#spock is angry y'all

[witchyfoxelf]

hey so sorry to jumpscare anyone who's still following me by posting some stuff here for the first time in like literally a year i think? adhd is fun. but yeah, i've really been missing writing something fierce, so i may try to be more present. i cannot promise that i'll be great about keeping up with what y'all are up to on here because the parts of my day i used to fill with scrolling tumblr have seemingly evaporated? but i'll do my best.

anyway, i was listening to a patreon bonus episode of one of my favorite podcasts (hey riddle riddle), and one of the hosts (adal) mentioned that every time he rewatches a tv show he hasn't watched in a while, he usually ends up with a different favorite character than he had the last time he watched it. and that got me thinking about some shows i've rewatched lately, and i realized that's largely been the case for me as well. hardly a shocking revelation of course, but i decided to do what any normal person would do with this information and write a long post no one but me is going to care about about my experience with this phenomenon.

avatar: the last airbender

original favorite: aang

current favorite: zuko

this is the most interesting one to me, and it also feels like it makes a great deal of sense both in terms of how i've changed since the first time i watched this show and also just how the show mechanically works. like... the first time you watch the first few seasons, prince zuko is unambiguously the bad guy for the first few seasons. the show even seems to go out of its way to show him being offered an off-ramp or two and not taking them. which is part of why him finally doing so feels so earned.

watching it the second time through was just a completely different experience. it didn't feel weird whenever zuko did something admirable. it didn't make me roll my eyes whenever he was Going Through It and showed us that he was hurting. it didn't make me angry to see him trying his best for a dad who would never love him. or rather, it did make me angry, very angry, but not at him.

i genuinely think atla is one of the shows that most rewards a rewatch. it was already one of my favorite shows of all time the first time i watched it, but i realized upon rewatching it that i was somehow underrating it in my memory.

star trek: the next generation

original favorite: captain picard

current favorite: riker

honestly there are a bunch of characters on this show i might've called my favorite on any given day when i was younger. i definitely went through phases with worf & geordi too. and embarrassingly i think my first favorite character was probably wesley. but i think the one i most consistently came back to was captain picard. he was aspirational. i wanted to be that good at listening to all sides of an issue but always, always making what i believed with strong moral conviction was the right choice, and being willing to put myself into the literal & figurative line of fire to defend my principles.

and don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of things i admire about picard. but also like... one other consistent thing about my favorite character years ago is that it was for sure never will riker. to be completely honest when i first watched the show i thought he was easily the most boring character. like, what even is a first officer? spock was that and a science officer at the same time. and on top of that the character himself is intentionally channeling the worst star trek captain? are you sure? and the thing that everyone likes about him is that he has a beard? (no offense to anyone but i don't find facial hair attractive.)

to be honest i still don't quite get the beard thing, but wow was i ever sleeping on this guy. will riker is my favorite tng character and it isn't particularly close. part of it is just finally noticing how dang charismatic jonathan frakes is in his unique kind of way, and how much he uses that charisma to be warm & reassuring and just... generally kind of a "good guy"? like, i hate star trek: picard, but i think seeing riker as a wholesome husband & dad is a big part of what made his character finally click for me. and going back & rewatching tng, it was hard not to notice how much he was constantly standing up for people and just... caring.

maybe that's just it. i like "boring" characters who care and want everyone to be ok and will do their best no matter what. and that's will riker.

and yeah, it helps that he's a slut.

star trek: deep space nine

original favorite: worf

current favorite: captain sisko

worf was my favorite star trek character for a good long time and there are still things i admire about him. i'll never not fall for that stupid-ass trick they pull every tng episode where he's having an interpersonal conflict in which he's been carrying the pigheaded idiot ball all episode, and he'll say something that sounds completely unredeemable and reminds you of all the reasons you're on the other person's side, but then he'll pause dramatically and start his next sentence with, "however." and immediately say the coolest shit you've ever heard that shows he's really Grown and Learned (but he'll forget by the next episode because while late-season tng got really good at having at least one character experience character development per episode, it wasn't until ds9 that they showed any signs of actually retaining what they learned from episode to episode).

also like... when we talk about autistic-coded characters i feel like worf often gets left out, but he's just... yeah, guys. yeah.

but on my last rewatch of ds9 it just became abundantly clear to me that captain sisko is the best star trek captain and it isn't especially close. he's every bit the paragon of virtue that picard is, but he's just... more human. more present. more willing to be transparent about what he's dealing with, more willing to talk through his weakness and biases, but still willing to accept the responsibility of command.

different doesn't have to mean better or worse, but especially with the way picard's character careened off the rails & burst into flames the further we got from season 7 of tng, sisko is just indisputably the best captain. and no disrespect to patrick stewart or anyone else who's ever been in front of that camera, but i think it's reasonably likely avery brooks is the best actor that's ever been on star trek. he's just incredible.

star trek: voyager

original favorite: seven of nine

current favorite: tuvok

i still like seven a lot, but tuvok was always one of my favorite characters on the show and rewatching the show really cemented it for me.

i especially like seeing the way he talks about emotions in a genuinely emotionally healthy way. he acknowledges their power, never says they're not real or unimportant, and then talks through them. it's just brilliant.

[trek-tracks]

Something unusual happens in the TOS episode Return of the Archons. Instead of using his signature nerve pinch, Spock punches a guard in the face. 

It’s so out of character that even Kirk comments on it.

Why does he do it? 

Here’s a theory.

In the episode, Bones gets mind-controlled (again) by the collective, and completely loses his individuality and personality. Even though Kirk has seen it happen to two other people already (Sulu and O’Neil), it’s easy to tell that he only really gets truly upset once Bones is “absorbed” - he’s trying everything he can think of to get Bones to snap out of it, including shaking him physically. 

Spock’s watching the whole time - seeing Kirk lose it a bit clearly affects him as well. 

As he’s being taken away, Kirk pleadingly asks Spock to try to "work on" Bones, and after a frustratingly bland conversation with the doctor, Spock tries what looks like a mind meld - he doesn’t like this version of Bones either.

Spock completely fails to break through to Bones. It’s hard to capture in a screenshot, but if you look carefully in the episode, you can actually see the muscle in Spock's jaw twitch with frustration when he announces that there's nothing he can do for Bones because the control is too powerful. He honestly thought he was going to be able to save him, and he’s pissed that he can’t.

When both Spock and Kirk are saved from mind control and continue to plot, we see the most uncharacteristic and disturbing reaction from Pod Person Bones yet - not just extreme placidity, but outright anger and murderous violence. Kirk has to put him in a sleeper hold to subdue him, not wanting to harm his friend, but even this pains him: “Doc, I don’t want to hurt you...Aw, Doc,” he says. 

(By the way, Kirk only calls Bones “Doc” when Bones is under the influence of mind control, to create psychological distance from himself. It’s a technique he uses in other contexts, too - in Operation: Annihilate!, he only starts calling Peter “my nephew” instead of “my brother’s son” when Peter is no longer in danger of dying.) 

Spock, again, is watching all of this and trying to rein in his feelings about the whole upsetting situation.

So when the very next thing they do is confront the guards who took each person away to be mind-controlled, instead of doing a nerve pinch, Spock just cold-cocks the guard with his fist. 

“Isn’t that somewhat old-fashioned?” Kirk says.

Spock just looks rather satisfied with himself.

Sometimes it’s logical to allow yourself a little violence on the person who upset your captain and took your doctor away. 

[oddthesungod]

I really love that the books aren't considered canon, but yet y'all cream your underwears over the t'hy'la bond and the "Spock gets drunk to chocolate" thing whenever it's mentined and was never stated in the series/movies. Even fans of the new movies/series are angry that Pike may only be the protagonist in s1 of SNW. But hey, new product to consoom! You cannot criticise or get angry at new consoom product!

[not-so-superheroine]

Like...could we not hate on Michael more that ppl already hate on her. Yes, what she did was wrong, but y'all know damn well she said it because she wanted to protect her brother from terrorists. A damn child is dealing with terrorists attacking her and her family (still attacking actually) after loosing her entire family before adoption to violence. And in that, she does something awful. Let's not act like it came from a place of malice. Even Spock, who is still (justifiably) angry at her, knows this.

Feel hurt, betrayed, angry, whatever. I felt hella hurt. I've been called all kinds of crap by family that I heard from peers at school due to various facets if my identity. But Michael's not all of a sudden evil or hates Spock. Don't demonize, please. There's enough of it from "fanboys" who can't stand a black woman lead and its annoying cause I've seen fandom defend (much) worse. They literally spoon-fed us why it happened and ppl are legit still missing it. You don't even have to put the pieces together.

[princessnijireiki]

@black-dragonize GIRL OK SO like vulcans are touch telepaths right? this had already been established as canon before sarek ever appeared on st:tos

amanda & sarek spend the whole episode in their bedazzled robes basically engaging in vulcan pda the WHOLE TIME, like there is a gesture where one person holds up two fingers together (like half of the LLAP sign, just the first two fingers) & then the other person does the same and they touch their fingers together, and that is what vulcans do instead of (or in addition to) human kissing; and on a like SPACE DIPLOMATIC MISSION, bc sarek & amanda are SPOUSE COWORKERS/CO-AMBASSADORS, they’re just chilling smooching all over the enterprise while spock sulks & sarek grumbles

and then at the end amanda rolls up on spock & mccoy at a party, and mccoy basically is like, “so, you got any embarassing & hilarious childhood stories,” and amanda goes, “why, y'all want some? bc he had a like LIVING TEDDY BEAR pet & it was ADORABLE.” while spock gets his, “mother, PLEASE” face on & mccoy is ecstatic about it.

like really and truly, spock’s racial/species angst IS a Thing, and his family is WILD (he has an older half brother named sybok from sarek’s first vulcan wife or like fiancée?? idk. but sybok rejects “the teachings of surak” and ran off into the desert to be a laughing angry etc. vulcan, bc vulcans are actually ~3-5x more Emotionally Intense™ AND physically stronger than humans, so the logic thing was a way to try and maintain social ideals & stuff… which is why spock is SO rebellious by other vulcans’ standards, but within his family it’s really JUST a species thing)

but his parents were SUPER IN LOVE & even in the pon farr episode “amok time,” spock’s fiancée broke off THEIR engagement bc she loved someone else, but she wanted to save face & for the Drama of it all rigged a death match…

like the idea of loveless vulcan marriages (they’re PSYCHIC AND SUPER STRONG, it is NOT LOGICAL to put two unhappy ass ppl together like that), amanda & SAREK being in a loveless marriage, amanda “trapping” sarek with a baby that they had to go to INCREDIBLE LENGTHS to carry to term (irl if mom & a baby have diff. blood types it can kill them both, so expensive & difficult genetic & autoimmune treatments have to be done; vulcans, incl. spock, have copper based blood & humans have iron, so it IS canon that it was a v. medically involved pregnancy), WHEN HE HAS ANOTHER KID ALREADY

and sarek not loving spock when it’s more like “immigrant dad cannot grasp his americanized son’s cultural ways, seems distant just bc he does not come from a hugging people” (vulcans were sort of an alien stand in for “good asians” in the ‘60s, where romulans were fake communist asians & klingons were fake communist russians— Not Good if it were done NOW, but radical at the time)

like ALL OF THAT… makes ZERO SENSE.

but fandom LOVES that narrative.

and like the first few times you see it, it’s like, whoa, the person is clearly harboring some shit, but ok! we all have shit to work through & fanfiction’s a valid way to do that, go ahead & project. ykwim? like, “yo, my bad, this is SO OFF BASE I didn’t realize that I must’ve stumbled onto YOUR traumatic coping mechanism, that’s what makes sense.”

but then en masse you see like THOUSANDS of stories duplicating these same boring ass clichés down to SAREK’s fanfictional hypocrite ass telling SPOCK that he is forbidden to romance a human (in kirk fics this is played as “the little mermaid,” in uhura fics, she just catches hell 🤔🤔 wonder why…)

and you realize ppl just hate women in general & black women SPECIFICALLY.

star trek’s not perfect, there’s a lot of weird racial issues & star trek: enterprise was a weird neoconservative turd, but it’s one of those fandoms where something is legit good but mostly the ppl who like it are fucking awful & show ass a lot… like even with benedict cumberbatch as khan, a LOT of fans loved him (??? no), and most of the fans who got mad were mad on adaptational purity grounds, not on how unethical & gross SO MANY choices for star trek into darkness were. they don’t care about THAT, they just didn’t want a crappy wrath of khan reboot… and NOBODY wanted that, ofc, but it’s weird that they thought that was the point.

so it’s just… an odd fandom to navigate, bc when they’re good, it’s fun, it’s great… but then they go so FAR OUT OF THEIR WAY to be nonsensically & unnecessarily toxic that there’s no reasoning for it EXCEPT racism/sexism 99% of the time, and it’s surreal shit.