Why was Pike's wheelchair in "The Menagerie" so Poor ?
- Thread starter sonak
- Start date
The Starfleet Veterans Administration is just as crappy in the 23rd century as the 21st?
Captain Pike doesn't have the clout of other wheelchair bound heroes. Perry Mason alias Robert Ironside was at the top of the wheelchair clout list, and behind him Professor X. Pike is no Kirk.
Beep-beep? Did they give his computer-chair the language tape for the Roadrunner.
It used to but those around him found it incredibly annoying (Gilbert Gottfried) so they unplugged that portion of his wheelchair computer, not to mention his off-key singing.
Beep-beep? Did they give his computer-chair the language tape for the Roadrunner.
Spock already knew what Pike knew; he was simply trying to gain time, in order to get Pike to Talos IV-- and Pike didn't want to go, because this carried the death-penalty; he didn't want Spock to die for his sake.
Spock was just so loyal to Pike, that he wanted to get Pike to Talos so that he could live out the rest of his life with at least the illusion of happiness-- even at the risk of his own death.
So Pike was saying "no" over and over, with regard to Spock's taking him to Talos, since Spock could have turned back at any time and escaped the death-penalty. Even though Pike wanted to go to Talos more than anything, he was saying "No, Spock, don't die for my sake."
And this is exactly what Spock was trying to achieve for Pike, his captain-- and why he willing to forfeit his own life to achieve it. This definitely shows Spock's depth of character... as well as the depth of the original series itself, and the bond among the crew, the like of which was never seen in the later Treks. We do see some glimpses, such as on DS9 where O'Brien and Bashir risk their lives to save Odo, but that seems about the extent of it.
Spock was just so loyal to Pike, that he wanted to get Pike to Talos so that he could live out the rest of his life with at least the illusion of happiness-- even at the risk of his own death.
So Pike was saying "no" over and over, with regard to Spock's taking him to Talos, since Spock could have turned back at any time and escaped the death-penalty. Even though Pike wanted to go to Talos more than anything, he was saying "No, Spock, don't die for my sake."
And this is exactly what Spock was trying to achieve for Pike, his captain-- and why he willing to forfeit his own life to achieve it. This definitely shows Spock's depth of character... as well as the depth of the original series itself, and the bond among the crew, the like of which was never seen in the later Treks. We do see some glimpses, such as on DS9 where O'Brien and Bashir risk their lives to save Odo, but that seems about the extent of it.
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The wheel chair was very mid evil.Non the less Pike did look uncomfortable.I felt sorry for him.
But that's just it - brain=mind is the sort of mystique that is no longer supported by science. It's not my argument that hinges on mind/brain dualism, but yours...
Science today, and in the 23rd century, would treat the brain as the complex system it is, realizing that there are physical locations, processes and apparata in there that are directly responsible for certain aspects of the thing we lazily used to call "the mind". The direct consequence of that is the treating of "mind" as a complex collection of processes and features, not a single entity that magically resides in the brain (or, as was thought a bit earlier, in the liver). And any modern practitioner of the medical arts would acknowledge that an active mind becomes no less active if it loses one of those very tangible, physically locatable sub-processes such as the ability to use language, or understand emotions, or recognize faces.
McCoy is only being modest in saying that the brain remains a final unconquered frontier. The conquest is certainly underway already, in our time and thus arguably in McCoy's as well. And a person who loses the ability to use language is not considered "mindless", any more than a person who stammers or suffers from partial paralysis is.
Timo Saloniemi
My thought has always been that, that device was so far advanced of what we have today, that without it -- or with the modern 23rd century equivilant of Hawking's chair -- Pike would have been dead.
IE, his body was so ravaged, his nerves, muscles, organs, that the device was not just a chair but full life support and the only thing keeping him from being in a bed in an iron lung scenario. IE, it was a mobile iron lung -- times 100.
IE, his body was so ravaged, his nerves, muscles, organs, that the device was not just a chair but full life support and the only thing keeping him from being in a bed in an iron lung scenario. IE, it was a mobile iron lung -- times 100.
I agree that he probably no longer even existed from chest down.
I guess standard TOS-era surgery could have repaired his face to a more aesthetic form with ease. But if all the nerves and muscles beneath that face were inoperational, what would be the point? Giving him a doll's face would be about as degrading as replacing his "yes" beep with a voice-synthesized "Yo, becha, all for it, definitelamente - I fully agree, sir!"...
Timo Saloniemi
I guess standard TOS-era surgery could have repaired his face to a more aesthetic form with ease. But if all the nerves and muscles beneath that face were inoperational, what would be the point? Giving him a doll's face would be about as degrading as replacing his "yes" beep with a voice-synthesized "Yo, becha, all for it, definitelamente - I fully agree, sir!"...
Timo Saloniemi
but where are you getting that he can't process language from? Just from the crappy wheelchair he got stuck with?
Because he can understand Spock and the others just fine, AND his future on Talos IV would seem to suggest that he's fine with language.
How could he understand external speech, and not be able to think in a language? A mind meld goes beyond speech and should easily be able to relay what Pike is thinking.
Read upthread. We don't know that Spock didn't mindmeld with Pike offscreen, but in the end it was unnecessary. He knew what Pike had to say about going back to Talos IV: No.
If he HAD mindmelded, Pike was likely to have brain-thought at him, "What part of 'no' do you not understand?"
If he HAD mindmelded, Pike was likely to have brain-thought at him, "What part of 'no' do you not understand?"
This type of brain damage also exists in the real world, as far as external observers can tell. (For example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcortical_motor_aphasia .) Apparently, different elements in the brain participate in understanding things, including communication, and in converting those into language-type expression, such as speech or writing or sign language.
...But he might be thinking only "yes", "no" and "I need a hug", and while the meld might allow him to express that third desire in addition to the two the computer can decipher, neither of these would be able to understand that thinking "no" is Pike's only way of expressing things like "I really feel you should consider confiding in your captain, Spock; he's a man of good character, and might think of a way to do this without damaging your career". Being locked in one's body is bad enough - but it's apparently also possible to be locked in one's mind.
Timo Saloniemi
Mendez did mention that Pike was kept alive by a battery-driven heart. Batteries wear out. Let’s hope there’s a drugstore that sells batteries on Talos IV!
If that was the case, why was his wheelchair built in the rough shape of a seated human figure? Why not just attach his head and upper torso to a gurney?
(I know . . . because (A) that effect would have been difficult to pull off convincingly, and (B) it would have creeped out viewers too much. Either that or it would have made them laugh.)
Besides, mind-melds were deeply personal experiences as depicted in TOS. It seems to me that Spock and Pike had a much more formal relationship than Spock later developed with Kirk. I can see why it might have been "off the table."
But one of the first mind melds we ever saw was between Spock and Dr. Van Gelder, who as far as we know had never even met before.
That makes this device the...
Lens flare glare ware chair.
A friend pointed that out to me a few years ago. It cracks me up whenever I rewatch the episode today.
I also love how Captain Kirk says "Captain Pike is a complete invalid" right within earshot of Captain Pike.
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