Is Spock going to be the first Vulcan in Starfleet?
- Thread starter Brent
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My family can be traced back to a small town in the Loire region and my family name is the same as the castle's name there (I don't wish to use my real name, so I'll stop there).
I did not want to turn this into a TNZ style political discussion (and, for the record, I have no love for France-bashers).
In any event, my use of France was to provide a precedent for the notion that Vulcan could be part of the Federation but not necessarily integrated into Starfleet.
I don't know. But it does seem totally obsurd that one of the key, founding members of the UFP doesn't have a major star base. This is a massive plot oversight, IMHO.
I thought it was funny. Even apropos.
~String
It was actually spelled the N. T'Repid.
At first I thought so, too, and was quite displeased with the choice.
But if you look closely at the meaning of the word, it derives from Latin "intrepidus", meaning "not anxious" or "not afraid", i.e. rejecting a negative emotion of fear (in context, fear of the unknown), a very Vulcan position to have.
Maybe the emotional baggage we get from the name is just a case of us human over-translating its meaning, who would have best translated as "unfazed" or "imperturbable" (but that would have been shitty starship names, tho).
The latter sounds like a name Thomas Pynchon would give to one of the British warships which often turn up in his books: HMS Imperturbable.
Probably no Vulcans in the 18th- or 19th-century Royal Navy, though.
All we know is that Kirks crew landed on Vulcan. What happened behind the scenes with Starfleet, the UFP and VUlcan is unknown. We've no idea what deals might have been struck regarding Kirk and his crew and their ship. With people of T'Pau and Sarek's status in Kirk's corner I'm sure the Vulcans were dealing from a position of power.
Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. The Vulcans seem to be fond of speaking the Queen's English, for one thing.
There is ZERO onscreen evidence that Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet. As a matter of fact, we already know T'Pol was.
That was never indicated on the show, nor was it the intent of the makers. It was purely a fan notion thought up on the Flare board and propogated here to "reconcile" the initially-perceived "error" of Starfleet existing prior to the UFP, which was really no error at all.
The Intrepid is a Starfleet ship as per "Court Martial" (TOS).
I don't see why. Starfleet isn't tasked with maintaining internal order, and since Vulcan presumably isn't anywhere near the Federation's border, there's no particular reason why there should be a starbase there.
I always thought starbases were more for refueling, and to serve as embassies and home bases, than for border security. I think each major city in the US has some kind of base somewhere. As such, I'd think Vulcan would surely have a starbase. I suspect Andor would as well, and the other major players in the UFP. Perhaps they would consolidate some of them into Earth-based facilities by the 24th century or they might even expand the existing ones by then, but I think that at some point each of those worlds would have a major base.
Given the relative proximity of Vulcan, Earth, and Andor, all three could be served by a starbase operating roughly equi-distant from each in deep space, with local administrative functions being handled by smaller shore based outposts on each planet. Ditto military security - each planet might operate its own local defence forces in close coordination with Starfleet.
And of course Vulcan could have its own fleet, for use within its own system. A Federation member world doesn't *completely* lose its own military; it can keep a detachment for home use.
That doesn't seem likely since there's at least a big space dock, orbital offices, and the construction/repair docks as seen in TMP, "All Good Things...", etc. all in orbit of Earth. But in a way, each Federation planet is probably by definition a starbase anyway, though I suppose we're talking specifically about orbital facilities. If we, as a pre-warp planet already have an ISS and countless telecomm satellites, I'm sure that by the 23rd century it'll be pretty standard for post-warp planets to have facilities not unlike the space dock in orbit as a matter of course.
I don't think so--Deep Space Nine made mention of the Bajoran Militia being absorbed into Starfleet following their joining the Federation. In TNG, the Benzite Ensign Mendon was on exchange serving on the Enterprise-D but he was wearing a Starfleet uniform. His planet was a Federation member.
These signs point to Starfleet being the primary military force of Federation member worlds. Different ships seem to represent different member worlds--ships like the Intrepid, Hera and T'Kumbra for Vulcan; Mendon also mentioned Benzite Starfleet ships having different procedures and protocols; and lastly due to TV budgetary constrictions, we have seen mostly ships that are representative of Earth.
Now that said, we have also seen umpteen non-military vessels belonging to their own unique fleets, like the Vulcan Science Directorate and many Human merchant and transport vessels. Perhaps these vessels can be called into a deputized form of military service in emergencies.
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