Painterly damaged orange and grey control panel with loose wires and sparks against pale grey.

Original artwork, not a still

Scotty

Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon, that’s hard.

— Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home  ·  1986

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Scotty ranks dealing with damage below reading an unfamiliar language in difficulty. The contrast gives a potentially demanding practical task an unexpectedly modest place. It expresses the speaker’s own assessment of his abilities, without establishing that either task would be easy or hard for everyone.

Context reviewed

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