#so no. Bones is not racist against Vulcans and he's not being racist to Spock

[youngpettyqueen]

every day im forced to see posts where people say that Bones is racist towards Spock and they clearly think its a hot take. when will we as a society move on from this. its been years. im tired.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

[skimblyspones]

Also re. The last post. I admit I feel a little weird and extra keen on explaining myself mostly bc I see the aromantic hcs usually applied to Spock and while I totally see where those are coming from, I personally read spock as kind of a hopeless romantic with a repression issue, even without factoring spones in.

Like. With Jim, he has dozens of failed romances and he's always sad but we never get much in the way of explanation besides "oh he has a greater love for the Enterprise" meanwhile with spock he keeps falling in love with Humans and enjoying the feeling but he can only let himself experience those feelings when under influences of drug flowers or weird time travel rules; a repeated facet of his character, and indeed of vulcans, is that their emotions are very much still there and as potent as any human's, but their physical strength is so much greater that they need to temper their emotional responses and, debatably, their very connection to their emotions. Add in Spock being half human and his inescapable racialization amongst both humans and vulcans, especially being half human while raised and taught on Vulcan, and you have a rather prime recipe for shame and repression, and to me that is where Spock's baggage is.

And the appeal of Spones becomes, then, how damn obsessed Bones seems to be with making spock emote. A lot of ppl read the dynamic as antagonistic, and I get where that comes from, but frankly I think a lot of the time Bones is the only one pushing back against the harmful mindset spock has locked himself into; imo, while Bones will paint with a broad brush and call vulcans unemotional, I don't think he fully believes that, if for no other reason than because he lives on a starship with one.

He's challenging spock on the latter's own assertions that Vulcans don't experience feelings, an assertion we know and are shown time and time again is bullshit. Frankly, to be able to sustainably temper your emotions with logic to the extent we see most other vulcans do it would likely require a pretty strong base connection with them. Not to get all CBT in here but as someone who benefitted greatly from DBT in terms of emotional response and behavior, you need to know and accept how you feel if you want to properly manage your response, and to me that's what it seems is probably what most vulcans actually do.

Spock does as well to some extent, but his experience as a half-human undoubtedly meant isolation from his peers, and a feeling of being uniquely indisposed to Vulcan culture, and overcorrecting from mindfulness into frequent repression.

And I think Bones picks up on that, bc he's friends with Jim who also tries to make himself experience what he just doesn't, in opposition to Spock who tries to stop experiencing what he just naturally feels. And while with Jim, it'd take him realizing for himself what he actually needs, something Bones can't really help with, when it comes to Spock they both know he's having these emotions. And like I think that's where spones ppl come at it differently than others, bc as we see it Bones isn't just bullying Spock bc he's a dick or paternalistic or racist or what have you; Bones is pushing back specifically against Spock's self destructive methods of emotional repression. He knows Spock isn't engaging in mindfulness so much as he is flat out refusing to acknowledge his emotions and emotional needs, and is trying to tough love him into acknowledging that. Whether you think he goes too far in it is up to personal interpretation, but it's my hc that Spock deciding to pursue Kholinar at the end of their 5 year mission was their breaking point pre movie-era make-up for a reason.

All that to say, for me personally, Spock having romantic attraction is an important part of his character when it comes time to dissect him, bc it is one of the most obvious narrative devices to highlight the conflict his character was built to embody between passion and the ideals of reason and detached rationality.

[merrysithmas]

Spock & medicine

Spock initially distrusts McCoy inherently bc he is a doctor. In TOS, Spock often mocks and doubts the field of medicine and this isn't a random offhanded trait given to him by the writers -- it tells loads about how he was likely treated by physicians on Vulcan for being a person of hybrid physiology. As a student of science, Spock should seemingly be respectful of the field of medicine but it is something he frequently derides. He often disparagingly refers to medicine as "potions" that make him sick or nauseous, prides himself for not needing medical attention, or ardently refuses medical examination. Spock's demeaning attitude towards medicine is one of the few (superficially) illogical opinions he never even attempts to hide. Theorizing about the potential history he has with Vulcan medicine (which would have engendered these opinions) is a little disturbing.

He is likely so intensely private with his body and mind, even inordinately so compared to other vulcans, because of the treatment he received by medical personnel on his home planet (who we can surmise belittled and embarrassed him over his physical or mental human traits). That would be intensely traumatizing for a child (as it is for anyone who doesn't fit into a perfect mold), especially a person that we know is sensitive like Spock- despite his successful dedication to his logical training.

His distrust of McCoy/medicine reflects McCoy's inherent (and granted far more racist) distrust of vulcans. But as he gets to know the doctor (and Nurse Chapel's) genuine kindness and selflessness towards him he grows less uncomfortable and less obstinate against Starfleet's medicine.

This is most noticeable in my favorite Spock and Bones moment- when he chooses McCoy to accompany him alongside Jim for his Pon Farr ritual on Vulcan. He is essentially displaying that he trusts and values his Human doctor's assessment and care of him over his Vulcan counterparts. McCoy is in fact one of his closest friends. He has come to accept McCoy's fundamental compassion for other lifeforms as genuine (despite their persistent disagreements). McCoy has helped to heal his friend Spock a little in this way.

In fact, Spock's faith in McCoy is proven well-earned as it is McCoy who saves Jim for Spock during Spock's much-dreaded pon farr in Amok Time (one of the series most famous subtextually gay episodes). McCoy proved what Spock felt: McCoy, the mistrusted medical man, is in fact worthy of trust even with this most private and (what Spock feels is a) most personal and alienating truth.

Which is a clear segue of course to the next topic. Spock's reticence towards medical institution is another way in which the vulcan is obviously queer-coded in any number of directions. It is another huge way in which he and Kirk share closeness and intimacy. His allowance and welcome of Jim's touch and care shows his astounding comfort with Jim- not only because of his inherent touch-averse nature borne from simply being Vulcan/a touch telepath, but because of his learned hesitance towards allowing others to examine his body and mind at close distance.

Jim is someone who he allows to give him physical affection, closeness, and love. To touch him and be touched. Guard down. No shame about his body or mind. Someone who he is comfortable with mentally, physically. Someone who has accepted him for who is he - neither one thing or another, but an "infinite combination of infinite diversity". Jim's inherent warmth, openness, and respect of Spock is evident in how comfortable they are with one another.

And Spock clearly loves him for that.

[koalas-koalas-everywhere]

It’s really something how, especially after the 2009 movies, but before that, too, the Star Trek TOS fandom will write Vulcans off as racist, xenophobic and bigoted at their root, a problem the society has at their core, even though it goes against their beliefs*, but will bend over backwards to explain away Spock’s distaste of McCoy and his “potions” that “turn his stomach” (some of those explanations including being studied, if I’m allowed the expression, inhumanely, as a science experiment, in Vulcan - although it seems like this intense research never even succeeded, since the usual explanation for the second issue is that most medicine for either species won’t work on his hybrid physiology and so McCoy’s just shooting in the dark, even though he’s clearly similar enough to a full Vulcan that 1) he has a Vulcan blood type, 2) he can donate blood to his father and 3) he’s similar enough to a full Vulcan to be similar enough to a similar species to use drugs designed for them**), totally ignoring how, when Spock says that in The Apple, McCoy answers with “Well, If your blood were red instead of green, you wouldn't have an upset stomach.” Like, “I am so sorry most if not all medicine I give you has unwanted and undesirable effects on you, have you considered being human?” 

You might say, “well, it could mean they got the human/Vulcan balance in the kind of medicine a hybrid like him would need wrong!” Nope, he specifically says he’d need red blood. “Could be he only brought down human medicine for that mission” one, and that’s not racist??? Two, Spock says all of McCoy’s “potions” turn his stomach. Either for some reason he only or mostly gets treated on away missions and Bones never brings anything suitable for a Vulcan (refer to point one), or there’s nothing aboard suitable for someone who doesn’t have “red blood” (... actually, refer to point one again). It just... really bothers me, because general consensus seems to be that Spock only finds acceptance once among humans and, while other reasons for this are paid lip service, at the end of the day most humans are shown as accepting while most Vulcans are shown as bigots, and the fault for his isolation seems to lie with the people who have IDIC as a main tenet and who reached out to humans in the first place (once they developed a warp drive, so it seems like they followed some sort of Prime Directive, created so that cultures would have the chance to develop some sort of identity before being met with and possibly swallowed by another one, showing, once again, a respect for diversity on their part)... but never on us, right?

(To be clear, while I don’t like it, necessarily, because I’m a TOS and Vulcan fan first, I’d never criticize AOS mainly fans for this attitude, since it’s just canon in those movies. Same for Disco, which borrowed mainly from those movies, because of intellectual property rights stuff or something like that, although who knows if they’d have done differently otherwise.)

*And this is not a comment I make about how it doesn’t make sense for fandom to believe this (aka, it’s not me saying “how can they be bigoted if their beliefs go against that?��) -  this hypocrisy on their part is often an essential part of how fandom and even recent canon interacts with Vulcans, because it leads to a select few of them, usually outworlders or others influenced by them, especially humans, having to point out those flaws and teach the rest of Vulcan society the true meaning of Surak’s tenets. 

**All of this is from Journey to Babel. In it, it’s revealed that Spock has T-negative blood, just like his father (although with some “human blood elements” in it that need to and can be filtered out), and that, to produce enough of it to donate to Sarek for his heart surgery, Spock has to take a drug meant for Rigelians... and it works. And that’s without getting into how, every time there’s something typical of Vulcans, it applies to Spock - telepathy, having no salt in his body, the second eyelids, the visors with which to look at a Medusan that only work on Vulcans, Pon Farr... I think people look at the whole half-human/half-Vulcan thing in a too literal way, not recognizing that, in his expressed DNA, and in where and how he was raised, Spock’s much more Vulcan than human (and that’s without getting into how... US- and neurotypical-centric the definition of “human behaviour” can get. Let’s have a toast to that one time the Star Trek fandom, despite multiple references to the contrary, convinced themselves that money doesn’t exist there because Kirk didn’t know what a dollar was).

[transxfiles]

I originally followed you for Lumberjanes and because you felt like a friend, but after seeing so much about Star Trek...I’m curious. What’s the premise and where can I watch it? (Explain it to me like you’d explain it to a child, I don’t watch live action TV)

I want to start out by saying that this ask is so sweet and it made my day, so thank you so much :D 

Star Trek is a bit hard to explain in a sense simply because there’s so much of it. I’m gonna stick to what I know (and what I post about) which is The Original Series (other people will abbreviate it to TOS, I abbreviate it to STOS bc I think of it as ‘Star Trek Original Series’) which came out in the 1960s, and I'll briefly explain Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST: TNG or just TNG), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), and Star Trek: Discovery (often simply referred to as Discovery, ST Disco, Disco, etc.) bc I post a bit abt them too, though not as much.

The Original Series is what I mainly watch. It’s about a crew of people from all over Earth (and some other planets, but mostly from Earth) who are traveling in a spaceship called the Enterprise. They’re supposed to be finding new worlds and species, but really they just fuck around and find out. Most of the time they don’t even follow basic lab safety, which gets them into many shenanigans that will have you yelling at the television abt how stupid they are. 

This is Captain Kirk. He’s a Human from Riverside, Iowa and his job on the ship is basically to be dumb and pretty. In a good way. He comes up with some good plans and some bad plans, but no matter what he’ll pretty much always divert an entire mission to save his First Officer, Spock. He’s a romantic who likes flowers and antique books, and doesn’t know what black holes are. 

This is Spock! He’s in charge of Science with a capital S (we don’t really know specifics, but he’s really smart...) and he’s Captain Kirk’s first officer. He’s the only main character who’s an alien - he’s half-Human, half-Vulcan, and was raised on Vulcan by his Vulcan father and Human mother. Vulcans are a species who, unlike Humans, follow a strict philosophy of logic, which means that Spock often appears emotionless and unfeeling to his Human coworkers. Every seven years after hitting puberty, he goes into a mating frenzy when this logic leaves him and he has to have sex or he’ll die. He really likes playing chess, hanging out with Captain Kirk, and the word ‘fascinating’. He does not like McCoy, which is reasonable, because McCoy is basically space racist.

This is McCoy, sometimes referred to by the nickname Bones. He’s the Chief Medical Officer of the ship, an old country doctor from Georgia, and it’s implied that he’s working in space because of his divorce back on Earth. He spends a lot of time with the main crew which will make you question who’s actually on ship taking care of the Medbay. He likes hyposprays (super fast space shots that work like a charm) and drinking hard liquor on the job. He’s an old friend of the Captain. He’s incredibly xenophobic; he does not get along with Spock, and often refers to Spock using words that in-universe are essentially slurs against Vulcans. 

These two guys are Sulu (on the left) and Chekov (on the right). They navigate the spaceship. Sulu likes fencing, botany, and messing with Chekov. He’s friends with everyone on the ship. At one point Space Madness causes Sulu to run through the ship with a fencing foil shirtless and cackling. Chekov’s Russian and won’t shut up about it. He claims that everything was invented in Russia, including but not limited to the book Alice In Wonderland and the invention of the Warp Drive. One of his best lines is “Oh yes, I’ll live, but I won’t enjoy it.” 

In this photo, we see Uhura (on the left) and Scotty (on the right). Uhura’s in charge the ship’s Communications Officer and is a xenolinguist, which means she’s a master of pretty much all known alien languages. She likes big earrings and has a beautiful singing voice. Scotty (on the right) is the ship’s Chief Engineer, who fixes all the problems when Kirk or aliens break the ship. He’s Scottish and you won’t ever forget it. He and Bones are probably drinking buddies.

This is Nurse Chapel. She runs the Medbay when Bones is dancing around on the Bridge or various alien planets. She’s pretty chill and has a little crush on Spock that sometimes causes problems. She and Uhura hang out sometimes.

And finally, this is Yeoman Rand. She and Sulu hang out sometimes. She also vibes with Uhura. I’m not really sure what her exact job is - she delivers food to people sometimes, but she also eats it when no one’s looking. She has the wackiest hairdo on the show. I love her so much.

As far as plot goes, in The Original Series, there isn’t any. They run around on alien planets and sometimes little paper mâché rocks are thrown at them from offscreen. Sometimes they fight Klingons, which are their main enemy (though that doesn’t happen a lot). Sometimes they end up on a planet that’s entirely composed of gangsters from the 1930s and 1940s, sometimes they end up on a planet that’s actually run by the Greek god Apollo, sometimes they end up on a planet but all the people on it are being eaten by space ravioli, sometimes they end up on a planet and a space ghost is killing people to eat their fear, etc. 

You can watch The Original Series on Netflix, and you can generally find copies of it in various Google Drive folders or on video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo. There are also six movies: The Motion Picture, The Wrath Of Khan, The Search For Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, and The Undiscovered Country. But really you can stop watching after The Voyage Home if you want.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is basically the first series but with more plot, and we have some more aliens plus an android in the mix. Also the characters aren’t nearly as stupid as they are in The Original Series, which makes for less yelling at the screen. (You can watch this on Netflix)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine focuses on a group of people who work on a space station instead of a spaceship. There are some humans in the mix, but this crew also has a bunch of aliens. There is a bunch of plot, and religion, and the aftermath of war and colonialism. (You can watch this on Netflix)

Star Trek: Discovery has the most plot, and follows Spock’s adopted sister, Michael Burnham, after she accidentally starts the war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. She ends up serving on a spaceship called the Discovery, where she starts working to discover the secrets of the ship and those who work on it. (You can watch this on CBS’s streaming service but it’s not worth it to get a streaming service just so you can watch one show so I recommend just buying the DVDs on sale at like, Target, if you really wanna see it).

Sorry this ended up being kinda long, I hope this is helpful! The main takeaway is that The Original Series is mostly just a bunch of science fiction short stories in TV episode format. 

[ichayalovesyou]

Broken Bow parts 1 & 2 (Live Reaction):

Ah, so we’re kicking off with smarting up Archer’s prejudice against Vulcans that I know from all my Vulcantology research he grows out of. Neat.

Oh shit Klingon on earth?? Look at those glorious locks! Who are these weird squishy bendy dudes?? Oh that shiz EXPLODED. I’ve got my yeehaw phaser rifle and I kills a Klingon- fuck is THAT how the war started?! Whether or not that’s stupid remains to be seen.

Wowwwww this theme song... is... a lot. Star Trek, bruh, since when??? No. Just... no. Oh hey it’s Archer & Trip a lil’ light fantastic! Ngl Trip’s actually cute. Oh wow they really don’t know Klingons. Oh hey Phlox is here! I get where Archer is coming from about the plug pulling thing, even if Klingon culture is very “HONOR!!” and stuff. Even then, wouldn’t it be detrimental even to a warrior race for them to die when they can be healed?

Vulcans just love acting like everyone else is stupid don’t they? Wow everyone is racist at like, everybody (aliens wise) this definetly has established itself as pre-Federation. Ope! More new characters! Baby ensign dude (Travis!) and British ship’s engineer(?) oh hey it’s Hoshi Sato!! Oh look they’re acknowledging that aliens speak more than one language on their workds finally!! Behold T’Pol! She doesn’t sound like I thought she would? (Idk what that means lol but yeh)

Ohhhh man Trip, Vulcans don’t do haaands my dude, didn’t you get debriefed? But also would it have killed her to explain? Communicate damnit! Give us a speech elderly white boy! Yeehaw warp engines!! Cool speech call back or really it’s Kirk (& Picard and prob Pike soon) Doing the callback to Cochrane!

Oooh shady time travel aliens are back!! Phlox is here! I always got good/fun vibes from him, like, a lil’ creepy but in an entertaining way! Travis is adorable and I love him already, space station boyyyyy. THREE, THREE WHAT?? Travis’s generation are called Boomers?? LOL it makes sense that we’d have a baby boom after planetary colonization became possible but that’s practically a derogatory term now 😂

Time for a dinner chock full of microaggressions! Yup I was right, wowwwwwww everyone is being secret awful (T’Pol not so secret awful) but yeah I can see where all that VHS racism stuff comes from. Lol, oooooo Hoshi & T’Pol having a lil’ cat fight, Archer is such a dad lol. Poor Sato is so fucking stressed it’s okay gf! The ship is just not working and you’re learning Klingon and there’s an invisible alien aboard its FINE!! OH SHIT THAT KLINGON GOT KIDNAPPED!!!!!

Oh so the engineer’s name is Reed okay, oh this is the one with the Suliban. Wow T’Pol is kind of a bitch! She is just belittlement after belittlement, she’s like Spock but WORSE. Like, I’m definitely starting to understand Archer’s resentment toward them is coming from, not that it’s right, but it is understandable. Especially Vulcans have been having this sort of attitude toward humans (and other species) this whole time. Both races clearly have a LOT to learn.

Oh so this Suliban dude is a GMO, I actually freaking love Phlox. Good job Trip tryna bridge the gap between T’Pol and Archer but ooof still too salty. Oh wow! We’re going to Rigel for the first time okay?! Neat! Oof our Klingon boy out here getting interrogated oh shit! It wouldn’t be an earth 2000s scifi without a skanky bar and funky alien strippers. Uh oh Trip is about to make a mistake, oh thank god T’Pol stopped him *big exhale* everything is so new to us! It’s so interesting!

Ew creepy lady why u kiss him??? Oh it’s the “alien woman has to do (explicit/romantic action) to do (thing)” trope 🙄. Oh so there’s time travel shit going on??? Okay!!! What?! Okay! Man the GMO Suliban can do some seriously freaky shit! Okay I love Travis & Reed they’re cool, Reed is suave and Trav is adorable! OOp ARCHER GOT SHOT THE LEG! Close call close call!! Oh ffs T’Pol don’t take command, everything you’ve shown us so far is that you think humans are shit, hey maybe she’ll surprise me.

Ugh this is about to be- aaaaand it’s unnecessarily sexualizong T’Pol 🙄🙄🙄🤮🤮🤮. Trip can you please not call T’Pol out and be racist in the same sentence, I’d rather you just do the former please. OH YAY! T’Pol did surprise me! Good job T’Pol (and Trip... kinda... I guess). “One good turn deserves another” good line, but “doesn’t sound very Vulcan” is proof Archer really doesn’t understand Vulcans! Or at least not what they aspire to. Ohhhh Kay NOW we’re working together! Good! Good!!

I wonder who creepy time lord dude is. Sato THANK YOU why, WHY don’t starships have seat belts?!?! Makes no goddamn sense. Oh I was wrong earlier! Reed’s a pilot and Tucker’s the engineer, okay! I wonder what happened between this episode and Discovery (being the next closest in the timeline) that makes us enemies with the Klingons? Travis out here teaching Tucker how to drive I’m sure this will end well. I’m low key starting to get Bones-Spock energy from T’Pol & Archer. FURST PISTOLS WITH A STUN SETTINH HELL YEAH!

Alright alright, T’Pol is growing on me, awww Archer is soft! “U okay?” I can vibe with that! Hell yeah! I kinda wish I knew Klingon so I knew what this dude wa saying (but I’ve already got my hands full with Vulkansu). Archer why in the fuck are you wandering around?! Do you want to get caught/not found!??! Stay put dummy! Aaaand there’s the BBEG, oh, and he’s Suliban! Oh good thing that laser pistol is set to stun (oh and he dodged). Oooh scary transporter lmao.

Uh oh, was it al for nothing are these dudes gonna kill him anyway? Oh, no! Good so they just cussed Archer out lmfao. Thus the saga begins! Abandon yo grudges and pride Archer my dude, vouch for T’Pol hell yeah! Alright! I hope these two become friends hell yeah hell yeah! Time to boldly go say hi and introduce yourself to all these new aliens! Heck yeah!!

God I’m sure there were plenty of annoying ass Trekkies who were like “iT’s nOt rEaL sTaR tReK” like, how?? Because the costumes look different and they’re exploring a new time period and themes?? 🙄🙄🙄 gimme a BREAK with that shit, honestly. So far it’s been pretty interesting! Every Star Trek is Star Trek!

[mirrorfalls]

Lego Liveblogs ST: TOS, part 25 (of who-the-hell-knows-how-many?)

Depending on how far you want to stretch the term, so far we’ve seen the Enterprise crew visit anywhere from one to a half-dozen self-proclaimed “Paradises” - none of which really lived up to the name. Will This Side of Paradise be any different? Let’s find out.

* A surprise group of survivors on a mission that was supposed to have ended in disaster? Now where have we seen that before...? * And the Head Colonist instantly brushes off the slightest concerns! Another strike. * “We have harmony here. Complete peace.” Aaaaand strike three, you’re out. Tell me you have an interesting Purge Night, at least. * So this is the show’s first Spock’s-old-flame story - and with Pon Farr still months from being dreamed up. Expectations suitably lowered. * “There seems to be a total absence of life on the planet, with the exception of the colonists and various types of flora.” Like with Shore Leave, I’d like to ask what’s pollinating all the flora, but I get a feeling I’m going to regret finding out. ** “There's enough [crops] to sustain the colony, but very little more.” I’m not sure this works all that well as a red flag, though - these colonies are all supposed to be self-sustaining, it’s not like they have a market to take their surplus to. * Nono, wait, don’t tell me, there’s a giant Evil Computer keeping them all healthy in exchange for monthly sacrifices, isn’t there? * “What you're describing was once known in the vernacular as a happiness pill.” Maybe on Vulcan, but I believe Earth calls it drugs, Spock. * Okay now I remember what Tumblr imageset I first saw this episode through and I cannot wait to get to that scene * You know, I don’t think Kirk ever got this angry at Spock when he was committing literal, death penalty-tier treason with the entire ship. * Huh, Kirk can resist the LSD flowers for... some reason. Okay, I guess we need someone to carry the back half of the plot. ** All the same, dude, might’ve been a good idea to pack a Phaser. * Uhura does a damn fine HAL 9000 * Anyway - this is Kirk well and truly alone, and even if Tumblr’s already spoiled me on how he wins the day, it still comes off as a bigger challenge than even Khan or all the God-Aliens the ship’s run into so far. Extra points for the worldbuilding behind it all, which actually stands up to more than five seconds of scrutiny. * “Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is.” Okay, this is a decent slice of the Kirk we saw in Space Seed, with all the y’know-was-the-abusive-megalomaniac-really-that-bad? bits thankfully shown the door. * Unironically: this is the closest the show’s come so far to making me cry. ** (Even if some small, South Park-addled bit of my brain can’t stop thinking of this as a Hard-Hitting Metaphor for Shatner driving away all his costars in real life.) * And our big counteractant to the LSD flowers is... Strong Emotion! In other words, this whole ep is another fucking remake of The Cage! ** (There are also the Implications of Kirk’s all-important emotion trigger being a Starfleet medal, which I’ll leave you to decide for yourselves.) * “Aroused, his great physical strength could kill.” Hurhurhurs to your left, folks. ** But seriously - I think Kirk could’ve gotten some quicker mileage out of talking Uhura into putting the ship’s comms back so he can radio Starfleet HQ for backup. Tell her you’re recruiting more settlers if you have to! ** Or just punch out Spock’s lady-friend to trigger his “ThE WoMeN!” instincts * Oh, well - a pipe worked well enough against Khan, Spock shouldn’t be that differ- ** I WAS WRONG I WAS HORRIBLY WRONG * Okay, I know there’s no way they’re actually going to kill Kirk, but couldn’t they have waited more than two seconds after the ad break to deflate all that tension? ** (Also left for you to decide yourselves: whether this episode is out to teach the, er, moral of “It’s okay to be racist for a good cause!”) * Miss, this is Very Sad and everything, but have you considered that maybe Spock just doesn’t like you without drugs fucking him up? ** In all seriousness, though - I do have some sympathy for her. Of all the planets Kirk and co. have visited and “fixed”, this is probably the most innocent one yet; no, it wasn’t nice of the settlers to drug the crew and induct them into the commune, but it’s not like staying on the planet poses any actual danger to them. If Kirk was willing to give Khan a slap on the wrist and leave him to his own planet last ep, the least he could do is the same for these guys. * Aaaanyways... let’s watch this idyllic little co-op meet the fate all co-ops meet within six months. Tops. ** (If all it took to break the LSD flowers’ hold was an annoying noise, couldn’t Kirk have just played a tape of Lieutenant Riley’s singing for everyone?) * And here’s the Bones scene. Somehow I didn’t realize ‘til now it’s not Kirk who gives him the “we don’t need you, not as a doctor” talk. * Welp, for better or worse it’s all ended now. Ended with an extra dose of Sunday School on top. And these guys didn’t even walk out with astounding new knowledge about the Universe, so I’d say Adam and Eve got the better deal. ** ... so you guys did take a sample of those flowers along to research all their miraculous health benefits, right? Right?

As a suspense/thriller exercise it ain’t half-bad, and I stick to my opinion that Kirk strolling a completely empty Enterprise at the halfway point is quite possibly the most haunting scene we’ve gotten out of the show so far, but like so many other promising eps, the back half doesn’t quite deliver on the setup. Instead of building to a moral or theme in any satisfactory way, we get a quick Deus ex Machina punctuated with a big Kirk-Spock punchup that - if sources are to be believed - Season Two will do better, anyway. Evens out to a maybe-watch on a rainy day.

Next: The Best Episode, according to at least three VIPS on this show... after a week's intermission, because your humble rewatcher is about to get mutilated by the Bar. Later.

[serialreblogger]

Character ask meme: Bones from Star Trek?

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

ship with: mcspirk is my jam, especially bc it’s like two centimeters from being openly canon

friendship them with: chekov. i just think it would be funny. Pavel “oh yes i’ll live, but i won’t like it” Chekov vs. Leonard “do you want to see just how fast I can put you in a hospital” McCoy is a hilarious dynamic and i want to see more of it

general opinions: The Discourse generally centers around whether he’s space racist, which is valid. i still maintain that his dynamic with spock is impossible to divorce from the fact that Spock is always striving to be seen as Vulcan rather than human, and the fact that all Bones’ insults are directly complimenting the things Spock values most about himself. Still, it’s also impossible to ignore that some of the terms he uses (“green-blooded hobgoblin”) have uncomfortable real-world parallels (especially with how intentionally Nimoy worked to associate Vulcans with Judaism).

Again, TOS was super progressive for the 60s, but it does come from the 60s and isn’t immune to a lot of the issues that entails, including a bit of tone-deafness when it comes to things like “xenophobic microaggressions.” That isn’t said as an excuse - racism, and especially anti-Semitism, needs to be called out and acknowledged more often, and it’s never under any circumstances okay.

There’s also a lot of contextual stuff that makes characterization and so on in TOS even more haphazard, because you’ve got different writers on each episode, disagreements among actors as well as between actors and producers, individuals pushing against racism on-set and in some cases other cast members pushing back - it’s just very messy to untangle. i feel like it also really highlights the way all of our stories are in a sense myths - there isn’t one unified, authoritative source to cite, because the source was never fully unified in the first place. When it comes to Star Trek, as with comic books and many other media, the characters really are our own to create. A thousand versions of them exist in every episode, every incarnation, and so we write a thousand versions in our own stories, and each of them is just as true as the last.

anyway bones is an old codger (and when modern remakes choose to include certain of his disparaging comments about Vulcan culture and physiology it’s a big blech, because we really should know better than that by now), but also all of my fanfics will make him a well-intentioned codger with a heart of gold and exactly zero racism, canonical missteps be damned. because, for all it’s shortcomings, that’s what star trek was meant to be from its inception. that’s the star trek I want to have.

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 2: 1x17 The Squire of Gothos

Not one of the strongest S1 episodes but not bad either.

Why is Spock not nostalgic for the desert? It’s where he’s from.

I love, and it never gets old, how Kirk always grows so Fond whenever Spock and Bones banter. “Ah, yes, my two favorite people in the world, Interacting.”

Spock showing off his eye makeup with a dramatic eyeroll.

Uhura’s voice is so beautiful.

OH NO SULU? WHERE’D YOU GO?

THE CAPTAIN? DISAPPEARED?

Love how Spock yells “emergency!” Like, yeah, I’d say it is!

The rarely heard Spock narration. “Captain James Kirk”--do none of his boyfriends know his middle name?

Lol at Trelaine trying out his calligraphy.

Spock’s not up for this nonsense. “If that’s the Captain or Sulu they’ve lost their gosh darned minds.”

Spock in The Chair.

Spock and Scotty can’t be spared for the landing party but McCoy can lol. He’s only the CMO nbd if he just dies in a totally unbreathable wasteland.

Spock is looking thoughtful and clearly upset.

Oh no, no cell service! Again! Have you guys tried switching networks?

Love this weird ass set.

Salt monster! What! Look Bones it’s your gf.

“Display pair” lol.

Is that...Liberace?

“Did you like my whimsical way of getting you here?”

This episode is both way funnier and way more interesting knowing who Trelaine really is. Like the concept of an alien child watching past Earth, thinking its present Earth, and becoming obsessed with in the exact way children do, is so good?

“Our missions are peaceful, not for conquest.”

“One of the few predator species that preys on itself.”

Omg at the French and German. A little disappointed he didn’t break out the Japanese and/or call Sulu a samurai.

Not very smart of DeSalle to approach stealthily from behind when Trelaine is looking into a mirror like duh he can see you? In that huge-ass mirror?

It actually is kind of nuts, and doesn’t make the most sense, that phasers make things disappear.

No! Salt monster!!

I love Kirk in suspicious mode. He can be fun and relaxed and have a sense of humor but the SECOND something threatens or appears to threaten his crew he’s on high alert, very serious and focused and not up for nonsense of ANY sort.

Absolutely hilarious that Spock was the First Officer a moment before and now he’s the Science Officer.

“If the Captain’s alive, that’s where he’d have to be. And uh those other people too, whatever.”

Sulu asking the important questions here. (I wrote this down and already have no idea what it was referring to.)

“It doesn’t even show that he exists at all.” Well either their instruments just don’t know how to pick up on the life force of this new kind of alien or they’re confused because he’s essentially just energy, non-corporeal.

Kirk thinking so deeply about all this is also hilarious in context. “He’s not all knowing. He makes mistakes.” Uh you think? He’s 8 years old.

I feel like this whole ep is just a burn on humans who are obsessed with war and romanticize the whole concept of war-mongering. (ETA based on the amazon trivia I am right about this.)

“Our companions.” Such a sweet way of referring to the crew.

WOMEN! Hydration game: drink whenever someone finds women surprising.

“Those are crucial operating personnel.”

“The party’s over, thanks to Mr. Spock.”

Trelaine is not a “life being” obviously.

Who’s this bitch in the Captain’s Chair? Shouldn’t it be Scotty?

Random Yeoman trying to flirt.

“Don’t you display your weapons?” Oh man you should see Spock’s room! You’d love it!

Are Vulcans predatory? LOL. Love Spock’s answer (”Not generally but there have been exceptions”) but like honestly I think, historically, the answer is yes?

Sulu is hilarious. He’s like the opposite of Kirk--when faced with danger, he goes into “might as well laugh through the awkwardness” mode and I appreciate that. A really underrated Sulu trait that the reboot movies completely failed to acknowledge. (Which is extra nuts considering John Cho is very funny!)

Trelaine obviously discerns that McCoy is the most likely to want to drink.

Well at least Trelaine’s not racist....

Never mind.

Spock is so Tired of this already. This little bit, the Trelaine and Spock exchange and Spock’s definition of fascinating, is the best part of the episode. Also I 100% believe this disinterested attitude is the exact one Spock took with Sarek throughout his adolescence. “Is that what you’re doing? Challenging me?” / “Uh, yeah.”

Whereas Jim is just loving this. This is the only fun he’s had all episode. He’s been so annoyed the whole time because Trelaine is annoying but then Spock starts speaking and he breaks out the heart eyes.

McCoy looks so into the food and the booze. Except actually it’s tasteless, never mind again.

“Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected.” I mean definitely the best quote of the ep!

Trelaine’s not into the miniskirt look.

Kirk, whispering: Explain.

Kirk and Spock figuring things out together <3<3<3

Look at that crocodile head over the mantle.

ALSO love when Kirk breaks into acting mode. I stan one dramatic nerd.

Trelaine: a Hamilton fan. Don’t tell him about the musical.

Kirk doesn’t like that gun pointed in his face.

Some good quotes from the Captain’s log: “The creature Trelaine.” “Everything depends on my one chance with the ancient dueling pistol.”

This actor does a good job of being a petulant man child.

He knows Kirk loves Spock the most! Always love when aliens discern that immediately.

The sound effects when Kirk destroys the computer are so wacky.

“Space fleet command.” Still?

Lol at Princess Yeoman. See, Kirk thinks they’re out of danger, and his humor immediately returns.

Oh no, not Gothos again! I love their subtle “hey, we’re turning now” movements.

Judge Trelaine is hilarious but Kirk does not have the sense of humor to appreciate this. “You’re charged with the high crime of being annoying to me.” “Anything you say has already been used against you.” His knowledge of the judicial system is impeccable!

“Vent your anger on me alone!” He is so good!! He is the hero we deserve!

“Captain’s log, Spock here again.”

“Why, Captain, you’re still angry!” I do kind of like this thing about Trelaine not really being able to feel emotions, or at least not for very long, like that’s one of the things he’s seeking in his play.

“Everything’s too easy for you. Check your privilege Trelaine.”

Lol at the noose just moving in the air toward him.

Trelaine has obviously read The Most Dangerous Game.

Kirk is looking extra handsome here.

“You’ve been beaten.” / “But I’m not defeated.” You tell him!

It’s sooooo obvious that Trelaine is a child.

I like that when his parents are speaking to him, they shoot him in a way that makes him look very small. Kirk is finally finding this funny now. “Time to come in now.” “But I’m not done studying my predators!” “Or you’ll not be permitted to make any more planets.”

“Beam me up, Mr. Spock. Beam me up into your loving arms.”

Alien classification: a small, naughty boy.

The concept of the last banter between K and S is cute but really distractingly anachronistic. Like why does Kirk think Spock’s childhood took place in, idk, the 1800s? However, I appreciate both Kirk’s flirty face and Spock’s super confused face. (Which, I must say, ZQ could imitate really well.)

So overall.. I like the general hook of this episode--the alien child who appears as a humanoid adult, is obsessed with humans, acting as a commentary on human obsession with war--but I don’t think it needed to be 50 minutes. The story could easily have been told in half the time. Like everything after Kirk shoots the mirror, other than the final reveal, reads like fluff, to make the ep fit the time slot.

Thus I would say it’s decent, a B episode, with a strong concept and some good moments, but not as iconic as most of the other eps this season.

Next up, Captain Gorn co-starring in Arena!

[trek-tracks]

What do you think an aos version of tng would look like? Like going off of how things were changed/interpreted in the films?

This is such an intriguing question. I’m afraid I’m not going to do it justice, but I’ll share some thoughts.

First of all, I think there’s no getting around the destruction of Vulcan and the heightened militarization of Starfleet. I think an AOS TNG would have to pay more attention to what’s happening with the Vulcans. This might mean a higher Vulcan presence on the flagship, or possibly much less contact with the Vulcans in general, as perhaps they would have become more insular, and can ill afford to send any of their descendants out into space. 

I feel that the Romulan conflict would likely have come to a head more quickly due to this genocide, but I don’t know how it ends up by the time Picard heads out; if there was added impetus to make peace with the Romulans, and thus the two now focus their actions against the Borg, or perhaps a new enemy - or maybe the Cardassians become more prominent. If the Vulcans have essentially demanded an eye for an eye, though, and it’s still Federation vs. Romulan, conditions are probably more of an at-war scenario than a “neutral zone.” This might give us less focus on the Klingons - unless the Klingons and Romulans decide to ally. 

Abrams AOS is so different from Pegg’s AOS. If we go Abramsverse, then Picard’s personality hasn’t changed much from Tapestry Picard. He didn’t learn that lesson, and “Shut Up” is not just something he says to Wesley that one time. Q is overused, and particularly delights in removing women’s clothing via magic, just because. People make jokes about Beverly being a single mom. Troi’s outfit features a crop top. Everyone is inexplicably still in their 20s. I sometimes feel like Abrams AOS basically becomes Mirrorverse (how do people get promoted in those movies? Through the deaths of their predecessors...etc.) Riker is more prominent, and irrationally jealous instead of all-sex-positive and just wanting Troi to be happy. Data has three catchphrases, and they all must be said each episode. The Bridge is much shinier. Khan almost assuredly defrosts and comes back.

Pegg’s AOS is more hopeful. A member of the bridge crew will be of Jaylah’s species, and there would be a large development of lore and backstory for that species. The discovery of the Progenitors in The Chase would be much more important, because finding the roots of many Federation species might in this universe be used to help restore more of Vulcan’s population (okay, how, I have no idea, but I’m sure they’d find something. Maybe some Progenitors are still around). 

Generations doesn’t happen, because Bones still can’t leave Jim behind, and he doesn’t get on the Enterprise-B without Spock and Bones, and he doesn’t get sucked into the Nexus. Spock still returns, but his story about working on Romulus is definitely different, somehow. Both Bones and Kirk guest star on the first episode, because they are assuredly both still alive, Bones because he’s Bones, and Kirk because Bones is Bones. Sometimes, Picard comms them.

Pegg AOS Picard is more like himself, though we can still see that spark from Tapestry. There’s probably an actual romance with Beverly, who gets more of her own plotlines, and is constantly trying to get more resources for MedBay (she has to develop a lot more of her own cures, as much knowledge was lost). Oh, and and she even gets to fight when necessary. Troi does, too. Betazoids are the new Vulcans, in a way, because Vulcans are still in short supply. If there is no Romulan-Federation alliance, Troi will probably have more of a plotline involving racist mistrust of her abilities, as fewer people will have grown up around telepaths and empaths. Geordi’s VISOR projects in 3D. Riker leans into himbosity, and Tasha lives and kicks ass. Is Worf there, though? That remains to be seen, depending on alliances; or maybe, being human-raised, Worf is loyal to the Federation regardless, and spends less time on Klingon ritual and painsticks. The Holodeck is used more for teleconferencing. Regardless of Abrams or Pegg, there is a lot more discussion about weaponizing Data, and it’s at least a year-long plotline that goes really badly for everyone involved. Guinan is still Whoopi Goldberg. 

Sarek is still a bitch. (Though maybe a bit better.)

[starship-imzadi]

S1 E1 Encounter at Farpoint: parts 1 & 2

I'm going to just start by saying I love TNG, but that doesn't mean it isn't painful to watch at times. The first season has a lot of painful moments.

The opening shot of the Enterprise is very clearly and brightly lit from beneath...what is the light source supposed to be?

Troi's hair is so ridiculous it's only surpassed by her dialogue. And oh how painful her dialogue is. Props to Marnia for sticking with it.

Data clearly needs access to the urban dictionary.

This two part episode does a lot for establishing the TNG world. Gene Roddenberry is known for being a progressive but often he, or the writers, seem to get in their own way. Q as a tool for testing that progressiveness is very important if imperfect. As a product of the show himself, he fails in many respects to be properly progressive in his own right.

Notice Troi is in uniform, but with short sleeves and a short skirt. By contrast Tasha has trousers and long sleeves like the men, all of which seem to be one piece suits. In engineering you can see one man also dressed in short sleeves and skirt around 11:00 and one in the hall around 14:00.

I'm curious what a "printout message" is. It sounds analog but I'm not sure how that manifests. I certainly don't remember hearing it used ever again.

The pacing for this feels quite slow and the saucer separation is reminiscent of Star Trek The Motion Picture and all of their special effects "showing off".

Tasha wants a fight so bad.

Troi actually get to do something with communications!

I wonder what the "frozen" stuff is.... It makes me think of old Hollywood asbestos snow

I know Patrick has done a lot of Shakespearean theatre but are we really suposed to believe the first "classic" quote uttered by a progressive egalitarian society is from a white male?

Riker without a beard is so uptight. Riker does some dumb stuff in this show, BUT I also really like him (I'll point out why as I go). Okay, so every character is a synthetic construct built by the opinions and ideas of writers, producers, costumers, directors, the show runner, other creatives, and ultimately the actor who portrays that character. So, there's a lot of opportunities for inconsistencies or poor development (I know that a pessimistic perspective.) I appreciate subtly in writing but at the same time I'm not looking to explain away poor writing or creative choices either.

An issue I have with Roddenberry's vision for the future is how synthetic everything is. Half of the props look like they're made of plastic and most of the costumes look like polyester.

The video they show Riker makes me wonder how was it recorded, and edited, and why is it so uninformative?

Data says the saucer section will be there in 51 minutes but then two minutes later tells Picard they've arrived.

I've seen a quote attributed to Patrick Stewart saying "Jonathan Frakes couldn't manually dock a bicycle." The real question is why make Riker dock the saucer section manually?

Riker: permission to speak candidly sir

Picard: always

"I don't feel comfortable with children"

Geordi is in constant pain from his visor. What an odd detail to include. I think it's mentioned only once more in "Loud as a Whisper".

Data exists as a character to fill the spot of Spock. In philosophical terms they are perhaps the reciprocal of each other, one wishing to avoid his humanity the other wishing to embrace it. Despite being a beloved character, Bones has a prejudice against Vulcans he's not to shy about showing, often references physical difference he's uncomfortable with like green blood and pointed ears. It is fitting to note he treats Data with a similar "skepticism". He even calls Data "boy" which is reminiscent of racist terminology used against black men in the southern United States. In TNG season 2 Dr. Pulaski feels to me to be very much like Bones in her demeanor and proves to share the same prejudices against Data.

It's admirable that Worf admits his mistake and his desire to learn from it.

The fish is the Captain's ready room really completes the image of the entire Enterprise being decorated like a doctor's office in the 90's. Even the carpet on the floor fits.

IMZADI!!! Sorry, it's my weakness (no one will ship them harder than Marina and Jonathan and I'll happily be a crew member on that ship)

But honestly, this is awkward. Picard introduces them and they just stare at each other....not.... blinking. (As they talk telepathically) which I think the writers forget is a thing after this episode.

"I consider it important for my key officers to know each other's abilities"....that almost sounds suggestive.

Riker's movement to kneel next to Troi when she experiences emotional distress is one of the first specific moments to note of what might be called "emotional physicality". The blocking allows Jonathan to be in frame but opposite Patrick for dialogue exchange but emotionally it allows Riker the character to be in a closer, supportive place for Troi. Troi and Riker's initial meeting is one of shock, they know each other and seeing each other is significant but we don't really know if that's good or bad. Riker's movement here shows that beyond the shock of seeing each other the emotional reaction he has is one of concern and affection.

This ensign is totally flirting with Riker and ....Riker doesn't flirt back. Not sure if Riker just wasn't comfortable yet or if the writers hadn't developed that part of his character yet.

So...if the holodeck makes stuff like a food replicator...what are the people made of? (I guess more on that with Moriarty).

I know a lot of people dislike Wesley but... let's be fair, the writers didn't do him any favours.

I'm not really sure why Troi suggested she go with Riker to look around but it certainly gave him the opportunity to reject her.

I just noticed Troi's painted nails.

Marina is really giving a performance above and beyond everyone else in this episode. And it's sweet that Riker goes to comfort her.

Oooo! Picard and Crusher....also, mama Crusher going to bat for Wesley is important.

Of the Enterprise crew, Tasha and Troi have definitely displayed the most emotion of anyone in this episode set.

I'm not really sure how Riker is supposed to have impressed Q...

Hurray for the space jellyfish

Some of the camera work in this episode is just weird...

Engage!

[gwydionmisha]

ToS: Season 2 Rewatch: 2.18: Immunity Syndrome.

-   Spock announces a Vulcan vessel in distress "just died."  They treat him like he's delusional even though Vulcans are low level psychic and the death toll would be large.  Surprise, the whole system it was near is also dead.  Maybe listen next time?  Anyway they let him back on the bridge when they go to check out the ship.  

There is a mysterious space anomaly that looks like a "hole in space."  They  are doing scans.  A bunch of people on board fainted; Uhura nearly fainted.  Spock ays he can't speculate.  A cranky Kirk ends up asking Spock to list the things it's not, because he won't speculate.  I start to wonder if this is subtle revenge for them being sort of dickish about the psychic episode, as he speculates just fine at the end of the sequence and indeed throughout the episode, at one point saying "I speculate."  They arrive at maybe this thing killed all those people.  No shit.  Kirk gets dizzy.  They "intersect" with it, there is a terrible noise, and the "stars are gone."  Everyone's cranky and people keep passing out.  Spock keeps enacting subtle revenge.  The deeper they go in, the worse it gets.  Everyone's taking "stimulents the who rest of the episode, to stay conscious.

Kirk insists on continuing against advise; bones points out they are literally all dying.  They try to reverse, but lurch froward.  It's draining the engines and they are getting drawn in.  Spock suggests they try forward thrust. It slows them down, but doesn't stop them.  Spock suggest something in the zone absorbs energy and maybe did this to the planet.  Spock thinks the Vulcans couldn't believe it was killing them.  The last thing they felt was astonishment.

They find what looks like a giant psychedelic fractal.  It's living protoplasm covered in debris, presumably a graveyard of ships where the intrepid died.  They decide to send a live person in as they need more than the mechanical probe apparently.  Bones, Spock, and Kirk bicker about who should get to go.  Kirk ends up sending Spock.  The wish me luck scene with Spock/mccoy is the first tie this has looked like Bones low key flirting instead of indulging in racist bullying of Spock to me, so progress?  Bones doesn't say "Good luck" until after spock is gone though.

Spock diverts power to his shields to the point he likely won't get back.  The thing is reproducing, it turns out.  Spock transmits the chromasonal data.  They need to destroy it or it'll destroy the universe eventually. Spock calls them to try to tell them how to kill it, but the message is broken up.  Spock: you should have wished me luck.  Ouch.  Bones just keeps believing he's not dead.  Kirk has no energy left for  that, but they work out that they are an antibodies.  They cut thrust and shoot right in.  They use and "antimatter probe" with a detonator.

Spock leaves a final statement.  Kirk does basically the same thing, listing commendations including Spock for giving his life in performance of his duty.  They spot Spock's vessel and try to tractor it.  Spock tells them not to risk the ship forr him.  Bones snaps "Shut up spock, we're rescueing you!"  Scotty reports they have no power, bt the explosion kicks them home.  Yet another unique lifeform destroyed by the star ship enterprise!  Um, go team?  Bones is delibrately nasty to spock, presumably to cancel out not being a dick for most of the episode.

Leonard Nimoy and Deforrest Kelly were particularly good in this epiode and forcing Shatner to do a delibrately low energy performance actually improved his acting a great deal so he wasn't painful to watch for the whole middle of the episode.

[thesearchforspirk]

1 x 8: ‘Balance of Terror’ {Subtext Study}

Please read my manifesto here if you haven’t already- it better explains my beliefs as per the Kirk/Spock dynamic and what I aim to accomplish with this blog.

An admittedly shorter study as this episode is without any strong Kirk/Spock interaction to mull over. There are some interesting possible parallels here, but even in that respect I’m not sure I’ll say anything that the TOS Commentary hasn’t already said about this episode. For all these reasons this episode was a bit of a white elephant for me, so if you want to skip this write-up I’ll understand. Either way:

Our episode opens with a wedding on board ship and never has Kirk looked happier to perform his duties as Captain. The fact that this wedding goes smoothly is very important to him (because he cares that much about his crew and is that much of a romantic and I just love him ok) so when he gets a message from Spock that some Earth outposts are in trouble he privately, quietly acknowledges so that no one else will hear. Some shit is about to go down for sure.

(the fact that Scotty escorts the bride down the aisle thrills me to no end- it has nothing to do with this blog, I’m just a shameless Scotty fangirl) 

Sure enough the shit does, indeed, hit the fan and two Earth outposts are attacked by some mysterious vessel. The wedding must be abandoned and postponed (someone really does NOT ship this) so everyone can assume emergency battle stations as the Enterprise runs to help. On the bridge Kirk tries to gain as much info as he can about the attackers, though there doesn’t seem to be any definite info. A certain navigator is keen to help though, offering up, “there can’t be much doubt who’s attacking, sir”. 

He may be right about that, as it seems the earth outposts are in place to guard the neutral zone, an area agreed upon after a war with the Romulans a long time ago. It turns out said navigator had family members who died in that war so he’s got a bone to pick with the Romulans. Kirk tells him, however, that it was their war and not his so don’t make this a personal thing, bub...even if the attacker of the hour is Romulan, I guess. 

Spock replies that a few of the earth outposts have been completely decimated, indicating that the Romulan power must be greater than they thought. Kirk and Spock exchange some concerned looks as the gravity of their situation becomes apparent. 

Do you remember our cute wedding couple from earlier? We see them again, hard at work in what appears to be the engineering sector. The groom says, “Happy wedding day- almost.” and the bride jokes, “You won’t get off my hook this easily. I’m gonna marry you mister, battle or phaser weapons notwithstanding.” “Well, meanwhile, temporarily, at least, I’m still your superior officer- so get with it, Mister!” So, apparently cutie pie groom who has a striking resemblance to another certain cutie pie on the ship is his bride-to-be’s superior officer. She just so happens to be seated at a control panel acknowledging orders. I guess that’s pretty inconspicuous enough. 

(yeah...nothing to see here)

More on this later.

The bridge crew have to watch helplessly as Outpost 4 is taken out while they’re talking to one of the guys on it. Despite being surrounded by iron and deflector screens the Romulans were still able to disintegrate another outpost so, understandably, Kirk and Spock share some more increasingly concerned looks. After this, Spock says that the vessel appears to be turning back towards Romulus. Kirk wants the Enterprise to follow the ship silently, but the navigator argues (as well as Sulu) that all decks should maintain security alert. Since the vessel was able to do so much in such a short time, it could be that there are spies aboard. Kirk decides to oblige them (another thing I love about Kirk- not letting his crewman talk down to him, but taking and considering and sometimes even heeding advice when its given to him by his inferior officers).

Anyway, Spock manages to get a peek into their ship and what do you know, it’s Sarek! I mean. It’s a Romulan. Same actor as Spock’s dad. The significance here is that they look like Vulcans. It’s telling that it seems everyone looks over at Spock in some kind of horrified realization, except for Kirk- though I think ultimately this is more testament to Kirk’s character than it is anything subtextual; he’s not the sort of person to assume that a person’s resemblance to someone else means they’re in some kind of cahoots with them because he’s not a racist asshole. 

Until Undiscovered Country, anyway. Anyway! 

Everyone else is staring accusatory at him though and I guess Spock can feel the eyes on him, because he looks over at a very hostile bridge. Kirk is having none of it. He sweeps around the bridge, most of the eyes going back to their work as he passes except for the impassioned navigator. Kirk has to tap said navigator’s panel to remind him where his gaze should be. Even still, this jackass can’t help himself but mutter that Spock should be in charge of decoding anything from the Romulan ship. 

You’d think most people on the Enterprise would know what a dumb thing that’d be to say in Kirk’s presence, but alas. 

Kirk orders that he repeats himself and offers that he really means he’s complimenting Spock on his ability to decode. Navigator says he’s ‘unsure’ of that. Kirk spins his chair around and says, “Well, here’s one thing you can be sure of, Mister. Leave any bigotry in your quarters, there’s no room for it on the bridge.” and the navigator gets the message- as one would hope. 

It should be noted that Spock’s reaction when Kirk starts laying into the guy says a lot about how Kirk must usually react when someone talks smack about his first officer. I have no doubt Spock could handle himself if he had been left to do so, but Kirk won’t hear of that. So, in my humble opinion, this is still a precious moment between them even if not anything irrefutably subtextual. 

(this is totally an ‘oh shit he’s gonna kill him’ look if you ask me) 

Meanwhile we get an inside look into the Romulan’s ship and see an exchange between Captain Sarek and who appears to be his second in command. They talk of war and stuff, the point being they seem to know each other well and are brothers in arms. We also get a preemptive look into the fact that Captain Sarek and Kirk seem to think a lot alike as commanders. It would seem a parallel is being drawn here perhaps. 

So, what about the almost-married couple? Their presence in this certainly isn’t incidental and is yet another pairing of people who know each other well, have fought and worked alongside each other, but seem to share a romantic layer to their relationship as well. 

Huh. Interesting stuff, that.  

Kirk calls another emergency briefing, including the bigoted navigator from before. He makes some more implications about Spock knowing all about “these people”, to which Kirk tells him to back off again, but Spock actually agrees with him, that if the Romulans are anything like how Vulcans were in the pre-logic time then attack is necessary. Thankfully, they also realize that a comet is nearby and if the Romulans should go through the tail they would end up dragging out debris enough to be spotted even with their cloaking device.

They attempt this in what appears to be a huge gamble- and lose. Captain Sarek has them turn away at the last minute, having guessed Kirk’s move. Kirk himself says “He did exactly what I would’ve done” further cementing a parallel between him and Captain Sarek. They do manage to finally hit the Romulan vessel by firing blind, which causes the second in command to sacrifice himself by being hit by falling debris in order to push Captain Sarek out of the way. 

Unfortunately for the Enterprise something short-circuits (near Spock’s panel for some reason) and they’re helpless when the Romulans fire back at them. They back up enough that the shot doesn’t hit them as hard as it might have. Rand also uses the opportunity to press herself against Kirk a bunch and he obliges her, but once again looks moreover pretty uninterested. Can’t blame a girl for trying. We also get another shot of cute almost-married couple, groom-to-be helping bride-to-be to her feet after the impact. So. That’s a thing. Just file it away for now.

More parallels are drawn to the way Kirk and Captain Sarek think and the Romulan second in command is hurt and eventually dies. Fortunately, Spock has the phasers working again, which for reasons I do not understand, rely on the wiring beneath his panel. Whatever, technology. He sure looked cute lying there fixing it, anyway. Kirk is full and ready to violate neutral zone treaty to follow and finish the Romulan vessel if needed, but Captain Sarek utilizes some trickery by throwing debris and the body of his second in command out the side of the ship. Spock and Kirk call his bluff, but have lost the ship on the senors. They decide to turn everything off and hide to see if the Romulan vessel will reveal itself.

The waiting game lasts over nine hours, in which Kirk goes back to his room, conflicted. Rand walks in to offer him something to eat and he looks rather loathe to see her, honestly- but he’s polite and tells her no thanks and please make sure the door closes behind her on the way out, thanks very much. However, when McCoy walks in Kirk looks genuinely pleased and relieved. Rand, honey, it may be time to swim for open waters. Anyway, he and McCoy have a sweet moment in which Kirk is feeling lost and stressed under the circumstances and McCoy says there’s only one of him, only one that could get them through this situation. 

Back on the bridge their silence is interrupted when Spock accidentally presses a signal button (which is hilarious in and of itself) and of course now racist navigator is newly convinced Spock is some kind of Romulan spy (to which Kirk attempts to assure him otherwise). Kirk manages to match the Romulan vessel’s moves by blanket firing again, but Captain Sarek’s got another trick up his sleeve; he sends out a nuclear warhead with the debris. Kirk manages to intercept it with a phaser but the Enterprise suffers its own casualties. 

The two of them remain in a holding pattern as Captain Sarek is hesitant to attack again, he just wants to go home- alas, he has a duty to crush the enemies of his homeland. He seems as tired as Kirk, honestly. Racist navigator moves to go help groom-to-be with weapons control and when Spock asks if they need any help, he spits back, “This time we’ll do things without your help, Vulcan.” It’s no way address a superior officer and maybe Spock should’ve said something- or maybe he realizes now isn’t the time or place. Either way, he leaves without reprimand just as the weapons room begins to flood with, uh...toxic purple gas, I suppose.

Anyway, time’s up for the Romulan vessel. They hit critically, Kirk interfaces with Captain Sarek one last time and they relate as kindred spirits before Captain Sarek is forced to self destruct. Elsewhere, Spock has managed to rescue racist navigator from the purple gas (and Kirk pointedly asks Spock first if he’s alright even though it’s the navigator that’s laying wounded on the table lmao) but was not able to save groom-to-be. 

Kirk goes to comfort the bride and says, “It never makes any sense. We both have to know that there’s a reason.” She assures him she’s alright, but Kirk looks to be on the verge of tears after she leaves. He’s defeated the Romulan vessel, but there’s no victory in it on either side. 

While, again, this episode lacks any strong subtextual interaction directly between our boys, it is interesting that the two other pairings featured (Captain Sarek + his second in command, the groom/bride to be) hold resemblances to the both of them and the various aspects of their dynamic. It would certainly have been sufficient to have had the Romulan commander and his SiC be the only parallel present, there really isn’t much need for the soon-to-be married couple that I can think of outside of plot stakes. Heck, we don’t even see much of them. I would argue the stakes are high enough in this episode without the engaged couple, so what purpose do they really serve?

Indeed, it could simply be an addition they put in to highlight just how tragic war is- as Kirk and Captain Sarek come to find within one another, even without the groom’s death. For this reason, this explanation is a bit flimsy, given especially that we already have a parallel drawn between the Romulan commander and his SiC. Groom-to-be even looks like Kirk and happens to be his bride’s superior officer. Coincidence? The universe is rarely so lazy. 

That’s about all I have for this episode. I anticipate something a bit meatier to chew on with our next episode, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

[wooolfies]

In another life

Fandom: Star Trek TOS (aka Star Trek)

Summary: Years ago a war completely destroyed the population of Freyeon V. Now, Commander Spock sends teams to the surface to learn more about the extinct people. Including Markus Weiss and his daughter Johanna "Joan" Weiss.

Tags: Drama, Family, Friendship, Hurt / Comfort, Oneshot,  Original Character(s), Leonard McCoy, James T. Kirk, Spock

Warning: Hurt / Comfort, Injuries, swearing

Words: 2524

Betas: @sternenfall96​ and @ambermondfisch​

Translated and Beta: by @dirajunara​

Masterlist

A/N: This is my result of the 120-minute challenge that @fuckyeahtreknation posted.

I adhered to all the rules and had nothing planned in advance. As a starting sentence, I chose "I won’t leave you alone." And if someone wants to complain about the length, I am a fast typer but still had to correct a lot of typos.

For those who know "Up"/”In Richtung Oben”; don't worry about Joan's profession here, that was AOS, TOS here is quite different, including my own characters.

Inspired by: x    x    x     x

Enough talk: Have fun reading!

"I won’t leave you alone!", Joan cried out in despair and tried to somehow lift the steel beam with a metal bar.

"Fuck, it's better if you try to bolt."

Joan looked up to the gigantic heap of rubble and debris. Her father was buried up to his chest under the pile.

"Damn, I should have been a doctor, as Mama always said."

"No. It wouldn’t change a thing." Markus spoke softly, breathing shallow.

***

24 hours earlier

"The sensors have found traces of an extinct civilization on the fifth planet of this system. According to the first scans, they were in the atomic age when two different groups of people started a war against each other. The ignition of several hydrogen bombs led to the complete extinction of all intelligent life in this world. I suggest we send down an away team to find out about the lost people over the next few days," Spock looked to the captain, who nodded.

"I will organize teams that will look after specific areas. I've already put together a list of people I would like to discuss with you if that's all right."

"Of course, Spock. Go on."

"Ms. Paris and Lieutenant McGivers, as historians, will investigate, evaluate and summarize how the war could happen. I would be interested in architecture by Johanna and Markus Weiss. Lieutenant Uhura and Ensign Stojanović are expected to look over their language. Doctor M'Benga, Lieutenant Syl and Petty Officer Perf, I have used to find out everything about the physiology and personality of the breed, and Reynold's team is supposed to find out everything they can about culture and religion. Of course, the teams will also have to work together. Ensign Hong and I will deal with the lost science of this people. "

"That sounds very good, Spock, you can start the preparations. Tell me if you need anything else. "Kirk nodded contentedly.

***

Meanwhile, in the engine room: everyone was busy.

"Hey pa, can you give me the phase checker?"

Lieutenant Markus Weiss looked up and turned away from the console to take the required tool out of the box and hand it to his daughter, who was holding her hand out of the opening of a Jeffries tube.

"You're welcome."

"Thank you," said the muffled female voice, and the hand disappeared again.

Markus sighed with a smile and went back to work.

"Chapel to Weiss," a female voice rang from the communication system.

Markus sniffed contemptuously and went to take the call.

"Here Weiss, what's the matter?"

"You and your daughter are allotted for a physical exam. Both of you have to report at the medical bay for a medical exam today."

"I understand, I'll tell her," He let go of the Comm and walked over to the opening. "Jo!?"

"Yes?"

A head of shaggy hair appeared out of the opening. Markus repeated what nurse Chapel had said.

“Alright."

"I'd suggest you get up there right away, I'll get your work done, and then we'll swap places."

"Sounds like a plan. I can also inform Commander Scott on the way," She slid forward, then climbed out of the tube and wiped the coolant from her hands on her red overall. When she went to the door, her father called after her, still grinning.

"One more thing. Can you please not torment Doctor McCoy with questions again? Just let him do his job so you're done early and get back down here."

"Aye," Joan left the room.

***

The next morning at 0700 the participants of the away team  met in transporter room 2. All participants were briefed about the respective objectives and other necessary information.

The landscape of the planet was a spectacle. Buildings and ruins had been overgrown with plants over the years. Nature had reclaimed what civilization had taken from it. According to Spock's analysis, the radiation had fallen to a safe value over the years. To the north of the landing location a bridge had collapsed. It had broken in the center, between the pillars, and now the fragments rose like ramps.

"Okay, let's start with the city down there," Markus suggested.

Joan nodded and kept an eye on her tricorder.

The group parted and each team went to do their respective tasks.

The star of this system was a main star and was almost at its peak.

Markus and Joan began to climb down the hill only to find themselves in the overgrown streets of a former metropolis. Rusty vehicles were scattered all over. Most of the buildings were still almost intact. Evidently, in here the radiation had killed the beings because the damage had been caused by the disintegration. The air was mild and humid, birds and other creatures inhabited the thicket and the trees.

The two stopped in front of a high-rise, about 50-level high, which, apart from the vines on the walls and the trees on the roof, seemed completely intact.

Joan looked at her tricorder.

"What do you say, should we go in?" Markus asked, looking up from his readouts.

"The building is safe," Joan looked into the face of her widely grinning father

"Come on, my Vulcan," He took the front and went into the building through the missing windows.

"Pa, that was a little racist now," She followed him.

"It wasn’t meant to be, you just sounded like Spock," He looked around the former entrance hall.

From what they could take of the arches of the ceiling, everything had been round in form, round, just like the bar-like stone table, which seemed to have survived the time, even though he was clad with vines.

"This building consists of a steel core which is probably encased in concrete for fire protection, but also a metal is built into the walls, which has hexagonal shapes.”

"Like the honeycombs in beehives?"

"Yes, it is obviously a common behavior that intelligent species are copying from nature," He turned on his torch.

The two took the stairs to look for further reasons why the building was still so well preserved despite various weathering.

In the upper floors they encountered the first mortal remains of the former indigenous species, but after all these years they were little more than bones.

Joan was not a xenobiologist, but to her the skeletons looked similar to those of mammals on Earth. With a few differences, of course, but posture and walk could have been easily like that of humans, even though their skulls showed strange excrescences. But it was not Joan's job to examine these creatures, so she turned back to the building.

"Any idea what this building could have had for a purpose?" Markus asked.

"I have a guess. The distribution of the rooms and the large number of deaths as well as the remains of the furniture indicate that this might have been a kind of hospital. "

The furniture seemed to be mainly made of a kind of plastic, which needed a long time to rot, and here in the core of the building was not enough light for plants, so the rooms seemed to be still quite similar to their original condition. In the central core of the building was a spiral staircase, which seemed to enclose a kind of elevator shaft.

The two decided to go up to the roof, even if it would cost a lot of effort to do so.

On the roof grew trees, which had not reached high due to the lack of nutrients. The roof was spacious and there was something on it that seemed to be a separate building.

The view was exhilarating. The hospital was not the tallest building in the area, but one of the larger ones and the view was better than from the landing field. Looking around, Joan couldn’t help but feel wonder and, despite the destruction, amazement.

"I believe the stable construction supports my theory. You do not want the hospital to give in for a light earthquake. "

"Right. Now look at this, Jo,” Joan's father stood by a small house with a flat roof, that had been build on to of the hospital-roof, "According to the concrete used, this building was later erected as the building on which we stand. It is also completely different from the construction method and has only one floor. "

He ran his hand over the plaster and touched one of the plants tenderly, the leaves trembled, and the movement seemed to pass through the sprout axes and spread out in waves.

Carefully he entered the extra building through a round, door-like opening.

"Look at this,” he said.

Round windows pointed towards the city, an apparatus looking like a circuit diagram was built up, hundreds of plastic tubes connecting everything. Nevertheless, nature had spread here too, the ground was strewn with roots that had rattled in cracks.

Joan just peered through the door, then shrugged.

"You better come out. As we said: Not. Completely. Stable."

"Yes, on my way.."

He moved toward the exit and took a few more scans when he caught his foot on one of the roots. He shook his leg out of reflex to get rid of it, but this strong pull moved through the roots into the walls that began to crumble. Dust dripped from the ceiling. The plants seemed to amplify the vibrations unbelievably strongly, letting them echo again and again. A peculiarity of this world.

Precious seconds passed by before he had finally freed his foot and fled towards the exit. On the threshold he caught on again and fell to the ground. It was too late, the roof of the additional building broke and collapsed with a loud row.

Frightened, Joan had jumped back. Her father had found place under a steel beam and the two were wrapped in dust.

"Oh, shit." Joan fell to her knees before him to take a closer look on the situation.

The dust had settled quickly, and she spotted the extent. The beam was thick and looked heavy.

"Hey, mouse," he breathed with a forced grin.

Markus's face was unharmed except for a small laceration. Up to his chest he was covered in rubble. Except for the beam, who held him captive, but did not rest upon him with his full weight, it was only 'light rubble'; Stones and concrete from the masonry and roofing.

"Where does it hurt?" Joan asked.

"What are you doing" He countered, and Joan watched him grow paler.

She sighed, "You're in a shock. Again, where does it hurt? "

"Abdomen."

"Where is your com?"

"Belt."

But the belt was buried under the rubble. And if she moved the debris, more could follow.

Joan had to force herself not to panic, had to tell herself to stay calm, again and again, but her hands were already trembling.

"Go, leave. Who knows what triggered the vibration? Surely, you'll find another team that can call the Enterprise to catch the signature of my com and beam me up. "

"I won’t leave you alone!", Joan cried out in despair and tried to somehow lift the steel beam with a metal bar.

"Damn it, it's better if you try to bolt."

Joan looked up to the gigantic heap of rubble and debris. Her father was buried up to his chest under the pile.

"Damn, I should have been a doctor, as Mama always said."

"No. It wouldn’t change a thing." Markus spoke softly, breathing shallow.

"I'd think of something," Joan said, messing up her hair.  She began to move the debris from her father despite the danger of more rubble. She knew, if she’d run down the stairs and tried to find someone else in this huge city, it would certainly take longer. She was terrified, her hands trembled, the blood rushing in her ears. She had removed the last chunk and dug herself under the steel beam, and after about ten minutes of strategic digging she had pulled the Communicator out of the dust.

A moan of her father made her turn her head. She had increased the weight of the steel carrier by removing the substructure material.

To her relief, the Communicator still worked, he had been exposed to the least force.

"Weiss on Enterprise. Medical emergency."

"Prepare for transport," Uhura ordered.

No, shot through her head. "Wait! He might have internal bleeding, if you beam him, the blood can flow unhindered, now it’s still under pressure. "

"I'll give you McCoy," Uhura said, forwarding Joan.

Fuck, she thought.

"Joan, explain the situation," McCoy's voice came from the communicator.

"My father is caught a thick steel beam, he complains about pain in his abdomen, I can’t see anything else. Besides that, he seems to have a shock. "

"I think I have to throw up," muttered Markus.

"Prevent this, it can aggravate the condition," the doctor said sternly. "Can you scan his abdomen somehow?"

"No, he's buried up to his chest."

"Okay, it still seems that your feeling proves to be right. I'm preparing everything up here, keep him awake for two more minutes."

You could already hear him working away.

Joan put the Com to the side, but let it stay activated.

"Pa. I have a question.What do we really want to do when we are back on earth?"

"Oh, Joan, not now.."

"Come on, tell me!"

"I would go to Russia with you and your grandpa, what Chekov tells sounds fabulous. I would like to see that with my own eyes."

"Sounds good. But Russia is big, where would you want to go first?"

"To see the endless forests of Siberia, maybe see some wild bears ..."

He turned quieter and seemed to fall asleep.

"Hey, hey, hey. Come on, stay with me." She put her hand on his shoulder.

"No, I’d like to sleep, little one."

"Leonard, do something, he’s drifting away."

"Damn, be ready for transport."

***

After about four hours of waiting in her room and a half-hour second checkup, which was standard after missions on foreign worlds, McCoy ordered Joan into the intensive care unit of med-bay.

Markus was still asleep.

"Thanks to you, he's going to be fine. Seriously, if we would have beamed him up right away, he had died, because the preparation for such a procedure would have taken too long. You did good, you could have taken a medical profession," he said.

"Maybe in another life," Joan actually had to smile, because somehow she could imagine herself in this profession.

@commandersaru

[anselm0]

Novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture

I knew this was going to be Something, and it sure is.

I’m not the first to remark on it, but that sure is a gay pride flag on the cover of this book/movie. A quick google reveals that the pride flag debuted in 1978, while TMP was released 1979, which by no means proves intent, but those are facts of general interest I’m going to share here.

Two things: 

LOVE INSTRUCTOR???? Her FIRST, no less??? what

Why am I being subjected to Roddenberry’s writing exercise of reviewing his own tv show while in character of one of the characters on said show

One actual thing that we learn from Kirk’s preface is that there are apparently two varieties of humans, the original flavor and then the super cool Crystal Pepsi humans who are wicked smart and pretty insufferable about it. Also not in Crystal Pepsi humans’ favor is that they SUCK at space travel because they can’t “help but be seduced eventually by the higher philosophies, aspirations, and consciousness levels” they encounter in aliens and doing a bunch of disappearances, defections, and mutinies as a result. So the moral of the story is we need humans too stupid or stubborn to want to be better to drive the space planes, I guess. 

I also find this amusing. The editor’s note on this line from “Kirk” is that he’s being modest, because he did a great five year deep space mission. ~~Kirk begs to differ, though: 

I also liked TOS, imaginary editor, but 94 deaths in five years of peaceful exploration is not an amazing statistic. Anyway, Kirk’s annoyed at how he and his five year mission got portrayed by the guy they sent to record it, what does that asshole have to say for himself?

what. is. happening. 

Look. I am all for world-building. But this is ridiculous. What kind of false modesty self-dragging self-insert Bolshevism

We are, by the way, only 11 pages in, and the story hasn’t even started officially. This will be the longest long post.

Chapter One opens with Kirk getting a semi-telepathic message from Starfleet that is the opening scene of TMP in which the space cloud zaps some Klingon ships.

Yeah, I can see where the public concern over this policy would come from, imaginary editor. It is bananas, and I hope consigned to a quiet ‘canon? never heard of her’ retcon. Imagine if this were still the case when the Borg came. Who could have guessed that having technological access to the brains of all the top brass in the Federation’s first and only major defense force might be, like, a bad idea!!!!!

It’s also a POINTLESS idea, because after getting the message, Kirk goes to a signal station to call Starfleet because he can’t reply (a design flaw) and also he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do with this information because he didn’t get any instructions (why send classified info to people who don’t need to act on it???), and they just show the same scene to him again when he’s there. 

Before that happens, however, Kirk gets put on hold long enough to think thoughts and feel feelings he “had not permitted himself to admit” to himself. Like all former greats, he hates his desk job. He took it for reasons, despite this amazingly persuasive case against doing so:

We get it, you’re a Real Man. 

Literally the entire medical profession apparently agreed with McCoy that a desk job would be bad for Kirk, but Starfleet wanted him to be their posterchild of awesomeness for all those frickin’ Crystal Pepsi humans wondering if Starfleet is even necessary (why they would care about low intellectual ability Kirk is a mystery left unaddressed), so they made sure Kirk was persuaded to accept against medical advice. 

The way they did this was a combination of his sense of duty and a sexy lady. Of course. Sexy lady (Vice Admiral Lori Ciani, spelled Ciana in all subsequent mentions) is in fact the one Kirk gets connected to once Starfleet takes him off hold. Lori always gets his blood pumping, what with her “unusually large eyes and the slim, youthful angularity in her arms and legs” that “always reminded [Kirk] of a fawn’s wild grace and innocence”, even though he knows she’s actually a freak in the sheets. Oh, and she’s also smart and a great officer or whatever, her lips caress his name whenever she says it, he can almost smell “her body fragrance” and Kirk’s getting hard.

I wish I was exaggerating.

There are a number of concerning things here that I think McCoy should turn his attention to instead of whether Kirk can survive at a desk job. Are relationships one year contracts in the future? That seems like a bad idea.

Kirk has a paranoid fantasy that Admiral Nogura manipulated Lori Ciana into contracting sex/mothering/friendship with him and is pretty sure that Nogura told her to talk to him now to make sure he does what Starfleet wants again. 

I’m tired already.

It is not clear to me if she acts like he expects her to if his paranoid fantasy was real. In any case, the conspiracy theory and THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER was all for nothing because Kirk just goes to Nogura’s office and convinces him to give him command of the Enterprise.

On a more pleasant note, there was a chapter in the middle of all Kirk’s nonsense of Spock’s POV. He’s at Gol trying to achieve Kolinahr and he gets distracted by what seems to be the space cloud momentarily linking his and Kirk’s minds. Spock is shook and “knew in this instant that the human half of him was far from extinguished. That half had simply been capable of human guile and had learned to hide itself even from his own notice. He had foolishly and carelessly underestimated it and believed it to be gone. But like the enemy it had always been, his human half had merely lain in wait in order to assault him while he was defenseless.” 

MY POOR BB

Anyway, Kirk’s on his way to the Enterprise and once again thinking thoughts.

I’m going to guess that Kirk is not a great boyfriend.

There are several things going on here, none of them good or pleasing. 

There are some really uncomfortable descriptors for Sulu and Uhura, which are unnecessary in addition to being offensive because we all know what they look like. We know Sulu is Asian, so you don’t have to call him “the Asian romantic,” or really modify any descriptor of him to remind us that he’s Asian. Uhura initially has “classically lovely features,” which is okay, I guess, but then she has a “fine-boned Bantu face.” Um. 

There are some weird descriptors of Will Decker, too, who Kirk is coming to demote and summarily replace, but the worst one is this one, Scotty’s perspective on Kirk pulling Decker aside to tell him he’s being demoted:

My face is a rictus of horror. 

The description of the transporter accident is quite gruesome and Good. We all know the fate of the unfortunate Commander Sonak, but Roddenberry now reveals that the second person was sexy lady trap Lori Ciana!! Kirk inexplicably took over the transporter controls to try to save them her, but isn’t familiar with their new configuration, and is guilt-stricken by the uncertainty that their deaths might have been prevented by someone like Decker, who really knows the new Enterprise. Also, nobody knows why she was there.

FUCK YOU

I’ve been very negative so far. The novelization actually does a lot better than the movie does in conveying Kirk’s disorientation with the new ship and how much he’s second-guessing his fitness for command, despite his insistence before that he was the only one who could do this. On the other hand, he doesn’t realize that he should PUT DECKER BACK IN COMMAND. 

Oh, he makes Decker the science officer in addition to the executive officer because he won’t accept a different science officer in replacement of Sonak who isn’t Vulcan. Apparently there’s no replacement for a Vulcan science officer.     .   .   .        He immediately begins worrying that he’s overloading Decker with responsibilities. JUST MAKE BETTER CHOICES INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT BAD ONES.

Hey, you know that dumb scene in TMP where all the crew gets together in an empty room to once again watch the Klingon ships get destroyed and since it’s a rehash, everybody spends it wondering why Starfleet has like eighteen different uniform designs in unflattering cuts and colors? Roddenberry knows we all think it’s dumb and has some strong words in response:

lol

Apparently that room is the “rec deck,” which is the largest interior space in a starship ever designed. Some people think it’s wasteful but real space veterans know that the rec deck is where “the most vital of the ship’s mechanisms [are] kept in peak operating efficiency through music, song, games, debate, exercise, competition, friendship, romance, [and] sex.” There were definitely regular public orgies on the five year mission, weren’t there. 

Thirty-one people bail after seeing the Klingon ships bite it, which seems like a thing that they shouldn’t be able to do?? Also, what was the point of all that secrecy with the secret implant for telepathic transmission of classified information if Kirk’s just going to show it to several hundred people who are free to leave if they want to?????

I know TMP gets shit for being The Motionless Picture, but you really have to read the novelization to grasp the complete lack of plot points. It’s EIGHTY pages before Lieutenant Ilia arrives. The book is 250 pages long. 

Uhura has some kind of Tone when she tells the bridge that Ilia is Deltan and Kirk rebukes her, “And there are no finer navigators in Starfleet, Commander.” 

This is a weird species whose major defining features are overwhelming sexual pheromones and a GREAT sense of direction.

Kirk immediately regrets chastising Uhura since she’s “the last one who needed instruction in diversity from him.” IS THE FUTURE RACIST OR NOT, GENE

Sulu seems not to know what a Deltan is, even though all the other TOS officers do, so I don’t know how that happened. I got my hopes up for ONE SECOND when he didn’t seem to care but he is affected by her allure after all. Stand down, gays. 

Kirk clocks the obvious clues that Ilia and Decker were involved before, and starts finding ways to make it his business. 

Sure, Jan.

Anyway, the ship leaves the orbital dock in a looooong and boring chapter, then spends another chapter flying past Jupiter at IMPULSE. Thank Jupiter and Zeus we did not have to sit through the slow ride from hell through the solar system. 

Some random things we learn in the meantime (a lot of meantime!!):

McCoy is a hippie who dislikes surgery and medicine, preferring to just berate people into healing themselves or whatever. I now see why starships would need ship’s counselors but there would be absolutely no Xanax or beta-blockers for the Reg Barclays of the future.

There are body scanners incorporated into all the new uniforms, which constantly transmit biodata to the medical bay. This was always a part of the costume design (it’s in those super ugly belt buckles!) but never mentioned or actually used to my recollection in TMP. It’s also not a thing in future Trek series, presumably because it would be boring to not have medical emergencies.

Chapel went on the five-year mission with a PhD and now has her MD! GIVE HER SOMETHING TO DO

McCoy resigned from Starfleet because Admiral Nogura would not heed his medical opinion that Kirk is a Manly Man who needs to be doing Manly Things out in space instead of working a desk job. 

Immediately after this reveal, Roddenberry reinforces how scientific it is by having Chapel say, “deprivation of [starship command] produced physical and emotional symptoms remarkably like those associated with narcotic withdrawal.” Okay!!

We only refer to Ilia as “the Deltan navigator” now.

“The so-called mutant-farm civilizations of pre-history had known [humans aren’t alone in the universe] of course, but their information had been a gift and not the result of human labor and growth.” W H A T 

What do these words mean

FEELS racist??? idk idk

also this:

What a piece of information to just casually drop with no followup whatsoever!

Roddenberry is basically masturbating himself and Kirk about how great it is that he’s back. Having Kirk command the Enterprise again is

“like Lazarus stepping out into the sunlight” plz

so spiritually moving that Decker is suddenly feeling fine about being inexplicably demoted (couldn’t Kirk have just been an admiral still? and Decker a captain?) and removed from command

By the way, Kirk apparently didn’t officially take command until moments before they left orbital dock, which feels wrong to me?? There were eleven hours where he was giving all the orders but had no official jurisdiction or responsibility for the consequences. Starfleet needs better command protocol.

making Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov ecstatically happy, a fact that Kirk somehow knows from looking at their faces despite not seeing any of them in years and having done nothing but demand the ship be launched before being properly tested or configured for warp and against the advice of his first officer and chief engineer omg you idiot

Kirk then orders them to go to warp agains the advice of his first officer and chief engineer, accidentally creating a wormhole the ship falls into along with an asteroid that nearly destroys them because Kirk doesn’t know how the phasers work on his new ship. Kirk then gets shirty with Decker when Decker factually states that Kirk doesn’t know what he’s doing and Decker does, and knowing things was useful in that it saved the ship being blown up by a series of stupid choices. GREAT FIRST DAY

Again, I do think the book is doing a good job of conveying Kirk’s motivation of scrambling to relive his glory days and his willful blindness to the consequences, but I don’t know how we’re going to get to a point where we’re actually happy this guy gets to be in command of a starship for another five movies. McCoy does call him out on his nonsense, but I don’t see him learning or growing at all yet and can’t foresee it from what I know of what plot is coming next.

Speaking of plot developments

SPOCK!!!

First of all, “severe black robe” is underselling one of the best looks ever served to my undeserving eyes. Second, no sooner has Spock stepped back on the bridge than everyone starts dropping serious hints about his relationship with Kirk. I mean

subtle!!

Spock is not a happy bunny, though. Everyone is happy to see him again - it’s been so long and Scotty’s so excited he apparently forgets that you don’t touch Vulcans? - but Spock’s ignoring them. As soon as he can, he finds a place to meditate.

Roddenberry wants to make absolutely sure we know that the Enterprise is a nonstop fuckfest. Consider me informed!

Spock needs to meditate because he was way too excited to see Kirk again. He’s pretty whatever about everyone else (”humanly human” McCoy and Chapel “with her bizarre and impossible fantasies of one day pleasuring him” ick) but his t’hy’la is a different story.  I MEAN!!!!

He has to go to a meeting with Kirk and McCoy (who’s now monitoring Kirk’s behavior re: his unfitness for command) and we get this little gem about the officer’s lounge:

I know it’s supposed to be a utopia but come on. 

WINK

They’ve established there’s some kind of intelligence in the space cloud that Spock can telepathically link with when the first probe arrives and injures Chekov. Chapel comes to treat him but she can’t do anything for him. Ilia does...something vaguely telepathic that usually happens during Deltan sex to make him feel pleasure instead of pain and you know what, I’m going to choose to not read into this. It does seem weird that Starfleet has extremely strict regulations about allowing Deltans to serve due to their pheromones but telepathy is A-okay. 

We learn during the probe’s visit that the only console hooked into the ship’s main computer and Starfleet databases is the science station’s, which seems pretty unbelievable. There isn’t even an uplink for centralized record keeping about course changes and phaser discharges? 

Ilia disappears and Kirk is surprised how much he cares. They did meet just today but SHE IS YOUR CRACK NAVIGATOR why wouldn’t you be upset! Her replacement comes up as they’re getting pulled into the space cloud and she’s also good; Kirk thinks, “There might be something about her worth remembering.” I’m concerned that Roddenberry doesn’t seem to realize how unlikeable he’s making Kirk. 

See the entire sequence where the Ilia probe arrives:

Gross.

Kirk does spend a lot of time thinking that Deltan pheromones don’t affect Vulcans and that Spock is annoyingly unmoved, but that’s just guys being dudes. 

Probe Ilia remembers Decker, so Kirk tells him to use that to try to establish productive communication with Vger. I know it’s spelled Vejur but that’s dumb. It’s Vger. V’ger if you’re nasty. Anyway, Kirk was making this traumatic assignment about him and his awesome sexual prowess. 

But he’s not done!! How could this sequence possibly end WITHOUT Kirk creeping on his first officer trying to fuck an alien probe!!!!

It’s completely normal! Look, Decker even expects it!

Decker is Manfully frustrated that his Manliness isn’t working on the probe. Kirk and McCoy are armchair quarterbacking this like the fans of weird sexual encounters they are. Chapel comes in to make a good suggestion and McCoy condescends to her, of course. There’s some worldbuilding around Deltan sexuality which seems to be just that there are psychic connections involved that make regular, non-psychic sex boring for humans afterward. Okay? I thought it was going to be something much weirder. Again, I don’t know why THIS makes Deltans have to take celibacy oaths to be in Starfleet but non-sexual telepathic actions are totally fine. 

This is all going on while the Enterprise is in the cloud, so they take a break from creeping on Decker and the Ilia probe to go to the bridge and have Kirk condescend to Uhura about how to do her job. Look, I don’t want to get into a whole thing about Kirk’s virtues as a commander but he is not better at Uhura’s job than she is. PLEASE give her something to do other than be impressed with Kirk.

Around page 209 (out of 250) we finally get a chapter from V’ger’s POV and it is legitimately Good. If Gene Roddenberry was capable of writing science fiction without obsessing over future sexuality, this book would be so much better. 

There are fewer than 40 pages left by the time we get to the iconic sickbay scene. 

This book is so weirdly paced. If you’re going to write about future sex, please let it be between the characters we actually care about!! For example!!!!!! But no, we get Decker and Ilia-probe, which may actually be Ilia’s psyche in a mechanical casing? Unclear, but Decker is pretty convinced.

Gross.

The rest of it is basically exactly the same as the movie: they get to V’ger and figure out it’s Voyager and respond with the correct code, but V’ger refuses to acknowledge it. Decker and Ilia somehow become noncorporeal entities joined with V’ger. It’s not clear how this is possible, but whatever. Kirk is, like, mildly regretful about the absolute shitshow this mission turned into and the fact that he lost two good officers to a space cloud, but he’s not torn up about it. He got his ship back! And he has no fear that it will be taken away again because he caused half the shitshow! In true Star Trek fashion, there is literally ZERO discussion of where V’ger, who is a perambulating cloud as wide across as a small solar system, is going to go now instead of Earth bc that’s a somebody else problem.

The end.