And ludicrous speed.
They killed Hengist!
- Thread starter Warped9
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Then there was Yellowjac, who was really into fishing.
Keep in mind that until the results of space probe missions in the 1960s, there was very little known about the other planets and whether they might have atmospheres or life. A planet hotter than Mercury would've been unlikely to have life, of course, but it was only in 1962 and 1964, respectively, that Venus and Mars were confirmed to have uninhabitable surfaces -- recent enough that the idea of other Solar planets being habitable was still common in science fiction. (And the gas giants were still presumed to have solid surfaces beneath their clouds, though it was known that their gravity would've been enormously high.)
Keep in mind that until the results of space probe missions in the 1960s, there was very little known about the other planets and whether they might have atmospheres or life. A planet hotter than Mercury would've been unlikely to have life, of course, but it was only in 1962 and 1964, respectively, that Venus and Mars were confirmed to have uninhabitable surfaces -- recent enough that the idea of other Solar planets being habitable was still common in science fiction. (And the gas giants were still presumed to have solid surfaces beneath their clouds, though it was known that their gravity would've been enormously high.)
Would he be a WASP?
Then there's Whitejac, which is all sorts of inappropriate to think about.
Plaidjac wasn't so bad, but Paisleyjac was a bit much...
Applejac's decent, though I always preferred Crackerjac.
I just finished listening to the Mission Log podcast that reviewed that particular SNW episode. @David cgc, I think you are absolutely onto something.
Never seen that in any production paperwork. It's possible he just made it up.
Blish did not invent the term "Vulcanite" -- he borrowed it. It was used in 1930-40s science fiction to refer to natives of the hypothetical innermost planet of Sol (even though its existence had been disproven in 1919).
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Vulcanite
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Interestingly, the above page includes an instance of Bob Justman using "Vulcanite" in a memo from The Making of Star Trek. I remember that memo exchange from the book, but that part never jumped out at me.
Justman's and Blish's usages suggest "Vulcanite" was once a relatively common science fiction term that's since been supplanted by "Vulcan." As it happens, the Historical Dictionary credits Star Trek with originating "Vulcan" as a species name, and has no listing for "Vulcanian," implying it was also exclusive to ST (or perhaps the Dictionary is just incomplete).
I'd forgotten that memo, which was written on May 6, 1966, as one of several responses to a jokey May 3, 1966 memo penned by Justman, so the term "Vulcanite" might've been his invention?
Anyway, Justman was new as an Associate Producer and probably had not been privy to script materials and writer memos during the making of the pilots to know what terms may have been batted around then.
Interestingly, the Bird himself has Spock say "Fire is a Vulcan's element…" in the May 21, 1965 second pilot draft script of "The Omega Glory," so that predates Justman's memo by about a year, and indicates that the final name we got was in play pretty early, even as they went with "Vulcanian" in early series scripts.
Anyway, Justman was new as an Associate Producer and probably had not been privy to script materials and writer memos during the making of the pilots to know what terms may have been batted around then.
Interestingly, the Bird himself has Spock say "Fire is a Vulcan's element…" in the May 21, 1965 second pilot draft script of "The Omega Glory," so that predates Justman's memo by about a year, and indicates that the final name we got was in play pretty early, even as they went with "Vulcanian" in early series scripts.
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According to Google Ngram search, "vulcanite" appears to have been used in the late 19th and early 20th century as a term for vulcanized rubber. The use of the term in 1930s-40s science fiction as a demonym for inhabitants of the hypothetical cis-Mercurian planet Vulcan (as documented in my above link to the Historical Dictionary) is probably derived from that then-commonplace term. The Ngram shows its usage declining after 1921, but it was still somewhat in use during the decades when James Blish and Bob Justman were growing up, so they were probably familiar with its original usage.
That would seem to support my suspicion that Roddenberry initially intended Spock to be from the cis-Mercurian Vulcan, which would naturally have been extremely hot.
Glad they went with Vulcanian early on. Easier on the ears during the transitional period where the show was discovering itself.
Likely. But Spock's referring to volcanoes and fire in that dialog.
Actually it's surprising how rarely they used the term even in season 1. Here's what I found in the transcripts, counting only instances where "Vulcan" was used as a species name rather than (or as well as) a planet name, and highlighting "Vulcanian" so it stands out more easily:
"Mudd's Women": Vulcanian
"The Naked Time": Vulcan
"Balance of Terror": Vulcan
"Dagger of the Mind": Vulcan
"Court Martial": Vulcanian
"The Menagerie": Vulcan
"A Taste of Armageddon": Vulcanian
"This Side of Paradise": Vulcanian x 1, Vulcan x 1
"The Devil in the Dark": Vulcan
"Errand of Mercy": Vulcan x 10, Vulcanian x 1
"Operation: Annihilate!": Vulcan
I know that's not how it was used, but perhaps "Vulcanian" means Vulcans from Vulcan, as opposed to other Vulcan-settled planets.
I'd have had the occasional human in ENT refer to Vulcans as "Vulcanians" just to establish that the term goes back to the first century following First Contact and had to gradually fall into disuse over the coming generations.
Vulcanian for the win!
That would've just confused the general audience that wasn't aware of the trivial fact that "Vulcanian" was used a handful of times in season 1 of TOS. Just like a lot of other early-installment weirdness was disregarded. The term "mind-meld" was used only twice in TOS, in consecutive season 3 episodes, and never in TAS. Other terms like "mind touch," "mind link," "mind probe," and "mind fusion" were used instead. But for whatever reason, The Making of Star Trek used "mind-meld," and since that was the authoritative source for the first generation of Trek fans, its usage became the standard in the movies and ever since. So all the prequels have used "meld" as well. It's just what it's called now.
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