"A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrived?

[WesleysDisciple]

Anyone else feel the fact that a cure was found a FEW WEEKS LATTER for the disease McCoy's father had, seems like its something that exists simply to remove moral ambiguity from the situation... yes yes yes "We dont KNOW" It acknowledges he meant well yes, but still I almost gagged at the Anti suicide stance of that scene

To be Fair... I myself am Pro suicide, and hopelessly romanticize the jappanese practice of Seppuku, or Shinju."

 

[bbailey861]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

No, I don't find it contrived. I find it the reason that Bones was so filled with guilt. It worked well for me.

 

[Dukhat]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Yes, of course it was contrived. However, it was probably also one of the best scenes in that godawful movie, so it gets a pass AFAIC.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

No, I don't find it contrived. I find it the reason that Bones was so filled with guilt. It worked well for me.

Agreed. This segment, along with the camping scenes, is one of the highlights in the movie.

 

[sonak]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

was it "a few weeks later?" I thought it was just "not long after." "A few weeks" would be pretty contrived, I guess, but it's still a good character moment that would provide a reason for some guilt. This scene has always struck me as belonging in a different movie it's so out of place, though.

 

[dub]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

If I gagged every time a political statement was forced into Star Trek, my teeth would fall out from all of the acid! But I really doubt they were looking to make a political statement. They simply wanted to offer up something painful from McCoy's past. Pro-suicide or anti-suicide, if that happened to me I would be pretty tore up over it. That particular scene was quite gripping to me and I thought DeForest Kelley did an outstanding job with it. (Much better, by the way, than the Spock scene that followed -- how could that be one of Spock's painful memories? He was just born? )

 

[Christopher]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

was it "a few weeks later?" I thought it was just "not long after."

You're right. Here's the transcript. He said "Not long after, they found a cure." Presumably that meant within his father's life expectancy, but that could've been months or maybe a couple of years. Nobody said anything about weeks.

 

[Kirok_Blue]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

I think it fits into the overall motif of the scene; tragic irony. Also, it fits into my personal view of the whole movie: a campfire story full of exaggerations and coincidences, told more for high drama and to emphasize the themes of the story. In this case, the notions of family and brotherhood. As far as I am concerned, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy never left the camp site. I consider the whole movie a tall tale told by Kirk, to explain his beliefs about how he was never alone and how important his Enterprise family is to him. How else can you explain a 75-deck starship that traversed to the center of the galaxy in a matter of hours? Comes across more like a Trek version of Baron Munchausen. Just my two cents worth...

 

[Tiberius]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Assuming that medical research in the 23rd century will work the same way as it does today, wouldn't word of this cure be around long before it becomes available? After all, there's the clinical trials to be done, approval needed and all of that. Maybe the lay person wouldn't be aware of this, but a DOCTOR who certainly has a vested interest in the treatment of this disease would certainly know about any possible treatments being developed.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Assuming that medical research in the 23rd century will work the same way as it does today, wouldn't word of this cure be around long before it becomes available?

"Word of a cure" still has to come sometime. Like one day there's no cure, then there is a possibility.

 

[Gaith]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Anyone know the name of the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA fingerprinting?

Kirk Noble Bloodsworth. His blood proved his (noble) worth. Not kidding.

Reality itself can seem highly contrived at times.

 

[Tosk]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

I don't find it contrived. If there wasn't a cure within a certain amount of time, Bones wouldn't be torn up about it, thus making it a non-story.

"I helped my father to die and that was that. They never found a cure anyway, so I'm cool with my decision."

 

[HaventGotALife]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Weeks from a cure? He didn't hear about the research, and save his father?

 

[WesleysDisciple]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

curious... dont they have suspended animation, couldnt his dad have been put in stasis?

Stasis is almost never used in Star trek, simply to keep a patient alive, until a cure can be found.

 

[shapeshifter]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Kelly's passion sold the scene for me. I hadn't seen that look on his face since CotEoF, it gave me an homage tingle I had not felt for some time.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Anyone know the name of the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA fingerprinting?

Kirk Noble Bloodsworth. His blood proved his (noble) worth. Not kidding.

Reality itself can seem highly contrived at times.

I've always felt similarly about the fact that a legendarily famous writer was named William Wordsworth. There is also the fact that the court case that legalized interracial marriage in all states was Loving vs Virginia. Cause, ya know, Virginia was against interracial loving.

Anyway, as for the main topic of this thread, that scene did not strike me as trying to make any statement about suicide or euthanasia. It was just providing a reasonable source of personal angst for McCoy.

 

[T'Girl]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Weeks from a cure? He didn't hear about the research, and save his father?

Hear about the research? Wouldn't McCoy have been participating in the research, if not leading it himself?

I do wonder if the event (assisted suicide) happened at all. Or was it something Sybok placed in McCoy's mind. How much easier to remove someone's pain, when you yourself placed there in the first place.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Kelly's passion sold the scene for me. I hadn't seen that look on his face since CotEoF, it gave me an homage tingle I had not felt for some time.

It was really great to see him actually act again.
This movie is woefully underrated because of few incredibly minor nits.

 

[Tiberius]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

Assuming that medical research in the 23rd century will work the same way as it does today, wouldn't word of this cure be around long before it becomes available?

"Word of a cure" still has to come sometime. Like one day there's no cure, then there is a possibility.

But it wouldn't be word of a cure. Let's say Bones had no knowledge at all, and then a few weeks later he heard. He certainly wouldn't have heard of a cure, for the simple reason that they couldn't have developed one so quickly. he would have heard, "We've discovered a way of disabling one of the genes in the virus that causes the disease" or something like that. It would have taken a few years at least to conduct the research and develop it into a treatment that could have been administered to people.

And if what came a little while after his dad's death was an actual cure, Bones would have known at the time, "They're working on a project that is very promising." And therefore the news of a cure wouldn't have come as a surprise at all.

 

[Gaith]

Re: "A Few weeks latter they found a cure, a god damned cure!"Contrive

It would have taken a few years at least to conduct the research and develop it into a treatment that could have been administered to people.

An expert on 23rd century medicine, you are?