One of the worst episodes IMO, but I want to get the dope on ‘E Plebnista’.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the episode, but ISTR that this document was very damaged. Did ‘E Plebnista’ come from the surviving bits?
WE the people of the United States
If so, where did the ‘b’ come from?
Cleft palate.
My guess is sloppy pronunciation over the years or maybe an ink smear.
But Roddenberry, in his infinite subtlety, made it a consonant shift instead, so we would think it was new, original, and worth a farthing.
‘of’
Really bad spelling of E Pluribus Unum?
Hey, only chiefs and sons of chiefs can see The ‘E Plebnista’. You people are in trouble.
You’re right, I’m so terrified, my heart’s in my throat.
I just hope nobody checks.
Actually, that ancient document was in surprisingly good condition, even after Kirk’s somewhat rough handling, so it’s not a matter of combining word fragments. The illiterate Yangs merely slurred the words really, really badly over the centuries.
Hey! Leave this episode alone. Mindless cave women are Hawt!!
Hey, guess what was on my DVR?
I watched the episode earlier, and as TWDuke pointed out the documents were in great condition. So I guess it’s just a matter of the Yangs being illiterate (biting tongue, lest I make a political commentary) and slurring the words.
I always get a kick out of the near-photographic likeness of Spock in the bible. Wasn’t that a bitch? Of all the copies they could have had…
I had the satisfaction of correcting a few minor errors of fact on the Wikipedia page on this one - the previous writer claimed that Kirk didn’t have “We the people…” memorised, whereas the actual problem was that Cloud William pronounced it so badly that Jim couldn’t pick up the cue.
Now let’s imagine that this turkey had been the second pilot instead of Where No Man Has Gone Before - as it could well have been…