"This is Ceti Alpha Five!"

Top Ten Lines from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

10 “Jim Kirk was many things, kiddo, but he was never a Boy Scout.” – Dr. Carol Marcus to her son David, who’s days away from finding out the loathsome non-Boy Scout in question is in fact his father. They’ll meet for the first time (in a particularly heartwarming moment) when David attacks Kirk with a knife on Regula I.
9 “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor.” – Admiral Kirk to Dr. McCoy in the film’s opening scene, nicely foreshadowing the film’s Big Theme #1: How does a brash hero like Kirk deal with growing old? Uhura doesn’t see many movies, apparently, because she replies with “Now what was that supposed to mean?”
8 “Ship... out of danger?” – A gravel-voiced Captain Spock to Kirk moments after Spock saved the Enterprise by uncapping a big steel cylinder, revealing a very bright light inside (read: futuristic deadly radiation), and adjusting something inside with his hands. What exactly did he do, plug the warp drive back in?

7 “Get back your command. Get it back before you turn into part of this collection. Before you really do grow old.” – McCoy to Kirk in Kirk’s San Francisco swinging bachelor pad, hitting harder Big Theme #1. (Also fun in this scene is learning that Kirk is allergic to Retinax Five.)

6 “One thing is certain – we cannot escape on auxiliary power.” – Spock’s tidy assessment of the battle damage inflicted on the Enterprise by Khan’s hijacked Reliant, pointing at one of those neato computer graphic bridge displays that looked so cool in 1982.

5 “I like to think there are always... possibilities.” – Kirk to Lieutenant Saavik, justifying his decision to cheat on the Kobayashi Maru test and touching on the film’s Big Theme #2: How does a brash hero like Kirk – who always manages to find a way out – deal with death?

4 “We’re not going to make it, are we?” – Sulu’s question in the film’s sweaty climax, answered for Kirk by David’s grim shake of the head. Perhaps the movie’s most chilling moment.

3 “A no-win situation is a possibility every commander may face.” – Kirk to Saavik in the film’s opening scene, explaining to her the value of the Kobayashi Maru simulation and foreshadowing Spock’s sacrifice when he faces such a choice at the end of the film. Kirk also invokes in this exchange Big Theme #2 with his line to Saavik “How we deal with death is at least as important as how deal with life.” It’s all theoretical preaching for him at this point, of course, because he hasn’t yet faced death.

2 “So much for a little training cruise.” – Sulu, muttering to no one in particular, right after Kirk takes over the Enterprise (“Stop energizers”) to investigate the possibility that Dr. Marcus’ Regula I space station and the Genesis device may be in danger.

1 (tie) “I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her. Marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet. Buried alive... Buried alive... Buried alive...” – Khan’s hateful taunt to Kirk after he steals the Genesis device and presumably leaves Kirk for dead. Kirk responds to this with one of the Star Trek franchise’s most famous lines:

1 “Khan!” – Kirk, accompanied by a dramatic timpani roll. William Shatner really puts his heart into this one, teeth bared, lips curled, veins bulging. How did he not get an Oscar nomination for this?!

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