McCoy/Spock scene in Search For Spock

[Doctorwhovian]

Towards the end of the movie we have McCoy talking to the comatose Spock in the Bird of Prey's sickbay.

It's a nice scene, but it strikes me as a bit weird, seeing how Spock's katra is in McCoy's head, and the body of Spock only has the memories from the Genesis Planet at this point (As McCoy notes a few scenes earlier). So why would McCoy bother talking to him in the first place? Couldn't he talk to "himself" or could the Lexorin have supressed the 'spock' side of his persona?

 

[Smellmet]

I never saw it as weird, it was just like a friend/relative praying beside someone's hospital bed. Despite the Katra, Bones was still in there, and we finally saw that despite their past arguments, deep down he actually cared for the guy. It's a good scene.

 

[Grant]

Great scene.

 

[martok2112]

One of the most beautifully played scenes in all of Star Trek. DeForest Kelley shines.

 

[EnriqueH]

Kick ass scene, but I appreciate the challenging OP.

 

[sonak]

I never saw it as weird, it was just like a friend/relative praying beside someone's hospital bed. Despite the Katra, Bones was still in there, and we finally saw that despite their past arguments, deep down he actually cared for the guy. It's a good scene.

well put

 

[trekshark]

maybe he was hoping somehow that Spock would subconsciously be able to get the katra to jump back into him

but I like Smellmet's answer the best

 

[BeatleJWOL]

Visually it works better for the movie to not have McCoy sitting in a room jabbering to himself; yes he's physically speaking to not-quite-Spock but the words are internal as well (as they always are, of course).

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I never saw it as weird, it was just like a friend/relative praying beside someone's hospital bed. Despite the Katra, Bones was still in there, and we finally saw that despite their past arguments, deep down he actually cared for the guy. It's a good scene.

well put

 

[Sir Rhosis]

My mother, not an SF or Trek fan in the least, finally watched a few eps with her teenaged son and the Spock/Bones relationship was the only thing she came away with. Later, when I was a young adult, home on leave from the Marines, we watched TSFS one afternoon and again she got nothing from the movie, save for two scenes. Bones' line "That green-blooded sonavabitch. It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost," and the bedside scene in discussion.

Sir Rhosis

 

[eyeresist]

Visually it works better for the movie to not have McCoy sitting in a room jabbering to himself; yes he's physically speaking to not-quite-Spock but the words are internal as well (as they always are, of course).

Well, we know McCoy doesn't want to end up talking to himself.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

RETCON

 

[2takesfrakes]

I think it works on the level that Bones indicated to Kirk earlier that he wasn't sure about the katra stuck in his head, that it wasn't discreet, some way. Basically, he already feels that Spock's dying a second time, but this time, in his own skull. Now that Kirk's fulfilled his part of the bargain, everything now falls on McCoy and Spock's salvation is now squarely on his shoulders, he feels.

This upping the drama didn't come across as effectively as did the emotional concern Bones expresses in this scene. But they were definitely underlining the fact that Spock may not come back at all, or that he may not come back as we remembered him. And that must've been another interesting payoff for Nimoy.

First, he's offered the chance to kill off Spock, when he really didn't want to play him anymore. Then he's able to direct a major event movie for the first time. And then he's allowed to basically re-invent his character, or at least, to alter him enough as not to be so evidently bored of playing him. So, for a franchise that didn't seem to want to give Nimoy much reason to stick around, he made out like a bandit, in alot of ways.

 

[Spockkirk]

I really love this scene it is a very touching McCoy and Spock scene. I sometimes get choked up watching it because I understand how he feels in that moment. He is speaking for me as well to all others that I miss including Leonard Nimoy.