Oh for cryin' out loud! (Uncle SPOILERS)

[gastrof]

That Trek Today article about Brad William Henke playing "Uncle Frank"...

Come on! What is it with onscreen stories these days? (Movies and TV shows!)

Can't a hero or a villain make it to adulthood without having been abused in some way by a father figure?!?!?

Kirk didn't need to have been abused as a kid to have become the man we know him to be.

This is something I think just stinks. There was no need for this.

I think it's a mindless trend. Sort of like how the cable channel TNT wanted BABYLON FIVE'S creator to have a main character raped in an episode of CRUSADE. "It'll be a real attention getter!" they insisted.

He refused.

A shame JJ didn't say the same thing to his writers....

Or to himself.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Uncle Spoilers would make a great username.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Can't a hero or a villain make it to adulthood without having been abused in some way by a father figure?!?!?.

Spock was emotionally abused by his father.

Fact.

Didn't hurt the character none. Seems ta me that they got a halfway decent story out of it.

 

[Gepard]

Spock was emotionally abused by his father.

But that was all the work of that awful Harve Bennet and the version of The Great Bird in my head says no!

 

[gastrof]

In JOURNEY TO BABEL, the only indication of a problem between Spock and Sarek is the fact Spock wouldn't set course in the direction Sarek wanted, and instead joined Starfleet.

Even later, in the films, we see Sarek so concerned about Spock that he journeys to Earth to confront Kirk on what he believes to be a careless choice.

In the "Final Frontier" flashback to Spock's birth, Sarek's "So human..." could mean anything.

Besides, when do fathers and sons ever get along perfectly? That doesn't have to mean "abuse". Even in the best of marriages, husbands and wives occasionally disagree or get grumpy with each other. That's not abuse either.

Let's not call a skinned knee a dismemberment.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

In JOURNEY TO BABEL, the only indication of a problem between Spock and Sarek is the fact Spock wouldn't set course in the direction Sarek wanted, and instead joined Starfleet.

Is that so?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Let's not call a skinned knee a dismemberment.

And yet you started a thread over the suggestion that Kirk's uncle used to get drunk and abusive.

 

[gastrof]

Let's not call a skinned knee a dismemberment.

And yet you started a thread over the suggestion that Kirk's uncle used to get drunk and abusive.

Your reply carries no meaning I can see.

Yes, I started this thread, and I did not call a skinned knee a dismemberment. I said it's a mindless trend in onscreen fiction these days. Make a character "exciting" by having them come from abuse.

How...empty.

The matter of Sarek and Spock was not what it was suggested as being, and so the comparison was made.

 

[gastrof]

In JOURNEY TO BABEL, the only indication of a problem between Spock and Sarek is the fact Spock wouldn't set course in the direction Sarek wanted, and instead joined Starfleet.

Is that so?

Is it not?

 

[number6]

There's supposedly a scene where Uncle Frank touches young Jimmy Kirk "down there."

 

[The Wormhole]

I got to say, the abusive uncle cliche is very tired. Jeez, like I really need to see Kirk as a kid ducking a bottle of Jack Daniels or Saurian brandy being thrown at him by some white trash bum in his forties screaming "You get back here you pansy. What's wrong, scared? If you're scared of me, your'e scared of life. And if you're scared of life, than you might as well crawl back up your mamma's pussy, because that's the only way to avoid your problems."

And this is what motivates Kirk to join Starfleet? Jeez, that's just a story that didn't have to be told.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Jeez, that's just a story that didn't have to be told.

No "Star Trek" story needs to be told. Not at this late date.

Gotta say, though, everything I hear and see about this movie sounds good so far.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Dennis is all very pleased.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Dennis is all very pleased.

Dennis is always all very pleased. Dennis enjoys himself.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

I, on the other hand, am starting to think that Star Trek XI may not revolutionize my life and make all my problems go away.

And I don't like that. Not one bit.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I, on the other hand, am starting to think that Star Trek XI may not revolutionize my life and make all my problems go away.

And I don't like that. Not one bit.

You need to talk to the cute baristas. They make a big difference.

 

[number6]

I, on the other hand, am starting to think that Star Trek XI may not revolutionize my life and make all my problems go away.

And I don't like that. Not one bit.

You need to talk to the cute baristas. They make a big difference.

There are no cute baristas where I live.. They're all butch and have the typical crappy cynical attitude about serving coffee for minimum wage.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I don't think these folks are making minimum wage.

 

[mswood]

Have absolutely no problem with it. Family upbringing both good and bad often have an extremely powerful influence on what type of person we become.

And its is hardly an angle that hasn't been used in Trek before.

Picard emotionally abused in his family, Spock emotionally abused in his youth. Even the creators of classic Trek expanded upon that in the animated series in the one episode they have even referred two in live action.

After all it is supposed to be uplifting for characters to face the challenges of their past and rise above them. So why should this be different?

 

[number6]

I don't think these folks are making minimum wage.

That's why your baristas are cute and uncranky!