Over the recent holiday season I found myself becoming nostalgic about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Maybe the mid-season break in Star Trek: Discovery made me long for Trek of some kind, and DS9 was the first series that came to mind; maybe the fact that my girlfriend is re-watching Babylon 5 made me think of space stations; maybe knowing that 2018 would mark DS9’s 25th anniversary heightened its importance in my subconscious; or maybe the nostalgia was brought on by inscrutable caprice that can’t be explicated.
At any rate, once I became aware of this nostalgia, I decided I didn’t have the time to engage it in the obvious way, namely re-watching the series. And yet I couldn’t resist the urge to get back in touch, however briefly, with its universe.
I remembered hearing good things about the monthly DS9 comics published by Malibu shortly after the series had premiered. I’d never read these, and over the course of thirty-plus issues they promised to provide bite-sized adventures that didn’t require a commitment of 176 hours and easily could be fit in between other activities. Reading the behind-the-scenes article at the end of the first Malibu comic book in turn reminded me I’d never watched the DVD extras for DS9 either. I set about correcting that right away.
These features certainly satisfied. I learned a ton of new things about the making of the show and the perspectives of its cast and crew. I got to revisit memorable storylines, cornerstone character moments, whole multi-season arcs and plots, all in a matter of hours. I was reminded time and again why, as much as I love individual episodes and even individual seasons of other Trek series, DS9 remains my overall favorite Trek show, and Kira Nerys my favorite Trek character.
The question of what elements set Ds9 apart from other Treks niggled away at the back of my mind as I started working my way through these special features. There were a lot of obvious factors, but it was during a Season 2 feature titled “New Frontiers: The Story Of Deep Space Nine” that something clicked for me.
In this extra, Michael Piller says:
“This show wouldn’t have been anything like it was if Ira Behr hadn’t agreed to help me run the show. I went to him at the beginning and said, ‘Ira, this is going to be something very different. This is going to be a show that looks at space and the Federation in a way we’ve never looked at them before.’ […] Each show is fundamentally dealing with the people who have to learn that actions have consequences. And they have to live with the consequences of their actions on a weekly basis. Ira really responded to the kind of conflict we built into Deep Space Nine, saw great story potential, and ultimately I give Ira so much credit for having the vision to take this for seven seasons and really make Deep Space Nine what it finally became.”
So far, so standard.
It’s what Ira Steven Behr says right after that that got me thinking: “As the show grew, I think we discovered that the real legacy of Deep Space Nine is that it’s probably the most human of all the Star Treks—even though it has the most aliens, it’s truly the most human.”
Poetic and insightful. I’d like to focus on the “most aliens” part of Behr’s comment. When he said this, he may have been thinking about the whole seven-year tapestry of Ds9, and its Dominion War in particular, which involved many alien species; or he may have been thinking about the extended series cast, which included a number of recurring alien characters like Rom, Nog, Garak, Gul Dukat, Morn, Leeta, and later Gowron, Martok, Weyoun and others; or he may have been thinking about the core cast. In the first season, this core group was comprised of Benjamin Sisko, Jake Sisko, Odo, Jadzia Dax, Miles O’Brien, Quark, Julian Bashir and Kira Nerys. Of these eight principals, four—or a full 50%—are not human. (Later, when Worf joined the regular cast in Season 4, that number went up to five.)
That made me wonder—how does the human/non-human ratio of DS9’s pilot cast compare to that of the other Trek pilots?
Here’s the breakdown, arranged in internal chronological order:
- Enterprise: 2 (T’Pol, Phlox) out of 7 (Jonathan Archer, Malcolm Reed, Travis Mayweather, Hoshi Sato, Charles “Trip” Tucker III, T’Pol, Phlox) = 29%
- Discovery: 1 (Saru) out of 6 (Michael Burnham, Ash Tyler, Paul Stamets, Sylvia Tilly, Gabrial Lorca, Saru) = 17%
- The Original Series*: 1 (Spock; yes, Spock is only half-human, but we’ll count him as non-human for our purposes) out of 6 (James T. Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Montgomery Scott, Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Spock ) = 17%
- The Next Generation: 3 (Worf, Deanna Troi, Data) out of 9 (Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, Geordi La Forge, Tasha Yar, Beverly Crusher, Wesley Crusher, Worf, Deanna Troi, Data) = 33%
- Deep Space Nine: 4 (Odo, Jadzia Dax, Quark, Kira Nerys) out of 8 (Benjamin Sisko, Jake Sisko, Odo, Jadzia Dax, Miles O’Brien, Quark, Julian Bashir, Kira Nerys) = 50%
- Voyager: 5 (B’Elanna Torres, Kes, Neelix, The Doctor, Tuvok) out of 9 (Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim, B’Elanna Torres, Kes, Neelix, The Doctor, Tuvok) = 56%
I should point out that the count in Star Trek: Discovery is not as clear-cut as the others, for four reasons. One, it didn’t have a traditional pilot in the same sense as the other shows. If we go only by the principal cast of the first two episodes, for instance, that continues to be featured after the first two hours of the series, our count would become 1 (Saru) out of 2 (Michael Burnham, Saru). But that seems unnecessarily restrictive. Two, while no Klingon can probably be counted as a principal cast member, characters like T’Kuvma and Voq get a fair amount of screen time during the first two hours. (Some of my friends think they get too much screen time, what with all those subtitles). Three, there’s a popular theory that one of Discovery’s other six main characters as listed above may be an alien sleeper agent. If this turns out to be correct, our non-human count would go up to 2. Finally, while Burnham is genetically human, her upbringing is Vulcan. So she’s genetically all human, but definitely embodies something non-human as well.
Keeping these caveats in mind, the pattern that emerges from our recap is pretty clear: Generally speaking, the farther we move into the Trek timeline, the higher the percentage of non-humans kicking off each new franchise incarnation.
This doesn’t hold strictly true for Enterprise, which starts with two non-human leads, while Discovery and The Original Series, which follow Enterprise, only have one apiece. But the important thing to note is that the original series and its two prequels all have lower non-human mixes than the later shows, and each of these sequels/spinoffs progressively gets more non-human leads as it opens another chapter of the future.
I’ll admit, just looking at these numbers makes me wish for a new Trek series set after Voyager. If our trend held true, how fascinating it could be to explore a new vision of Star Trek featuring mostly non-human intelligences. There are other reasons, too, for wishing for a post-Voyager series, but that’s a whole different conversation…
Naturally, numerical counts aren’t significant on their own. As mentioned, Burnham’s unique cultural upbringing in some respects makes her as much of an outsider as some of the non-human leads from other shows, and that sense of disconnection from her peers fuels compelling drama. Whether a character wears a strange-looking prosthetic isn’t the point—Phlox, for example, never struck me as profoundly different, though the writers tried. What matters is the depth of character development—the challenges and complexities depicted in a character’s inter-relating to others on a shared journey.
I hope Discovery introduces more aliens in seasons to come, and maybe takes them on as recurring characters, if not leads. Sarek arguably fills that role now, but it would be nice to have others. The show’s producers have indicated that the Klingon war storyline will likely be put to bed at the end of the first season. I welcome the change. Hopefully it will create an opportunity for stories that introduce more alien characters as allies, even if uneasy ones, rather than foes. And while I find myself agreeing with Ira Behr when he says about DS9 that “even though it has the most aliens, it’s truly the most human,” I’d sure like to see Discovery give it a run for its money.
*I’m cheating here, because “The Man Trap”, the first broadcast TOS episode, doesn’t include Scotty, and neither does the second episode, “Charlie X”, though the third episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”—the show’s second filmed pilot—does. But I feel like Scotty is really part of the first season’s core cast, so there you go.
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro is the author of the Hugo- and Locus-finalist Traveler of Worlds: Conversations With Robert Silverberg (2016). Alvaro has published many stories, essays, reviews, and interviews, as well as Rhysling-nominated poetry.
It’s interesting how the most “un-Trek” (as I’ve heard it called) gets so much esteem, apparently they managed to do things right.
Of course, you could also say that many of the characters are less aliens, and more manifestations of humanity done in a convenient encapsulation that exposes the qualities in a more direct manner.
The reason I enjoyed DS9 wasn’t because of the aliens (although that helps), it was because it was one of the first* tv shows to focus more on a long running story, and less on weekly episodes where everything ended up just the way it had started out. It wasn’t the only series that marked this shift, but it didn’t seem that TNG or Voyager often wanted to go beyond the planet-of-the-week style episodes.
These days of course practically all TV is long-form stories. I wonder if it’ll ever shift back to being more stand alone episodes?
* Babylon 5 was first obviously, and first in my estimation at the time as well.
Ahem, technically, you might want to bump that number up for Discovery. If you know what I mean.
I don’t think you can count the Doctor on Voyager as a non-human. He was played as a human. The fact that he was a computer program is immaterial.
I’d be curious how you’d list Voyager from Season 4 onwards, when Seven of Nine joined the crew to replace Kes. Technically she’s human, but most of her life she was Borg, and she certainly doesn’t look completely human. So would we count her as human, or as a borg-human hybrid, thus putting her on the “not totally human” side?
#4
The Doctor was modeled on a human and created by one, but his abilities, his identity, his fears of being erased, and indeed his whole existential journey were uniquely non-human.
Technically, Deanna Troi and B’Elanna Torres are also half-human, although this doesn’t influence your numbers. And you didn’t mention the animated series – it has two additional non-humans, Arex and M’Ress. We don’t learn much about them, but Arex looks cool.
What about Porthos from Enterprise? He’s in the pilot, but he’s definitely not human.
Tasha Yar wasnt human, or was she just born on a diffrant human planet. I remember something about her leaving the planet the second they joined the federation.
#1
Good point. One of my favorite character arc’s was Odo’s, and I do think they succeeded in showing his alienness through the Great Link and so on.
9, Tasha Yar was born on Turkana IV, a failed human colony, with no indication of her being anything but fully human, though technically from a non-Federation member, and I’m not sure of the details of how she became a Star Fleet officer, but I don’t think the planet itself was much helped.
#2
As it happens I wrote a piece on Star Trek: The Next Generation’s episodic nature, and the comments section generated a lot of interesting discussion about serialization vs. stand-alone storytelling. In case you’re interested: https://www.tor.com/2016/09/23/in-praise-of-star-trek-the-next-generations-infamous-reset-button/
#3
I say in the piece “there’s a popular theory that one of Discovery’s other six main characters as listed above may be an alien sleeper agent.”–Are you alluding to *another* theory regarding a second lead that maybe I missed? :-)
#4 & #6
I’m going to side with Chazwuzzuh on this one. There was a non-trivial amount of story time dedicated to exploring some uniquely non-human facets of the Doctor’s existence. Episodes like “Author, Author”, “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, “Darkling”, “Latent Image”, “Flesh and Blood I and II” come to mind as handling various shades of this, and I’m forgetting others.
#7
You’re right. And Arex does look cool. He certainly came across as alien to me! Though under-used. I think according to one of the comics he was supposed to be telepathic.
#13 — Sorry, I missed that part. Yes, the sleeper agent theory is what I was referring to. Good article by the way.
@9/Kullen: I remember thinking that Tasha Yar wasn’t human myself, probably because of her name. Later I learned that “Tasha” was short for “Natasha”, and she was of Ukrainian descent. I don’t think “Yar” is an Ukrainian family name, but then, “Sulu” and “Uhura” aren’t real names either, and “Chekov” is “Chekhov” misspelled.
@15/Alvaro Zinos-Amaro: That was The Enterprise Experiment, wasn’t it? He’s also a character in James Swallow’s novel The Latter Fire. The novel makes him a former Academy instructor who switched to a field assignment, and who isn’t telepathic.
My favourite DS9 alien is Dax. I love the idea of a person who is a young woman and a very old being at the same time, and who has all the memories and experience of a fun-loving, not entirely respectable old man. And it made for some great character interaction between her and Sisko.
More than pure numbers, the non-human members of the DS9 acted, well, non-human. From the Bajoran religion contrasted against the Human/Starfleet Secularism at the start throughout the series, we were treated to the societal norms of the non-human species. We learned a fair amount about the Bajorans, Cardassians and Trill as a people and a culture during the run and credit to the show that they were all treated fairly. We were introduced to the Founders/Dominion and learned about them as a people, although it did come at the expense of learning more about the other species of the Gamma Quadrant. But the true coup de grace was how the show developed the Klingon and Ferengi species. While we had been exposed to Worf, who was a departure of the TOS era Klingons, we had never actually seen Klingons who had grown up in the actual Klingon Empire. Martok, as brilliantly written and acted, shed new light into the species. Likewise with the Ferengi people, where we saw what had been a comedic culture formed into a functioning and definitely alien society, as well as through the characters of Rom and Nog the side of the Ferengi that was not just money-hungry, but that wanted to be more than that.
The Originial Series gave us the trope of “The Planets of the Hats” where every individual on a newly discovered planet had one defining characteristic. Vulcans = Logical. Klingons= Honorable Warriors. Romulans = Manipulative. Ferengi = Greedy. What DS9 did was break that idea, to show that these species were as diverse and rich as our own.
@18/MikeKelm: That isn’t quite true. TOS Vulcans had more than one defining characteristic. They were inherently aggressive, but had become logical and pacifistic due to the teachings of Surak. They were highly intelligent, secretive, somewhat arrogant and had weird ancient rituals. TOS Romulans had the reputation to be manipulative, but were also shown to have a strong sense of duty. TOS Klingons weren’t honorable at all. And the Ferengi were only introduced in TNG.
18, indeed the Planet of Hats effect was a problem, though some of the other examples might be more pointed, and some, like the Space Romans, the Space Indians, and the Space Nazis might be more effective examples of the tendency. Not to mention the Space Americans and Space Robots.
Perhaps because they only had to visit a place once, and then could go on, they didn’t have to serve anything except whatever plot device was useful this week.
@20/LordVorless: They did Space Romans, Space Indians (who were actual Indians abducted from Earth) and Space Nazis because they wanted to save money by using existing props. Later Trek shows used the holodeck for the same purpose.
Rather than saying that the alien species had one defining characteristic each, I’d say that most of them were exactly like humans. Which makes sense because they were often intended as a commentary on some political or social issue.
I think they really succeeded with the Vulcans. They had a nuanced civilisation – pacifism and ritual fights to the death, arrogance and IDIC, and yet it all made sense somehow. They had different personalities – Sarek wasn’t like Spock, and T’Pring wasn’t like Sarek. And they were truly alien and not simply pointy-eared humans.
“I’ll admit, just looking at these numbers makes me wish for a new Trek series set after Voyager. If our trend held true, how fascinating it could be to explore a new vision of Star Trek featuring mostly non-human intelligences. There are other reasons, too, for wishing for a post-Voyager series, but that’s a whole different conversation…”
I agree! The latest Trek incarnations, Enterprise, Discovery, the film reboots, have all failed to keep one of Star Trek‘s greatest promises: to go where no one has gone before. So much adventure and excitement and sense of wonder is lost when we get nothing but endless retreads of past events. What ever happened to the idea of not only exploring your universe but also exploring the future? I was genuinely curious about how the Next Generation‘s crew would survive the Borg invasion, what new and interesting species the USS Voyager would encounter (not to mention how they’d return to the Alpha quadrant), the undiscovered places on the other side of the wormhole and how the Federation would defeat the Dominion. The latest versions are nothing but visual self-references bent on cannibalizing old and settled story lines.
21, saving money on Props is one thing (hence why at least a few “aliens” don’t even have funny noses), but the point I was making was more about the lack of character depth expressed with those episodes that becomes quite obvious was a choice of plot that sometimes didn’t even have the facade of being non-human to it.
The Vulcans run into some problems though, with their occasional usage of the arrogant, sneering, contemptuous typing that can be written a little overbearing even when it’s not actually “logical” behavior. And some of their rituals feel forced, like they were done just to drive a plot point.
22, that’s a good point, prequels can explore things a bit better, sometimes, but they may also halt progression. Of course, there is the tendency to wanting a sequel that is just the same thing over and over again.
@22/Stefen: I don’t think it’s a problem of the century, though – after all, it’s all the future. I think it’s a problem of Star Trek being about Star Trek instead of being about the world, or the unknown.
That said, there was one thing I really liked about the reboot films, and that was all the alien crewmembers on the Enterprise.
@23/LordVorless: Concerning funny noses – I’ve read somewhere that they would have liked to do more stories about Romulans, but they couldn’t afford all those pointed ears. Noses probably aren’t any easier to do than ears. And they did create visually interesting aliens, from the Horta to the Tholians or the Melkotians. Actually, I find that they had more imaginative aliens than later Trek shows.
Do you really find that the Romulan commander in “Balance of Terror” or Zarabeth in “All Our Yesterdays” had no character depth?
I conclude from your remark about Vulcans that you don’t like “Amok Time” as much as I do.
24, I’ve heard that’s why so many Romulans wore helmets as well, and why the Klingon make-up was what it was.
But yes, they did manage to sometimes come up with good ideas, like the Horta. Unfortunately, they remade it for TNG. And of course, they re-cast Mark Lenard, but I’m not going to complain about that.
But they did re-use the plot. Just like they did for Amok Time in TNG, without the Vulcans. Either way, it was a bit off-putting, but for the Vulcans, part of the problem was the ritual aspect being rather forced, but also the lack of further reference to it. It was much like the recent episode of the Orville (the second, or third?). It was just sort of unnatural, as if it was a set-piece to make some point.
@25/LordVorless: “Unfortunately, they remade it for TNG.” – In “Home Soil”? I liked that one, especially the realistic terraforming team. We don’t see a lot of terraforming in Star Trek, so that was a nice variation.
“Just like they did for Amok Time in TNG, without the Vulcans.” – Hmm… “Code of Honor”?
“[…] for the Vulcans, part of the problem was the ritual aspect being rather forced, but also the lack of further reference to it.”
Actually, it does make sense, though I’m not sure if Sturgeon put that much thought into it. Ritual, like logic, is a way of bringing order into a chaotic world and thus making it easier to deal with. For example, autistic people often employ both. Therefore it’s plausible that Vulcans, when their logic is taken away from them, would turn to ritual instead.
I’m not sure what you mean with “lack of further reference”. Surely Pon Farr is taken up again? Also ritual as a part of Vulcan society – both the Kolinahr in TMP and the Fal-tor-pan in TSFS are surrounded by ritual, complete with powerful old women in ceremonial robes. Although I like T’Pau’s headdress best.
26, Terraforming as a subject would be worth exploring more, but that doesn’t eliminate the notes being almost identical. It’s a common problem which is hardly unique to Trek, but maybe they could have found some other themes to explore.
But yes, it’s Code of Honor. And I don’t know if the Unfortunate Implications were intended or not, though not knowing the people, I will give the some benefit of the doubt.
And no, it’s not Pon Far as such (though perhaps McCoy’s ignorance might be, what kind of logical person does not have that on file for their doctor? Though given the Doctor M’Benga, it might be McCoy’s fault.) , but rather the ritual. Or the particular manifestation. Turning to ritual for Vulcans is one thing, the specific ritual of kal-if-fee is a bit of a problem.
Well, I suppose there might be reference in some novel or other media.
@27/LordVorless: “[…] what kind of logical person does not have that on file for their doctor?” – The kind who would rather die than tell their best friend about it? It’s a really, really big secret. And Spock tells Kirk that he had “hoped [he] would be spared this”, so he didn’t plan for it in advance. Not logical, but wasn’t this the starting point of the discussion – that Vulcans aren’t a one-note species solely defined by logic?
“Turning to ritual for Vulcans is one thing, the specific ritual of kal-if-fee is a bit of a problem.” – Do you mean from an in-universe point of view, or that it’s unfortunate to give Vulcan males an overwhelming sex drive that makes them fight over a woman and even kill their best friend? At least the writers succeeded in making it a really embarrassing secret.
28, to quote Mr. Spock himself:
It’s not a big secret. It’s not personal. It’s a biological manifestation. The whole race experiences it. (To some degree anyway) If they’re shamed as a whole, then nonetheless, it’s still illogical. Yet, of course, the only way it could make for the conflict in the episode, was for them to do it. Hence why to me, it’s not simply the matter of being “one-note” but rather “forced” in order to drive a plot point as I said.
And I am a little concerned that the problem of Spock’s recalcitrance is passed over, maybe it was lost in the script-writing, but I’d have preferred it if there had been more coverage of it. It’s like it is superficial, I guess.
It does seem that there is a Voyager episode, Blood Fever, that covers it, I must have missed it, but it doesn’t seem they’ve really addressed the situation even with a few more decades of Vulcan interaction with others. And how much of that can be excused under “Vulcans are too embarrassed” when you know, actual physical harm and death can occur? Ultimately, while I don’t have a problem with pointing out the flaws of Vulcans (they are pretentious), the particular methodology feels forced as I said.
@29/LordVorless: Well, it never felt forced to me. In real life, on a personal level, people who pride themselves on their superior intellect and rationality are often really embarrassed when they lose control, sometimes to the point that they try to deny it. This kind of behaviour was probably even more widespread in the 1960s. Pon Farr is the same thing on a huge scale. I’m not excusing it, I’m only saying that it makes sense, and that it makes Vulcans more interesting, more nuanced and more alien.
What’s that with Spock’s recalcitrance?
30, I agree, the problem was quite identifiable as related to a behavior in humans, and I don’t doubt the writers considered that and wanted to make a message, which is why it became a plot point, but the way it was handled, well, that’s why it felt forced to me. This aspect of Vulcans exists for the story, rather than the story developing out of what the Vulcans are. (Odd that you’re saying a behavior you can find in real life makes Vulcans seem more alien to you…That’s perplexing. The biology being different, of course, is another question).
For example, If you review Amok Time, Spock starts off by insisting that it’s personal business, shut up, I have leave, which can be partially excused as a result of his deteriorating mental state, but still, without that, what happens? Not so much conflict, but they wanted it. And the resolution, well, the way it’s ultimately treated at the end, basically brushes off anything from “Spock, your actions constitute a breach of duty to report yourself when unfit, consider yourself <insert minor disciplinary act here>” to just have everybody happy Kirk is alive with a nod to Spock being human in relief on that. Not so much in the way of any form of admonishment. That it continues into the Voyager days, well, that’s not making the Vulcans look good.
Which if somebody had said “Stupid Vulcans, that’s not Logical at all” I would be a bit less displeased. But absent that, well…it’s a disappointment that they missed the moral target they were shooting at.
To give another example, The Mote In God’s Eye, which if you haven’t read, I apologize for spoiling, features the first contact with the Moties who have a compulsive need to reproduce or die, which has caused them massive problems in the past, and threatenes humanity, which leads to them being quarantined. The sequel takes place years later, and what have humans been doing in the meantime? Oh, it turns out they were working on a solution to the Motie’s compulsive reproduction problem.
Likely not a measure needed for Vulcans, but I’m actually troubled by what I can tell about Blood Fever’s indication that the problem continues to be under a blanket of shame.
@31/LordVorless: “This aspect of Vulcans exists for the story, rather than the story developing out of what the Vulcans are.”
But it did develop out of what the Vulcans are. It had already been established that they used to be very aggressive in the past (“Balance of Terror”), that they are repressed (“The Naked Time”, “This Side of Paradise”) and more specifically, that they are ashamed of their emotions (“Jim, when I feel friendship for you, I’m ashamed” – Spock in “The Naked Time”).
“Odd that you’re saying a behavior you can find in real life makes Vulcans seem more alien to you…That’s perplexing. The biology being different, of course, is another question.”
I meant the biology, and the rituals, and how both of these interact with the already established logic and rigidity.
“And the resolution, well, the way it’s ultimately treated at the end, basically brushes off anything from “Spock, your actions constitute a breach of duty to report yourself when unfit, consider yourself <insert minor disciplinary act here>” to just have everybody happy Kirk is alive with a nod to Spock being human in relief on that. Not so much in the way of any form of admonishment.”
Well, for starters, Kirk lets Spock get away with anything. That’s a consistent character trait. Next, Kirk is a forgiving person – that’s what saved the day in “Arena”, and we also see it in “Space Seed” and “By Any Other Name”. So, this is just consistent writing. And finally, if it’s such a strong taboo, shouldn’t Vulcans as a whole be blamed rather than Spock?
32, oh, I would have no problem blaming Vulcan society as a whole, if I knew it was something they were concealing in such a dangerous way, and perhaps with Blood Fever, there are indications that is what’s happening(after all, with another episode, we have more people involved), so I have some reason to believe it is, but with Amok Time, there’s no real indication of that which I recall(though I might question some of the allowances made regarding T’pring), so I can only attribute to Spock his own choices, which were less logical than usual. I may have missed something in Amok Time though, or forgotten it. It’s been a while. I wouldn’t object to it being a society problem though. Of course, with Spock, he has the different human biology and its impact. There’s an idea I wouldn’t have minded being explored, I can’t recall if that ever happened though. If only I had Data’s memory…
That Star Trek (like many shows) has problems with cast members getting to run wild when they should not be, is a common problem as well. It’s a consistent difficulty, no doubt made difficult by needing to have the cast back next week. (This is why sometimes the bad action is given to a guest cast member, or even a death. )
However, in this case, well, I think as simple a solution as I mentioned above would work.
Now back to the Vulcans, incongruous is one thing, and it could be even worse without all of those aspects you mention that give credence to the problem(though as I note, they actually serve to also demonstrate how they’re a message about humanity as well), but the particular manifestation still feels forced in a way that say, “Mr. Spock has advised us that he needs to return to Vulcan for personal reasons” would not have. To use another example from Star Trek, consider Journey to Babel where Kirk is dumbfounded that Spock’s father was standing right in front of him. Now Spock having a tenuous relationship with his father, not unacceptable, but to me, it would have felt less forced if the conversation had gone a different way, like say, Kirk knowing Spock’s father was the ambassador, and Spock could still relate the desired message about his family relationship well enough.
To put it another way, I can like the song they’re playing, but it’s like they’re hitting the keys in a way that jars me a little.
@33/LordVorless: Spock tells Kirk this in “Amok Time”: “It is a thing no out-worlder may know except those very few who have been involved.” So it’s really a taboo and not just Spock being illogical.
I agree that the scene in “Journey to Babel” is a bit odd, although Kirk not knowing that Riley had survived the same genocide as he in “The Conscience of the King” is worse. But there are oddities like that in all the Trek shows, and surely in other TV shows too.
34, in that case, I’m more directly willing to apportion significant blame to Vulcan society as a whole. It may be one thing if all Vulcans understand it (though I think it isn’t), but out in the wider universe? That’s putting other Federation members at risk. Some more chagrin on their part would be appropriate. I suppose Spock can be given slightly more leniency due to his hybrid status, but perhaps that might also be more grounds for concern.
But yes, keeping continuity can be difficult…or outright flagrantly abandoned. Even when it’s not the problem though, sometimes it’s a message is bit off.
oops, missed a phrase there, forgot to finish my thought:
though I think it isn’t manifested in a really justifiable way.
At least T’pau was more than willing to give Kirk an out. If she was more insistent, well..