order?
NOG He took them off the bodies of dead Jem'Hadar -- Jem'Hadar he killed. It's his way of keeping score.
QUARK And you find that impressive?
NOG Isn't it?
QUARK (exasperated) I don't think so. Take a look around you, Nog. This isn't the Starfleet you know.
NOG (defensive) Sure it is. It's just that these people have been through a lot. They've been holed up here for a long time... seen two thirds of their unit killed... but they haven't surrendered. And you know why? Because they're heroes.
QUARK Maybe -- but I still don't want you anywhere near them. Let me tell you something about Hew- mons, Nog. They're a wonderful, friendly people -- as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts... deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers... put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time... and those same
friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me?
Just look at those faces... look in their eyes.
<Nog glances around the compound of the soldiers, at their posts, waiting. They all have the look Quark just described. -->
QUARK You know I'm right, don't you?
<But Nog doesn't answer.>
QUARK Well? Aren't you going to say something?
NOG I feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.
So much for those 'evolved humans' of early TNG, I guess.
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That was kind of the point in First Contact, too. Sure, we’ve evolved mostly, at least when we’re comfortable and unthreatened, but…
''AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEYYYOHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!''
Spockollos, IN TRUTH IS THERE NO BEAUTY.
"It's a shame you're not alive to experience disembodiment. It's the epitome of perfection."
-Borg Queen
-Borg Queen
Major Kira about the murder on Trentin Fala, a woman that helped her resistance cell with information, but never actually joined:
SISKO: I thought you said Trentin Fala wasn't a member of the Shakaar.
KIRA She wasn't, at least not officially. Fala spent the occupation cleaning floors in the Cardassian records office in Dahkur Province. She passed us information for years without anyone catching on.
<Kira turns and looks at the body as Bashir finally covers it with a sheet>
(continuing)
She was always so afraid... afraid that she'd be caught and executed. But she never stopped. I once told her I thought she was braver than the rest of us, because she had to live with fear every day. Even after the occupation was over, Fala never wanted anyone to know she was secretly helping us. She was worried that someone might come looking for her... for revenge.
SISKO Looks like her fears were well founded.
SISKO: I thought you said Trentin Fala wasn't a member of the Shakaar.
KIRA She wasn't, at least not officially. Fala spent the occupation cleaning floors in the Cardassian records office in Dahkur Province. She passed us information for years without anyone catching on.
<Kira turns and looks at the body as Bashir finally covers it with a sheet>
(continuing)
She was always so afraid... afraid that she'd be caught and executed. But she never stopped. I once told her I thought she was braver than the rest of us, because she had to live with fear every day. Even after the occupation was over, Fala never wanted anyone to know she was secretly helping us. She was worried that someone might come looking for her... for revenge.
SISKO Looks like her fears were well founded.
Worf in First Contact 'Assimilate this!'
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One of the most fun lines from Worf.
Cutural attitudes change, humans are still humans whether in 1724, 2024, 2324. The idea that humans will 'evolve' in the future was the wrong word to use in those TNG scripts.
Well...I think it was a case that Humanity had evolved to the point where we had stopped discriminating each other based on the color of our skin & gender, and no longer had warred with each other over religion or territory. But even as far back as "Encounter At Farpoint," Q was challenging Picard if Humans were truly as evolved as he claimed. Had Humans truly rid itself of all its shortcomings and bad tendencies? The answer was ultimately no, but that they were still a work in progress, IMO.
Intriguing idea.
Do we consider ourselves less evolved than our ancestors 300 years ago? More evolved?
Do we consider ourselves less evolved than our ancestors 300 years ago? More evolved?
I think we probably do consider ourselves more evolved than Humans 300 years ago, although we likely use the term "pre-industrial" or "ancient" to describe our ancestors instead. Of course, if one was to hold up an eyeglass to current day Humanity, one would see that while technologically and socially we've come very far, quite a few things still need considerable improvement as far as our basic nature...
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