Hey guys, I've wondered this for a while but haven't thought to ask until now. In ST II Kirk attrributes the phrase 'There are always possibilities' as something Spock is fond of saying, but when DOES his say this in past Trek episodes? I think in Galileo he tells Scotty there are always alternatives but that's the closest I can remember.
"There are always...possibilities" Spock quote?
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That's the closest I could find, too.
I always thought of it not as an exact quote from TOS, but as an axiom Spock had repeated over his long association with Kirk. But if anyone actually finds the quote, you're even nerdier than the rest of us! 
-- RR
-- RR
He does. In the Genesis cave,
Kirk (to Saavik): As your teacher, Mr. Spock, is fond of saying, 'I like to think there always are ...possibilities.'
Yeah, the quote from "Galileo Seven" is the most obvious example. I believe it was in reference to an alternative fuel source. Spock is always pointing out an alternative to their dilemma in other episodes, too. In "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Spock urges Kirk to strand Mitchell on Delta Vega. He points out that his only alternative is to kill Mitchell while he still can. The same in "City on the Edge of Forever." McCoy changes time and the landing party is faced with spending what remains of their lives on the Guardian's planet. Spock points out that it's that or go back into time to stop McCoy from changing the future..."There is no alternative." But in each case there was at least one alternative to choose from.
Ya, that's the one that I was thinking. I just think it's so weird that the writers of ST II would 'invent' a saying. It rings true to the Spock character, but it's interesting that it doesn't really come from anywhere specific.
I remember reading Harve Bennett talk about screening all the old Trek episodes to find one to use as a springboard for II and assumed he picked up this quote somewhere along the way.
^
Well, perhaps in the same manner that Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman are putting their own interpretation on TOS, perhaps after viewing all those eps, Bennett and Jack Sowards derived that same type of feeling about Spock's character, and 'reinvented' the line, as it were.
It could also be a phrase he began using after the events of TMP. If you think about it, it makes sense, as his experience with V'GER would have opened his mind up to even more possibilities than he might've imagined.
Well, perhaps in the same manner that Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman are putting their own interpretation on TOS, perhaps after viewing all those eps, Bennett and Jack Sowards derived that same type of feeling about Spock's character, and 'reinvented' the line, as it were.
It could also be a phrase he began using after the events of TMP. If you think about it, it makes sense, as his experience with V'GER would have opened his mind up to even more possibilities than he might've imagined.
Valeris used a recording device on Kirk in ST VI and still managed to misquote him when Chang played it back at the trial.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Sowards would have been long gone by the point that they were reworking the ending, and the Genesis cave scene was largely reshot, so that line to Saavik is probably added to make the added Kirk voiceover possibilities have some tie-in resonance.
It was "There are always ... alternatives."
He said it in "The Man Trap," to Uhura, when she was on her period.
Joe, noted Trek historian
Ah, yes, the great tampon versus pad debate that almost had the NBC censors shit their pants until they realized it was a great opportunity for product placement. Yet, that bit of dialog was edited out in the 80s syndication version and has been lost.
I had the same problem with the quote I attributed to Spock "A difference that makes no difference is no difference". On another thread I was told it only appeared in some Trek novel. However, when you google it there are numerous references to this quote Spock, yet nobody references the episode where Spock actually says this quote.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
It is from SPOCK MUST DIE! It is so old that people think it must be from aired trek, but it is not.
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