#tos parallels

[startrekuniverse]

SNW || TOS

[favvn]

The Squire of Gothos + Amok Time

Logically, I know The Squire of Gothos was created and finished before Amok Time because Theodore Sturgeon operated on his own slow schedule. (Squire of Gothos dates back to August 11, 1966 and Amok Time dates back to December of 1966.) Star Trek TOS was created first and foremost to have a standalone, self-contained plot for every episode (minus the rare two-parters).

However, what serendipity to have these details align--Kirk and McCoy compare the unknowns of space to the romanticized notion of the "Wild West" versus Spock who grew up on the desert planet of Vulcan. McCoy grumbles about Spock not being able to understand their talk of mirages, going so far as to complain that nothing like a mirage could ever disturb the perfectly logical Spock when later it will be due to McCoy's quick thinking that he could fool Spock and the rest of the assembled group into believing Kirk died during the kal-if-fee. It's just neat.

[shigeoreum]

“He is part of me… The Man is the center of all things…”

-“Metamorphosis” s2 ep9

[torsamors]

“There are always possibilities, Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again.” Unification // Afterword by Spock of Vulcan, The Autobiography of James T Kirk

[gglinaa]

smth from the first movie

[offdensen]

[nightowl822]

[fastdrawfarmboy]

I know we all like to talk about Kirk grabbing Spock's arms in the "not in front of the klingons" scene and how it's something he normally does before kissing people but like, can we talk about how Spock does the same to Kirk at the end of Amok Time because I for one cannot stop thinking about it.

Like, what were you going to do there Spock? Were you going to finally do with your captain what you know he's done with all those people who you wished were you?? Were you going to grab your captain by the arms and kiss him on the lips in an expression of pure, illogical, unvulcan joy and love??? Did seeing this man alive fill you with so much relief and elation and oh so human affection that you couldn't help but mirror what he would do if put in your position with someone he loved as much as you do him???? Gay.

[captainsolocide]

"you gave your girlfriend a tracker?" aos spock vs. putting a tracker on jim in the undiscovered country prime spock

[starberry-cupcake]

Spock defending Una Chin-Riley in court in SNW S2E2 Ad Astra per Aspera // Spock defending Jim Kirk in court in TOS S1E20 Court Martial

Jim being a menace behind the wheel in SNW S2E3 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow // Jim being a menace behind the wheel in TOS S2E17 A Piece of the Action

[startrekuniverse]

SNW || TOS

[favvn]

This Side of Paradise -> The Way to Eden

You know what that is? Growth. Back in season one, Spock talks of self-made purgatories, you know, the in-between place that isn't Hell but isn't Heaven, either. It's a place of work, of struggle, of atonement. It's one step below Heaven in religious traditions, yet it is hardly a thing that one is encouraged to reach for much less create for themselves. It mirrors his identity as someone who is not fully Vulcan or fully human but someone who is in-between those identities and places. Spock must work at being accepted for who he is.

By season three, he is not only trying to help a group of self-made exiles in their search for Eden, but he is actively encouraging that they hold fast to this hope that Eden exists, despite the found promised land being a planet of toxic plants and poisonous fruits, barren of animal life and deadly to the group of wanderers. Spock goes even further to tell them that even if they can not find Eden, they can make it themselves. Spock, Mr. "Self-made purgatories that we all have to live with" is now saying Eden--Paradise itself--is a thing to be created.

It's a curious development in that it rejects Spock's original statement (how can you believe in both self-made purgatories and self-made paradise? I suppose one could argue that purgatory aids one towards Heaven but not when it is self-made. Then, it is just the denial of one's own happiness, as if the ensuing suffering will enable one to attain something more), and it rejects Kirk's belief that man is not meant for paradise by wishing to create paradise for himself. Yet there is still a thread connecting these two beliefs--Spock's wish to create paradise and Kirk's refusal of paradise for the hard path that is going without it and choosing to work instead. Both involve a mindset of striving and working, regardless of paradise itself.

[trek-tracks]

Thinking about the fact that, when Spock is sacrificing himself in Bones' place in The Immunity Syndrome (2x18), refusing to let Bones board the shuttlecraft and do the dangerous tests, he instead asks him to "grant me my own kind of dignity."

Bones then says to Spock:

"Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don't understand?"

But then, in The Empath (3x12), when the Vians announce that, under their experiment, "There is an eighty seven percent chance that the doctor will die. And while Commander Spock's life is not in danger, the possibility is ninety three percent that he will suffer brain damage, resulting in permanent insanity."

(The worst, least dignified fate possible, for a Vulcan)

Bones flips the script and grants Spock his "own kind of dignity" --

by sacrificing himself in Spock's place.

[torsamors]

Let me help (id in alt text)

[Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever, Anne Carson - Euripides, Big Eden (2000), W. H. Auden, Holes (2003), Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever, Deleted scene from The City on the Edge of Forever, Star Trek: Voyager - Resolutions, Dead Poets Society, The Untamed (2019), Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever]

[gglinaa]

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

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

idk. it felt like justice

[lonesomedreamer]

STAR TREK REWATCH ☆ “Mudd’s Women” (1x06)

Oh, the sound of male ego. You travel halfway across the galaxy, and it’s still the same song.