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"Inalienable human rights"

There is, but it doesn't restore those particular cuts. Which is a shame, because the dinner scene is one of the worst edited in the movie, choppy and all over the place. You can literally see where dialogue has been chopped out.

For the record, the full scene was thus:


GORKON
I give you a toast: the undiscovered country. The future.

SPOCK
HAMLET, act three, scene one.

GORKON
You have never experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.

CHANG
"To be or not to be, that is the question" which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need BREATHING room...

KIRK
I beg your pardon?

KERLA
Captain Kirk, I thought Romulan ale was illegal.

KIRK
One of the advantages of being a thousand light years from Federation headquarters.

BONES
To you, Chancellor Gorkon: one of the architects of our future.

SCOTTY
Perhaps we are looking at something of that future here.

AZETBUR
Commander Spock, mindful of all your work behind the scenes, and despite the cordiality at this mess, I do not sense an acceptance of our people throughout your ship.

SPOCK
They're naturally wary, ma'am. We've been at war a long time.

UHURA
How do both sides overcome ingrained prejudice?

CHEKOV
Perhaps with a few small steps at a time. Like this one.

BONES
And perhaps with a large step or two. Like a peace treaty.

CHANG
Captain Kirk, are you willing to give up Starfleet?

SPOCK
(looks at Kirk)
I believe the Captain feels that Starfleet's mission has always been one of peace -

KIRK
(glares)
Far be it for me to dispute my first officer. Starfleet has always -

CHANG
Come now, Captain, this dinner is off the record: in space all warriors are cold warriors.

SCOTTY
We have never tried to --

KERLA
You hypocritically presume that your democratic system gives you a moral prerogative to force other cultures to conform to your politics.

BONES
That's not true...!

KERLA
No?

Uhura turns to the Klingon next to her - all tact.

UHURA
General, are YOU fond of Shakespeare?

He looks at her, his hands and mouth full of food. Ugh.
Chekov pursues -

CHEKOV
We do NOT impose democracy on others. We do believe that every planet has a sovereign claim to human rights.

AZETBUR
(spits)
"Human rights." Even the name is racist. The Federation is basically a "homo sapiens" only club...

CHANG
(amused)
Present company excepted, to be sure...

UHURA
Well, I suppose we're not perfect -

SCOTTY
(rising)
Don't let them put words in your mouth! I haven't served 30 years in the engine room of a starship to be accused of gunboat diplomacy!

KERLA
In any case, we know where this is leading: the annihilation of our culture. Klingons will replace those on the lowest rung of the Federation employment ladder, taking menial jobs and performing them for lower pay...

CHEKOV
That's economics, not racism -

UHURA
But you have to admit it adds up to the same thing.

BONES
Don't be naive, Commander -!

UHURA
Who you calling naive -?

Kirk stares sullenly down the table throughout this.

CHEKOV
We're explorers not diplomats!

BONES
Starfleet's killed an awful lot of natural phenomena in the name of "exploration"...

SCOTTY
We follow orders...

CHEKOV
Since when has THAT been an excuse? Diplomacy must resolve these -

SCOTTY
Right - leave it to the politicians to muck it up and leave us defenseless...!

A COUGH interrupts the fight. All eyes on Gorkon.
The Klingons conceal their amusement.

GORKON
(finally)
Well. I see we have a long way to go.

Reactions from Kirk and his officers.

Wow that is a great scene, a shame they had to cut it
 
Interesting - was Kirk's "Earth, Hitler 1938" line and Chang's response a reshoot or added in script changes?

My quote is the dialogue from the script -- I suspect that line was a later addition (and, then, one that ended up making the final movie when other parts of the dialogue were cut.)

Worth noting that the exact words in several of the lines are subtly different as well, and presented in a different order.
 
Only top-of-the-line models can even talk. ;)

I remember that line from the movie. I must admit that I don't really know what it means. Are they forbidden to talk or were they physically altered to not be able to talk?
 
I remember that line from the movie. I must admit that I don't really know what it means. Are they forbidden to talk or were they physically altered to not be able to talk?
It's just an a-hole partaking in speciesism. He (I presume, I should add) means that only select Klingons can speak english.
 
The story goes the script had some sensitive moments for the actors. I believe Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) refused to say 'Guess who is coming to dinner', and they gave the line to Walter Koenig (Chekov). And Brock Peters (Admiral Cartwright) found some lines too close to home as a black actor of his generation.
(STVI is my fav ST movie)

"Nichols was more uncomfortable with some of the dialogue's racial undertones. Her character was originally to speak the line, "Guess who's coming to dinner," as the Klingons arrive on theEnterprise, but refused to say the part and it was given to Koenig's character instead.[12] Nichols also refused to say the line "yes, but would you like your daughter to marry one [a Klingon]", and it was dropped from the film altogether".[8


"Meyer thought that Cartwright's vitriolic speech would be particularly chilling and meaningful coming from the mouth of a recognized minority. The content of the speech was so repugnant to Peters that he was unable to deliver it in one take.["
 
I think the last part at least worked like a charm. Our heroes are beyond petty racial concerns - but blind to the fact that they have just shunted them to petty specieist concerns.

It's a nice echo of "Errand of Mercy" where Kirk fiercely defends his right to kill, maim, destroy and coerce in the name of peace, prosperity and freedom. And then gets wiser.

Timo Saloniemi
 
I think the last part at least worked like a charm. Our heroes are beyond petty racial concerns - but blind to the fact that they have just shunted them to petty specieist concerns.

It's a nice echo of "Errand of Mercy" where Kirk fiercely defends his right to kill, maim, destroy and coerce in the name of peace, prosperity and freedom. And then gets wiser.

Timo Saloniemi

It is when humanity meets other races they realise their planet bound history of racism was ridiculous since all humans are the same race. It takes meeting a blue or green person for a white, beige and brown human to realise they are same species/race. Humans are still racist in the Star trek universe, just not with each other. e.g Terra Prime - Paxton's right hand man was a tall, black dude named Joshua. 'First contact' eventually kills white privilege and other caste systems.
 
(Why insist that we're all of the same race? It sounds like giving race significance where none is due.)

Trek may have been sexist from day one to today and ongoing, but it seldom went the racist route. TOS already had its share of very human heroes, villains, sidekicks and henchmen, but without racial bias (meaning it didn't shirk away from having a black villain, either). ST6 keeps up that tradition very nicely, and it's IMHO rather lamentable that Uhura doesn't get to blurt out any racist lines... It's not as if we wouldn't forgive her in a heartbeat, after all!

Timo Saloniemi
 
Denying all humans are the same race makes as much sense as denying a white woman and a black woman are the same gendar.
 
Huh? Surely "race" is a very convenient word for describing the blatant difference in appearance between a black man and a white man.

If we can't use that word, we really have to invent another in its place. Differences in appearance may not "mean" much, but they are vital for discussions about, well, appearances.

Timo Saloniemi
 
(Why insist that we're all of the same race? It sounds like giving race significance where none is due.)

Trek may have been sexist from day one to today and ongoing, but it seldom went the racist route. TOS already had its share of very human heroes, villains, sidekicks and henchmen, but without racial bias (meaning it didn't shirk away from having a black villain, either). ST6 keeps up that tradition very nicely, and it's IMHO rather lamentable that Uhura doesn't get to blurt out any racist lines... It's not as if we wouldn't forgive her in a heartbeat, after all!

Timo Saloniemi

Yes in the fictional Star Trek universe Uhura would probably say it. And the audience would forgive her. However in the real world the actress who still lives in the real world, where the concept of racism is still alive and well and living in her backyard did not want to say it. Ms Nichols has paid her dues from way back when some of us were still embryos.
 
Huh? Surely "race" is a very convenient word for describing the blatant difference in appearance between a black man and a white man.

If we can't use that word, we really have to invent another in its place. Differences in appearance may not "mean" much, but they are vital for discussions about, well, appearances.

Timo Saloniemi
Its a lazy descriptor and its false but for historical reasons I understand why we use the term. But even science has proven it is a false concept. No one says a white poodle and a black poodle are of different breeds. Would you describe the blatant difference between a blonde human and a brunette human with the word 'race'? Consider there are black people of African descent with the same amount of melanin as Europeans. Where is the 'blatant difference' there'?
 
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Some actors play villains. They get paid for it, and often take pride in doing it well. Some may decide they don't want to portray rapists or mass murderers or the soldiers of a hostile realm, and I guess that's okay as such. But it's not a powerful way to send a message.

Its a lazy descriptor and its false, No one says a white poodle and a black poodle are of different breeds.

Again, huh? Poodles and great Danes are different breeds. We need the word "breed" to discuss that difference.

I guess I could say "phenotype" instead of race, but what would be the advantage? A black man isn't just a white man wearing blackface, he's a complex combination of aesthetically significant characteristics (and naturally comes in many variants, all of them deserving of their own descriptive term much like breeds and their characteristics).

Beyond that, there may be a couple of actually significant characteristics, like a predisposition to sickle cell anemia or lactose intolerance, that deserve to be discussed in terms of race. But that's not the real reason to extensively use the term - the reason is to drive home the fact that there's no harm in it.

Timo Saloniemi
 
Some actors play villains. They get paid for it, and often take pride in doing it well. Some may decide they don't want to portray rapists or mass murderers or the soldiers of a hostile realm, and I guess that's okay as such. But it's not a powerful way to send a message.



Again, huh? Poodles and great Danes are different breeds. We need the word "breed" to discuss that difference.

I guess I could say "phenotype" instead of race, but what would be the advantage? A black man isn't just a white man wearing blackface, he's a complex combination of aesthetically significant characteristics (and naturally comes in many variants, all of them deserving of their own descriptive term much like breeds and their characteristics).

Timo Saloniemi
A black man is a human being with in most cases more melanin in his skin than a white male human. Comparing a poodle to a Dane is not comparing a white poodle to a black poodle. Is a white BMW of the same range different from the same range BMW that is red?
If humans were different 'races' the ability to sexually reproduce with each other would be zero or/and need medical intervention. It does not.
 
Different breeds of dogs interbreed with ease. Different races of humans do as well. This does not pose any counterargument to the use of these very practical terms.

And claiming a black man is defined by his skin color sounds to me much worse than accepting that he is the member of a group with a distinct phenotype overall...

Timo Saloniemi
 
It's just an a-hole partaking in speciesism. He (I presume, I should add) means that only select Klingons can speak english.
I took it to mean speak at all, insinuating most Klingons just grunt and growl.
 
Knowing Meyer's style, it is probably also a very specific reference to something spoken in another movie or TV show, or by a past public figure. (Anybody know of such a specific reference?)

Timo Saloniemi
 
Different breeds of dogs interbreed with ease. Different races of humans do as well. This does not pose any counterargument to the use of these very practical terms.

And claiming a black man is defined by his skin color sounds to me much worse than accepting that he is the member of a group with a distinct phenotype overall...

Timo Saloniemi
Which part of my sentence states a black man is defined by his skin colour? A black human has more melanin in his/her skin that a white human which part of that biological fact do you object to?
 
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