Spock's World and "The Other"

[Roberticvs]

If this has been discussed elsewhere, the search engine wouldn't let me find it.

In Spock's World, we're made privy to the fact that Vulcans seem to have an innate awareness of God, and refer to Him as "The Other". When Sarek makes an appearance in TNG, I thought he may have referred to God as "The Other" when he told Picard (at the end) that "...may we always have the best aspect of the other in ourselves." (paraphrased). Of course, in this scene the context is that Picard and Sarek shared a most intimate connection due to the mind meld. It amused me to think that it may have been a nod to the book Spock's World, and deliberately left out of context in the scene.

Has God/The Other been referred to in other books/series or otherwise held as canon anywhere else but Spock's World?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I saw "The Other" and I thought that you were about to suggest Spock's World offers clues to the founding of Time Lord society. Alas, not.

I think the concept of "The Other" stems from Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One of the footnotes describes the seven senses a Vulcan has; one of those seven is an innate sense of an overmind. Which is sort of what Spock sensed with V'ger.

 

[Christopher]

^^Maybe, but I think it was also a reflection of the spiritual ideas that show up in a lot of Diane Duane's fiction.

 

[MarianLH]

It does seem to originate with that footnote in Roddenberry's novelisation of TMP, but Duane definately put her own spin on it that wasn't present in the original.

And I doubt very much that the TNG writer had that in mind. It's been awhile since I've seen "Legacy", but in that case the "other" seems to be referring to other people.

Although it could be reinterpreted that way, or even both ways, as a pun, if you want to buy into Duane's unique interpretation.


Marian

 

[Timo]

I also vaguely remember it being mentioned here that Duane inserted references and in-jokes from her Wizards novelverse, the religious overtones of Spock's World containing several of these. Anybody have the dirt on this?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

I also vaguely remember it being mentioned here that Duane inserted references and in-jokes from her Wizards novelverse, the religious overtones of Spock's World containing several of these. Anybody have the dirt on this?

I never thought of them as in-jokes. As I said, you can find similar philosophical and cosmological themes throughout Duane's body of work, and she does tend to use similar ideas in different universes. For instance, her portrayal of the Mirror Universe in Dark Mirror as a reality that was just intrinsically nastier than ours fits very neatly into the cosmology of her novel Stealing the Elf-King's Roses, where each universe has its own distinct "ethical constant" as part of its laws of physics so that some of them are simply more just and moral than others. And her Rihannsu language is very similar to the dragon language in her Tale of the Five universe (her Door Into... series, the fourth and final volume of which remains unfinished).

But yes, I'd say the spiritual ideas suggested in Spock's World do spring from the same well as the cosmology and spirituality of the Wizards universe and the Tale of the Five universe.

 

[Timo]

I guess the big question is, does the concept and name "The Other" derive specifically from such a source?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

^^Not under that specific name, no.