Trek III: "Don't get smart, Tiny."

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

SULU: Keeping you busy?
GUARD: Don't get smart, Tiny.

What was the deal with the guard's reaction? Sulu came off breezy and pleasant. He just casually asked the guy, basically, "How's it going?"

Then the guard stands up, tries to intimidate Sulu, and makes the crack at his size. I mean, over-react much? I don't recall webbed hands, so he wasn't a Zaldan (they hate politeness). What was that guy's problem?

 

[Spot261]

Maybe he was just a dick?

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

Well, people skills... Maybe that's why he's stuck on desk duty on night shift.

 

[XCV330]

I never thought about him, but yeah, he does seem very volatile for someone working in a future care-giving facility.

 

[BigDaveX]

Maybe he was just a dick?

Yeah, probably that and/or ignorance of exactly who Sulu was. For all he knew, Sulu could have just been some smartass clerk who Starfleet had sent to get hold of Kirk.

I never thought about him, but yeah, he does seem very volatile for someone working in a future care-giving facility.

They said they were going to be moving McCoy to the "Federation funny farm" (oddly unenlightened language for the 23rd century, I might add) later on; I just assumed what they had him imprisoned in when Kirk broke him out was the equivalent of a police station cell.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

lI just assumed what they had him imprisoned in when Kirk broke him out was the equivalent of a police station cell.

Drunk tank?

 

[Butters]

SULU: Keeping you busy?
GUARD: Don't get smart, Tiny.

What was the deal with the guard's reaction? Sulu came off breezy and pleasant. He just casually asked the guy, basically, "How's it going?"

Then the guard stands up, tries to intimidate Sulu, and makes the crack at his size. I mean, over-react much? I don't recall webbed hands, so he wasn't a Zaldan (they hate politeness). What was that guy's problem?

I had always wondered this too. The guy was an utter nob to a colleague.

 

[bolak]

Well it was a sarcastic opening by Sulu, the guard was clearly not busy at the time. In fact he looked bored out of his head doing a menial job in the back-end of Spacedock. Join the Starfleet, see the Galaxy they said...

I've been in jobs like that when trying to make money as a student and after the n-hundredth smart-arse crack it's hard to keep smiling. You're at the end of a long shift and some wise-guy wanders in...

What was more disturbing to me in that sequence was McCoy's language; in the space of a minute we had 'damn', 'hell' and 'son of a bitch' which out-swore his entire TOS run!

 

[BigDaveX]

I had always wondered this too. The guy was an utter nob to a colleague.

Sulu was in his civilian clothing at the time, so possibly the whole thing was just a very unfortunate misunderstanding. Admittedly, Sulu would have needed to knock him out anyway to blow up his console, but apart from that...

And yeah, I know there's this perception that Kirk's crew were legends and celebrities even in their own time, but personally I didn't get the intention that was really the case until after the events of The Voyage Home. At the time of The Search for Spock, the implication seemed to be that Sulu had been spending the previous few years teaching cadets how to fly starships, so it's possible that a brash young security guard either wouldn't have recognised him at all, or would have only vaguely remembered him as the guy who happened to be piloting the Enterprise during the V'Ger incident a decade-plus previously.

 

[Dukhat]

He was playing Tetris on his computer screen and didn’t appreciate Sulu making a crack that he should be doing actual work instead.

 

[Kor]

The guy was being insubordinate toward a senior officer.

Kor

 

[Galileo7]

The guy was being insubordinate toward a senior officer.

Kor

Agree, I was surprised by this in 23rd century Starfleet.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, probably that and/or ignorance of exactly who Sulu was. For all he knew, Sulu could have just been some smartass clerk who Starfleet had sent to get hold of Kirk.

The security guard was a dick, but also Sulu was about to commit serious crimes. Maybe the guard's instincts correctly processed that there was something fishy going on.

 

[General_Phoenix]

Maybe Sulu was trying a more diplomatic approach at first, try to joke with the guy, then try and talk him into releasing McCoy. But when the security officer wasn't receptive, and tried to intimidate Sulu with his size, he had to go with another option.

 

[GNDN18]

Harve Bennet was a TV guy and this scene is just set-up (heroes are overmatched), intervening scene (McCoy needs to be sprung, but how?), and punchline (“Don’t call me Tiny.” “Glad he’s on our side.”). Not a lot of depth, but it sure moved the plot along.

That said, It was received with applause and laughter at the theater I saw TSFS in 1984.

Incidentally, I’ve known a few jailers and law enforcement officers in my time, and the characterization was spot on. Bored, casual cruelty with a dash of over-compensation. This was a delightful wish-fulfilling scene.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Maybe because the Security guy (played by Gary Faga), whom Kirk takes on, is the same airlock technician on duty whom Spock neck pinched in ST:TMP.

 

[Firebird]

The guard's reaction is only justified as a setup to a placation of Takei's actor ego.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Maybe it's Lieutenant Cupcake, who seems to get in trouble in either reality...

 

[cgervasi]

The guard's reaction is only justified as a setup to a placation of Takei's actor ego.

I heard Takei had to be talked into the scene.

 

[cgervasi]

Then the guard stands up, tries to intimidate Sulu, and makes the crack at his size. I mean, over-react much? I don't recall webbed hands, so he wasn't a Zaldan (they hate politeness). What was that guy's problem?

In Universe Explanation:
He was one of Starfleet's finest who went into law enforcement for the wrong reason. He ended up with a boring job guarding petty criminal suspects. He took Sulu's comment as belittling his entire life, about how he wanted to be a police officer and have people listen to him, and now he's guarding the holding cell.

Our Universe:
They had to have the guards each do something disagreeable. Otherwise our heros would look like jerks punching these people in a low-level difficult job of keeping people safe. Imagine if they had said they tried their first-responder training when he became agitated, but it didn't help. They've made calls to get him somewhere where he can get psychiatric help as soon as possible. Then we'd really hate to see Kirk punch them.

This movie was around the time of the Karate Kid. Audiences loved to see karate used against some jerk.