Star Trek (TV Series)

Spectre of the Gun (1968)

DeForest Kelley: Dr. McCoy

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Morgan Earp has shot a man] 

  Spock : Is this a dead man, Doctor?

  McCoy : Very dead, Mr. Spock.

  Capt. Kirk : That's one thing we can be sure of here. Death is real.

• Spock : It did not function. But it must function.

  McCoy : Nothing could go wrong, Captain. It should work.

  Spock : A scientific fact. But if the tranquillizer does not function, which is clearly impossible, then a radical alteration of our thought patterns must be in order.

• [last lines] 

  Spock : This afternoon, you wanted... to kill. Didn't you?

  McCoy : But he didn't kill, Mr. Spock.

  Spock : But he wanted to, Doctor.

  Capt. Kirk : Is that the way it seemed to you, Mr. Spock?

  Spock : Yes, Captain.

  Capt. Kirk : Mr. Spock - you're absolutely right. That's exactly the way it was.

  Spock : Mankind - ready to kill.

  Capt. Kirk : That's the way it was in 1881.

  Spock : I wonder how Humanity managed to survive.

  Capt. Kirk : We overcame our instinct for violence.

• McCoy : Mr. Spock, why don't you join us common humanoids in trying to find a way out of here and quit explaining why we can't get out of here.

• Spock : [mind-melding with McCoy]  The bullets are unreal. Without body. They are illusions only. Shadows without substance. They will not pass through your body, for they do not exist.

  McCoy : [in a trance]  They do not exist.

  Spock : [mind-melding with Kirk]  Unreal. Appearances only. They are shadows. Illusions. Nothing but ghosts of reality. They are lies. Falsehoods. Specters without body. They are to be ignored.

• [Chekov has been shot dead] 

  Spock : Gentlemen, there is one thing which requires the immediate attention of all of us. Specifically, our future.

  Capt. Kirk : But not this minute, Spock. It takes us... a little longer.

  Spock : I understand the feeling, Captain.

  McCoy : You talk about another man's feelings. What do you feel, Spock?

  Spock : My feelings are not subject for discussion, Doctor.

  McCoy : Because there are no feelings to discuss!

• [Kirk and his landing party find themselves in a strange environment] 

  Spock : Obviously, this represents the Melkotian's concept of an American frontier town, circa... 1880.

  McCoy : It's just bits and pieces. It's incomplete.

  Spock : Perhaps the Melkotians have insufficient data about this era.

  Capt. Kirk : Or perhaps this is all they require to complete the pattern of our death.

• Spock : Doctor, in your opinion, what killed Mr. Chekov?

  McCoy : A piece of lead in his body.

  Spock : Wrong. His mind killed him.

  McCoy : Well, come on, Spock. If you've got the answer, tell us.

  Spock : Physical reality is consistent with universal laws. Where the laws do not operate, there is no reality. All of this is unreal.

  McCoy : What do you mean, unreal? I examined Chekov. He's dead.

  Spock : But you made your examination under conditions which we cannot trust. We judge reality by the response of our senses. Once we are convinced of the reality of a given situation, we abide by its rules. We judge the bullets to be solid, the guns to be real. Therefore they can kill.

• Capt. Kirk : [as McCoy wipes Kirk's split lip with bourbon]  Ouch!

  McCoy : What's the matter?

  Capt. Kirk : What do you call that stuff? Fire?

  McCoy : [reading the label]  Taos Lightning, straight bourbon. Try some. In small amounts, it was considered medicinal.

  Capt. Kirk : Well, label it "For external use only".

• McCoy : [appraising his gun]  In the midst of what seems so unreal, the harsh reality. This is not a dream.

• McCoy : Spock will have no truck with grief, Scotty. It's human!

• Spock : [finishing in the construction of a gas grenade]  These crude supplies we were forced to use worked quite well.

  McCoy : I doubt that this combination of things was ever used for any purpose quite like this.

  Spock : Perhaps they would've been if they'd had your ingenuity, Doctor.

• Scott : If we only had a phaser.

  McCoy : Or a communicator. It'd be a pleasure to watch those Earps as we beamed back to the ship at exactly 4:59:30.

• McCoy : Let it go, Jim. He's dead.