Star Trek (TV Series)

Bread and Circuses (1968)

Leonard Nimoy: Mister Spock

Quotes 

• Dr. McCoy : You know why you're not afraid to die, Spock? You're more afraid of living. Each day you stay alive is just one more day you might slip, and let your Human half peek out. That's it, isn't it? Insecurity. Why, you wouldn't know what to do with a genuine, warm, decent feeling.

  Spock : Really, Doctor?

  Dr. McCoy : [after a pause]  I know. I'm worried about Jim, too.

• Flavius : What do you call those?

  Spock : I call them 'ears'.

  Flavius : Trying to be funny?

  Spock : Never.

• [Kirk, Spock and McCoy are on an Earth-like planet] 

  Spock : Fascinating. This atmosphere is remarkably similar to your twentieth century. Moderately industrialized pollution, containing substantial amounts of carbon monoxide, and partially consumed hydrocarbons.

  Dr. McCoy : The word was smog.

  Spock : Yes, I believe that was the term. I had no idea you were that much of a historian, Doctor.

  Dr. McCoy : I am not, Mister Spock. I was simply trying to stop you from giving us a whole lecture on the subject.

• [last lines] 

  Spock : [referring to Flavius]  I wish we could've examined that belief of his more closely. It seems illogical for a sun worshiper to develop a philosophy of total brotherhood. Sun worship is usually a primitive superstition religion.

  Uhura : I'm afraid you have it all wrong, Mister Spock, all of you. I've been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion. But he couldn't. Don't you understand? It's not the sun up in the sky. It's the Son of God.

  Capt. Kirk : Caesar - and Christ. They had them both. And the word is spreading... only now.

  Dr. McCoy : A philosophy of total love and total brotherhood.

  Spock : It will replace their imperial Rome; but it will happen in their twentieth century.

  Capt. Kirk : Wouldn't it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again? Mister Chekov, take us out of orbit. Ahead warp factor one.

  Chekov : Aye, sir.

• Mr. Spock : Even more fascinating. Slavery evolving into an institution, with guaranteed medical payments, old-age pensions.

  Dr. McCoy : Quite logical, I'd say, Mister Spock. Just as it's logical that, uh... 20th-century Rome would use television to show its gladiator contest, or name a new car the Jupiter VIII.

  Mr. Spock : Doctor, if I were able to show emotion, your new infatuation with that term would begin to annoy me.

  Dr. McCoy : What term? 'Logic'? Medical men are trained in logic, Mr. Spock.

  Mr. Spock : Really, Doctor? I had no idea they were trained. Watching you, I assumed it was trial and error.

• [Spock and Dr. McCoy are locked in a prison cell] 

  Dr. McCoy : Spock, er... I know we've, er, had our disagreements. Er, maybe they're jokes, I don't know; as Jim says, we're not often sure ourselves sometimes. But, er... what I'm trying to say is...

  Spock : Doctor, I am seeking a means of escape. Will you please be brief?

  Dr. McCoy : Well, what I'm trying to say is, you saved my life in the arena.

  Spock : Yes, that's quite true.

  Dr. McCoy : [indignantly]  I'm trying to thank you, you pointed-eared hobgoblin!

  Spock : Oh, yes, you Humans have that emotional need to express gratitude. "You're welcome", I believe, is the correct response.

• Dr. McCoy : Once, just once, I'd like to be able to land someplace and say "Behold, I am the Archangel Gabriel."

  Spock : I fail to see the humor in that situation, Doctor.

  Dr. McCoy : Naturally. You could hardly claim to be an angel with those pointed ears, Mr. Spock. But say you landed someplace with a pitchfork...

• Dr. McCoy : Odd that these people should worship the 'sun'.

  Spock : Why, Doctor?

  Dr. McCoy : Because, my dear Mister Spock, it is illogical. Rome had no sun worshipers. Why should they parallel Rome in every way except one?

• Spock : I find the checks and balances of this civilization quite illuminating.

  Dr. McCoy : Next he'll be telling us he prefers it over Earth history.

  Spock : They do seem to have escaped the carnage of your first three world wars, Doctor.

  Dr. McCoy : They have slavery, gladiatorial games, despotism.

  Spock : Situations quite familiar to the six million who died in your first world war, the eleven million who died in your second, the thirty-seven million who died in your third. Shall I go on?

  Claudius Marcus : Interesting...

• [the Enterprise is scanning Planet 892-IV] 

  Uhura : Captain? Both amplitude and frequency modulation being used. I think I can pick up something visual - some news broadcast using a system I... think they once called video.

  Mr. Spock : 'Television' was the colloquial term.

• Uhura : [Kirk and Spock are assessing Planet 892-IV]  Captain, both amplitude and frequency modulation being used. I think I can pick up something visual. It's a news broadcast using a system I think they once called video.

  Mr. Spock : "Television" was the colloquial term.

  Capt. Kirk : Put it on the screen.

  Uhura : Aye.

  Announcer : [static clears]  ... Today, police rounded up still another group of dissidents. Authorities are as yet unable to explain these fresh outbreaks of treasonable disobedience by well-treated, well-protected, intelligent slaves. Now turning to the world of sports, and bringing you the taped results of the arena games last night: The first heat involved amateurs. They're petty thieves from the city prison - conducted, however, with traditional weapons, it provided some amusement...

  [one contestant kills the other] 

  Announcer : ...for a few moments. In the second heat, a slightly more professional display, in the spirit of our splendid past, when gladiator Claudius Marcus killed the last of the Barbarians, William B. Harrison, in an excellent example of...

  [the picture fades] 

  Uhura : Transmission lost, sir. Shall I try to get it back?

  Capt. Kirk : [Spock returns to his scanner]  Slaves and gladiators... What are we seeing, a 20th-Century Rome?

  Mr. Spock : Captain, the one described as the barbarian is also listed here: Flight Officer William B. Harrison, of the S.S. Beagle. At least there WERE some survivors down there.

• Claudius Marcus : Now, Captain, what are you going to order your men to do?

  Capt. Kirk : If I brought down a hundred of them armed with phasers...

  Claudius Marcus : ...you could probably defeat the combined armies of our entire empire - and violate your oath regarding non-interference with other societies. I believe you all swear you'll die, before you'd violate that directive. Am I right?

  Spock : Quite correct.

  Dr. McCoy : Must you always be so blasted honest?

• [Spock and McCoy are each fighting a Roman in the arena] 

  Spock : You need any help, Doctor?

  Dr. McCoy : Whatever gave you that idea?

  Achilles : Fight, you pointed-ear freak!

  Dr. McCoy : You tell him, buster. Of all the completely... ridiculous... illogical questions I ever heard in my life!

• Dr. McCoy : [upon being released from their cell by Kirk]  What happened, Jim?

  Spock : What did they do to you, Captain?

  Capt. Kirk : [reflecting on his night with the slave Drusilla]  They... threw me a few curves...

• Spock : [Speaking to his opponent in the arena]  I do not want to injure you!

  [Spock clobbers the opponent's head with his shield]