#And the treatment of Pike's disability didn't improve like even a LITTLE bit in all the time between both series

[bumblingbabooshka]

I know I'm like decades late to the party and SNW is out and all but I think the events of "The Menagerie" would be even more interesting if Pike and Spock DIDN'T have a particularly close interpersonal relationship because I remember watching that episode and being a bit curious about why Spock would risk SO much for this man who, in-episode, I don't recall ever having any special bond portrayed with Spock. Spock, in that episode, is more the eager ensign than anyone of special importance and the episode doesn't set any scene aside to show that Pike has especially warm feelings towards him.

Of course, Spock served with Pike for eleven years and their relationship could have grown in that time and I expect the audience is supposed to assume that. (Or make the assumption that any crewman would do the same for their captain but Spock being Vulcan and not shown as particularly close to Pike DOES make you wonder! Especially since this is something Spock elected to do on his own and obviously planned in extreme detail and was willing to DIE over) In-universe, the events of the Menagerie are shown to justify why Spock wants Pike to go to that banned planet specifically - not to justify why He feels He has to do this for Pike but I just find it curious that there isn't even one scene where Pike and young Spock speak in depth to one another. Instead, Pike has that sort of scene with the Doctor. There's only moment I can recall that approaches that and it itself is interesting to me! There's a trilling, musical noise in the air and both Pike and Spock follow it to discover that some plant is emitting the noise. Pike stills one bunch of leaves and Spock stills the other, granting silence. Spock then turns to Pike with a smile and Pike looks back at him for a moment, face blank, before turning away. I like that TOS' Pike has a colder edge to him than Kirk and I can't help but think of his relationship to Spock from Spock's perspective where he's just abandoned his family and was effectively disowned and here, with Pike on Pike's Enterprise, is perhaps the first time he's ever felt like he might belong somewhere and be an asset to someone. Those feelings (whether or not Spock acknowledges them) might be strong enough that it doesn't quite matter how Pike feels about Spock as long as it isn't negative. In fact, maybe the experience of being praised and liked to any extent by a cold, commanding man ties into issues Spock canonically has with Sarek. Here is a man cold and distant enough to feel familiar but with that Human warmth and willingness to show emotion and give praise which Vulcan as a whole and more specifically his father has not been willing to grant Spock. I also can't help thinking of this from the perspective of Spock as a gay man either. Pike's clear longing for domestic bliss, a home with a wife and his beloved horse, can be juxtaposed with Kirk fairly easily to me: Kirk is shown throughout the series to be lonely and to fall in love with women but there's never really the possibility of him leaving the captaincy to be with them. He belongs to the Enterprise, with Spock. Pike's happy ending is being with a woman and Spock sees him there. Meanwhile, I think we all know that Kirk's happy ending does not entail this. It entails being on the Enterprise, a captain, and being with Spock as an extension of that. (Spock, revealed in this episode to have been part of the existing Enterprise staff, is almost an extension of the beloved starship) Perhaps the reason there's no explanation for why Spock is willing to go so far for Pike, to risk his life for a man we don't see as being particularly close to the Vulcan, is the same reason for the inexplicable curing of Spock's fever after 'killing' Kirk, is what I'm saying