All Time Favorite Star Trek Moment

[FizbansTalking_Hat]

Is it a specific episode from one of the shows, a movie, a scene involving a certain character.......whatever it is, share and enjoy. Cheers.

One of my most favorite moments, and episodes is Q and The Continum, their first meeting when man is brought up on crimes against itself and Picard has to defend himself and humanity. I love the interplay between Picard and Q, truly amazing acting there. Cheers.

[aTOMiC]

How can I answer this question without the use of a gigabyte of server space?

I will never be able to nail down one favorite moment but I will attempt to list a few off the top of my head.
In the episode Amok Time Spock shows an embarassing amount of emotion when he suddenly learns that he hasn't killed Kirk.
In Star Trek III, Kirk repeatedly kicks Kruge in the face to get him to let go of his leg. "I have had enough of you!"
In the STNG episode "Devil's Due" Picard is cross examining the entity Ardra about what she had done for the people of Ventax. I'm paraphrasing. Picard to Ardra "You mean to tell me you didn't so much as pick up one single piece of trash?"
The Enterprise E charging into the fray against the Borg cube in First Contact.
The Praxis shockwave hitting the Excelsior in Star Trek 6. Captain Picard and Data on the mission to Romulus. Picard tries to get some sleep and in the background Data stands motionless but seems to umblinkingly stare at the back of Picard's head. Eventually Picard decides he cannot sleep.

I can't go on there is just too much and I haven't really gotten to the really good stuff yet.

[matrixman]

In Star Trek III, Kirk repeatedly kicks Kruge in the face to get him to let go of his leg. "I have had enough of you!"

Yes, that's the Kirk I want to remember, not the Kirk who dies-a-lame-death-just-to-save-Picard's-sorry-butt in ST: Generations.

The Praxis shockwave hitting the Excelsior in Star Trek 6.

Yes, great start to the movie. Also seeing Sulu finally commanding his own starship is a very satisfying part of ST VI.

Like TOM, I can't single out one favorite moment either. These come to mind right now:

ST II -- Khan's final moments of life aboard the crippled Reliant and his last bitter words flung at Kirk and the fleeing Enterprise: "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake...I spit my last breath...at thee..." The scene caps a towering performance by Ricardo Montalban as Khan. And he goes out with a BOOM! (Unlike Kirk--see above comment).

ST: TMP -- The melding and transformation of Decker and Ilia/V'Ger is a breathtaking moment and beautifully shot. If cosmic epiphany can be described on film, then ST: TMP does as good a job here as any film can hope to do.

TNG "True Q" -- young intern Amanda suddenly saves the Enterprise from imminent disaster, thus revealing that she actually has Q powers! It's pretty cool to see a female Q.

ST IV -- the alien probe wreaking havoc with the Earth's weather. Lotsa fun! The planet's defense systems of course blow a fuse at the first sign of trouble. Note to Federation: don't turn on the coffeemaker the same time you're turning on the global defense shield thingey.

[aTOMiC]

In Star Trek III, Kirk repeatedly kicks Kruge in the face to get him to let go of his leg. "I have had enough of you!"

Yes, that's the Kirk I want to remember, not the Kirk who dies-a-lame-death-just-to-save-Picard's-sorry-butt in ST: Generations.

"You Klingon bastards...you killed my son!"
I think Kirk getting squashed like an insect by the rickety bridge was insult to his legend. Rick Berman should be ashamed but I know he isn't.

Great moments all, MM.

[A Gunslinger]

I liked the exchange between Data and Spock in the Next Gen story arc. All I could think was that in Spock's heat of hearts, he was thinking..."The Logic...he's bustin' me up!!!!"

[A Gunslinger]

Another great moment in STII....one word...:

"KHHAAAAAAANNNN!"

[aTOMiC]

Another great moment in STII....one word...:

"KHHAAAAAAANNNN!"

Sorry about accidentally editing you post, AG. My bad.


Another fine example, AG.

How about when the Enterprise and the Excelsior both pound the tar out of the Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek 6.

[A Gunslinger]

Another great moment in STII....one word...:

"KHHAAAAAAANNNN!"

Sorry about accidentally editing you post, AG. My bad.


Another fine example, AG.

How about when the Enterprise and the Excelsior both pound the tar out of the Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek 6.

Yes indeed! Cap'n Sulu runs the tightest ship in the fleet!

[Roland of Gilead]

I like most of these mentioned.

Some others for me:

Picard practicing his flute at the end of the episode where he's captured by the alien probe and lives another lifetime in thirty minutes.

Picard fighting the Cardassian torture

Picard's first appearance as Locutus of Borg

Picard fighting his brother on Earth in the vineyards, and coming to terms with his assimiliation

Kirk's decision at the end of City on the Edge of Forever

Kirk's eulogy for Spock in Wrath of Khan.

Kirk and Spock in Jillian's truck and at the whale institute in The Voyage Home

Picard learning the language of the alien species which spoke in metaphor.

Picard and Alfre Woodard's character having a debate in Picard's quarters regarding, among other things, Moby-Dick - First Contact

Kirk throwing off the effects of the spoors in This Side of Paradise

Spock and Sarek's scenes in Journey to Babel

Spock's response to the Romulan female commander who he seduces and betrays in The Enterprise Incident

The first time we see Enterprise in ST The Motion Picture. (Hey, I was there from the first, one of those who despaired of every seeing a movie version or another series. That state of the art starship on the big screen said it all to me.)

[Old Darth]

Spock's reaction in sickbay from Amok Time after believing he had killed Kirk.

City on the Edge of Forever - McCoy to Kirk, 'Do you know what you've done!?!?"

Spock to McCoy, 'He knows doctor. He knows".

[Fist and Faith]

"WE THE PEOPLE...."

Kinda corny, but I've always loved it.

And here's another. But since it's been at least 10 years, I'm not sure how accurate my quote is.

"You tried to cut me off, Lt. Uhura. I'm sorry, but there'll be no ice cream for you."

[aTOMiC]

"WE THE PEOPLE...."

Kinda corny, but I've always loved it.

"E pleb neesta!"

[Fist and Faith]

This is from Spock’s World, by Diane Duane. This is the amazing moment of McCoy’s that I mentioned in another thread, but I think it belongs in this thread. It’s been so many years since I read it that I’ve forgotten most of it. But, basically, the Vulcans get all fed up with the Federation, and humans in particular, and are seriously considering seceding. There’s lots of articles on their internet, papers, etc. Probably the loudest voice for secession is someone named Slev. There's a huge summit being held on Vulcan, where both sides of the issue are being discussed by many speakers. McCoy is one of them. In that other thread, I think I said this seemed a bit out of character for him. But now that I’ve thought about it more, particularly episodes like Friday’s Child and Requiem for Methuselah, I withdraw that.

A couple of quick basics.
-McCoy can speak fluent Vulcan because of some medical procedure that gives the ability for, iirc, at least a few days.
-Surak, for those who are less familiar with Trek-lore, is the Vulcan who saved them all from self-destruction. Vulcans were originally horribly violent, driven by their strong emotions. Surak was their savior. On a planet where almost everyone was at war, he began preaching about logic being the way to peace. Though it took a while, the result is what we know now. Diane Duane may have gone beyond the continuity that we know, for Surak and Vulcan in general, which may or may not be to the liking of the fans, but it made for an awesome story!
-There are also differences with the continuity of the Trek-verse that have been revealed since Spock’s World came out. Oh well.

So here’s McCoy talking to Vulcan!

“My name is Leonard Edward McCoy,” he said, and the focusing field caught his voice and threw it out to the back of the room, all around: but there was still something about the tenor of the voice itself that hinted that the focusing field might be doing slightly less work than usual. “I hold the rank of Commander in the Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets: my position is Chief Medical Officer of the Starship Enterprise. And as regards the question of the secession of Vulcan, my position is, hell no!”

There were chuckles from some of the humans present, a bemused stirring from some of the Vulcans. “I hope you will pardon me the momentary excursion into my mother idiom,” McCoy said: “perhaps I should more correctly say, with Surak, ekhwe’na meh kroykah tevesh.” This time there were murmurs from the Vulcans, and they were of approval. The translator did not render the words – Jim assumed they were in classical or “Old” Vulcan, which the translator was not equipped to handle.

When the crowd settled a bit, McCoy went on in very precise Vulcan, and this caused a minor stir as well, which died down eventually. “I want to keep this on a friendly basis,” he said, “despite the fact that some of you are feeling decidedly unfriendly toward Terrans. Nor am I here to lecture you. Others here have been doing that a lot better than I could.” There was a dry sound to his voice for a moment. “I am here to ask you, as a planet, not to pull out of what has been a very old and successful affiliation for everyone involved.”

He paused for a moment, looking around. “It’s kind of sobering to be looked at by an entire planet,” he said. “You people have hidden the cameras perfectly: I appreciate the effect. Anyway. Some people here have spoken about the mode of their comments – scientific or ethical or whatever. Well, for my own part I’m not sure there’s a difference, or should be. Science is barren without ethics, and ethics has very little to use itself on without science. But I’ll speak of what I know, if I may. The medical mode, I suppose we might as well call it. I understand that Surak valued the healer’s art highly, so I suspect there’s some precedent.”

Bones walked around the stage for a moment, his hands clasped behind him. Jim had to smile: he had seen this particular pacing mannerism many times, while McCoy tried to figure out the best way to deliver some piece of good or bad news. “The first thing I want to say to you,” he said, “is that it is illogical to re-wound what is already healing. Or as my mother used to say, ‘If you don’t stop picking at it, it’ll never get better.’” A soft sound of amusement ran around the hall.

“Most of the agreements going these days between Terrans, or the Federation, and Vulcan, are in the nature of band-aids. One of our species hurt the other, somewhere: the other said, ‘Sorry,’ and put a bandage on it. It’s the usual thing you see when you see two children playing together. At first they hurt one another a lot-”

“Our species is hardly a child compared with yours,” said someone in the audience, a sharp angry voice.

“Well,” McCoy said, turning that way and searching the audience with his eyes, “that depends on how you reckon it. Certainly your species was making bombs and guns and missiles and such while ours was still mostly playing with sharpened sticks and stone knives, or in a few favored areas, bronze. But I’m not sure that any particular virtue accures to that distinction. And even if we have been kicking one another’s shins for less time than you, it’s still true that era for era, Terra’s people have kicked a lot fewer shins per capita than Vulcan has. You have several times almost reduced your population to below the viability level” it took a miracle to save you. We may be a bloody, barbaric lot of savages, but we never went that far. Even when we first came up with atomics.” He chuckled softly at the slight silence that fell. “Yes,” he said, “you saw that article in the data nets last night, too, some of you. Where is Selv?” he said, peering amiably around the audience. “You in here?”

“Here,” said the sharp voice.

“Aha,” McCoy said, looking out in that direction and shading his eyes. “Long life and prosperity to you – though I doubt you’ll attract much prosperity with that kind of world-view. Still, maybe wishes count. But it might help if you went to Earth some day and checked out what you talked about so blithely-”

“The data about Earth speaks for itself-” Selv’s thin, angry voice came back.

“No data speaks for itself,” McCoy said, forceful. “Data just lies there. People speak. The idiom ‘speaks for itself’ almost always translates as ‘If I don’t say something about this, no one will notice it.’ Sloppy thinking, Selv! You are dealing with second- and third-hand data. You have never been to Earth, you don’t understand our language – and this is made especially clear by some of the material you claim to be ‘translating’ from Earth publications: an Andorian spirit-dancer with a Ouija board and a Scrabble set could do a better job. Though I must admit I really liked the article on the evolution of the blood sacrifice in Terran culture. That is not what major-league football is for…”

McCoy let the laugh die down, and then said, “Anyway, where was I? Agreements as bandages. Every species in this galaxy that bumps into another one, bruises it a little. Some of them back off in terror and never come out to play again. Some of them run home to their mommies and cry, and never come out again without someone else to protect them. That’s their problem. I for one would like them to come out and play-”

“And be exploited? The Federation’s record of violations of the Prime Directive has been well documented-“

“Selv, I love you. How many violations of the Prime Directive have there been?”

A brief, frantic silence. “Well documented,” McCoy said, good-humored, “but not well enough for you to have seen it. Too busy reading about football? Anyway, don’t bother looking it up,” McCoy said, “I’ll tell you myself. In the last one hundred and eighty years, there have been twenty-nine violations. It sounds like a lot…except when you consider that those took place during the exploration of twenty-three thousand planets by the various branches of Starfleet. And don’t start with me about the Enterprise,” he added, “and her purported record. There have been five violations…out of six hundred thirty-three planets visited and physically surveyed over the last five years.”

“And all those violations have taken place under a Terran’s captaincy-”

“Oh, my,” McCoy said, and it came out almost in a purr, “can it be that Vulcan is leaving the Federation because someone here doesn’t like James T. Kirk? What an amazing idea! Though it would go nicely with some rumors I’ve been hearing.” Bones strolled calmly around the stage for a moment, while Jim and Spock looked at one another, slightly startled. “Well, no matter for that. Still, Selv, your contact with the facts about things seems to be sporadic at best. If I were the people who’ve been reading your material in the nets – and a busy little beaver you’ve been of late – I would start wondering about how much of what I was reading was for real. That is, if I were logical-” McCoy lifted his head to look up over the audience’s heads, and Spock glanced meaningfully at Jim. McCoy knew perfectly well where the cameras were.

“You may say what you like,” Selv said, “but even five violations are too many! And your use of your data is subjective-”

“Of course they’re too many!” McCoy said. “Do you think I would disagree on that? And as for my data, of course it’s subjective! So is yours! We are each of us locked up in our own skull, or maybe skulls, if you’re a Vulcan and lucky enough to be successfully bonded. If you start going on about objective reality, I swear I’ll come down and bite you in the leg!” There was some chuckling at that.

“Though I hope you’ve had your shots,” McCoy added. “If not, I can always give them to you afterward. I’ve become pretty fair at taking care of Vulcans over the past few years. At any rate, I was talking about bandages-”

“The doctor is tenacious,” Spock said softly.

“The doctor is a damn good shrink,” Jim whispered back, “and knows damn well when someone’s trying to give him the runaround.”

“-There’s no arguing the fact that Vulcans and Terrans, or the Terran-influenced functions of the Federation, have had a lot of bumps into one another over the course of time,” McCoy said. “There have been arguments about trade, and weapons policy, and exploration, and exploitation of natural resources, and the protocol of running a Vulcan space service, and everything else you can think of. And every one of those arguments is a bandage over one of the other species’ hurts. Now,” he said, “you would destroy all that hard-built cooperation at one blow: rip off all the bandages at once, yours and ours together-”

“We can bind up our own wounds,” Selv said angrily. “And when two species are no longer going to be cooperating, what does it really matter about the other’s?”

McCoy gazed up at him. “ ‘The spear in the other’s heart is the spear in your own,’ ” he said: “ ‘you are he.’ ”

A great silence fell.

“So much for the man who claims, in the net media, to speak for a majority of all right-thinking Vulcans,” McCoy said, glancing up over the audience’s heads again. “You see that there is at least one Vulcan he does not speak for. Surak.”

Jim and Spock looked each other in utter satisfaction.

McCoy strolled about calmly on the stage for a moment, as if waiting to see whether Selv would come up with anything further. “Can’t have Vulcan without Surak,” he said: “most irregular. At least, that seems to be most people’s attitude here. But a few of you seem quite ready to throw him out along with us.” He kept strolling, his hands clasped behind him again, and he gazed absently at the floor as he walked. Then suddenly he looked up.

“We are what he was preparing you for,” McCoy said. “Don’t you see that? Along with everything else in the universe, of course. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations! That means people who breathe methane, and people who hang upside down from the ceiling, and people who look like pan pizzas, and people who speak no language we will ever understand and want only to be left alone. And it means us! A particularly hard case. An aggressive, nasty, brutish little species…one that nonetheless managed to get out into space and begin its first couple of friendships with other species without consulting you first for advice. A species that maybe reminds you a little too much of yourselves, a while ago – confused and angry and afraid. A hard case. Probably the hardest case!...the challenge that you have been practicing on with other species for a while now! And you met us, and welcomed us, though you had understandable reservation. And since then there have been arguments, but generally things have been working out all right. We are proud to be in partnership with you.

“But now…now comes the inevitable reaction. There’s always a reaction to daring to do the difficult thing, day after day. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction: this is the reaction. The temptation is arising to chicken out. It would be easier, some people are saying. Cleaner, nicer, tidier, without the messy Federation and the problems it raises just by being there. And you are backing off, you are panicking, you are saying, No, we can’t cope, Surak can’t have meant everything when he taught the philosophy of IDIC: he actually meant everything but the third planet out from Sol.

“COWARDS!!”

McCoy paced. The Hall of the Voice was utterly still.

“Pride,” he said finally, more quietly. “I keep hearing about Vulcan pride. An emotion, of course. One you were supposed to have mastered, those of you who practice cthia: or something you were supposed to have gotten rid of, those of you who went in for Kolinahr. Well, I have news for you. The stuff I’ve been seeing in the nets lately, that is pride. Not to be confused with admiration, which is something else, or pleasure in integrity, which is something else entirely. This is good old-fashioned pride, and it goes with fear, fear of the Other: and pride and fear together have gone with all your falls before, and the one you’re about to take now, if you’re not very careful.” McCoy’s voice softened. “I would very much like to see you not take it. I am rather fond of you people. You scare the hell out of me sometimes, but it would be a poor universe without you. But unless you move through your fear, which is the emotion Surak was the most concerned about – and rightly – and come out the other side, the fall is waiting for you: and you will bring it about yourselves, without any help from our species or any other. This,” he gestured around him, “all this concern about humans, and indirectly about the Federation – this is a symptom of something else, something deeper. Trust me. I’m good with symptoms.”

He took one more silent turn around the stage. “If you throw us out – for what you’re really doing here is throwing the Federation out of Vulcan, not the other way around – beware that you don’t thereby take the first step in throwing out Surak as well. We are, after all, just a different kind of alien from the sort you are from one another: the first fear he taught you to move through was the fear of one another. Unlearn that lesson, and, well, the result is predictable. Ignore the past, and repeat your old mistakes in the future.”

McCoy gazed up over the audience’s heads one last time. “Surak would be very disappointed in you if you blew up the planet,” he said. He bowed his head, then, regretfully.

“And so would we.”

McCoy straightened after a moment and lifted the parted hand. ”Mene sakkhet ur-seveh,” he said, and walked off the stage. There was a long pause, and than applause. It was thunderous.

[matrixman]

BRAVO, Leonard McCoy! BRAVO! (joins applause)

[Seafoam Understone]

Any scene with Christopher Lloyd hamming up Kruge in STIII
And I recall this hilarious send up by some comedian (gads wish I remembered his name... but it had me rolling in front of the couch)...
The comedian does a dead on impersonation of Lloyd's voice and acting during his TAXI years... so apply that to the below.

"(normal voice) ... I always liked to imagine what would've happened if Christopher Lloyd got two of his best characters mixed up? Imagine with me if you will... Christopher Lloyd as Commander Kruge as Reverend Jim.... (Lloyd's voice and mannerisms) .... uhhhh, ..... sigh... Admiral Kirk?....... you won't give me the Genesis device?...... okey doke!"

Ricardo's also hammed up version of his earlier character Khan in STII.
Many of the quotes were from Moby Dick modified to present err Trek Terminology. I read that he had fun with the role. One of my favorite films.

Amok Time for TOS (hmm Amok? Hmm no wonder Spock was going nuts! He was trying not to say: Those who know me have no need of my name!)

Trouble with Tribbles whole episode

In "I-Mudd" ... Mudd's beloved wife Stella! "...thing...thing...thing thi..ing

"No Kill I" from Devil in the Dark.... "PAIN!"

"Fizzbib" (a REAL MAN'S game) from "Piece of the Action" ... "now if it was tuesday and you had a jack...." Also... Spock's ultra smooth maneuver "out" of telling a lie when set up by Kirk in this same scene....

Kirk: "Well, now the odds of getting a Royal Fizzbib are... Spock, what are the odds of getting a Royal Fizzbib?
Spock: "I have never successfully calculated the odds of a Royal Fizzbib captian."

"No! It's just not fair! You never Let me do ANYthing fun!" Trelane from "The Squire of Gothos" ... "but I don't wanna, I don't wanna go"

Spoiler

the whiny little bastard... lol

And one more from Spock... what a line! :

Spock tells Trelane "I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose."

Sounds like to me Spock and Lord Foul need sitdown somewhere private to have a long talk.

"Wink Of An Eye" Kirk's willingness to have sex with a Scalosian (thankfully in human form) despite Spock's detailed description of the aliens (multi-tenticled) ... as one comedian said... that guy will screw anything. Also another hilarious comedian moment/jab at ST-TOS... A black comedian (A 90 day wonder) talking about Spock ....

"....check out that Spock man, so cool.... (bends down and picks up an imaginary object and stares at it for a beat...then deadpans...)

Spoiler

"The nigger's a cube captian!" (actual quote not intended to offend)

And finally Spock's wonderful zinger from "The Changeling" as "I am Nomad I am perfect!" talks about Uhura after zapping out her memory.

Nomad: This unit's thought patterns were erratic, chaotic and dis-organized. There was no logic."
Spock: That, is a woman.

(sexist I know but funny as hell)

[aTOMiC]

There is a scene in Space Seed where the bridge crew is in the conference room and Kirk has been taken to the decompression chamber to be slowly killed before their eyes. Of course Kirk is saved and immediately initiates the intruder control measures with "knock out gas". The moment that really cracks me up is when the gas starts to flow into the conference room, Khan catches on instantly and runs out of the room. Scotty jumps out of his seat and totally cold cocks one of Khan's men. (I'm laughing just writing this comment.) Dude never saw it coming. Way to go Scotty!

[duchess of malfi]

Another great Scotty moment:

It's green.

[Earthblood]

James Tiberious Kirk - Intergallactic space slut & boxing champ!

I think my favorite ST moment was the 2 episode STNG Borg encounter, Picard being asssimilated & then rescued...best ST moment ever for me!

Many other great moments:
Scotty: How do we know he didn't invent transparent aluminum?

Data playing poker with Steven Hawking, Einstien & Newton....

[Fist and Faith]

I think my favorite ST moment was the 2 episode STNG Borg encounter, Picard being asssimilated & then rescued...best ST moment ever for me!

That really was awesome!!! And unquestionably Riker's greatest moment!!

Data playing poker with Steven Hawking, Einstien & Newton....

Hawking playing his own holo was too funny!

[caamora]

Favorite Star Trek episode: Mirror, Mirror. Evil Spock with a goatee! Cool!

Favorite Star Trek scene: In Wrath of Khan when Khan has crippled Enterprise and wants the Genesis project info. The Enterprise has ordered Reliant to lower its shields and Kirk has locked phasers on Reliant. The look on Khan's face when he realizes this is priceless.