#Spock really cares about Jim

[pinkcadillaccas]

Everyone needs to get on my spones divorce wavelength right tf now ‼️

[dduane]

I just read the part where Kirk experiences the Enterprise's point of view in The Wounded Sky to someone else, where she sees the crew as children she is training up to the Great Desire of exploration for exploration's sake, especially Jim. His reaction, essentially: "That was really pretty. ....And then he blows her up."

I hadn't thought about that before! I checked the copyright date, and it looks like The Wounded Sky came out a year before The Search for Spock, so you were writing without knowing that sacrifice would eventually happen.

How did you feel about that? Do you wish that writing decision had been made differently? (If, as a Trek writer, you're allowed to comment on other Trek writers' choices!)

You know, I tend not to think a whole lot about such issues. First of all, because (in the long run) it gets you nowhere in particular that's useful. And secondly, because it's not a thing that, as a Trek writer in any medium except film, you have the slightest power to change.

Now, at this end of time I think we can safely say that no one's going to hire me on to write a Trek film. And also that no one at that end of the creative spectrum is going to pay the slightest attention to anything I say, either. Both of those situations are just What's So, and neither of them bothers me. (Since I have universes of my own to manage at the moment, and that's where my attention properly lies.) So as regards my opinions about other writers' work, I'm pretty much off the hook.

If I had been on screenwriting duty for that film, would there be things I'd have wanted to do differently? Hell yeah. From the premise up. But the important thing here is: would those things necessarily have worked better on the screen / with the audience? Impossible to tell. And speaking as someone repeatedly given permission to work in someone's universe, the main thing to be aware of is the expectation that your chief responsibility is to do what best serves the characters and the IP of which they're part. (There's a post over at Out of Ambit with a lot more of my thoughts on the subject:)

The other thing to remember is that, though I've worn the Canonical Hat in my time, novel work is by definition non-canonical. Doing it, you are at all times working with the understanding that the licensor rarely views your work as anything better than a corporate side hustle—a way for the IP to make some cash on the side—and will ignore you and the stuff you've created unless given pressing reasons to do otherwise. (Such as when they might make some unexpected money off it... at which point you remind yourself as forcibly as necessary that what you did is Work For Hire; they own it, lock, stock and barrel, and you should not realistically expect to be given any credit.)

And, if you understand the rules and enjoy the work enough, all of this is okay. The reward is not in making a lot of money doing it, or even in having aspects of your work openly assumed into canon. The reward lies in being allowed to contribute to a given universe in public (and, yeah, getting paid for it by the licensor). It's not payback: it's payforward. And you're left an astonishing amount of freedom to bring your vision to that universe. (Sometimes... as one colleague has McCoy say... you have to be "very, very careful" to get away with it. But it can be done.)

The truth is that even in the 1980s, I was sharing this level of playing-in-a-universe with a goodish cohort of editors and writers: a big roomful at least. Now I'm sharing it (retroactively speaking) with hundreds of them. With the best will in the world, even in the 80's the licensors (as regarded film) couldn't have realistically polled/listened to all of us regarding our creative opinions about the screenplay end of things. As for what that'd look like nowadays... I'll leave you to your own deductions. 😏

Anyway, thanks for the question. It's always nice to know that there are people who want to know what you think. 😊

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Something about how Jim became so accustomed to Starfleet parlance that it’s the only parlance he can speak at all. Something about how his relationship with his ship and his work as Captain extends to language as well, to the way he handles and expresses his emotions.

Amok Time – Kirk is confronted with the fact Spock keeps a dangerous secret that, if not shared, might end up with his first officer killed

The Apple – With the landing party marooned on a strange planet and the USS Enterprise being pulled ever closer to the ground, Kirk asks Scotty something beyond excellence.

The Doomsday Machine – Commodore Matt Decker stands in the maw of a monster with a dead crew and stripped of any will to live. Kirk tries to bring his old friend to reason, but nothing else can be done for Decker as he looks death in the eye.

I understand how, especially in the third instance with Matt Decker, he might've seemed cold (your buddy is about to off himself, and you remind him the higher-ups spent too much money on his formation), but I see it more as Kirk trying to ground both himself and his friend (who is also a Commodore, might I remind you) than simply reducing Decker to his position.

It also accidentally reveals a lot about Jim (although reveal is not the best word, as that same thought has been explored in numerous episodes before), how much his sense of worth is tied to his job—to how well he can perform and excel at it.

But that's not all he's saying. In both instances (Amok Time and Doomsday Machine), Kirk puts himself in the Federation's place because he sees its recognition as more valuable, more "worth living for" than his own.

It's his way, the way of a man who knows no life other than that of servitude, of saying I care about you, and I don't want to lose you.

It's really tragic that it is not enough to save Decker. If both Matt and Jim share the belief (which appears more often than not in Starfleet overachievers) that your inner worth is tied to how well you can perform it, Matt is left face to face with the rather morbid fact that he failed severely and his whole crew is dead because of it.

To sin is human, yes, but if the Doomsday Machine is the Devil, as the Commodore himself put it, it truly is a shame Decker did not view himself as deserving of forgiveness

[purplespacekitty]

rewatching TOS now as an adult after having seen only a few episodes when i was much younger, i have a deeper appreciation for the Triumvirate and co. i always liked Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Chapel and Chekov more than the main three, but i find myself overjoyed at any scene involving any of them. i also really loved Sulu and Rand’s friendship in season 1, it gave us a glimpse into their lives as crew members and just as human beings. i love that they are each essential to the running of the ship and truly choose to stick by each other and these three silly little guys for so long. i love knowing that Uhura sings because Nichelle Nichols was a theatrical singer. i love that Sulu wished for an old fashioned gun and is an unabashed plant nerd. i love that Scotty loves the Enterprise more than he cares about someone insulting Kirk. i love that Chekov actually expresses frustration at being treated like a kid. i love Rand's hair, impracticality be damned. i love that they have their own lives but are all drawn back to the Enterprise. the supporting cast add a texture to the show that i firmly believe it could not do without.

that said, i also find i have a deeper appreciation for the relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. of course, the tension between Kirk and Spock is certainly intriguing, but it’s hard not to see them as an incomplete duo without Bones. i think there’s this sort of expectation that in groups of three, one person will always get left out. Bones doesn’t even have the choice of being left out, he gets dragged along with the two of them in every stupid decision they make. and they rub off on him: he may gripe more often than he sings praises, but he’ll readily give his life for Jim or Spock any day. because despite whatever he might say (and he really does say some awful things), he finds joy in their company. and most of the time, he only gripes because he cares. he's frequently frowning and prickly over Jim and Spock's nonsense, yet he has such a tender heart. that’s so interesting to me.

i wasn't expecting Bones to become my favorite of the three, but here we are.

everyone talks about Amok Time as the birth of Spirk, K/S, the Premise. but Spock asked them both to be there. as logical as it may be to bring a doctor with you to your wedding/sex ritual/divorce/fight to the death, especially when you're afflicted by an intense blood fever that's slowly killing you, Spock knew the possible outcomes. either there would be no need for a doctor in the end or someone would die and what good would a doctor be in that occasion? he calls them both his friends when he justifies Jim and Bones' presence to T'Pau. he knew he needed them both down there. and frankly, someone would have died if Bones hadn't been there.

it wouldn’t be fair to say Bones keeps the other two in check, because really, what he is, is a point of balance. whether you read the relationship between Jim, Spock and/or Bones as romantic, sexual, platonic, professional or even familial, the balance they hold together as a trio is fundamental to how they are written as characters.

i just think it's beautiful.

[gglinaa]

i’ve finished the motion picture movie and tbh i’m so high on joy i can’t shut up. i coudn’t really care about the main plot because it was quite classic for tos (and tos has taught me you shouldn’t overestimate it’s plot decisions in general tbh). therefore i couldn’t be bothered by any plot flaws either

but the subplots and little stories told through characters lined up together so perfectly. the whole spock’s story felt so clean. so smooth. it was so full of opportunities to pick up on his thoughts and motivation(s). i also love how expressive jim is. you always can hear what he leaves unsaid when he narrows his eyes or raises his eyebrows. it’s such a convenient tool for telling his story as well (and everything around k/s in gen is also so full of things speaking for both of them. it’s almost like a disney movie)

idk. it felt like justice

[sleepymccoy]

“I can go last, Jim,” McCoy offered. 

“Ah, hush, you're up.”

“Really, I'm sending you as a final test case in case the transport's still playing up. Gives them a chance to fix it for me.”

Jim clapped his shoulder and nodded his head to the side. 

So McCoy squeezed Jim's hand and left. He decided not to think about the cold, instead just hunkering his head down and walking into the clearing. It was probably only twenty seconds until he felt the tingle that meant the transporter was trying. It threatened for longer than usual - disconcerting - before taking hold and the view of the snowy forest was replaced with the transporter room. 

Oh, it was warm here. McCoy let out a shuddering breath and wiggled his fingers and toes to check they were still on right. 

“Take his weapon,” Jim said. McCoy looked up fast, scanning the room. Green and Singh were still here. A transporter tech McCoy had met but whose name he didn't recall. Jim and Spock. Jim?

Singh stepped up on the plate and swiftly took the phaser from McCoy's side. McCoy couldn't care less about that.

He looked at Spock seriously as Singh's hands went to his arms and led him off the transporter. “Spock, that's not Jim,” McCoy entreated. “You were talking to Jim on the planet just now, you know that's not- !”

“Leo?” Jim asked.

McCoy was gobsmacked. “What the fuck did you just call me?” 

Spock spoke. “You know this man, Captain?” His voice was slightly gravelly, pitched just a hint lower than McCoy was used to. It reminded McCoy of when they were rudely awoken by an emergency and Spock's voice was raw from sleep. 

Jim turned away, addressing the transporter tech. “Where's Mr Scott? Is he alright?”

“I'm not registering anyone left on the planet, Sir.”

“Okay,” McCoy interrupted. “This isn't a prank, ‘cause no way in sweet ‘n savoury hell would you get Spock onside. What's going on?” His arms were pinned to his side but he could reach to wrap his hands together for some extra warmth.

“You're Leonard McCoy,” Jim said, “I think we had a few classes together at the academy. You're on the Enterprise. Jim Kirk, I'm Captain here. Where have we picked you up from? Tell us your side of things.”

“I know I'm on the damned Enterprise, Jim, what I don't know is why you all don't know me!”

-

Two Thirds of a Whole

Otherwise known as McCoy's no good, very confusing day in a parallel universe where he never joined the Enterprise, told with a spones bent

The story is basically my exploration of what the enterprise would be like without McCoy. With some making out with Spock added in for good measure.

[dustykneed]

ohhhh you want to send me mcspirk/spones/mckirk asks so bad.... Do it ...... Hand them over..... hand em over NEOW

(translation: being steamrolled by work & too tired to draw my own silly little comic ideas. Feel free to suggest aus or ask me about my own aus/fic ideas etc im just. eepy. tored af & need a bit of motivation lol

i should sleep but i have so many things to say about this scribble so like. the context in my head is this is spirk to mcspirk slowburn in spirit. And this is bones' first time asking to kiss spock of his own accord? like when they first get together bones is really skittish and nervous because he's so scared he'll fuck it up somehow and he's too anxious to ask for affection even though he's been wanting it for so long. And spirk has to make a point of asking to give him that affection because they just want him to know they care for him so much. so this is a big moment for them! and jim being sandwiched between his favourite people in the whole universe smiling up at them because they're his whole wide world...... (OH god i feel some kind of fic coming on. i cant do this i have so many wips already (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠)

[basimdasasonst]

snw spock rant

i've been watching strange new worlds recently, and the prevailing feeling i always leave with, no matter the episode, is that i would like it if not for spock.

don't get me wrong; i'm a tos fan to my core. star trek launched me into a love of sci-fi and space fiction and is the whole reason i'm in university studying astrophysics, why i'm writing a book using said inner astrophysics nerd, why i have any sense of purpose to me, cliche as it is to say. star trek was an integral, important part of my upbringing, and continues to be one of my main interests to this day. i love jim (and i love snw jim! especially after aos kirk (shudders)) and i love bones (i really hope he joins snw soon....leonard mccoy save us....save us leonard mccoy...) and i love scotty and i love spock. but not snw spock.

here's the thing about spock: his internal character conflicts have always had some sort of root in him being not enough/not vulcan enough/not human enough/etc. his struggles with relationships as a result – because, lets face it, both humans and vulcans are social creatures and need friends otherwise society as a whole wouldn't be a thing on either world – make up a core part of his character. in tos, his relationship struggles were nearly purely platonic, with a few offhand remarks about stray crew members having crushes on him (uhura in early first season, chapel in amok time). 

s1e4 "the naked time". spock, right before losing his figurative Marbles, sees "love mankind" written on a wall. later, he goes on to say to jim: "when i feel friendship for you, i'm ashamed." other posts have done and will do better jobs of explaining it, but in conjunction with "sinner" written on the turbolift near jim (about not being able to form lasting relationships with other crewmates because its too much of a power imbalance), the writing on the wall (literally) is that spock is inherently ashamed of his humanity. he has been raised on vulcan to be a vulcan.

his internal conflict is always about him struggling with his human side. he struggles with friendship, he struggles with his humanity, he struggles to be something that people don't immediately deem wrong. as a gay man, and certainly as a young queer child first watching tos, i felt closest to spock not just because of feeling ashamed of part of my cultural heritage, but also because of repression. spock represses these feelings of insecurity, of friendship, of the need for connection in others in a certain way, so much that it causes him pain. growing up gay, his pain was very real to me. writing on the wall. he’s silly and a cool character of course, but he resonated with me in a way that, at the time, i didn’t have anything to resonate with. 

what does this all have to do with me hating snw spock so much? i want to preface this by saying i went into snw really wanting to love it. i saw the intro and the planets and the nebulae and the black hole and the music and was like "damn, this is fucking cool." star trek, to some part of me, was also about the space exploration aspect as much as the characters. the whims of wacky crewmembers and sentient rocks. the impossibly infinite things nature can form on its own. snw looked fun. i really wanted to like it. and you know what? i almost like it.

except for spock. quite literally the only character i have any quarrels with is spock. dehydrated, glistening, oiled up spock. wtf. why is he in a relationship with t'pring? why does he (almost) cheat on her with chapel? and why chapel??????????? chapel has a one-sided (VERY CLEARLY ONE SIDED) crush on him in tos. why is it two sided now. 

what, and i can't stress this enough, the fuck? 

and don't come into my house and tell me "oh you know, it makes sense, because, because then spock gets all hard and Logical and shuts himself off and obviously the reason for that is a breakup–" No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no no no no. i don't care if it makes “sense” it feels so intrinsically wrong to his character. i’ve had much more character development from losing life-long friends than ending barely a year long relationships. spock wouldn’t immediately shut down because he kissed a girl once and then she said “acshually sowwy my work is more important” when that’s the exact sentiment he echoed to t’pring when they broke up.

more importantly, snw spock barely has friends. he calls pike a friend once or twice, but i hardly believe that they're friends. he barely interacts with la'an or erica, he has a few passing conversations with uhura in season 1 on episodes about her that don't really carry into season 2, and otherwise he's just There. he doesn't have friends in snw. the writers are prioritising him having a romantic relationship over a friendship. snw spock needs a friend way more than he needs a bone buddy. and it really rubs me the wrong way the way the relationship with chapel was portrayed to be first friendly and then romantic. i never believed for a second that he and chapel were friends – despite the screenwriters trying. every time they talked prior to s2e5 there was this odd undercurrent of sexuality that seemed to follow them. lingering looks, touching fingertips, long pauses – it was so unbelievably awkward and obvious that they were setting up a relationship between the two. i mean, for fucks sake, s1e1 uhura calls chapel "spock's girlfriend." boy did my blood boil when i figured out that was where the show was going. s1e5 was actually painful for me to get through (chapel sits down, gives spock relationship advice, giggles, smacks him upside the head, and calls him an idiot. 2017 wattpad is calling, they want their material back) and i had to take two full days to get through s2e5 because i was in anguish the whole time. it was a constant mental barrage of "spock wouldn't say that," and "spock wouldn't do that," and "this is not spock."

for the most part, i couldn't figure out why spock and chapel's relationship specifically bothered me so much. i mean i have my quarrels with la'an and jim, and i really don't give much of a care about pike and batel so why was spock and chapel grating on me so badly? was it because it was being shoved in my face? was the writing that much more atrocious than the others? was it the decimation of spock's character?

it was, i found, a product of all of those and the issue of queerness. 

look; i've survived sherlock bbc, i’ve survived the golden age of quotev fandom in 2016, i've bared witness to so much queerbaiting in my life that i don't even bother trying to hope for any sort of main character queer representation anymore. we’re going to be a footnote until someone does something about it. unfortunately, that’s not going to be me because i’m not a film director. so i look the other way and steam about it on twitter or tumblr or whatever hoping that i, like many other frustrated queer people, get noticed one day in the far future when it’s ok to have a queer romance in mainstream, it’s ok to have a queer main character, and it’s ok to let it simmer slowly and burn instead of jumping into it to say “look guys we’re woke!!!!!” (star trek literally was the pioneer for most of these things back in the day. but that’s another discussion on the heterosexualisation of progressive media that i wont get into. it just feels bitterly funny that this is happening to star trek of all things.) these days i just pretend the relationships dont exist and skip over them when they happen. i've developed a sixth sense for when weird, forced heterosexuality is about to be shoved down my oesophagus. i've just gotten used to it. 

but sphapel (or whatever it's called) burned through me. i've never felt quite this angry at an on screen relationship. and, trust me, i saw AOS. i didn't like spuhura then and i don't like it now but i wasn't angry so much as i was just tired and annoyed. but spock was – and always is to me, confused, queer 10 year old me – a queer character. his struggle with humanity, with friendship, with fitting in, with just being as a perceived "other" was what made him an interesting character to me to begin with. he was a certain outlet to vent that frustration for being "wrong" in society no matter how hard you try to conform one way or another. the knowledge that even if you are different, you still have people backing you up. his fucking friendships, guys. jim and bones. yes i know his friendship with jim is also inherently romantic dont worry im spirk #1 shipper but that’s not relevant here because, and forgive me for being pessimistic, i don’t believe for a second that these writers are going to lean into spirk anytime soon. their relationship went beyond friendship or romance or any of that stuff. coughs in the roddenberry footnote.

what i’m trying to say here, in layman’s terms, is that giving a friendless character a romantic relationship is exactly how you alienate a character. name one person you know in real life that can survive healthily with one single relation, that being their romantic partner that they have no friendly base of. you can’t. that’s a toxic relationship. that’s not romance, that’s alienation. that’s isolation. that’s loneliness. and that’s the OPPOSITE OF WHAT EXPLORING SPOCK’S HUMAN SIDE IS SUPPOSED TO DO TO HIM .

by stripping spock of his friends, and forcing his arc to be purely romantic, you have essentially stripped the character of all he is. i'd be mad if chapel was a dude, too, honestly speaking. but beyond that, corralling spock of all people into a heterosexual romantic relationship is – well. it's a choice i don't think i can ever agree with. the best way i can describe such a choice is like a dissonant chord – you can pluck the notes and they'll sound fine on their own, but when you put them together they will clash. there is nothing you can do with your fingers to play the same notes and not cause the clash. they will always clash. it is dissonance ringing through you, an inherent wrongness coupled with writing that is lazy and clearly meant for a very specific audience. snw spock is bad writing, fanservice, and extraordinarily out of character. notes i can tolerate on their own, but strung together – dissonant.

i really want to like snw. fuck, i love la'an, i love erica, i love jim (!!! thank you paul wesley for making him a nerd, and kind (glares at AOS), and generally a jim kirk that i can look at and say, "yeah, that's jim alright"), i love uhura, i love una, i love m'benga and i love pike but i hate spock. i really, truly, cannot like snw when i have to pause the show and take an irritated deep breath in every time i see chapel approach spock. it's – frustrating, and alienating, and wrong. so, so wrong. 

[woman-of-many-fandoms]

It's really odd being a Star Trek fan when almost everything you love about it is the minority. Like I've seen posts on other sites and someone refers to AOS and no one know what's being talking about. They think it's Animated Original Series. Like no?? I thought this was common knowledge. And I see posts not knowing Jim had a brother and not knowing both his dad and brother are named George. And these are people who say they've been watching for decades. Maybe it's me knowing trek lore from character driven fanfics? I remember being in grad school (over 10 years ago) and I was working with a girl who's father was a huge Trek fan and I asked if her name was Amanda Grey after Spock's mom. She never made the connection.

THEN there's being a fan of AOS vs TOS which is even more alienating. Like if you speak ill of Shanter's acting, the sexism, or point out how TOS Bones was racist you imminently get" "Shanter made trek what it is today!" "Everyone knows Spock and McCoy are great friends!" "It was progressive for its time!" It like we're watching different things.

And don't even get me started on being a spirk shipper in general fan spaces. So many people love Spock/Chapel. Don't get me wrong, I see the appeal, they are both attractive talented actors but it seem wrong to me. (I will fully admit watching sex/ heavy romance scenes makes me uncomfortable, I didn't make it past the first ep of Bridgerton due to the sex scene, if I want porn I want to see it in my own time)

I know I've posted how I really want the 4th trek movie and honestly it's because I want the AOS fans to come back so there is more content to engage with. I really don't care (well I do) what the story is. I feel most of the fans have moved onto other fandoms. The engagement in 2009-2016 was amazing.

[spirk-trek]

19 for the trek ask game!

woohoo headcanons! here's an unhinged list of the ones i have ready in my brain (enjoy)

lingering stares on the bridge = communicating telepathically (usually talking shit or flirting)

jim has a file containing every crew member's birthday so he never forgets to wish anyone a happy birthday

in fact one of the first things he did was read every personnel file and take detailed notes, both because he cares and because he knows a weak link in any situation could endanger them all (so he needs to know what everyone's possible weaknesses could be). the opposite is also true for their strengths! cue him requesting some poor ensign up to the bridge because they did a research project on the specific type of rare space that just knocked their communications out and might have the fresh insight they need

vulcans don't dream but spock occasionally does because he's half human. this was much more common when he was a child and really freaked sarek out

when he starts sharing a bed with jim he starts dreaming again, which really freaks HIM out

jim regularly falls asleep mid conversation with both bones and spock (bones tucks him in, spock pretends not to notice just as an excuse to stay with him a while longer)

vulcans can purr but it's extremely rare post-reform (they're all touch starved and repressed) so spock literally doesn't even know until one night before he's about to fall asleep jim is carding through his hair and it just HAPPENS

spock has extra knuckles. no i will not elaborate

[twinkboimler]

October 2024 fic recs

I'm back with another TOS/AOS/SNW fic rec post! Here's some recent fics I really enjoyed!

SPIRK

I Shall Do Neither by onwhatcaptain. TOS. Mature. 166,262 words. Heavy angst, grief, pon farr aftermath. The writer chose not to use archive warnings, and I recommend reading through all the tags on this as well. This fic explores what might have happened if Kirk had died during the kal-if-fee, stretching across the months that follow. This is an emotional fic. There were chapters where I was crying the entire time I read through it. I won’t spoil what plays out, but I was completely satisfied with how this fic ended. It’s a heavy fic, and it’s not for everyone, but god is it good. Plus I love a spirk fic that really highlights the importance of McCoy in their lives; this one really shows how valuable McCoy is to them. I think this fic should be enshrined as a Must-Read when you enter the fandom.

I need a drink of cool, cool rain by Moreta1848. TOS. Explicit. 12,298 words. This fic was beautifully written. It introduces new ideas about Vulcan culture and rain and explores these ideas in a way that I really loved.

milk and honey by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin). SNW. Explicit. 28,651 words. Aliens made them do it, temporary amnesia, smut. Spock and Kirk wake up in a prison cell with no memory of who they are. They’re asked to perform an alien ritual… I’m sure you can guess what that entails. Really liked how this was written and it really nails characterizations for SNW spirk.

SPONES

Overthink, Overdrive by fangirlandiknowit. TOS. Explicit. 12,677 words. End of 5-year mission, getting together, love confessions. Aliens force a love confession, and McCoy and Spock handle it just about as well as you’d expect them to. I love when these two are just awful at talking to each other.

The Doctor and the Mailman by bongbingbong. TOS. Teen and Up Audiences. 9,606 words. Western. McCoy is a small-town doctor, Spock is the mailman. Everyone tells McCoy that he should stay away from Spock, but he refuses to listen. First in a 3-part series, I really enjoyed all three parts!

Ashaya (Tehs-tor) by Adenil. TOS. Teen and Up Audiences. 57,762 words. Fake dating/marriage, mutual pining. Spock goes to McCoy when he’s expected to take a spouse. I read this fic during one of my most-recent flights and it was exactly what I needed to sink into while killing time on my flights and at the airport. 

Handle Me With Care by Affixjoy. TOS. Explicit. 5,234 words. Hurt/comfort, friends with benefits to lovers. While on an away mission on a cold planet, McCoy realizes he has appendicitis and has to perform the surgery on himself with Spock’s help. This fic is inspired by Leonid Rogozov removing his own appendix in Antarctica! The spones moments in this fic really tugged at my heartstrings!

MCKIRK

That's why I won't get vulnerable by strangenewwords. AOS. Explicit. 18,074 words. Academy era, 5+1 things, porn with plot, genital piercings. I love some porn with plot and feelings, and this one just hit. If you like McKirk struggling to use their words and instead using their hands and mouths instead, this fic is for you.

the way things unearth by kurgaya. AOS. Explicit. 11,299 words. Academy era, Jocelyn comes to visit. I absolutely love how this fic wrote Jocelyn and McCoy’s past relationship. Their backstory was so different from any other fic I’ve read. Jocelyn really felt like her own person in this, not just his ex-wife. 

MCSPIRK

Moving across, then coming through by lesbobaggins. TOS. Explicit. 2,754 words. Starts as mckirk but turns into mcspirk. Smut, glory holes, a hot and funny fic where Jim finds out what some of the bathrooms on the ship are used for.

do you love your neighbor (is it in your nature) by Muir_Wolf. TOS. Teen and Up Audiences. 20,071 words. Hurt/comfort, corporal punishment, denied food as punishment. While stationed aboard a small vessel after volunteering to help when the medical staff comes down with a flu, McCoy is unfairly punished by the admiral in charge (of course, it’s far more complex than it may initially seem). I love how much time this fic takes to explore the aftermath of McCoy’s experiences—the comfort in this is so good.

GEN

Give Thy Thoughts No Tongue by WerewolvesAreReal. TOS. Teen and Up Audiences. 38,757 words. Mind control, misunderstandings. Spock is captured while on an away mission, and when he returns, he won’t talk about what happened—but not for the reason you might think. Loved this fic!

[calliecat93]

The Enemy Within is a really good episode when it comes to Kirk and the Triumvirate's dynamic.

In it, we have Kirk split in half. The good half, which has all of Kirk's positive traits but is also indecisive, uncertain, and even a little meek in comparison to normal. The bad Kirk is... well, an unpleasant maniac. Aggressive, impulsive, lack of empathy, all traits that most of us fear. And yet without it, without these negative aspects, Kirk isn't Kirk. A Kirk without any of his bad traits is just as incomplete as a Kirk without the good ones. He needs that decisiveness and aggression to push himself as a captain. To act. To command. We saw it in The Corbomite Manuver and this only helps reinforce it.

On the one hand, Kirk's struggling to function. On the other hand, he's still the captain. He can't allow himself to slip. He can't allow himself to show any weakness. Spock outright reinforces that to him, which in this case imo was the absolute worst move but it's absolutely in character for Spock and for this analysis as we'll see in a moment. Kirk is unwilling to relinquish command, so he tries to force himself to continue. But as time goes, his will continues to falter.

Things really get interesting, however, once they've finally captured the bad Kirk. If you go by production order, this is probably the first time we've had Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a scene that lasts longer than a few seconds. On the one hand, we have Spock. He delves into how Kirk, without the bad half, is losing his ability to command. He's utterly blunt about it too, which isn't a surprise since this is Spock. The same guy who outright told Kirk not to divulge to the crew the exact details of the situation because it would damage Kirk's captain image and thus provoke a loss of faith by the crew. McCoy practically acts like he's offended on Kirk's behalf. The fact that to him, it sounds like Spock would dare even question Jim and his command ability speaks a LOT. Of course it's Spock's job and Kirk outright told him to do so if he saw him slipping, but McCoy doesn't know that nor would he really care in this instance. He tries to tell Jim that he can still command like he is, but it's clear that they all know that that's not true.

So we have Spock pointing out the facts as they are and telling Kirk that he won't be able to captain soon, his logic utterly sound. Then we have McCoy getitng mad and denying it at first but ultimately admitting to Jim that Spock was right while also assuring him that having these negative traits is not bad. Kirk has his mind telling him one thing, but can't get over his feelings about it after what he's seen. He can't ignore the reality as much as he wants to. He has to accept that as repulsed as he is by seeing his raw darkness, he needs it. He has to accept it to be whole. To be Captain James T. Kirk. Otherwise, he is only half of what he is, and he can't live like that.

But what happens when you have the mind and the heart talking, but the soul is unable to balance it?

After we find out that the merging may kill Kirk from the shock, we have Spock and McCoy arguing again over what to do. All while Kirk sits there, listening to both sides and considering every option, but being unable to decide. The screencap above outright has Kirk in the middle, Spock and McCoy to the side like they were his shoulder angel and devil. They couldn't have symbolized it better if they tried.

On the one hand, we have Spock. It's clear to him that it was shock that killed the unicorn dog, unable to comprehend what all had happened to it when split and forcibly merged back. But Kirk IS able to comprehend it and thus will be able to avoid the same fate. Spock himself struggles with his two sides regularly and is able to manage it... well, he thinks he can anyways, but that's not the point. From his experience, he believes that Kirk can survive and regardless, the landing party will die unless they take the risk of merging Kirk and thus confirming that the transporters are safe once more. As is the duty of the captain.

On the other hand, we have McCoy. With no autopsy completed, he can't be for sure what caused the death and as a doctor he's not going to make a conclusion without it. He's utterly against using the teleporters until the autopsy is complete, at least. He's unwilling to risk Kirk's life without the proof. Plus, if they do it and Kirk dies, then they won't be able to beam up the landing party, and thus they'd die from the cold anyway. He needs absolute certainty before he's willing to allow anything. He's a doctor, so of course he's not going to recklessley allow anyone to risk themselves unless it's himself but shush, but he's especially not risking Jim.

That leaves us with Kirk. He can listen to the two sides. He can weigh the options of the two sides. If he doesn't go through the transporter, his stays split and his men die. But if he does, he has no way of being certain that he'll live. But the key to the Triumvirate is that Spock has his side, McCoy has his side, and Kirk either concedes to one or finds a third option. But he can't. Not at this moment. He has no ability to decide. That essential element is gone. He's still unwilling to relinquish command, and thus neither Spock nor McCoy can make the decision. It has to be Kirk.

Ultimately, the good Kirk chooses to go through the transporter, his men's lives coming before his own. The bad Kirk refuses, trying to abandon his men to save himself. The good Kirk isn't afraid of the risk while the bad Kirk fears for his life. The logical half and the emotional half at odds. In the end, the good Kirk convinces his terrified dark side that it has to be done. Thus, they are brought back together and become whole once more. James T Kirk becomes whole once more.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, and I'm probably reading into this WAAAAY too hard. But in short, just as Kirk needs his two own halves to function, Kirk needs Spock and McCoy as well. He needs Spock to be able to rationalize him and keep him and his head in check. He needs McCoy to be able to process his emotions and to embrace what he otherwise would be unwilling to. He needs both to be able to find that middle ground and make the decision, whether it be right or wrong but a decision nonetheless. Without him as a balance, the two halves are separate. Nothing to balance them out and at war with each other, unable to reconcile. Unable to be function. Unable to be whole.

[affixjoy]

Today I continued my Star Trek journey by rewatching Star Trek (2009) and boy howdy do I have some thoughts.

So first off, I saw this for the first time when I came out in 2009. It wasn’t my first experience with Star Trek, but it was probably my first with Kirk and Spock and that gang. I remember liking it a lot.

Now that I’ve watched all of TOS and a few of the movies with the original cast my feelings are a little more complicated.

Overall, fun movie! I imagine they had to have felt the weight of recasting and redoing such iconic characters, and in a lot of ways they succeeded. It certainly got younger people like me interested in the franchise!

💫 Spock: I do love this version of him. His “live long and prosper” to the VSA is perfectly bitchy and I’m obsessed with it.

💫BONES!! if you’ve read any of my other posts you’ll know that somehow Bones snuck up on me as my favorite character. I love his intro here, and I think Karl Urban gets the tone just right. This really is a buffet for the McKirkers out there, I can see how this led to 1000 academy era fics of them.

💫Kirk: oh Jim. Jimmy Jim Jim. Baby boy. What are you doing. How did being played by Chris Pine (who is incredibly hot) make you LESS attractive??

Obviously this Kirk suffers from some Kirk drift and the added trauma of losing his dad. He’s so much angrier, so much less sweet and nerdy. Rewatching this now I can see why I was so hesitant to like him in TOS because he’s a lot less lovable here.

💫 I get it’s an emergency and they had to for plot reasons, but almost all of Pike’s staffing choices make no sense. Sure, Spock as acting captain, I get that. But everyone else?? Imagine being one of the other people there who has been with starfleet for years and seeing him hand Kirk the role of first officer. The ship can’t be entirely cadets can it?? Imagine the group texts going around after like “thank god he didn’t die because I really need to bitch about this.”

💫 I love all three Uhuras (tos, aos, and snw) and I get why they made her Spock’s love interest here because they’ve got fun chemistry! They have a lot in common, they’re both hot and smart, I get it. But cmon guys, that man is a 6 on the Kinsey scale. You keep pairing him with women and it doesn’t work.

💫 I feel like they worked in lots of little references to classic trek, from plot stuff to smaller details like when Spock enters from the turbolift at the end in a very TMP way. I love that, it makes me feel like the people making the movie really care about the stories and the characters. When Spock Prime says good luck I felt all the weight of his relationship with his Jim and how it changed him. So lovely and touching.

And just how close they made Kirk and Spock stand, especially towards the end of the movie. They were always glued to each other in TOS and JJ must have known us Spirk shippers needed something to latch on to 😅

💫 There’s too much action in this movie for me. We didn’t need to see Scotty beamed into the water tank. The best sf stuff is always story based, I don’t need extravagant fights and cgi shit. I’m sure there are people who watch science fiction for the spectacle but I’m here for the ideas and the feelings.

💫 goddddd everything with Vulcan and losing Amanda. Rip all our hearts out why don’t you. Spock’s mom dying is just heartbreaking. I know they had to lose someone we knew to make the destruction of the planet more real to us as viewers but so crushing to see it.

💫 Old Spock 😭😭😭

He knows right away who Jim is and expects that Jim found him on purpose.

Old Spock just launched right in to the mind meld huh. To me this really says that he and his Jim are on very casual mind meld terms and he’s not fully understanding that this Jim is not his Jim.

Think about how fucking weird all this must be for old Spock. How heartbreakingly strange it would be so see a young version of your husband and send him to a young version of yourself. Meeting all your old friends young selves, years after you’ve lost them all.

And from here out it’s just miscellaneous thoughts I jotted down while watching that don’t fit great anywhere else:

⭐️I love when the redshirt is so excited to get the Romulans and Kirk gets this look like… that’s why you’re here? Dude the battle not the appeal here. A nice glimpse of how this Kirk is similar at heart to TOS Kirk.

⭐️Love you Sulu and your fencing skills

⭐️I love when they stop the lift for emotional reasons.

⭐️“Our destinies have changed” goddddd great speech Spock

⭐️Jim has the look of a man who is frequently escorted places by security

⭐️Spock wants to break Kirk so bad 😂

⭐️When Jim slaps Spock’s back and Spock has a look of “I think that just awakened something in me.”

⭐️Spock you’re calling him Jim already? You slut. (Delighted, affectionate)

Overall I think it’s a fun movie but it misses a lot of what’s at the heart of the classic Trek I love. They try to do everything too fast and it just doesn’t work as well for me. I’m excited to rewatch the next two and see how these versions of the characters change!

[im-not-a-pleeb]

Part 2 of space husbands in First Frontier.

Honestly I'm so surprised this flies so under the radar.

I mean... I don't even have to say anything. But Jim does get super handsy with Spock from now on - as if he wasn't already - touching his arm, holding on to him. Any excuse.

Lmaooo and this kid just has to listen to the two of them 💀💀💀

Spock cares about him so much. I feel like most spirk content I see is always about how much Jim needs Spock, but it's just as much vice-versa, if not more so, and I love to see it.

You guys. YOU GUYS. Jim has a look™ that he uses on Spock- with pursed lips might I add

Bro legit manhandled a whole klingon because he was being rude to Spock now come on now

Anytime he calls him Jim, you KNOW I melt

"He spoke as if they were safe" are you fucking kidding me rn. That's so romantic. Then Jim fusses over his looks. For who? All the girls he's going to impress?? No. For Spock, that's who.

Bro really said "back off" in Vulcan.

[spocks-husband]

I have this AU that's been bouncing around in my head for weeks and I need opinions on it so. Yeah. Tell me what you think.

Also, for context, they're all about 17-20 in this AU. Details will come later if I decide to do anything with the idea.

Spock is a prince on Vulcan; their society is fairly similar to how it is in canon but certain elements of the pre-reform society remain, so it's more spiritual and there's a monarchy in place. Spock has accepted his role as heir to the throne after his brother's disappearance-- but he's always felt out of place. The monarchy carefully hides his half-human identity from the public, and every aspect of his life is intricately controlled. He's suffering, really, but in his mind it's for the good of his people.

Meanwhile, James Tiberius Kirk is a pirate living on a busted old space craft, having fun, sailing through the galaxy with his stressed best friend Leonard McCoy who regrets receiving military medical training every day of his life, their constantly high engineer buddy Montgomery Scott who keeps the ship from falling apart with duct tape and prayers, Hikaru Sulu who has hit on every person on the ship and slept with every alien they've come across, Pavel Chekov who is Sulu's very tired boyfriend who doesn't really do much but any suggestions that he should leave would be met with someone getting stabbed (they're in an open relationship for context dw Chekov is a manwhore too), and finally Nyota Uhura who was mostly just here to get a ride one time but she realized these stupid fucks needed a Lesbian with some braincells on board so she handles the logistics of their crimes.

The night before Spock is scheduled to marry a barely known noble girl named T'Pring, Kirk and his crew kidnap him for ransom, assuming it will just be another job. But, alas, Jim falls in love and won't let Spock go, not caring in the slightest that he has caused an interplanetary crisis mostly for his own amusement.

Tldr the dumbasses are dumb and I love them

Edit: The fic has been written!! See my pinned for the link :D

[joe-spookyy]

thinking about batman today so here’s a brief essay explaining my thoughts on every live action batman actor and their films, along with my ranking of the films i’ve seen.

as the original, i have to give adam west some 
serious credit. and god was his movie enjoyable. the bit when he was literally fist fighting a shark and had to use bat shark repellent spray to get it off of him was probably the best moment in batman history. he was very reminiscent of the batman from scooby doo meets batman (1972). or i guess that batman was reminiscent of him. whatever. i was very entertained by his film and i quite enjoyed the addition of robin, as i feel that he goes underutilized in batman movies. i really loved how every single item in his batcave was labeled, and how all of it began with the word bat. the bat navigational computer. the bat water fountain. the bat ladder. i love it. the villains were just the right amount of camp, although i did not care for the fact that the joker clearly had a mustache that was just painted over. caesar romero could you really not bear to part with it for one film? yeesh. my one complaint is that batman did not seem to be enthused about anything throughout the entire runtime. as my father pointed out, he was quite spock-like. not a sweet ounce of real excitement or fear. i really loved how he ran that cartoon bomb all through gotham though. really entertaining sequence.


christian bale does bruce wayne and batman very well, but his batman voice is so funny that it distracted me from anything important that happened in the movies. it sounded like he was swallowing gravel or perhaps like he had smoked a pack a day since he was 2 years old. also, the cowl on his batsuit had a really pointy nose and i did not like that. he had the idea and everything he did was great but the acting choice to give batman such a stupid voice takes away from everything. it left me pondering. did bruce sit in his little batcave practicing voices? do you think he made alfred give him advice on which fake voice was most menacing? do you think he tried different accents? i can’t deal with the lack of answers. however, the dark knight is really good so i will give him that. 


clooney and kilmer did a fine job in the role HOWEVER. i want to track down whichever costume designer chose to give the batsuit nipples and give them a piece of my mind because why. why would they do that. why. it is important to add though that batman forever was one of the most insane, camp, off the rails films i have ever seen and i think i probably enjoyed it more than any of the other ones because i was laughing throughout the entire runtime. it was a batman movie but he was the least interesting thing about the film. the sets were literally breathtaking and so eye catching. the outfits were insane. the plot lines were baffling in the most positive way. i wish joel schumacher had been put in charge of directing every movie ever because i definitely feel like more movies need to be exactly like this monstrosity. cinema peaked in 1995 when they put jim carrey in that atrocious little riddler costume. i almost forgive the costume designers for the bat nipples because of how insane and fantastic the two face costume is. almost. 


now micheal keaton had the right idea i suppose. however he failed to grab my attention. he wasn’t strange enough, nor was he very smooth and suave. he was right in the middle and that made him too much of a regular guy to be a good bruce wayne. his batman voice was literally just his normal voice so that kind of left me confused. how did no one realize that bruce wayne sounds exactly like batman. come on guys. excellent joker though. he wasn’t too serious but i think he could have been a bit more silly. however i’m inclined to dislike him for the fact that he was in batman returns. when i tell you this movie ruined my life i mean it. when danny devito ate a raw fish and black saliva dripped out of his mouth, the image was scarred into my brain and i can still see it so clearly despite not having watched the movie since i was about eight. i did enjoy the penguins with rocket launchers ont their backs, but i cannot get over the awful aspects of this one. i will never forgive you for this micheal.


robert pattinson’s batman, or battinson as i like to call him, was very good. probably i’m biased because of robert pattinson in eyeliner but that is besides the point. his movie was also quite good but it falls into the trap of making batman all serious and gritty. this is a huge mistake. this man named his car “the batmobile” and is literally fighting some guy called “the penguin” and you decided to make it all dark and serious? this has comedic potential and i physically cannot take it seriously when some billionaire in a rubber batsuit is lurking in the background of a serious police investigation. i don’t care who got murdered, the minute he starts growling about riddles from the corner i am going to start giggling. however robert did kill the role and i have to say he did a great job making bruce wayne an absolute pathetic loser, which is what i think the world needs. unfortunately this version of the riddler was so lame and boring. where is the camp! where are the FUN riddles! where is the brightly colored hair! clearly matt reeves has never seen batman forever.


finally we come to the best batman, lego batman. i literally just rewatched this movie yesterday so i think i’m probably an authority on the movie. will arnett understood this role so deeply and it very much shows. this bruce wayne has none of the issues i had with any of the others. the batman voice does not give me secondhand embarrassment for him. the suit has no bat nipples. and most importantly the movie does not take batman too seriously while still giving him an important character arc, acknowledging his flaws both as a person and as a hero, and allowing him to recognize these flaws and begin to overcome them. plus any batman that canonically listens to elliott smith is a friend of mine. something i find incredibly important is that the lego batman movie also does something no other batman movie has done before: it dares to be a rom-com. when batman told the joker “i hate you forever” while they were less than an inch from each other’s faces, i was wiping a sweet tear from my eye. i want what they have.

to conclude i think the only batman movies that really understand the characters are the ones that are truly just off the rails insane. although it’s important to recognize the darker aspects of the character, too many superhero movies feel the need to be gritty and serious all the way through, and the lack of balance leaves viewers (me) disappointed. they need to return to their roots and make the genre interesting and unique again. slightly unrelated but i also really think they need to stop rebooting the joker. there’s been so many different versions and as much as i love the jokes there are other batman villains. so many other batman villains. please let the joker rest i am begging and pleading.

FINAL RANKING!

fuck you batman returns