Talk:The Corbomite Maneuver (episode)

What year?
When is this episode set? The year on the side-bar is 2265, but the page for that year doesn't list this episode! However, 2266 does! The correct year needs to be added to the article. --Defiant | Talk 18:07, 17 Mar 2005 (EST)

removed
This note has a few inaccuracies, and the episode page isn't the place to discuss it, so the talk page is where i'm copy/pasting: This contradicts a few other references, and is presumptuous anyway, since "engineering" as a term has always, on Federation starships of more than a few decks, been used to refer to a multi-room, multi-level complex. Basically "Engineering Deck 5" could refer to the fact that there are five decks involved in engineering and its also possible part of the engineering section is on Deck 5, but not the "engineering room" this note refers to -- bsides the fact that many references place the saucer rim as deck 7, including the cutaway schematic from "In a Mirror Darkly" and Drexler's art it was derived from (which has two identical engineering rooms, one at the impulse deck and one at the warp nacelle pylons, by the way)
 * '' Engineering is established by dialogue to be on Deck 5. Kirk orders Bailey to coordinate drills with engineering, and Bailey says on two distinct occassions "Come on, Deck 5, give me the green light!" and also "Engineering Deck 5, report! Come on phaser crews, let's get with it!" Since the engineering room is two decks thick, and if it's near the impulse engines, that means the lower level of the saucer's "rim" is Deck 5. This also means that the bubble-shaped structure right under the bridge is only one deck. Deck 3, which has a lot of things like labs and Kirk's and rand's quarters, then has to be the hump on top of the saucer, and Deck 4 becomes the upper level of the rim decks. Note either the location of engineering is changed or there is another engineering room in the cigar-shaped secondary hull later on in season one, in episodes like "The Enemy Within" and "Conscience of the King" in which enginering is said to be in the lower bowels of the ship where people don't usually go to, or are sent to be on duty if they're being pubnished.

also referred to the secondary hull engineering section (in the special effects showing the creature leaving the secondary hull), but since both a primary hull engineering and a secondary hull engineering have been established in episodes, i think it might be safe to say that there are multiple engineering rooms. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 03:20, 9 Sep 2005 (UTC)


 * Your statement here is illogical because if there is a fifth level to engineering as you claim, that would surpass the 4 levels of the two known and definitely main engine rooms, each of which has only two levels to them. Your suggestion uncecessarily requires the existince of at least a third engineering room and that it was being used in lieu of the two main engine rooms for the drill purposes in this episode, which again is illogical. The simplest explanation is that "engineering" in this episode was on Deck 5, and Matt Jefferies' original layout diagram of the ship confirms this. Refer to the diagram below:


 * Note he uses 9-foot decks as was seen on the sets on the show which is why only 8 decks fit in the saucer. The later internal layouts by various artists in the 1990's were based on the Franz Joseph layout which used non-canon 7-foot decks and a larger-than-actual saucer section in order to fit 11 decks into the saucer, as the comment in "The Making of Star Trek" required, but which Matt himself did not approve of. The bottom line is that when they were making the show they used the above layout as a guide.


 * If you don't mind, I'd like to put the comment about Deck 5 being engineering in this episode back in, because your argument that there is a fifth level to engineering is not logical and also relies too heavily on the internal layout of later artists other than Matt Jefferies, basically not taking into acocunt the original layout and guide they used while making the show. --Atrahasis 05:49, 12 Sep 2005 (UTC)


 * I agree totally with the author's engineering arguments, however, one of the pieces of data is incorrect--Kirk's quarters are not on deck 3. We cannot make the link between the "3F' in Kirk and Rands' quarters numbers and a deck. "Mirror, Mirror" clearly establishes that Kirk's quarters are on Deck 5. He tells Uhura to have Scotty and McCoy meet him in his quarters, and the murderous Chekov, before the elevator leaves, asks of him, "Deck 5, sir?", at which Kirk nods. The 'Star Trek Blueprints' from the early 70s went along with this data, placing officer's quarters on Deck 5. --Kurt of North Bend

More removed
I just wanted to say that I find it curious that we're getting rid of
 * *A continuity error occurs in this episode with McCoy. When he enters the bridge during the countdown, he wears his regular sciences division Starfleet uniform. When Spock obtains a visual image of Balok on the main viewscreen, McCoy is seen wearing his sickbay tunic. After Bailey starts ranting and is subsequently relieved from his navigation duties by Kirk, McCoy is seen wearing his regular Starfleet uniform.

but keeping
 * There are nice close-ups of some of the engineering station read-outs in this episode.

- AJ Halliwell 00:05, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


 * One is a nitpick, the other is not. --OuroborosCobra talk |undefined  00:06, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't see an issue with the first, but see more of an issue with the second, being that it tells us... oh... nothing at all. -- Sulfur 02:48, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Even more removed

 * "Kirk is understandably upset throughout most of the episode because of the apparent futility of the situation. Yes, he should probably have heeded the warning buoy when it kept blocking the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)'s path. Later, however, when the engines are "fried" after the starship shears away from the tug ship, Kirk beams over to meet Balok and is strangely ... understanding ... when the diminutive alien says, "It was a pleasure testing you." Kirk's passive reaction seems out of character for such a brash young captain who's been entrusted with so much responsibility."

I removed the [above] since a consensus agreed that nitpicks were not appropriate for our articles. --From Andoria with Love 18:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Concur. That's a highly subjective and conjectural interpretation ("out of char. for such a brash..."). Besides, Kirk makes an impassioned speech to the crew regarding "first contact" missions, so clearly a commanding officer would be balancing all the demands on his attention. In addition, he invests significant patience on Bailey (sp?), to the end of seasoning a clearly motivated and green officer. Successfully, I'd add. Watching this a week or two ago, I was struck by the amount of screen time spent on crew morale, tension in the crew, etc. Very intelligent episode IMHO. Kojiro Vance | Talk 18:45, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Shatner's remark
Can anyone verify this: -- Jaz talk |undefined 01:55, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
 * "When the miniature pod ship detaches itself from the Fesarius, look closely for Kirk in a closeup at the command chair mouthing something silently (possibly "What the f-") as he turns toward the camera!"


 * Will watch for it tonight, but ... they've made so many minor cuts, it's almost like the remastered episode is a "highlights" reel. :P Kojiro Vance | Talk 23:30, 10 December 2006 (UTC)


 * This scene is not evident in the DVD release of the episode. The comment should probably be removed unless somebody else can find it in another version. Spider 03:23, 4 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree. Looked closely at my DVD just now and i can't find kirk mouthing anything. - robotico


 * OK, I'm removing this. Funny thing, I removed this way back, and it became a serious issue, with someone saying something to me like "I've been watching Trek since way before you were born! You have some nerve!" Well, I guess the moral of the story is that in this instance, I was right. --OuroborosCobra talk 23:56, 21 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Shatner's remark is a good 10-15 minutes before the pod ship detaches. It happens the first time the "woooooOOOOOOO" noise is emitted, it looks like he's mouthing something like "the fu-".  It's too short to be the full phrase, though. Izkata 01:12, May 16, 2012 (UTC)

What're you gonna do with that 6%...?
McCoy asks Kirk, who's just ordered Spock to run exercises again to get reaction time from 94% to 100%, "What're you going to do when they give you that 6%?" Kirk starts to answer, "I'm gonna take it, and I'm going to –" Any amusing guesses on what he was about to say? ;) Kojiro Vance | Talk 23:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Probably a better question for TrekBBS. --OuroborosCobra talk 03:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

nitpicks...

 * "As Balok's cube starts to emit radiation, Spock reports that it's starting in the low end of the spectrum. If so, then Uhura should have picked it up sooner, since the lowest end of the electromagnetic spectrum are radio waves, because she is the communications officer. Another curious thing is why did the cube start with radio waves, not harming the crew, but alerting them to what it was doing, instead of starting with x-rays or gamma radiation?"

Removed. In addition the entire background section appears to be nothing but bloopers that were caught on camera. Wardrobe problems, set problems and so forth...discuss. – Morder 04:16, 10 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I say you kill them with fire. --OuroborosCobra talk 04:21, 10 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Also removed:


 * And just before he says "I knew he would", Sulu announces "one minute", while the chronometer is actually shown counting down from 2:02 to 1:59. It does momentarily show 1:00 as it transitions through the actual 2:00 mark, but that appears to just be an artifact of what happens when a mechanically operated numerical display with "number wheels" is run backwards.--31dot 08:13, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Story and Script
There's a whole bunch of info that doesn't have much to do with the episode as it does the entire series / franchise. I would cut everything after the second sentence. It's good info for the series in general and might be worth keeping elsewhere. I didn't want to just remove it without hearing your thoughts first:


 * "This is one of the few episodes of the original which places a time stamp on the events. It is placed two centuries after mankind's early space explorations, or roughly the late 22nd century. It would later be established in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" that these adventures took place in the late 23rd century. Also, in the Star Trek Chronology by Michael Okuda, Okuda states that Gene Roddenberry made a request for a Star Trek time line while producing "The Next Generation," unaware Okuda was already working on such a time line. This chronology was used to firmly establish the calendar date of ST:TNG (2364) and ALL Star Trek dates, including The Original Series, were established using this date. Therefore, it was retroactively established that the original series took place 300 years after its broadcast date, placing this episode in 2266. Obviously, when the Original Series was being filmed the exact time line had yet to be established, but one way to reconcile the dialogue "mistake" is to assume that Kirk was referring not to the Moon landing, but to Zefram Cochrane's warp flight of 2063 – which would put this episode 203 years after that event.)"

Scott son of Pete 17:55, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

The article states that the time of this series (the 23rd century) wasn't established until during Next Generation's run, but in "The Savage Curtain", Scotty mentions that Abraham Lincoln "died four centuries ago." Lincoln died in the 19th century; 19 + 4 = 23.

Also, John Gabriel and Mittie Lawrence definitely can be confirmed. Lawrence is the woman in a gold command tunic walking toward the camera at 5:20, and then crosses from right to left at 5:38 (when Kirk is walking toward the turbolift). Gabriel is the man in the gold command tunic at the station to the left of Spock's when Kirk enters the bridge at 7:10.
 * What's your source for this? --Myko 11:22, October 26, 2009 (UTC)--

72.229.231.18 04:46, 1 September 2009 (UTC)Jim in NYC


 * Admittedly, just observation. I Googled both of them and found what they looked like, and then watched for them in the episode.--208.251.173.180 13:47, October 26, 2009 (UTC)Jim in NYC

Altered the quotes
I altered the notes about the variety in Uhura's dialogue, or lack thereof. Her opening line is to report to Spock that she's getting no signal from the object the sensors are picking up--in fact, she's saying that line in the screen shot used as an illustration (all of her "hailing frequencies" lines come either when she is sitting down, there's someone else in the shot, or both).--72.229.231.18 01:52, October 11, 2009 (UTC)Jim in NYC 2005 (EST)

Trivia/continuity?
I'm not sure if this is something that belongs on the page, but when Kirk addresses the crew at 22:50, five extras--Eddie Paskey, Ron Veto, Jeannie Malone, Frank Da Vinci, and the ostensible "Bobby"--are used for the two lower-decks shots, despite the fact that all five are in the bridge scene as well. In addition, all of them wear different tunics (Eddie Paskey, for example, is wearing a red tunic in the bridge scene, but a gold tunic in the lower-deck shots).--72.229.231.18 03:20, October 11, 2009 (UTC)Jim in NYC
 * Sounds like stock footage was used for one of the shots, not at all uncommon or notable in TOS. --OuroborosCobra talk 03:37, October 11, 2009 (UTC)


 * Maybe. I can't remember ever seeing that particular shot before, but it's only recently that I started noticing extras beyond Leslie and Hadley.  Still, isn't it a bit of a coincidence that that particular shot, with those particular extras, should be used?--Jim in NYC 09:40, October 17, 2009 (UTC)Jim in NYC
 * These stock shots were filmed for this episode, but they turn up again in "Assignment: Earth" among others. Speculating a bit, it seems likely that since those extras was on hand for the bridge scenes it was easy to put them in a corridor to shoot the reaction shots. --Myko 11:21, October 26, 2009 (UTC)