@JamesGarfield, thanks! Sorry but what is the Spock Effect?
How Star Trek Changed My Life
- Thread starter Brie
- Start date
I feel because we all have such a strong connection to the same interests (and in a way other fandoms just can't compair) we have a connection even though we all have never met. I have has several friends that have struggled with coming out and not being accepted. That's something that has always perplexed me but let's not delve too deep into that topic lol. I have been through a lot in my life, lots of negativity and darkness have been part of me for a while, so I can understand how you feel (I think) if you ever need a listening ear feel free to send me a message on here or on Facebook. I'm actually getting my degree in psychology because I love helping others so much, anyway yeah let me know if you ever need an ear or a friend
Thanks Brie
The "Spock Effect" was the effect Spock's character seemed to have on many young women in the late 60's. Vulcans in general actually DO have emotions, but their childhood upbringing, and eventually their K'Ulinar, allow them to masterfully supress their emotions... at least until Pon-Farr.
(What's the most common line heard in a Vulcan bar?
"Will you still respect me in 7 years... ?")
But Spock, being half-human, even though he had chosen to align himself with the Vulcan way, had a uniquely difficult time dealing with the emotions which were stronger within him than other Vulcans. Females viewers often identified with this internal conflict Spock lived with, and secretly wished they could... find a way to help Spock bring out his emotions.
You've mentioned that you are still fairly new to the Star Trek world? If so, take your time and indulge yourself in The Original Series (Kirk and Spock era). It is truly, as the forum thread title says, Where It All Began. Enjoy.
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A
Amaris
Guest
Somewhere, in an elementary school time capsule that has reached its 23rd year underground, is, among other things, a manila folder. Inside that folder is a stack of papers with answers to questions. One of those papers was written by a little boy who, upon being asked "What is your favorite book?", replied "Star Trek 4 by James Blish."
Star Trek has been with me a long time.
Star Trek has been with me a long time.
I feel because we all have such a strong connection to the same interests (and in a way other fandoms just can't compair) we have a connection even though we all have never met. I have has several friends that have struggled with coming out and not being accepted. That's something that has always perplexed me but let's not delve too deep into that topic lol. I have been through a lot in my life, lots of negativity and darkness have been part of me for a while, so I can understand how you feel (I think) if you ever need a listening ear feel free to send me a message on here or on Facebook. I'm actually getting my degree in psychology because I love helping others so much, anyway yeah let me know if you ever need an ear or a friend
Another psychology major! I always love meeting others like me
It's pretty intriguing that a character who chooses to supress their emotions became so popular. I had started TOS last week but couldn't get into it so I've started the movies. I'm enjoying them so much that I'm giving the series a second chance. I'm liking the second half of season one and plan on continuing.
One element was "I could be the woman who unlocks Spock".
Nimoy discussed some of the fan art and letters that he would get for Spock, and apparently Spock was quite the ladies man, at least in fan opinion.
I can never find the piece of art that he received but it is in his book "I Am Spock" which provides such an interesting look for people on the other side of fandom.
I know the feeling. My father introduced me to Star Trek as well, back in the Sixties, and he passed away this summer.
All my sympathy.
@fireproof78 and teacake, your mentioning of Spock being a ladies man reminded me of a video I came across a few days ago.
[yt]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7o5Wezhzf9s[/yt]
[yt]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7o5Wezhzf9s[/yt]
Has Star Trek changed my life? I can't say that it has. The fact is, I grew up with it as such a major factor in my upbringing, that there was never an earlier me to have changed. I'm 35 and my dad was watching Star Trek reruns with me since I was an infant. I am just old enough to recall a time before TNG and being excited to see the new show when it came out. And the influence has been enormous. I can recall drawing my first MSDs while TNG's first season was on the air and I was still just 7. (I know for a fact as we moved to a different town when I turned 8 and I have very clear memories of taping my drawings to the walls of our old house.) I'm kind of a packrat (a habit I'm trying to break) and I was going through old stuff and found Trek inspired drawings and sketches from as early as fifth grade(!).
My desire to try to be an artist came from pouring over the art direction on the Star Trek shows. Matt Jefferies, Andrew Probert, Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda, Doug Drexler... these guys were my heroes growing up. As I grew older, I realized I wanted to keep art as a hobby; something to unwind with and process my own thoughts. But my profession is dental technology, which has artistic qualities to it as well a need for technical perfection. I often think of Spock or Scotty, or even Data and LaForge performing their tasks to the finest decimal while I'm making a 0.2 mm adjustment to something by hand. Not 0.1 mm. Not 0.3 mm. It's gotta be right.
But, Brie, Some of your story really resonates with me. I, too, was always on the outside looking in growing up. I was the kid on the playground curled up in the distance pretending to be a rock during recess. By the end of high school, I managed to get along with most of my various class mates, but it was a small school district and I had known most of them since childhood. But I always got along easiest with my fellow sci-fi geeks. Even now, I occasionally have crippling social anxiety, though never at a convention. Amongst fellow fans, I'm as functional as anyone!
But I managed to find practical use for Star Trek pretty young. My parent's marriage was hardly ideal. I was 20 when they finally divorced but for the ten years leading up to that, they were having serious issues. Even though I didn't understand what was happening until I was older, there were some really rough patches that were affecting me in a big way. I recall one day in middle school, I was just sitting alone out behind the gym, the emotions were about to roll me right over but I suddenly thought about Spock and his ability to suppress emotions and I was so envious of that. From that day forward, at least for the rest of middle school, I decided I was going to embrace "Vulcan Discipline" and just be very meditative and channel my feelings away to nothingness. Perhaps it wasn't the healthiest approach? But it seems to have worked. Today I have a fairly cast-iron will, and I think it's due, at least in part, to the whole idea of Vulcan discipline as a kid.
Another thing Trek has taught me is to be open to different ideas. I was raised in a seriously religious environment, but in the past several years, I have really changed my mind about many of the beliefs I was raised with. But here's the thing: More than half of my family is so committed to their religion that they would be crushed if I openly left it. And it's the half of my family I like more. And it's obvious to me that they gain genuine comfort and joy from their beliefs. I have to respect that. It's a respect that is not just an obligation I have, but I want to respect it out of the love I feel for them. I kinda feel like I might have some level of understanding of what closeted gay people must feel like. Not in the sexual sense (I'm straight as an arrow), but the fact that if I were to "come out" as it were about my heartfelt agnosticism, it would seriously rock the boat my family is rowing. And I don't want to to do that to them. Internal conflict like that has certainly been addressed in Trek as has self-sacrifice and the axiom that "the good of the many outweigh the good of the one."
In short, who knows? Star Trek has been so integral to who I am from the beginning that there's no way to accurately imagine who I would have been without it. Someone totally different, I'm sure.
--Alex
My desire to try to be an artist came from pouring over the art direction on the Star Trek shows. Matt Jefferies, Andrew Probert, Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda, Doug Drexler... these guys were my heroes growing up. As I grew older, I realized I wanted to keep art as a hobby; something to unwind with and process my own thoughts. But my profession is dental technology, which has artistic qualities to it as well a need for technical perfection. I often think of Spock or Scotty, or even Data and LaForge performing their tasks to the finest decimal while I'm making a 0.2 mm adjustment to something by hand. Not 0.1 mm. Not 0.3 mm. It's gotta be right.
But, Brie, Some of your story really resonates with me. I, too, was always on the outside looking in growing up. I was the kid on the playground curled up in the distance pretending to be a rock during recess. By the end of high school, I managed to get along with most of my various class mates, but it was a small school district and I had known most of them since childhood. But I always got along easiest with my fellow sci-fi geeks. Even now, I occasionally have crippling social anxiety, though never at a convention. Amongst fellow fans, I'm as functional as anyone!
But I managed to find practical use for Star Trek pretty young. My parent's marriage was hardly ideal. I was 20 when they finally divorced but for the ten years leading up to that, they were having serious issues. Even though I didn't understand what was happening until I was older, there were some really rough patches that were affecting me in a big way. I recall one day in middle school, I was just sitting alone out behind the gym, the emotions were about to roll me right over but I suddenly thought about Spock and his ability to suppress emotions and I was so envious of that. From that day forward, at least for the rest of middle school, I decided I was going to embrace "Vulcan Discipline" and just be very meditative and channel my feelings away to nothingness. Perhaps it wasn't the healthiest approach? But it seems to have worked. Today I have a fairly cast-iron will, and I think it's due, at least in part, to the whole idea of Vulcan discipline as a kid.
Another thing Trek has taught me is to be open to different ideas. I was raised in a seriously religious environment, but in the past several years, I have really changed my mind about many of the beliefs I was raised with. But here's the thing: More than half of my family is so committed to their religion that they would be crushed if I openly left it. And it's the half of my family I like more. And it's obvious to me that they gain genuine comfort and joy from their beliefs. I have to respect that. It's a respect that is not just an obligation I have, but I want to respect it out of the love I feel for them. I kinda feel like I might have some level of understanding of what closeted gay people must feel like. Not in the sexual sense (I'm straight as an arrow), but the fact that if I were to "come out" as it were about my heartfelt agnosticism, it would seriously rock the boat my family is rowing. And I don't want to to do that to them. Internal conflict like that has certainly been addressed in Trek as has self-sacrifice and the axiom that "the good of the many outweigh the good of the one."
In short, who knows? Star Trek has been so integral to who I am from the beginning that there's no way to accurately imagine who I would have been without it. Someone totally different, I'm sure.
--Alex
The one thing about STAR TREK that's changed my life is in the way that I look at entertainment. STAR WARS, for example, is a fairy tale about Good Vs. Evil and the only way it really stays with you over the years, is by way of nostalgia. And that's cool! I mean ... it's good that it can do that for people, but there's really nothing deep going on, here. It's not trying to be the answer to Kleenex, or anything, it just wants to entertain and that's all. STAR TREK, though, is something where you can watch it as a kid and it's really no different than STAR WARS in the sense of just being a space adventure story. But the fact that STAR TREK tends to be so topical means that as you indulge your nostalgia, later on, you pick up on things that you did not, before. The show was really "about" something else, entirely, so that now, it's not just about the kid you were, you can actually appreciate it as an adult, this time.
I can relate to that.
I grew up on both Star Trek and Star Wars (OT in particular), and I am still a huge fan of both. They are the measuring sticks of sci fi for me (I'm aware some will call Star Wars more a Sci fantasy, but it's sci fi to me). Sci Fi franchises come and go, some I still love, like Babylon 5, Stargate SG1/SGA/SGU, Battlestar Galactica reboot, but I always come back to Star Trek.
That said, as far as Star Trek is concerned, I grew up watching Star Trek reruns, as well as Star Trek TAS reruns, both being very beloved shows. Some of my earliest memories are of TMP being released in the theater and seeing it, as well as looking forward eagerly to the TOS movie sequels after that.
My teen years and early 20s saw TNG's debut both on the small and big screen, and I have many fond memories of watching TNG in first run with my Mom as a teen (my Mom passed away recently). I joined the Army during the summer between the third and 4th seasons, and remember watching part 2 of BOBW crammed into the rec room with many other fellow soldiers while in AIT and in training and preparing for war in real life (Desert Storm).
I didn't get to see much TV during my time in the military, but when I was honorably discharged and went to college part time, I remember DS9 and Voyager as shows I could count on to be there. In fact, it took me a few years to adjust to civilian life as I went through a variety of jobs and attended college, at first part time, later full time (and changing majors a couple times along the way), and during some of that time I battled depression and suicide attempts, and Star Trek was my comfort TV.
When I went back to college for my second BA, and started the employer where I am still at today, Star Trek Enterprise was also there. Maybe not as beloved to me as TOS and TNG, but it was nice to see Star Trek there once again as a show I could look forward to.
So, for me, Star Trek is like an old friend and has always been a show I could count on to be there, and escape reality for an hour at a time, and a show I have many fond memories of and nostalgia for.
Well... Star Wars is supposed to be mythology in line with Joseph Campbell. And things like mythology/folklore, classical studies, archaeology, dead languages, etc. do not *need* to be topical. Those are things that you study purely for their own sake. They don't seek to offer some special insight on contemporary issues. And that's perfectly OK.
Kor
I find Star Wars really deep and meaningful myself. More so than Star Trek. There's just not enough of it!
I don't care about topical, I think Trek bailed on that years ago and has been living off the fumes of their TOS rep for a very long time. I dread any future Trek incarnation trying to be actually topical because of the clunkiness of past efforts, but I also have confidence that if we get it on tv again it will will have really upped its game.
I don't care about topical, I think Trek bailed on that years ago and has been living off the fumes of their TOS rep for a very long time. I dread any future Trek incarnation trying to be actually topical because of the clunkiness of past efforts, but I also have confidence that if we get it on tv again it will will have really upped its game.
With STAR TREK: The Next Generation, in some cases, the metaphors get more potent with age:
THE HUNTED - heavily referenced the U.S. Government's abandoment of Vietnam Veterans, when they returned home.
THE HIGH GROUND - took on terrorism very directly.
ETHICS - Star Trek takes on the issue of out of control doctors.
THE DRUMHEAD - examines government-sponsored witch hunts
There are still other topical episodes, of course. Many others. It's a large part of what makes TNG so timeless - the stories.
THE HUNTED - heavily referenced the U.S. Government's abandoment of Vietnam Veterans, when they returned home.
THE HIGH GROUND - took on terrorism very directly.
ETHICS - Star Trek takes on the issue of out of control doctors.
THE DRUMHEAD - examines government-sponsored witch hunts
There are still other topical episodes, of course. Many others. It's a large part of what makes TNG so timeless - the stories.
IrishNero
Commodore
You can find meaning in anything, if you look hard enough. My kids, my work, my health....those are meaningful to me. A TV show or a movie...not so much. They're supposed to be entertaining. Entertain me, don't lecture me. The moment Star Trek loses its entertainment value for me, it's out the door. Fortunately, there are so many good stories that the stinkers don't kill it for me yet.
I always saw this episode as Star Trek's take on tedious boredom. As in, the episode is tediously boring.
