Star Trek: 10 Greatest Captain Kirk Speeches
3. There's No Such Thing As The Unknown
The Corbomite Maneuver offers one of the earliest examples of first contact in Star Trek. The episode is infamous for its Balok puppet, an image that would appear in the closing credits of the show for years to come, and then referenced in Lower Decks decades later. However, the truth behind Balok - Clint Howard as a child - gives us this pearl of wisdom from Kirk.
There's no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden.
Balok, himself a representative of the First Federation, tests the Enterprise with his admittedly far superior, in terms of power, craft. Kirk must bluff to escape, though this does lead to the revelation of Balok's true identity, and the subsequent cultural exchange when crewman Bailey elects to remain with the alien.
The episode had effectively demonstrated the stress that deep space travel, and the threats of conflict, could have on a crew. The Fesarius offered death, bouncing the Enterprise's sensors back on itself, deepening the mystery. It was, in short, a frightening and uncomfortable time for the crew, though this was typified in Bailey. Though all of the characters on show were early versions of themselves, The Corbomite Maneuver helped define what kind of ship we were following, and what kind of captain James T. Kirk would become.