Fencing was an ancient Earth sport in which two competitors in protective clothing faced off against each other armed with thin, blunted sword-like weapons. Each of three different weapons (foil, sabre, or épée) had different rules. For example, sabre was the only weapon where one could use their sword in a cutting motion. The aim of the sport was to score points by making "touches" with the weapon on the opponent's body. The winner was the one who first reached a certain number of points. (citation needed • edit)
In 2258 of an alternate reality, Hikaru Sulu told James T. Kirk that his combat training was in fencing, which he later demonstrated while fighting Romulans with a sword on the Narada's drilling rig over Vulcan. (Star Trek)
Lieutenant Sulu was at one point an enthusiastic fencer. He claimed the sport "tones the muscle, sharpens the eye, improves the posture." In 2266, when he was affected by the Psi 2000 virus, he chased crewmen around the corridors with a foil. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a fencer (Sabre was his weapon of choice, as seen in Season 1 Episode 23 "We'll Always Have Paris") and his opponents aboard the USS Enterprise-D included Commander Riker, Lieutenant Dean, and Guinan. (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris", "I Borg", "Lessons")
In 3189, Gray Tal asked Adira Tal why they confined themself to engineering, when they could be exploring the USS Discovery. Gray suggested fencing as an activity to explore. (DIS: "Scavengers")
For "We'll Always Have Paris", Andrew Probert designed a scoreboard, after Production Designer Herman Zimmerman instructed him to do so, and decided to devise a costume design concept for the 24th century fencing outfits, which he informally submitted at about the same time. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 12, pp. 42 & 47)
External links[]
- Fencing at Wikipedia
- Fencing at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works