Star Trek (TV Series)

Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967)

William Shatner: Captain James Tiberius 'Jim' Kirk

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Dr. McCoy : I wish we hadn't had to do this.

  Capt. Kirk : So do I. They gave us so much - the Greek civilization, much of our culture and philosophy came from the worship of those beings. In a way, they began the Golden Age. Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?

• Apollo : I am Apollo!

  Ensign Pavel Chekov : [sarcastically]  And I am the Czar of all the Russias!

  Capt. Kirk : Mister Chekov!

  Ensign Pavel Chekov : I sorry, Captain. I never met a god before.

  Capt. Kirk : And you haven't yet.

• Chekov : Sir, some creatures can generate and control energy with no harm to themselves: The electric eel on Earth, the giant dry worm of Antos 4, the fluffy...

  Dr. McCoy : [interrupting]  Not the whole encyclopedia, Chekov.

  Chekov : The captain requires complete information.

  Dr. McCoy : Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim.

  Capt. Kirk : Are you suggesting that he, Apollo, taps a flow of energy and channels it through his body?

  Chekov : That would seem most likely, sir.

  Capt. Kirk : Mr. Chekov, I think you've earned your pay for the week.

• Capt. Kirk : [to Mr. Scott]  Besides, you stiff-necked thistle head, you could have gotten yourself killed.

• Capt. Kirk : Mankind has no need for gods. We find the One quite adequate.

• Dr. McCoy : Got any more good ideas, Jim?

  Capt. Kirk : Yes, I have. One more and it depends on the lieutenant's loyalty. If she fails us, we better get used to herding goats.

• Chekov : [Kirk is about to persuade Carolyn]  Eh, perhaps if I assisted?

  Capt. Kirk : How old are you?

  Chekov : Twenty-two, sir.

  Capt. Kirk : Then I'd better handle it.

• Apollo : I would have cherished you, cared for you. I would have loved you as a father loves his children. Did I ask so much?

  Capt. Kirk : We've outgrown you. You asked for something we can no longer give.

• Dr. McCoy : [noting Scotty's interest in Carolyn]  I'm not sure I like that, Jim.

  Capt. Kirk : Why, Bones? Scotty's a good man.

  Dr. McCoy : And he thinks he's the right man for her. But I'm not sure she thinks she thinks he's the right man. On the other hand, she's a woman.

  [a beat] 

  Dr. McCoy : All woman.

• Mr. Spock : [about Apollo]  Verbose, isn't he?

  Capt. Kirk : Insulted, Spock?

  Mr. Spock : Insults are effective only where emotion is present.

  Capt. Kirk : Good.

• Capt. Kirk : All right, we're here at your invitation. Would you mind telling us what you want without all the Olympian generalities?

• Carolyn : What am I doing down here, Doctor?

  Capt. Kirk : Well, you're the A-and-A officer, aren't you? Archaeology, anthopology, ancient civilizations?

  Carolyn : Correct.

  Capt. Kirk : Well, we're gonna need help in all those areas.

• Capt. Kirk : Apollo's no god, but he could've been taken for one, though, once. Say, 5,000 years ago, a highly sophisticated group of space travelers landed on Earth around the Mediterranean.

  Dr. McCoy : Yes. To the simple shepherds and tribesmen of early Greece, creatures like that WOULD have been gods.

  Capt. Kirk : Especially if they had the power to alter their form at will and command great energy. In fact, they couldn't have been taken for anything else.

• Capt. Kirk : [provoking the self-professed "god" Apollo]  We're tired of your phony fireworks!