Karl Urban's Script Critique Led To One Of Star Trek Into Darkness' Funniest Lines

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Much can be said of director J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness." It served as a sequel to 2009's successful big screen reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise. It went bigger, darker, and was rather expensive for Paramount Pictures. Quite a few "Star Trek" fans still have a bone to pick with "Into Darkness" – including "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" director Nicholas Meyer — while many more casual movie lovers still enjoy it. There's not a lot of humor in the movie, but one of the funniest lines came courtesy of Karl Urban, who plays Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the sequel.

The film centers on a ruthless mastermind known as Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) who declares war on the Federation, and Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise must embark on a dangerous manhunt to stop him.

In a 2013 interview with Screen Crush, it was explained that Urban had one critique of the movie's script: Mainly that it was loaded with metaphorical language for Bones. This, in turn, led to a great joke, when Kirk finally says to Bones, "Enough with the metaphors, all right?", acknowledging that the movie was leaning rather hard on that particular character trope.

Here's what Urban had to say:

"When I read the script, I did say to J.J. that every line seemed to be a metaphor, and maybe we should cut some of these down, so he turned around to Chris [Pine] said, 'Hey, why don't you tell him to give it a rest with the metaphors?' So that's pretty symptomatic of the working process."

Karl Urban had to strike a balance while playing Bones in "Star Trek." He was filling big shoes left behind by DeForest Kelley, who originated the role on the classic sci-fi TV show that started it all. "Star Trek Into Darkness" had a more grim tone than 2009's "Star Trek," but Urban also had to try and inject some levity into the character. He even gets to say, "Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!", echoing a classic bit from the old show.

In the case of "Into Darkness," it's a very dark movie, with the climax revolving around Zachary Quinto's Spock nearly beating Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan to death. Levity was definitely needed, so that line Kirk delivers to Spock absolutely helped. 

In that same interview, Urban spoke a bit more about getting to put his own stamp on some Bones classics in the sequel.

"That's one of the fun things about this film. It takes a few elements that people enjoy from the first one and resurrect them – and do it in a clever way, not just cashing in chips. That moment for me was certainly one of the more pleasurable days. As a long-time fan it is surreal to be in a scene like that saying iconic lines."

For whatever its reputation may be now, "Into Darkness" was the biggest "Star Trek" movie ever at the box office, taking in nearly $470 million globally. It was wildly popular, and undoubtedly those little moments of humor that Urban helped inject into the movie helped make it play well for general audiences.

You can grab "Star Trek Into Darkness" on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.