I Don't Understand Enterprise Vulcans.

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Enterprise' started by The Master of Tarquin Hill, Nov 26, 2013.

  1. The Master of Tarquin Hill

    The Master of Tarquin Hill Commodore Commodore

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    I must admit, I am amazed by how I kinda agree w/ your 1st paragraph and totally reject your other two paragraphs.

    A tribute to the bird, I suppose.
     
  2. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    What you call amazement, I say makes perfect sense. You were doing alright, there, until you got to the "I totally reject" part ... that's where you lost me.
     
  3. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    If I am not mistaken, T'Pol's artificially induced Pon Farr came before the revelation of the Kir'Sharra. Before then, many Vulcan mystical arts, mind melds in particular, were largely taboo, reason for dismissal from official posts. Even if they were still bound at childhood, I doubt it would have the same resonance that it would come to have in Spock's era. Consequentially, Pon Farr may have had a more aggressive psychology, and the person experiencing it, not being psychically bonded to another person, may be willing to find relief with anyone. Spock, bound to T'Pring through more modern mystical practices, may feel that only T'Pring can satisfy him.
     
  4. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    I agree with all that.
    Also, Spock was engaged to T'Pring, so he's not going to want to just get his pon farr on with just anyone. That's not Spock's way, and he was deeply ashamed, at least it seemed like it to me, about the pon farr and the lack of control it gave him. He wasn't going to want to expose that side of himself to an outsider. T'Pring, as a Vulcan, would understand what was going on and he wouldn't have to be embaressed in front of her.
     
  5. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    I can point you to some illustrated online fanfic that says there are other male Vulcan social rebels... the character is not only a fashion rebel, he's also a red-haired Vulcan.

    There's every reason that her pon farr cycle would be in synch with Spock's, because otherwise the cycle would come at less than 7-year intervals.

    First of all, Spock and T'Pring's cycles are in synch (well, they were before the events of Amok Time). A psychic bond would have been established between them at their betrothal at age 7, so that when the Time came later, they would both be drawn to Koon-ut-kal-i-fee. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how close they are to one another physically. If physical proximity were the case, married Vulcans wouldn't ever be allowed off the planet!

    How do we know T'Pring isn't going through pon farr? As you say, she's cold and scheming... and has a hell of a lot better emotional control than either Spock or Stonn (unless you count greed as an emotion).

    As for Stonn, some of us discussed his case in another thread. I made the arguments that it's possible that Stonn did have a fiancee but she died young, or perhaps he was never betrothed at all. In a society where most marriages are arranged for the mutual benefit of both families, it's entirely possible that Stonn was rejected on any number of grounds, from intelligence, lack of emotional control, career prospects, his family's social or financial standing, or how many degrees of separation his lineage might be to some ancient noble family. Or maybe Stonn's parents might not have believed in arranged marriages and let their son choose. We don't get to know why he's unmarried and unbetrothed in this episode.
     
  6. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The existence of the koon-ut-kal-if-fee suggests that sometimes Vulcan women choose not to mate with the person chosen for them. Their bonding, which is a ritual act, perhaps has some aspect that it allows the individual to minimize or ignore the effects of the pon farr if they have a different object of affection. Perhaps priest will secretly undo the bonding. Regardless, T'Pring went to the ceremony believing that she would mate with Stonn, either because Spock is killed or is disgusted with her. Moreover, it's probable that the agressiveness of the pon farr increases with the uncertainty of being able to mate (see Vorik).
     
  7. Saganistheman

    Saganistheman Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    How do you know this beyond speculation?
     
  8. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    They both showed up at the appointed place at the right time, didn't they? :vulcan:
     
  9. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    I do like the explanations of why Stonn might be unmated.
    I still don't see any proof that T'Pring was in pon farr - . I assume that T'Pring knew when the come to the ceremony the same way T'Pau and all her hunky guards or whatever they were knew. I'm assuming someone, Spock or Uhura, or whoever, contacted the necessary people when they got near Vulcan.
    I believe there was some speculation that Spock being half human might not even have gone thru pon farr.
     
  10. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^Maybe T'Pring had already stasified the pon farr ... with Stonn. He looked like a Vulcan who was getting himself some.
     
  11. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    I almost said the same thing. I think it's very possible that T'Pring and Stonn were getting it on. I don't think they were though, I think she'd have made somebody marry her before she gave up her V card, but she herself admits that if she did marry Spock that she'd be screwing Stonn as soon as Spock was off the planet.
     
  12. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^Yeah, I had to get it in. You're probably correct: she waited to dissolve the intimacy with Spock before becoming physical with Stonn. It's hard to know how Vulcans feel about infidelity or promiscuity. T'Pol complained about human sexual immaturity, and she didn't condemn the open relations of the Denobulans.
     
  13. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    I think T'Pol's comments could be interpreted as humans having pre marital sex promiscuity, sex without commitment, or commentary on the shallowness of sex without a telepathic bond. It's very open to interpretation, but it's an interesting comment. T'Pol probably didn't want to think about Phlox's sex life any more than she had to. Kidding, T'Pol would be all about diversity and all that. I'm sure the Denobulan group marriage was logical in it's own way.
     
  14. Saganistheman

    Saganistheman Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    That doesn't mean that they are linked in any way. I am speculating myself here because I am sure the Enterprise had to let Vulcan know they were in orbit and apprised the Vulcan's of their situation. This is pure speculation though just like you are speculating that they were "in sync" with each other.

    My question is again how do you know this. What is your source for making that statement without speculation?
     
  15. You_Will_Fail

    You_Will_Fail Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    No, not being able to articulate your reasons makes you an idiot. Leaving thread now...
     
  16. HopefulRomantic

    HopefulRomantic Mom's little girl Moderator

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    You can run, but you can't hide.

    You have been cautioned against this in the past, so you know better than to indulge in this gleeful sort of name-calling.

    Warning for flaming. Comments to PM.
     
  17. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    The ceremony Spock and T'Pring went through as children included a telepathic bonding so they would be drawn together years later, when the time was right.

    And I highly doubt the Enterprise would settle into orbit and say, "This is Enterprise. Mr. Spock is going through pon farr and would like his fiancee to meet him for the wedding." Since Vulcans don't even talk to each other about this unless it's critical (and they still find it distasteful), they wouldn't be too pleased at some Enterprise communications officer letting others know Spock's personal business.


    As for the issue of their ages: Again, I'm drawing from Trek magazine essays so it's not canon, just well-thought out extrapolation. Spock is half-human so he would likely mature faster than a full Vulcan. Therefore, it would have taken T'Pring longer to mature physically and mentally, and so Spock's first pon farr didn't occur until T'Pring was ready.
     
  18. borgboy

    borgboy Commodore Commodore

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    It is interesting, and maybe a little strange, that Spock has some unknown pon farr cycles thru his life, as far as what we see of him. A lot of years pass between Amok Time and ST III, but he seems to be unmated, so there should be a couple of pon farr cycles unexplained. TNG do mention Picard meeting Sarek at his son's wedding, so we know Spock married at some point. The novels expand on that, and I know there are at least two different novels that explore Spock's second pon farr, but even that still leaves at least one or two pon farr cycles that I don't know anything about.
    It's interesting, since you'd think that logicly, Spock would've found a wife before pon farr hit again. Mate or die would be a pretty big incentive to make plans you'd think, but then we've seen that Vulcans can be pretty illogical in dealing with pon farr.
    I would think that Spock still made some discrete communications once they got in Vulcan's orbit. Even if we buy that T'Pring was called to the ceremony due to telepathy, and I'm not saying I agree with that, somebody still had to tell T'Pau to come with a bunch of hunky half naked guards, or whatever those guys were.
     
  19. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    The way I see it, T'Pring would likely be the one to have a discreet conversation with T'Pau. Or maybe that's something the bride's parents are supposed to do. :shrug: I have no idea, since neither Spock nor T'Pring had any family there. I'm surmising that the "bring your closest friend(s)" is how T'Pring got Stonn into the wedding party.
     
  20. Captain Kathryn

    Captain Kathryn Commodore Commodore

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    I have to admit that when I first watched ENT, I was surprised at the animosity between Vulcans and Humans because of having watched mainly VOY, TNG, and DS9 where most of those Vulcan/Human issues whatever they were...anyway, they were mostly solved by the era of TNG-VOY.

    So for me, watching ENT...during the first few episodes I was appalled at the way they treated T'Pol. I was equally appalled at the fact that Vulcans were so controlling over the actions of humans.

    However, looking back at Star Trek as a whole...it was a different time. For example, the relationship between different ethnicities and religions was undoubtedly more strained in the U.S during the time of slavery and injustice. But now that has decreased by so much that you almost would not recognize or relate to fellow humans from the 1800s. Time changes a lot!

    I have no idea what YOU found confusing while watching the show. But the strained relationship between Vulcans and Humans was obviously a great source of conflict, unlike it was in the 24th Century-set shows.

    I was also confused at some points when ENT mentioned earlier Vulcans banning mind melds or at the very least making them socially unacceptable. Because I watched so many episodes of VOY where Tuvok just starts melding with people, it was a bit disorienting for it to suddenly be a "taboo" thing in ENT.

    But I kind of just accepted the fact that they are depicting an earlier time period and that was the cause for the differential in Vulcan behavior.