Abrams "Elfed" The Vulcans? (Spoilers)

[USS Triumphant]

It occurred to me after my first viewing, and I've meant to post something on this for a while: After the destruction of Vulcan, Vulcans are planning to move to a new homeland, and are the rarest of several (demihuman? ) races diminished in importance in the Federation as opposed to the increasingly dominant humans - whom they regard themselves as vastly superior to, with a much older civilization. They are stoic, but probably no longer quite so unemotional.

Or, put another way, they've been "Elfed", as in, Tolkien elves. And if that is what Abrams has done, I can't say it is a horrible tack to take if he wants to bring Vulcans back to closer to how they were perceived when TOS was on the air - strange (in the purest sense of the word) and somewhat mystical, rather than as all being middle-management drones with bowl haircuts like they were portrayed in the TNG era stuff.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Hey there's an idea. Maybe Earth can parcel them out a small corner of the North Pole.

 

[Lonemagpie]

 

[pookha]

most of the semi mystical stuff came from the movies.
the mind meld was explained in scientific terms by spock in dagger of the mind even if it looked mysterious.

they only let him use the jedi mind trick once.

 

[Lt. Trull]

jedi's came after trek by the way.

 

[O'Dib]

jedi's what?

 

[theenglish]

Careful with the word "mystical". The only time Vulcans were portrayed as "mystical" was in Star Trek III, and even then I would argue that "spiritual" is a better term and I think what was originally intended.

The Vulcans in TMP and STIII are basically monks`as well, so perhaps not the best representatives of the society overall.

 

[VulcanJedi]

It occurred to me after my first viewing, and I've meant to post something on this for a while: After the destruction of Vulcan, Vulcans are planning to move to a new homeland, and are the rarest of several (demihuman? ) races diminished in importance in the Federation as opposed to the increasingly dominant humans - whom they regard themselves as vastly superior to, with a much older civilization. They are stoic, but probably no longer quite so unemotional.

Or, put another way, they've been "Elfed", as in, Tolkien elves. And if that is what Abrams has done, I can't say it is a horrible tack to take if he wants to bring Vulcans back to closer to how they were perceived when TOS was on the air - strange (in the purest sense of the word) and somewhat mystical, rather than as all being middle-management drones with bowl haircuts like they were portrayed in the TNG era stuff.

I appreciate your reasoning. Good appraisal of TNG version of Vulcans: drones with bowl cuts. There has been a diluting of joy and a scraping away of mystery since TNG.

But, Star Trek III had the characterization of Vulcans right in my book. I think the 90s Trek kind of approach, fear of portraying the Vulcans as anything but corporate drones, has hurt the franchise and has been similar to allowing cannon to stifle creative script writing. Putting fun and joy back in the story is what's needed, and if that means taking a page from Tolkien and Elfing the tedium out of the Vulcans--so be it.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Isn't it pretty obvious that Roddenberry based the Vulcans primarily on the Elves to begin with... So I don't see a problem.

 

[Bill Morris]

And the real Vulcans were considering official first contact this year if they liked the movie. I guess THAT's off the table.

 

[gastrof]

What I don't like is that even JJ has fallen victim to the Moe Howard look-alike syndrome.

I can't think of one Vulcan in Trek'09 that didn't have the sugarbowl haircut. I don't believe even Sarek had it in JtB, and Stonn didn't in Amok Time. Neither did T'Pring nor T'Pau.

While it's true that Surak's image had it in Savage Curtain, there's no telling how accurate that was, and he was just one person anyway.

Can anyone remember the look of the other Vulcans in Amok Time? I know in Mirror, Mirror the one or two others we saw were sugarbowl guys, but still, an ENTIRE planetary population with the same haircut, with a tiny number of exceptions? I don't think so.

JJ should really fix this if they show other Vulcans in Trek XII. At least let ONE of them have a different hairstyle (and not because they're "evil" or anything like that).

 

[Mike Farley]

The older female council member didn't have the Spock cut did she?

 

[gastrof]

You know...

I think you're right.

Yeah!

I remember wondering if she was supposed to be T'Pau.

 

[Aragorn]

Elfed?

"Kirk, the enemy is moving. Khan's forces are massing in the east, his eye is fixed on Earth. And Decker, you tell me, has betrayed us. Our list of allies grows thin."

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I read it as "Abrams "Effed" The Vulcans?"

 

[miraclefan]

The FIRST time VULCANS were portrayed other then ''DRONES'' was on ENTERPRISE. A ton of ''fans'' were DISPLEASED (to say the least) that they were writen as everything, but the Moe Howard hair-cut office drones.

 

[EnsignRicky]

I read it as "Abrams "Effed" The Vulcans?"

That would probably be more accurate.

 

[pookha]

gastrof until we get official word i see the elder female vulcan as tpau.

stonn's haircut may not be exactly like spocks but it is pretty similar.

jedi's what?

in a taste of armageddon spock is able to to trick a guard who is on the other side of a locked door into thinking they had escaped .

 

[USS Triumphant]

I read it as "Abrams "Effed" The Vulcans?"

That's the ticket! I set 'em up, you knock 'em down.

(I was hoping someone would see how similar that was when I wrote the OP. )