Star Trek (TV Series)

The Savage Curtain (1969)

William Shatner: Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

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Quotes 

• Captain James T. Kirk : Your Surak is a brave man.

  Mr. Spock : Men of peace usually are, Captain.

• Captain James T. Kirk : [after Kirk, Spock, and Lincoln materialize on the planet, but Kirk and Spock's tricorder and phasers did not, and their communicators are no longer functioning]  Your explanation, sir?

  Abraham Lincoln : I have none. To me, this seems quite as it should be.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Why were our weapons taken? Why can't we communicate with our ship?

  Abraham Lincoln : Please believe me. I know nothing other than what I already told you.

  Captain James T. Kirk : The game is over. We've treated you with courtesy. We've gone along with what and who you think you are.

  Abraham Lincoln : Despite the seeming contradictions, all is as it appears to be. I am Abraham Lincoln.

  Surak : Just as I am whom I appear to be.

  Mr. Spock : Surak.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Who?

  Mr. Spock : The greatest of all who ever lived on our planet, Captain. The father of all we became.

• Dr. McCoy : You're BOTH out of your heads!

  Scott : Aye, sir.

  Captain James T. Kirk : And you're on the edge of insubordination!

  Dr. McCoy : I'd be on the edge of insubordination to remind the captain that this smells of something happening to him that I might not be able to patch back together again.

  Scott : Aye!

• Abraham Lincoln : Do you drink whiskey?

  Captain James T. Kirk : Occasionally. Why?

  Abraham Lincoln : Because you have qualities very much like those of another man I admire greatly - General Grant.

• Captain James T. Kirk : The very reason for the existence of our starships is contact with other life. Although the method is beyond our comprehension, we have been offered contact; therefore, I shall beam down.

• Yarnek : We offer you an opportunity to become our teachers by demonstrating whether good or evil is more powerful.

  Captain James T. Kirk : [grabbing the alien then pulling back his hand at the sound of a sizzle]  Oh!

  Yarnek : You find my body heat distressing, Captain? You forget the nature of this planet.

• Captain James T. Kirk : What gives you the right to hand out life and death?

  Yarnek : The same right that brought you here: the need to know new things.

• Yarnek : Your good and your evil use the same methods; achieve the same results. Do you have an explanation?

  Captain James T. Kirk : You established the methods and the goals...

  Yarnek : For you to use as you chose

  Captain James T. Kirk : What did you offer the others, if they won?

  Yarnek : What they wanted most. Power.

  Captain James T. Kirk : You offered me... the lives of my crew.

  Yarnek : I perceive. You have won their lives

• Scott : President Lincoln, indeed! No doubt to be followed by Louis of France and Robert the Bruce!

  Captain James T. Kirk : If so, we'll execute appropriate honors to each, Mr. Scott.

• Captain James T. Kirk : Scotty, beam us up fast!

• Abraham Lincoln : Do I gather that you recognize me?

  Captain James T. Kirk : [cautiously]  I recognize what you appear to be.

  Abraham Lincoln : And appearances can be most deceiving, but not in this case, James Kirk - I AM Abraham Lincoln.

• Abraham Lincoln : Do you still measure time in minutes?

  Captain James T. Kirk : We can convert to it... sir.

• Mr. Spock : There's no doubt they want us down there for some hidden purpose, otherwise they would have revealed some logical reason for all of this.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Why Lincoln, Spock? Any speculation on that?

  Mr. Spock : Speculation is unnecessary, Captain. The answer is clear. President Lincoln has always been a very personal hero to you. What better way to titillate your curiosity than to make him come alive for you.

• Col. Green : [walking up to Capt. Kirk]  Captain Kirk, may I speak with you? I quite agree with your attitude towards this charade. It's ridiculous to think that we should take part in it.

  Captain James T. Kirk : What do you want?

  Col. Green : Why the same thing as you do- to get out of here. I have no quarrel with you anymore than you have with me.

  Captain James T. Kirk : You're somewhat different than the way history paints you, Colonel Green.

  Col. Green : History tends to exaggerate. I suggest we call a halt to this at once, and see if we can't find some way out of our difficulties. My associates are in full agreement with me. Captain... you were tricked into coming here, weren't you? So were we all.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Where do you come from?

  Col. Green : I can't remember. Isn't that strange? My memory used to be quite remarkable. Well, wherever it was, I want to get back. So it seems to me, Captain, that we have a common cause, and our enemy is that creature.

  Captain James T. Kirk : What do you propose?

  Col. Green : That we combine forces and reason someway to overcome it.

  Captain James T. Kirk : You were notorious, Col. Green, for striking at your enemies in the midst of negotiating with them.

  Col. Green : But that was centuries ago, Captain, and not altogether true. No, there is much I would change now if I could. Don't let prejudice and rumor sway you.

• Surak : [holding up his right hand in the Vulcan Salute]  Live long and prosper, Mr. Spock. May you also, Captain Kirk.

  Mr. Spock : It is not logical that you are Surak. There is no fact, extrapolation of fact, or theory, which would make possible...

  Surak : Whatever I am, would it harm you to give response?

  Mr. Spock : [holding up his right hand in the Vulcan Salute]  Live long and prosper, image of Surak, father of all we now hold true.

  Surak : The "image of Surak" read in your face what is in your mind, Spock.

  Mr. Spock : As I turned and my eyes beheld you, I displayed emotion. I beg for forgiveness.

  Surak : The cause was more than sufficient. Let us speak no further of it. In my time, we knew not of earth men. I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Spock, we will not go along with these charades any longer.