The SINGLE GREATEST MOMENT in TOS !!!

[Jeffty5]

So many great moments. I agree with most of the choices already put out.

I don’t know that I can say it’s the “single greatest”, but there’s one brief moment from Space Seed that I’ve always loved: in the seconds after he just barely manages to beat Kahn off, and avert the destruction of the Enterprise, Kirk is nearly doubled-over the console, trying to catch his breath. Then he suddenly looks over his shoulder in panic, half-raising the pin he used as a club, as if Kahn might be back on his feet – ‘cause he certainly might’ve been!

What I love about this moment is that, even though Kirk won, we can see that he is aware of just how narrow an escape it was. He only just barely managed to knock Kahn out, and he did it by being more brutal than we usually see him. There’s no self-satisfaction, just a lot of adrenaline pumping. Kirk only matched his genetically superior foe by digging into a deeper reserve of desperation and will, and in that one moment we can see that the entire encounter with Kahn has taken a heavy toll on his nerves.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Antibodies.

AN-TI-BOD-DEEZ!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zr2jAvr1L0[/yt]

 

[Gary7]

Many fine references to great TOS moments... I'd repeat most of them. Here's a couple more:

A great scene from "The Empath":
KIRK: If death is all you understand, here are four lives for you.
(Kirk returns the two devices.)
KIRK: We will not leave our friend. You've lost the capacity to feel the emotions you brought Gem here to experience. You don't understand what it is to live. Love and compassion are dead in you. You're nothing but intellect!
(Lal goes over to McCoy and heals him, then picks up the unconscious Gem.)

I love the timing of the music starting when Kirk emphasizes "We will not leave our friend."


"Spectre of the Gun" is not one of my favorites, but has some fine moments.

SPOCK: Captain. May I ask a question? You needn't answer if it seems too personal.
KIRK: I'm sure I'll be able to give you an answer, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: This afternoon, you wanted to kill, didn't you?
MCCOY: But he didn't kill, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: But he wanted to, Doctor.
KIRK: Is that the way it seemed to you, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Yes, Captain.
KIRK: Mister Spock, you're absolutely right. That's exactly the way it was.
SPOCK: Mankind, ready to kill.
KIRK: That's the way it was in 1881.
SPOCK: I wonder how humanity managed to survive.
KIRK: We overcame our instinct for violence.

Overcame our instinct for violence. When he says that, it's in a rather 'matter of fact' tempo and yet... so poignant, especially when looking at our world today. We are still so saturated in violence, it makes one wonder how we really will survive (point to Spock).

 

[Mr_Homn]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A0vfDHK7vsU[/yt]

Kirk is not a fan of Lady Gaga

 

[Ian Keldon]

I find it kind of creepy and unethical that Spock would ever do that, to be honest. To reach out and erase someone's memories.

Me too.

I'll offer up these two for consideration. Both are "Kirk Moments".

The first is when he orders Spock to relieve Decker "on my personal authority as Captain of the Enterprise..." Shatner simply sells that He's The Captian, in that scene.

My other contender would be his "In every revolution..." speech in Mirror, Mirror.

Too bad that the PTB years later would waste that moment with the BS that was DS9's Mirror episodes.

ETA: I see JSC beat me to the Personal Authority scene...

 

[sbk1234]

I haven't gone back to see if anyone has mentioned this, but the single greatest moment:
"Space: the final frontier..."

 

[Gary7]

I didn't find that scene creepy at all, near the end of RFM with Spock touching Kirk's forehead and saying "forget." I honestly don't think Spock would be so invasive as to completely erase his memory of Rayna. As I saw it, Spock was easing Kirk's pain by forgetting how he felt about her. It was a direct play on McCoy's remark about love not being in the Vulcan book... because Spock really does love Jim Kirk, as he has said himself that he's not just his captain but also his friend.

 

[Vonstadt]

My personal favorite is the final talk between the Romulan Commander and Kirk in the "Balance of Terror' It was the finale to a wonderful battle of wills and strategy. The final nod of respect the commander gives to Kirk :

Romulan Commander: I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend.

added with the final sad note concerning the death of Lt. Tomlinson and the woman he almost married Ens. Angela Martine...concerning the price of such war that might have occured on a grander scale had the Bird of Prey reach its home port, as the Romulan Commander feared.


I would say the look on the miner's face and the reversal of their fear and hatred as they learn they had been innocently killing baby hortas and that they were the monsters was a close second for me. What started out as the scariest TOS episode for me as a kid, actually had a bright hopeful end...

 

[sbk1234]

I don't think this would count as "single greatest," but a moment that resonated with me was the end of The Man Trap - largely regarded as a not so great episode - when Kirk coments, "I was just thinking about the buffalo." I think that elevated that mediocre episode into an episode of substance.

 

[Admiral2]

In threads like these I like to see if anyone named my favorite. I'm sorry to see that in six pages, no one has.

So I now name the true greatest single moment in TOS. It's the scene in "The Cage" where Pike is imprisoned with Number One, Yeoman Colt and Vina and he manages to overpower a Talosian. After he tests a phaser on the prison wall, he brings it over to the Talosian and says:

"I'm willing to bet you're too intelligent to kill for no reason." Points weapon in talosian's face. "On the other hand, I've got a reason. I think I blasted a hole in that wall. Want me to test my theory on your head?"

And the Talosian reveals the hole in the wall, proving that Pike would have been the equal of Kirk in awesomeness if it hadn't been for that stupid training accident (And stupid Jeffrey Hunter turning down the stupid series and then dying!).

 

[Chris_Johnston]

Okay, since most of you have taken my choice for Edith Keeler's death for sheer emotional dramatic impact, I'm gonna go with Kirk's most Bad-Ass moment, and narrowest escape...

"Now! Energize and detonate!"

When I was a kid, "Obsession" bored me stiff (and the cloud creature effect looked really lame), but that last few minutes, where Spock & Scotty are desperately trying to retrieve Kirk's & Garrovick's scattered molecules while the ship is being buffeted by shock waves from a planet that has just had its atmosphere stripped away... well, it was quite the nail-biter.

Now, watching as an adult, this is one of my favorite episodes, largely due to the evolution of the question, "Is this a creature, or just a random gas cloud?" to "Is this an intelligent creature?", then finally, "Does this intelligent creature pose a threat to the rest of the galaxy?"

Like "Devil in the Dark", this was one of the best examples of the "seek out new life" tagline of the show.

 

[HGN2001]

It's interesting to compare and contrast the "Requiem For Methuselah" moment of Spock saying "Forget..." with his pivotal moment in STAR TREK II (and III) by saying "Remember..."

Harry

 

[trevanian]

I think my greatest moment in TOS just happened -- all 3 seasons in bluray on deepdiscount for about eighty bucks! That's tons cheaper than buying it USED on Amazon.

Actually, my faves are SpockMcCoy in jail in BREAD&CIRCUSES, Kirk in both OTT and subtle moments (risk is our business and 'go to your quarters or I'll pick you up and carry there") and pretty much all of THE EMPATH. Then there's the aformentioned BoT finale and 'gentlemen, I suggest you beam me aboard' from DOOMSDAY.

Geez, I could go on forever!

 

[Mister Atoz]

My favorite moment -- right off the top of my Trek-saturated head -- is the "I don't recognize your authority to relieve me!" moment when Spock relieves Commodore Decker of command of the Enterprise in Doomsday Machine.

A very close second: in Journey to Babel, Kirk takes command from Spock after he has been stabbed in the lung -- and orders Spock to report to sickbay to give the blood transfusion!

~ Mr Atoz, the genuine replica.

 

[Dale Sams]

My favorite moment -- right off the top of my Trek-saturated head -- is the "I don't recognize your authority to relieve me!" moment when Spock relieves Commodore Decker of command of the Enterprise in Doomsday Machine.

A very close second: in Journey to Babel, Kirk takes command from Spock after he has been stabbed in the lung -- and orders Spock to report to sickbay to give the blood transfusion!

~ Mr Atoz, the genuine replica.

You know you've seen too much Trek when you can hear every damn note of the music being played when I read your guys favorite lines....

"I don't recognize your authority to relieve me!" bumbumbumbumbumbummmmmm.....

I'm not gonna wade through this whole thread, I'll just grab a great one at random.

"Anytime you can bluff me doctor!!"

By the way what IS the name of that trope where you solve the problem by way of word association? Just word association? another example would be "An-tee-bodies!"

Edit: The only thing about Journey to Babel that bothered me was the implication that Scotty couldn't handle command in that situation.

 

[lurok]

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

Yep.

Can't argue that one.

Personal favorite moment: when Romulan Commander whispers name to Spock and he remarks how beautiful, rare.

I ignore canon as to what her name really is.

 

[beneldon]

All these moments previous are wonderful to relive seeing them as a child and as an adult! Thank you OP!

In Amok Time, when Kirk is handed the ahn-woon and looks at it for a second then shrugs because he has no idea how to wield it is really cool!

 

[gottacook]

It's interesting to compare and contrast the "Requiem For Methuselah" moment of Spock saying "Forget..." with his pivotal moment in STAR TREK II (and III) by saying "Remember..."

Leonard Nimoy gives himself the credit for thinking of saying that word - in I Am Spock among other places - in response to Harve Bennett's late suggestion of a mind-meld with McCoy just before his death scene. Has anyone ever asked him whether he came up with "Remember" specifically as a way to refer back to the "Forget" scene filmed 13 years earlier?