Reflections on Star Trek

[trooper6]

Just finished watching Star Trek The Original Series episode "This Side of Paradise"

So...um...the women's dresses are really, really short. I had sort of forgotten. Dang! They must have gotten cold on set. Someone should have given them a few more yards of fabric!

Other point. So the whole point of that episode is that Kirk doesn't think that humans should be happy. That humans should be violent, angry, and unhappy. Kirk's wierd quote about how humans aren't meant for paradise...that humans are supposed to march to the drums, not to the lyre? What's up with that? That happiness isn't good for us as a species? What sort of messed up messages does this show give us?

Poor Spock.

But on the other hand, I don't always believe him...he's all..."I'm a Vulcan, I can't feel love...I can't feel happiness...I can't feel anything...blah blah..." See first off, he's only half-Vulcan...so methinks he protests a bit too much...and secondly...if Vulcans are truly only creatures of logic and so on...then Sarek would never have married Spock's mom. I mean, that isn't logical. One presumes that Sarek loved Amanda Grayson...I mean, otherwise, why would he even marry her?

See...I think Spock lied a lot about Vulcan culture to his human battle buddies. Spock is all..."Vulcans can't feel things..." then he's all, "Vulcans don't lie" -- yeah, yeah...I don't think we can trust the things that Spock says about Vulcans.

Kirk rhymes with jerk...I don't think that is a coincidence.

I wish we could have an entirely new Star Trek movie about entirely new people in Star Fleet Academy. I don't really feel the need to see more Kirk being a ho. But this time, a younger ho. What is this going to be...a strange odd couple buddy movie? What-evah.

I need to be sleeping right now.

Comments

[chgriffen.livejournal.com]

Kirk is Spock's counterpart. He's a ball of emotions, where Spock is a walking computer. Now, both have their exceptions because they are (at least part) human. But that's the dynamic in the show, and it expresses the human condition through contrast.

Or maybe it's all a bunch of crap anyway. :)

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

That's a neat way of thinking about the Kirk/Spock dyad!

[skrelnek.livejournal.com]

I think I remember reading somewhere in the lore (not sure if it was official or not) that Sarek chose to marry a human for the same political reasons that motivated medieval royals to marry each other. But I dunno, I'm not much of a trekkie/er.

[bay-bus-rider.livejournal.com]

So, reaching into my very dusty bag of Trekkie knowledge...

at some point, in some episode, doesn't Spock admit as much (not totally logical, etc. etc.)? It's some kind of ritual or rite of passage in which he gets really savage (red lighting, drumming soundtrack). The explanation is that it's basically a safety valve—that Vulcans (even full-blooded ones) do have emotions that they are suppressing and need to let out occasionally. Sound familiar? It's probably been 15 years since I've actually seen the episode, so the details might be off.

And I agree with chgriffen, on both points. ;)

[skrelnek.livejournal.com]

I believe you're referring to the Pon farr, a mating stage that appears in adult Vulcans once every seven years (I think). They get really violent and feral and die if they can't mate.

And you're right about Vulcans suppressing their emotions; centuries ago they decided that their emotions were far too volatile for survival and that they'd have to systematically and ritualistically suppress them via meditation and psychic alien to-do in order to advance as a civilization. Occasionally something goes wrong and an adult Vulcan goes bonkers (outside of Pon farr, which is expected), which always causes lots of problems.

I swear I'm not a trekkie. Where's all this trivia coming from?!?

[bay-bus-rider.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but you knew exactly what I was talking about in detail—and by name. You've just outed yourself as a Trekkie. No one could convince me otherwise.

[skrelnek.livejournal.com]

Dammit. Is it possible to accidentally become a fanboy?

From arlan_bishop

[bay-bus-rider.livejournal.com]

No, it's always a choice, and it's a choice you made a long time ago.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

That's "Amok Time", about the fact that Vulcans go into heat once every seven years. It's a time when their biological urges are usually too strong for them control themselves and logical thought leaves them for a few days or weeks.

In this and other, later series episodes and in some of the movies, it's admitted that Vulcans do of course have emotions, but that they supress them and must justify their decisions logically. However, they still have considerable latitude for personal preference, and in "Amok Time", Spock's T'Pring explains how her plot proceeds logically from her desire for another Vulcan man, but why she wants him instead of Spock is /not/ explained, and no one thinks to question her preference. Presumably they accept that there is an irreducible kernel of irrationality to biological existence, and it would not be reasonable to expect it to be explained.

[keg41.livejournal.com]

I hereby tag you with the 8 random things meme. Here are the rules:
* Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
* At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
* Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

In "Journey to Babel", Sarek flatly states he married Amanda Greyson because it was the logical thing to do, without explaining what advantages outweigh the obvious disadvanatges.

The bit about Vulcans being incapable of lying comes out of nowhere; Spock goes along with Kirk on numerous deceptions and subterfuges. There are also a zillion circumstances from which the need to lie logically follows.

If you get a chance, _I AM SPOCK_ includes a lot of Nimoy's internal and unvoiced reasoning about Spock's personality, and mentioned this episode in particular.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

It was the logical thing to do to marry Amanda Greyson...hm...and is that how he pitched it to her? I bet he wooed her with dry Vulcan poetry...and then made her swear not to tell anyone, lest it ruin his rep.

It is sort of like Sarek was Danny Zucko and the other Vulcans are T-Birds...Amanda is Sandra Dee. The Pink Ladies are...um...no clue.

Yeah...Sarek fell madly in love with Amanda and then just justifed it using logic.

I'll have to check out I Am Spock...thanks for the tip.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

It was the logical thing to do to marry Amanda Greyson...hm...and is that how he pitched it to her? I bet he wooed her with dry Vulcan poetry...and then made her swear not to tell anyone, lest it ruin his rep.

The actress' performance in JtB makes it very plain they Amanda is in love with Sarek at least. It's possible the wooing went the other way. And some ancient Vulcan poetry supposedly gets pretty passionate, as implied by some dialogue at the beginning of the fourth film.

Yeah...Sarek fell madly in love with Amanda and then just justifed it using logic.

Absolutely!

[bluejogger.livejournal.com]

It would be more accurate that Vulcans can feel love, happiness, etc, but that they would be wise to avoid it as traumatic memories can literally lobotomize itself. Although, it must be nice to forget about some psycho ex-girlfriend when the need arises.

And Vulcans do lie, it just in their logical minds, if it becomes logically necessary it is no longer lying. An exaggeration, a deception, but never out-and-out lying. (Apparently, Vulcans can lie to themselves.)

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Vulcan

I think Kirk was trying to say that a certain level of unhappiness is neccessary to promote societial growth, but yeah, the way it comes out, just sounds like Grandpa complaining that back in his day, hard work builds character.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

And then there was the whole aspect of Kirk orchestrating the death of all the spore alien life.

I mean...the human on the colony...no they didn't build big buildings...but they were all completely healthy and completely happy. And poor Spock...he said that was the only time he ever was truly happy. And Kirk had to take that away from everyone...by revelling in anger, hatred and sadness. I just don't know about that Kirk sometimes.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

If you think of it in the context of the time of its broadcast, it was a drug metaphor.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

Yeah...drug metaphor couched in weird Garden of Eden terms...well the space hippies didn't call Kirk "stiff man" for no reason!

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Very much so. In many ways, Kirk is the ultimate authority figure: he has command of an armed starship with no supervision, needs nothing more than the acquiescence of his subordinates to decide the fate of entire planets, "breaks" the law when he needs to, and is always exonerated as having done the right thing in the end.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

On the other hand...he is a terrible authority figure. He's an awful Captain. illiaanya and I watched ST: The Motion Picture and ST: Generations back-to-back and Kirk pales in comparison to Picard. He wants to captain the new Enterprise even when it already has a captain. He isn't qualified to lead that ship, it is only his own ego that makes him pull rank in an unprofessional way.

He regularly puts himself, the first in command, and the ship's Chief medical officer in harms way...thus putting the whole ship at risk...only because he's an ego-tripping cowboy.

He doesn't work within the system...but neither is he a "rebel" trying to break the system. He just does his weird own thing. I'd rather serve under Picard any day.

Plus, he's a serial sexual harraser.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Part of that is operating under numerous writers and the constraints of a television show. But Kirk does have a huge ego (somewhat justified as he has saved the galaxy a zillion times), and is very much a hands-on superior. He shares some of these negative traits with real military leaders who were successful and well-thought of depsite their poor habits - Patton, for one you'd be familiar with.

I don't recall Kirk doing sexual harassment - he seems to respect his _own_ chain of command. And if I were cooped up with 150 hotties I couldn't touch, I'd be considering bedsheet diplomacy every time I made contact with a new civilization, too.

[illiaanya.livejournal.com]

Kirk is a terrible leader. And he's consistently out of shape! I see picard keeping up with his crew, but kirk? yikes. kirk hasn't met a hotdog he doesn't love. and he really can't keep his personal life out of the way (and by personal i mean private; and by private i mean privates). has kirk ever followed the prime directive? it should be noted that starfleet actively hates kirk--for good reason!

Picard endured seven years as a TV starship captain and always kept himself and crew in check. it should be noted that kirk had an ego long before he ever *saved* the galaxy. picard believes in teamwork. he delegates properly and follows the chain of command--his ship has always been the better for it and his crew are intensely loyal.

[trooper6.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if I had to pick a commander to server under, in either war or peace, between Picard and Kirk--Picard all the way.

I have a soft spot for Janeway...but who wants to be stuck in the Delta quadrant!