#. rel .. mccoy
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Some random Beast Headcanons! (Request by @geekyforever)
- Hank loves encouraging his students and seeing them progress. He often writes little notes to those in his class to remind them that they’re doing really well, or to highlight something they did that he’s particularly proud of.
- Sleeps in his lab most of the time. The others have to remind him that he actually has a bedroom.
- He doesn’t get ill often, but when he does, he can’t even make it out of his room. Jean brings him food and water and makes sure he’s as comfortable as he can be.
- He loves tea
- CANNOT stand sad songs. He says music is supposed to lift people up, not bring them down
- He tries to be clean and tidy, but is naturally very messy. His lab is constantly in a state of disarray; he puts something down (like his glasses) and then two seconds later he can’t find it anywhere.
- Has his own personal library in which he has a collection of absolutely ANCIENT books. Like I’m talking smelly, dusty, yellowed pages, on the verge of disintegrating…those types of books. If he wants to look at them, he wears those special white gloves. Nobody else is allowed to touch them apart from him.
- Is colour blind (Deuteranopia)
- Hank has a bit of a sweet tooth. Chocolate is his weakness.
- He has a drawer full of unsent letters to old friends, mentors, and even past lovers. Each letter is articulate, heartfelt, and filled with things he wishes he could say—apologies for drifting away, confessions of loneliness, and admissions of fear. But every few months or so - when he opens the drawer and reads them again - he crumples most of them up and throws them away, convincing himself that reaching out would be selfish or that no one really wants to hear from him.
- Hank is an expert in floriogrophy, and he often uses this to impress people he wants to get closer to.
#this is mostly based off of X-Men ‘97 Beast because I’m a relatively new fan and I have NO idea what’s happening with him in the comics#x men#x men headcannons#beast xmen#hank mccoy#henry mccoy
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. Ꮧ ᏝᏋᎶ ᏬᎮ
#Doctor Who#Seventh Doctor#Sylvester McCoy#Mel Bush#Bonnie Langford#TARDIS#time and relative dimension in space#Classic Who
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[X]
#deforest kelley#leonard mccoy#dr mccoy#star trek#star trek tos#my posts#my stuff#first attempt at colorization#i have no idea what i'm doing lol#also i didn't use a proper color reference for this so the colors are probably way off#anyway it's a good picture and i'm relatively pleased with this#so enjoy#<3#enits colorization
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honestly, though, managing to get spock to yell at you and manhandle or try to manhandle you TWICE within so few episodes is a SKILL and sam should get some respect for being that level of irritating
#rel . spock#it's training for when mccoy joins the crew#yes there were Circumstances both times#but spock snapping that quickly even under those circumstances#means it was building up and you can't tell me otherwise
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I think the problem with TOS and me is that I need everything to follow a certain formula which includes McCoy being the one dealing with Kirk’s moods. If Kirk feels down or has a problem, I need it to be McCoy he talks to. I need it to be McCoy who gives him an advice. Spock can give him an advice too, but McCoy’s advice either needs to follow or precede (but usually follow) – because that’s the formula the show follows.
I know other people probably want more variety, but I’m very simple and want the same thing again and again, even if it only reduces McCoy to a character who’s written around Kirk. Because he is. He’s written around Kirk and Spock because he is a tool to express their emotions when neither of them can express them.
And I feel like when the show’s traditional trio roles are broken, it never works for me. Neither Kirk nor Spock can work without McCoy. I’m not saying it because I like McCoy, it’s just that you literally can’t take him out because then you even lose the kind of relationship Spock and Kirk have in the show imho
And that’s why I think a lot of novels just won’t ever work for me perfectly because a lot of authors 1. don’t know how to write McCoy 2. don’t know what role to give him because they refuse to give him his role in the show - i.e. be Kirk’s confidant. Some authors know what to do with him, but it’s rare.
#i wrote this yesterday because of something in ex machina and then didn't want to publish it but i guess i can just do it as a follow up#to the reblogged post#where i had the kirk-mccoy be less (since at that point i was very sp0nes-y oriented#which showed)#tos nonsense#leni reads trek books#this isn't particularly about ex machina though. it was just 'ah' moment for me#the book is relatively good even though i complain lol#but i don't think it's a good book for mccoy's fans but then again there are different kinds of mccoy's fans#so some might actually read it and consider it in character#i'm just not one of them#and i was glad to see some reviews agree with me when i was looking around yesterday#but there were also a lot of those who didn't see any problems with mccoy's characterization so...#to each their own#and no the problem isn't because kirk doesn't confide in him lol#i was just thinking how that part's really important to me#instead i got mccoy being drunk because of 'reasons'
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— Various x-men characters dating a non-mutant!reader
— characters ; Scott Summers, Peter Maximoff, Kurt Wagner, Hank McCoy
— version with others characters ; not out yet
— warning ; no particular tw. talk about self estimee and doubt. (as always author has not started reading the comics and their knowledge come from the different xmen cartoon and my hazy memories of the film <3) ( also no cartoon gif for peter because i couldn't find any ... is he even in any of the xmen cartoons ), author decided that Peter has self-confidence issues, also Peter part kinda slide tracked and has more about Peter and his struggle than him dating reader whose a human ... sorry! (his part is also a bit short ...)
— Scott Summers
Scott has no particular qualm around you being a regular human, he loves you just as you are, and nothing can change that. That said, Scott cannot help himself but be, patronising at time. In his mind, you being a human just make you be at risks, you can't defend yourself if you get attacked, by others humans or mutants. He doesn't view you as weak, but, he know how fleeting life is. He isn't the greatest at expressing his feelings, and notably his worry for you.
He will also be more protective than if he was with a mutant. And it show in him being at first very against you befriending any others x-men, he very much care for most of them and he loves you very much, but he doesn't want to have those two part of his life mix up. He doesn't want you to get in dangers because of his job, but he also doesn't want you to possibly endanger one of his mission, he wasn't capable of choosing between you and one of his mission. Not to say, you are as or more important than his mission, but he was responsibilities as a X-Men and he cannot forget about them. But that said, with enough asking and pleading, making him crack and let you meet his friends and fellow X-Men.
Talking about you interacting with mutants, Scott will not let any remarks about you - well not being one - slide. He knows and understand why his friends may feel wary of humans, he get it, but you are different. You are quite literally dating him - a mutant, it couldn't make any sense for you to be against them. Scott may let it slide the first time actually, but anymore than that, and he's making them do extra session in danger room - or they aren't allowed in it, depending on who.
In general, there isn't that much of a different between how he treat his mutant or non-mutant partner, he just will be more protective and worried for them. He doesn't feel particularly insecure in your relationship - because of his mutation or your lack of mutation.
Again, he doesn't have any problems with you not being a mutant - he more so has problem being a mutant, not in general of course, but in your relationship yes. Peter can't really give an answer as to why, but if he had to guess it was probably due to this father, and the fact that he didn't want to do anything like his father did, to you. The worst is, he know damn well he isn't anything like him but he can't help but think that way.
He feels like he's going to mess your relationship up, because of what he is. He try to play it off as if it was nothing, but it's a feeling that lingers in the back of his mind often. He never truly wished to be a regular human before, and he still doesn't, but he just want your relationship to be more normal. Which isn't really possible. Peter knows that, he also knows that you don't care, about that kind of thing.
He can mask his doubts and awful self-confidence with his quirky attitude, he can fool most people pretty easily - expect you. At some point, it get to point, where you have to sit down with Peter and try to have a conversation about it, at first he will just act dumb and pretend he doesn't get what you are talking about, but his facade cracks relatively fast.
You listen, his fears and doubts. You comfort him, and assure him, that everything is fine, you reassure him that weither your relationship is 'normal' or not it's the last of your problem. You love him, he loves you and that all that matter in your eyes.
Now, Kurt could be the one that has the most difficulty dating someone that is not a mutant. He could be scared to hurt you more than anything. He's stressing out about doing or saying the worst thing, that will just break everything. One of the reason why he is friend, with his friends is because they share at least one thing - they can all relate on one crucial part of their identity - them being mutant, it's one thing that link them all together and make it at least a little bit easier to connect. You lacking that, make it hard for him. He still loves you all the same of course, but he feels like not being able to share something so crucial is sad.
So he desperately try to make it up in some way, he looks everything he can about your interests to be able to share that with you, everytime you share something about your interests Kurt will make mental note of it. And he will share a lot about what interest him in return. If you speak an another language that he doesn't know, he'll try to learn it, after all what is better than learning the language of your lover! Kurt can even teach you some german if you want to!
He wants something to link the two of you together even more. It's something he heavily crave. To be linked to you, by more than just, your love for each others.
Kurt may feel insecure at time, that you may leave him for well, a regular human, that isn't blue, has five fingers on each hands - he will try to keep it to himself, but he isn't really good at that. His insecurity just overflow and he end up offhandedly asking you while you are hanging out, if you could prefer to be dating a human rather than him. Obviously, you tell him that you don't, and ask where did this idea came from. He feels reluctant to admit as to why he asked. He feels, ashamed ? After seeing your reaction, he feels a bit silly, and even more when you comfort him and tell him that you very much prefer and could always choose to date him more than anyone else just because they are human.
On a more happy note Kurt loves seeing how amazed you are by his mutation, you never really were around mutants before - there isn't actually a ton of opportunity to meet mutants and to know that they are mutants, even if antis mutant politicians like to make people believe the contrary - most humans he met, weren't exactly thrilled by his, but you are the exactly opposite. Even after being together for a while and getting used to his mutation, there is still this curiosity and shine in your eyes when he teleport for example.
He is by far, the most chill about your relationship and you not being a mutant while he is. Well, that is if we are talking about Hank, after he accepted his entire mutation and all, which we are, Hank pre-self acceptance is different deal.
But once, Hank is settled as a scientific and has member of the X-Men, and has fully accepted his mutation, he doesn't personally really care. But sadly, a lot of people seemingly do and that's one thing that annoy him. The worst is it come from both fellow mutants, even his friends and colleagues sometime! And from regular humans. He doesn't really get why people care about him dating a non-mutant or you dating him - a mutant.
He personally try to not let it get to him, and if it does he will do everything but make you suffer because of it. It most often will result in him shutting himself in his lab for a bit of time, to calm down.
And like others, he feels like he needs to protect you because, you are so ... weak in his eyes, not in a bad way of course ! But in comparison to him you are so small and fragile. This cause Hank to usually like putting his arms around you, around you waist or on your back, to show you that he is there, and to show people around that you are his, and that they shouldn't try to hurt you in anyway.
#i pulled up with the gifs .. yk that a long post#a magic piece ?#time to write every tags ever#xmen x reader#x-men x reader#x men x reader#marvel x reader#scott summers x reader#peter maximoff x reader#kurt wagner x reader#hank mccoy x reader#the beast x reader#nightcrawler x reader#quicksilver x reader#cyclop x reader#x reader
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I could not be McCoy. Like. Bro was best friends with Kirk in the academy and Kirk got him out of the lowest point in his life. He saved him by forcing him into Starfleet. And I hate to say it, but I think for a good long while it probably hurt to see and know that while Kirk was his best friend, Kirk became most definitely closer to Spock. And Bones is okay with that, he knows there’s nothing to be done about it, but I still think it stings him sometimes. Like he’s sitting and drinking alone in his room thinking about the fact that Kirk and Spock are playing chess and Kirk is smiling at this walking computer and is so close to him after such a relatively short time
I think Jim still is and always will be Bones’ closest friend, but Bones is no longer Jim’s closest friend, and he hasn’t been ever since Spock came into the picture. And I think he should be allowed to feel hurt over that.
#I was talking to Molly abt this and I’m insane abt it#wanna write a fic about it#star trek#star trek tos#bones mccoy#leonard bones mccoy#jim kirk#spock#leonard mccoy#tos spock#captain kirk
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London did try to cobble together a three-part strategy for a sustainable, if vastly reduced, postwar empire: first, consolidate smaller colonies into cost-effective confederations; next, control their exports to capture hard-currency profits; and finally, cling to military bases critical for imperial defense. For instance, it merged nine sultanates and two crown colonies into the Federation of Malaya to control the US dollars earned from its rubber exports, which provided, by 1952, 35 percent of Britain’s net balance of payments with the dollar area. So critical was this cash flow that London dispatched 50,000 troops, who would fight for a decade to crush a communist revolt and keep Malaya in the British Commonwealth. Similarly, the Central African Federation combined three colonies to secure the dollars from Zambia’s copper exports while supporting a small number of white settlers in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia), who had been allocated 50 million acres of farmland, compared to only 29 million for Africans. In the Persian Gulf, British Petroleum explored for oil while British advisers led seven sheiks into a federation that later became the petro-rich United Arab Emirates. Over the longer term, the Federation of Malaya and the United Arab Emirates proved relatively stable independent states, while their Central African counterpart broke apart, after mass protests and inept colonial repression, into the nations of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Alfred W. McCoy, To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change
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McCoy and Spock making a bet to see who can go the longest agreeing/not arguing with the other one on the ship, a bet that each of them believes he will win handily, but then it stretches on for days and days with the two of them intentionally saying more and more emotional or logical statements, while the other has to find a way to agree but find the contrastingly logical or emotional way to do it.
They're going nuts
Jim's going nuts
The mission is going terribly, because Jim can't make up his mind on anything without a dissenting opinion
But at the end of it, after, of all people, Jim (who wasn't even playing) is the one to crack and disagree with the both of them, making all three of them realize how to save the day, they realize that they really do have more in common than the ever thought possible, and if they spent a little more time thinking about the respective logical and emotional aspects of each other's arguments, they might be able to either agree or disagree in relative harmony.
#star trek#star trek tos#leonard mccoy#spock#jim kirk#bones mccoy#captain kirk#star trek aos#spones#mcspirk#hypothetical episode plots
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. 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓔𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽
#Doctor Who#Seventh Doctor#Sylvester McCoy#Eighth Doctor#Paul McGann#TARDIS#time and relative dimension in space#Classic Who
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That Which We Are
Date: April 1, 2018 Author: GrayJay Rating: Not Rated Word Count/Status: 3,482, complete Dynamic: N/A Characters: Scott Summers, Christopher Summers, Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Logan (X-Men), Ororo Munroe, Emma Frost, Hank McCoy, Moira MacTaggert, Nathaniel Essex, Alex Summers Tags: Medical Trauma, Needles, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Closeted Character, Trans Male Character, Canon Compliant, Character Study
Summary:
The day he loses his glasses and brings down half the orphanage is the day he becomes Scott for good.
(Or: The universe where Scott isn't born Scott.)
#rating: not rated#uni: 616#team: x men#char: Scott Summers#char: Christopher Summers#char: Charles Xavier#char: Jean Grey#char: Ororo Munroe#char: Emma Frost#char: Hank McCoy#char: Moira MacTaggert#char: Nathaniel Essex#char: Alex Summers#tag: Medical Trauma#tag: Needles#tag: Non-Consensual Body Modification#tag: Closeted Character#tag: Trans Male Character#tag: Canon Compliant#tag: Character Study#length: 1k-5k#status: complete#category: one shot#rel: gen#char: logan howlett
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None of these creatures are invincible (except for the ghosts) so they can he killed but they'll immediately be replaced by new ones.
Assuming Ozzy is 6 feet tall, a 1/8th size Oz would be 9 inches tall (with relative strength, so 1/8th as strong).
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for having watched this movie at least twice before (albeit several years ago), I recalled surprisingly little of the plot. and so did my dad, who had once watched this with me! I used to think this was my favorite tos movie and I think the reason was bc this movie needs the smallest tos context. like it's objectively a - not super inventive - but thrilling and interesting plot. I also only now realized how much this movie made parallels to the end of the cold war and overall had some really good dialogue, which, let's be honest, not all of tos has.
but I think the reason it's not my favorite tos movie anymore, is bc I now do have the context and for a star trek movie, it was pretty weak when it comes to the characters. and tos is especially character-driven (to the point were the same 2-3 characters are protagonists in each episode). and I find that really interesting bc I do like all of the tos crew, but I also need that kirk/spock relationship thrown into my face again and again. and there was very little of that this time (not nothing though) and each character had kind of important roles to play. I don't want to say this is the only tos movie that operated like that, but I do notice it more in this one as I used to think this was the best movie.
anyway, there were still a few things I liked about the character portrayal in this. kirk and spock seemed to have some bigger issues prior to this as kirk seemed to be pissed off and distant with spock the whole time. and you can't tell me this was just bc of the assignment with the klingons. kirk felt like spock had personally attacked him with this assignment and spock seemed really confused, probably thinking he had given kirk an interesting last mission. so in my headcanon, their seem to have separated at this point :( but later on I really enjoyed how unusually angry spock got when he found out valeris was the one responsible for getting kirk convicted and had ultimately put his life in danger. there was a certain level of guilt in there too, as spock had been the one to get them into this mission in the first place. and kirk having pretty much forgiven spock in rura penthe of all places, was really surprised to see spock's behavior and even felt bad for it, so it seems. he was not even initiating the kiss with iman's character! (also very interesting alien concept, similar to changelings, when it comes to gender.) in general he seemed almost never interested in any of the women in the movies, which I have mentioned before, but I love as it fits right into my headcanon :) but mccoy's "what is it with you" after the kiss was still amazing as it summed up the entirety of kirk's obsessive womanizing behavior in tos. generally, mccoy had the best one-liners ever in this. and he was by far not the most prejudiced one in this movie. and he was actually really nice to spock the entire time and seemed relatively tame in general. do we see a little character change caused by the last movie…? I still don't see mccoy and kirk being a thing, but mccoy and spock on the other hand…
I won't take this any further and rather conclude my tos walkthrough for good now (even though some of the characters appear in other series and movies again). I thought it was really interesting to see the changes the decades made on sci fi and to watch it with a person who actually lived through those decades.
I have to say tos really is up there now in the star trek ranking for me, maybe even above tng. (but we'll watch that next, so this view might change very soon.) spock (as played by nimoy) is certainly one of my top 3 star trek characters and I think that says a lot for a show that was written in the 60s. (the other one is seven and I have no idea who the third one is, but... we got all the autistic-coded ones up there, don't we.)
I'm so glad we have so much to go when it comes to star trek, though! even if it'll take us several years, now that I've counted it… (there is some shows and movies I will skip, though.)
#star trek vi: the undiscovered country#cold war#star trek tos#spirk#kirk x spock#spock x kirk#spock#james t kirk#valeris#leonard nimoy#star trek#I love how this is slowly turning into a star trek only blog again
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"The IDIC Epidemic" review
Novel from 1988, by Jean Lorrah. Sort of a sequel to her previous book ("The Vulcan Academy Murders"), the enemy this time is a strange virus that mutates really fast, and is decimating a colony with its increasingly deadly strains. Given the origin of the virus, and its ultimate cure, the main theme is the defense of diversity (racial or cultural) over segregation and prejudices. Which is, definitely, a very Star Trek theme, though the novel also acknowledges the difficulties in such a diverse society, and how fragile it can be.
Despite what the cover would suggest, Kirk, Spock and McCoy are mere secondary characters. Most of the story focuses instead on new introductions, like the Klingon Korsal and his sons, or the Vulcan T'Pina. Healer Sorel, his associate Daniel Corrigan, and the obnoxious Sendet return from the previous book. Sarek and Amanda are also there, though their presence feels more like fanservice this time, as there's no particular reason for them to figure in the story.
As for the novel itself, I couldn't really get into it. The narrative switches perspectives continually, so I found impossible to focus long enough on one plot thread to get invested in it. And didn't find the characters all that engaging. There's simply too many things going on at the same time, and even if all the subplots revolve around the epidemic, it's quite distracting. Your mileage may vary, of course; I'm just not a fan of this technique of "multiple threads".
This time I'm just going to give an overview of the separate stories of each character, with minimal spoilers, as they progress kind of independently to each other:
On the one hand we have Korsal, the only Klingon in the scientific, multicultural colony of Nisus. He's much more of an intellectual and pacifist than your average Klingon, and faces prejudice both from his fellow scientists and his relatives back at home. His two sons are half human, on top of that, so Korsal is worried about their future and the possibility of either the Federation or the Empire accepting them. Much of his story deals with the bonding between Korsal and his older son Kevin, as they try to help against the plague and a breaking dam, which threatens to flood the entire city. Korsal and his family also prove instrumental in finding a cure (though partial) for the virus.
T'Pina is an adopted Vulcan of uncertain origin, returning now to her native Nisus after completing her studies, and hoping to do something about the crisis. As Korsal, she also turns out to be a key to defeat the virus, but much of her storyline is mired by sappy (and kind of cringe) romance. As an aside, there's something about the way this author writes relationships that rubs me the wrong way. First, Amanda's statement that there's more differences between the thinking of males and females, than between humans and Vulcans. Or Kirk getting distracted by how attractive is a Starfleet female Commander, who's actually seriously sick, and trying to explain the dire situation to him. There's also a certain obsession to get every single character married at the end: a couple of widowed Vulcans that just met (and that haven't yet overcome their grief); or even Spock, who tells his mother about the "several suitable women he met", and his intention to marry upon leaving Starfleet (sure, Spock, keep telling us about your imaginary girfriends...). I know I'm nitpicking here, but all this made me roll eyes several times.
The medical team of McCoy, Sorel and Daniel (with occasional help from Spock) is tasked with cracking the virus' pattern of mutation, and developing a vaccine. The way they find the origin and nature of the virus is interesting, with actual analytical work. Though developing a cure turns out to be rather a matter of luck, and several happy (and unlikely) coincidences.
On the villain side we have Sendet, a Vulcan supremacist, who uses the virus to justify his views against mixed races. He and the other followers of T'Vet are being transported by the Enterprise to a different colony, since their views go against Vulcan culture. They cause a lot of problems in the ship. Problems that could have been easily avoided if Kirk had just... put them in the brig the first time.
Spirk Meter: 2/10*. When Spock falls sick with the virus, Kirk feels frustrated for not being able to see him. And even though he knows his presence wouldn't change anything, he still believes that Spock could somehow draw strength from his being there.
As for Spones, Spock insists on accompanying McCoy to Nisus, against Kirk's orders, and under the pretext of the doctor needing his logic. Spock feels also protective of him, telling McCoy to be careful around the virus. And Kirk comments that Spock and McCoy are "one of a kind"; which both quickly deny, in unison. Apart from this, much emphasis is put on the idea that Vulcans leave their katra to their spouses upon dying... Which has some "implications" for Spock and McCoy's later story (though I somehow doubt the author would acknowledge the parallelism).
*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.
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I think setting STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS in the TOS era was a questionable idea for a variety of reasons, but one of the more troublesome is their treatment of Spock, which opens some cans of worms I don't think there would have been a good way to handle even if the writers weren't intent on making bad and reactionary creative choices in other areas.
In TOS, most of the Enterprise crew, and really the majority of the Starfleet characters we're shown, are exceedingly racist to Spock with disconcerting regularity. Of the regular cast, I think the only ones who aren't overtly nasty to Spock at least some of the time are probably Uhura and Sulu; they get frustrated with him at certain points, but generally because he's a difficult and inflexible supervisor rather than due to racial animus. A lot of the rest of the crew is openly hostile, and McCoy routinely addresses him with slurs in front of the bridge crew. Kirk tolerates and sometimes participates in this racist abuse, and the only times he seems to take it very seriously are when it threatens to become an operational problem (as in "Balance of Terror"). The main feature that comes to characterize the bond that develops between Kirk and Spock is not that Kirk is significantly more tolerant, but that he will usually (not always) at least listen to Spock's point of view, which the rest of the crew is very reluctant to do (most pointedly in "The Galileo Seven"), and can be persuaded to respect his judgment, which Spock values even though Kirk's attitude and behavior still often make him uncomfortable.
This kind of space-racism toward nonhuman Federation citizens is not necessarily a structural element of STAR TREK (unlike anti-indigenous racism, which definitely is), but it is a structural element of Spock's character. Spock spends a lot of TOS teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown, and it's tempting (though not canonical) to read his decision to pursue Kolinhar in the beginning of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE as a response to the stress of being on the Enterprise (fleeing to become a monk!). Even where Spock is not enduring racial slurs and constant microaggressions, you can see how that treatment, both in his youth on Vulcan and as an adult in Starfleet, has shaped his personality. Indeed, this is something I think to which fans of Spock have responded strongly over the years, because his alienation and stress are very relatable for LGBT people, people of color, Muslim and Jewish people (despite STAR TREK's canonical antisemitism and Islamophobia), and autistic people. This doesn't mean STAR TREK stories necessarily have to show Spock being tormented, which is often painful to watch, but if Spock had not been tormented in these ways, he would be a very different person than the character viewers know and love.
Making Spock a regular in DISCOVERY and later STRANGE NEW WORLDS thus presents the writers with a problem: Treating Spock the way he's treated in TOS would be uncomfortable, but avoiding it creates a tension with TOS that the newer shows obviously don't know how to resolve.
Prior to ENTERPRISE, the general presumption about the TOS era (which is stated as fact in some of the novels) was that having mixed-species crews is relatively new for Starfleet, and that the problems Spock faces stem from his colleagues never having lived and worked with an "alien" before and not knowing how to not be weird about it. (ENTERPRISE essentially transferred that idea to Archer's era, where T'Pol gets similar treatment.) In DISCO and SNW, however, we see that many Starfleet vessels have mixed crews, including officers (like Saru) who are much more obviously nonhuman than Spock is, and have for a while. So, how are we to read the events of TOS, with which DISCO and SNW still want to (uneasily) coexist? Is Kirk's Enterprise just a lot more racist than Pike's? That's possible, I guess, but how many STAR TREK fans really want to canonize the idea that Kirk and his crew are unusually intolerant by Starfleet standards? Are we to presume that SNW means to soft-retcon the hostility and constant microaggressions Spock experiences in TOS, shifting the entire onus for his twitchy alienation to his upbringing on Vulcan and to Sarek (who DISCO reiterates is a tremendous dick)? That would be sadly consistent with the disdain with which modern STAR TREK media treats Vulcan (and with the antisemitism of the modern shows), but it's a pretty bitter pill for anyone who thinks Vulcans are neat or cool, which used to be an uncontroversial majority opinion among STAR TREK viewers and writers.
The more sensible answer would have been to just dodge the issue entirely by staying further away from TOS and the period in which it takes place. There are other periods of the TREK timeline that are still largely unexplored (like the early 24th century era of the Enterprise-C), and there's always the option of moving further forward in time, as DISCOVERY eventually did. However, CBS seems very insistent on making heavy-handed appeals to nostalgia that require riding the coattails of TOS, even where that just doesn't seem like a good idea creatively.
My sense with DISCOVERY and SNW is that the producers would really like to simply redo TOS in a manner more consistent with their current vision, but that the decidedly mixed reactions to the alternate timeline JJ Abrams movies has made them gunshy about just declaring that openly. So, it seems they're instead trying to back into it with a kind of death-by-a-thousand-retcons approach, seeking to sand off both the uncomfortable aspects of TOS and stuff the producers and/or the network don't like (like Spock's gay-coding — SNW's determination to no-homo him is pronounced, albeit unpersuasive). I think I would find that vexing even if the producers' vision weren't frequently more jingoistic and racist than TOS, which it often is.
#teevee#star trek#star trek tos#star trek discovery#strange new worlds#st:tmp#star trek the motion picture#spock
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missed opportunities with Spock & medicine in SNW
Okokok I didnt mind Spock & Chapel as I felt it was well-written (in conjunction w Spock & T'Pring) for the two of them and simply a stepping stone/arc to his further character development and exemplified his struggle converging his dualistic origins
but
Spock in TOS has an extreme (and to an outsider, illogical) aversion to medicine/medical procedures/medical personnel as evidenced by his deep mistrust of McCoy in TOS. I always postulated this is because he was mistreated or belittled or made to feel "wrong" by Vulcan medical facilities as a child given that he is a biological hybrid.
This "illogical" aversion to medicine is not based on the Scientific Fact that he as a science officer treats as secular gospel -- but is instead a result of his injured emotional nature, which felt ostracized and likely put on display as some kind of marvel/freak by the professionals he likely dealt with as a child.
I have a whole other post about Spock & Medicine and how his cantankerous and frequently mocking relationship with McCoy both displays his anger/disgust with the limits of the profession and, eventually, the healing of this wound via his friendship with Dr McCoy.
In TOS Spock dismissively refers to medicine as "potions" which make him feel sick and nauseous - (likely a side effect of his hybrid physiology where no medical traditions from either Vulcan or Terran origin completely mesh with his genetics or organs/hormones). Thus, even when he can get help from a compassionate provider - it likely does not help all the way or is uncomfortable to endure.
Discovery took this one step further and had Spock literally institutionalized because his emotional break following his visions/hallucinations which further highlights an origin for Spock's mistrust and distaste for medicine. We learn his visions were a result of an explicable cause & that medicine failed Spock yet again.
These experiences can even be applied to TOS and also color his relative annoyance with Nurse Chapel's one-sided affections.
Spock does not like doctors or nurses.
And he has good reason to fear and mistrust them despite his logical knowledge of their professionalism or expertise. Spock is scared, burned, and embittered by medical efforts and endeavors.
It is the one overt example in TOS where his human emotionality overtakes his logical mien almost effortlessly and with visible sharp resentment towards McCoy in almost every conversation they have.
Strange New Worlds seems to forget this important part of Spock's character which was evident in TOS (and eventually resolved by his friendship with McCoy), and expanded on in Disco with his institutionalization.
Sadly, his relation to Medicine in Strange New Worlds is a nonissue that pretty much ignores the canon in those two series - whether it is in a scene with Dr M'Benga or Nurse Chapel. It does not seem given the other canon he would ever be as cooperative or receptive to their treatments or suggestions.
However, as Spock is being written in this series to have mental duress over his "opposing" halves as personified by his desperate attempts to make two DOA romances with both T'Pring and Christine work - it seems this would be an important and relevant topic to broach considering Christine is in fact a nurse, and a representation of a system that has so far at this point in his life failed, harmed, and excluded him.
Not only that, but T'Pring is essentially the equivalent of a Vulcan psychiatrist.
It is fascinating that Spock, reviled and mistrusting of both medicine and psychology, sandwiches himself between a nurse and psychiatrist.
Despite his bone-deep betrayal by both of these institutions he finds himself indeed broken by them: beholden and shackled to the need for their love and approval - as deeply unhappy with himself as he is.
Spock, through these two flailing and ill-begotten relationships, continues to subconsciously punish himself for the truth.
That he is neither nor both - and there is no way to define him except by himself alone.
And that is what he fears the most: that he is truly alone in the endless universe.
Recognizable to no one.
#spock#star trek#strange new worlds#star trek discovery#t'pring#christine chapel#leonard mccoy#star trek tos#spapel
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