Spock & McCoy...the Movies.

[Gojira]

Spock & McCoy had a cantankerous and adversarial relationship so I watched all 6 movies to see how frequently they sparred in the movies. I discovered that other than TMP and WOK they really didn't argue too much after that. Of course McCoy was carrying Spock's Kate's in SFS so they didn't argue in that movie. But there really isn't much bickering between the two in the last couple of movies.

Even though the series depicted them as friends despite the arguments I often wonder if they didn't really like one another.

 

[Smellmet]

They argued around the campfire a bit in TFF.

 

[sbk1234]

Even though the series depicted them as friends despite the arguments I often wonder if they didn't really like one another.

When push came to shove, they were often the first to defend or stick up for each other. It was McCoy who defended Spock, even before Kirk did in the Menagerie (I think). In Amok Time, Spock declares that he is allowed to have his closest friends with him for the ceremony, then asks McCoy to join them. Bones is noticeably touched.

 

[GulBahana]

The verbal sparring is their way of showing affection.

 

[Commishsleer]

The verbal sparring is their way of showing affection.

Agreed.
Just look at them in 'The Empath'
I regard them as best friends

 

[Timewalker]

Of course McCoy was carrying Spock's Kate's in SFS

Spock's katra, I presume. Maybe some day whoever programs spell checkers will be a Star Trek fan and words that are normal for us won't be flagged as spelling mistakes.

I remember an exchange in "Bread and Circuses" in which Spock and McCoy are arguing, and Flavius asks Kirk, "Are they enemies?"

Kirk replies (paraphrase): "I'm not sure they're sure."

It should be obvious that they're not enemies, and that a fair number of the argumentative exchanges are coming from one of them misunderstanding the other.

 

[Greg Cox]

I always loved the moment in the third movie when McCoy is alone with the comatose Spock and confesses that he couldn't bear to lose Spock again . . ...

It should be noted that close friends who constantly bicker and insult each other even though they'd gladly die for each other was a cliche long before STAR TREK. See, for example, Monk and Ham in the original DOC SAVAGE pulp novels. Or Ben and Johnny in the FANTASTIC FOUR comics.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

McCoy offered to hold Spock so Kirk could beat him up in STV.

 

[Timewalker]

I think that we can safely disregard the fifth movie. It was a pretty clueless piece of junk, for the most part.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

What about this scene in TVH [http://www.chakoteya.net/movies/movie4.html]?

McCOY: Hi. ...Busy?
SPOCK: Uhura is busy. I am monitoring.
McCOY: Umm. Well, I just wanted to say it sure is nice to have your katra back in your head, not mine. What I mean is I may have carried your soul, but I sure couldn't fill your shoes.
SPOCK: My shoes.
McCOY: Forget it! ...Perhaps we could cover a little philosophical ground? Life, Death, Life. Things of that nature?
SPOCK: I did not have time on Vulcan to review the philosophical disciplines.
McCOY: Come on Spock, it's me, McCoy! You really have gone where no man has gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?
SPOCK: It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference.
McCOY: You're joking!
SPOCK: A joke is a story with a humorous climax.
McCOY: You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?
SPOCK: Forgive me, Doctor, I am receiving a number of distress calls.
McCOY: I don't doubt it!​

 

[omnirad]

Even without the Vulcan around in STIII McCoy gets to quip when told of Spock's katra dump into his noggin, "That green blooded son-of-a bitch. It's his revenge for losing all those arguments!". I love that line!

 

[sbk1234]

I always loved the moment in the third movie when McCoy is alone with the comatose Spock and confesses that he couldn't bear to lose Spock again . . ...

It should be noted that close friends who constantly bicker and insult each other even though they'd gladly die for each other was a cliche long before STAR TREK. See, for example, Monk and Ham in the original DOC SAVAGE pulp novels. Or Ben and Johnny in the FANTASTIC FOUR comics.

I always saw their constant bickering as them being so close that they were about total honesty with each other, transcending even the use of tact and social diplomacy.

 

[Phoenix219]

I think that we can safely disregard the fifth movie. It was a pretty clueless piece of junk, for the most part.

I beg to differ. In my opinion, the fifth movie got the heart of TOS and the core 3 characters down completely. Studio interference and budget cuts seem to have caused the majority of that film's perceived issues.

 

[Timewalker]

I beg to differ. In my opinion, the fifth movie got the heart of TOS and the core 3 characters down completely. Studio interference and budget cuts seem to have caused the majority of that film's perceived issues.

A better movie would have got ALL of the main characters down completely, and not treated them so disrespectfully.

You can't tell me that "studio interference" was responsible for the dumb joke of the former navigator and helmsman getting lost on their own home planet, or Scotty knocking himself out by walking into a low-hanging part of the ship because he didn't know it was there.

Yeah, the studio probably said, "Make it funny like the last one, funny stuff sells these days." But the crap we got just shows that Shatner's idea of "make it funny" was really off-base and more of the kind of "humor" that the class bully would do.

At the very least, it shows absolutely no respect at all for the second-tier main characters, all of whom had their own fans who were looking forward to a few good scenes with them and ended up with this garbage.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

A better movie would have got ALL of the main characters down completely, and not treated them so disrespectfully.

You can't tell me that "studio interference" was responsible for the dumb joke of the former navigator and helmsman getting lost on their own home planet, or Scotty knocking himself out by walking into a low-hanging part of the ship because he didn't know it was there.

Yeah, the studio probably said, "Make it funny like the last one, funny stuff sells these days." But the crap we got just shows that Shatner's idea of "make it funny" was really off-base and more of the kind of "humor" that the class bully would do.

At the very least, it shows absolutely no respect at all for the second-tier main characters, all of whom had their own fans who were looking forward to a few good scenes with them and ended up with this garbage.

Agreed.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

McCOY: You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?

Which, if you'll recall, he did, once, albeit briefly. And he was even revived, too, by the Shore Leave planet's medical center. I can understand Spock forgetting that bit. But not McCoy. Later, he ought to bring that up.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Which, if you'll recall, he did, once, albeit briefly. And he was even revived, too, by the Shore Leave planet's medical center. I can understand Spock forgetting that bit. But not McCoy. Later, he ought to bring that up.

Great point.

 

[FormerLurker]

You can't tell me that "studio interference" was responsible for the dumb joke of the former navigator and helmsman getting lost on their own home planet, or Scotty knocking himself out by walking into a low-hanging part of the ship because he didn't know it was there.

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly that. For starters, people whose profession is getting around long distances in vehicles get lost on foot all the time, and that's what makes the joke funny for those of us who find it so. They don't have the frame of reference for foot travel in the latter setting, and can easily lose sense of direction. Secondly, Scotty's had three weeks since the shakedown cruise ended to familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the new ship. The assumption that he's so good at engineering that he can memorize Jefferies tube layouts which are probably different than they were on the last ship in that time is problematic at best, and can be as insulting as the little bonk on the head he got for swaggering when he should have been looking where he was going.

I think it could have been better executed in each case, especially the scripting (which is NOT Shatner's fault by any means), but I wasn't taken out of the movie by it.

 

[Phoenix219]

I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly that. For starters, people whose profession is getting around long distances in vehicles get lost on foot all the time, and that's what makes the joke funny for those of us who find it so. They don't have the frame of reference for foot travel in the latter setting, and can easily lose sense of direction. Secondly, Scotty's had three weeks since the shakedown cruise ended to familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the new ship. The assumption that he's so good at engineering that he can memorize Jefferies tube layouts which are probably different than they were on the last ship in that time is problematic at best, and can be as insulting as the little bonk on the head he got for swaggering when he should have been looking where he was going.

I think it could have been better executed in each case, especially the scripting (which is NOT Shatner's fault by any means), but I wasn't taken out of the movie by it.

Beyond that, to expect the movie to NOT center on the Big 3, and to give the other 4 a ton of stuff to do, is unrealistic. To detract from the movie for it, when the fact of the matter is, the original series, and the previous movies, did the exact same thing, completely boggles my mind. The first two movies jumped through hoops just to reunite the crew. They are pretty lucky to have been in the movie series at all, thanks to all of the fan support. They were always bit / supporting characters. The Big Three, with Scotty as a solid 4th, Chekov for comic relief, and Sulu/Uhura manning their stations. The movies barely break this mold at ALL.

 

[Isolar]

I beg to differ. In my opinion, the fifth movie got the heart of TOS and the core 3 characters down completely. Studio interference and budget cuts seem to have caused the majority of that film's perceived issues.

Definitely some of their best interplay, IMO.