A couple of K/S slash nuggets for your Sunday
I have a new 'their love is oh so canon' tag, just to chronicle all this Kirk/Spock shit I keep discovering. Seriously, every day I learn or think up something new.
I finished reading the Star Trek: TMP novel, and besides the earth shattering shit I mentioned in a previous post, there wasn't anything too huge that happened after that point.
....There are still a couple of things worth mentioning. On pages 101-102, it's the part of the movie where Kirk begs Spock to just sit the fuck down and Spock proceeds to tell Kirk and McCoy that he heard an entity from space, both on Vulcan and on the ship. Kirk asks if it was just two instances, and Spock confirms, but also mentions that he seemed to be hearing Kirk's thoughts. It's McCoy's POV and he says that the look on Kirk's face confirms that he did think what Spock tells him. This is interesting and sort of slashy by itself (long distance calling, anyone?) but then McCoy lets slip his surprise that Spock, in this seemingly emotionless state, would admit this because, and I quote, "It was common knowledge that telepathic rapport between Vulcan and human was possible only in cases of extraordinarily close friendship." The world wants to know: just how much of a rapport would you need to communicate to each other through the vastness of space, when Vulcans and humans were not very compatible in the first place? I scoff at the bondmate theory, but damn if it doesn't sort of match up here. Bondmates gone wrong? Who knows. I'll remain skepical.
And of course the infamous Hand Holding scene. It's actually written pretty close to what you see on film, but you actually get Spock's thoughts, and there's a paragraph on page 168 where Spock clings (and yes, he himself uses the word 'clings') to Kirk's hand, thinks about the cold unfeeling machines when he melded with V'ger, how they are without the marvelous things that define need, and then finishes with, "How important it was to a living thing to have needs!" Not slashly, but come on, he's thinking about needing and he's clinging ot Kirk's hand. What more do you want? full-frontal nudity and sexy timez. Maybe in ST XII. :P
I watched part of the episode Metamorphosis again, and if you've seen it or know anything about it, I won't go into detail or summarize the thing again, just pull something together that I never fully connected before. This one is less proof and more of me seeing what I want to see, and isn't it wonderful that I can openly admit to embellishing for my own benefit and yet knowing that 95% of the time, I really don't have to embellish a goddamn thing? I loved in the youtube show The Ship's Closet (go watch, because seriously, woman after my own heart) when she defines t'hy'la. She waits a few moments and then says conversationally, "I could just end this right now." That's awesome stuff. But I digress.
All right, brief, brief summary: They're stuck on a planet where a missing genius from their past has been alive for 150 years alone and some electric cloud brought them all there to be companions for the day. After poking around and a bunch of other things, they tell the guy that the electric cloud thing loves him, and the guy is all DUDE, WTF, IT'S BEEN GETTING ITS ELECTRIC JIZZ ALL OVER ME FOR YEARS? The trio is like *shrug* and the guy calls them amoral for thinking this way.
This scene is infamous for having Spock say that the man has a "total parochial attitude" about the electric cloud lovin' and for all three championing love in many forms.
What I want to focus on is when Spock first tells the dude that the thing is in love with him. "Her attitude when she approaches you is profoundly different than when she contacts us. Her appearance is soft, gentle. Her voice is melodic, pleasing. I do not totally understand the emotion, but it obviously exists. The Companion loves you." Well that's all well and good, except go back and watch Kirk's body language. He's oddly silent except for one line.
Now let's zoom to later, when Kirk attemps to ask the companion if he loves the man. The body language is suspect, because unlike how Kirk usually is, he 's not pulling things out of his ass or trying to beseech the thing. Instead, he acts like he's pulling the definition of love as he knows it, what with all the inwardly searching looks, and I like what he says:
"It he important to you, more important than anything? Is he as though he were a part of you."
*clears throat* THIS IS KIRK'S DEFINTION OF LOVE, WHO DO WE KNOW THAT FILLS THIS ROLE? Kirk risked his career in Amok Time, his life several times, his everything in Search for Spock, and he flat out stated in Search for Spock that he left his nobler half on Genesis. Spock is more important than anything (as Kirk-in-Janice-Lester's-body in Turnabout Intruder will say, "you know the captain better than anyone, you know his thoughts.") and he's flat out a part of Kirk, two sides of the same coin, SUCK ON THAT.
*composes herself* Now let's go back to Spock saying that he doesn't understand the emotion of love. Kirk, more than anyone else alive, knows Spock's weaknesses and is the most respectful of him. McCoy will misunderstand and butt heads because he thinks Spock cold, Uhura abandons her flirting when she wonders how Spock can be so cold when the captain may be dead in an episode I forgot the same to, and everyone else just doesn't get or, more importantly, WANT to get Spock. Saying this, let's see two quotes from Kirk after the companion wants to smother the human and have him be what she/it wants.
"He will not continue. He will cease to exist. By your feelings for him, you are condemning him to an existence he will find unbearable. He will cease to exists."
Heavy words, and doesn't that just play right into things? Kirk is respectful and understanding of Spock, and doesn't want to express his feelings because in his mind it would be condemning Spock to an existence he will find unbearable. Notice how Kirk never, unless he's trying to emotionally compromise Spock like in "This Side of Paradise", is posessed, or is merely being playful about Spock and his emotions. He never calls Spock cold and unfeeling and he always respects his wishes and the way he's chosen to live his life. I find it not very hard to imagine that Kirk would not want to burden Spock with feelings he can't return, even if he felt them just the same.
This next quote, you just have to go to youtube and watch how Kirk delivers the line, because that's half of it. Read this twice, first at face value and then as if Kirk is talking to Spock himself, substitute Spock with the companion:
"But you can't really love him. You haven't the slightest knowledge of love, the total union of two people. You are the companion Spock of Vulcan. He is the man I am a human. You are two different things. You can't join. You can't love. You may keep him here forever, but you will always be separate, apart from him."
And if you're a believer in K/S, then this makes a lot of sense right here and explains why they don't just JUMP EACH OTHER ALREADY. Kirk really believes this. Spock can't love because he won't let himself feel love, and Kirk gets that. Kirk understands that Spock follows his Vulcan heritage, and if you like, maybe the companion taking the form of a human can be a convenient metaphor for us, that embracing humanity will bring you true love and then you can be a union of two people.
See what I mean? This is not proof by any means, it's downright me twisting shit around, but damn is it nice to imagine and daydream about, and there's just enough truth in there to make it satisfying.
*extra note* That's a huge reason why I love K/S, especially in reboot. Their timeline is wildly different, because instead of having a slowly-built friendship that predates the movie, they start off as strangers and their relationship is set to fast forward. The mind meld is important because of what Kirk says after it, a kind of surprised, "so you do feel." And Spock does feels deeply, given young Kirk's reaction to the emotional transference. Because of this Kirk will know, just like TOS Kirk, that Spock feels, and it'll be interesting to see how Kirk will treat Spock. Will he demand human feelings because he knows they're there (but TOS Kirk knew too, so that's out) or will he respect both sides and let Spock be himself (hopefully, unless the writers deviate.) Also, Spock gets insight on Kirk, because of their working together, how Kirk first offered aid to Nero (even if Spock was like, dude, wtf, LET'S BLOW THEM APART) and because I'm sure by the end of the movie, Spock figured out that Kirk didn't mean all that shit about his mama. Hell, he probably worked it out after talking with his dad. The possibilites are endless and I'm DYING for a new movie to see how Kirk and Spock will roll from where the movie left off.
I finished reading the Star Trek: TMP novel, and besides the earth shattering shit I mentioned in a previous post, there wasn't anything too huge that happened after that point.
....There are still a couple of things worth mentioning. On pages 101-102, it's the part of the movie where Kirk begs Spock to just sit the fuck down and Spock proceeds to tell Kirk and McCoy that he heard an entity from space, both on Vulcan and on the ship. Kirk asks if it was just two instances, and Spock confirms, but also mentions that he seemed to be hearing Kirk's thoughts. It's McCoy's POV and he says that the look on Kirk's face confirms that he did think what Spock tells him. This is interesting and sort of slashy by itself (long distance calling, anyone?) but then McCoy lets slip his surprise that Spock, in this seemingly emotionless state, would admit this because, and I quote, "It was common knowledge that telepathic rapport between Vulcan and human was possible only in cases of extraordinarily close friendship." The world wants to know: just how much of a rapport would you need to communicate to each other through the vastness of space, when Vulcans and humans were not very compatible in the first place? I scoff at the bondmate theory, but damn if it doesn't sort of match up here. Bondmates gone wrong? Who knows. I'll remain skepical.
And of course the infamous Hand Holding scene. It's actually written pretty close to what you see on film, but you actually get Spock's thoughts, and there's a paragraph on page 168 where Spock clings (and yes, he himself uses the word 'clings') to Kirk's hand, thinks about the cold unfeeling machines when he melded with V'ger, how they are without the marvelous things that define need, and then finishes with, "How important it was to a living thing to have needs!" Not slashly, but come on, he's thinking about needing and he's clinging ot Kirk's hand. What more do you want? full-frontal nudity and sexy timez. Maybe in ST XII. :P
I watched part of the episode Metamorphosis again, and if you've seen it or know anything about it, I won't go into detail or summarize the thing again, just pull something together that I never fully connected before. This one is less proof and more of me seeing what I want to see, and isn't it wonderful that I can openly admit to embellishing for my own benefit and yet knowing that 95% of the time, I really don't have to embellish a goddamn thing? I loved in the youtube show The Ship's Closet (go watch, because seriously, woman after my own heart) when she defines t'hy'la. She waits a few moments and then says conversationally, "I could just end this right now." That's awesome stuff. But I digress.
All right, brief, brief summary: They're stuck on a planet where a missing genius from their past has been alive for 150 years alone and some electric cloud brought them all there to be companions for the day. After poking around and a bunch of other things, they tell the guy that the electric cloud thing loves him, and the guy is all DUDE, WTF, IT'S BEEN GETTING ITS ELECTRIC JIZZ ALL OVER ME FOR YEARS? The trio is like *shrug* and the guy calls them amoral for thinking this way.
This scene is infamous for having Spock say that the man has a "total parochial attitude" about the electric cloud lovin' and for all three championing love in many forms.
What I want to focus on is when Spock first tells the dude that the thing is in love with him. "Her attitude when she approaches you is profoundly different than when she contacts us. Her appearance is soft, gentle. Her voice is melodic, pleasing. I do not totally understand the emotion, but it obviously exists. The Companion loves you." Well that's all well and good, except go back and watch Kirk's body language. He's oddly silent except for one line.
Now let's zoom to later, when Kirk attemps to ask the companion if he loves the man. The body language is suspect, because unlike how Kirk usually is, he 's not pulling things out of his ass or trying to beseech the thing. Instead, he acts like he's pulling the definition of love as he knows it, what with all the inwardly searching looks, and I like what he says:
"It he important to you, more important than anything? Is he as though he were a part of you."
*clears throat* THIS IS KIRK'S DEFINTION OF LOVE, WHO DO WE KNOW THAT FILLS THIS ROLE? Kirk risked his career in Amok Time, his life several times, his everything in Search for Spock, and he flat out stated in Search for Spock that he left his nobler half on Genesis. Spock is more important than anything (as Kirk-in-Janice-Lester's-body in Turnabout Intruder will say, "you know the captain better than anyone, you know his thoughts.") and he's flat out a part of Kirk, two sides of the same coin, SUCK ON THAT.
*composes herself* Now let's go back to Spock saying that he doesn't understand the emotion of love. Kirk, more than anyone else alive, knows Spock's weaknesses and is the most respectful of him. McCoy will misunderstand and butt heads because he thinks Spock cold, Uhura abandons her flirting when she wonders how Spock can be so cold when the captain may be dead in an episode I forgot the same to, and everyone else just doesn't get or, more importantly, WANT to get Spock. Saying this, let's see two quotes from Kirk after the companion wants to smother the human and have him be what she/it wants.
"He will not continue. He will cease to exist. By your feelings for him, you are condemning him to an existence he will find unbearable. He will cease to exists."
Heavy words, and doesn't that just play right into things? Kirk is respectful and understanding of Spock, and doesn't want to express his feelings because in his mind it would be condemning Spock to an existence he will find unbearable. Notice how Kirk never, unless he's trying to emotionally compromise Spock like in "This Side of Paradise", is posessed, or is merely being playful about Spock and his emotions. He never calls Spock cold and unfeeling and he always respects his wishes and the way he's chosen to live his life. I find it not very hard to imagine that Kirk would not want to burden Spock with feelings he can't return, even if he felt them just the same.
This next quote, you just have to go to youtube and watch how Kirk delivers the line, because that's half of it. Read this twice, first at face value and then as if Kirk is talking to Spock himself, substitute Spock with the companion:
"But you can't really love him. You haven't the slightest knowledge of love, the total union of two people. You are the companion Spock of Vulcan. He is the man I am a human. You are two different things. You can't join. You can't love. You may keep him here forever, but you will always be separate, apart from him."
And if you're a believer in K/S, then this makes a lot of sense right here and explains why they don't just JUMP EACH OTHER ALREADY. Kirk really believes this. Spock can't love because he won't let himself feel love, and Kirk gets that. Kirk understands that Spock follows his Vulcan heritage, and if you like, maybe the companion taking the form of a human can be a convenient metaphor for us, that embracing humanity will bring you true love and then you can be a union of two people.
See what I mean? This is not proof by any means, it's downright me twisting shit around, but damn is it nice to imagine and daydream about, and there's just enough truth in there to make it satisfying.
*extra note* That's a huge reason why I love K/S, especially in reboot. Their timeline is wildly different, because instead of having a slowly-built friendship that predates the movie, they start off as strangers and their relationship is set to fast forward. The mind meld is important because of what Kirk says after it, a kind of surprised, "so you do feel." And Spock does feels deeply, given young Kirk's reaction to the emotional transference. Because of this Kirk will know, just like TOS Kirk, that Spock feels, and it'll be interesting to see how Kirk will treat Spock. Will he demand human feelings because he knows they're there (but TOS Kirk knew too, so that's out) or will he respect both sides and let Spock be himself (hopefully, unless the writers deviate.) Also, Spock gets insight on Kirk, because of their working together, how Kirk first offered aid to Nero (even if Spock was like, dude, wtf, LET'S BLOW THEM APART) and because I'm sure by the end of the movie, Spock figured out that Kirk didn't mean all that shit about his mama. Hell, he probably worked it out after talking with his dad. The possibilites are endless and I'm DYING for a new movie to see how Kirk and Spock will roll from where the movie left off.