#I got to the fusion episode of enterprise and that they explained that Vulcans didn’t do it anymore

[peachviz]

love how mind melding is supposed to be an intimate and sacred experience and Spock is just out here using it all willy nilly

[ichayalovesyou]

Vulcan Philosophy: VHC vs Syrranite vs “V’tosh Ka’tur”

This is basically my take on the Vulcan philosophical-political spectrum and I reallllllly wanted to talk about it!

In Star Trek ENT we see two named sects that opposed the Vulcan High Command before Surak’s writings “Kir’Shara” were rediscovered.

The Syrranites (lead by Syrran and later T’Pau) the pacifist anti-espionage movement, who wanted an end to the war with Andoria, and not not withhold secrets from Humanity. They weren’t as xenophobic as the then-current government (but still pretty xenophobic, they just didn’t actively hate/enact violence on other races) that ultimately took over by the end of the events in ENT.

The V’tosh Ka’tur (the fragment of this group we see in ENT episodes Fusion & Stigma is lead by Tolaris) their title is a derogatory moniker that translates to “Vulcans without logic” who disagree with the ancient teachings. Believing Surak had intended the meaning of control to have been “to master” not “to suppress” that logic is an essential part of Vulcan existence, but that there must be balance and not exclusion. That balance can be reached by careful discipline and meditation.

The Syrranites took over the majority of Vulcan politics, and suppression is the way to go and the V’tosh Ka’tur (as they are known in Enterprise, by name at least) disappear. V’tosh Ka’tur is still used derogatorally, Sybok is considered one, and Spock is accused of it a few times. However I wish there was another name for the Vulcans of that philosophy we saw in ENT.

Because I really don’t think that philosophy just died out.

I think it got absorbed into the Syrranite movement because their goal, while the means were different, is still emotional control as is rooted in Surak’s teachings. One who masters their emotions through discipline and meditation, and chooses not to express those emotions, cannot be disintinguished from a Vulcan who withholds their emotions by suppression.

I think the movement that got labeled as hedonistic “V’tosh Ka’tur” just got quieter and subtler and spread through teaching methodology rather than political rhetoric!

In the Voyager episode Random Thoughts Tuvok says “all members of the Vulcan race learn to inhibit emotions” the author of the Memory Alpha article took this to mean that the “V’tosh Ka’tur” movement/philosophy is dead, but I don’t think so!

Philosophies, like languages, don’t die, unless they’re murdered, they evolve and change yes, but they don’t just die. The Syrranites, though still very conservative in many respects, are intrinsically non-violent. Every Vulcan we see who builds themselves on emotional suppression alone has issues (Sarek for example! His repression drove him insane, it’s also illogical to mentally abuse your kids so there’s that) but Tuvok doesn’t.

Inhibit means “to hinder, restrain or prevent” you can stop something by acknowledging that you will instinctually feel something, and then dismissing it OR you can inhibit yourself by forcing yourself not to feel it and pretending it was never there in the first place. Verbal ambiguity is a huge thing!

I firmly believe that Tuvok (and other Vulcans who aren’t supremely xenophobic, are low-key wrathful and vindictive, or otherwise unhinged) follow the philosophy that we see in Enterprise in spirit if not in name, while the majority of Vulcans use the traditional suppression/Syrranite method!

I think, while it’s not a precise comparison to human politics (and the way Surak is regarded it’s more similar to religion than anything). Vulcan High Command was on the equivalent of our political right, the “V’tosh Ka’Tur” are the political left, and the Syrranites are in the middle. Then there’s still the whole random element of the translations of Surak’s teachings still being incomplete, and who would listen to which aspects should more of his lessons be revealed!

Bottom line: Vulcan politics are cool and I think Tuvok (and other “chill” Vulcans) is somewhere between a Syrranite movement and the “V’tosh Ka’tur” while the rest of Vulcan is closer to pure Syrranite while extremists lean toward Sybok’s cultish attitudes or old VHC government philosophy (which would explain the bombing Michael almost died from)

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 15: 2x03 The Paradise Syndrome

I have seen this episode once before and I remember it being pretty awful... but tbh, I didn’t think it was so bad this time around. Maybe that’s just because my expectations were, like, Spock’s-Brain low. It definitely had issues but there was stuff I liked too!

Hmmm, that’s not the bridge. It appears to be... California?

Wondering what people might be so “blessed by this environment”--what a manly he-man action/adventure guy thing to say, amirite?

How does Spock know the significant markers of all the Native American tribes at a distance, off the top of his head?

(Answer: he doesn’t; all of this information is wrong and also one of those tribes is completely made up lmao.)

Honestly, who’s to say these people aren’t advanced? How do YOU know?

“Just so peaceful... no command decisions.” Oh no, Jim’s feeling Romantic again.

Honestly, imagine this characterization in AOS: overworked starship captain think he wants a break (but is wrong). Beyond made a vague attempt but missed what it is that Kirk finds stressful about command--it’s not that it’s boring, it’s the weight of the responsibility and the inability to find love.

Although funnily enough, even on his Native American Vacation, he still finds himself in a command position. He just can’t be stopped. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Oh no, the obelisk ate him.

Maybe these people specifically built the obelisk so that they could return to this idyllic ““primitive”“ state, hmm? Maybe they like their lives this way. Maybe they experienced "progress" and then decided that whatever era of their development looked like indigenous American peoples had it right. (This is not correct but it roughly is the plot of Errand of Mercy so I’m not without precedent.)

Spock’s using simple tools to explain his point to Bones lol. “Here, let me dumb it down for you, lesser man of science.”

“Who am I? What are these?” Cpine morning voice: “This must be a dream!”

Kirk looks so confused. The god from the obelisk.

“The engines are showing signs of stress.” Seems to me like SCOTTY’S showing signs of stress.

And yet the music is so whimsical.

Honestly Kirk’s expression here = Denny Crane’s when in a meeting

White man brings CPR, is hailed as god. (I wish I were making this up.)

Damn, Salish has been demoted. How embarrassing for him.

This is a VERY interesting Spock. He does all his calculations, but the he takes all the risks. He’s very certain and single-minded, almost obsessed, not afraid of anything. I think it’s IC but I also think you can see some Kirk influence, perhaps... You can see how Spock has grown in his command abilities since The Galileo Seven.

The wise ones = the aliens.

“He died before he could tell Salish the secret” to opening the Obelisk and stopping the asteroid. That IS unfortunate.

“How does this shirt open?” Lol.

“Your name is Kirok?” “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“I’ve never been this happy and peaceful.” Funny how he looks neither happy nor peaceful. Maybe it’s something like “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful...and I don’t like it.” Or “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful... there must be something wrong.”

“Here there is much time. For everything.” No there isn’t, there’s an asteroid coming.

Kirk’s cottage core fantasy.

Poor Scotty, so stressed out. Maybe he needs some time with the indigenous aliens.

The Joining Day? Lol okay.

Kirk has no chill, at all. “Oh, you want to get married? Tomorrow? Okay!!” Is this how Gary was able to successfully distract with him the blonde lab technician?

The “stardrive.”

“Estimated repair time?” “FOREVER.”

“And you lost Jim.” Cool it Bones, there’s no need to be cruel. Spock’s already in his thinking pose so you know he’s taking this seriously.

Love Spock’s chair. That’s not Starfleet regulation.

“I have found paradise.” Is he high??

Requisite highly choreographed fight scene.

“You’ve barely eaten or slept for weeks.” That’s because he’s worried about Jim. And the giant asteroid. This is a great Spock and McCoy scene though.

I can’t believe this. Spock lies down (barely!) and McCoy just leaves like he actually thinks he’s won, and then Spock immediately gets up again to go back to work.This guy is even easier to fool than Sarek.

You know Spock spent his whole adolescence going "Sure, I'll do the thing" and then just not doing it.

“A strange lodge that moves through the sky...” Well okay.

Okay I’m sorry, is he sensing the enterprise or is he sensing SPOCK? Because most of this dialogue might just imply he’s generically remembering his old life... but he also specifically says that the “flying lodge” was farther away and now it’s closer again, and how he could he know that otherwise?

She’s pregnant? That’s not good lol. AWKWARD.

Also the closest that TOS will ever come to acknowledging people have sex.

Omg he made a lamp. He made a lamp on his first day there. Does this imply that Captain Kirk had an arts and crafts phase?? Like CPR I understand him knowing--I’m sure everyone in Starfleet does. But hand-carving a lamp? That’s a whole other skill.

Various cultures including “certain Vulcan offshoots” use music notes as words omgggggg I love this information PLEASE tell me more.

“The Preservers” is a good concept imo. Nifty sci fi innovation: taking aliens from endangered places and giving them a new place, then setting it up nicely for them.

Stop throwing things guys! It’s not helping!

“I need Nurse Chapel.” Damn right you do.

Spock really doesn’t like that “wife.” He sounds like “Wife?? How dare??”

Then he suggests it’s a hallucination even though there’s a woman right there.

"Naturally, since he did not come from there. He's my man, get your paws off him."

Vulcan mind fusion? What the heck is that? How is it season 3 and they still don’t know what to call it?

“He is an extremely dynamic individual.” Spock was really taken for a ride in that brain.

“The landing party is expendable.” There’s the Captain.

“I have an excellent eye for musical notes.” Brag.

“Just press the right button.”

Looks like Spock was the god they wanted all along.

Okay, that was an uncool ending though. I know they basically had to kill Miramanee as soon as she was pregnant but like, there was also no reason for her to be pregnant??? I would have preferred if (1) Miramanee hadn't been pregnant, (2) Jim got over her as soon as he regained his memory and (3) she lived and they just parted awkwardly.

Also I think it would have been nice if they had ended with the Enterprise explaining to Salish how the obelisk works, and then maybe even a hint that he and Miramanee will get back together. Like, maybe not that, since I’m not a fan of women just being used to, like, make men feel better--though I’m also not a fan of them being fridged because of Inconvenient Baby--but he should have at least gotten his position back and, more importantly, the knowledge he was always entitled to. Also, the very existence of an asteroid deflector, along with the people’s extensive knowledge of what weather signifies Oncoming Asteroid, implies this happens to them with some frequency. So in other words, the threat will return.

Plus Salish never got enough credit for being right, which he was! The whole time!

Oh and also I would have liked some acknowledgement that Jim does like being Captain. If you watch the whole show, you know that he occasionally bemoans the stress and his inability to maintain a romantic relationship, despite his love of long walks on the beach, but that he’s also ambitious, he loves exploration and adventure, he gets bored if left in one place too long, and he believes in the necessity of progress and discovery to keep not just individuals but societies from stagnation. But if you just watched this episode, you’d think he’d never been happy in his entire life, and that returning to command makes him miserable.

Aside from the Native American stuff--which was awkward and rather unnecessary and has aged, as you might imagine, very very poorly--I actually didn’t hate the episode. It had some VERY interesting Spock stuff, which I think is within a reasonable Spock characterization, and some great Spock and Bones moments. Kirk’s story line was surprisingly engaging for him being completely separate from the crew, and the general theme that he sometimes needs, or thinks he desires, a break from command, is definitely in keeping with other episodes. I liked the asteroid as the Big Danger, which was surprisingly dynamic--by which I mean, it did a good job of connecting the very disparate story lines on the Enterprise and on the planet. I also liked the Sci Fi Concept of the week in the Protectors. And it was interesting to see an ep take place over a longer period of time.

None of this is to downplay how awkward the Native American elements are--incredibly fetishistic, and also lazy--like, “I want to show something Simple and Idyllic...I know! Indians!” There was no reason they should look like American Indians. In fact, it makes no sense that they do: the Protectors take peoples from planets that are about to be destroyed and (somehow) discreetly move them somewhere else, but Native American peoples still.... very much exist? And so does Earth as a whole. So obviously these aliens weren’t transplanted from Earth. So why should their culture resemble some awkward mishmash of Native American cultures?

So overall I’d say, the ideas of the episode, the structure, the characterizations (mostly), and the overall ideas were good, but it was just very awkward and unfortunate that it chose the... aesthetic that it did--especially because it was very much an aesthetic choice and not a well-thought-out, culturally sensitive one. Gonna be honest and just chalk that up to it being 1968 though.

Next is And the Children Shall Lead, which I actually think was one of the first TOS eps I ever saw... But I don’t remember it at all.  So we’ll see!

[caresatoland]

Coming 4/20 for Miniseries April: “Sher Trek” Part 1

A four-part Sherlock / Star Trek fusion fic / miniseries begins at AO3 on Thursday, April 20 as part of falltvseasonsherlock.tumblr.com‘s Miniseries April. Episode 1:

Captain John Watson and Enterprise are ordered to Janus VI, where a series of mysterious killings have halted production of the vital mineral pergium. But Watson’s orders to get the mining facility up and running aren’t made any simpler by his brilliant new First Officer’s stubborn insistence that the deaths aren’t what they seem — or by the discovery of the attempted genocide of a hitherto unknown alien species. Watson must now risk his new command on the deductions of a regulations-averse Vulcan and the chance that if the humans in this situation won’t see sense, maybe the aliens will…

The first part of this four-part fic will be published at AO3 on Thursday, April 20, 2017.  Parts 2, 3 and 4 will be published on April 27, May 4 and May 11: each new episode’s title and teaser will be revealed at the end of the episode preceding it.

Click “keep reading” for a preview excerpt from “A Study in Darkness”...

It had to be John’s imagination that the air around them was getting hotter, stuffier. Not possible… at least not yet. But there was always the possibility that the facility’s reactor, already well along in the process of going supercritical, might decide to get ahead of itself and make a fool of his Chief Engineer… not to mention all the rest of them. It’ll poison half the planet, Vanderberg had said.  John grimaced. But not before it melts this bit of it to superheated slag and blows everything else for kilometers around sky-high…

The predictable adrenaline-fueled shiver went down his back, but he had no time for it now. Vanderberg and the half-dozen or so of the mining facility’s people who’d elected to stay behind after the general evacuation were gathering around him in the tunnel now, waiting for orders.

“Right,” John said when he was clear that everyone they’d been waiting for was here. “Team up with the Enterprise security personnel—they're better armed than you. Keep someone in sight at all times.” He turned to the Janus VI facility chief. “Vanderberg, take two men. Go through that tunnel there.” John pointed. “Rendezvous with Commander Giotto and his security detail. Mr. Appel, and the rest of you men, go through there—” He indicated a different tunnel. “Link up with Lieutenant Osborne's group. Mr. Sh’lok and I will control the operation from a central point. That's all.”

Off the miners went in their various directions, leaving the Captain and Sh’lok alone in the dim corridor. John turned to his First Officer and saw him looking unusually still and intense: listening. “Mr. Sh’lok?

“Captain,” Sh’lok said softly, “we are being watched.”

John glanced around. “Are you sure?” he murmured. “Intuition?” Because who knows what senses he’s got that he doesn’t think to tell us about? Or know how to? Might as well call it that…

Sh’lok shook his head. “No, sir,” he said. “We’re being watched.”

When a Vulcan said something so nakedly declaratory, there was no option to take it as anything but fact. Together they started to make their way down the tunnel in which they stood.

Sh’lok had activated his tricorder and was checking it every fifty paces or so. After a few minutes he paused, several meters away from a spot in which their own tunnel forked. “Captain,” he said, “fresh readings within the hour.” He gestured right and left with his phaser. “In each of these tunnels.”

John nodded. “The chart says both of these tunnels converge a few thousand yards further. I’ll take the left. You take the right.”

“Should we separate?” Sh’lok said.

John gave him a resigned sort of Do we have a choice? look. “Two tunnels,” he said, “two of us…” He shrugged. “We separate.”

And John started down the left-hand tunnel. As he went he noted without comment the Vulcan’s briefly raised eyebrow, and walked steadily on as if he couldn’t hear that Sh’lok, watching him, didn’t move until John’s tunnel curved enough that he could no longer be seen. 

His tunnel was one that had been cut by the miners through the softly glittering cobalt-shaded stone that characterized this part of the facility. Fairly quickly the miners’ work terminated in what would have been a dead end, but the tunnel continued onward along the same line in the form of one of the uncannily-perfect cylindrical tunnels that were also all through here. It was low, no more than a meter and a half high, and John had to get down and make his way along half-bent over.

Shortly, though, that tunnel came out into a wider space that looked like a small cavern or cavelet that natural forces had produced in the stone—one that showed few signs of the miners’ tools, with only an occasional piece of equipment discarded on the relatively smooth floor.

John straightened up again and moved cautiously into the space, looking around. His eye immediately fell on quite a few things that had nothing to do with the miners. He paused, pulled out his communicator; the chirp of it echoed. “Mr. Sh’lok—”

The reply was immediate. “Yes, Captain.”

“I’ve found a whole layer of these silicon nodules of yours,” John said, moving in among them. “Hundreds of them.” They lay scattered around the floor, some perched up on ledges, others piled up against the walls. John was intrigued by the variations in their colours; they weren’t all the soft mauve of the one in Vanderberg’s office, but ranged from pale pearly-white or dove-grey shades through deeper hues of rose or gold or soft green-blue.

“Indeed?” Sh’lok said. “I find that most illuminating, Captain. Be absolutely certain you do not damage any of them.”

He keeps saying things like that. And then not saying why! But John had been learning that this was one of Sh’lok’s quirks. Sometimes from uncertainty (not that he would ever admit that freely), sometimes from what looked like a secret pleasure in others’ reactions, Sh’lok would do everything he could to present a theory in its entirety rather than in half-assembled scraps. Right now, though, even scraps would be welcome! “Explain.”

“Only a theory I have—” Sh’lok said.

John was in the act of rolling his eyes (because by now he knew the sound of his stubborn Vulcan getting ready to stonewall him again) when his gaze caught something it might not have otherwise—something moving, something in the shadows of the cavern; and then something else tall and massive that was pitching toward him. Instantly John flung himself backwards out of its way, rolling aside as he did to avoid a few of the silicon nodules that he might have fallen on otherwise.

Not far from him, though, at the far side of the cavern things came down— one of the rough pillars that had supported that side of the low roof, toppling sideways and dislodging more chunks of rock from the walls nearby as it fell. Stones and rubble crashed and scattered deafeningly all around. Dust flew up in clouds.

“Captain,” said Sh’lok’s voice from the communicator, alarmed. “Are you all right?” And then, much more urgently: “John? John!”

Silence…

Check the Miniseries April listings at http://falltvseasonsherlock.tumblr.com, or the author’s Tumblr or AO3 account, for the full episode on Thursday, April 20th.