Category: Film/Television Excerpt

Ynyr:

We seek the Black Fortress.

Emerald Seer:

Such a vision will be opposed.

— “Krull” (1983)

Divination magic! And with complications! 😀

Ben Cheviot:

Well, it seems I have little choice but to back you against the police. Provided, of course, that the charges against Carter are completely unfounded. What exactly are they, anyway?

Murray:

Credit fraud.

Ben Cheviot:

Credit fraud? My God, that’s worse than murder!

— “Pilot” – Max Headroom, Season 1 (1987)

[Ahmed rides back into the pallisade after taking a risk to rescue a child who fell behind the evacuation from the imminent attack by a proported fire-breathing dragon.]

Herger:

So you saw the fire worm?

Ahmed:

It’s cavalry.

Herger:

I rather prefer a dragon.

Ahmed:

Hundreds, with torches.

— “The 13th Warrior” (1999)

Herger:

The All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won’t live one instant longer.

Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing.

— “The 13th Warrior” (1999)

Emerald Seer:

The temple is at the center of the swamp where three trees grow as one.

Prince Colwyn:

How can anything grow in that place? It smells of death.

Ynyr:

Death and power are close cousins.

Torquil:

I don’t think I like your relatives, old man.

— “Krull” (1983)

Obi-Wan Kenobi:

You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

— “Star Wars” (1977)

Armand D’Hubert:

You have kept me at your beck and call for fifteen years. I shall never again do what you demand of me. By every rule of single combat, from this moment your life belongs to me. Is that not correct?

Then I shall simply declare you dead. In all of your dealings with me, you’ll do me the courtesy to conduct yourself as a dead man.

I have submitted to your notions of honor long enough. You will now submit to mine.

— “The Duellists” (1977)

Spoilers! 😀

Jenson:

I’m told it’s old. Real old. Older than Mankind, even…. It’s an Apocalypse Box. You ever heard of an Apocalyse Box?

[Matthew Gideon shakes his head. Jenson leans in and lowers his voice.]

It gives you an edge. It knows things no one else knows….

[Possession of the box passes to Gideon. Jenson laughs then gives a sober warning.]

It lies. You, you know that? You have to be very careful, because…it lies. Not all the time. Just enough….

— “The Path of Sorrows” – Crusade (1999)

Obi-Wan Kenobi:

Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.

Luke Skywalker:

You mean it controls your actions?

Obi-Wan Kenobi:

Partially, but it also obeys your commands.

— “Star Wars” (1977)

Dr. Elizabeth Dehner:

Before long, we’ll be where it would have taken Mankind millions of years of learning to reach.

Captain James T. Kirk:

And what will Mitchell learn in getting there?! Will he know what to do with his power?! Will he acquire the wisdom?!

Dr. Elizabeth Dehner:

Please, go back while you still can.

Captain James T. Kirk:

Did you hear him joke about compassion? Above all else, a god needs compassion!

— “Where No Man Has Gone Before” – Star Trek, Season 1 (1966)

Marcus Cole:

The Minbari say the only way to understand the battle is to understand the language. War is as much concept as execution.

Dr. Stephen Franklin:

What else did they teach you?

Marcus Cole:

Delight. Respect. Compassion. That for your actions to be pure they must proceed from direction, determination, patience, and strength. I’m afraid I’m still working on patience. They taught me how to live, how to breathe, how to fight and how to die.

And they taught me terror. How to use it. And how to face it.

Dr. Stephen Franklin:

I think I’d like to hear more about that.

Marcus Cole:

No, you wouldn’t.

— “A Late Delivery from Avalon” – Babylon 5, Season 3 (1996)

James Bond:

I’m posing as Koskov’s friend to see what leads I can get from her. You know he bought her a cello in New York called “The Lady Rose”.

Saunders:

A cello with a name?

James Bond:

It’s a Stradivarius. They all have names.

— “The Living Daylights” (1987)

I remembered this quote reading a Mastodon toot by SlyFlourish:

Xian:

This is Stone City. Where many ancient warriors come. While you train here, listen.

Kurt:

Listen to what?

Xian:

Just listen. With your mind, your heart, your whole being.

— “Kickboxer” (1989)

[El Cid confronts the soldiers taking Prince Alfonso to the dungeons of Zamora.]

El Cid:

Will you give me your prisoner, or must I take him?

Guard Leader:

[incredulous] There are thirteen of us, and you are alone.

El Cid:

What you do is against God’s law. Were you thirteen times thirteen, I would not be alone!

— “El Cid” (1961)

That last line is a declaration of a D&D paladin, if there ever was one.

Madame Kovarian:

The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules.

The Doctor:

Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many!

— “A Good Man Goes to War” – Doctor Who, Series 6 (2011)

Backlinks

• EOW Links 107 – Weaver Skeptical

Susan Ivanova:

Babylon 5 was last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future and it changed us.

It taught us that we have to create the future…or others will do it for us. It taught us that we have to care for one another; because if we don’t, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely of places.

Mostly, though, I think it gave us hope that there can always be new beginnings. Even for people like us.

— “Sleeping In Light” – Babylon 5, Season 5 (1998)

Narrator:

That year, at dawn of the twenty-first day of the tenth month—the month without gods—the main armies clashed. It was in the mountains near Sekigahara, astride the North Road. By late afternoon, Toranaga had won the battle and the slaughter began.

Forty thousand heads were taken.

— “Shōgun” (1980)

The year is 1600 C.E.

The book and television mini-series are a fictionalized account of the events leading up to this historical battle which de facto unified Japan.

40,000 heads!

Sonny Crockett:

The Rojeros Gang. Is that right?

Jake Pierson (retired Texas Ranger):

Yeah, me and my partner wiped them out. They was bringing guns up from Juarez. We were just waiting for them. Me and my partner stood toe-to-toe with seven of those boys. All we had were our Peacemakers. Load and fire, load and fire. Rojeros had one of them Tommy guns; he and his boys were trying to pepper us with.

Suddenly, Roy yelled “Jake, look out!” and he stood up, and he took the bullet that would’ve killed me. I spent the rest of my life trying to make that up to him. Took care of his wife. Raised his son like he was my own.

But part of me died with Roy.

— “El Viejo” – Miami Vice, Season 3 (1986)

Lamont Cranston:

You know my real name?

The Tulku:

Yes. I also know that for as long as you can remember, you struggled against your own black heart and always lost. You watched your spirit, your very face, change as the beast claws its way out from within you. You are in great pain, aren’t you?

[Cranston leaps at the Tulku who magically avoids the attack.]

The Tulku:

You know what evil lurks in the hearts of men, for you have seen that evil in your own heart. Every man pays a price for redemption; this is yours.

Lamont Cranston:

I’m not looking for redemption.

The Tulku:

You have no choice. You will be redeemed, because I will teach you to use your black shadow to fight evil.

[Cranston continues to violently resist but only succeeds in exhausting himself.]

Lamont Cranston:

Am I in Hell?

The Tulku:

Not yet.

— “The Shadow” (1994)

An unique and fascinating concept: a holy man forcibly redeeming an evil man—a lost soul, really—through both great compassion and (implied) harsh discipline.

Abbot:

I see your talents have gone beyond the mere physical level. Your skills are now at the point of spiritual insight. I have several questions. What is the highest technique you hope to achieve?

Lee:

To have no technique.

Abbot:

Very good. What are your thoughts when facing an opponent?

Lee:

There is no opponent.

Abbot:

And why is that?

Lee:

Because the word “I” does not exist.

Abbot:

So. Continue.

Lee:

A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously. A good martial artist does not become tense but ready. Not thinking yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit. It hits all by itself.

Abbot:

Now, you must remember: the enemy has only images and illusions behind which he hides his true motives. Destroy the image and you will break the enemy. The “it” that you refer to is a powerful weapon easily misused by the martial artist who deserts his vows. For centuries now, the code of the Shaolin Temple has been preserved. Remember, the honor of our brotherhood has been held true. Tell me now the Shaolin Commandment Number Thirteen.

Lee:

A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing.

— “Enter the Dragon” (1973)