10 Greatest Star Trek Fight Scenes
Starfleet's mission may be one of peace, but it's not afraid to get its hands dirty.
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00:00 Hello everyone, Sean Farrick here for Trek Culture and...
00:03 yeah, alright, if you've watched the other video you knew we're gonna try and find them as many as
00:08 we possibly could in front of here, 'cause check it out! But also we have a reason for including
00:13 this specific list. Now I'm not gonna be talking about the big space battles out there because we
00:19 have lists on those already. Klingons, Dominion, Borg, the lot. Go check them out. This is gonna
00:25 be about the smaller ones. We're talking hand-to-hand physical combat. Something that looks
00:31 like I wouldn't have an absolute hope. Not just for the fact that I'm effectively wearing a
00:37 KonKomi top. Without any further ado, let's get going on the 10 best fight scenes in Star Trek.
00:43 Number 10, Seven of Nine versus the Pendari champion, Sun Catsi. The sixth season of Star
00:50 Trek Voyager gifted us with this absolutely brilliant scene featuring Seven of Nine and a
00:56 little-known guest star who rocked up with a raised eyebrow. Right in the beginning of his
01:01 acting career, Dwayne Johnson appeared in this episode as the unnamed Pendari champion, thrown
01:08 into a match against Seven of Nine. And to say that he's not very impressed with the drone is a
01:15 bit of an understatement. He compares her to the size of a field mouse and she says that you will
01:20 find resistance is futile. What we learn is resistance wasn't very futile. While the rest
01:27 of Seven's crewmates are in the stands horrified and shouting her name and trying to get her out
01:32 of there, these two are actually far away and it's being broadcast live. So they're in a room
01:39 on their own knocking seven shades of sh*t out of each other. It's actually quite a brutal fight.
01:45 We're getting kicks to the abdomen, kicks to the face, punches, backhands. It actually looks like
01:51 neither one are pulling their punches on the other. And especially when the finishing move features
01:55 clotheslines and other wrestling-type moves. You can tell I did my homework for this list. It is
02:02 one of the better fight scenes and certainly one of the better scenes in that season of Star Trek,
02:07 enough to have me chanting "Sun Catsi! Sun Catsi!" Number nine, Reed versus Hayes Harbinger.
02:15 The third season of Star Trek Enterprise saw a much darker story unfold as the Enterprise
02:22 goes in search of the Xindi. A crew of Mako Marines led by Major Hayes is stationed aboard
02:30 Enterprise and immediately Hayes and Reed start to clash because Reed, being head of security,
02:36 doesn't like having his authority threatened. This keeps on building throughout the season and
02:42 initially, I will say, I thought that when they started sparring, Hayes was going to
02:48 nobble Reed. But Dominic Keating absolutely commits. The sparring session spills out of the
02:55 room into the corridors of Enterprise and they wail on each other, enough to be dragged in front
03:02 of Archer. The fun thing about this scene is that for all of the punches thrown, this was about
03:07 actually helping these two characters blow off some steam and by the episode's close, it looks
03:13 like they actually get along a little bit better. Now, I'm not saying that if you're having a
03:18 problem with someone, you should go and break their jaw, but it's an option. Number eight,
03:24 Spock versus Kirk Amok Time. If you're talking about fight scenes in Star Trek, this is one of
03:31 the most memorable, iconic fights of them all. Think about it, you're already humming the music.
03:38 Spock is in the throes of pond fire here and this version of Spock and T'Pring aren't really as
03:45 happy as they would be in Strange New Worlds, so the only way for Spock to exercise these feelings
03:51 is to pick up in Lerpa and go at it with Kirk. What follows is it's just fun, it's exciting,
03:58 shirts are ripped, Spock kills him. No, no, you heard me right. You heard me right. Now, yes,
04:05 there was an injection or two and everyone's fine at the end, but I mean, Spock does kill Kirk in
04:11 this. All of this scene leads up to one of the best moments of the original series, which is
04:17 Spock's realization that while dead, Kirk came back to life. You see, McCoy had been playing
04:23 with a Tribble and some super blood. Oh, no, sorry, that's the wrong story. McCoy had actually
04:28 injected Kirk with a relaxant, which basically made it look like he was dead. And when Spock
04:33 sees him, he's delighted, he goes, Jim! Oh, dear. Number seven, Elnor versus Tenkem Andrev.
04:42 Absolute candor. I'll be straight with you, this is a bit of an amalgamation because you could pick
04:47 any of Elnor's fights and they would be absolutely welcome on this list. One thing you never want to
04:53 do is put that man in handcuffs and give him a particularly sharp con badge. But the one I really
04:59 want to spend the time about is that first scene that allowed the iconic line, please, my friends,
05:07 choose to live. You see, Elnor is a member of the co-op mullot, and when you engage a co-op mullot
05:14 in combat, there's only ever one outcome. And Tenkem Andrev probably should have done his
05:21 homework before challenging Elnor. Andrev is an ex-senator from Romulus, and he was none too
05:27 fond of Picard when Picard landed on Vashti, to the point where he challenges Picard to a sword
05:32 fight. Picard is pushing 173 at this point and is not really able to fight the man. So he throws
05:39 down a sword and Andrev is like, OK, sucks to be you, buddy, and comes at him, only for Elnor to
05:44 step in the way, utter that line, Andrev raises his sword, and the next thing you see, his head
05:49 just bouncing across the clearing. When you are going to go up against Elnor, do yourself a favor,
05:55 choose to live, and don't. Number six, everyone versus the Klingons, the way of the warrior.
06:03 Sean, you specifically said you weren't going to include the way of the warrior, and I did say that.
06:08 Yes, I did. But actually, I meant the battle outside. The battle inside absolutely deserves
06:14 a spot on this list. Pretty much everyone gets something to do. Let's start with Odo. He's on
06:19 the promenade and he's doing the, you know, the old double fist, and he's doing that, and he's
06:23 doing that, and a Klingon comes up behind him with a bat'leth, and then Bashir shoots him in the back
06:27 like the brave soldier he is. That's just one part. Then you've got Dukat and Garak, who are
06:33 protecting the members of the Ditapa council. Garak with a phaser, but Dukat with a bat'leth.
06:38 Loads of fun. We have, of course, then what's going on in Ops. Now, we get Dax fighting Klingons
06:44 with bat'leths. We get Sisko using everything that isn't nailed down to fight the Klingons.
06:48 We've got Kira showing that, you know, a duck tug directly to the side. Nah, it's a flesh wound.
06:53 Walk it off. We even get a cheeky O'Brien must suffer moment as well, when the poor man is just
06:58 doing his best, and the next thing he gets absolutely walloped in the eye by a Klingon.
07:04 But thankfully, his old buddy from the next generation, a certain Starfleet officer who's
07:09 a Klingon, is standing there introducing the new mek'leth sword into Star Trek lore. Yeah,
07:16 that Klingon, he got gutted by Worf. Number five, Spock versus Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness.
07:24 Khan is responsible for the death of James Kirk in Star Trek Into Darkness, and we've discussed
07:30 that at length. It leads to the scream by Spock, which is all a bit, no. It does, however, lead to
07:35 one of the most brutal fight scenes that we had yet seen involving this Vulcan officer.
07:42 In his fit of anger, Spock beans down to hunt Khan in the streets of San Francisco,
07:48 and he does catch up with him, and he goes berserk on him. It is a proper scrap. There is no punches
07:57 being pulled here. Spock does try and go for the Vulcan neck pinch at one point, but Khan,
08:01 being genetically engineered, is just like, "Ha ha ha, no." And there's head crushing going on,
08:07 there's tossing all over the place, and it's just brutal. Although there is triumphant music
08:12 and stuff in the background, it's not one of those big hooray scenes. Even if Spock wins this fight,
08:18 what cost? Uhura does beam down, and the combined attack by Uhura and Spock finally does manage to
08:26 bring Khan down, and she is able to calm Spock down to stop him from killing Khan. It was a new
08:36 side of Spock that we had seen, but knowing the history of Kirk and Spock as we do, quite frankly,
08:43 yes, I do believe that this is how Spock would react. Number four, Georgiou and Nan versus
08:50 Leland, Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2. Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2 is the season two finale of Star
08:57 Trek Discovery, and it's a bit of a greatest hits of the series. You get Enterprise, you get
09:03 Discovery, you get Burnham, you get Spock, you get Georgiou. You've also got the Klingon cleave ship,
09:08 you've got L'Rell, you've got Tyler, you've got Serana, and the other Kelpians who return to help
09:13 the crew. But the standout really is Georgiou and Nan versus Control. I mean, there was no way
09:20 that Michelle Yeoh was not going to make this list. If you want to talk about brutal fights,
09:26 it really does look like no one told Michelle Yeoh that you're actually not allowed to kill
09:33 your opponent in this scene, because it's got everything. I mean, there's so much, I mean,
09:37 she is an incredible martial artist anyway, but I would not like to be her opponent, even in
09:44 filming, even in stunt, even with a crew sitting there being like, "Okay, all right, yeah, cut, cut,
09:49 cut." Really, it comes down to, in that spore bait, it's Georgiou and it's Leland. I don't know about
09:54 you, but if I'm locked in a cage where someone's just flicked a button and you see it's Georgiou
10:00 has flicked that button, and she's smiling at you like a shark who's just smelled its dinner,
10:05 I know the jig is up. And we all did, I have to say, it was a bit cool.
10:10 Number three, the Siege of AR-558. Now, this is actually one of the sadder entries on this list,
10:17 because the Siege of AR-558 coming in DS9's final season, the entire point of this episode was to
10:24 show the horrors of war. And I have to say, for Star Trek in the '90s, it went pretty bloody far.
10:32 Think about it, you have fan favorite character Nog losing a leg, you have Quark firing a phaser
10:38 against the Jem'Hadar, you have Ezri Dax, who at this point was still a relatively new character,
10:43 and was designed in such a way that there was so much youth in that character being thrown
10:48 into this horrible war situation. You had guest stars Raymond Cruz and Bill Mumy, who were
10:52 introduced, and they were quite likable in their own way. They're both offed by the episode's end,
10:58 and eventually it comes down to Sisko is knocked on the ground, and a Jem'Hadar raises its phaser
11:03 to fire at him, and it ends. It's not about the victory, that yes, technically Starfleet does win
11:10 the fight here, but it's all about the pointless cost of the lives lost. It's horrific, it's intense,
11:18 and honestly, it's an episode I don't re-watch very often for that reason.
11:24 Number two, Starfleet vs. the Klingons, Trials and Tribblations. Now, things got really serious
11:29 there for a second, so let's go with one of the funniest moments from certainly Starfleet Deep
11:34 Space Nine. You might wonder, why didn't I just go with the brawl from the original series episode,
11:39 The Trouble with Tribbles? The reason is because this one is way funnier. You have, of course,
11:44 that wonderful scene of Chekov, Scotty, and Spare, who are facing up against the Klingon,
11:50 who thinks that the Enterprise should be hauled away as garbage, and at that point, I mean,
11:54 everyone stands up. Scotty stands up, I stand up, everyone gets ready to go. You're throwing digs,
12:02 you're throwing people, but also, you've now got O'Brien, Bashir, Odo, and Worf joining the fight
12:09 as well, and we got that line a few minutes prior about the fact of, they are Klingons,
12:15 it is a long story, and we do not talk about it, but what you also really get here is how
12:20 the 60s Klingons do not stand a snowball's chance in hell against the mighty 80s and 90s Klingons,
12:30 and Worf just, he just decimates them. Unfortunately, it's not good news for O'Brien and
12:35 Bashir, although that scene where Bashir throws a punch, the next thing is like,
12:39 the whole thing leads up to that lineup where O'Brien and Bashir are being confronted by Kirk.
12:46 It's just brilliant, it's fun, but also, I have to say, it's a pretty well choreographed fight.
12:52 Number one, Kirk versus the Gorn arena. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, you're like,
12:59 you've clearly made this number one for the crack, and you know what? Of course we did,
13:04 but I will say an actual serious point. If I were to say to you, think of a fight scene from Star
13:11 Trek, odds are you're thinking of this or A Muck Time. Look, the fight's pants. I'm not going to
13:16 argue that it isn't, but it's so lovingly pants. It is iconic. We're at 55 years or something after
13:24 it originally aired, and I'm stood where it was filmed, and you're thinking of it right now,
13:29 aren't you? You're thinking, here we go. I realize this is Riker, but still. And it is one of the
13:39 greatest fights in sci-fi history. I will stand by this. This is my hill to die on. Is there really
13:47 anything else that needs to be said about this? Actually, I will say, I'm glad Kirk was fighting
13:51 this Gorn, because if he was fighting one of the ones from Strange New Worlds, this would be a very
13:55 different entry. That is everything for our list today, folks. Now, if you reckon there is a scene
13:59 that we absolutely should include, let me know in the comments below. And don't forget, you can
14:04 catch us over on Twitter @TrekCulture. You can catch us on Instagram @TrekCultureYT. Catch myself
14:09 @SeanFerric on the various socials. You can catch Chris at @editchrisedit either on Twitter or
14:14 Instagram. Tom @TomCFinn on Twitter as well. Oh, just let us do this outro. Until then, you look
14:23 after yourselves. I'm going to go before all of the wind comes down on top of us. Make sure that
14:27 you live long and prosper. Make sure that you stay well. I will see you soon. Thanks very much.