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They killed Hengist!

It's not about being "perplexed," it's about being unnecessarily distracted, pulled out of the moment. If it serves no story purpose, it's just in the way.
FWIW, I feel that way about the "past" scenes in All Good Things. It takes me out of the story because I find it so jarring that so much is NOT the way it actually was in season 1.
 
FWIW, I feel that way about the "past" scenes in All Good Things. It takes me out of the story because I find it so jarring that so much is NOT the way it actually was in season 1.

Well, that's excusable, because there was only so much they could do. I mean, one wouldn't expect Denise Crosby to be willing to shave the back of her head for a single-episode guest appearance, as opposed to a regular role. One wouldn't expect them to restore Worf's season 1 forehead appliance or Troi's season 1 accent, because those were extradiegetic changes, refinements in how the universe was portrayed, so naturally they'd be retroactively used in any flashback, the same way pre-TOS productions retroactively use the term "mind meld" even though it wasn't introduced until season 3. Moving O'Brien from battle bridge to main bridge conn makes sense given how much more prominent and popular Colm Meaney had become in the interim. I do wish they'd caught a couple of continuity errors, like Tasha not having met Picard before and the stardate of Picard taking command, but some imperfections are inevitable in such a complex undertaking as the production of a multi-season TV series.
 
Women also showed their fear more audibly (screaming, crying) and visibly (fainting, clinging to someone else) than men did.
Mainly because what Alan Alda termed "testosterone poisoning" makes so many men terrified of expressing fear. (Wasn't there some dialogue between Spock and Khan about that very subject, in "Space Seed"?)
 
Mainly because what Alan Alda termed "testosterone poisoning" makes so many men terrified of expressing fear. (Wasn't there some dialogue between Spock and Khan about that very subject, in "Space Seed"?)

More between Kirk and Khan—after Spock baits him.

**
KIRK: You fled. Why? Were you afraid?
KHAN: I've never been afraid.
KIRK: But you left at the very time mankind needed courage.
KHAN: We offered the world order!
KIRK: We?
**

. . . and I challenge just about any TV show these days—with a few exceptions—to match dialogue like that.
 
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Women also showed their fear more audibly (screaming, crying) and visibly (fainting, clinging to someone else) than men did.
Right. Which may just mean they're culturally allowed to do so whereas males are told to "man up" from an early age and especially not show emotions that make them look weak or feminine.
 
Right. Which may just mean they're culturally allowed to do so whereas males are told to "man up" from an early age and especially not show emotions that make them look weak or feminine.
Still are. It's tragic and I see my daughter dealing with it in her boyfriend who feels he has to man up at times.
 
One thing we haven't mentioned about Hengist's body is how it changed and grew a few inches taller with a skinny,shiney bald rubbery pate when it got back up and took on the Enterprise crew. 😄
JB
 
Is this an oxymoron?
See the Blish short story adaptation (in order to be a "novelization," it would have to be a novel!) of "Space Seed" in Star Trek 2.

"In short," Spock said, "you were afraid."
Kahn's [sic] eyes flashed. "I have never been afraid."
"And that does not frighten you?"
"How? I don't understand you, Mr. Spock. How can a man be afraid of never being afraid? It is a contradiction in terms."
"Not at all," the first officer said. "It is a null class in the class of all classes not members of the given class."
(from the Internet Archive's lending library)
 
One thing we haven't mentioned about Hengist's body is how it changed and grew a few inches taller with a skinny,shiney bald rubbery pate when it got back up and took on the Enterprise crew. 😄
JB
When it kicked Kirk in the gut, it must have osmoted through its boots some of Kirk's extra-manly genes. And some of Shatner's extra-bald genes.

On a more serious note, I'm always impressed by how the Shat takes that kick into the wall like a pro.
 
And even a lot of the silly stuff is legend. I never get tired of seeing him take out a whole squad of guards on Eminiar VII with one running roundhouse punch. It's ludicrous, but it's so James T. Kirk.

Lloyd Bridges? Jack Lord? I don't think so.
 
When it kicked Kirk in the gut, it must have osmoted through its boots some of Kirk's extra-manly genes. And some of Shatner's extra-bald genes.

On a more serious note, I'm always impressed by how the Shat takes that kick into the wall like a pro.

Absolutely!!!! Everything about that brief scene is fantastic. First, Kirk instantly assesses the tactical situation, grabs Tankris (but not overly roughly) and puts her behind him while blocking the exit. Then Redjac/Hengist surprises Kirk with that savage kick—one of very few scenes in all of TOS where someone gets the drop on him one-on-one—which to me was the writers/director communicating that this thing, whatever it is, had centuries of experience and abilities. And yup, of course Shatner 100% did the stunt himself and flies back into the wall in controlled astonishment. Finally, Spock wrangles R/H from behind, Kirk delivers that punch, and R/H decides to beat the heat into the computer system.

I could probably make a list of 100 "are you kidding me with how great this tiny scene" is moments from TOS, and this sequence would be near the top. Thanks, gents, for mentioning it. 😀
 
I could probably make a list of 100 "are you kidding me with how great this tiny scene" is moments from TOS
Sometimes they're so quiet and subtle, too. In Space Seed, I absolutely love the silent, fluid, impromptu coordination between Kirk and Spock when the latter is being thug-marched to the death chamber.

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Images courtesy of TrekCore.

Spock has just discovered that the best friend he will ever have is not dead after all, and he exhibits the calm of a man without a care in the world.
 
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