Amok Time doesn't make sense.

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Lt. Uhura-Brown, May 14, 2013.

  1. jpv2000

    jpv2000 Captain Captain

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    True, and humans in TOS seemed to think of Vulcans as almost invincible as well so they may have thought a Vulcan wouldn't need that much medical attention.
     
  2. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    They say he's an expert, not that it's his specialty. McCoy actually downplays that by saying he knows something about it. If it was his specialty I don't think he'd do that. Wouldn't Dr. Noel be aboard at this time or did she leave after Dagger of the Mind??
     
  3. Kinokima

    Kinokima Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    The show was inconsistent with what it's characters knew and didn't know , including McCoy.

    I believe he wrote a book on alien physiology though (although that didnt come from TOS)
     
  4. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    They tend to know what the plot needs them to know.
     
  5. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    T'Pau may have kept silent about it. Having to explain a dead starship captain to the Vulcan government and the Federation likely wouldn't have been much fun. She might have suspected what McCoy was really up to and just played along.
     
  6. Rulius

    Rulius Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    FESTIVAL! FESTIVAL!!!

    we really need a like button lol :techman:
     
  7. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe not. By the time of Voyger, the EMH seem to know basically what pon farr was, but still needed to call Tuvok down to sick bay to ask some detailed questions.

    Personally, I'd like to think that after the events of Amok Time, both Kirk and McCoy would have been discrete enough to keep their mouths shut about what happened. Certainly not filing report, or entering information into the Starfleet Medical database.

    :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2013
  8. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You mean popular and well-known artworks such as Vulcan Love Slave Pt II might be factually inaccurate? :eek:

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  9. Gil T.Azell

    Gil T.Azell Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think the title was off/wrong, it could have been called something else I just don't know what?
    Had this been a TGN episode it may have been titled "Pon Farr?

    Other than that the Episode was OK.
     
  10. Kinokima

    Kinokima Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I absolutely love Amok Time. Now just because I love it doesn't mean it doesn't have inconsistencies and flaws but I think part of that is the nature of 1960's television. This was before consistency and continuity was a real thing in television.

    However as far as Trek lore and science fiction goes this is a terrific episode. I love how alien and different Vulcan feels. Plus it's an entire episode about mating, it's great lol. I also love how Vulcan is a matriarch society and Tpau is one of my favorite Trek females. I love how Kirk wants to impress her and this doesn't include wooing her.

    The episode also feels very 1960's to me, like I can't imagine something similar to it being made today but that is part of its charm.

    I also think it is a fantastic trio episode with all of the Big 3 playing a central role in the episode.

    On another note it was neat for me to see Arlene Martel who I was familiar with from Hogan's Heroes.

    Finally the Spock smile scene just might be my favorite ending of any Trek episode.

    Needless to say the whole Pon Farr thing worked for me here but not so much in The Search for Spock. I am not sure if it is because what works in the 60's doesn't work for me in the 80's or the fact that Nimoy just isn't Sturgeon. But even though I love TSFS I hate those scenes in the movie.
     
  11. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    Pon Farr in the episode partly works as it's treated as something mysterious, not just in the script but the way the scenes are played. In Search for Spock, it's just like they said, 'Well, he's living his life over again, so we need a Pon Farr sequence here.'

    The only time Pon Farr seems treated with the same mysterious quality to me is ENT: Bounty, but there it's mostly played for laughs.
     
  12. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    It was still more than what was known during TOS. Not many non-Vulcans had even heard of pon farr back then.

    But it seems like quite a bit about Vulcan biology was known by the 24th-Century (like unique diseases and anatomy), with the exception of treatments for pon farr. If the Voyager's EMH--essentially a walking version of the Starfleet Medical database--didn't know, then McCoy could be forgiven for not knowing how to treat Spock's pon farr a century earlier.
    You'd think it would have already been there as far back as the 22nd-Century given the Interspecies Medical Exchange program that was originally initiated by the Vulcans. Phlox must have kept his mouth shut about T'Pol's pon farr too (EDIT: in fact, he did).
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2013
  13. jpv2000

    jpv2000 Captain Captain

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    Oh yes. That was great. I couldn't believe it the first time I seen it back in '71 or 72. It still makes me smile to see that scene today.