TWOK: Why did the sacrifice have to be Spock's?

[alpha_leonis]

So in the movie as it was filmed, Spock is sitting at his bridge station in the middle of a crisis moment -- turns aside with a thoughtful expression -- and leaves the bridge to head straight down to Engineering to perform the necessary repair to save the ship. (As a consequence, receiving enough radiation damage to kill him.)

It was a brilliant scene, expertly filmed and acted, and in the decades since then it's gone down as one of the best dramatic scenes in all of film history (not just from Star Trek, but in all cinema.) And I know the real-world reasons as well: rumor says that Nimoy only agreed to do the film at all if Spock would get a good death scene (thereby releasing Nimoy from any future obligations.)

But then again, why did it *have* to be Spock to perform that specific repair? Yeah, he's a smart guy, but he's not an Engineer. That thoughtful look tells me that maybe he's the only person who knows what the solution is? If so, time is of the essence; why not just push a button to tell Scotty instead of taking the time to go down to Engineering himself? (I'm thinking: Counselor Troi on TNG passed her command test by ordering holographic-LaForge to complete a specific repair, with full knowledge that the action would cost LaForge's life.)

My only other thought is related to the apparently hot-and-fiery chamber where the repairs were performed. As a Vulcan, perhaps he was the only crewmember with a high enough pain threshold to actually do the work that the moment required (or mental discipline enough to ignore the pain while he needed to.)

Has there ever been any other in-story explanation about why it had to be Spock, rather than Scotty or some other nameless engineer flunky?

 

[Dale Sams]

You just answered your own question. Scotty was already on the ropes. And Spock is the only one who could do it. Of course he figures this all out in a split second on the bridge....because he's Spock.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Vulcan resilience, time constraints... take your pick.

Possibly Starfleet took the lesson to heart, though, and required all command personell after this to send a proper redshirt to do the deadly job, hence being part of the bridge officer test.

 

[Marsden]

He didn't want to sacrifice someone else to do what needed to be done. Logic without compassion is tyranny of the elite, it would always be more logical to have "Skippy" die in the chamber, but it's cruel.

 

[Captain Nebula]

He was the only Red Shirt in the Engine room. Everybody else was in a white shirt/jumpsuit.

 

[JohnChod]

As previous poster has said, the only person with the knowledge and the Vulcan constitution to withstand the radiation long enough to complete the job.

 

[Armored Saint]

But then again, why did it *have* to be Spock to perform that specific repair? Yeah, he's a smart guy, but he's not an Engineer.

In TOS, Spock was always ready to risk his own life to save someone and oftenly worked with Scotty to solve problems. In TMP, he saved the day by helping Scotty and risk his own life simply to interact with the probe.

 

[CoveTom]

Good points all around.

Remember, the film has set up the situation that virtually all of the crew aboard, except for the senior officers, are cadets, trainees, and people fresh out of the Academy. This was supposed to be a "minor training cruise."

Scotty and Spock were, therefore, likely the only ones on board the ship at that moment who knew enough about the Enterprise's workings to make the necessary repairs. And Scotty, being human and working in engineering, had already been incapacitated by the radiation. That left Spock.

The one question I have though... why didn't Spock put on a radiation suit, like all the engineering folks were wearing? He could have done that in 10 seconds instead of arguing with McCoy about going into the chamber. The combination of the radiation suit and his Vulcan physique would likely have saved his life.

 

[Timo]

Also, as a general rule, our heroes don't want to die, even when it would be logical to. McCoy worries about radiation effects when certain death awaits just a few minutes away; Spock is logical enough to see the fallacy of that.

In contrast, take Kirk. He often threatens with self-destruct, but obviously solely as a bluff: when it would help save the galaxy from an invasion, he cops out ("By Any Other Name"). Self-sacrifice isn't the strong suit of any of the other heroes, either (although Scotty admittedly takes one for Uhura in "The Changeling").

why didn't Spock put on a radiation suit, like all the engineering folks were wearing?

To be fair, we have no reason to think those would be radiation-proof. They are never called "radiation suits", and never used in situations suggesting they would offer such protection.

In the end, though, the reason is obvious: being exposed to radiation is of no concern because the repairs can still be finished, while being protected is a) not possible because donning protective gear would take precious time, and b) probably not achievable anyway; anybody going in and unscrewing that cork will die for sure, no matter what he or she or it is wearing. So gloves are all Spock either needs or can wear.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Spockkirk]

I agree with all the points made here.

 

[arch101]

It's simple: Spock had to die because Kirk had to lose the closest person to him. The "no-win scenario" had to have a price. Kirk needed to learn something about mortality and the loss of Spock is about the biggest loss Kirk can suffer except for his own life.

 

[BillJ]

He didn't want to sacrifice someone else to do what needed to be done. Logic without compassion is tyranny of the elite, it would always be more logical to have "Skippy" die in the chamber, but it's cruel.

+1

Plus, Spock was the captain of the Enterprise. It was his ship to save.

 

[mos6507]

The one question I have though... why didn't Spock put on a radiation suit,

You see he has gloves on. This indicates that he was concerned about exposure but felt he didn't have enough time to put on a full suit. He didn't know exactly how long the repairs would take. The plot just allows him to finish in the nick of time. So even if it would have only taken 10 seconds to put the suit on, he might have felt that was 10 seconds too long. He also had already paused long enough to do the meld with McCoy.

 

[Timo]

You see he has gloves on. This indicates that he was concerned about exposure but felt he didn't have enough time to put on a full suit.

The gloves might also be simply because the thing Spock is going to repair is very hot, very cold, or very sharp.

Since we saw effects done with carbon dioxide ice, we might go for the cryogenic option...

Personally, I think the thing Spock tears open is the endcap of a dumbwaiter system that delivers dilithium into the heart of the warp reactor. Due to mechanical damage, dilithium is all out of alignment and Spock has to manhandle it into position inside its traveling articulation frame, a task similar to what Kirk achieves in the newest movie; the job doesn't call for dexterity but for brute power, and strong Vulcan hands inside clumsy gloves are okay with that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The one question I have though... why didn't Spock put on a radiation suit,

You see he has gloves on. This indicates that he was concerned about exposure but felt he didn't have enough time to put on a full suit.

How long could that possibly TAKE? Surely radiation suits of this time period are specifically designed to be put on in a hurry, wouldn't you think? Just like hospital greens are today. They're made so a doctor can put one on lickety-split and not have to waste time fiddling with it.

If Trek's radiation suits aren't like this, what use are they? If there's a crisis situation with radiation, there won't be time to spare. So it doesn't inspire confidence to think that suits like this take too long to put on.

 

[Maurice]

To be "safe" the suit has to be completely sealed and have its own life support, which is hardly analogous to scrubs. Sure, by that century it should be possible to get into such a thing as quickly as you'd dress in normal clothes, but even dressing now casually and tying your shoes takes a minute they didn't have ("We encoded four minutes.").

...and in the decades since then it's gone down as one of the best dramatic scenes in all of film history (not just from Star Trek, but in all cinema.)

Pray tell where have you seen it cited as such?

 

[Mojochi]

Lots of good points here, especially the one about Spock being the last Captain posted to command the ship

But about having time to suit up. Everyone is aware that less than a couple seconds passed between the engines coming online, and the detonation, right? There WAS no spare time, except the time he used to mind meld. Certainly time better spent in the grand scheme, than donning a likely ineffective suit

 

[Timo]

What should be pointed out here is that we have no real world precedent on what "radiation suits" should be like. No such thing exists today, and we have no idea how to create one.

What sometimes gets used in cases of radioactive material contamination is coveralls that prevent radioactive dust from reaching one's skin. But that does nothing to stop radiation. Unless we count alpha rays (which is the name we use for loose helium nuclei, for historical "reasons"), and those would be stopped by Spock's day uniform already. Or by the sweat on his skin for that matter.

Now, what are those contamination-preventing suits made of? Paper, usually. That stops the dust, and that stops alpha, and there's no point in using anything more substantial, because it wouldn't do any good; a layer of lead two feet thick wouldn't keep you healthy in the medium or long term, and if you have to deal with a short term emergency involving radiation, you do the Spock thing: you perform your duty, and then you die.

The coveralls worn in the TOS movies are too thick to be dust-stoppers. They are seen used with and without helmets, more typically without; they aren't actually seen being used for spacewalks, or as protection against radiation. So we have no idea what they are designed to do. But everything about ST2 suggests they will do squat to protect, say, Scotty from radiation.

(Now, Star Trek does have ways of dealing with radiation. Perhaps these coveralls have sewn-in forcefield generators - perhaps that's what the concentric rings on the chest are for? We know forcefields stop radiation, to a point at least. And we did see engineers in TAS using their forcefield belts "indoors". Or perhaps crews working in radhaz areas carry small dispensers of hyronalyn, with the IV drip repairing their cells apace with the radiation damaging them? But again, ST2 seems to establish that there is no way to protect against radiation of the sort involved in the damage caused by Khan, and no reason to even try.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Marsden]

The one question I have though... why didn't Spock put on a radiation suit, like all the engineering folks were wearing? He could have done that in 10 seconds instead of arguing with McCoy about going into the chamber. The combination of the radiation suit and his Vulcan physique would likely have saved his life.

I think the difference between being suited and just gloves is the difference between dying in an hour or less to hanging on for about a week and dying of lots of internal bleeding and other complications of radiation sickness. But maybe I'm too 20th century in my thinking.

 

[Richard Baker]

I wonder what would have happened if Spock DIDN'T die- he already put his Katra into McCoy for safe keeping. If he survived the repair job, who would be the real one since McCoy/Spock downloaded the Katra into the blank Genesis Spock and he was restored body and soul.
Was that Katra a complete copy like you back up your C: drive and if it was not needed you simply erase it? If not and it was an actual transference was the repair completed by a soul-less shell Spock?