Drop of the true

[PCz911]

I hadn't noticed before, but this is a very strange conversation between Spock and McCoy with the latter focusing more on his drink.

Is "a drop of the true " common?

************

SPOCK: Spare me your philosophical metaphors, Doctor. The Captain is acting strangely. I'm asking if you've noticed.
MCCOY: Negative. Did you know this is the first time in a week I've had time for a drop of the true? Would you care for a drink, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
MCCOY: Now I know why they were conquered. What are you so worried about, anyway? I find Jim generally knows what he's doing.
KIRK: It was illogical for him to bring those players aboard.
MCCOY: Illogical? Did you get a look at that Juliet? That's a pretty exciting creature. Of course your, personal chemistry would prevent you from seeing that. Did it ever occur to you that he simply might like the girl?
SPOCK: It occurred. I dismissed it.
MCCOY: You would.
SPOCK: Did you know that he suddenly transferred Lieutenant Riley to engineering?
MCCOY: Lots of things go on around here that I don't know, Mister Spock. Now, he's the Captain. He can transfer whoever he pleases. You can look that up in a hundred volumes of space regulations somewhere. All right? Come on, have a drink.
SPOCK: No, thank you.
MCCOY: You're welcome. But I will. And please, Mister Spock, if you won't join me, don't disapprove of me. At least not until you've tried it, huh?

 

[Push The Button]

This was the early-first-season Spock, and his personality wasn't completely defined yet. And McCoy is just being McCoy.

 

[Maurice]

It's not common at all. It appears to be from a translation of the medieval song Salve virgo virginum (Hail, virgin of virgins), which would be in keeping with the literary nature of the episode.

Hail, virgin of virgins, mother of the Father,
hail, light of lights, ray of brightness.
Hail, lily of the valley, drop of the true dew;
our hope is in thee.
Hail, royal virgin, portal of salvation,
not knowing any real man; because it is God thou bringest into the world.
Hail, because thou art made fruitful with the divine offspring;
our hope is in thee.
Hail, goal of our hope and salvation;
hail to thee, through whom the guilty and the saved rejoice together.
Hail, ornament of beauty and wholesomeness;
our hope is in thee.

Translation by. E. H. Sanders​

 

[MarsWeeps]

I hadn't noticed before, but this is a very strange conversation between Spock and McCoy with the latter focusing more on his drink.

Is "a drop of the true " common?

************


SPOCK: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
MCCOY: Now I know why they were conquered.

I think the more interesting comment from McCoy is about the Vulcan race being conquered. Really? Conquered by whom?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I hadn't noticed before, but this is a very strange conversation between Spock and McCoy with the latter focusing more on his drink.

Is "a drop of the true " common?

************


SPOCK: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
MCCOY: Now I know why they were conquered.

I think the more interesting comment from McCoy is about the Vulcan race being conquered. Really? Conquered by whom?

Earth

 

[Doug Otte]

After decades of watching Trek, I can still be surprised. Amazingly, I never noticed what McCoy said there when he offered Spock a drink. And, I've never heard that expression anywhere else.

 

[Greg Cox]

I hadn't noticed before, but this is a very strange conversation between Spock and McCoy with the latter focusing more on his drink.

Is "a drop of the true " common?

************


SPOCK: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol.
MCCOY: Now I know why they were conquered.

I think the more interesting comment from McCoy is about the Vulcan race being conquered. Really? Conquered by whom?

Earth

I've always suspected that somebody was overly influenced by Westerns when they wrote that line, thinking that Spock was the scifi equivalent of Tonto or something. A friendly native from a planet Earth had colonized.

An early misstep that's probably best overlooked. Lord knows the next five decades of Trek have all ignored that line!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think the more interesting comment from McCoy is about the Vulcan race being conquered. Really? Conquered by whom?

Earth

I've always suspected that somebody was overly influenced by Westerns when they wrote that line, thinking that Spock was the scifi equivalent of Tonto or something. A friendly native from a planet Earth had colonized.

An early misstep that's probably best overlooked. Lord knows the next five decades of Trek have all ignored that line!

I've had the theory that Vulcan was a sort of analog to Japan. We fought a war with them and now we're good friends.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

As a kid before closed captioning, I always thought McCoy said a drop of the brew but a drop of the true (dew) makes sense also.

As for Vulcan being "conquered," I've always seen it in a entirely different light. Spock has often said that pre-reform Vulcans were often savage and brutal even by human standards. T'Pau said that the ceremony of pon farr has come down throught the ages since the time of the beginning. Now Spock says here that his race was spared the dubious effects of alcohol. I see here a race of highly emotional warlike Vulcans with pent up pon farr drives and no momentary releases of drinking alcohol. I see McCoy just being McCoy here implying that Vulcan was "conquered" by the logic of Surak's reforms. Even as early as "Charlie X," Spock was questioning whether or not McCoy was arguing scientifically or emotionally. This would still fit Spock's statement in "Immunity Syndrome" about Vulcans never before being "conquered."

 

[Orphalesion]

MCCOY: You're welcome. But I will. And please, Mister Spock, if you won't join me, don't disapprove of me. At least not until you've tried it, huh?

See there we have a prime example of one reason why I can't get into TOS. I don't need to listen to a character who acts like a superior dipshit because he drinks.

And man do I hate the "don't knock it till you've tried it." line. No Doctor, after all I don't need to chop off my hand to find out that I would not like that either.

 

[uniderth]

As far as being conquered goes. I think Spock was correct in saying that Vulcan's had never been conquered. The conquering McCoy is referring to is more of a cultural conquering that happened in relation to humans. Humans would have visited Vulcan related their experiences back on earth in a certain way. Perhaps they influenced other interstellar species by says Vulcans were this way or that way. Maybe even the name "Vulcan" is a word Human's used to refer to their planet and is not a native word after all. That would be quite a conquring if you can get a people to refer to themselves by a name you've given them. Or at least get other interstellar species to refer to them as Vulcans.

 

[Greg Cox]

MCCOY: You're welcome. But I will. And please, Mister Spock, if you won't join me, don't disapprove of me. At least not until you've tried it, huh?

See there we have a prime example of one reason why I can't get into TOS. I don't need to listen to a character who acts like a superior dipshit because he drinks.

And man do I hate the "don't knock it till you've tried it." line. No Doctor, after all I don't need to chop off my hand to find out that I would not like that either.

And this is why I love TOS. I don't drink myself, but I love that McCoy speaks his mind and stands up for his good old human vices. He's not being "a superior dipshit" there. He's just indulging in some light-hearted banter with Spock. You can disagree with people without it being offensive.

How boring would the Enterprise be if everybody was polite and agreeable all the time?

As for the "conquered" line, I'm not sure we need to rationalize it. I'm inclined to treat it as a one-time mistake and just forget about it. (Which is what the show basically did.)

 

[FormerLurker]

Some people get fixated on things like phrases. Comic Writer/Artist John Byrne has used the phrase "Drop of the True" for every single character he's used in the last twenty years that offers another character a drink. He's done it so much, in fact, that I've begun to hate the phrase in his writing. Isn't he aware that some people 'tipple', 'sip', and 'imbibe' everything from 'ambrosia' to 'God's beverage'?

 

[PCz911]

The doctors on starships seem to have the booze. In the cage it was the doctor making a martini. When Kirk was slit into two and the "primitive" Kirk wanted brandy he visited the good doctor. And here, the doctor is sitting have a few at the end of a long week.

 

[Shawnster]

Drop of the true... as opposed to the synthohol.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Some people get fixated on things like phrases. Comic Writer/Artist John Byrne has used the phrase "Drop of the True" for every single character he's used in the last twenty years that offers another character a drink. He's done it so much, in fact, that I've begun to hate the phrase in his writing. Isn't he aware that some people 'tipple', 'sip', and 'imbibe' everything from 'ambrosia' to 'God's beverage'?

Weird, I've read a lot of Byrne's work and have never noticed the phrase

 

[Nebusj]

The doctors on starships seem to have the booze. In the cage it was the doctor making a martini. When Kirk was slit into two and the "primitive" Kirk wanted brandy he visited the good doctor. And here, the doctor is sitting have a few at the end of a long week.

Well, that's kind of influenced by US Naval tradition; after a 1914 order by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels there wasn't to be alcohol aboard ships, except what the ship's doctor prescribed for medicinal purposes. Some ship doctors found many reasons to prescribe alcohol; some were more stingy about it.

Anyway, it's too good an excuse to have characters speaking to one another for a show-runner to pass up the excuse of stopping into sickbay for a drink.

 

[scotpens]

Drop of the true... as opposed to the synthohol.

Otherwise known as "the real stuff."

 

[PCz911]

The doctors on starships seem to have the booze. In the cage it was the doctor making a martini. When Kirk was slit into two and the "primitive" Kirk wanted brandy he visited the good doctor. And here, the doctor is sitting have a few at the end of a long week.

Well, that's kind of influenced by US Naval tradition; after a 1914 order by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels there wasn't to be alcohol aboard ships, except what the ship's doctor prescribed for medicinal purposes. Some ship doctors found many reasons to prescribe alcohol; some were more stingy about it.

Anyway, it's too good an excuse to have characters speaking to one another for a show-runner to pass up the excuse of stopping into sickbay for a drink.

Makes total sense from a writing perspective. But didn't Scotty have a whole bunch of booze in his quarters ?

 

[Nerys Myk]

The doctors on starships seem to have the booze. In the cage it was the doctor making a martini. When Kirk was slit into two and the "primitive" Kirk wanted brandy he visited the good doctor. And here, the doctor is sitting have a few at the end of a long week.

Well, that's kind of influenced by US Naval tradition; after a 1914 order by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels there wasn't to be alcohol aboard ships, except what the ship's doctor prescribed for medicinal purposes. Some ship doctors found many reasons to prescribe alcohol; some were more stingy about it.

Anyway, it's too good an excuse to have characters speaking to one another for a show-runner to pass up the excuse of stopping into sickbay for a drink.

Makes total sense from a writing perspective. But didn't Scotty have a whole bunch of booze in his quarters ?

The manifest has it listed as "experimental fuels".