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Gotta have a tailpipe?

Tailpipe a racist remark?

  • YES

    Votes: 5 7.4%
  • NO

    Votes: 63 92.6%

  • Total voters
    68
  • Poll closed .
The Klingon Empire and the Klingon species are virtually inseparable. If there are any Klingons that live outside of the Empire, we didn't hear about them. If there are any non-Klingons that joined up with the Empire, we didn't hear about them either.

And yet, line up TOS Kor (greenish brown skin), Kang (reddish skin), Koloth (caucasian), Kahless (dark brown skin), TMP's Klingons (an extension of the spinal column stretching to the nose), ST III Klingons (each one having distinctive forehead bumps)...

If those aren't as visually racially-distinctive as the humans of Earth, can we really say that "the Klingon Empire and the Klingon species are virtually inseparable"?
 
And yet, line up TOS Kor (greenish brown skin), Kang (reddish skin), Koloth (caucasian), Kahless (dark brown skin), TMP's Klingons (an extension of the spinal column stretching to the nose), ST III Klingons (each one having distinctive forehead bumps)...

If those aren't as visually racially-distinctive as the humans of Earth, can we really say that "the Klingon Empire and the Klingon species are virtually inseparable"?
Yes. All of those different kinds of Klingons are still Klingons. Star Trek has never shown Klingons that are not part of the Empire, and it has never shown non-Klingons that are part of the Empire. Hence "the Klingon Empire and the Klingon species are virtually inseparable."
 
Course, according to Takei, the line was originally supposed to be Rand's line, since the conversation was supposed to take place on the Excelsior.
 
Course, according to Takei, the line was originally supposed to be Rand's line, since the conversation was supposed to take place on the Excelsior.

I always wondered why the Enterprise happened to be carrying the same equipment that the Excelsior was using for its mission in the Beta Quadrant. Sure the Enterprise could have been a similar mission, but the line always seemed out of place. The line originally being Rand's makes perfect sense. Wonder why it was changed (if that was indeed the case), as it makes the line about the Excelsior's mission at the start of the film meaningless, when it could have had a payoff at the end.

Curiously the fifth draft of the script thats available online has Uhura giving the "equipment for gaseous anomalies" line, but the tailpipe line is missing altogether.
 
Damn!!!!!! I am at a loss I have searched engined this for a few hours!! I know there was a segment or interview where Nichelle had trouble with the "Well the thing has gotta have a tailpipe" which she seemed to indicate that she was totally against it but Nick Meyer finally got her through the scene. If anyone could help it would be appreciated.
As for the tailpipe enuendo, I always thought it WAS a racial kind of thing in the U.S. :confused:

This is a JOKE, right?

You're joking with us.....right?


:wtf:
 
Course, according to Takei, the line was originally supposed to be Rand's line, since the conversation was supposed to take place on the Excelsior.

I always wondered why the Enterprise happened to be carrying the same equipment that the Excelsior was using for its mission in the Beta Quadrant. Sure the Enterprise could have been a similar mission, but the line always seemed out of place. The line originally being Rand's makes perfect sense. Wonder why it was changed (if that was indeed the case), as it makes the line about the Excelsior's mission at the start of the film meaningless, when it could have had a payoff at the end.

Curiously the fifth draft of the script thats available online has Uhura giving the "equipment for gaseous anomalies" line, but the tailpipe line is missing altogether.


THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!!


From the very first showing twenty years ago when I first saw this, this line has bugged me!!!

What many people don't understand is that there SHOULD be a "payoff" - small motiffs at the beginning SHOULD be "called back" to at the end.

The fact that Uhura said it makes NO sense!

It just ALWAYS jumped out at me as a glaring error.


Thank you because we are about the only two people on the damned planet that noticed this and are bugged by it!


Shame on Nick Meyer who is usually such a meticulous filmmaker!
 
The line never bugged me. Nor the fact that the Enterprise was carrying such equipment. I always figured it was standard on all Starships due to the five year missions they were routinely on.
 
Sure it can be assumed BUT there is a storytelling convention, as I stated above wherein something is mentioned early on and then should be used at the end so the audience goes, "AHHHH - so THAT'S why it was mentioned!"

It's usually called a call back or a pay off but can be known by other names.

The fact that(as the posted above mentioned)Janice was MEANT to say it means the line was meant to function as said call back.

It fails as a storytelling device if UHURA says it.

It's basically akin to Hermione mentioning she is learning a new trick that petrifies all bad guys, at the beginning of a HP book but then at the end, when they are surrounded, Ron steps forward and uses it with no mention of Hermione's ability to do it.


It's really a VERY basic storytelling device and I was quite shocked at how it was mis-used in this film.
 
Yeah I understand the conventions that you are talking about. But truthfully it never bothered me much when I saw the film.
 
I guess it's the writer in me.

Some people are bothered by these things, some aren't. It's like if I watch a military-type film and a gun is mis-identified as something else, I could NOT give TWO shits. The gun nuts go APE SHIT ballistic and I am like........."WTF?!?! WHO CARES?!?!?!"
 
It actually never bothered me because I was never aware that they were setting it up earlier in the film. The mere fact that I know this now will make me notice it when watching the film again, though I am not sure it will detract from any subsequent viewings.
 
Course, according to Takei, the line was originally supposed to be Rand's line, since the conversation was supposed to take place on the Excelsior.

I always wondered why the Enterprise happened to be carrying the same equipment that the Excelsior was using for its mission in the Beta Quadrant. Sure the Enterprise could have been a similar mission, but the line always seemed out of place. The line originally being Rand's makes perfect sense. Wonder why it was changed (if that was indeed the case), as it makes the line about the Excelsior's mission at the start of the film meaningless, when it could have had a payoff at the end.

Curiously the fifth draft of the script thats available online has Uhura giving the "equipment for gaseous anomalies" line, but the tailpipe line is missing altogether.

Poor Janice! Unceremoniously cast from her position as the Captain's Yeoman; demoted after Star Trek III; her line to Sulu in his quarters was given to Christian Slater due to nepotism (awesome cameo mind you); and then the only smart thing she has ever done in the show's history (unless you include making hot coffee with a phaser) is given to Uhura. There is no justice I tells ya!
 
her line to Sulu in his quarters was given to Christian Slater due to nepotism (awesome cameo mind you)

Actually, she did win a fan poll at a big convention to get her role in ST VI. Janice and Kevin Riley were the semi-finalists to do the lines written for "Excelsior Communications Officer". Sure, Christian Slater's Mom later used her pull as Casting Director, but then, Janice wandering into Sulu's quarters at night might have got tongues wagging.

(And Christian Slater in the dark in Sulu's room wouldn't? Nah, scratch that.)
 
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