Mishearing Dialogue

[Methuselah Flint]

I was watching The Deadly Years the other day, and noticed that Dr Wallace says to Kirk she only heard from him once during her previous marriage - a stargram.

Up until I read the subtitles, I always assumed she said a 'star cry'. My interpretation being he sent her a condolences message, and she poetically calls it a star cry - as in a cross-galaxy message figuratively 'weeping/mourning' for her loss. Either my poor hearing of it, or perhaps the delivery of the line...

Interestingly we never hear about stargrams again, but this was the 60s future version of a telegram I suppose.

Anyhow, does anyone else have any other recollections of mishearing dialogue, and only later either through subtitles, transcripts or better quality DVD/Blu Ray, discovering the accurate version?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

My big one as a kid was in "This Side of Paradise," when Spock says:
"I am what I am, Leila, and if there are self-made pregatories, then we all have to live in them."

So I went and asked my mother what a pregatory was. And she asked for the sentence it was used in. It took a few minutes, but that's the day I learned what purgatory was.

Given his background, Leonard Nimoy might have been equally unfamiliar with the term, and he pronounced it awkwardly. Remember in "Journey to Babel" when Kelley said cyrogenic instead of cryogenic? I think there was a touch of that in Nimoy's line reading. It just wasn't a word he'd ever used before.

 

[BK613]

For me, the line I remember misremembering is ths one from Space Seed:

KHAN: Nothing ever changes, except man. Your technical accomplishments? Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity. But improve man and you gain a thousand fold. I am such a man. Join me. I'll treat you well.​

I thought he said "a thousand foes," And thought it a bit odd to say as he was recruiting. "I'm an improved version of Man with a crap-load of enemies but it's all good. No worries, mate."

 

[Noname Given]

My big one as a kid was in "This Side of Paradise," when Spock says:
"I am what I am, Leila, and if there are self-made pregatories, then we all have to live in them."

So I went and asked my mother what a pregatory was. And she asked for the sentence it was used in. It took a few minutes, but that's the day I learned what purgatory was.

Given his background, Leonard Nimoy might have been equally unfamiliar with the term, and he pronounced it awkwardly. Remember in "Journey to Babel" when Kelley said cyrogenic instead of cryogenic? I think there was a touch of that in Nimoy's line reading. It just wasn't a word he'd ever used before.

He wasn't supposed to say cryogenic; what he was supposed to and did say was surrogenic - IE he meant heart surgery on Sarek

 

[Kor]

TAS "The Pirates of Orion." When they were talking about the planet "Beta Canopus," I thought they were saying "Beta Cannabis," and I thought that was odd for a show that was supposed to be okay for younger viewers, even if it was made in the seventies.

Kor

 

[somebuddyX]

Can I do Star Trek III dialogue. When the Federation security guy says to Dr McCoy: "Sir, I'm sorry but your voice is scary."

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[Tosk]

"Sir, I'm sorry but your voice is scary."

 

[JonnyQuest037]

At the beginning of this scene in "Mirror, Mirror", I always heard the start of Mirror-Kirk's line as "I own you" instead of "I order you" (Shatner runs the words together a bit):

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It fit pretty well with the attitude that Mirror Kirk had towards his crew, so I never even questioned it for decades until a pal of mine put me straight.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

He wasn't supposed to say cryogenic; what he was supposed to and did say was surrogenic - IE he meant heart surgery on Sarek

I don't think there's any such word as surrogenic. Am I missing it somewhere on the Net?

 

[scotpens]

In "The Naked Time," when Sulu is under the influence of alien funnywater and waving his sword around (okay, so it's actually a foil), I always thought he said: "You either leave this war bloodied, or with my blood on your swords."

What he actually said was "You either leave this bois (French for 'wood', or in this case 'woods') bloodied, or with my blood on your swords." Even though he's imagining himself as a French character in a French novel, it's odd that he would use a random French word while speaking English!

My big one as a kid was in "This Side of Paradise," when Spock says:
"I am what I am, Leila, and if there are self-made pregatories, then we all have to live in them."

So I went and asked my mother what a pregatory was. And she asked for the sentence it was used in. It took a few minutes, but that's the day I learned what purgatory was.

Given his background, Leonard Nimoy might have been equally unfamiliar with the term, and he pronounced it awkwardly.

Well, it always sounded like "purgatory" to me.

I don't think there's any such word as surrogenic. Am I missing it somewhere on the Net?

The chakoteya.net transcript has it as "cryogenic." Nimoy simply mispronounced it.

(There was an egg donation and surrogate parenting agency called SurroGenesis whose owner was convicted of fraud, but that was in 2013.)

 

[Maurice]

He wasn't supposed to say cryogenic; what he was supposed to and did say was surrogenic - IE he meant heart surgery on Sarek

Nope.

It's cryogenic in the script.

 

[NCC-73515]

Saru said ultraviolet when he meant infrared, and someone in PIC said unconscious when they meant subconscious XD

 

[johnnybear]

I've noticed DeForest Kelley frequently leaving the Ds off of his sentences and even George Takei too! In Spock's Brain, Kelley says, "Her's is the mind of a chile!" And Sulu also to Uhura in Mirror, Mirror says, "I could change your mine!" Now Kelley being a southern gentleman I can understand having that type of accent but maybe with Takei it was a bit more awkward!
JB

 

[Methuselah Flint]

I too, got the Sulu sword scene wrong!

I must admit, Kellet does slur/mumble some of his lines. Two spring to mind :

The fringe benefit of the spores (his medical assessment on the bridge at the end of This Side of Paradise). For years I had no idea what he was saying.

But especially the opening corridor scene of Journey to Babel where he moans about the delegates and the situation. I really needed those subs to understand what he was saying. He really does mutter under his breath to himself in that scene.

There are others I'd imagine.

Great actor, but sometimes not always easy to hear certain lines.

 

[NCC-73515]

I've only needed subtitles for Emperor Georgiou so far XD

 

[Ssosmcin]

In “The Tholian Web” the dialog goes like this…

SPOCK: Yes. However, the dimensional structure of each universe is totally dissimilar. Any use of power disturbs it. If we are not extremely careful, we shall lose the Captain and become trapped ourselves.
UHURA: I see.
CHEKOV: And die like him?

When I was a kid, my sister and I would laugh because we swore Chekov said “And…I LIKE HIM!” just before freaking out.

I also thought the Enterprise went to the same damned planet every week. I asked my mom “why do they keep going to the planet Surface?”

 

[Phaser Two]

I still swear that Marlena said "Only my traps, darling," which actually makes some sense and isn't ridiculously sexual. I bet the censors heard the same thing.

 

[johnnybear]

Oiling my traps isn't it?
JB

 

[Silvercrest]

For me, the line I remember misremembering is ths one from Space Seed:

KHAN: Nothing ever changes, except man. Your technical accomplishments? Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity. But improve man and you gain a thousand fold. I am such a man. Join me. I'll treat you well.​

I thought he said "a thousand foes," And thought it a bit odd to say as he was recruiting. "I'm an improved version of Man with a crap-load of enemies but it's all good. No worries, mate."

It kinda makes sense, if he's promising that you won't be one of the foes — as long as you join him.

 

[trynda1701]

At the start of 'The Cage', where Spock says "Check the circuit", what is his next line? Is it "Can't be the screen then" or "Comm beam to screen then"?