Vulcan law and customs and Starfleet rules and regulations are often totally different things, as Worf's involvement in Klingon politics in TNG and lust for revenge proved in their own ways.
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x05 - "Spock Amok"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Thanks for sharing
I'm not that acquainted with TOS so that sort of thing can pass be me. To me that what is shown there is world building. Dutiful work by set designers without drawing attention to itself. And I love it. It's not the attitude taken in some of the other shows right now of "Let's go down Dukat avenue, to Gowron Square. And oh look it's house floor 7 of 9".
Simple respect for the material. Nicely done.
Actually, he probably could have escaped prosecution (if Kirk had actually been killed); but he planned to turn himself in, and the offer no defense because he felt he was guilty and wanted to be punished. (Spock didn't openly state that, but by his attitude and actions it was clear that was his intent.)
I love how the props Spock will have in his quarters in TOS found their way into this series. Now they just need to squeeze a few more of them in there over time. I love it! 
Vulcan culture and tradition is not human culture and tradition. We can't judge it by human standards.
One of the basic tenets of Federation membership: "Your planet will always be yours."
Maybe not if Spock had stayed on Vulcan, but he beamed himself directly back to a Federation starship and turned himself in.
The Federation lets member worlds have their own unique cultural laws unless they violate the basic citizen's rights of being a citizen of the wider Federation. If Vulcan has weird, off-putting marriage laws they get to keep them so long as Vulcans' rights as Federation citizens aren't violated and their basic individual freedoms are respected.
Maybe Stonn is one of the criminals T'Pring brings back into the logical fold and rehabilitates. Starts out as her project, becomes hopelessly devoted to her. And bonus, doesn't go galavanting around the galaxy.
"And Stonn was there."
Especially if he's on some work-release program and can't leave Vulcan. He's not exactly hard to find.
Especially if he's on some work-release program and can't leave Vulcan. He's not exactly hard to find.
Futhermore, it's silly to ask the "logic" of these customs since they most probably predate Surak. Vulcans are not alien to their emotions, or their biology.
Really? Worf got a formal reprimand from Picard and a tongue-lashing from Sisko, but aside from that there were no consequences for following Klingon tradition against Starfleet rules. He killed Duras and Gowron, tried to kill Kurn, and left Lasaran to die, and he got away with all of it.
Yes, really. Picard did issue the reprimand so it wasn't a scot-free action. He didn't go to a penal settlement for the next few years but he didn't get off without consequences, neither. Starfleet probably cut Worf a ton of slack when he killed Gowron because of the special circumstances during wartime.
Besides, if Worf were tried and imprisoned for killing Duras that wouldn't have been TNG, would it? TNG had a way of telling the audience Starfleet rules were the priority while not going apeshit about violating most of them.
Besides, if Worf were tried and imprisoned for killing Duras that wouldn't have been TNG, would it? TNG had a way of telling the audience Starfleet rules were the priority while not going apeshit about violating most of them.
Yeah worf got away with quite a bit because he was klingon. Picard should have demoted him at least .
SF/The Federation mostly seems to allow alien citizens have their cultures. Had Spock killed Kirk he wouldn't have been prosecuted by Starfleet/The Federation but Spock probably would have insisted forcing SF to present a trial and at the very least Court Martial him.
If Worf can kill Duras in Klingon tradition, certainly Spock could have killed Kirk in Vulcan tradition and gotten a way with it.
Of course, this would mean filling UFP in on this Vulcan tradition which seemed to be something they held secret even after being allied with humans for centuries. Spock likely wouldn't have revealed this tradition and got prosecuted for straight-up murder and not even saying why. (Likely his right to not self-inctiminate, he could just plead guilty and then get imprisoned.)
The only speaking in his "defense" woyld be McCoy and he'd have no way to back its up, especially with Spock denying it or insisting McCoy keep his mouth shut.
If Worf can kill Duras in Klingon tradition, certainly Spock could have killed Kirk in Vulcan tradition and gotten a way with it.
Of course, this would mean filling UFP in on this Vulcan tradition which seemed to be something they held secret even after being allied with humans for centuries. Spock likely wouldn't have revealed this tradition and got prosecuted for straight-up murder and not even saying why. (Likely his right to not self-inctiminate, he could just plead guilty and then get imprisoned.)
The only speaking in his "defense" woyld be McCoy and he'd have no way to back its up, especially with Spock denying it or insisting McCoy keep his mouth shut.
What consequences? He maintained his rank and position as Chief of Security on the Enterprise, then became the SOO on DS9, then became the Federation ambassador to Qo’nos. In what way would his career or life been any better without the reprimand?
We already know slavery is illegal in the Federation. A forced marriage is slavery.
I never even understood why Amanda would go along with something so monstrous. As children, neither Spock nor T'Pring could consent.
I am not saying it needs to be erased from continuity, but I would like it addressed.
I never even understood why Amanda would go along with something so monstrous. As children, neither Spock nor T'Pring could consent.
I am not saying it needs to be erased from continuity, but I would like it addressed.
Picard has the same level of detail shown here in SNW.
It was part Kirk's fault for taking the challenge without looking into the customs first. But at the same time Spock nearly killed Kirk so starfkeet could have punished him and also Kirk for being irresponsible.
I get the feeling that when the Federation was founded and in the years afterwards its leaders and representatives just learned to gloss over and conveniently ignore a lot of cultural traditions that they knew they couldn't eradicate short of the Federation becoming a police state so they just quietly deferred to member worlds when it came to certain practices. Vulcan arranged marriages being one of those.
The Federation's leaders gradually accepted the policy of: "Look away to keep the alliance together." Which totally fits in with any organization that would have an agency like Section 31 or have high-ranking officials go along with destroying the Klingon Homeworld with a bomb planted in the planet's core. Hypocrisy is a Federation trait though spit-shined to a fine gloss.
My guess is that as Earth's "big brother" in the Fed so to speak, the Fed let the Vulcans keep their inhumane marriage practices and President Archer turned the other way considering he himself was compromised by the katra of Surak, of all people, which probably had a permanent effect on him.
However, Spock clearly knows at the end of Amok Time that he's in big legal trouble. And it's Spock. He's thought of this ten ways from here to the Delta Quadrant. If there was some legal defense, he would have mentioned it. I think Federation leniency for Vulcan ways goes out the window once one of their own non-Vulcan citizens is killed. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that T'Pau herself might've been in big trouble if Kirk had ended up dead after all. Even Ambassador Sarek couldn't overcome the Genesis quarantine to get Spock's body in ST3. I think over a century on from Archer's time (when humans were still under Vulcans' thumbs), the humans' tolerance for the Vulcans' fundamentalist ways was starting to wear thin
