Spock: Why no character development?

[KingstonTrekker]

I can't believe this post...Spock had no character development in this movie???

-Scenes as a boy, with his father, as a young adult with his mother, Science Academy scene...lots of human side/Vulcan side conflict...
-Loses his mother (one of the most emotionally moving scenes in the movie)
-Loses his planet
-Has to step-down from command due to his emotional conflicts
-Wonderful scene between Spock and Sarek in transporter room
-Is prepared to sacrifice himself to save Earth
-Accepts his destiny...stays on the Enterprise as Kirk's first officer
-He meets his future self (!!)
-Bonds with Kirk by the end of the movie
-Has an emotional (and we can presume sexual) relationship with Uhura

What more could you want from a two hour movie that had to introduce all of the characters and tell a great story?????

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^Moreover, this Spock has to come to terms with his emotional side/human-half far sooner than Spock Prime did. It's an arc that's set up in the earliest scene with Spock as a child and culminating with his openly showing affection for Uhura.

He also has to overcome his own prejudice against Kirk's unorthodox way of problem solving, which mirrors the prejudice Vulcans have against his own "handicap."

 

[Minuialeth]

He also has to overcome his own prejudice against Kirk's unorthodox way of problem solving, which mirrors the prejudice Vulcans have against his own "handicap."

Gosh, I feel so dumb suddenly. I never thought of it like this and yet the parallel is so obvious!
I can imagine Spock realising at some point that he's been as prejudiced against Kirk as Vulcans have been against him and deciding to give Kirk the chance the Vulcans never really gave to him.

 

[suarezguy]

someone told him or that the movie suggested he should be angry and bitter and not able to see things from a logical viewpoint? That is a very weird interpretation.

If you are going to even start overcoming feelings liek rage and bitterness, you first need to deal with the fact that you have all these emotions, not maintain a cold and emotionless persona with occasional outbursts of almost murderous rage.

IIRC, Sarek told him that it was appropriate to feel and use angry emotions after Spock nearly strangled Kirk; I felt that Spock's choice to deny the logic of helping the Narada was meant to be a crowd-pleaser, especially given how Nero reacted and hence how the contemporary human response was validated.

He also has to overcome his own prejudice against Kirk's unorthodox way of problem solving, which mirrors the prejudice Vulcans have against his own "handicap."

Gosh, I feel so dumb suddenly. I never thought of it like this and yet the parallel is so obvious!
I can imagine Spock realising at some point that he's been as prejudiced against Kirk as Vulcans have been against him and deciding to give Kirk the chance the Vulcans never really gave to him.

But is submitting to headstrong unorthodoxy a good thing? If giving Kirk "a chance" means going against his own instincts and interpretation of orders? To use Kerry's quote, "you can be certain and be wrong."

 

[DevilEyes]

IIRC, Sarek told him that it was appropriate to feel and use angry emotions after Spock nearly strangled Kirk; I felt that Spock's choice to deny the logic of helping the Narada was meant to be a crowd-pleaser, especially given how Nero reacted and hence how the contemporary human response was validated.

I don't see the logic in helping Nerada. Let's see: you have a dangerous, heavily-armed genocidal maniac bent on killing you and your crew and then destroying another planet and killing several more billions of people (in addition to those he's already killed), and you have the chance to blow him and his ship up; or you can offer him help, on the assumption that he and his crew will behave, rather than use the first opportunity to stab you in the back and continue with their plan. And the latter option is logical? How?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

He also has to overcome his own prejudice against Kirk's unorthodox way of problem solving, which mirrors the prejudice Vulcans have against his own "handicap."

Gosh, I feel so dumb suddenly. I never thought of it like this and yet the parallel is so obvious!
I can imagine Spock realising at some point that he's been as prejudiced against Kirk as Vulcans have been against him and deciding to give Kirk the chance the Vulcans never really gave to him.

But is submitting to headstrong unorthodoxy a good thing? If giving Kirk "a chance" means going against his own instincts and interpretation of orders? To use Kerry's quote, "you can be certain and be wrong."

It's not submitting to anything. It's accepting. Two different things.

Spock has to accept Kirk for who he is and recognize that sometimes things cannot be done in a strict, orderly fashion, and that logic can have its limitations.

The same goes for Kirk. He has to learn to see the value in the perspective that Spock brings to the table. The reason why, in this movie and in the original series, these two men work well together is because they balance out the more extreme tendencies of each other.

I'd wished that Orci and Kurtzman would've also laid the foundation for the triad of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Bones is just as important as Spock in terms of Kirk's decision making process. Or how it's been put before using Hamlet's famous soliloquy: Spock is "To be"; McCoy is "To not be"; and Kirk is "That is the question."

 

[Minuialeth]

But is submitting to headstrong unorthodoxy a good thing? If giving Kirk "a chance" means going against his own instincts and interpretation of orders? To use Kerry's quote, "you can be certain and be wrong."

I see that Middyseafort has answered to you before me
I don't see it as submitting but as understanding and accepting that things can be done another way than yours and that this other way can be as valid as yours in some instances.
I can't imagine Spock, be it nu or Prime, submitting to anyone.

I'd wished that Orci and Kurtzman would've also laid the foundation for the triad of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Bones is just as important as Spock in terms of Kirk's decision making process. Or how it's been put before using Hamlet's famous soliloquy: Spock is "To be"; McCoy is "To not be"; and Kirk is "That is the question."

I thought that the foundation was already there in the movie and even got a huge kick over it. We see Bones being friends with Kirk but not always agreeing with him and we also see Bones openly disagreeing to some of Spock's decisions. For me, the triad was formed in the movie, albeit at an embryonic stage because alas, the movie didn't last 4 hours. I was ready for the next adventure to begin as the credits rolled, damn it!

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I thought that the foundation was already there in the movie and even got a huge kick over it. We see Bones being friends with Kirk but not always agreeing with him and we also see Bones openly disagreeing to some of Spock's decisions. For me, the triad was formed in the movie, albeit at an embryonic stage because alas, the movie didn't last 4 hours. I was ready for the next adventure to begin as the credits rolled, damn it!

I guess I was craving a scene where the three of them were together, McCoy having one side and Spock another with Kirk making the final decision. Of course, there's the next movie. But you're right, the foundation is there but the concrete to it has yet to be poured.