Star Trek (TV Series)

Plato's Stepchildren (1968)

Michael Dunn: Alexander

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Quotes 

• Captain James T. Kirk : Alexander, are there other Platonians like you?

  Alexander : [defensively]  What do you mean "like me?"

  Captain James T. Kirk : Who don't have the psychokinetic ability.

  Alexander : [relieved]  I thought you were talking about my size, because they make fun of me for my size. But, um, to answer your question, I'm the only one who doesn't have it. I was brought here as the court buffoon. That's why I'm everybody's slave, and I have to be at ten places at once, and I never do anything right.

  Spock : How does one obtain the power?

  Alexander : As far as I know, it just comes to you some time after you're born. They say I'm a throwback. And I am, and so are you... Sorry. I shouldn't have said that.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Don't worry about it. We're happy without it.

  Alexander : You know, I believe you are! Listen, where you come from, are there are lot of people without the power and my size?

  Captain James T. Kirk : Alexander, where I come from, size, shape or color makes no difference. And nobody has the power.

• Alexander : [about Parmen]  Don't save him. Let him die. The others will all kill each other trying to take his place.

• Captain James T. Kirk : [to McCoy, who has decided to stay]  Bones, I know you're trying to do the right thing, but if any one of us escaped, Parmen knows that Starfleet would never let this planet go unpunished. Sacrifice yourself by agreeing to stay, and you sign our death warrants.

  Alexander : Eh, he's right. I should've warned you. They were treating you the same way they treat me, just like me, only you fight them. All the time, I thought it was me, my mind that couldn't even move a pebble. They even told me I was lucky they bothered to keep me around at all, and I believed them!

  [gets angry] 

  Alexander : The arms and legs of everybody's whim! Look down! Don't meet their eyes! Smile! Smile! These great people. They were gods to me! But you showed me what they really are. And now, I - I know, don't you see? It's-it's not me. It's not my size. It's them! It's them! It's them!

  [smashes a clay pot] 

• Alexander : [brandishing a sharp piece of the pot he just smashed]  I'm gonna... I'm gonna cut them.

  Captain James T. Kirk : Alexander...

  Alexander : I'm gonna cut them, Parmen first. And they'll all get infected, but this time, listen, whatever they say, don't... don't save them. Let them die!

  Captain James T. Kirk : Give it to me!

  Alexander : At least let me give them a taste of what they gave me! Please. They're gonna kill you, anyway! You know that!

  Captain James T. Kirk : [reassuringly]  In that case, what's the point in you dying too, Alexander?

  [Alexander relents] 

  Captain James T. Kirk : Give it to me...

  Alexander : [gives Kirk the pot fragment]  Tha... That's the first time anybody ever thought of my life before his own.

• Captain James T. Kirk : Who are the inhabitants of this planet?

  Alexander : Oh, Platonians. I'm sure you've never head of us. Our native star is Sahndara. Millennia ago, just before it went nova, we managed to escape. Our leader liked Plato's ideas - Plato, Platonius. See? In fact our present philosopher king, Parmen, sometimes calls us Plato's children, although we sometimes think of ourselves more as Plato's stepchildren.

• Alexander : You think that's what I want, become one of them, become my own enemy, just lie around like a big blob of nothing and have things done for me? I want to move around for myself! If I'm going to laugh or cry, I want to do it for myself! You can keep your precious power! All I ask is one thing. If you do make it out of here, take me with you!