You hear movie quotes all over the place politician's speeches, advertisements and sitcoms. I happen to know many quotes from the movie "Gone with the Wind", a movie I have never seen and am not interested in seeing (because I already know the quotes). Some movie quotes (such as anything from "Gone with the Wind" or "Casablanca") have been played to death like a Justin Timberlake single. After a few decades, they really loose their initial impact.

In recent years, the 1986 remake of "The Fly" starring Jeff Goldblum featured an incredible quote "Be afraid. Be very afraid." This was such a flexible quote that could be used in a variety of situations that everyone who saw the movie did. You would find "Be afraid. Be very afraid," from Hallmark cards to Internet chat rooms. I've even seen it spray-painted onto town walls. It wore out its welcome with me by 1996.

So, do I have any favorite movie quote after explaining all of this? Actually, yes. This quote comes from a movie I love, spoken by a character I also love and is poetic without being sappy. And, most importantly, you rarely get to hear it outside of the movie. Hopefully, I won't blow it now by revealing it.

My favorite movie quote is from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) and is spoken by Sulu (George Takei). The Enterprise crew is trying to get back to Earth after stealing a Klingon ship (in other words, business as usual for our heroes). During a quiet pause on the bridge, Captain Kirk orders the ship to be cloaked. Sulu looks at his instruments and, when the ship has successfully become invisible, announces:

"We are crossing the terminator into night."

In the movie theatre, I wanted to get up and shout at Sulu, "Did you just say what I think you just said?"

Sulu usually gets really crappy lines, mostly consisting of "Aye, Sir." He rarely gets to say anything poetic. Usually, when anyone gives the order to throw a switch, Sulu throws said switch and dutifully parrots back the original order. This is a waste of George Takei's deep, rolling voice, but hey, that's acting for you.

Finally FINALLY, Sulu got a killer line.

If it could happen to Sulu, it can happen to anyone.

Learn more about this author, Rena Sherwood.
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