Star Trek (TV Series)

Return to Tomorrow (1968)

William Shatner: Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk, Sargon

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Quotes 

• Capt. Kirk : They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings, but he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this, but I'm not because Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this, but I must point out that the possibilities - the potential for knowledge and advancement - is equally great. Risk! Risk is our business. That's what this starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her. You may dissent without prejudice. Do I hear a negative vote?

• Scott : [in astonished disbelief]  You're going to WHAT? Are they all right in the head, Doctor?

  Dr. McCoy : [boldly]  No comment.

  Capt. Kirk : A simple transference. Their minds and ours.

  Dr. McCoy : [sarcastically]  Quite simple. Happens every day.

• Capt. Kirk : Well?

  Mr. Spock : Someone or something is attempting to attract our attention.

  Capt. Kirk : Someone or something has succeeded.

• Capt. Kirk : The planet is dead. There's no possibility of life there as we understand life.

  Sargon : And I am as dead as my planet.

• Mr. Spock : Captain, I do wish to inspect whatever this is that lived that long ago.

  Capt. Kirk : And I would like to have my science officer with me on something as unusual as this, but it is full of unknowns, and we can't risk both of us being off the ship.

  [all ship's controls suddenly shut down] 

  Sulu : All power gone, sir.

  Capt. Kirk : On the other hand, perhaps this Sargon would like you to come with us.

  [all power suddenly returns] 

  Mr. Spock : Fascinating.

• Capt. Kirk : When Sargon and I exchanged, as we passed each other, for an instant, we were one. I know him now. I know what he is and what he wants, and I don't fear him.

  Dr. McCoy : That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. An alien practically hijacks your body and then corks you into a bottle, and you...

  Ann Mulhall : [interrupting]  I'm afraid that I must agree with Dr. McCoy. You could be suffering from a form of... of false euphoria.

• Capt. Kirk : That's twice you referred to us as "my children."

  Sargon : Because it is possible you are our descendants, Captain Kirk. Six thousand centuries ago, our vessels were colonizing this galaxy, just as your own starships have now begun to explore that vastness. As you now leave your own seed on distant planets, so we left our seed behind us. Perhaps your own legends of an Adam and an Eve were two of our travelers.

  Ann Mulhall : Our beliefs and our studies indicate that life on our planet Earth evolved independently.

  Mr. Spock : That would tend, however, to explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory.

• Sulu : The reading's growing stronger, Captain. Coming from a star system directly ahead.

  Uhura : It's not a signal, sir. It does not seem to even exist, and yet it's affecting all my channels.

  Capt. Kirk : [addressing Mr. Spock]  Well?

  Mr. Spock : Someone - or some *thing* - is attempting to attract our attention.

  Capt. Kirk : "Someone or something" has succeeded. Our distress signal relays have been activated. We've been given a direction to follow, but how? What's causing it?

  Mr. Spock : I do not know. Not even a Vulcan can know the unknown, Captain. We are hundreds of light years past where any Earth ship has ever explored.

• Mr. Spock : Class "M" planet, Captain.

  Capt. Kirk : Close to Earth conditions.

  Mr. Spock : With two very important exceptions. It's much older than Earth, and about a half million years ago, its atmosphere was totally ripped away by some sort of cataclysm.