#Tos' “Journey to Babel” as well

[null-doesnothing]

"hey you doing alright?" no actually I'm thinking about Sarek again

[swimmingwolf59]

I’m overthinking about Journey to Babel again lol, but something occurred to me for the first time so I thought I’d share it!

Something I think about a lot and really enjoy about this episode is that, indirectly, and without Kirk’s interference, Spock's decision to give his loyalty to Starfleet would've been the death of his father. He was all for donating the blood necessary for his father’s procedure (even basically logic’d his way into forcing McCoy to go along with him and his sketchy drug plan lol), but as soon as Kirk gets injured he balks.

SPOCK: My first responsibility is to the ship. Our passengers' safety is by Starfleet order of first importance. We are being followed by an alien, possibly hostile, vessel. I cannot relinquish command under these circumstances. MCCOY: You can turn command over to Scotty. SPOCK: On what grounds, Doctor? Command requirements do not recognise personal privilege.

Spock can't donate blood because his duty lies with captaining the Enterprise (even if Scotty absolutely can and has captained the ship under strange circumstances but we’ll ignore that for now lol).

We know that the original rift between Spock and Sarek was formed because Spock wanted to join Starfleet, and Sarek disapproved because he thought Starfleet was too militaristic. He also wanted Spock to be a science officer at the VSA, and for Spock to follow in his own footsteps.

So, now. This scene:

SPOCK: Mother, how can you have lived on Vulcan so long, married a Vulcan, raised a son on Vulcan, without understanding what it means to be a Vulcan? AMANDA: If this is what it means, I don't want to know. SPOCK: It means to adopt a philosophy, a way of life, which is logical and beneficial. We cannot disregard that philosophy merely for personal gain, no matter how important that gain might be. AMANDA: Nothing is as important as your father's life. SPOCK: Can you imagine what my father would say if I were to agree, if I were to give up command of this vessel, jeopardise hundreds of lives, risk interplanetary war, all for the life of one person?

I used to interpret this exchange as Spock believing that Sarek would criticize him for being overly emotional and not making the logical decision. While there might still be some of that, I kinda read this scene a little differently now. Instead of being about logic v. emotion, I think it’s more a continuation of Sarek and Spock’s argument from 18 years ago. If Spock can turn his back on his duties as a Starfleet officer so easily (”easily” lol), why did he rebel against Sarek to choose it in the first place? Why didn't he just stay on Vulcan and do as his father wished?

I think Spock may have meant that taking this course of action, in his mind, would only further Sarek's belief that he made the wrong choice.

Can you imagine what my father would say, if I turned my back on the very thing I tried to convince him was so important.

I mean, it’s certainly something to sign your father’s death warrant over an argument LOL but this family is just the WORST at communicating all across the board. And apparently being a hypocrite is worse than anything else :D

[electronickingdomfox]

USS Enterprise decks

Updated part 1 here

Updated part 2 here

This post got me thinking about the actual location inside the ship of several areas. Sure, there are many blueprints and reference books that have published complete and detailed layouts of the Enterprise. But ultimately, they're interpretations of different authors, filling in the blanks, and they often disagree with each other.

So this is a list of the bare minimum of facts. All the deck locations that can be gleaned from TOS episodes. Beyond that, it's up to anyone's imagination.

*Feel free to make additions or corrections to this post. This is only in reference to the original ship as seen in the series, not taking into account the refit ship from the movies, or alterations/retcons introduced in later series.

Saucer section (primary hull)

Most locations seen in the series belong to this section (as deduced from the curved corridors). The first version of the Writer's Guide tell us it has 20 decks. The later edition (season 2 onwards) reduced the decks to 11.

Deck 1

-Bridge: Obvious from a simple inspection of the ship's exterior. And also confirmed by the Writer's Guide to be in this deck.

Deck 2

-The Romulan Commander's "guest" quarters: Spock tells the turbolift to bring them to this deck, before leaving her in detention, in "The Enterprise Incident". I don't think we ever see other location said to be here (maybe she got the whole deck for herself; lucky!).

Deck 3

-Recreation room 6: Rand offers Charlie to come here, in "Charlie X".

-Recreation room 3: Spock says Bele is chasing Lokai in front of this place, in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".

-Crewmen's lounge: Same as above.

Deck 4

-Environmental control: Scotty says power's been shut down here, in "The Ultimate Computer".

-Living quarters: Kirk confirms this, in "The Ultimate Computer".

Deck 5

-Sickbay: Kirk brings Spock to this deck after ordering him to report to sickbay, in "Amok Time". He does the same with Elaan of Troyius. Strangely enough, most blueprints place sickbay in deck 7 instead.

-Kirk's quarters: Confirmed in "Journey to Babel", which also shows the cabin number (3F 121). The same number was first seen in "The Conscience of the King", but without specifying the deck.

-Recreation room 3: Spock says Bele is chasing Lokai in front of this place, in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". May be a script error, since a moment ago he had said this place was in deck 3.

-Transporter room: As Lokai seems to run directly here, we may assume it's also in deck 5 (though there are probably many more transporter rooms throughout the ship).

Deck 6

-Briefing room: Sargon calls McCoy from here, in "Return to Tomorrow". May be the same briefing room from other episodes.

-Guest rooms: Bele and Lokai are assigned quarters here, in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".

-Living quarters: Kirk confirms this, in "The Ultimate Computer".

Deck 8

-Auxiliary control: The android Norman hijacks the controls here, in "I, Mudd".

-Evaluation laboratory: Seen on a plaque, in "And the Children Shall Lead". Kirk and Spock arrived on this deck in search for Auxiliary control, so it should be in deck 8 as well.

Deck 12

-Janice Rand's quarters: In "The Enemy Within", after seeing Rand attacked by evil Kirk, a crewman reports they're in deck 12. The number of her cabin is also visible (3C 46).

-Kirk's quarters: In very early episodes ("Mudd's Women" and "The Enemy Within"), Kirk's quarters were here, instead of in deck 5. Since the number of saucer decks was reduced to 11 in season 2, the change makes sense.

Deck 14

-Transporter room: In "Dagger of the Mind", Dr. Van Gelder is locked in this deck, after arriving inside a cargo box.

-Personnel Director office: Seen on a plaque during Van Gelder's escape.

-Science Library: Same as above.

Unknown deck

These are some locations, likely from the saucer section, but with unspecified deck. There are plenty of such examples, so this isn't an exhaustive list.

-Impulse engines: The Writer's Guide confirms that the impulse engines are in the primary hull, in case of saucer separation. I think the impulse engines are only seen in "The Doomsday Machine", when Scotty is working aboard the identical Constellation. Though they look just as a reused set from Engineering.

-Spock's quarters: The cabin number is seen in "Amok Time" (3F 125). Possibly, it's in deck 5 near Kirk's quarters, considering the similar numbering.

-McCoy's quarters: Only seen in "The Man Trap" (I think), which also shows the number (3F 127). Again, it's probably near Kirk and Spock's cabins.

-Mudd's quarters: The number is barely legible, but looks like 3F 125, in "Mudd's Women". This happens to be the same as Spock's cabin. The likely explanation is that they didn't have a design for Spock's quarters so early in the series. The fun explanation is that they evicted Spock just to make room for Mudd.

-Uhura's quarters: Seen in "The Tholian Web", and adapted for Elaan in "Elaan of Troyius".

-Scotty's quarters: Seen in "By Any Other Name".

-Life Science Section - Botany Department: Seen in "The Man Trap".

-Gymnasium: Seen in "Charlie X".

-Officer's mess: Seen in "Space Seed".

-Botanical garden: Seen in "Is There in Truth No Beauty?".

-Briefing room: Different from the usual briefing room, it's seen in "Space Seed" when they decide Khan's fate.

-Biochemistry lab: Seen in "The Deadly Years".

Since I've reached the picture limit, the continuation with the Engineering hull sets will be in another post, here.

[kcscribbler]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

Aw, thank you so much @justabigoldnerd! I feel weird about self-reccing, but I don't think I've ever actually thought much about my favorites, so. This should be fun.

In no particular order, and taken only from stories currently posted to AO3:

Loki Series

Ready or Not

Summary: In which the waiting is over, and the war begins.

Oddly enough, the last two chapters of this arc are my favorite of all the 150K+ words in the Storyteller series. It was difficult to say goodbye to this series, because I poured a lot of love into it, but I told the story I wanted to tell, and I love where it ended. (Chaptered)

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series

2. What's in a Name, Chapter Six

Summary: Five times Nyota Uhura called Jim Kirk something other than Captain, and one time he was glad to return the favor.

Chapter Six is set many years after the events of Star Trek: Beyond, focusing on what a potential movie-era in the AOS might look like. I wanted something with the bittersweet vibe of the TOS movie era, but more sweet than bitter, and I think I achieved that. It was also written during a period of upheaval in my own personal life, with a lot of uncertainty about facing the future, and I think that emotion transferred. (Oneshot)

3. The Captain's Log, Redacted, Chapter Five - Distress Signals (Shields Up, Red Alert)

Summary: Or, The Ongoing Saga of "Well That's Not Going in the Report."

Chapter Five is definitely an unashamed demonstration of the Found Family trope, which to me is the defining feature of all my AOS fic. I was very pleased with how this one turned out. (Oneshot)

Star Trek: The Original Series

4. A Night in Sickbay

Summary: Or, The One With the Nightmares Added scene after the curtain falls on Journey to Babel.

I've written a lot of missing scenes from the series, but this one's always been a personal favorite. I think the older I get, the more I enjoy the quiet, gentle stories as much as the more dramatic ones. (Oneshot)

Star Trek: The Original Series & Sherlock Holmes (ACD Canon)

5. However Improbable

Summary: "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Captain Spock, ST:VI; original quote Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four. Two universes, two worlds, one link threatening to destroy them both.

Yes, I wrote a novel-length crossover between two very unlikely universes, many years ago as a just-for-fun NaNoWriMo exercise. Yes, it's ridiculous and niche. Yes, it's still probably my favorite story I've ever written. (Longfic)

[raisinchallah]

you know vulcan lore is actually straight up one of the weirdest things in star trek because well thats spocks culture so everyones fucking obsessed with it but theres actually been very little movement in like the intervening years between tos and enterprise because the other shows consciously avoided vulcans to try and differentiate themselves so like every tiny piece of info from the movies journey to babel and amok time got strung into things they were literally never intended to be like why are the ceremonial weapons from amok time used as regular soldier weapons in enterprise why is it assumed every single vulcan gets betrothed in childhood and thats not like fancy wealthy ambassador family trying to make sure his half human son is seen and accepted into their society and craziest thing actually is well nowhere in amok time is it stated pon farr happens every 7 years thats a throwaway line in the cloud minders from season 3 where spocks trying to turn a woman down where he says its every 7 years its meant more as a metaphorical you know u repress so much eventually it all comes out or puberty or like family bonds complicated very midcentury sexual repression type shit that is not really intended in episode to you know have all this other lore where we have to all sit around and think about how often spock must fuck or die now that line from the cloudminders got taken as canon its referenced in the motion picture novelization it became hardcore vulcan lore but i would actually say is kind of at odds with the intentions of amok time but here it is and now tuvok must have mind sex with his holo wife and thats life i guess but literally so many other random one off comments and lore in other episodes are never mentioned again people just cared very very deeply about having sex with spock

[blogquantumreality]

Suggested ST: TOS Episodes to Watch

If you really don't want to go through all of the original series' episodes, here are fifteen I would suggest watching to get the big picture of the major aspects of TOS that feed into TNG, DS9 and so forth:

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" - as the pilot, this is self-explanatory. It shows us many of the major characters who we'll see over and over through the series, and shows how they react to a new phenomenon that threatens the mental stability of two crew members.

"Balance of Terror" - introduces the Romulans, one of two principal antagonist powers in the TOS era and which still has a sizable rivalry with the Federation in TNG/DS9.

"The Menagerie, Pt. I/II" - along with the original pilot "The Cage", this two-parter is noteworthy for giving us a look into the Enterprise's past when it was commanded by Captain Christopher Pike. It also establishes one of the few crimes for which the Federation has imposed a death penalty.

"Space Seed" - introduces Khan Noonien Singh and establishes one of the major cataclysmic wars of Trek's 20th century, the Eugenics Wars, with Khan as one of the principal instigators.

"Errand of Mercy" - introduces the Klingon Empire as the second of two principal antagonist powers in the TOS era, and also introduces the Organians who impose an armistice between the Klingons and the Federation, promising that one day they would come to see each other as allies.

"Metamorphosis" - introduces Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive which is the foundation upon which TOS era spacefaring rests upon.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" - for sheer feels this episode cannot be matched. We meet Edith Keeler, a woman who strikes a chord with Kirk beyond friendship, and see the potential cost of accidentally changing history.

"Mirror, Mirror" - here, we see an alternate universe in which a different set of conditions took hold, especially on Earth. In this universe, humanity's darker traits are admired and upheld, leading to the Federation morphing into an aggressively expansionist empire that brooks no opposition. Noteworthy for the way it explores the differences and similarities between mirror and canon Kirk as well as mirror and canon Spock.

"Amok Time" - this episode gives us an in-depth look at Spock, some of his life story, and the planet Vulcan and its customs.

"Journey to Babel" - introduces Spock's parents :P

"Patterns of Force" - rather topical in today's world, it is an interesting exploration of how any fascist movement inevitably drives towards extremism and only heroic efforts can usually stop one once it has taken hold.

"The Trouble with Tribbles" - tribbles. 'nuff said. :P

"The Paradise Syndrome" - introduces the Preservers, which serve as a canonically convenient way to explain the wide variety of similar biospheres on many planets as well as the tendency for human or human derived cultures to show up in places known to not be warp-capable. It can also tie into TNG's "The Chase".

"Day of the Dove" - introduces the last in the trio of Kor ("Errand"), Koloth ("Tribbles") and Kang, and gives more perspective on TOS-era Klingon perceptions of the Federation.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" - somewhat anvilicious as an allegory for the arbitrariness and futility of racism.

Honorable mentions include "The Savage Curtain", which introduces (Kirk's idea of) Kahless the Unforgettable, as well as "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "Assignment: Earth" as a loosely connected pair of 1960s Earth centered episodes in which unintentional interference by the Enterprise could cause severe temporal issues.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

I'm thinking that TOS Bones was either a surgeon (based on how he's shown doing surgery in a few episodes like Journey to Babel) or was a country doctor (which he says often) but was the type from such a rural town that he just knows everything. Need a vet? Dr McCoy. Need a paediatrician? Dr McCoy. Need literally anything but a GP/family medic? Well it's Dr McCoy or death buddy because it's a rural town and the nearest hospital is too far away even in the future. Just got the vibes that this is a rural mountain town, also this explains his accent because people from Georgia, or at least Atlanta, don't tend to have southern accents like Bones does. So either Bones had to adapt to Starfleet life or, because he's shown to not know Academy culture, he went through a sort of training program like OCS in the Navy (yes I'm using my Top Gun knowledge) which caught him up on other types of medicine necessary for the job.

For AOS Bones I don't think he was either of these, because I don't remember him talking about being a country doctor or seeing him in any particular surgical scenarios. What I can see him as is an A&E/ER doctor. He mentions doing emergency c-sections on pregnant gorn, and from what ER has taught me, being an ER resident while having a daughter and working wife can kill your marriage (Bones and Mark Greene's stories are kinda similar like that with their meeting wife early on, both having intense jobs and becoming bitter with her eventually cheating). Also, this would mean he was more accustomed to Starfleet life and instead of retraining in the Academy perhaps did a fellowship in Xenomedicine considering how much more diverse the AOS crew is than the TOS crew

[chillychive]

Random Lore Alert! (for my life series star trek au)

Scott had a brother. However, for reasons, his brother grew up in the mirror universe. Scott doesn't know he *has* a brother. This brother is known as Xornoth

Joel's parents met through the operation mentioned in the TOS episode Journey to Babel- his andorian mom defected and served as a DNA model for making surgically modified orions pass as andorian. She and Joel's Orion mom, an andorian scientist fell in love through that.

Shelby is a trill (no symbiote) who was raised by humans. Her name was given to her by her baby sister who couldn't pronounce her given name "Shubble". Originally- it was more like "Shebbie" but settled on Shelby.

Pearl loving to draw on the tablet like Spock does and Gem adores waking up/walking into Pearl’s art flying through the air. Their room is VERY full of plants, but in a somehow neat way?, and anyone who goes in there is just like *glitter bomb to the face*. (they are roommates)

Joel is the CMO, but everyone likes Nurse BigB more- mostly because he bakes things for his patients.

Etho and Joel are not exactly close but like each other a lot. Whereas he and bdubs were friends before etho became so well known, joel 100% knows who he is but refuses to treat him any different than just some guy. Etho really appreciates this. Theyre both weird about each other and its great.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Leonard McCoy

By Ames

We’re still boldly going through all the characters of The Original Series in A Star to Steer Her By’s latest blog collection, and this week the spotlight is on Dr. Leonard McCoy! We’re not even going to be at all objective about this one because Bones is the favorite TOS character of most of the hosts here at SSHB, so be prepared for us to gush about his curmudgeonly actions, witty one-liners, and constant back-and-forth with Spock.

It helps that DeForest Kelley brings so much more to the role than is on the page, so let’s dive in and discover what our favorite McCoy moments are, scrape the bottom of the barrel for some lesser moments, and generally fan all over the CMO of the starship Enterprise. Read on below and listen to this week’s banter on the podcast (discussion at 1:04:23) for more about this old country doctor. We hope you have a mint julep handy!

[Images © CBS/Paramount

Best Moments

Promoted too fast One of McCoy’s most highlighted facets is his obstinance, which is often played to hilarious effect. So when the ship is under threat from Balok’s Fesarius in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” it’s quite fitting that McCoy is stubborn enough to make what might be his last living action writing up Lt. Bailey just to spite Kirk for promoting him too fast. Now that’s no bluff!

Well, either choke me or cut my throat! Make up your mind! McCoy is at his most badass in “Space Seed” when his patient, Khan, has grabbed one of the good doctor’s handy wall knives and held him up. “It would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery just under the left ear,” Bones says while his life is being threatened, and everyone watching this show goes “Daaaaaamn.”

Something called a mint julep. It’s a drink, Jim! Speaking of McCoy being a straight-up badass, when the subsonic transmitter is undoing the euphoric effects of the spores in “This Side of Paradise,” he straight up slugs the guy who dares imply that his job as a physician may have become obsolete on a planet with no disease. Without so much as dropping his drink! Grade-A badass right there.

My patients don't walk out in the middle of an operation Don’t forget that McCoy is a half decent doctor, especially considering most medical work in the future is waving a medical tricorder over people. But he proves his physician’s skills in “Journey to Babel” when he performs surgery on Sarek, transfusing a blood sample from a reluctant Spock and saving the ambassador’s life, all in the middle of a battle with Orions!

I’m trying to thank you… As we mentioned in the Spock spotlight post, the jail scene in “Bread and Circuses” is just stunning acting work from both Nimoy and Kelley. It’s such a short scene, but it’s got everything. And when McCoy ponders that Spock is afraid of living, afraid of showing his human half, afraid of feeling, they display in their acting that they’re both in the same emotional place and I love it.

A child could do it Like in “Journey to Babel,” Bones gets to prove his medical prowess in “Spock’s Brain,” even if it’s a little bit laughable overall. He does need help from the Teacher to give himself the temporary knowledge to reconnect Spock to his big Vulcan brain, but when that wears off, he keeps it together, and with a little help from his green-blooded friend, gets the job done.

Please give yourself every minute No wonder this episode was our favorite from TOS. What a great showcase for DeForest Kelley. His grappling with impending death in “For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky” is expertly played and beautifully explores how to measure a life’s happiness. McCoy’s romance with Natira is lovely and I heartily wish he didn’t have to leave her, though as I said in my review of Sawdust to Stardust, the novel Ex Machina revisits Yonada and is quite good!

I’ve been drafted There’s just something about Bones McCoy in The Motion Picture, standing on the transporter pad that he hates so much, grumbling at Kirk about getting drafted back into Starfleet, complaining like a cantankerous old coot about all the renovations made to his medical bay, all while wearing the most disco of civilian attire that is just plain charming.

I choose the danger While we found it a biiiit presumptuous for Spock to cram his katra into McCoy in The Wrath of Khan, it allows for some just plain great DeForest Kelley acting in The Search for Spock, so we can kinda forgive the violation. All movie long, McCoy gets to act like he’s mildly possessed by Spock, and then bravely face the fal-tor-pan ceremony that could be dangerous to humans. “Hell of a time to ask.”

What is this, the Dark Ages? While it could be seen as a blatant infringement of the Temporal Prime Directive to give a kidney pill to the woman on dialysis in The Voyage Home, you’ve just gotta love it when Starfleet doctors take matters into their own hands for the sake of a patient. Does the Hippocratic Oath trump the prime directive? Probably not, but McCoy is a hero to that woman regardless.

Not long after, they found a cure Sometimes Star Trek just doesn’t deserve DeForest Kelley, whose acting chops are frequently the best on the show, in our humble opinions. And the debated worst of the TOS films actually has some legitimately great McCoy moments – watching him euthanize his father only to learn a cure has been later found in The Final Frontier is such a moving scene that we really feel for.

Aside from a touch of arthritis… Only Leonard McCoy could get away with cracking a joke during his conspiracy trial prosecuted by relentless Klingons, as he does in The Undiscovered Country. And he even gets a couple of laughs out of the spectating Klingons in the audience, which may make up for getting convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Take that, Chang!

—

Worst Moments

I was thinking about the buffalo The very first introduction of McCoy in “The Man Trap” sees him doing some pretty irrational things. How is Plum’s mind so clouded that he can’t see Nancy for what she really is, especially when she’s literally sucking the salt out of the captain? And it’s an emotional scene, but I still can’t forgive McCoy for killing the M-113 creature, a sentient being and the last of its kind.

Don’t peek! Something rubbed us the wrong way about Bones’s flirting with yeoman Barrows in “Shore Leave.” Maybe it’s the age gap. Maybe it’s that they didn’t have a ton of chemistry. Maybe it’s that we ship him and Natira way more. Or maybe it’s that when she asks him not to watch her change, his response is “My dear girl, I am a doctor. When I peek, it’s in the line of duty.” Gross, doc.

Two drops of cordrazine can save a man's life Every so often, we really question Dr. McCoy’s doctoring skills and how his shenanigans wouldn’t fly in later series. And as much as it serves as the impetus for one of the best TOS episodes, being careless enough to inject oneself with a hundred times the normal dose of cordrazine in “The City on the Edge of Forever” – time ripples or not! – is just plain ineptitude.

You are out of line… sir. McCoy says in “The Doomsday Machine” that he hasn’t had time to run an examination on Decker to declare him medically or psychologically unfit to command. Well, why not, doctor?! If in “The Deadly Years,” we had time to hold a trial about Kirk being too senile to command, you surely have the authority to order the commodore to a checkup. You’re the CMO for chrissakes!

I’m a doctor, not an escalator Everything McCoy does on Capella IV in “Friday’s Child” is very strange to me. a) Why had McCoy been there when these people are still in primitive stages? b) Why didn’t McCoy TELL Grant that drawing his phaser would get him killed? c) What fetishist wrote the slap fight with the pregnant woman? This whole incident was just eyebrow raising, one of McCoy’s specialties!

A total resentment towards women See what I mean about Bones not understanding doctoring sometimes? A woman crewmember makes a mistake that bonks Scott on the noggin, so McCoy diagnoses Scott with misogyny in “Wolf in the Fold,” and prescribes a trip to a brothel. That was a thing that happened. What incel wrote this nonsense? Sometimes, Star Trek, your being written in the sixties really shows.

They reproduce bisexually Another weird medical gaff McCoy makes is stating that the tribbles reproduce bisexually in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Someone on the writing team apparently had no idea what that word means and it resulted in making McCoy just sound incompetent. The tribbles reproduce asexually, and their being born pregnant is what Bones was trying to relay when he flubbed it hard.

I think I left it in Bela’s office Not only did McCoy NOT get to play dress up in gangster clothes like Kirk and Spock in “A Piece of the Action” (what a waste; he would have looked great!), but the button at the end of the episode reveals that he’s left his communicator on Sigma Iotia! Well. Go and get it, nincompoop! That’s cultural contamination! Beam it up! Amateurs, I swear to Okmyx.

…you pointed-eared hobgoblin! Most of our worst McCoy moments have been a bit tongue-in-cheek until now, but you do have to admit that McCoy’s constant stream of casual racism at Vulcans is absolutely problematic. And as much as we credit the beautiful jail scene in “Bread and Circuses” (as I already did above), it’s also the time that he called Spock a “pointed-eared hobgoblin” and that’s not okay. The rest of that scene is still great though.

Will I become like Chekov, doctor? Okay, doc, I know everyone’s going mildly nuts in “The Tholian Web” because of the space crazies, but Uhura’s claim that she saw the captain should have been taken seriously. It was a symptom no one else had displayed. You already knew Kirk was vanishing and reappearing. And later you take Scott seriously when he makes the same claim. Justice for Uhura!

They've lost confidence in you We mentioned this episode in our Spock coverage, but it bears repeating. Everything was out of place in “The Tholian Web,” and McCoy was in rare form being extra racist to Spock the whole time. Even if it’s for good reason (Spock is terrible at command!), McCoy comes off as petty, emotional, and cruel all episode long and that’s not the kind of light-hearted ribbing he usually gives Spock.

It tastes just fine One final blundering McCoy moment comes in The Animated Series episode “The Eye of the Beholder.” “The water is too pure,” according to Spock, before McCoy reveals that it tastes fine. What are you doing drinking untested water on a planet where people have disappeared, bonehead? And getting crushed by a dragon somehow? What is this, amateur hour?

— This blogpost is dead, Jim! We know Bones is a doctor, not an engineer, so fittingly next week we’ll make sure to aim our character spotlight at an engineer! Join us for our celebration of all things Montgomery Scott here on the blog, and also in our continued watchthrough of all Trek over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast. You can also hail us over on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe don’t keep your scalpels mounted above the biobed, doc. Just a thought.

[ichayalovesyou]

Maybe I’m just a glass half full guy that sounds like a broken record. But oh BOY what if I told you I feel like all the Chapel/Spock stuff happening in SNW isn’t a invalidation/detriment to Spock’s relationship with Kirk but in fact makes in BETTER?

Every time I see Spock and Chapel have chemistry together it reminds me of cinematic parallels between Jim & Spock. In fact I’ve made a gif set about it! And I’ll honestly probably make more!

As a matter of fact all I could think about when Spock was staring all sad at wounded Chapel in sickbay was basically the SAME damn scene after Jim gets stabbed in Journey To Babel.

Or like, any number of times Jim or Spock moped yearningly around in sickbay when the other was gravely injured. It’s classic sappy shippy nonsense, they already did it with Kirk, that’s in the future. And given the vibes Chapel & Spock have on-screen in TOS (especially in The Naked Time, Amok Time, and Return To Tomorrow! Which also each have incredibly emotionally charged scenes with Jim as well) all this drama makes sense!

I’m personally taking it as affirmation that Spock & Jim have the same type of chemistry in TOS that Spock used to have with Chapel in SNW before the inevitable drama that’ll end in Spock suppressing his humanity and Christine getting engaged to somebody else.

Maybe I’m just a sucker for doomed romance (and Spock’s getting a 2 for 1 deal lmfao) It’s all very “Someone Like You by Adele” if you ask me and frankly I’m super here for it!

[thewomancallednova]

I watched "Amok Time" today and was really suprised by how well SNW fits with this episode.

Spock dreaming of Chapel (unprompted) and his response to her "My name is Christine" ("Yes, I know, Christine") works really well with their past relationship. His line "It would be illogical for us to protest against our natures" also feels (retroactively) reminiscent of SNW.

Gia Sandhu really did a great job with T'Pring, her mannarism and style in SNW really connects her to TOS T'Pring. The soul-sharing ritual in "Spock Amok" also fits a ritual Spock describes here, "One touches the other in order to feel each other's thoughts. In this way our minds were locked together, so that at the proper time, we would both be drawn to Koon-ut-kal-if-fee," although it is implied to have taken place at age 7. Their whole "Explain:" and "Specify:" thing from the SNW pilot also originated here. One minor weird point is Spock looking at a childhood picture of T'Pring, as if he hadn't seen her since, or doesn't have access to more recent pictures. It is of course quite possible that T'Pring doesn't like having her picture taken or that Spock burned everything in the break-up, but it's probably the most apparent contradiction.

Interestingly Uhura does not recognize T'Pring, but upon looking at Memory Alpha it seems like they haven't met in SNW either (Uhura is absent in "The Serene Squall", T'Pring only interacts with Spock and Pike in "Strange New Worlds", Uhura is only involved in the Chapel part of "Charades" in "Spock Amok" she only sees T'Pring in Spock's body, so she wouldn't know)

This will definitely by an interesting rewatched once SNW is actually over (among "Arena" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")

Also Kirk's line about how Spock "never mentioned that his family was this important" is much more funny after "Journey to Babel" and Star Trek V and all of Discovery :D

[hakka84]

Meta: (half)Vulcan's temperature

@jennelikejennay interesting meta reminded me that I never shared here on Tumblr the meta I wrote about Spock's temperature back in 2011. So here it is. Copy/pasted from Livejournal.

----

To be hot or not to be hot? This is the question.

Ok, I'll be serious: your host here has finally found the answer to one of the most controversial things in the Star Trek K/S fandom: Is Spock's temperature higher than a human's? The answer is in TOS so I'll play with pure canon here: no need to read books or such but just watching closely the series itself. I'm sure I'm not the first one to notice but... hey, repeating doesn't hurt, especially when people keep going on about Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual being not canon.

Evidence n°1: Dagger of the Mind

Spock isn't seen near a monitor's biobed except as witness of Van Gelder's apparent craziness. But let's take a good look to the values in the monitors when Van Gelder is on the biobed. Don't mind the actual arrows, as the human isn't really healthy at the moment, but look at the values' scale: we can disregard all the others as we don't need them. Take a look at the brain's waves if you like but save only the temp, the first one on the left.

On my dvd player on tv this work was easier because of an useful zooming function but, thanks to the power of aleniakalain's dvd, I hope this cap will work for you too: I'll help you.

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Evidence n°2: Naked time.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Joe Tormolen's readings, just to see how a healthy human reads.

Let's have a better look at the readings

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Evidence n°3: Naked time

Spock is healthy, Bones makes us sure of that. By the way, how hot is Nimoy in the black undershirt? Let's take a look at the readings. Bear in mind that these are Spock's average readings, when he's not influenced or under disease.

As you may see quite well, Spock's reading of temperature is quite under the green line, somewhere between 33 and 34°. At a rough guess the double arrows are marking 33.7/8. Spock's brain waves are far above the average.

So… canon speaks: Vulcans (and Spock) are colder than humans and Bones line about "that green ice-water you call blood" isn't a pipe dream.

There are two others times where we can see a Vulcan's reading but they can't be taken into account because in both of them the Vulcan wasn't really health.

Mirror, Mirror: Mirror Spock is, to Bones words, “dying” and all the lines are fucked up: I keep the brains waves as base and when these change too much then I consider the readings null for this little essay.

Journey to Babel: Sarek's readings. His temperature is higher than Spock's but he is under surgeon and all his readings are scrambled. Again, I can't really consider them reliable.

Anyway, canon says quite clearly that Spock isn't hot but cold. We're speaking of two C°, nothing excessive, but that’s it. It may have no biological foundations and you may say it has no sense at all: I can agree. However, Star Trek (TOS, in this case) made us quite used to biological nonsense. If a brain can be removed from its rightful body to then be put there again without any damage, if androids can be infused with a human's "pattern", if one's soul can be transferred in lightning globes (and so on), then we cannot really be squeamish on a simple change of temperature, right?

I know this sounds like a minor thing but since I've read that bit about Vulcan's temperature on Memory Alpha[memory-alpha.org/wiki/Vulcan#Medical_conditions] I have been curious to know why many people insisted on still writing Spock as "hotter". The old school is quite frankly excused as they had no captures to work on (later it came VHS but really, you can't read tiny bits on a recorded video). Recently I raised a geek discussion about it on Deviant Art and I've been quite puzzled by the replies (being cooler not biologically explainable, the book being written without scientific basis and all). They all had their reasons and they weren't just saying "it's this because I want it!" - hell, that's what I love about this fandom: things are discussed! - but I entered one of my stubborn mode... and I can be quite stubborn if I want to.

Then aleniakalain came to my house and brought the dvds... when watching naked time I jumped from the couch (killing her in the process), almost hit my head on the screen (blame the carpet) and zoomed until I found the answer. Then I searched a better view of the monitor for better reference and so on.

This's the result of half an hour spent with aleniakalain searching the right captures! Hope that helps clearing the issue!

*      *      *

Addition n°1: What this makes of us K/S shippers

verizonhorizon's comment reminded me that, originally back in January when I got home from vacation with my First Officeraleniakalain, I wanted to add my two cents about what happens to K/S bed scenes.

Ok, we have Spock who's colder - a little bit - and we have a room hotter than usually - for keep Spock warm because we don't want for our favorite half-Vulcan to have his pointed cute ears drop off. We have also a cute quilt with a little Enterprises' pattern, because our Vulcan likes to sleep under blankets. Logically our hot Captain Sexypant would die in a pool of sweat, right? But, what if perhaps Spock, being cooler, helps our snuggle-ish Jim from feeling like during a sauna session? Hugging Spock could give him the little cold he needs to feel right even in a warm room and under a blanket (even if I'm sure he ends up out of said blankets in the middle of the night).

Basically when Spock is made hotter we have a snuggle-ish Jim with his personal warmer while Spock endured having cold feet and a... well, cooler against himself. We just turned this upside down and is now Jim who has to be the man with the woman's cold feet and hands against his body in automatic search for warmth. XD

.  .  .

Addition n°2: Does this make sense? Again verizonhorizon, who points out that has no sense having a cooling system overworking to keep blood cold in a hot room (well, not these same words... :P). This makes me think, and it's probably the only issue that is still unclear in this matter. As far as I remember (and my mind has more holes than Gruyere cheese), in the series (TOS) nobody says Vulcans need higher temperatures. We know they live on a desert planet and the climate is freaking hot when Kirk jumps on the Kal-if-ee wagon. But, if we keep the desert reference, usually during night the temperature considerably drops. Perhaps the only logical explanation could be found seeing how desert animals' inner system work. Off course I'm not speaking about scorpions or snakes, but mammals like meerkats, foxes and such. This may start a great discussion! Unfortunately, I'm not expert enough to examine datas about these animals... anyway I can provide what I found.

Meerkats have a temperature similar to humans' (36.3ºC / 97.3ºF). They have an efficient ability to regulate temperature and, living in such harsh climate, they have a lower metabolic rate than their cousins living in other parts of the world, allowing them to live with less water and food. Their oxygen consumption is 42% below the value expected from body mass (Vulcan has a thinner atmosphere than Earth - if I remember right - but at least I'm sure there is less oxygen there and Kirk has difficulties to breath right).

Fennex foxes have a temperature of 38.2˚C (100.8˚F), but they are typically nocturne animals and during the day they live in deep dens under the sand to protect themselves from hot climate of desert's day. They are also provided with large ears (*coff coff* Spock?) to dissipate heat.

Camels vary between 34°C to more than 40°C, depending of how much they can dissipate the heat through evaporation. If they have free access to water they tend to have lower temperatures.

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Addition n°3: Cold or hot? Both? alliegator as an interesting hypothesis. I'm quoting her, because there's not need for me to elaborate.

"I'm no biologist, but it is my personal head canon that Vulcans are both hotter AND colder than humans. My science-fictiony, pseudo-xenobiology reasoning that would actually fit with the above source: Vulcans have a normal core body temperature (91 F) lower than humans (98.6 F). Humans lose heat through their skin and extremities, so the surface of the skin can be much cooler than the core temp. Now I see Vulcans with their fast pulse as having a very efficient body heat regulation system, so possibly their surface skin temperature is much closer to their core temperature.

"So, theoretically, if a Human (98 F core temp) were to walk up to a Vulcan (91 F core temp) and touch them, to the Human (estimate 80 F hand skin temp) the Vulcan (estimate 87 F hand skin temp) would feel warm. Even though the Vulcan's core temp is lower than Human, the Human's skin temp is lower than the Vulcan's."

.  .  .

Ok, off-topic conclusions: 1) I feel a trekkie and I always hated people (a Star Wars' fan I'm friend of) who wasted time to search for things the canon left unclear or making essays about "no it's like this" and "what if...?"... 2) I've done again a biology little research because of Star Trek, the first being about wolves/canines and feline reproduction - you don't wanna ask believe me... 3) I have now in my mind's eye the disturbing image of meerkat!Vulcans standing at meerkat!Spock's failed wedding... The Lion King can ruin an innocent life!

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - The Original Series S2

Originally posted on Twitter 26 October 2020 - 2 December 2020

Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, STX, and TOS Season 1, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Amok Time: After 29 episodes and some contradictory continuity, we finally get the first concrete details on Mr. Spock and the Vulcan species. A classic fight scene rounds out a strong start to Season 2. 8/10

Who Mourns for Adonais?: A decent early Season 2 entry. The giant green space hand is iconic, but the meat of the story rises above. Thanks to this episode, it became tradition that chief engineers on the starships Enterprise can't catch a break in the romance department. 7/10

The Changeling: A dry run of sorts for the superior Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The second time Kirk talks a computer to death, and it's a slow burn to the climax. 6/10

Mirror, Mirror: One of the most enduring concepts across Trek's 50+ year history is the Mirror Universe. This is still one of the best Mirror Universe tales, simply for its originality and focus. 9/10

The Apple: A Prime Directive debate and some red shirt massacres forms the crux of this otherwise forgettable episode. Definitely not one I'd revist on a whim. Not terrible, just mediocre. 5/10

The Doomsday Machine: This one and "Balance of Terror" jockey back and forth for #1 on my list of the best TOS episodes. William Windom's performance is superb, the titular device is scary (I hid behind the sofa when I watched this one as a kid), and the score is iconic. 10/10

Catspaw: Star Trek and Halloween don't go very well together. Even though this has an ostensibly scientific explanation, it still reeks of magic and sorcery. It is goofy, that's why it gets 4/10.

I, Mudd: This one starts slow but turns into a classic comedy by the end. Carmel is back as Mudd, though the portrayal of his wife is problematic at best. 7/10

Metamorphosis: This poignant love story with a solid sci-fi hook just clicks for me. It’s not the best but it just works. 9/10

Journey to Babel: Season 2 is definitely Spock-focused, and those episodes have not disappointed. This is a classic for good reason: action, pathos, humor, world-building. 10/10

Friday’s Child: Tonal problems keep this one from joining the ranks of the true classics. It’s serviceable but dreadfully slow in the middle. The Capellans are a fascinating race, it’s too bad we don’t see them again. 6/10

The Deadly Years: Impressive 60s aging makeup aside, this one doesn’t do much for me. The old age jokes are stereotypes, though the use of elderly actors in the first act is ingenious. And a rare bit of serialization with a callback to “The Corbomjte Maneuver” is welcome. 6/10

Obsession: Kirk gets some backstory and dimension in a tight, tense script. This is a well-paced acting showcase for Shatner. 9/10

Wolf in the Fold: This would have made for an excellent Halloween episode. A gaseous/energy being is easier to believe than the “Catspaw” transmuter, oddly enough. The line about women being easier to scare, and the Kara dance, are typical ugly 60s sexism, unfortunately. 7/10

The Trouble with Tribbles: A fuzzy thing happens on the way to Sherman’s Planet. A classic that thoroughly earns the title, it’s endlessly rewatchable and filled to the brim with classic gags, one-liners, and scenes for the entire cast. 10/10

The Gamesters of Triskelion: Angelique Pettyjohn’s look is iconic, but not much else about this episode is. A huge letdown after the preceding episode. 5/10

A Piece of the Action: An excellent palate cleanser after the preceding dud. Really wish we could follow up on the Iotians some day. I forgot how funny this episode is. 9/10

The Immunity Syndrome: Season 2 giveth, and Season 2 taketh away. The concept of a spaceborne lifeform is compelling, but this is otherwise a dog of a show. 4/10

A Private Little War: when the show tackles the Vietnam allegory, it sings. When it focuses on Nona, it falters under the weight of 60s’ sexism and bigotry. 7/10

Return to Tomorrow: A different take on the non-corporeal beings trope that hangs around TOS like an albatross, this one is more nuanced and subtle than most. Come for Nimoy’s delightful villain performance, stay for the poignant denouement. 8/10

Patterns of Force: An examination of how easy it is for a society to fall in love with fascism misses the mark by claiming power and not racism was the animus of Nazism, much like Confederate apologists claim the Civil War was about rights and not slavery. 0/10

By Any Other Name: The Kelvans’ powers are frightening, but it’s an episode I just can’t get excited about, except for Scotty drinking one under the table. 6/10

The Omega Glory: Gene, your über-patriotism is showing. Another late Season 2 letdown. 3/10

The Ultimate Computer: TOS has a serious distrust of powerful computers/AI that fades somewhat in the later series. Daystrom is a tragic figure, and the horror of the murder of the Excalibur’s crew is effectively conveyed. 8/10

Bread and Circuses: The social commentary is on point, but two parallel Earth stories in three weeks is somewhat tiresome. Still, an entertaining yarn. 7/10

Assignment: Earth: I’m ambivalent on this back door pilot. I like the Gary Seven character, and I normally enjoy time travel stories, but it just doesn’t do a whole lot for me. It’s not excellent, it’s not bad, it just is. 6/10

And with that, Season 2 of TOS comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 6.77/10. Highest score(s): "The Doomsday Machine," "Journey to Babel," "The Trouble with Tribbles." Lowest score(s): "Patterns of Force"

[electronickingdomfox]

"Mindshadow" review

One of these days, Spock will do the logical thing and get an all-risk insurance for his brain...

Novel from 1986, by J. M. Dillard. Okay, this story is quite messy, as it tries to put together a pastiche of plot threads and themes that may or may not be that cohesive. It borrows heavily from TOS episodes, from The Enterprise Incident to Journey to Babel (even a bit from Wolf in the Fold). There are definitely a few plot holes and some silliness. The espionage/murder plot is sometimes too convoluted to follow. Also, some names look like typos: Transporter technician "Lyle"? (I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be Kyle), the penal colony of "Ebla Two"? (should have been Elba Two), "Chekhov"????... In terms of absurdity, it's similar to that other novel, "Black Fire" (and yes, there's even a pirate Spock in here too). But just as it happened with that book... I actually liked this one as well. It's a glorious mess, alright.

The most serious (and somber) thread is that of Spock receiving brain damage, and his struggles to recover his memories and Vulcan mental disciplines. The abuse he suffers from medical malpractice, his frustration with his impaired learning, his loving (and sometimes painful) relationship with his family, or Uhura's tender attempts to help him through music... Those elements have probably the greatest emotional impact in the novel, and are actually pretty good in themselves. This is also, at core, a "triumvirate" novel, with strong character drama between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and a focus on their closeness.

On the other hand, there's another, more ridiculous drama: both Kirk and McCoy fall in love with the same Mary Sue, and hilarity tragedy ensues. For his part, Kirk seems pretty callous in his seduction of this woman, as he doesn't even like her all that much; at times, it almost looks as if he just wanted to piss McCoy off (isn't there really ANY other woman available for him!?). While McCoy, who truly loves the Mary Sue, ends up looking incredibly pitiful, desperate and, well, downright pathetic. However, out-of-character as it is, I ended up getting some guilty pleasure from all of it, as in "Let's see Kirk's next shitty move and what happens next..." Anyway, even though the woman likes the two of them, she ends up realizing they're both just too gay for Spock, to the surprise of nobody.

Spoilers under the cut:

The planet Aritani has suffered recent raids from cloaked vessels, so Kirk is negotiating with the natives to offer Federation help against the attacks, despite the natives’ reticence towards technology. They erect a shield around the planet to prevent the fighter ships entering the atmosphere, or trap below it those that may be cloaked right now. Then Spock goes alone to investigate the nearby mountains, since he found valuable minerals that could be the objective of the raiders. However, when Spock is late to report, Kirk goes after him… And finds out he has fallen off a cliff and has gravely injured his head. McCoy’s assessment is that Spock has suffered extensive damage to the left hemisphere, so his logic, language and memory will be impaired, and the doctor has many doubts about his eventual recovery; they’d need a neuropsychologist specialized on Vulcans.

Meanwhile, Kirk authorizes shore leave on the surface of Aritani, as several hours have passed without sighting any fighter (the reasoning being that, by now, they’d have run out of fuel to keep their cloaks up). Well, if you ask me, I don’t think it’s the most appropiate time and place for shore leave; and sure enough, a little while later a group of enemy vessels appears out of nowhere and starts attacking the crew on leave. Kirk and Scott can’t understand how that’s possible, and only see two options: either the fighters have an improved cloaking device that allows them to stay hidden for longer, or they somehow managed to penetrate the shields. Actually, there’s a third option, which they never even consider: they’ve been beaming people down to the planet for shore leave! That means they’ve been lowering the shields ALL THE TIME!! Duh… Kirk is having the worst day of his life, and on top of that, the Aritanians refuse further help from Starfleet, after their failure to protect them. Kirk’s orders, however, are to stay in the vicinity.

In sickbay, Uhura comes to visit an injured friend and starts singing for him. Then, upon hearing the music, Spock finally shows some reaction, and is capable of calling her name and asking for songs, as his right hemisphere (supposedly associated with emotions and art) is intact. During the following days, Spock will make some progress thanks to Uhura’s company. Apart from that, a new neuropsychologist is assigned to the Enterprise to study Spock’s case: Dr. Mary Sue Emma Saenz. Five minutes later, both McCoy and Kirk fall head over heels for her (to the point that McCoy is jealous even when Kirk says “Hello” to her). Emma also shows an unusual physical strength when she beats Kirk in their combat trainings. Nonetheless, it turns out that Emma… is actually Dr. Evil!Mary Sue!! She forces a mind-meld with Spock while alone with him, and extracts some important information about what he saw in Aritani, before erasing his memory of the meld. Her diagnostic is that Spock will probably recover in the areas of language and amnesia. But he has lost the Vulcan mind rules to shield himself away from others’ emotions, which he can now receive telepathically at all times. This could turn him into a violent individual, and Emma suggests restraints and an experimental medication: neodopazine.

In the bridge, Chekov manages to locate a decloaked enemy vessel, and they capture it with a tractor beam along one of the pirates. The raider turns out to be Romulan, but he denies the existence of any special device to penetrate shields, and Scotty doesn’t find anything of the like upon dismantling the fighter. Kirk was about to interrogate the prisoner, when they discover he’s been vaporized. Someone stunned the guard, then removed the brig force field and killed the prisoner, trying to make it look like a suicide. Security doesn’t have a clue about the killer (though the reader certainly can suspect who is it…). If this wasn’t enough, Spock is found in bed with his wrists sliced, as if he had also attempted suicide. Spock denies having done so, and says someone tried to murder him, but he doesn’t remember who. Emma is furious and gaslights Spock, saying he’s imagining murderers to cover up his suicide attempt. McCoy, however, takes Spock’s side and has a violent discussion with Emma, who ends up admitting she just wants to help Spock. Of course, the situation is very romantic, so they kiss. Later that night, Kirk is having trouble to sleep (no wonder) and goes to McCoy’s cabin for some pills (you see, he can’t go to sickbay, no; if he doesn’t sleep, then McCoy can’t either). Then Kirk finds out that McCoy is… sleeping with Emma!! Kirk doesn’t like that.

Since Spock believes his only option of recovering the mind rules is returning to Vulcan, he’s sent there in a shuttle with Scotty and Chapel. The shuttle has been sabotaged, and they crash land on Vulcan, though just with minor injuries. Spock is fine, so he leaves Scotty with Chapel at the hospital, and walks to his home town on foot. During the following weeks, he will stay at his parents’ home, trying to relearn the Vulcan disciplines with a Kolinahr master. His progress is really slow, though, and with mounting frustration, he realizes the neodopazine, far from helping, seems to be deteriorating his mind. Spock also meets T'Pala, a girl who's staying with his parents while she studies to enter the Vulcan Diplomatic Corps. T'Pala has many things in common with Spock: she's also half human, and has difficulty adapting to Vulcan life (even moreso than Spock, since she grew up in Earth). Sarek's disappointment with her is a mirror for Spock's own youth.

In the Enterprise, Scotty is put in the brig as the main suspect for the Romulan's murder (of course, he's later cleared of charges). For his part, Kirk hurts his shoulder while training with Emma. She takes him to her quarters to treat the injury, gives him an analgesic, and then they kiss. McCoy waits for Emma the whole evening, grows increasingly suspicious, and finally sees her leaving Kirk's cabin. After that, he mopes for a couple of days, until Kirk visits him with a bottle of moonshine ("here, I stole your girlfriend, but you can get drunk with this..."). Kirk, however, says he doesn't remember what he did with Emma. And Emma confirms that Kirk just passed out because of the analgesic; she's attracted to Kirk and kissed him, but nothing else happened. McCoy is happy with this (he doesn't ask for much, right?) and suddenly he's like "Hey, you slept with me a couple of times. Where's my wedding ring!? I'm a decent boy!". Emma says she'll leave soon, so no, no wedding...

After this, the Enterprise is tasked with bringing a bunch of ambassadors to Vulcan, to discuss the acceptance of Aritani into the Federation. This part is a bit dull and drags too much, in my opinion. During the journey, more suspicious incidents take place: one ambassador is killed, another is badly hurt, and an explosion leaves the Enterprise without warp drive. It seems someone doesn't want Aritani to join the Federation. Then, Kirk discovers that Emma has been making unauthorized transmissions, but she assures him she's been working for Starfleet Intelligence all this time. An Admiral confirms this point, so Kirk is satisfied.

Back in Vulcan, Spock has stopped taking the neodopazine, and experiments a clear improvement. Finally, he's able to recover the mind rules, and his memories from Aritani return to him in dreams. There was something really important he needed to tell Kirk, and now that the Enterprise is near Vulcan, Spock opens a transmission to the ship. But just before he can say anything, an assassin breaks into his house, injures Sarek, and tries to slice Spock's wrists again. He wants to make it look as Spock murdering Sarek, then killing himself. T'Pala intervenes at the last moment, vaporizing the assassin with a phaser. Then, she confesses that Romulans approached her to leak info about Spock, but she couldn't comply with their murderous plans. Having failed at entering the Diplomatic Corps, T'Pala doesn't have much more to live for, and she kills herself too.

Sarek and Spock recover in a hospital from the attack. And Kirk and McCoy band together against Emma to go visit him. Then Spock tells everything. What he saw at Aritani was some fighter vessels beaming up from below the earth, where the Romulans must have an underground base (that's why the atmospheric shield was useless). Knowing that they'd kill him, Spock decided to escape by jumping from the cliff, where he damaged his head. Much to McCoy's surprise, Spock also shows him a medical article written by Emma, explaining all the damaging effects of neodopazine in Vulcan brains. McCoy confronts Emma about the use of such dangerous drug on Spock, just when she was leaving for her next assignment. But she stuns him (and a bunch of other people) and escapes the ship, confirming their suspicions.

In the last part, the Enterprise returns to Aritani to destroy the Romulan base once and for all. Kirk gets again that surgery to look Romulan (as in The Enterprise Incident) and infiltrates the compound with Spock (who's dressed as a Romulan pirate, while McCoy wants to pierce his ear). However, they're captured by a Romulan officer, that Kirk recognizes as Emma. Her real name is Tanirius, and actually, she wasn't Evil!Mary Sue at all. She just carried out the Praetor's orders as a cover-up, all the while working for Starfleet and a group of Romulan rebels, to destroy the underground base. She gave Spock the neodopazine to avoid killing him, once she understood how important he was for McCoy and Kirk. This plot twist really took me by surprise, but that's in part because... well, it doesn't make much sense. You know, despite the novel trying to present Emma as eventually good, she's just not! Not only did she try to kill Spock SEVERAL times, but she was far more efficient at carrying out the Romulans' plans than what was strictly necessary!! (whatever, maybe she was just jealous of Spock). Emma helps them to deactivate the cloaking device of the base, and then stays behind to destroy it whole. Kirk and Spock beam up to the Enterprise in time, while an underground explosion shakes the planet. In the aftermath, Aritani accepts the Federation's help, now that they're free of Romulans. And Spock tries to console McCoy saying that some vessels fled the base in time, and Emma could be among the survivors. Kirk sees through his bullshit, though, and wonders if Spock is just lying because he also has affection for McCoy, much to Spock's indignation.

McSpirk Meter: 9/10*. The Kirk/Spock angle is more evident. When Spock is injured, Kirk just can't think about anything else. He goes constantly to sickbay to check his state, argues with McCoy, is irritable with everyone and everything... Kirk even tries to reach the catatonic Spock through a mind link, to no avail. And once he gets a replacement First Officer, Kirk is unreasonably hostile to him, just because he's not Spock. It's also said several times that Kirk is the person that knows Spock better in the entire world. Another remarkable scene happens when Spock is leaving for Vulcan. Spock can feel Jim's emotions and pain at his departure, and his repressed impulse to touch him, so Spock relents and takes his hand. As for McCoy, his care for Spock comes rather as medical concern, but Emma sees through him quite early. She says he's too emotionally involved with the patient to be of any help. And despite the fact they're in a relationship, it seems that all of McCoy and Emma's conversations revolve around Spock, which causes continous tensions between them. At one point, she states the facts clearly: "I have risked myself for your friend because you loved him". Effectively, the reason she gives for not killing Spock outright, is that McCoy and Kirk cared about him too much. The ending lines have Kirk reminding Spock of this fact, and wondering if Spock also returns McCoy's affections.

Apart from this, there's a certain tension between Kirk and McCoy. Before the whole problem with Emma begins, they're reminiscing their shore-leaves together, and McCoy is said to grin lasciviously at Jim. Also, when Emma tells Kirk that she and McCoy are having dinner together, McCoy starts blushing, and doesn't understand why such a simple statement embarrasses him so much. Later, Kirk comes to McCoy's cabin in the middle of the night, and finds him basically naked (wearing just a short tunic), which almost prompts a sarcastic whistle from him. He attempts to enter the cabin (you know, with naked Bones in there and all) and feels offended when the doctor doesn't let him come inside. At last, after they reconcile, McCoy comments that Kirk looks dashing in his Romulan pirate uniform. There's also something in Kirk's behavior about Emma, that almost seems like a disgruntled ex trying to ruin the doctor's new relationship. After all, Kirk doesn't even find Emma all that attractive at first.

[onekisstotakewithme]

PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT 90S SKI AU AND AMBASSADOR SPOCK AU

Yesss Prax, I'd be delighted to! 🥰🥺 both incredibly beloved AUs and both victim of my ADHD tendencies...

90s ski AU is pretty much what it sounds like. It's based on a conversation I had with Sarah (@thebreakfastgenie) ... last summer, holy shit lmao. Essentially, BJ and Peg are on vacation at a ski resort in Maine for the week between Christmas & New Year's, plus the first week of the next year. While on said ski vacation, they meet Hawkeye, and well... long story short, romance happens (or it would if I could finish the damn thing).

I love this draft soooo much (I had about 21k or so?) and it breaks my heart that I couldn't keep working on it. I hope I can get back to it someday with the same excitement and verve that the 21k had (seriously, even for a first draft, I did actually love what i was doing.)

Anyway. A snippet:

“You Californians… lily-livered, all of you.”

“Don’t include me in that lily-livered lot, Hawkeye, I’m from Oklahoma.”

“Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains?”

Peg scowls. “There’s nothing you can do about that joke, you just have to sit there and take it.”

BJ chuckles to himself. “I’d leave that alone, Hawkeye. Peg hates Oklahoma.”

“The state or the movie?”

Peg shrugs. “I can go either way.”

~

Ambassador Spock is under the cut because this post is already getting silly.

Ambassador Spock AU is inspired by my love of the TOS episode Journey to Babel (and my appreciation for my favourite grumpy bastard father figure, Sarek), and the plot is thus: Deliberations are being held on admitting a new planet into the Federation. Captain James Kirk is tasked with conveying Ambassador Sarek and his son Ambassador Spock to the neutral place where deliberations are being held... with a few adventures (and some romance!) along the way. Someday I'm going to finish this one, because I had some great ideas for it. And I love a spirk AU.

Snippet:

“What the hell kind of a place is this for a party?” he demands. “Any minute now I feel like I’m going to have to fight a gladiator!”

“Easy, Bones,” Jim says, feeling a headache coming on. “Although I must admit, it’s… certainly unique.”

“What do you think they do, bait humans?”

“Sehlats, actually,” Ambassador Spock says, appearing behind them.

“Ambassador, this is quite the party your father has arranged.”

Spock nods in acknowledgement, as Bones asks, “What in the devil is a sehlat?”

“It resembles a Terran bear,” Spock says, “With fangs.”

[lenievi]

if you're new here (and maybe started to follow me because of SNW), I tend to rewatch random TOS episodes quite often (it hasn't been happening for a while because I've been distracted, but I guess I always come back...) and I usually end up spamming when I do that, and it's typically Kirk related these days... (well for a year and a half tbh) and I do talk a lot about Kirk as a character, which includes the relationships with women in his life

I ship Kirk/McCoy and Spock/McCoy (I do not ship the one not listed).

It might not look like it, but my favourite character is actually McCoy. Kirk just... happened. And SNW has unfortunately given me more fodder...

I'm very canon oriented when talking about the show, but I'm not really stuck on one random line. (That's a lie, I'm very stuck on "And you haven't come to see us in four years, either." because everyone keeps ignoring it and thinks that Spock hasn't seen his father for 18 years by Journey to Babel... anyway lol)

I also absolutely love Sarek, so if you hate him, and I get into my Sarek moods, your time here might not be pleasant lol

anyway, enjoy your stay :D