Kirk Summation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' You want dominion over the living, but all you do is kill.

 

A [[Character Filibuster|speech]] made by the hero to the villain just before the climactic fight in which he points out exactly why what the villain is doing is wrong, and begs him to forswear his ways.

 

Different from the [[Last Second Chance]] in that here the hero is trying to shame or reason with the villain to make him turn back, whereas in that trope the hero is offering the villain help, healing, or redemption. When the villain rejects this trope, you have a [[Shut Up, Kirk]].

 

* Anime tend to use a much more abbreviated form of this: in ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', Goku begins the final phase of almost every battle by offering his opponent "one last chance" to recant his evil ways.

* Judai/Jaden on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' loves these, usually couching them in terms of "the true meaning of the game". His opponents hardly ever buy it. In the original Japanese it's not so bad, but in the English version it always comes across as ridiculous given the situation, which someone always [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]]: i.e. "You know Jaden -- he loves giving this speech."

** At one point, he decides the speech won't do anything, so he just goes straight to the asskicking.

** In the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', it was [Yami] Yugi and the "heart of the cards".

* Vash from ''[[Trigun]]'' sometimes engaged enemies in this because of his aversion to killing.

* Negi from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is also guilty of this a lot. Chamo and several others comment on this, stating that Negi would end his fights a hell of a lot quicker if he wasn't holding back so much at the start of major fights, trying to give his opponent a chance to surrender. They never do.

** It's subverted during the Mahora Festival arc. Negi decides that he doesn't know whether the [[Big Bad]]'s plan (ending [[The Masquerade]]) is the right thing to do or not. He fights them anyway because they can't prove that ending the Masquerade is important enough to justify screwing over Negi, his students, and the other mages.

{{quote|'''Luffy:''' [[Berserk Button|You made my navigator cry.]]}}

* The King in ''[[The Law of Ueki]]'' delivers one of these to Margaret, and the entire race of Protectorates. Nobody listens.

* [[Naruto]] has this for a M.O. All he has to do is talk his enemy/whoever it is that annoys him, use some clichéd lines, and said fellow will convert to Naruto's way of thinking at best or idolize Naruto at worst. Only {{spoiler|Sasuke}} seems to be averting it. He even delivers a [[Shut Up, Kirk]] on Naruto, asking him how he can be so foolish he can't see what monster he has become. Considering Naruto, however, it doesn't have much of a effect.

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', this is what Dia basically does to every villain he's ever encountered before resorting to fighting them. It may not work for the villain, however, but it sure does inspire everyone else who hears it (even ''[[Olympus Mons|Dialga and Palkia]]'', in one instance!).

 

== Fan Works ==

'''Nightmare Moon''': [[Shut Up, Kirk|"Are you finished yet? If that was meant to intimidate me, you don't even pass on effort."]] }}

 

== Film ==

* Flipped in ''[[Serenity]]'': The [[Anti-Villain]] tries presenting this trope to the [[Anti-Hero]], who in turn delivers the [[Shut Up, Kirk]] by shooting him.

* ''[[The Lawnmower Man]]'' features this exchange:

'''Jobe:''' [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|Your naive idiocy]] [[Shut Up, Kirk|makes me]] '''[[Chewing the Scenery|very angryyyyy! Huuumaaaan!]]''' }}

* In ''[[Spy Kids]] [[3D Movie|3D]]'', Valentin uses this tactic to {{spoiler|forgive Sebastian for crippling him. [[Heel Face Turn|It worked.]]}}

* In ''Star Trek: Nemesis'' Jean-Luc Picard delivers a Kirk Summation to a hologram of his clone, Shinzon, in his ready room during a lull in a space battle, appealing to his better nature. Shinzon goes for genocide anyway.

* Po of [[Kung Fu Panda]] does this in both movies. He tells Tai Lung why Tai wasn't ready to have the Dragon Scroll, and tells Shen to let go of the past. Neither works in the slightest, showing that the villains are beyond redemption.

 

== Literature ==

* Not a villainous example, but [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]], on a world of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Humans]], repeatedly hints at his disgust for a moral system that revolves around killing for honor. The native fighter acting as his guide falls for him, sees that she has no chance, and tries to go through honorable suicide-through-combat. He stops her when he sees what she's doing, and they have an exchange where he tries to convince her not only to stay alive, but to see and move past the flaws in her culture's beliefs.

{{quote|'''Wedge:''' Circular thinking. I'm honorable because I kill the enemy, and I kill the enemy for the honor. There's nothing there, Cheriss. Here's the truth: I kill the enemy so someone, somewhere -- probably someone I've never met and never will meet -- will be happy. [...] I told you how I lost my parents. Nothing I ever do can make up for that loss. But if I put myself in the way of people just as bad as the ones who killed my family, if I burn them down, then someone else they would have hurt gets to stay happy. That's the only honorable thing about my profession. It's not the killing. It's making the galaxy a little better.}}

* High-King Kallor of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' once boasted to Caladan Brood of the many kingdoms he had raised, ruled, and then destroyed. He asked if Caladan could understand what that meant. And Caldan calmly replied "Yes. You never learn."

 

* Kirk did one of these in just about every episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''. [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Picard]] was inordinately fond of them as well.

** Kirk actually ''does'' succeed against a [[Talking the Monster to Death|non-automated]] foe, at least once: [[The Empire|The Terran Empire]] in "Mirror, Mirror", when he convinces [[Beard of Evil|Spock]] that ''"In every revolution, there's one man with a vision!"'' Unfortunately for him, [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|later events]] show that things went badly without him there to defeat the enemy by more [[Unnecessary Combat Roll|traditional]] means.

** In the novel ''I, Q'', Picard faces off against his own evil side in the form of Locutus of Borg and gives such a speech. When Q can't see the point, Data suggests that he thinks Picard is [[Talking the Monster to Death|trying to talk Locutus into committing suicide.]] To which [[Deadpan Snarker|Q replies]]:

{{quote|'''Q:''' Yeah, and if that doesn't work, maybe the Easter Bunny will save us.}}

* [[All the Tropes Wiki Drinking Game|Brutally subverted]] in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Faith:}}''' Oh yeah? Give me the speech again, please. "{{spoiler|Faith,}} we're still your friends. We can help you. It's not too late."

'''Willow:''' It's way too late. You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life. I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo. Poor you. }}

** Buffy tended to come across this trope whenever there was a recurring villain, or a [[Face Heel Turn]], either subverting it or playing it straight at random. In a later season, Anya lampshades the arbitrariness of the gang's mercy ("Spike has some sort of get out of jail free card that doesn't apply to the rest of us...")

** ''[[Doctor Who]]'' also featured a full-out subversion in "The Christmas Invasion", where the Doctor gets halfway through a speech before realizing that he's just been reciting the opening lines of "Circle of Life" from ''[[The Lion King]]''.

** In the Series 4 finale, Martha Jones even goes against her UNIT orders, to give {{spoiler|the Daleks}} the chance to stop because "there's one more thing the Doctor would do."

** "I used to have so much mercy. You get one chance. Just one," in "School Reunion" sums it up perfectly.

** Kirk Summations appear at other points in the series and often work, most notably during the early stages of the Earth Alliance civil war.

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' does this between Jason and Tommy when Tommy captures Jason.

'''Tommy''': [[Shut Up, Kirk|Yeah. And so am I.]] }}

 

== Video Games ==

* The ''entire party'' delivers one of these before the final battle in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]''. Translator [[Woolseyism|Ted Woolsey]] realised that this was probably getting a bit excessive, and gave {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Kefka]]}} the now-immortal line "[[Shut Up, Kirk|This is sickening!]] [[Lampshade Hanging|You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet!]]" in response.

* In ''World of Warcraft'', Tirion Fordring gives a Kirk Summation to the Lich King several times, including during the Argent Tournament and during the final fight with him in Icecrown Citadel. In ICC, Tirion offers a swift death for the thousands the Lich King has tortured and slain. The Lich King responds with a [[Hannibal Lecture]], to which Tirion replies with a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]], shortly before being frozen in ice and taken out of the fight.

 

== Web Comics ==

* At the end of the "Dangerous Days Ahead" [[Story Arc|arc]] from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Torg [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20020715 tries one of these on Aylee]. Luckily {{spoiler|it turns out not to be the real Aylee}}.

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]--'' Bob, who has a good track record at [[Talking the Monster to Death|talking monsters to death,]] tries this on [[Big Bad|Fructose Riboflavin.]] His speech is simple, polite, even sympathetic, but absolutely [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|devastating.]] But he's hit Riboflavin too [[Berserk Button|close to home,]] and rather than backing down, Riboflavin [[Villainous Breakdown|becomes violently furious,]] because he knows everything Bob said is [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100914.html true.]

 

== Web Original ==

* Delivered in ''[[The Salvation War]]'' by Michael to {{spoiler|Yahweh at the beginning of his coup attempt}}, though it's from a villain, albeit an [[Anti-Villain]] at this point, rather than a hero.

 

== Western Animation ==

'''Coop:''' Oh, sorry. Force of habit I guess. }}

* [[Space Ghost]] in the ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast|Coast 2 Coast]]'' episode "Lawsuit" after meeting his old enemy Dr. Nightmare.

'''Zorak''': [[Shut Up, Kirk|Pfft. Petty larceny.]] }}

* From ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', when the mane six face off against Discord for the second time:

{{quote|'''Discord''': Will you ever learn?

* A short but sweet one from Batman to Red Hood/ {{spoiler|Jason Todd}} in their final confrontation in [[Under the Red Hood]]:

{{quote|You say you want to be better than me. But it won't happen! ''Not like this!''}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Harbinger of Asskicking]]

[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]