So name a subtle moment in any ST that you thought was well done.

[Maurice]

Subtle? "Balance of Terror". Kirk notices Stiles glaring at Spock so he circles the helm and when he's right in front of Stiles he sharply raps his fingers on the console and wordlessly gets Stiles back to his job.

 

[BillJ]

Subtle? "Balance of Terror". Kirk notices Stiles glaring at Spock so he circles the helm and when he's right in front of Stiles he sharply raps his fingers on the console and wordlessly gets Stiles back to his job.

I'd go with Kirk tapping Stiles board in "Balance of Terror" while the latter is staring down Spock.

Great minds think alike.

 

[EnriqueH]

Some favorite subtle moments off the top of my head:

-The end of "City on the Edge of Forever", where Kirk doesn't say anything after he stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler -- Everything Kirk is feeling is written on Shatner's face. And then that thousand yard stare Kirk has when they return to their own time, followed by, "Let's get the hell out of here." Classic.

Nicely said.

I like the brief look of dismay that Kirk has at the beginning of TWOK when Spock asks him where he's going, before resignedly saying, "Home" with a half-hearted smile. Nice bit of acting by Shatner there, and it's our first glimpse as to just how unhappy Kirk is with his life. He hates that he has nothing else to do with his day, and that there's no one waiting for him when he gets home. Shatner gave his best performances in Nick Meyer's movies.

You know, it's funny how you understand things as a kid.

I always used to think that Spock meant he had to check before the inspection and before Kirk, meaning Kirk's arrival on the Enterprise.

And that Kirk replied, "Oh!" not "Home."

I always wondered why Kirk reacted that way.

Totally changes scene.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Another not-so-subtle one, but Kirk eating the apple in TWOK. In literature, an apple tends to be an analogy for the apple that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The movie doesn't hide the fact that Kirk and Co. are in the Garden of Eden spurned by Genesis. However, Kirk eats the apple to indicate that he and Spock have an ace up their sleeve, all before Kirk actually reveals his plan to McCoy and Saavik (and the audience), while also regaling Saavik with tales of how he beat the Kobayashi Maru.

I like how the apple was repeated in ST09. It's a throwback to the scene, but it also indicates (this time blatantly, since Trekkies know their history) that Kirk knew something that Spock and the instructors didn't know. And the instructors took the apple to mean arrogance rather than knowledge.

That's nice.

For another Eden moment, but a completely different one, I like the last line of "The Way To Eden." The last few lines:

SPOCK: Miss Galliulin. It is my sincere wish that you do not give up your search for Eden. I have no doubt but that you will find it, or make it yourselves.
IRINA: Thank you.
(Irina leaves)
KIRK: We reach, Mister Spock.

I take Kirk's "we reach" as having a threefold meaning. First, he's come around to being less of a Herbert, and admitting it. Second, he's agreeing with Spock that he wishes Irina will find or make Eden herself. But third, and here's what I think is the neatest part, Kirk is making a play on words to say, "We try, Mister Spock": the human condition is a struggle to achieve, and we only succeed by reaching for something better.

 

[Melakon]

There's a moment in TOS: This Side of Paradise, where Sulu and Kelowitz are inspecting the grounds and barns. Sulu sits on a railing, with one of the plants in near foreground. Then we cut to Kelowitz finding no animals in the barn. Back to Sulu, and now the plant has been rotated 90 degrees toward him, but he jumps down and joins Kelowitz before it can spritz him.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

I like it in TWOK when they're about to send the order to Reliant's computer system to drop her shields and Kirk tells Sulu to lock phasers and await his command.

Sulu doesn't move his head or eyes at all, bearly moves his hands to establish the lock and softly mutters "phasers locked" so as not to betray anything to Khan, and even though he says it very quiet and subdued there's an edge in his words where you can almost him thinking "Boy Khan you're about to get one hell of a shock and I am going to enjoy it immensely when I press the fire button."

 

[Delta1]

In "The Conscience of the King," when Kirk is reviewing the the file on Kodos, there's a moment when he is transported back, and his mask falls away, and that moment says worlds about the character.

 

[Green Shirt]

The shoulder shrug and the looks the two guys gave each other when Pike left the bridge and headed to his quarters in The Cage. It took many viewings before I ever noticed this.

 

[Forbin]

The Deadly Years - McCoy has developed a cure, and Kirk volunteers to be first to get the serum. Dr. Wallace is told to administer the shot, which could cure Kirk, or kill him. Sarah Marshall does a wonderful little take where she quickly looks at everyone else in the room, with a helpless expression, as if she wishes someone else would take the responsibility, then goes ahead and does it.

 

[Richard Baker]

I like it in TWOK when they're about to send the order to Reliant's computer system to drop her shields and Kirk tells Sulu to lock phasers and await his command.

Sulu doesn't move his head or eyes at all, bearly moves his hands to establish the lock and softly mutters "phasers locked" so as not to betray anything to Khan, and even though he says it very quiet and subdued there's an edge in his words where you can almost him thinking "Boy Khan you're about to get one hell of a shock and I am going to enjoy it immensely when I press the fire button."

The followup scene is also good- Khan's reaction to learning that the shields are dropping. The camera switches to his point of view as he frantically looks around the console for the override- you get the feeling that he is, for that moment, overwhelmed by the complex technology it takes to control a modern starship...

 

[Lance]

Shatner harps on about it a lot in his Movie Memories book, but it's true that the scene in 'Generations' where he side-steps his horse over to Patrick Stewart's is a wonderfully done, subtle moment that really punctuates where those two characters are in the story at that moment.

 

[EnriqueH]

I like it in TWOK when they're about to send the order to Reliant's computer system to drop her shields and Kirk tells Sulu to lock phasers and await his command.

Sulu doesn't move his head or eyes at all, bearly moves his hands to establish the lock and softly mutters "phasers locked" so as not to betray anything to Khan, and even though he says it very quiet and subdued there's an edge in his words where you can almost him thinking "Boy Khan you're about to get one hell of a shock and I am going to enjoy it immensely when I press the fire button."

The followup scene is also good- Khan's reaction to learning that the shields are dropping. The camera switches to his point of view as he frantically looks around the console for the override- you get the feeling that he is, for that moment, overwhelmed by the complex technology it takes to control a modern starship...

Yeah, I love that.

I always took it as Khan realizing that they're about to get blasted to smithereens.

I also like the moment in that same scene where Joachim tells them that they must withdraw. Initially, Khan yells and screams "NO!!!" but then his intellect supersedes his rage as he realizes Joachim is right as Joachim tells him that the Enterprise is not going anywhere.

Just watch Montalban (how can you not) the whole scene. Amazing actor.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

I like it in TWOK when they're about to send the order to Reliant's computer system to drop her shields and Kirk tells Sulu to lock phasers and await his command.

Sulu doesn't move his head or eyes at all, bearly moves his hands to establish the lock and softly mutters "phasers locked" so as not to betray anything to Khan, and even though he says it very quiet and subdued there's an edge in his words where you can almost him thinking "Boy Khan you're about to get one hell of a shock and I am going to enjoy it immensely when I press the fire button."

The followup scene is also good- Khan's reaction to learning that the shields are dropping. The camera switches to his point of view as he frantically looks around the console for the override- you get the feeling that he is, for that moment, overwhelmed by the complex technology it takes to control a modern starship...

Yeah that overwhelmed expression on Khan's face was excellent. The quick back and forth shot they did of the front control station like Khan is looking at it and thinking "Where the hell is the button I need to press to reraise that shields in all of this shit" was also perfect.

Seriously it's those little things that make a good movie great. I watched that scene over and over again because you want to freeze those shots because they happen so quickly. I did the same thing when the Enterprise gets hit by Reliant and they show a quick shot of the control panel that had roll and pitch indicators to show how the ship was reacting to being hit.

 

[Smellmet]

I always liked the look on Rand's face in TSFS as a battered Enterprise pulls up in space dock. Like a mother who's just witnessed her previously cleanly clothed kids come back into the house covered in mud.

Great thread this.

 

[Maurice]

A lot of these are "good" moments but hardly "subtle".

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I totally love the absolute, total smugness on Kirk's face in ST II when he goes "Khan...I'm LAUGHING at the 'superior intellect'. "

 

[Cyke101]

A lot of these are "good" moments but hardly "subtle".

The Millennium Falcon attacking the Borg Cube was subtle but hardly good!

 

[Forbin]

A hard moment is good to find.

Or something like that.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

A lot of these are "good" moments but hardly "subtle".

The Millennium Falcon attacking the Borg Cube was subtle but hardly good!

Yeah, even as big a fan as I am of Star Wars, I can't say that that Easter egg added anything to FC. Gosh, I sound like a killjoy!

 

[RPOW0614]

Great subtle and funny moment in First Contact.
Jean-Luc Picard: Don't worry, Number One. We'll still have you to Betazed with plenty of time to spare.
William Riker: Thank you, sir.
Jean-Luc Picard: [to Worf] Where we will all honor the Betazoid tradition [regarding nude marriages]. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the gym.