Spock & Uhura romance

[Captrek]

The only Star Trek romance I thought they did very well was Kira-Odo.

Or, if you like realism, Harry-Stella.

 

[Pauln6]

I liked the idea of the Spock-Uhura romance in the movie picked up from the little bits in the original series. The thought was clever.

But I wasn't thrilled with the execution of it though - the inappropriate teacher-student relationship made me wince, and the public demonstration and I don't care if he was going off to possibly die. Unprofessional. Spock seemed whipped to me.

I agree about them fumbling the relationship in a few scenes of NuTrek. However, didn't Spock have an affair with Leila Kalomi while betrothed to T'Pring? It's entirely possible and perhaps even logical that he should seek a companion while absent from his betrothed for a length of time. Plus T'Pring was banging Stonn.

 

[Sky]

I agree about them fumbling the relationship in a few scenes of NuTrek. However, didn't Spock have an affair with Leila Kalomi while betrothed to T'Pring?

Under the influence of the spores! He knew Kalomi before but did not respond to her feelings then.

 

[Pauln6]

Ah my bad - I thought they had a thing and he ditched her in favour of an emotionless existence and the spores just rekindled what had been there previously.

 

[DevilEyes]

I wish they had built upon that in the series. Not only would it have given Nichelle something to do (beyond flipping switches and gasping in fright), but it might have spared us from having to watch Nurse Chapel pine after him.

ITA.

I don't think they could have really done it and have it get past the censors, though - Spock might be a half-alien but he was still played by a white actor. This was the time when they had to make up the scenario about alien telekinetic control to get an interracial kiss past the censors.

Ah my bad - I thought they had a thing and he ditched her in favour of an emotionless existence and the spores just rekindled what had been there previously.

That was always my impression, too. They never quite made clear what exactly had happened between them previously, but obviously something did. We just know that it didn't work out because he thought he couldn't really return her feelings. The spores just removed his emotional inhibitions. They were never portrayed as a 'love potion' kind of thing that make people fall randomly fall in love - nobody else had any flings at the influence of spores, they were all just acting happy and carefree and doing whatever they wanted.

Fans have been speculating about Spock/Uhura for years.

And Spock/Kirk.
And Sulu/Chekov.
And Uhura/Chapel.
And Scotty/a warp engine.

I find fan speculation is generally a good indicator of what not to do canonically.

Right. So Chakotay/Seven must be the best romance in all Trek.

Great reasoning - don't do anything that the fans are speculating about; only do the completely out of the left field pairings that make no freaking sense whatsoever because there's never been any sort of subtext or chemistry or hint of interest between the characters - naturally, those will be the pairings that nobody, or very few people will be speculating about.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I got the impression from Amok Time that, at least under Vulcan tradition, Spock didn’t have much say in the matter. His parents chose his mate for him when he was a child. They weren’t merely suggesting to Spock that, when the time comes, he should consider T’Pring as a mate — they were committing him to T’Pring.

Yep - so he joined the Navy and stayed away from home as long as he could ("I'd hoped I would be spared this...").

What did it take, to get him to go through with it? Only the pain of imminent madness and death.

Yeah, I'd say there's some ambivalence there.

Not much that we know about Spock from TOS suggests that what his parents, particularly his father, might consider him "committed" to would be the deciding factor in what he'd do.

I liked the Spock/Uhura romance in the movie largely because they didn't treat it like a Star Trek romance - that is, the characters came across plausibly as young people with a strong attraction for one another.

 

[Agenda]

Uhura Prime eventually married a Vulcan (in quasi-canon) and she did often try to flirt with Spock but she wasn't in love with him.

What's quasi-canon...or semi-canon for that matter? It's either canon or it's not. And with all due respect to Nichelle Nichols and the Gods and Men crew, a bad fan film cannot and should not be mentioned in the same sentence as any kind of canon.

As for the new Spock/Uhura, it's obvious they had chemistry. The scene in the elevator was HOT beyond compare. And Spock's been known to bend the rules when it suits him, so their little affair doesn't bother me either.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Uhura Prime eventually married a Vulcan (in quasi-canon) and she did often try to flirt with Spock but she wasn't in love with him.

What's quasi-canon...or semi-canon for that matter? It's either canon or it's not. And with all due respect to Nichelle Nichols and the Gods and Men crew, a bad fan film cannot and should not be mentioned in the same sentence as any kind of canon.

It's certainly not anything like an official part of the continuity, no. So it doesn't count, not even a tiny little bit.

As for the new Spock/Uhura, it's obvious they had chemistry. The scene in the elevator was HOT beyond compare.

And this is why it works - the actors make it work. The number of screen romances that are particularly interesting as romance on the page are pretty small.

 

[Ssosmcin]

In the original canon, Spock was betrothed (actually described in Amok Time as “more than a betrothal”) to T’Pring when he was a child. Nero’s incursion must somehow have taken care of that too.

If not, his trip to Vulcan certainly did.

Poor Stonn.

 

[F. King Daniel]

In the original canon, Spock was betrothed (actually described in Amok Time as “more than a betrothal”) to T’Pring when he was a child. Nero’s incursion must somehow have taken care of that too.

If not, his trip to Vulcan certainly did.

Poor Stonn.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

So, basically, the whole scene in the turbolift could have been played as a variation of the opening to the second Austin Powers movie?

"I'm single again!"

 

[Captrek]

In the original canon, Spock was betrothed (actually described in Amok Time as “more than a betrothal”) to T’Pring when he was a child. Nero’s incursion must somehow have taken care of that too.

If not, his trip to Vulcan certainly did.

Yeah, but he was romantically involved with Uhura before that.

I wonder what happens to pon farr in a post-Vulcan reality. From Amok Time: “There are precedents in nature, Captain. The giant eelbirds of Regulus Five, once each eleven years they must return to the caverns where they hatched. On your Earth, the salmon. They must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn or die in trying.... I'm a Vulcan.... we are driven by forces we cannot control to return home and take a wife. Or die.”

So they have to return home or die, but home doesn’t exist anymore. Problem.

 

[Ronald Held]

I cannot see it lasting. A reason is Uhura is a report to Spock in the chain of command. Such a romance may not be illegal in Starfleet, but is likely unethical.
How do we know Spock's bethrothed was not one of the ~10^4 Vulcans saved.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Such a romance may not be illegal in Starfleet, but is likely unethical.

I guarantee you it would be against regulations. Kirk himself said he's not allowed to notice that he has a beautiful yeoman.

 

[kkozoriz1]

I cannot see it lasting. A reason is Uhura is a report to Spock in the chain of command. Such a romance may not be illegal in Starfleet, but is likely unethical.
How do we know Spock's bethrothed was not one of the ~10^4 Vulcans saved.

I hope that Spock & Sarek are the only Vulcans we've seen that were saved. 10,000/6,000,000,000 is an awfuly small percentage. But it wouldn't surprise me if we see T'Pring again.

 

[DevilEyes]

Such a romance may not be illegal in Starfleet, but is likely unethical.

I guarantee you it would be against regulations. Kirk himself said he's not allowed to notice that he has a beautiful yeoman.

That didn't stop the couple in "Balance of Terror" who were getting married despite the fact that he was her superior officer, and nobody had a problem with that...

 

[A beaker full of death]

^ Good point. I'd forgotten them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

What about Riker and Troi?

Or Trip and T'Pol.

Or Bashir and Ezri.

Or Tom and Torres.

Or Worf and Dax.

I really don't think Starfleet could care less. The only time shipboard romance was forbidden was Decker/Illia, and that was a special case.

 

[A beaker full of death]

What about Riker and Troi?

Or Trip and T'Pol.

Or Bashir and Ezri.

Or Tom and Torres.

Or Worf and Dax.

I really don't think Starfleet could care less. The only time shipboard romance was forbidden was Decker/Illia, and that was a special case.

None of your examples speaks to TOS.

 

[F. King Daniel]

But they speak of Star Trek in general. What's allowed 100 years prior and 100 years later ("in-universe" at least) should be indicative of what's allowed in the 2260's and alternate 2250's.
Even excluding every other Star Trek and taking TOS to the fundementalist extreme there's the members of the phaser crew gonna get married at the start of "Balance of Terror", Scotty and Mira Romaine in "Lights of Zetar" and Kirk and Helen Noel.
Not to mention Kirk inapproprately hitting on most of the alien females he comes across. If Starfleet were gonna have a problem with anything, it would have been that.