• 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!

The TOS 'stupid statements' thread

Except that Kirk's not blonde.

I took it as a joke to play up that Kirk can be a hard-ass. Back then, TV nazis were just big, cartoony evil guys. Nowadays, the attitude is quite different.
 
Kirk was brown haired and hazel eyed.
But then again, Germans aren't all blond & blue-eyed anyway---probably not even half of them.

I once heard a co-worker claim that if the Nazis had won WWII there would have killed everyone on Earth who wasn't blond & blue-eyed. :lol:

I said to her, "Including the millions of Germans, Dutch, English, French, Scandinavian, Irish, Scotish, etc people who are dark haired & dark eyed?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. I guess she thought they were going to kill 3 billion 750 million people over hair color.
 
Kirk was brown haired and hazel eyed.
But then again, Germans aren't all blond & blue-eyed anyway---probably not even half of them.

I once heard a co-worker claim that if the Nazis had won WWII there would have killed everyone on Earth who wasn't blond & blue-eyed. :lol:

I said to her, "Including the millions of Germans, Dutch, English, French, Scandinavian, Irish, Scotish, etc people who are dark haired & dark eyed?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. I guess she thought they were going to kill 3 billion 750 million people over hair color.

Not to mention Adolf Hitler himself. (Or did you co-worker assume he was blonde and blue-eyed too? ;))
 
Kirk was brown haired and hazel eyed.
But then again, Germans aren't all blond & blue-eyed anyway---probably not even half of them.

I once heard a co-worker claim that if the Nazis had won WWII there would have killed everyone on Earth who wasn't blond & blue-eyed. :lol:

I said to her, "Including the millions of Germans, Dutch, English, French, Scandinavian, Irish, Scotish, etc people who are dark haired & dark eyed?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. I guess she thought they were going to kill 3 billion 750 million people over hair color.

Not to mention Adolf Hitler himself. (Or did you co-worker assume he was blonde and blue-eyed too? ;))

She probably did. She was pretty dumb.
Yes after the world was conquered and all the billions of non blue-eyed and/or blond were killed hitler would have killed himself and therefore removed the stain of 'brown hair' from the face of the earth.
 
In Patterns of Force, why did Spock tell Kirk that Kirk would make a very convincing Nazi? I remember that one line, but not what else was said. That just seems like a really creepy thing for him to say. I mean, we're talking about nazis here. Jeez.

Presumably because Kirk is blonde and blue? eyed.
In the context of the scene:

OFFICER: Lieutenant, what have we here? A Zeon?
SPOCK: Yes. Obviously he's not one of us. I captured him. Is that not correct procedure with enemies of the Fatherland?
OFFICER: With all Zeon pigs, Lieutenant.
SPOCK: Take charge of him.
OFFICER: With pleasure. Today we have a surprise planned for you, Zeon.
(He steps in front of Spock and gets his neck pinched, of course.)
SPOCK: Your uniform, Captain.
KIRK: Yes, it's a shame yours isn't as attractive as mine. Gestapo, I believe.
SPOCK: Quite correct. You should make a very convincing Nazi.
The uniform Spock was wearing was that of an army lieutenant (going by dialogue, at least) and many lower-grade army officers were not Party members. However, membership in the Nazi party was a prerequisite for becoming a Gestapo (secret police) officer. Spock's line is pretty much a "back atcha" zinger at Kirk for "bragging" about his nicer uniform.
 
I think the king of 'em all is "The Immunity Syndrome", when they enter the zone of darkness, and suddenly wonder what happened to the stars. Further complicated when Spock is explaining how the noise they heard was the crossing of a "boundary layer", and Kirk can't figure out what boundary layer Spock could possibly be talking about. And, of course, Spock doesn't really help with his "between where we were and where we are" answer.

Actually I felt that a big chunk of the opening dialogue in the "Immunity Syndrome" was a bit...awkward.

For instance, Spock gets the ball rolling by saying that the Intrepid "just died." I was not aware that the USS Intrepid was ever alive.

This is followed up by Chekov stating "I just finished scanning the Gamma 7A system...It is dead." What? Why are people suddenly describing inanimate things as being "dead?" When did we stop talking about "detecting lifesigns?"

The dialogue itself makes sense, its just a very odd way of describing events.
Not in my experience. Cars and computers "die" all the time.

"Dude, did you get my email?"

"No, my computer's dead."
 
I always cringe when I hear Uhura's "Captain...I'm frightened" line in City on the Edge of Forever.


Agree completely. Maybe not 'stupid' in 1967, but 'cringe-worthy' for a few decades now.

I think it would be so much better to just show her face with a "oh, shit" look on her face. Stuck on this ball of dust and the Enterprise and earth are gone. Scary, but not requiring a public announcement of such.
 
I always cringe when I hear Uhura's "Captain...I'm frightened" line in City on the Edge of Forever.

I hate that line. With all the rewrites this episode went through, it's a wonder that stinkbomb got on-screen. It's amazing Dorothy Fontana didn't take it out. Or maybe she did and Gene (or someone else) put it back.

Real-life:

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: "Captain...I'm frightened."

CAPTAIN: "Okay, you're fired."
 
I always cringe when I hear Uhura's "Captain...I'm frightened" line in City on the Edge of Forever.

I hate that line. With all the rewrites this episode went through, it's a wonder that stinkbomb got on-screen. It's amazing Dorothy Fontana didn't take it out. Or maybe she did and Gene (or someone else) put it back.

Real-life:

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: "Captain...I'm frightened."

CAPTAIN: "Okay, you're fired."

Along those lines......

In 'Squire' filmed as #18 Kirk disappears and Uhura simply stands up startled.
In 'Arena' filmed next as #19 Kirk disappears and Uhura jumps up and screams.

WTF?
Why does she let out this terrible 'female' scream one time and not the other? None of the men scream. Totally lame.

Too bad she couldn't have said to the director of 'Arena', "You know on the very last episode we filmed the exact same thing happened and Uhura didn't lose her cool."
Hopefully he wouldn't have thought she was getting 'uppity'

I wonder which was her preference, to play it as the scared female or keep her cool? And if she preferred playing it cool, did they over-rule her and say, "just let out the scream and get it over with."
 
I always cringe when I hear Uhura's "Captain...I'm frightened" line in City on the Edge of Forever.

I hate that line. With all the rewrites this episode went through, it's a wonder that stinkbomb got on-screen. It's amazing Dorothy Fontana didn't take it out. Or maybe she did and Gene (or someone else) put it back.

Real-life:

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: "Captain...I'm frightened."

CAPTAIN: "Okay, you're fired."
I dunno. The universe as she knew it had been destroyed. If Scott had said "Captain, I'm fackin' terrified!", it would have been just as appropriate. I don't find it particularly sexist.

Counterintuitively, I hate virtually all the rest of CotEoF...

And anyway, you can't fire someone from an organization that no longer exists. :p
 
^^^^^
They didn't have Scott say it because it would have made him sound like a fool---just as it did with her.
They just (wrongly) felt it wouldn't sound stupid from a woman.
 
She comes damn close to saying it again in "Mirror, Mirror."

I remember reading a parody in one of the Best of Treks where she gets out "Captain" and everyone else says, in mocking unison, "I'm frightened." Of course, her response was just as classic, something like "What do you expect me to say, 'Feets don't fail me now'?"

I usually hate fan parodies of Trek but that was just great.
 
Last edited:
"She comes damn close to saying it again in "Mirror, Mirror."

Very true...I had forgotten that! At least in this case, she pretty much redeems herself by her later performance on the bridge "distracting" Sulu :)
 
Just watched Enemy Within and noticed two stupid lines.

When Fisher walks in on Kirk/Rand and then runs to the intercom, doesn't give himself enough time to say where the trouble is because he spends too long saying "geologicial technician Fisher..."

Also when Kirk is talking to his double in the sickbay, he says "you won't be afraid if you use your mind - think, think! You can do it!" Then Bones comes over and says "Jim, he is back!" WTF???? Did they snip some dialog out during post-production???
 
Re: TOS 'stupid statements' thread

Every once in a while, you'll hear some statements or dialog in a TOS episode that seems to be either out of place, redundant, or simply stupid.

Case in point, "Tomorrow is Yesterday", shortly after Captain Christopher was beamed aboard, we hear this:

Spock: "Captain, the aircraft has completely broken up. Shall we turn off the tractor beam?"

I understand the Captain is there to make decisions, but glaringly obvious ones like this seem like they shouldn't require the Captain's approval, just because he ordered the tractor beam on. It was to hold the aircraft in place, but it couldn't hold up. After it breaks up, there is certainly no reason to leave the tractor beam on... :wtf:

Anybody remember other lines that simply shouldn't be there or are in bad need of a rewrite?

This is a glaringly bad command decision by the Captain. He obviously should have brought the ship into the hanger bay.
 
Not a 'stupid statement' but a rather bad reading---I always thought.

"I-AM-ROGER-CORBY!!"...... was oddly said

I always thought it shoud have went......

"I AM Roger Corby!"

Meaning, I really am Roger Corby, in here. (the robot body)

The other way, it just sounds awkward----too broad. I don't know why the emphasis was on all the words and not on the 'AM'
 
I have grown to dislike Balok's......

"you'd never have been frightened of my true appearance."

They weren't frightened by the balok's 'puppet's' image---they were frightened with the ease the Fesarius defeated and held the Enterprise & the subsequent death sentence.

That's like saying you wouldn't be frightened if some young gang-banger wanna be, 10 year old, pointed a gun at you and you were sure he was going to use it.

"Aw, he so small and cute---i just can't be scared of him."
 
I have grown to dislike Balok's......

"you'd never have been frightened of my true appearance."

They weren't frightened by the balok's 'puppet's' image---they were frightened with the ease the Fesarius defeated and held the Enterprise & the subsequent death sentence.

That's like saying you wouldn't be frightened if some young gang-banger wanna be, 10 year old, pointed a gun at you and you were sure he was going to use it.

"Aw, he so small and cute---i just can't be scared of him."

See Omar and Kenard, The Wire.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top