Comments | dark_orion: Interpretation of ST:XI: Slash goggles, on!

dark_orion

Interpretation of ST:XI: Slash goggles, on!

Feb 18, 2011 18:09

( Interpretation of ST:XI: Slash goggles, on!, Part One )

pairing: kirk/spock, commentary, fandom: star trek: tos, fandom: star trek: xi, picspasm

Comments 25

stranj100 February 19 2011, 04:25:50 UTC

ST:E took place before the founding of the Federation, T'Pol was an adviser and member of Vulcan High Command. When she resigned VHC she joined the Earth Starfleet. Archer and crew helped found, the Coalition of Planets, a precursor to the Federation. Technically, Spock would be the first Vulcan to join the Federation Starfleet.

dark_orion February 19 2011, 21:38:16 UTC

Ah, thanks so much. I really had no idea, other than there was some kind of quiz online that said "false" when asking if Spock were first because T'Pol accepted a commission of some kind. Thanks for taking the time to school me. :)

stranj100 February 20 2011, 01:40:52 UTC

I'm glad to help. ST:E had its faults, but over all it was a good show. The writers tried hard not to mess with continuity. In fact they used it to explain inconsistencies between TOS and TNG like why Klingons had no head ridges in TOS. The writers created Levodian flu.

I think of the series as just a big love note to TOS. T'Pol is awesome. She and Archer shared a very similar dynamic to Kirk and Spock. The series even had a charming southerner, Cmdr. Tucker. The three of them are an OT3 for me.

dark_orion February 20 2011, 01:54:34 UTC

Oh, that's a good point about T'Pol and Archer as relating to Spock and Kirk. I remember there being plenty of conjecture about the nature T'Pol and Archer's relationship. Means that one could say, "well, if you think T'Pol and Archer are together, what makes you think Kirk and Spock aren't?" Thanks for that ;)

And I forgot to say how much I like Connor Trinneer, too! He played Michael on Stargate: Atlantis and was so deliciously evil but still so angsty and awww.

spellhorn February 19 2011, 05:02:37 UTC

I was thinking about just this thing earlier today (while at work. polishing glasses >>)

My thoughts were pretty much the same. (Obviously we have some deep soul connection.)

dark_orion February 19 2011, 21:38:53 UTC

Quite clearly. :) Great minds and all that.

the_physicist February 19 2011, 17:48:52 UTC

I was also thinking about how discovering that romulans and vulcans share a common origin so early, rather than much later as in TOS, would have impacted things and also thought it might lead to humans being more wary of vulcans. so yeah, good to see i wasn't the only one thinking along those lines! good post!

dark_orion February 19 2011, 21:39:48 UTC

Thank you! Yeah, it was really the only main reason that I could think of that Spock would be so much more closed off in XI than TOS.

lah_mrh February 19 2011, 20:58:27 UTC

According to TOS canon, Spock was the first Vulcan ever to join Starfleet (blah, blah T'Pol whatever--1960s canon trumps that, so there)--there is no reason for this to be different in XI, so we can safely assume there were no Vulcans serving on the Kelvin.

There probably weren't Vulcans on the Kelvin, but Spock being the first Vulcan in Starfleet isn't actually canon. Just thought I'd point that out.

dark_orion February 19 2011, 21:45:11 UTC

I have to admit, I did go looking for the original source, but couldn't find one. Startrek.com said as much, but who knows? I guess I'll stick with stranj100's interpretation of ST:E, since s/he knows more about that than I do (not too difficult regarding ST:E, really). But I admit, the Intrepid does give one pause. I wonder why it's such a widely held belief, then? Hmmm... Must investigate. Thanks!

lah_mrh March 25 2011, 20:56:39 UTC

Unless you take into account secondary canon - many book series, etc are taken as more or less canon when they fill in gaps that aren't mentioned in the show itself.
As far as Spock being the first Vulcan in Starfleet while they make mention of a Vulcan ship that is destroyed - theres a lot of mumbo-jumbo one could come up with to explain that the ship is likely Vulcan in origin and that it runs in conjunction with Starfleet despite the crew not graduating Starfleet Academy. It would, after all, be illogical to assume that Earth is the only planet within the federation that had some sort of training facility for the military.

So Spock *could* be the first Vulcan ever to officially graduate the Academy.

lah_mrh March 25 2011, 21:25:09 UTC

I don't take novels and the like as canon. (With the possible exception of Roddenberry's novelisation of The Motion Picture, but even that's really more Word of God than canon.)

I never said it was impossible for Spock to be the first Vulcan in Starfleet, or to graduate the academy, but it isn't canon, and frankly I don't see why people think it's so important anyway. Isn't Spock an awesome enough character already?

eliyes February 19 2011, 23:22:01 UTC

It is quite possible that Spock's joining Starfleet paved the way for more Vulcan recruits, which would strengthen relations between the two species.

Indeed, while Spock is explicitly called the first Vulcan in Starfleet, by the time Kirk is commanding the Enterprise, the Intrepid has an entirely Vulcan crew. I think we can consider TOS!Spock quite the road-paver.

dark_orion February 20 2011, 01:50:13 UTC

That's what I lean towards as well, because having a ship with an entirely Vulcan crew seems like such a stepping stone kind of thing. Like Spock's being in Starfeet made Vulcans think "well, so it might not be a bad idea to join Starfleet, but damned if I'm going to be on a ship full of humans," thus the commission of a ship manned entirely by Vulcans.