S2.E5

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How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

Episode aired Oct 5, 1974
TV-PG
23m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

732

YOUR RATING

Action Adventure Animation Family Sci-Fi

The Enterprise runs into a being which once visited Earth and influenced the Mayan culture.The Enterprise runs into a being which once visited Earth and influenced the Mayan culture.The Enterprise runs into a being which once visited Earth and influenced the Mayan culture.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

732

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos107

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Top cast7

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William Shatner

Capt. Kirk
(voice)

Leonard Nimoy

Mr. Spock
(voice)

DeForest Kelley

Dr. McCoy
(voice)

George Takei

Sulu
(voice)
(credit only)

Nichelle Nichols

Uhura
(voice)

Majel Barrett

James Doohan

Scott
(voice)
…

Storyline

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Trivia
In the portion of the episode when Uhura expresses concern about the condition of "the captain and the others," Spock replies curtly, "Return to your duties," writers David Wise and Russell Bates worked for almost two hours trying to write a tart retort for her to one-up Spock but couldn't. So Wise wrote a place holding "slug line" of "Pointy-eared fool!" with the plan to fix it later. They forgot to fix it and turned in the script and it made it all the way to Nichelle Nichols' recording session. When she read the line silently she looked up and asked, "Am I really supposed to say that?!" Wise and Bates told her "No!" So the line was not recorded nor any replacement line.

Goofs
Captain Kirk continuously mispronounces the name "Kukulkan" as "Kuklakan."

Quotes
Dr. McCoy: There's a line from Shakespeare...
Captain Kirk: Yes, Bones, I remember it: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."
Mr. Spock: Indeed, Captain.

Connections
Featured in Drawn to the Final Frontier (2006)

User reviews8

Review

Featured review

6/10

Kuklukan, Kukulkan, Mugato, Mugutu

Why didn't anyone tell William Shatner that he constantly mispronounced "Kukulkan" as "Kuklukan"? Every single time! You really have to wonder if the Animated Series was a one-man production show and there were no people who listened to what was recorded. Ridiculous.

In addition, this episode is basically the same story as "Who Mourns for Adonais" - once again an extraterrestrial being that once caused mischief on Earth and was worshipped there as a god.

And the fact that a new, never-before-seen ensign with indigenous Comanche roots suddenly appears on the bridge fits perfectly with the story. After all, he is the only one who recognizes the being as a Mayan god - and that despite the fact that Spock otherwise knows every tiny detail of the entire history of the Earth, from Brahms's handwriting to Shakespeare's complete works, which he can also recite perfectly. But he has apparently never heard of Kukulkan.