What TOS moment has the greatest emotional impact

[RAMA]

Two of them in CIty on the Edge of Forever: The moment Kirk looks to the sky and realizes they are alone without the ENterprise and UFP and the moment Edith Keeler dies..

 

[TRON JA307020]

Two of them in CIty on the Edge of Forever: The moment Kirk looks to the sky and realizes they are alone without the ENterprise and UFP and the moment Edith Keeler dies..

Yup Edith Keelers death is one. I really like the scene in that episode when Kirk, Spock and McCoy see each other. They are full of happiness(Well Spock doesn't show his) then it is all gone once Kirk has to stop McCoy from saving Edith. It showed their jubilation and grief all in a few seconds.

 

[Shikarnov]

Spock: Stonn, she is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.


This particular line struck me as perfect... It's such an ironic truth -- at least I've found it so in my own life. There is great wisdom in it; the kind you feel deep inside but can't articulate... Until an unfeeling alien breaks it down for you.

 

[Drone]

And the following dialogue is effecting in eliciting the despair of what Spock believes to have occurred, accentuated IIRC by an appropriately somber musical cue.

T'PAU: Live long and prosper, Spock.
SPOCK: I shall do neither. I have killed my captain and my friend.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Spock: Stonn, she is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.


This particular line struck me as perfect... It's such an ironic truth -- at least I've found it so in my own life. There is great wisdom in it; the kind you feel deep inside but can't articulate... Until an unfeeling alien breaks it down for you.

I have always liked that line. Its true when we are children all the way to adulthood. Not logical but often true.

 

[Greg Cox]

Spock: Stonn, she is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.


This particular line struck me as perfect... It's such an ironic truth -- at least I've found it so in my own life. There is great wisdom in it; the kind you feel deep inside but can't articulate... Until an unfeeling alien breaks it down for you.

I have always liked that line. Its true when we are children all the way to adulthood. Not logical but often true.

Courtesy of Theodore Sturgeon, to give credit where it's due.

 

[Marsden]

Courtesy of Theodore Sturgeon, to give credit where it's due.

I believe I read somewhere, I think Orion Press, that that line got edited out and they had to fix it back in. I'll check.

http://www.orionpressfanzines.com/articles/startrekmyths4.htm

Fangoria #10 has a little known anecdote from Ted sturgeon which gives one an idea of Bob Justman’s authority on Star Trek. Sturgeon was on the lot while the "paste up" (the splicing together of the film with no music or sound effects) was being done on his "Amok Time" episode. Sturgeon recalled that "they ran the episode through in the screening room, and I was waiting for a certain line of Spock’s: ‘You can have her. After a time, however, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting it.’ I’m immensely proud of that line, and it was also crucial to the entire plot of that Star Trek episode... It was gone. Now, usually, I’m a very quiet and unaggressive person. I don’t like to make trouble. But this time, I just flipped out. I went roaring down to Bob Justman’s office, Star Trek’s executive producer {Author’s note: Justman was actually associate producer} at the time, and I just raised hell. After a little while, he gradually began to understand what I was saying, and he jumped up and said, ‘Come, with me.’ He went right down to the cutting room where they were cutting my episode. After some judicious trimming on the editor’s part that line was reinserted. Without going into the details, I soon realized that they had not made that cut on purpose. They didn’t cut it because they hated me or disliked my writing. They did it because they had their noses so close to the work that they couldn’t see they were destroying the crucial point of the narrative."

 

[Cyrano Mudd]

Wow! Great answers!

First post for me, and I can remember my strongest emotional reaction to Star Trek was as a very small tyke in the early seventies watching “Arena.” When we first see the Gorn Captain, as he turns into frame, I was absolutely terrified. I must have thought something like “How on earth will Captain Kirk get out of this alive?” Then after the commercial break, my terror ramped up to abject status: when that thing actually got hold of Kirk, I cried out, jumped up off the couch, ran to the television crying and shut it off! My sister and my father quickly voiced an objection, turned it back on and “talked me down.”

But the older I get, I mine the deepest emotional content in my favorite episode “Shore Leave,” As Kirk pursues Finnegan.


"Jim! Find me! Can't you see me? Come and get me! Here I am! Come on. You never could find your head with both hands! Like it used to be, Jimmy. Remember?"

There’s something about nostalgia for my youth, that mingles so satisfyingly with Kirk’s nostalgia for his (remember, Jim Kirk is loving every second of this chase – as he chases Finnegan he chases his past).

The scene is made perfect by the accompanying score by Gerald Fried, especially so at the moment Finnegan asks Jim, “Remember?” Poignant. Beautiful. Sublime.

 

[LadyT'Anna]

Your image of Kirk's chasing his past was poignant, Cyrano Mudd. Thank you.

And incidentally, welcome aboard.

 

[Marsden]

...and I can remember my strongest emotional reaction to Star Trek was as a very small tyke in the early seventies watching “Arena.” When we first see the Gorn Captain, as he turns into frame, I was absolutely terrified. I must have thought something like “How on earth will Captain Kirk get out of this alive?” Then after the commercial break, my terror ramped up to abject status: when that thing actually got hold of Kirk, I cried out, jumped up off the couch, ran to the television crying and shut it off! My sister and my father quickly voiced an objection, turned it back on and “talked me down.”

That's a great story! Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Drone]

To me, one of the most powerful moments in the whole series is at the end of "The Menagerie, Part I," when Kirk says, "Lock him up," and then you can see how tortured he is over the whole situation.Kor

The two lines before that quote add to the scene's power. I especially am impressed by Spock's gesture when referring to Mendez.

KIRK: Do you know what you're doing? Have you lost your mind?
SPOCK: Captain, Jim, please don't stop me. Don't let him stop me. It's your career and Captain Pike's life. You must see the rest of the transmission.

 

[Drone]

Two others that haven't been mentioned that just came to mind. Collectively, the pity, sympathy, and sorrow that is elicited by Kirk's decline into undeniable decrepitude shown to best effect during the competency hearing and afterwards in his quarters in the Deadly Years. Especially biting is his outburst to Spock culminating in accusations and rejection.

KIRK: Are you refusing a direct order?
SPOCK: No, sir. Only Commodore Stocker can give a command order onboard this ship.
KIRK: You traitorous, disloyal, you stab me in the back the first chance you get? Spock. Get out. I never want to have to look at you again.

Even more effecting I think is the interlude in Kirk's quarters during The Tholian Web, when after having McCoy denigrate Spock's command decisions, they view the Captain's advisory directions and request to McCoy to support Spock during an obvious time of crisis. While the dialogue after the tape is spare it is very telling and quite moving as well, one being able to clearly see how chastened McCoy now feels.

KIRK [on monitor]: Bones, Spock. since you are playing this tape, we will assume that I am dead, that the tactical situation is critical, and both of you are locked in mortal combat. It means, Spock, that you have control of the ship and are probably making the most difficult decisions of your career. I can offer only one small piece of advice, for whatever it's worth. Use every scrap of knowledge and logic you have to save the ship. But temper your judgment with intuitive insight. I believe you have those qualities, but if you can't find them in yourself, seek out McCoy. Ask his advice. And if you find it sound, take it. Bones, you've heard what I've just told Spock. Help him if you can. But remember he is the Captain. His decisions must be followed without question. You might find that he is capable of human insight and human error. They are most difficult to defend, but you will find that he is deserving of the same loyalty and confidence each of you have given me. Take care.
MCCOY: Spock, I, er, I'm sorry. It does hurt, doesn't it?
SPOCK: What would you have me say, Doctor?

 

[LadyT'Anna]

Two others that haven't been mentioned that just came to mind. Collectively, the pity, sympathy, and sorrow that is elicited by Kirk's decline into undeniable decrepitude shown to best effect during the competency hearing and afterwards in his quarters in the Deadly Years. Especially biting is his outburst to Spock culminating in accusations and rejection.

KIRK: Are you refusing a direct order?
SPOCK: No, sir. Only Commodore Stocker can give a command order onboard this ship.
KIRK: You traitorous, disloyal, you stab me in the back the first chance you get? Spock. Get out. I never want to have to look at you again.

Even more effecting I think is the interlude in Kirk's quarters during The Tholian Web, when after having McCoy denigrate Spock's command decisions, they view the Captain's advisory directions and request to McCoy to support Spock during an obvious time of crisis. While the dialogue after the tape is spare it is very telling and quite moving as well, one being able to clearly see how chastened McCoy now feels.

KIRK [on monitor]: Bones, Spock. since you are playing this tape, we will assume that I am dead, that the tactical situation is critical, and both of you are locked in mortal combat. It means, Spock, that you have control of the ship and are probably making the most difficult decisions of your career. I can offer only one small piece of advice, for whatever it's worth. Use every scrap of knowledge and logic you have to save the ship. But temper your judgment with intuitive insight. I believe you have those qualities, but if you can't find them in yourself, seek out McCoy. Ask his advice. And if you find it sound, take it. Bones, you've heard what I've just told Spock. Help him if you can. But remember he is the Captain. His decisions must be followed without question. You might find that he is capable of human insight and human error. They are most difficult to defend, but you will find that he is deserving of the same loyalty and confidence each of you have given me. Take care.
MCCOY: Spock, I, er, I'm sorry. It does hurt, doesn't it?
SPOCK: What would you have me say, Doctor?

Yes. It does hurt.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Spock, in "The Empath", after finding McCoy in the Vian laboratory....

"He's dying, Jim. We can make him comfortable, but that is all."

 

[Cγrano Mudd]

(Re-posted - can't sign in under my old name)

Wow! Great answers!

First post for me, and I can remember my strongest emotional reaction to Star Trek was as a very small tyke in the early seventies watching “Arena.” When we first see the Gorn Captain, as he turns into frame, I was absolutely terrified. I must have thought something like “How on earth will Captain Kirk get out of this alive?” Then after the commercial break, my terror ramped up to abject status: when that thing actually got hold of Kirk, I cried out, jumped up off the couch, ran to the television crying and shut it off! My sister and my father quickly voiced an objection, turned it back on and “talked me down.”

But the older I get, I mine the deepest emotional content in my favorite episode “Shore Leave,” As Kirk pursues Finnegan.


"Jim! Find me! Can't you see me? Come and get me! Here I am! Come on. You never could find your head with both hands! Like it used to be, Jimmy. Remember?"

There’s something about nostalgia for my youth, that mingles so satisfyingly with Kirk’s nostalgia for his (remember, Jim Kirk is loving every second of this chase – as he chases Finnegan he chases his past).

The scene is made perfect by the accompanying score by Gerald Fried, especially so at the moment Finnegan asks Jim, “Remember?” Poignant. Beautiful. Sublime.

 

[Phaser Two]

Before this gets locked, the answer has to be Edith's death in City. There are a lot of great emotional moments in TOS but that one is atop the heap. And I don't even place that ep in my personal top ten.

 

[Delta Vega]

"Charlie X"

From memory, so I'll paraphrase

"I can't even touch them, I want to stay. . .stay. . .stay"

I thought that was horrific

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The only time Star Trek ever made me well up as a kid was when Miramanee died in "The Paradise Syndrome."

How could I be the first person to mention this one? It's the ultimate sad moment in the entire Star Trek franchise.

 

[Phaser Two]

The only time Star Trek ever made me well up as a kid was when Miramanee died in "The Paradise Syndrome."

How could I be the first person to mention this one? It's the ultimate sad moment in the entire Star Trek franchise.

I don't know; I was discombobulated by the bumping of this thread and hurrying before the lock?

You're right, though - Edith's death and the subsequent dialogue between Spock and McCoy tops the list but this is probably second. "Forget" might be third.

 

[1001001]

Please read the rules regarding the bumping of old threads.

This hasn’t had a post in over three years.

Let’s let it Rest In Peace, shall we?