Cast T'Pol's father

[cooleddie74]

Sloyan could work. He's already been a Klingon, Bajoran and a Romulan so why not a Vulcan?

 

[Voyagerian]

I would say 'sure'. He was good in his various outings, and Trek's had a fine tradition of that sort of crossover casting.

 

[Daneel]

Eh?

There's speculation amongst some fans that T'Pol's dad was a Romulan -- I think it came from her mother's dying words (I don't recall exactly what she said, but I think it was something about there being a reason T'Pol always had more difficulty suppressing her emotions than most Vulcans).

I don't see the connection. Vulcan emotional suppression is an acquired skill (one that comes with great sacrifice, too), not a biological distinctiveness.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you there -- I just couldn't think of anywhere else fans were getting this idea from. Plus I wouldn't put it past the writers to suggest that the Vulcan suppression of emotion had some sort of a basis in their biology -- or at least had become something of a biological trait over the past 1800 years. It doesn't make much sense, I know, but I could see the notion being presented -- although perhaps I'm wrong about that.

Regardless, now that I know one of the Beebs mentioned it too, I guess that explains where the fans got the idea (if not T'Les' statements).

 

[Disillusioned]

Actually it's something that was talked about by the creative staff for a possible storyline in Season 5. Memory Alpha has an article about it, actually.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I hope the novels don't go anywhere with this. Not all Vulcans have the same ability to control their emotions. Some, like Captain Solok from DS9, are clearly ignorant racist jackasses who have very *little* emotional control (don't even try to tell me Solok was acting logically). Others, such as Spock and Sarek, are very good at it.

As for T'Pol, her trellium-D addiction damaged her own sense of control. I know they said that in ENT at least once. So there is no need for Romulan involvement...

 

[Kirby]

Robert Reed, who played Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch, complete with the big white guy 70's perm. Of course, he's dead, so I'll go with Gary Cole, who played Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch movie, complete with the big white guy 70's perm.

 

[Red Ranger]

Robert Reed, who played Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch, complete with the big white guy 70's perm. Of course, he's dead, so I'll go with Gary Cole, who played Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch movie, complete with the big white guy 70's perm.

Vulcans/Romulans don't have perms. They're illogical. But all kidding aside, Gary Cole might've worked.

I still like the Romulan dad angle. Even though it would've made T'Pol more like Saavik was supposed to be -- as I don't think Saavik's part-Romulan heritage was ever revealed onscreen -- it wouldn't have to account for her less-than-perfect emotional control.

Poppa T'Pol could've been a Romulan agent who eventually "goes native" and embraces the Vulcan way, turning his back on the Romulans. The Romulans then try him in absentia and assassins kill him. T'Pol could unearth a diary from her father he hid with instructions that it eventually be presented to her.

To preserve canon, she would only confide in Dr. Phlox the secret of her father's true identity. The pretext: Phlox finds traces of a genetic flaw that led to T'Pol being more susceptible to Trellium-D, but he has never seen this anomaly in the Vulcan medical database. This would fall under doctor-patient privilege.

Armed with this new information, Phlox speculates that T'Pol's part-Romulan heritage is responsible for this susceptibility to trellium-D. And even though at this point, no one knows what Romulans look like, Phlox and T'Pol realize all the evidence points to Romulans being almost indistiguishable from Vulcans, with minor differences, which would explain the legend of Vulcans who left the homeworld thousands of years ago under the banner of the Raptor's Wing.

Then, T'Pol reasons if Vulcans and Romulans are related and look alike, revealing this to Starfleet would set back Vulcan-Earth relations, so she shoulders the burden of this secret, keeping it from Archer and the rest of the senior officers.

Hey, it isn't any less far-fetched than the whole Klingon smooth forehead story!

Red Ranger

 

[Praetor]

Yeah, kidding aside, I really think Gary Cole is a decent choice, failing Marc Alaimo of course. We already know he makes a fantastic Romulan.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Phlox finds traces of a genetic flaw that led to T'Pol being more susceptible to Trellium-D, but he has never seen this anomaly in the Vulcan medical database. This would fall under doctor-patient privilege.

Armed with this new information, Phlox speculates that T'Pol's part-Romulan heritage is responsible for this susceptibility to trellium-D.

Remember "Impulse"? Regular Vulcans fell victim to 'the D' quickly enough. It turned a whole ship full of them into zombies. So T'Pol wouldn't need any Romulan heritage to be susceptible to it. It's inherent in all Vulcans.