Star Trek: The Original Series/Awesome


  • Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series, or specifically the bearded version in "Mirror, Mirror," when he warns his version of Sulu that if he is killed, he has associates who would avenge him, capped off by appending "...and some of them are Vulcans." Sulu's "Eep!" look at this statement and the accompanying music sting is all you need to convey the fact you do not mess with this Spock!
  • Regular Spock had his moments too. This especially applies to "Spectre of the Gun," where the gang is trapped in a surreal Death Trap nightmare of no escape. When Spock reveals he figured a way out, the atmosphere instantly changes to hope as you hang to on every word Spock says as he explains the truth of the situation and the solution, which of course works perfectly in suddenly making the landing party the ones with the real edge in that nightmare.
  • Once, Spock was under the influence of the Lotus Eater Machine, and Kirk had to get him mad enough to shake off its effects - not easy with a Vulcan. Once he's done insulting him, his race, and his girlfriend, and Spock's finally had enough, he throws Kirk around like a rag doll, even bending the metal bar Kirk tries to use to keep him at bay. He's about to remove Kirk's head when he finally comes to his senses. A hilarious moment for Kirk when he's trying to provoke him, and a rare look at what a Vulcan who's finally had enough is capable of.
    • In many ways, a certain scene in the 2009 movie is a Call Back to this one.
  • Dr. McCoy in "Space Seed," when Khan suddenly grabs him and holds a scalpel to his throat:

McCoy: Well, either choke me or cut my throat. Make up your mind.
Khan: English. I thought I dreamed hearing it. Where am I?
McCoy: You're in bed, holding a knife at your doctor's throat.
Khan: Answer my question.
McCoy: It would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery, just under the left ear.
Khan: I respect a man with courage. (lowers the scalpel)

  • The final 5 minutes of the ep "The Doomsday Machine". A dramatic countdown as Kirk pilots the USS Constellation on a suicide run...but the transporter shuts down before he can beam off, effectively trapping him on the doomed ship, while Scotty races to fix the transporter. One of Trek's all time biggest Moments of Awesome.
  • The Corbomite Maneuver, anyone?

Kirk: This is the Captain of the Enterprise. Our respect for other life forms requires that we give you this... warning. One critical item of information that has never been incorporated into the memory banks of any Earth ship. Since the early years of space exploration, Earth vessels have had incorporated into them a substance known as... corbomite. It is a material and a device which prevents attack on us. If any destructive energy touches our vessel, a reverse reaction of equal strength is created, destroying --
Balok [voice]: You now have two minutes.
Kirk: -- destroying the attacker. It may interest you to know that since the initial use of corbomite more than two of our centuries ago, no attacking vessel has survived the attempt. Death has... little meaning to us. If it has none to you then attack us now. We grow annoyed at your foolishness.

    • And then in "The Deadly Years," when Kirk pulls the Corbomite bluff again to escape a Romulan attack.
  • That episode where Kirk and Uhura have the first interracial kiss; mainly because, in that same episode, Kirk acts like a horse so a midget can ride him. And later, the same midget is being telekinetically controlled by some aliens to attack Kirk with a knife. And Kirk responds in kind.
    • The behind the scenes story is pretty great too. The network was skittish about the kiss, and asked that they shoot a few takes where Kirk and Uhura stop before they actually kiss. William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols responded by deliberately screwing up every single take the director tried to do of them not kissing, forcing the editors to use a take where they did.
    • In fact, if you read their respective autobiographies, it becomes pretty clear that the events of the Kiss Scene are the only thing the two see eye-to-eye on. Nicols and Shatner really don't get along.
  • A mix of Moment of Awesome and Funny Moments, the episode "A Taste of Armageddon": Kirk and Spock have snuck out of their holding room, and see across the hall a group of armed guards escorting people to the termination booths. To Kirk's shock and horror, Spock casually walks up to one of them, says "Sir, there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder" gives him a Vulcan nerve pinch, snatches his gun, and calmly walks away while the other guards gape in horror.
  • Scotty standing up to an all-too-trusting ambassador in "A Taste of Armageddon".

Ambassador Fox: Diplomacy, gentlemen, should be a job left to diplomats. You will, of course, immediately resume a peaceful status.
Scotty: No, sir -- I will not!
Fox: What did you say?
Scotty: I'll not lower the screens; not until the captain tells me to.
Fox: You are taking orders from me.
Scotty: Mr. Fox! They've faked a message from the captain, they've opened fire on us, now you expect us to trust them openly?
Fox: I want and expect you to comply with my lawful orders!
Scotty: I understand, sir; but I'll not lower the screens.
Fox: Your refusal has jeopardized the success of this mission! I could have you sent to a penal colony for this; my authority--
Scotty: I know all about your authority, but the screens stay up!

    • This was supposedly based on a real-life experience James Doohan encountered in the Canadian armed services, according to a documentary included in the first season collection, and the Star Trek wiki:

As a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Artillery, James Doohan was threatened with court martial for real for saying "No sir, I will not," to a visiting colonel when he realized a training exercise order would entail blowing the heads off some of his own men. Fortunately, his immediate superiors backed him up and, like his fictional character, he was eventually promoted to captain.

  • Scotty got another one when he decked a Klingon who had called the Enterprise a garbage scow in "The Trouble with Tribbles", after he stopped Chekhov from attacking them for insulting Captain Kirk.

Kirk: "You hit the Klingons because they insulted the Enterprise, not because they..."
Scotty: "Well, sir, this was a matter of pride!"

    • "I didn't mean to imply that the Enterprise should haul garbage, what I meant to say is that it should be hauled away" widens eyes "AS garbage!" Evil Laugh
    • Cyrano also deserves mention for his Moment of Awesome in this same scene. He watches the brawl while gleefully consuming multiple glasses of wine (free of charge, thanks to the bartender's absence). He then fairly waltzes across the room, carefully avoiding all the humans and Klingons being thrown around, then stands at the door and raises his wine glass, preparing to drink it. The bartender returns at that moment and swiftly snatches the glass from his hand. Cyrano, undaunted, pulls another wine glass out of his pocket and drinks it with a self-satisfied smirk. Pure. Win.
    • What Scotty did with the shipful of tribbles. And he seriously thought Kirk would be upset at him for it!!!
  • You do not talk about Moments of Awesome and not mention the Kirk/Khan fight in "Space Seed".
    • Except to note that Kirk finally defeats Khan by hitting him with a plastic toy hammer.
    • From the same episode, it's a brief see-it-or-miss-it moment, when Scotty punches out one of Khan's superhuman minions in one blow. Then, had enough smarts and speed to escape from the knock-out gas entering into the room.
  • Kirk's battle of wits with the Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror".
  • The crew's brilliantly executed Logic Bomb in "I, Mudd".
  • In "Amok Time," McCoy pulls a last-minute save out of nowhere to keep Spock from killing Kirk, and bluffs the hell out of everyone there, including Kirk, in order to pull it off. And gets in a dig at Spock at the end for good measure. Beautiful.
  • In "Turnabout Intruder", when Dr Janice Lester, an ex-lover of Kirk's, was in his body and acting as captain and trying to sentence both Kirk (who was in her body) and Spock (who found out about the switch) to death, Scotty and McCoy privately had a conversation about what to do, as they suspect something but have no proof to directly prove it.

Scotty: "Suppose you voted with me in favor of Spock. That's two to one and Spock is free. What do you think the Captain will do?"
McCoy: "I don't know."
Scotty: "You know, all right. It'll stick in his craw. He'll never accept it."
Mc Coy: "We don't know that."
Scotty: "I tell you, he won't. Then, Doctor, that's the time we move against him. We'll have to take over the ship."
McCoy: "We're talking about a mutiny, Scotty."
Scotty: "Aye. Are you ready for the vote?"
McCoy: "I'm ready for the vote."

    • Janice Lester gets one for recording the whole conversation above and effectively able to use this to sentence Scotty and McCoy to death for trying to mutiny against her, the "captain".
    • I think William Shatner deserves a mention for acting as Janice Lester in this episode, being crazy that she was, and throwing a particularly nasty fit once the crew all refused to obey her orders, exposing her as the scheming, insane shell of a woman that she once was.
  • In "The Changeling", Kirk uses logic to make the perfect Nomad probe realize IT was in error... something its programming could not allow. It was so brilliantly done that Spock congratulated him on it. When you're good enough at logic for your logical Vulcan science officer to compliment you on logic, you know you're good.
  • A small moment from "The Doomsday Machine". When Kirk finds out the mentally unstable Decker had taken control of his ship, and he should be following his orders right now, he essentially said 'screw you Decker. Spock, get him out of there'. Also a small moment for Spock, who calls Security closer when Decker says he's bluffing, to which Spock simply responds, "Vulcans never bluff."
  • From the comics, a cross between Crowning Moment of Awesome and CMOF: Army. Of. TRIBBLES.
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