No respect for Spock?

I'm watchin season 1 of TOS again and something I can't get is the lack of respect Spock gets from most of the crew on the Enterprise. He's a Senior officer and the ships 1st Officer but yet most crewman will refer to him by his name, or disregard most of commands, mock him or even try to get a compliment out of him. Uhura (in Charlie X), McCoy, and a few one shot characters are examples of this.

Why is he treated like this at times?

 

TV Shows like characters who can be ribbed and teased for comic payoff.

Can you site an example of someone ignoring his orders or calling him "Spock" with out a mister added? (Other than McCoy)

 

“Mister” is not the traditional manner of addressing a superior officer.

 

Yes, I know, but in Starfleet it appears to be to be perfectly okay.

 

I know that we've seen lower ranking officers refer to Scott as either Mister Scott or Scotty. So Spock isn't the only one who isn't referred to by rank by subordinates.

 

Who besides Kirk and McCoy ever calls him Scotty?

ETA: I checked.

Uhura and Sulu in Friday’s Child
Palamas in Who Mourns for Adonis? (Note that she and Scotty were exploring romance at the time.)
Chapel in Lights of Zetar
Romaine in Lights of Zetar (Same note as Palamas.)

That’s all.

In Is There In Truth No Beauty? Scotty introduces himself to Marvick as “Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer. Call me Scotty,” but Marvick never takes him up on it.

ETA: Just checked TAS.

Uhura in The Lorelei Signal.
Bem in Bem. (Not a Starfleet officer. He actually calls him “Mister Scotty.”)

ETA: And the movies.

Decker in TMP. (Superior officer.)
Uhura and Chekov in TVH. (Off duty.)
Uhura in TFF.

 

It is traditional in the US and UK navies for officers below the grade of commander to be addressed as "mister."

From my dad's c.1966 Bluejacket's Manual:



--Justin

 

I stand corrected.

Of course, Spock does hold the rank of Commander for most of the series, so this excuse doesn’t really apply. And no, the standards cannot change over the course of three centuries.

 

^^ But remember, TOS Starfleet is Military Lite, e.g., no salutes.

One episode in which many fans feel Spock didn’t get the respect due him from his subordinates was “The Galileo Seven.” That’s been discussed on a previous thread.

 

And, of course, Balance of Terror..

 

I've got this image of Spock doing a Rodney Dangerfield bit.

"Yeah, I get no respect. Last night some of the other crew tried to talk me into volunteering for an away mission--wearing a red shirt. No respect, I tell you."

 

Mr. Spock put up with a lot of nonsense in "The Galileo Seven" no question about it. But I think the episode was written with the emotions at their extremes to bring out the contrast between the cool headed Vulcans and the quick-to-judge humans.

Not to say that there is anything wrong with being human, but that perhaps being cool headed and logical is better. Remember the series was shot during a particularly sensitive time in America. A little more logic may have made the era easier to live through. Spock may have been Roddenberry's way of introducing that notion into the culture.

 

Doesn't that episode end with Spock acting on an illogical chance of fate?

I think you might be misremembering its point, Anji.

 

“I didn’t get any respect when I was a kid. When I played in the sandbox, my pet sehlat kept trying to cover me up. NO RESPECT, I tell you!”

Oh, and it’s not an “away mission,” it’s a landing party, dammit!

 

AMOK TIME II

"My marriage is on the rocks again, yeah, my wife just broke up with her boyfriend"

 

Journey to Babel:

"Hell, I left Vulcan to get away from them and now they are here. There's no escaping Ma and Pa. I'll just avoid them and stay on the bridge, yeah, that's the ticket."

But seriously, they did treat him kind of disrespectfully. I guess it was meant to underline his distinctiveness.

 

Balance of Terror was a study in prejudice anyway. So that disrespect WAS the point.

 

McCoy was borderline racist (and sometimes just plain racist) in most of their interactions, but then again Spock showed racist tendencies towards humans. And some blatant hypocrisy as well, considering the Vulcans were every bit as guilty of illogical emotions and barbarism in their history.

 

Actually, Anji is quite correct. Mister Boma crosses the line several times in terms of respect, to the point that Scotty steps in with McCoy in tow, to address that disrespect.

 

Boma goes way the hell over the line. He’s due for some serious disciplinary action for his insubordination.

Latimer and Gaetano, of course, will escape punishment for theirs. Lucky them.