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Amaris
Guest
I just finished watching this episode. It is most definitely one of my favorites.
Amok Time
- Thread starter KirkSpockTOSFan
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Tiger Woods must have said the same thing.
This episode is so rich in so many regards. It was dramatic and took us through so many emotions, but it also provided so much brain food for us, and on so many levels. I bet a few went back to their biology books and looked up the life-cycle of salmon after this episode. It made us wonder at the scientific level and in the realm of imagination and make-believe. All that food for thought produced the cultural references we still see and laugh about.
With all the richness that the action and ideas presented in this episode provide, a few more subtle things get overlooked. One of them is the integrity of Kirk. Many episodes concentrate of his being great and talk about his legendary status, which I find irritating. Not a super hero fan, and I fast forward through the worship session mentioned in "Courtmartial". But, in this episode I admire and respect Kirk more than in any other episode.
Much discussion centers on Kirk's womanizing, his war tactics, his bravery etc, but nobody mentions that he is a man or honor and integrity as displayed best in Amok Time. He is honorable in disobeying an order to save Spock's life. He does owe Spock his life "a dozen times over" acts honorably in following his conscience, even if it will cost him his career. Later, on Vulcan he also tries to help him out, unknowingly stepping into a trap at the same time. And his "fairness" in judgment is also displayed by his reply to Spock:
"Will I? You've been most patient with my kinds of madness."
Kirk's display of character in this episode usually gets overlooked.
With all the richness that the action and ideas presented in this episode provide, a few more subtle things get overlooked. One of them is the integrity of Kirk. Many episodes concentrate of his being great and talk about his legendary status, which I find irritating. Not a super hero fan, and I fast forward through the worship session mentioned in "Courtmartial". But, in this episode I admire and respect Kirk more than in any other episode.
Much discussion centers on Kirk's womanizing, his war tactics, his bravery etc, but nobody mentions that he is a man or honor and integrity as displayed best in Amok Time. He is honorable in disobeying an order to save Spock's life. He does owe Spock his life "a dozen times over" acts honorably in following his conscience, even if it will cost him his career. Later, on Vulcan he also tries to help him out, unknowingly stepping into a trap at the same time. And his "fairness" in judgment is also displayed by his reply to Spock:
"Will I? You've been most patient with my kinds of madness."
Kirk's display of character in this episode usually gets overlooked.
This is a truly fantastic episode. We learn much about Spock and his relationship to Captain Kirk. We also learn that he considers Dr. McCoy to be one of his best friends. And we all like - nay, we all love - the grin at the end of the episode.
Well, T'Pring doesn't want to be "the consort of a legend." I suspect what she doesn't like is all us Spock fansover him...
I watched this one last night and laughed at this. If T'Pring does not want to be the consort of a legend, what does that make Stonn -- chopped liver? I don't think I would like a man saying to me, "I prefer a nobody like you to a legendary person".
When I read comments from those who weren't around when TOS first aired and/or never saw the episodes until recently, this one in particular, I giggle to myself. It was all so exotic and exciting back then (in the 1960s). I have to keep reminding myself that relatively few people around today, saw TOS from the beginning and grew up with it. But geesh, why do Spock's hands shake when he's around Kirk? Why does his "madness" disappears so suddenly when Kirk "dies"? Shouldn't he be immediately claiming his prize of a wife? Why does Spock tell T'Pau he will not live long nor prosper? (If you haven't seen The Menagerie, there's only one death penalty left in the Federation, and it's not for killing someone - even though Spock's situation would probably be forgiven, anyway) I think T'Pring heard some things.... My girlfriends and I had way too much fun speculating on that stuff during our pre-teen years.
I could go on and on, but anyway, if you haven't seen all the episodes, at least the most well-known and/or favored ones, start watching! And catch up on the TOS movies, too.
I could go on and on, but anyway, if you haven't seen all the episodes, at least the most well-known and/or favored ones, start watching! And catch up on the TOS movies, too.
Erm...not to have an unpopular opinion or anything, but...
When I saw "Amok Time" for the first time in at least a decade a while ago, all I could think was that for an episode that had such a big impact on the Star Trek mythos, it was really dumb.
Those little tinkly-bell things? Spock taking prudishness to the ultimate fatalistic extreme? A silly Vulcan mating cycle that would lead to so much stupidity over the years? Spock and Kirk fighting to the death?
Say what you will about it, but STXI gets my thanks for ignoring the stupid "sex only every seven years" thing. Thank you, JJ!
When I saw "Amok Time" for the first time in at least a decade a while ago, all I could think was that for an episode that had such a big impact on the Star Trek mythos, it was really dumb.
Those little tinkly-bell things? Spock taking prudishness to the ultimate fatalistic extreme? A silly Vulcan mating cycle that would lead to so much stupidity over the years? Spock and Kirk fighting to the death?
Say what you will about it, but STXI gets my thanks for ignoring the stupid "sex only every seven years" thing. Thank you, JJ!
Thank you, KD. I don't know how much this is because I'd never seen it till 2008, but I loathe this episode. I think it's one of the worst examples of Star Trek and has a sort of negative iconography. It's original Star Trek at its most corny, lame, cheesy, and garish.
The overuse of the wacky fight music, the depiction of Vulcan and the culture's ridiculous mating and wedding rituals is hilariously bad to me. This episode has one of the greatest endings in all of Star Trek but everything leading up to it just make me cringe.
The overuse of the wacky fight music, the depiction of Vulcan and the culture's ridiculous mating and wedding rituals is hilariously bad to me. This episode has one of the greatest endings in all of Star Trek but everything leading up to it just make me cringe.
A great episode!! It took me a while to warm up to it but it makes a great statement about Vulcans not being the perfect beings that they might want you to think they are. I like the comments about sex being one of the things that Vulcans can't "conquer." They may be able to repress the urge for 7 years but eventually they can't deny being the emotional creatures that they really are. I like the fact that in TOS-R that they "moved" the arena up into the mountain peak like ST III and Mt. Seleya. It was a nice touch about how Vulcans didn't want casual passersby to accidentally came across any Vulcans doing the deed. I really do believe that it was the intention for Spock and T'Pring to consummate their marriage right there in the arena in front of everyone in order to keep the act from carrying an intimate, emotional overtone for all involved in the ceremony.
A
Amaris
Guest
"Amok Time" is among my most favorite TOS episodes.
Just watched the episode again one of the best over the three seasons . I love this episode i think it was scripted so well shows how the BIG 3 kirk spock and mccoy were not just career professionals but such good friends.
Some of scenes are GREAT but my favourite is the end scene in sickbay spock,s emotions creeping to the surface bones asking about what happened next and finally kirk saying to spock lets go mind the store FANTASTIC !!!!
This is why i love TOS so much !!!
Some of scenes are GREAT but my favourite is the end scene in sickbay spock,s emotions creeping to the surface bones asking about what happened next and finally kirk saying to spock lets go mind the store FANTASTIC !!!!
This is why i love TOS so much !!!
Note the term "negative iconography". My point was that it's iconic in a bad way. Such a thing as possible. Look at "Plan 9 From Outer Space", for example - a film regarded as a masterpiece...of awful filmmaking. It's been called 'The Worst Movie of All Time' with affection, because the sheer ineptitude in every aspect of moviemaking (writing, acting, directing, editing, production design, etc.) is so mindboggling that it achieves a level of stupidity so forceful that it's inspired.
That's how I feel about "Amok Time". It is epically bad. It's like the Gorn fight scene in "Arena". If people ever want to make fun of others for liking Star Trek, for example by calling them weird sci-fi nerds who like lame cheesy sci-fi garbage, they can make a pretty strong case by showing stuff like that fight scene, large chunks of "Amok Time" or large chunks of TNG's "Skin of Evil". This episode is a farce. A ludicrous spectacle.
However...
I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. The end of "Amok Time" is beautiful. It has all the poignancy, realism, power and wonderful acting and writing that the best of Star Trek shares and the rest of the episode lacks.
Wow, KingDaniel and Too Much Fun, it really does take all kinds, don't it? 
The urge is not necessarily related to emotion rather it is a drive, like hunger, that cannot be eliminated because the species would die out if they managed to eliminate it. The idea of "Natural Selection" would occur if any Vulcans evolved so as to be able to eliminate this drive, he would not reproduce to spread it. Nature/Evolution protects the species ability/necessity to reproduce quite well. Vulcans could evolve out of having emotion but they can't evolve out of having a drive like sex without becoming extinct.
Though I think this episode was one of the greatest, none of it's follow ups, like in Voyager or Enterprise worked very well.
This is easily one of the best episodes of the series. Anyone who claims not to like it is lying.
Liar. You love it.
Liar. You love it.
I wish. I enjoy sharing everyone's appreciation for certain things. It's nice to know other people out there are affected as positively as I am by an episode. This isn't one of them. At least I can say I love the ending. That's the only thing I can agree with everyone on about it. The rest, though, P.U.! 
One thing I find interesting is that in "Amok Time" there's no mention of pon farr being a 7 year cycle. The only reference to 7 years is that Spock said he and T'Pring were affianced, or bonded when they were seven years old. I think the original intention was that pon farr was just a one time thing.
Of course it was later established/changed so that pon farr meant Vulcans gotta get some tail every seven years, I'm not arguing about that. I'm just saying as it stands by itself, "Amok Time" never said pon farr was a seven year cycle thing. I've always wondered if somebody misremembered Spock's line about being bonded at seven years of age being cyclic but I suppose it was thought to be a neat idea later on.
Robert
Of course it was later established/changed so that pon farr meant Vulcans gotta get some tail every seven years, I'm not arguing about that. I'm just saying as it stands by itself, "Amok Time" never said pon farr was a seven year cycle thing. I've always wondered if somebody misremembered Spock's line about being bonded at seven years of age being cyclic but I suppose it was thought to be a neat idea later on.
Robert
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