He tends to overact a bit, that is, be too emotional, but a lot of good actors do. For instance, Robert Redford perhaps. But this is overacting in a good sense of the term.
only because Spock, being a Vulcan, was amenable to listening to logic - who the f**k in our ego-driven Human universe would do that? all you have to do is look at our Politicians fighting like cats and dogs over power to understand that our system gave up truth and logic a long time ago. Lesson: no system is always "right", no ideologue is always "appropriate", no person is above "ego".
@neuronsactivated- Cool for that universe, decidedly uncool for associates of Kirk who had to deal with his ever increasing, overly inflated ego, back in "their" universe!
That one line is pure GOLD "If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn't logic DEMAND that you be a part of it?" One of the greatest lines of all time.
It's the perfect line in context of that moment and that universe- indeed it brings tears to my eyes- but I see it being misused as justifying stupid change of proven systems for change's sake in this day and age.
No, logic DEMANDS nothing. It simply produces symbolic inferences. But these are not moral imperatives, because we have to subjectively decide what moral value to assign to each proposition. Logic does not assign values. In any case, the argument itself is not logically valid. If change is inevitable, then the choice to participate or not is irrelevant to the outcome. Putting all of this together, if someone is being murdered and death is inevitable, there is certainly no logical demand for me to participate in the murder. It's a truly dreadful bit of script writing. I felt embarrassed to watch it.
One of the BEST Kirk speeches. I am astounded by the number of people, that do not get this episode. Its not about humans going down a dark road. Its about NOT being a part of such a thing, because it cannot endure.
So Mirror Spock uses the Tantalus Device to make the bad people disappear and ushers in an egalitarian future? In reality the purges would go on and on, just as they did under Stalin.
@@randymillhouse791 If it's the Republican party that cannot endure, then that would imply it should've at the very least become much less popular compared to the Democratic party following the end of Trump's presidency. The issue with that is obviously that that didn't happen. I believe it's because, from what I understand, the Republican party is better at being persuasive compared to the Democratic party. Neither of them are good, ultimately. Both won't endure, especially if powerful corporations continue to try and screw over the common citizen. It'll potentially lead to something akin to the Russian Revolution combined with a Civil War either 2 to 3 times as deadly.
@@johntempleton3560 Spock relieved Decker, threatening him with arrest, and with armed security guards on the Enterprise bridge to back him up (...and no, Spock wasn't bluffing....since "Vulcans never bluff").
This episode had all three, though. The greatness is in the story, and how it made us think. But there were hot women (and men), action scenes and, pretty good for their time, special effects in TOS.
@@someoneelse1441 Possibly because the original Fascist dictator, Mussolini boasted that he was going to create a New Roman Empire. Americans tend to think of wild sexual orgies whenever they think of the Roman Empire, so Fascist type future govts are suppose to be sexually wild and explorative. That this is historically inaccurate does not change this belief.
I always use that line, "the illogic of waste, of lives, potential, resources, time..." in many of my arguments about history, culture, business and politics. It just works so well, I also salute the writer who wrote this.
@@MarcillaSmith technically, red pill was originally supposed to be exactly woke. Matrix is in many ways about class consciousness and revolution. It's just that right wing idiots completely misinterpreted or deliberately appropriated its meaning.
@@MarcillaSmith what about the founding fathers? Are you going to say they were woke and blue pill? Benjamin Franklin had that vision and pressed the issue beginning in 1744. That's the one man; and had he been listened to, we wouldn't be in the dystopia we know now.
Ditto. One of the great philosophical moments in science fiction. It was incorporated into the final draft of the episode at a time when such things could have just as easily never been incorporated. And us true believers looked beyond the cheesy special effects and costumes, and grew.
I like this scene for something that is never mentioned, that seems to me to be the core of the episode. When Kirk leaves the console, he doesn't give Marlena a big Kirk kiss, he puts his hand on hers in a gesture of friendship and warmth and she looks at it with astonishment. She continues with a look of disbelief until he beams out.
Maybe that's because, through no fault of his own really, he's forced to leave her behind to feign for herself in the evil dimension. A big, passionate, Kirk smooch, would have been totally inappropriate. As for her look... Shell shocked might be another way to describe it.
@@tinafoster8665 The Kirk she knew, was not a friend. The look was of coming loss, of a friend she might have had. What might have been... -- It is obvious though, how useful and important she would become! Paired with the Dark Spock, the team would raise a revolution of sorts, to this Dark Enterprise. Instead of 240-years, less than 10-years to crash Earth-based tyranny, and a better way for a new Federation.
@@kd7bwb12 yes, other Spock with the Tantalus device and, what was her name? She did seem like a very unsatisfied person and helping Spock overthrow the empire would have definitely been interesting
I actually believe the device he was talking about is that woman. As in that if her and Spock were a couple she could help make him invincible. Men and women need each other in this world!!!
1:27 William Shatner really brings it, delivering this line to the viewers. Star Trek really did change the future of humanity, inspiring many innovations.
But the Innovation that this show demonstrated is one that has not yet occurred in human society. And that is the innovation of compassion and understanding and acceptance of others that are different.
Awesome speech! I get teary eyed and inspired each time I hear it. I like later on when they're back on the "regular" Enterprise bridge. He tells Spock: "I think change is coming in the other universe; if I read my Mr. Spocks correctly". :)
Well, if I read my Kirks correctly, Kirk is not one to just go with the flow. He rocks the boat, and he makes waves. This is a hallmark quality of a dynamic person, one who influences others for change.
Many years ago I worked at a place that reminded me of the evil empire in this episode. I caught this episode one night very late and it made me realize that the place that I worked was illogical and would fail. I left not long after that and a number of years later that illogical place did fail. No satisfaction taken in it failing because people did lose their jobs when it failed. I've never regretted leaving. Sometimes art helps us figure out our next steps.
One of my all time favorite lines from Star Trek, Captain Kirk especially, "In every revolution , there's one man with a vision. " This show spoke about such higher things. I know there's a handful of clunkers but I think this is the best sci fi show (and one of the best all time of any genre).
One time I was watching the opening of “Fairest of Them All”and I honestly thought I was watching the end of the original episode for a bit. It’s that faithful to TOS and the acting is good.
I love that even in a universe where people's personalities and moralities are flipped, logic's timeless nature transcends it all. Mirror spock grew up in a universal society that craves and rewards violence so it's entirely possible the thought of helping people because their life matters never crossed his mind. When being in the receiving end of respect of his personhood and life, he needed to learn more, it was too fascinating.
So true. "Our" Mr Spock and the mirror Spock would have been amazing had they met. I love how both Nimoy and Barbara Luna played this scene. Stunned that another universe existed and how different this Kirk was
Yes. You know people not really familiar with Star Trek often speak of the Vulcan character and persona as merely absorbed in logic and reason and even to the point that emotions do not exist for them. This is not quite true. They do exist but are suppressed for the sake of civility. civilization, and ironically even kindness itself.
I loved that line, can't remem whether it was from the end of the 2nd, or beginning of the 3rd. I saw most of the earlier movies on their debut week or day.
This is the scene that put 'Mirror, Mirror' over the top, IMO. Already a great episode, but 'Captain Kirk, I shall consider it!' puts it in the stratosphere.
Well it's my 2nd fave of TOS, but sometimes I feel it's first right after watching it. My fave is prolly the same as everyone's, but it helps that I saw my fave when I was young, B4 I became a Trekkie.
Seeing him depressed in _Star Trek II_ made me think he gave himself a speech to take a desk job to reform Starfleet or something, and failed, being shunted to the academy. But now I see they wanted to do a show about growing old and dying, so even though he wasn't older than some captains and commodores he knew 13 years earlier he was "worn out."
One of the more powerful pieces of information ever bestowed by the Star Trek writers. If you fight for the good, nothing can get in your way. Settling for anything other than your best, or accepting conditions that are unjust, corrupt, or illogical, not only diminishes yourself, but diminishes the Greatness that is within you.
I love the Federation President's statement (Undiscovered Country movie)..........."Let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing". Absolute gold !!!
I love how Spock and Marlena are struggling to come to grips with the thought of a benign Captian Kirk all throughout the episode. Especially given the savage dog-eat-dog nature of the Terran Empire.
When Kirk was risking time to give mirror Spock advice on freedom and peace over tyranny and enslavement I said to myself “Man Kirk you just couldn’t resist could you?”
My favorite soliloquy by William Shatner as Captain Kirk. I also love Spock's at the end of "This Side of Paradise", when he's speaking to his rediscovered love, played by Jill Ireland. Leonard Nimoy did a master-class acting job there.
Before he's converted she holds out her hand for his, but he puts his behind his back because it is in extremely bad taste to show emotion. In some ways he believes he has to be more logical and emotionally controlled than full Vulcans.
Every so often, I watch one of these clips and remember how truly awesome this show was. It truly was way ahead of its its time and probably why it endures.
Kirk's smile when Mirror Spock says "I shall consider it" is a staple of him winning a debate in which he influences change in people's beliefs or attitudes. It's always him saying "You're DAMN RIGHT you'll change your ways." KIRK IS THE G.O.A.T.🏆
This is what gets me sometimes in Star Trek they always seem to have a few moments to get the hell out of their situation but still always stop and have a little chat before they go.
Yeah l agree with you. Vulcans are supposed to be able to suppress their emotions. And yet those eyebrow raises in thier own strange way always spoke volumes of emotions!!
Probably the most powerful sequence devised. There's other. Shatner is on his best game, the inflections, focus, pauses, I don't understand his critics. That was more than futuristic. It's our time 2024 to change things.
One of the strongest moments in the original series. Others: "Who Mourns for Adonias" [2nd season, conclusion], "Requiem for Methuselah" [3rd season, conclusion], "Bread and Circuses" [2nd season, middle section and conclusion: interaction of Spock and McCoy, and discussion between Kirk and Proconsul Claudius Marcus], "Where No Man Has Gone Before" [1st season, conclusion], and "All Our Yesterdays" [3rd season, conclusion, discussion between Spock and McCoy]
No, we needed original stories dealing with world problems: equal rights, pollution, migration, etc. We did get one on conservation and one on the end of the Cold War.
Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek was a classic!!! It about race critical thinkers and peace in the world. The show was way ahead of their time talking about today's society right now.
Scenes become epic because of the soul within it. You can't force it to be epic. Shatner, Nimoy and others...were...epic. Because in every TV show there is one man with a vision.
One time I used part of this speech with my eighth graders. The principal took away all their dances for the year for something they didnt do. I told them to go to the principal state their case and "push till it gives" it was classic and funnas heck.
“In every revolution there is one man with a vision.” As a kid, this line meant nothing… As an adult who has seen far too much, I finally understand it.
@trha2222 soyboy liberals as klingons, the emulation of toxic masculinity? If you're going to do political trolling you should be better at it than this.
As Kirk is saying “In every revolution there is one man with a vision”, MLK is sitting in his living room nodding approvingly and saying “Yes, yes, yes!”
I always wanted to see what Evil Kirk was trying to pull on the good Enterprise that alerted Spock and the others that something was...up...with him and McCoy, Scotty and Uhura. Seeing any of them trying to do evil stuff and the rest of the crew becoming increasingly concerned would have been entertaining.
I agree when they were making the big screen version of Star Trek they should have used Mirror world as its storyline. They never explored this scenario fully enough of the alternative i.e evil versions of the Star Trek characters to quote Spock it would have been fascinating, such a shame it never happened.
I love that we see Kirk worried about what their counterparts might be doing on the original Enterprise and then we learn they were found out immediately. lol.
I also enjoy the scene where the planetary ambassador is pleading with Kirk and says at one point "We are _ethically compelled_ to refuse your request for the crystals for you would use them only for expansionist and military purposes." To this Spock raises an eyebrow as if to say "this makes some sense."
‘And that vision is to defeat the evil empire to restore the goodness of civilized men and women and to restore the rights of everyone to live as free men and women.’ We must use logic in the right way as a positive reinforcement tool to preserve and protect for what is ours.’
It all turned out Ok in the end, though. I get it, I was one of those 9 year old kids who actually wrote a letter to NBC so they wouldn't cancel the series.
Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind, and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the key to that era. - Gandhi. The similarity of this quote to Kirk's last words as he leaves the alternate Spok - interesting in view of the non-violence of the Hulkans. The writers seemed to have Gandhi in mind during this episode.
Man with a vision is cool and all, but I prefer another line “If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?”
Push till it gives. I said that to my 8th graders once when they got accused of being disruptive at the library across the street in reality it 6th graders I told them to go to student council and demand that they state their case. I said push till it gives just like cpt kirk!!!!! Classic!!!
