Breaking the fourth wall

[Amasov]

So, I was watching that hysterical clip near the end of "Journey to Babel" where McCoy says, "Well, what do you know, I finally got the last word!"

When he says it, it looks as if he's staring directly into the camera, but I'm not sure if he is doing that or saying it to Amanda, Spock's mother, who was standing near the spot where McCoy was looking.

If you don't know what I'm talking about or would like to have a look, clip is right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7aPPwN0oQ&feature=related

Personally, I think McCoy is breaking the fourth wall.

What do you guys think?

 

[shapeshifter]

I agree with you. Amanda is more to his left, closer to Spock and he really twists his head to look at him so, imo, his looking at her would be more of a turn than it is.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I get more of an "I'm thinking out loud" vibe than an "I'm talking directly to the audience out there in tv land" vibe.

 

[DRMidnite]

Could be...

 

[gastrof]

If this violates continuity, I'm boycotting the episode from now on.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

It might be a breaking of the fourth wall, but it's not nearly as explicit as Kirk's "That oughtta be just about right" from "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

 

[SonicRanger]

I get more of an "I'm thinking out loud" vibe than an "I'm talking directly to the audience out there in tv land" vibe.

I think that "in universe" you're right... but it is damn close.

He'd be looking almost at Sarek, though.

 

[Maurice]

He's not looking AT the camera, which would be breaking the forth wall. He's looking slightly camera right.

 

[Nebusj]

It might be a breaking of the fourth wall, but it's not nearly as explicit as Kirk's "That oughtta be just about right" from "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

You thought that was explicit? Getting out of jail in two centuries would be just about right for Kirk, at least so far as Trek was thinking out its timeline in that block of ten episodes.

 

[NCC1968]

Magnum P.I. always did this.......I thought it was good b/c it involved the watcher....

 

[johcomp]

Didn't Shatner also break the fourth wall, very subtly whilst eating grapes that Drusilla had provided during Bread and Circuses? I remember an article somewhere about him "mugging" for the camera as he bit down on a grape??

 

[flightmech73]

I agree with DS9Sega. Although To Kelly point of view hes looking to the left of the camera. Im thinking he was looking at a crew member. Like the camera man or director or something. Personally I love it when they look at the camera. I especially love it when Shatner and Spade blatantly talk about the show on Boston Leagal. Like when they switched the time to monday or when Shatner said something to the effect of why not its our last season.

 

[Warped9]

So, I was watching that hysterical clip near the end of "Journey to Babel" where McCoy says, "Well, what do you know, I finally got the last word!"

When he says it, it looks as if he's staring directly into the camera, but I'm not sure if he is doing that or saying it to Amanda, Spock's mother, who was standing near the spot where McCoy was looking.

If you don't know what I'm talking about or would like to have a look, clip is right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7aPPwN0oQ&feature=related

Personally, I think McCoy is breaking the fourth wall.

What do you guys think?

Actually McCoy had already been established as periodically talking to himself aloud, something not uncommon to many of us when we're sometimes alone (or think we are) and thinking aloud. In "The Corbomite Maneuver" we have the scene where Kirk exits the Sick Bay to head for the bridge just as McCoy says, "What am I, a Doctor or a moon shuttle conductor? If I jumped whenever a light blinked around here I'd end up talking to myself." When by which point he is indeed alone in Sick Bay talking to himself.

So whoever McCoy is talking to at the end of JtB it's reasonably certain he isn't talking to the audience.

 

[Outpost4]

^ Agreed. McCoy talks to himself, and he is here, too.

 

[wamdue]

I dont think he is speaking to the audience, just generally feeling good about the sitution, as is said "I do believe he is enjoying this"

If you want to see breaking the 4th wall, watch Doctor Who, Music of the Spheres, in which theDoctor spends most of the episode speaking to a crowd of people in the Royal Albert Hall, via a hole in time & space in the TARIDS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdGLOVg7q8c

 

[Shatmandu]

Didn't Shatner also break the fourth wall, very subtly whilst eating grapes that Drusilla had provided during Bread and Circuses? I remember an article somewhere about him "mugging" for the camera as he bit down on a grape??

If Shatner mugging for the camera is all it takes, then his entire career could be viewed as one long fourth wall break.

Joe, pausing dramatically

 

[GSchnitzer]

There's also an odd moment in "The Man Trap" when Yeoman Rand slaps the hand of "Crewman Green" as he reaches for the salt shaker on her food tray. After being slapped, "Green" turns and looks at the camera as if to say "Did you see that? Who does she think she is?"

Greg Schnitzer
Star Trek Phase II

 

[Lieut. Arex]

It might be a breaking of the fourth wall, but it's not nearly as explicit as Kirk's "That oughtta be just about right" from "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

You thought that was explicit? Getting out of jail in two centuries would be just about right for Kirk, at least so far as Trek was thinking out its timeline in that block of ten episodes.

An explicit breaking of the fourth wall as Shatner looks right at the camera.

Explicit.

Obvious.

Unmistakable.

What did you think I meant?

 

[Nebusj]

It might be a breaking of the fourth wall, but it's not nearly as explicit as Kirk's "That oughtta be just about right" from "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

You thought that was explicit? Getting out of jail in two centuries would be just about right for Kirk, at least so far as Trek was thinking out its timeline in that block of ten episodes.

An explicit breaking of the fourth wall as Shatner looks right at the camera.

Explicit.

Obvious.

Unmistakable.

What did you think I meant?

Well, by ``breaking the fourth wall'' I typically expect a character saying or doing something which makes no sense if we pretend that the events on-camera are real --- that the room they are in is actually enclosed and there is no camera crew or audience --- but which does make sense if one supposes the actors are acknowledging the existence of the audience.

For example, Pete Schumaker lugging his suitcases into Garry Shandling's home, saying his wife threw him out, and then marching off to the sofa while dirty clothes are tossed at them from off-camera, and Garry turning to face the camera and saying, ``Well, two weeks have passed'', is breaking the fourth wall because the clothes coming in and Garry saying something like that (and two weeks passing in a few seconds, as the rest of the scene makes clear) does not make any sense except as acknowledging the audience is there and a participant in the entertainment.

Schroeder marching away from Charlie Brown, irritated, muttering that he should transfer to a different comic strip, only makes sense if we suspend belief in the completeness of the Peanuts universe and acknowedge that the characters know they're comic strip characters. Ferris Beuller telling the audience to go home because the movie is over is again not something that makes any sense for a person not aware of his audience's existence.

Happening to look at the camera while saying something in-character isn't breaking the fourth wall: Shatner (in fact, near any Trek actor) is often looking at the camera, particularly when he's the only person in the shot. When he's saying something logical for Kirk to say in the circumstance, doesn't cut it.

Since it's a humorous line you might be able to say he's winking at the audience, but it's not breaking the fourth wall when the character would have a sensible reason for saying or doing it even if there were no camera there.

 

[Outpost4]

Agreed with Nebusj.

There is a difference between looking at the camera and telling an in-joke, which is what Kirk does in Tomorrow is Yesterday, and breaking the fourth wall. Matthew Broderick broke the fourth wall often in Ferris Beuller's Day Off. Probably the master of breaking the fourth wall was George Burns in the old Burns and Allen TV show. On the other hand, Burns contemporary and best friend, Jack Benny, would do what Kirk did in the interrogation. Benny, the king of the reaction shot, would glance at the camera while letting us in on the joke. That is something all together different than breaking the fourth wall.