#Star Trek Vina

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Susan Oliver and Jeffrey Hunter - Star Trek (1966)

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: Star Trek

Character: Christopher Pike

Sample Size: 2,032 stories

Source: AO3

[startrekladies]

SUSAN OLIVER as VINA STAR TREK “THE CAGE”

[curator-on-ao3]

I just feel like anytime Chris and Una ponder bringing a third into their relationship that it has to be Chris who does the recruitment. Like, sure, they tried having Una give the ol’ wink-wink to other people, but she mostly terrified them.

Meanwhile, Christopher “Golden Retriever Man” Pike can smile and tilt his head a little, then only later casually mention he’s already married and that’s okay, right?

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#954

I wish there was more to Marie Batel's character besides being a captain and Pike's girlfriend. I feel like so far, I learned more about Vina in TOS' "The Cage" than I ever have about Batel in the entire SNW series.

[defconprime]

[pikefied]

[trevsplace]

Vina ♪ I just met a girl named "Vina"... ♫

(Sunday night Photoshop shenanigans)

[chillychive]

Because I’m insane, I’m watching TOS. And since it seemed to be entertaining, I’m writing commentary. I take no responsibility for how incoherent this is. (Fair warning, there is swearing bc this show is wild)

Bro why were there two people walking around in street clothes? Why does she walk like thattttt

Not the doctor giving him alcohol

Also hello Una ik ur not Una yet but hello <3

This is so weird cause there’s absolutely *no* context to anything they mention. Whatever happened on Rigel, we have *no* idea about.

Ayo Pike’s horses!!

Hello Spock.

HAHHAAAA WHATTT was that a PIECE OF PAPER???? BRO WHAT CENTURY IS THISSSSSS HAHAHA

IT IS!! It’s a piece of PAPER hahahaa

Intercraft? What does that mean??

The bridge was soo tiny back then.

And i love the little goofy effects. They so silly.

Yet again, reports on paper??????? They can pilot a ship through space and go to different star systems, but they can’t send an text??

“I Can’t get used to having a woman on the bridge?” BRO WHAT THE BLATANT SEXISM IS KILLING ME. C’mon, pike, in about 60 years of real time, you’ll be on a bridge with primarily woman. AND UNA’S LITERALLY YOUR FIRST OFFICER WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT

The sound effects are soo silly

And the audio is killing me

Im gonna stop commenting on the obvious low budget stuff because it is *so* bad. But also so wildly impressive for a show that has such a low budget

A SPOCK SMILE IN EPISODE 1?! What is this???

Ah hello, Vina. Of course, it’s been only 18 years since the landing and Vina is very much 18 years old, and pike is very much not, but of course there’s gonna be a whole thing now. And hello talosians!!

“Prime specimen.” What

HAHAHA the way the talosian put him to sleep that was hilarious

I love how the phaser produces wind HAHA

Yo ik he just got kidnapped but that bed/couch looks so comfortable i want it

The shadow puppet aliens are hilarious

It’s so strange how in the same breath this show can have a woman in charge of the ship and then be totally sexist

Oh the transitions are SO BAD he’s not even vaguely looking the same direction as he was in the last frame

THe whip sounds on the axe im dyinggggggggg

BRO WHHAT why did she hug him like that TF ive never seen anyone do that ever

EW BARF THIS IS SO GROSS VINA WHAT

Their little goggles I canttttt

Okay turn off the lasers now ur just wasting power

ADAM AND EVE WHAT

The random music hahahhaaa

Ayo he refuses to eat so they put him in hell??? The goofy fire effects lolll

Also i wanna know about that bird species that they put in the cage. There are so few winged species in memory alpha, literally just that one that has wings made of butterflies in disco

YO its the horses and a picnic

Im so confused how this becomes the pike and vina we know from disco

“I can’t help but love you.” Ew ew this is all ew

What is happening

Literally the misogyny is weirddddddddd

What just happened.

Ayo she’s not 18 she’s actually old gross. Wait they changed that in disco i think.

EW what why do they say that abt una. I doubt any of these things are true

Literally the whole premise of this episode is pike resisting fucking one of 3 women while aliens try to make him horny

This is weird as helll

The airbag veins hahaha

“A unique hatred of captivity” bro tf

Whoa they had no idea how to make old or injured makeup. Oh wait that actually makes some sense

Bro wait so the ending is just she stays as a captive with a fake pike??

What is this

Also the lighting was so wacky

A clipboard with paper whattt

The yeoman i cant

[admiralchristopherpike]

HOLD ON HOLD ON, TOS PIKE AND VINA HAVE A FUCKING CHILD TOGETHER AFTER HE'S SENT TO TALOS IV AFTER THE ACCIDENT I'M SCREAMING.

[tsuntsunfangirl]

[aca-panic]

Not so much panic as intrigued

So I'm watching both parts of "The Menagerie" from Star Trek for an upcoming presentation on Star Trek and disability. I realized that the ending with Vina and Pike being on Telos IV and the illusions used to allow them to be able-bodied people again both is and isn't ableist.

I've read pieces written by people who became disabled later in life and do want to return to the life they had before. Both Vina and Pike fall into that category.

Having a disability doesn't mean you have to like it. Granted, you do have to live with it. But.... it still can be seen as an ableist message of people who aren't disabled are happier. I'm going to have to work that in at the end, especially since it works well for both examples. The other episode is "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" where a blind woman works very hard to pass as sighted.

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday #MelissaGeorge #actress #Vina #StarTrekDiscovery #IfMemoryServes #Alias #hunted #homeandaway #triangle #badmothers #greysanatomy #30daysofnight #ALonelyPlacetoDie #TheGoodWife #TheSlap #Heartbeat #TheFirst #TheEddy #TheMosquitoCoast #DontGo #Peaceful #startrek57

[curator-on-ao3]

For the first sentences asks (I know it's like, 3):

"I don't know what to say, but I'm going to want you till the stars evaporate - we're only here for just a moment in the light, one day it shines for us the next we're in the night. So say the word and I'll be running back to find you, a thousand armies won't stop me I'll break through. I'll soar the endless skies for only one sight of your starlight."

~ enterprise-come-in 🖖

The last note of the lyric seems to linger, then the viewscreen fades to black.

Chris recognizes the song. It’s an old one called “Starlight,” an apt choice for the person who lit his life for decades before he found out she could actually illuminate, a bright red glow of healing and hope that he had tried to forget on Starbase Eleven, those days and weeks and months when she wasn’t where she said she would be — impossible because Una never, ever, wasn’t where she said she would be — which meant something was terribly wrong.

But she purportedly sent him this message, singing, and the illusion of Vina by his side — not the real Vina, not the woman so disgusted by her own infirmities that she’s disgusted by his, too — tilts her head, blonde hair shining in the artificial light, voice echoing off the cave walls. “What do you think?”

Frustration balls the illusion of Chris’ fists. “I think it’s another trick. I think our keepers — Do you hear me? Do you hear how this isn’t going to work? — I think they want me to believe this is a real message from the real Una. But it’s not. Our keepers pulled the information from my mind that Una loves to sing, that I love to hear her sing, but that message wasn’t the real Una.”

The illusion of Vina smiles, a twisted imitation of a real smile’s curved lips and raised cheeks, repulsive in a way the real Vina isn’t, even if she believes herself to be, believes him to be also now that he’s injured. “You’re right.”

It’s as if the battery that keeps his heart beating turns to acid and he’s cold, so cold, bitter realization causing the illusion of his fists to ball up even tighter, so tight the illusion of his fingernails dig into the illusion of his palms. “What did you do to her?”

The illusion of Vina hums, some Gilbert and Sullivan song, and she twirls, one hand in the air as if conducting an orchestra, and the viewscreen is brought to life again, a video feed of Una within the planet’s cave network, a Talosian punishment not by fire — those must be for him, for his expectation of hell — but by a crowd of what look like humans and the humans are kicking her, punching her, shouting the cruel names she was called as a child. She defends herself, arms up to block the worst of the blows, probably saving her energy by not fighting back with her full abilities or by not forming the base emotions that, though exhausting, would dissolve the illusions.

Yet Chris’ anger that threatens to choke him — pure rage toward the abuse she’s enduring — confirms that this version of Una is absolutely real.

“What you’re seeing,” his base emotion causes the illusion of Vina to lose cohesion, a disembodied Talosian voice speaking instead to an immobilized Chris in his support chair, “is yet another attempt to break the female you call Number One. A uniquely willful creature. We’ve had her for almost half a year, yet she refuses to cooperate or even to speak to us except to insist that she must go to Starbase Eleven to see you. We don’t want to kill her, yet she has been most frustrating.”

The viewscreen goes dark.

And pieces of the mental puzzle snap into place. Why Una went radio silent. Why Spock came to the starbase instead of Una. Maybe even why Spock brought him here. Spock must have known the Talosians had captured Una and there was no other way to get to the planet — to get Chris to the planet — except to risk mutiny.

“We first showed you an illusion of her,” a Talosian steps in, mental communication, footsteps and the rustle of long robes the only sound, “to determine if your feelings for her remain the same.”

Chris forces his anger away enough to regain his own illusion, to stand tall, to speak: “Why?”

The Talosian’s smile is identical to the twisted one from the illusion of Vina.

And Chris knows.

“You never gave up, did you?” He’s learned the facility these last few weeks, identified Talosian weaknesses he can’t exploit by himself but could with Una’s help. “You wanted an Adam and Eve and were willing to kidnap both of us — manipulating Spock along the way — to get us.”

There’s a nod. “You will explain to her the futility of fighting us. You will tell her how your time here has been pleasant, how her time here could be pleasant as well. You both will assist us in identifying a suitable partner for Vina. These are our eminently reasonable demands.”

Chris can do that.

He can reassure Una that it’s not futile to fight the Talosians.

He can tell her how a veneer of pleasantness has allowed him to figure out a plan of escape that he’s sure they can accomplish together.

He can do what he should have done in the first place and take Vina with them, get Vina to a place where Vina can get help undoing the damage the Talosians have done to her mind, to her sense of self-worth.

“I agree.” Chris’ chest swells with truth, hope.

Veins on the Talosian’s head bulge and a cave wall slides open like a door.

And Una is there, a bloody gash across her forehead, her hair tangled and half-wild, what’s left of her Starfleet uniform caked with dried blood and cave dirt, and Chris lets hatred for the Talosians flood his mind, reassurance that what he’s seeing is absolutely real.

“Chris.” There’s a twitching by Una’s eyes, the effort of employing a base emotion to ensure reality.

And he has his support chair flash once for yes, even though she didn’t ask, even though she knows it’s him, but there’s no other way for him to communicate — yet, she said she was working on that algorithm the last time they spoke — and, if he could, he would dance, he would sing the way she does whether she’s an illusion or real, a triumphant song of yes, yes, yes, because she’s real and she’s safe and they’re going to get out of here, he’s sure of it.

[for the “send me a sentence and I’ll write the next five” ask game, for which the rules of the ask game are clearly being flouted by all concerned.]

✨this story now also on AO3✨

[defconprime]

Vina