Star Trek (TV Series)

Patterns of Force (1968)

William Shatner: Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Kirk has requested that McCoy beam down in a Nazi uniform] 

  Capt. Kirk : Kirk to Enterprise. What's happening up there?

  Uhura : Doctor McCoy is having difficulty with that uniform, sir.

  Capt. Kirk : Well, send him down naked if you have to. Kirk out.

• Capt. Kirk : [Spock is wearing a Nazi uniform]  That helmet covers a multitude of sins.

• Capt. Kirk : Gill. Gill, why did you abandon your mission? Why did you interfere with this culture?

  John Gill : Planet... fragmented... divided. Took lesson from... Earth history.

  Capt. Kirk : But why Nazi Germany? You studied history. You knew what the Nazis were.

  John Gill : Most efficient state... Earth ever knew.

  Spock : Quite true, Captain. That tiny country, beaten, bankrupt, defeated; rose in a few years to stand only one step away from global domination.

  Capt. Kirk : But it was brutal, perverted; had to be destroyed at a terrible cost. Why that example?

  Spock : Perhaps Gill felt that such a state, run benignly, could accomplish its efficiency without sadism.

• Spock : Captain, I'm beginning to understand why you Earthmen enjoy gambling. No matter how carefully one computes the odds of success, there is still a certain... exhilaration in the risk.

  Capt. Kirk : Very good, Spock. We may make a Human of you yet.

  Spock : I hope not.

• Spock : Captain, I never will understand Humans. How could a man as brilliant, a mind as logical as John Gill's, have made such a fatal error?

  Capt. Kirk : He drew the wrong conclusion from history. The problem with the Nazis wasn't simply that their leaders were evil, psychotic men. They were. But the main problem, I think, was the leader principle.

  McCoy : What he's saying, Spock, is that a man who holds that much power, even with the best intentions, just can't resist the urge to play God.

  Spock : Thank you, Doctor. I was able to gather the meaning.

  McCoy : It also proves another Earth saying: Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Darn clever, these Earthmen, wouldn't you say?

  Spock : Yes. Earthmen like Ramses, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Lee Kuan. Your whole Earth history is made up of men seeking absolute power.

  McCoy : [defensively]  Now, Spock, you obviously don't under...

  Spock : Obviously, Doctor, you fail to accept...

  Capt. Kirk : Gentlemen - gentlemen, we've just been through one civil war; let's not start another.

• Spock : [the Enterprise has detonated a missile launched at them from a nearby planet]  Fascinating. A thermonuclear warhead.

  McCoy : That's generations ahead of where these people should be technically. How did they manage that?

  Capt. Kirk : Maybe they had help.

  [referring to a picture of John Gill, a Federation member the Enterprise has been sent to locate] 

• Newscaster : Führer's headquarters reports repulsing an attack by Zeon spacecraft. Our missiles utterly destroyed the enemy.

  Capt. Kirk : You look, er, quite well for a man who's been... utterly destroyed, Mr. Spock.

• Capt. Kirk : [as Spock climbs upon Kirk's flogged back]  Oh, Mr. Spock, the... guard did a very professional job on my back. I'd appreciate it if you'd hurry.

  Spock : [aligning crystals with a light bulb]  Yes, of course, Captain. Do you realize that the aim will, of course, be very crude?

  Capt. Kirk : [shouting in pain]  I... don't care if you hit the broad side of a barn, just hurry, please.

  Spock : Captain... why should I aim at such a structure?

  Capt. Kirk : Never mind, Spock, just... get on with the job.

• [after coming across Kirk and Spock for the second time, Eneg leaves them again quickly without exposing them to the guards] 

  Spock : Well, Captain, I... do not understand how he failed to recognize us.

  Capt. Kirk : Nor do I. But... luck is something you also fail to recognize, Mister Spock.

  Spock : True, I shall reconsider.

• [Gill has died in Kirk's arms] 

  Isak : For so long, I've prayed for this. Now I'm sorry.

  Capt. Kirk : [regarding Gill]  So was he.

  Isak : You've given us all a new chance.

  Eneg : Thank you, but go now. We must do the rest.

• John Gill : I was wrong. The non-interference directive is the only way. We must stop the slaughter.

  Capt. Kirk : You did that, Professor. You told them in time.

  John Gill : Even historians... fail to learn from history. They repeat the same mistakes.

• Daras : You mean that the Führer is an alien?

  Spock : [confirms]  That is correct.

  Daras : I grew up to admire him, later to hate and despise everything he stands for. But I always thought he was one of us. Now to hear that he's an alien sent hear to destroy us...

  Capt. Kirk : That was not his mission, ever. He was sent here to observe, not to interfere. Something went wrong, and that's why we're here. To find out and to correct, we must see him.

• John Gill : Ekosians, the road ahead is difficult. It requires courage and dedication. It requires faith. The Zeon colony has existed for nearly a half a century. If we fulfill our own greatness, that will all be ended. Working together will at times be difficult to reach that goal. And we will reach that goal!

  Spock : Captain, the speech follows no logical pattern.

  Capt. Kirk : Random sentences strung together.

  McCoy : He looks drugged, Jim. Almost at a cataleptic state.

• [after Spock uses a Vulcan neck pinch on an Ekosian] 

  Spock : Your uniform, Captain.

  Capt. Kirk : Yes, it's a shame yours isn't as attractive as mine. Gestapo, I believe.

  Spock : Quite correct. You should make a very convincing Nazi.

  [Kirk aims a look at Spock with a mixture of surprise and near-annoyance] 

• Capt. Kirk : [after Kirk knocks an Ekosian unconcious]  Spock, take his uniform.

  Spock : You propose we pass ourselves off as Nazis, Captain?

  Capt. Kirk : If John Gill is the Fuhrer, it would seem the logical approach.

  Spock : That's very well taken, Captain.

• Capt. Kirk : [after Isak pistol-whips an Ekosian]  You Zeons, for peaceful people, are pretty thorough.

  Isak : Yes. With this uniform, we can steal a car, get us out of the capitol.

  Capt. Kirk : We came to get John Gill.

• Capt. Kirk : [carrying out a body with Spock]  Hunting's good. We've caught so many Zeons, we've got to dump them outside.

• Capt. Kirk : [aiming to enter Nazi Headquarters]  You must get us in there.

  Daras : [realizes]  It would be suicide.

  Isak : Well, there's a risk living at all, the way things are going. If the Captain believes he has a chance, I'm willing to commit suicide *with* him.