The TOS 'stupid statements' thread

[Neopeius]

Perhaps my own misinterpretation. The trigger generally refers to a gun, whereas the hammer falling traditionally refers to an auctioneer's mallet, signifying finality. I have not heard of the term used in the context you speak of, however that is a failing on my part and I acknowledge it.

No need to apologize. Firearms are esoteric things.

One pulls the trigger which makes the hammer (that thing people cock back in Westerns) strike the firing pin which sends the bullet off on its merry way.

If you interpose something between the hammer and the firing pin (a finger, perhaps?) you can prevent the gun from going off even if the trigger has released the hammer.

 

[number6]

I hated that whole "Live long and prosper" thing.. What was up with that??

And Captain's Log?? Who cares about the size of that thing?? That was definitely one for the ladies.

And who is the arbiter of determining that Space is, in fact, the "final frontier??"
That's arrogant presumption, if you ask me.


How come nobody wears a hat?

 

[Grant]

The totalally out-dated...

"Didn't you ever dip little girl's pigtails in inkwells?"

Dipping a pigtail in an inkwell was terribly outdated even in 1966 let alone in the far future. And Kirk starts to say.."Tying tin cans....(to a dog's tail) I presume. Both outdated and horribly cruel in the utopian future of trek.

"When I came aboard !!!"

How the hell did that make any sense in the editing room? I hated that mistake when i was 10 years old. "Why did he say that again?, I thought."

 

[number6]

None of this makes any sense.

Warp drive? Beaming?? Aliens that speak English and breathe oxygen and look like us??

It's all hogwash.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Anopther one, this time from The Trouble With Tribbles:

Dr. McCoy: "...it seems they're bi-sexual, reproducing at will..."

Now, either Deforest Kelly flubbed the line, or David Gerrold failed basic biology as the above line makes no sense; it would make sense if it were:

"...it seems they're asexual, reproducing at will..."

Actually, this was considered when the episode was written, but asexual reproduction inplies reproduction by fission, i.e., splitting into two, like an ameoba, and that certainly wasn't the idea they were shooting for, so they went with bisexual, which is technically correct, but carries a sleezier connotation.

Oh well, no accounting for the filthy minds of certain audience members....

 

[Grant]

Not a stupid statement but in Court Martial when Kiek looks at the dudes in the bar and says "our graduating class is well represented here."

Then we see the guys and they're all 5 to 15 years older than kirk---one guy looks 55 if he's a day. I know people can graduate at different times in theirs lives, but it was ridiculous.

 

[marylizz]

No need to apologize. Firearms are esoteric things.

One pulls the trigger which makes the hammer (that thing people cock back in Westerns) strike the firing pin which sends the bullet off on its merry way.

If you interpose something between the hammer and the firing pin (a finger, perhaps?) you can prevent the gun from going off even if the trigger has released the hammer.

Ah, thanks for the explanation.
... that sounds as if it would be very painful.

 

[Grant]

^^I've seen a number of TV shows where someone got their hand caught in that situation and the cops got the DNA or whatever.

 

[Jeri]

In "Man Trap," Kirk brings Bones a handful of nasty weeds as flowers to give to Nancy, and Bones says, "Oh, is that how you get girls to like you?" That just sounded so weird.

 

[Grant]

^^Agreed. The whole handing him the weeds and his response was odd. I mean even in the 23rd century a gift would be a nice thing not to be scoffed at.

 

[Gary7]

The totalally out-dated...

"Didn't you ever dip little girl's pigtails in inkwells?"

Dipping a pigtail in an inkwell was terribly outdated even in 1966 let alone in the far future. And Kirk starts to say.."Tying tin cans....(to a dog's tail) I presume. Both outdated and horribly cruel in the utopian future of trek.

That bugged the heck out of me too. Here's the full quote:

SPOCK: Mischievous pranks, Captain?
KIRK: Yes. Dipping little girls' curls in inkwells. Stealing apples from the neighbors' trees. Tying cans on--(He's stopped by the look of horrified incredulity on Spock's face.)

Very outdated, even for the late 1960's.

 

[Gary7]

In "The Squire of Gothos", Mr. Spock remarks on Trelane's greetings displayed on the screen:

Spock: "If those peculiar signals are coming from Captain Kirk or Lieutenant Sulu, their rationality is in question."

Completely ridiculous to make that assumption. Sulu and Kirk disappeared from the bridge with no communicators. Saying that they might be making those communications in a delusional state requires significantly more outrageous assumptions. A logically minded Vulcan would never make such a remark...

 

[EEE]

"Tying tin cans....(to a dog's tail) I presume.

You presumed incorrectly... tin cans were tied to a car so it sounded like it had serious problems when it left the scene of the crime (assuming the potato was dislodged).

The real question becomes, what kind of a mind would presume doing that to a dog? *grin??*

 

[number6]

"Tying tin cans....(to a dog's tail) I presume.

You presumed incorrectly... tin cans were tied to a car so it sounded like it had serious problems when it left the scene of the crime (assuming the potato was dislodged).

The real question becomes, what kind of a mind would presume doing that to a dog? *grin??*

In dunno.. We used to just f*ck 'em.

 

[Grant]

Sorry but if you've never seen 'Annie' the movie it's your loss.

It was common to tie cans to a dogs tail in the 'barbaric' early 20th century, as Spock might say.

And no, I'm not gay because i have seen Annie-the movie.
I have kids and a wife who like musicals.
Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

[Noname Given]

Found another one (I was watching The Paradise Syndrome on local TV last night):

Background: The Enterprise crew need to deflect an asteroid that will hit/kill the people on the planet they're now on, and they have 30 minutes to leave for the asterriod deflection point, or they won't make it i time. So, with said clock ticking:

Kirk: "Let's get back the the Enteprise, we have a job to do..."

(He, Spock and McCoy then walk another five feet; and McCoy describes 'Tahiti syndrome'...then):

Kirk: "Let's get back to the Enterprise...But first, I want another look at that Obelisk."

 

[Hambone]

These are more like continuity errors than stupid statements, but...

In "The Corbomite Maneuver", after McCoy says "Balok's message was heard all over the ship", some crewmembers continue to pronounce his name "bal-luck" even though Balok clearly said "BAY-lock".

In "Journey to Babel", Amanda tells McCoy about Spock's Sehlat, pronouncing it "SAY-lot". In the very next line, McCoy pronounces it "SELL-it".

In "Arena" the Metrons clearly say "We are the Metrons" pronouncing it "MET-rons". 5 minutes later, Kirk is pronouncing it "MET-rones".

Oh, well. You say mugato, I say gumato.

 

[Gary7]

'Stupid' applies to the statement or the use of the statement relative to the context...

I forgot about those ones in The Paradise Syndrome... yeah, quite ridiculous. All that urgency about getting back to the Enterprise, and then Kirk wants to take another long walk around the obelisk. Seemed like the whole urgency was suddenly no longer important...

 

[Anticitizen]

The direction for that whole episode seemed odd... strange timing between lines, a lot of gaps where nothing much seems to be going on, etc. I think the shooting script must have ended up being shorter than the 47 minutes or whatever alloted to the episode, and they had to stretch it out a bit or something.

 

[RobertScorpio]

The direction for that whole episode seemed odd... strange timing between lines, a lot of gaps where nothing much seems to be going on, etc. I think the shooting script must have ended up being shorter than the 47 minutes or whatever alloted to the episode, and they had to stretch it out a bit or something.

Perhaps, but I actually do like the episode. Didn't several months pass between the time Kirk got lost and they found him at the end? I wonder if any TREK books are written during the gap of time??

Rob