The SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT in TOS !!!

[Captain Tracy]

Considering all the great moments in The Original Series - be it: humor, action, suspense, intrigue, drama, or what-have-you - which scene, or single 'snap-shot', do you personally consider as:

'The Single Greatest Moment in TOS',... and more importantly, why ?

I'll start the ball rolling with my own personal 'winner'; though I must admit, it is only by an extremely thin margin that my personal vote does not go to KIRK's narrow escape of the booby-trapped Starship via a malfunctioning transporter in Norman Spinrad's, 'Doomsday Machine'.

My personal 'winner' is contained in 'ARENA', by Fredric Brown/ Gene L. Coon, wherein KIRK defeats the GORN, via the make-shift cannon on Cestus III.

Although both the 'Doomsday' and 'Arena' escape scenes have a high level of tension and consequence of failure - as both scenes rely on same dramatic device, that of playing 'beat-the-clock' - yet I feel the Brown/Coon scene wins by a nose for its use of having the added dimension of requiring KIRK to construct his own method of victory/escape, through sheer ingenuity and resourcefulness, ala' McGyver - while being chased no less! - rather than solely relying on the tension of being beamed-up in the nick-of-time; as effective as that is on its own.

Again, while it is an incredibly close-call for me, I personally must give my award to: KIRK defeats the GORN, via the make-shift cannon on Cestus III, as the SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT IN ALL OF TOS.

What scene or 'snap-shot' do you give your award to, and why?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Edith's death - because it's the most dramatic.

 

[Captain Tracy]

sorry,.. typo malfunction

 

[Captain Tracy]

...Leaving out the films, the next moment that comes to mind is the death of Alexis Carringt------I'm sorry, Edith Keeler.

Right FOXHOT, only looking at the 78 original series episodes, but you left out the most important part of your answer being the 'why' you award the scene or 'snap-shot' you have choosen. Please illuminate us!.

 

[Captain Tracy]

Edith's death - because it's the most dramatic.

Any specific reason why you find it as the most dramatic?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Edith's death - because it's the most dramatic.

Any specific reason why you find it as the most dramatic?

Kirk understands that there are casualties. Risk is their business. But this is one of the few times when he has to deliberately sacrifice someone for a greater good, and it was someone he loved. It's not an easy choice, it hurts Kirk a great deal, and the episode's delivery is extremely effective.

 

[Captain Tracy]

Edith's death - because it's the most dramatic.

Any specific reason why you find it as the most dramatic?

Kirk understands that there are casualties. Risk is their business. But this is one of the few times when he has to deliberately sacrifice someone for a greater good, and it was someone he loved. It's not an easy choice, it hurts Kirk a great deal, and the episode's delivery is extremely effective.

Nice answer!

 

[SchwEnt]

Maybe obvious, but the "Risk is our business" speech.
Well, if I had to pick only *one* in TOS...

 

[Captain Tracy]

Maybe obvious, but the "Risk is our business" speech.
Well, if I had to pick only *one* in TOS...

Yes, one will do it.

But can you state WHY the scene works for your personally?

 

[jayrath]

Sorry, nope, not at all. The best moment for me, since I first saw it on a hazy black and white TV in the early 70s?

There were no special effects to it -- no explosions. No alien mysticism or anything. It was after Kirk had ruined Balok's spacecraft, and yet decided to go back: a chance to "demonstrate what our high-sounding words mean."

To not only spare your enemy, but aid him? That's Trek at its finest.

 

[RAMA]

There are many...I enjoy two that come to mind immediately...when Kirk looks up into the sky as he realizes they are totally alone due to the Guardian's time change in CoTEoF. Also when Bele looks incredulously at the non-understanding Kirk as he tries to explain why Lokai is inferior in LTBYLB.

RAMA

 

[plynch]

When they seek to understand and communicate with the Horta instead of blasting her to kingdom come out of rage and self-defense. We rise above our animal self-preservation instinct to be truly human (and Vulcan).

 

[F. King Daniel]

When Number One lowers her communicator, looks up to the heavens and yells "Disengage!"

...and the Enterprise hears

 

[Nerys Myk]

COTEOF has two great moments. Both driven by acting and writing:

MCCOY: You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?
SPOCK: He knows, Doctor. He knows.

UHURA: Captain, the Enterprise is up there. They're asking if we want to beam up.
KIRK: Let's get the hell out of here.

 

[TerragonSix]

Gotta admit, a lot of people hit on Edge Of Forever, and I have to agree. When I watched that girl get nailed by that car.. And Kirk was powerless to stop it. That sad thing was she had the right idea, at the wrong time. She had to die.

 

[Esteban]

Let me add two personal favorites:

1) The scene in Journey to Babel between Spock and Amanda
2) The scene in Bread and Circuses between McCoy and Spock
3) the tag of The Trouble with Tribbles.

Oh, that's three. Oops!

 

[TorontoTrekker]

There are so many...

Others have already mentioned the drama of Kirk's escape from the Constellation in "The Doomsday Machine", Kirk's realization that Edith Keeler must die, the Spock/Amanda scene, and the "Risk is our business" speech. All of them are great. But for me, the one that made me a life-long Star Trek fan...

When they seek to understand and communicate with the Horta instead of blasting her to kingdom come out of rage and self-defense. We rise above our animal self-preservation instinct to be truly human (and Vulcan).

This one. The moment when the Horta is transformed in Kirk's mind from a monster killing the miners and his crew into a mother desperately defending her children from the humans who are killing them.

There are other episodes that I love and which carry messages which have resonated me all my life, but the epiphany in "The Devil In The Dark", that the humans have been the villains all along and that they need to make amends, was incredibly powerful to me.

 

[Captain Tracy]

There are so many...

Others have already mentioned the drama of Kirk's escape from the Constellation in "The Doomsday Machine", Kirk's realization that Edith Keeler must die, the Spock/Amanda scene, and the "Risk is our business" speech. All of them are great. But for me, the one that made me a life-long Star Trek fan...

When they seek to understand and communicate with the Horta instead of blasting her to kingdom come out of rage and self-defense. We rise above our animal self-preservation instinct to be truly human (and Vulcan).

This one. The moment when the Horta is transformed in Kirk's mind from a monster killing the miners and his crew into a mother desperately defending her children from the humans who are killing them.

There are other episodes that I love and which carry messages which have resonated me all my life, but the epiphany in "The Devil In The Dark", that the humans have been the villains all along and that they need to make amends, was incredibly powerful to me.

Yes!, the transformation of KIRK's perception and attitude,... absolutely the KEY,.... Outstanding point!

In additional effect is that it allows the HORTA to function within the story as a whole character with its own motivations and purpose, rather being trapped into functioning within the story as a 'simple monster',... stuck playing only 'monster attack' scenes.

It is at this moment when the quality of story is allow to raise yet another level in sophistication, and explore other avenues of a more meaningful purpose - which in turn raises the level of enjoyment and meaning for us, as viewers.

Great comment!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Edith's death - because it's the most dramatic.

Yep.

 

[CaptainMatt]

My vote goes to "Shore Leave" when Dr McCoy is "resurrected" by the Planet keepers and comes out of the woods or wherever with a girl on either arm and a big grin on his face!