"She'll launch on time, sir - and she'll be ready."

[LMFAOschwarz]

No reason to assume McCoy was referring to that specific exchange. I thought he was just referring to Scotty's general reputation.

Right. He said, "Back home, we call him the Miracle Worker," as though he'd been referred to as such several times outside of that one exchange.

--Sran

That exchange had mentioned that Mr. Scott had a reputation as a miracle worker. So it was not a new thing, to Kirk.

Right, just a new thing to the audience. And retconned into the history of TOS from there on in.

Fair points!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Not to mention that they had three months on Vulcan to swap stories about the events of the previous film.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

But... uhm... Spock never once said that. At least not that we saw. I remember Harve Bennett in an interview referencing how that was a mantra for Spock. And obviously that's how it got into the film. But not sure where Bennett got that idea.

The only thing I can think of that makes sense is the Vulcan IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations), which might be interpreted as Spock saying something like that.

--Sran

 

[gottacook]

Actually, I think James Blish was the first to give Spock a saying that he supposedly was known for, but was never actually spoken by Leonard Nimoy in the role: "A difference which makes no difference is no difference." It's been a long time since I looked at my 44-year-old (!) first edition of Spock Must Die!, but I'm pretty sure Spock says this more than once in that novel.

(Speaking of which: I can't imagine Blish would want to call his one-and-only original Trek novel by such a title, which isn't even accurate for the story. I mean, at most one Spock or the other supposedly would have to die - assuming a Thomas Riker-type solution to the dilemma couldn't have been found, with the variation that the duplicate would have to synthesize dextro- instead of levo- nutrients for himself. Has anyone ever heard what Blish might have titled his manuscript? Would his widow know?)

 

[FormerLurker]

? My first edition copy of Spock Must Die! is only 40 years old. How did that happen?

 

[gottacook]

All I know is that I bought mine in 1970, and it has a 1970 copyright date. Its cover has the mirror-reflected publicity photo of Spock holding an Erlenmeyer flask.

 

[FormerLurker]

Mine must have sat on a shelf somewhere before it was brought to the book fair I bought it at. I got mine in '74.