Star Trek’s DeForest Kelley Refused To Movie A Requiem For Methuselah Scene

The ultimate scene of “Requiem for Methuselah” sees Kirk, again on board the Enterprise, sulking in his quarters. He was deeply in love with Reyna, and mourns that her love for him was what destroyed her mind. McCoy and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) go to Kirk to inform him that the illness has been cured. McCoy takes the chance to clarify like to the impassive Spock, bitter that his Vulcan co-worker has intentionally chosen to eschew the glories — and the pains — of affection: 

“Contemplating his opponent’s longevity, really an everlasting triangle. You would not perceive that will you, Spock? You see, I really feel sorrier for you than I do for him. Since you’ll by no means know the issues that love can drive a person to. The ecstasies, the miseries. The damaged guidelines, the determined possibilities. The wonderful failures and the fantastic victories. All of those stuff you’ll by no means know, just because the phrase ‘love’ is not written into your e-book.” 

That speech was initially for much longer. Bixby envisioned a scene the place Kelley would give an prolonged monologue concerning the glories of affection and Spock’s emotional ignorance. However as he recollects, Kelley took one take a look at the script and turned all of it down: 

“A few of my dialogue close to the top between Spock and McCoy the place McCoy is actually coming down on Spock and saying, ‘You poor schmuck. You don’t have any feelings. You possibly can’t dwell. You may by no means know what love is like. That hope would not exist for you,’ and so forth. I pulled out all of the stops and wrote about 15 pages of dialogue that De Kelley completely refused to utter.” 

Kelley thought it was manner too poetic, and Bixby agreed; it was impressed by T.S. Eliot. The scene was reduce.