Battlestar Vulcanica

[awesomeocalypse]

Ten thousand Vulcans...Searching for a home

Just kidding.

But seriously, of all the things they could explore in the next movie (or show or whatever comes next), what I'm by far the most interested to see is what happens to the Vulcans. Things to consider:

Where will they live now? I'm sure they could just spread out to separate colonies, but if their species and culture have any hope of surviving long term than they are going to need a world of their own. Where? Will the Federation simply put them on the closest inhabitable planet, or will they conduct a search for somewhere that comes close to the original Vulcan?

What will Spock Prime's role be? How much help will he provide? He knows so much, and by warning them of future events and giving them technologies from the future, he could help ensure that they survive and thrive, compensating for their extremely low numbers with by far the most advanced tech in the Federation.

How will their culture change? A rigid, tradition-bound, ancient culture has just been all but annihilated in a holocaust. They kept records of what came before, but there's no way that social structures established for a thriving species will remain unchanged when said species is reduced in number to the population of a few New York city blocks. How will people who have been so bound by the past react to the necessity of change?

In a related point, not only will they be undergoing massive cultural upheaval, but there will presumably be tremendous psychological impact as well--each living Vulcan is now much like a holocaust survivor, and while I'm sure they won't experience PTSD the way humans undoubtedly would, I still bet that more than a few of them will end up turning the Vulcan equivalent of insane (the telepathic backlash must have been agonizing), and many more will probably reject many of the philosophical underpinnings of the old Vulcan society--after all, what is "logical" about reenacting some charade of a culture that is in reality dead and gone? Don't their new circumstances demand some new thinking? I forsee some big internal political clashes between those pushing for Vulcans to adapt to their new circumstances and not cling to the past, and those who have if anything become even more zealous about the old order in an effort to preserve it.

How will they deal with the Romulans? On the one hand, this holocaust occured at Romulan hands, so the hatred between the two races will be more pronounced (I'd be very surprised if there weren't at least a couple rogue Vulcans who commit themselves to plotting revenge against the Romulans), but on the other hand...

The species is going to have keep going someway or another. Even if they abandon old pon farr traditions and get to making babies like rabbits, you're gonna run into the problem of genetic diversity (which cloning wouldn't solve either). So you can either try to genetically engineer diversity (which sounds like a recipe for a disaster--nuKhan as the product of Vulcan experiments in genetic engineering? not totally implausible), or you interbreed. Either with humans, who are allies of the Vulcans but who are deemed inferior, and who would gradually dilute the Vulcan gene pool until they just ended up being humans, or with Romulans, who they despise but who are genetically basically identical, meaning they could keep the species going without making it impure.

So many possibilities.

 

[Mr. B]

There are certainly a number of possibilities, but I still think they destroyed Vulcan just for the awesome effects shot. The characters treated it as a practical non-issue in the movie and I doubt they are going care any more in sequels.

 

[xman]

I think one of the nice things about the destruction of Vulcan is that it gives us a chance to set the Vulcan culture aside. It's still interesting with a lot of fans and will not disappear completely, but would we all be better off with yet another explanation of the importance of controlling emotion, or the peculiarities of Pon Farr. Been there, done that.

Also, Spock Prime cannot inform the survivors or anyone else of future events since time is mutable and even events in the past were affected by Nero's time travel. He sure can give the Vulcan's a head start with some Future tech and that might be a little fun somehow, but like I say, let's not rehash the same old stories, let's really start thinking outside the box.

X

 

[miraclefan]

Didn't Spock Prime say that he had found a ''suitable'' new home for the vulcans?

 

[xman]

Didn't Spock Prime say that he had found a ''suitable'' new home for the vulcans?

He did.

 

[urbandk]

There are certainly a number of possibilities, but I still think they destroyed Vulcan just for the awesome effects shot. The characters treated it as a practical non-issue in the movie and I doubt they are going care any more in sequels.

Oh really? Nimoy Spock shaken up, emotional transfer to Kirk. Flashback. Quinto Spock completely losing his shit (it wasn't just Mom's death). Uhura consoling Spock. Pike: "How are you going to answer for the genocide of six billion people?"

I think they handled it pretty well. I guarantee it will be considered in sequels.

 

[Middle Earther]

There are certainly a number of possibilities, but I still think they destroyed Vulcan just for the awesome effects shot. The characters treated it as a practical non-issue in the movie and I doubt they are going care any more in sequels.

Excellent point. They'll not dwell on it too much, since it may lead to serious, epistemological reflection. That would slow down the action.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

How will they deal with the Romulans? On the one hand, this holocaust occured at Romulan hands, so the hatred between the two races will be more pronounced (I'd be very surprised if there weren't at least a couple rogue Vulcans who commit themselves to plotting revenge against the Romulans), but on the other hand...

The species is going to have keep going someway or another. Even if they abandon old pon farr traditions and get to making babies like rabbits, you're gonna run into the problem of genetic diversity (which cloning wouldn't solve either). So you can either try to genetically engineer diversity (which sounds like a recipe for a disaster--nuKhan as the product of Vulcan experiments in genetic engineering? not totally implausible), or you interbreed. Either with humans, who are allies of the Vulcans but who are deemed inferior, and who would gradually dilute the Vulcan gene pool until they just ended up being humans, or with Romulans, who they despise but who are genetically basically identical, meaning they could keep the species going without making it impure.

All good points. Another idea I had is that even though the Romulans of this time period had nothing to do with the attack, they still have the same animus towards Vulcans because of their philosophical differences. If they see Vulcans being reduced to a weak colony of 10,000 people, they might be tempted to launch a finish-them-off attack.

And if the Romulans have harbored a desire to re-take their ancient homeworld, they might be angry at Vulcans for "getting it blown up" - they have no idea why it happened and if they knew the truth, they'd probably blame Spock.

I posted a thread in the movie forum asking if people thought that Starfleet now is aware the Romulans are the same people as the anti-Surak dissenters. I'm not sure they are. Maybe they might think the Romulans are Vulcanoid, but who knows how that happened? Lost colony like the Mintakans?

At least Old Spock knows. He better brief Starfleet fast. Unless Starfleet understands Romulan motivation, they wouldn't be able to predict an attack.

There are certainly a number of possibilities, but I still think they destroyed Vulcan just for the awesome effects shot. The characters treated it as a practical non-issue in the movie and I doubt they are going care any more in sequels.

I think it's going to factor into Spock's characterization. Now, whether he wants to or not, whether it's at all logical or even fair, he's going to hate Romulans. Will this Spock grow into the "unifier" Spock that Nimoy played? Maybe, but it will be a rougher road.

But the Vulcan colony will quickly become "the" Vulcan. The planet will look similar and Vulcans can use technology to quickly breed a lot of babies with enough amount of genetic variation that they probably won't need to get "help" from Romulans, which will be a harder thing to ask now than ever anyway.

The interesting thing is now, all surviving Vulcans will have to contribute their DNA to creating test-tube babies. Spock is going to have a lot of children. Whether or not he ever meets them or knows who they are is another issue.