Script blunders!

[JonnyQuest037]

I don’t recall ever reading that in Spock’s bio in TMoST.

I just double checked my paperback copy of TMOST, and you're right. Here's what it says on page 228:

A half-Vulcan half-Terran was out of place on either Vulcan or Earth (something his father, a full Vulcan, could not understand). This realization was what led him into the Space Service. Because of its makeup, the Service was likely to accept him on the basis of his talent and ability and ignore his mixed parentage.

Spock enrolled in the Space Academy and, following his graduation eight years later, entered the Space Service. [...] this act alienated Spock from Sarek and Spock, and for 18 years they did not speak as father and son.

Mr. Spock has served aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for 13 years, the first nine of them under Captain Christopher Pike, the last four under Captain James Kirk.

So no, nothing in there about Spock being the first Vulcan in Starfleet. Maybe the idea became popularized through essays in The Best of Trek collections?

Even DC Fontana disputes the whole idea in her novel Vulcan’s Glory.

Indeed if I recall the novel correctly Fontana has other Vulcans aboard the Enterprise when Spock is first assigned to the ship and establishes he is actually not the first Vulcan/Human hybrid.

You are correct. Vulcan's Glory features a murder mystery aboard the Enterprise, and Fontana needed several other Vulcan crewmembers aboard as suspects. Spock also falls in love with T'Pris, another Vulcan crewmember on the ship.

Chapter Two contains most of how Fontana sees Mr. Spock's biography. Pike expresses concern to Number One about having a Vulcan on the bridge crew, indicating that he hasn't had one serving in that capacity before. Nothing about him being the first Vulcan in Starfleet or the first Vulcan/Human hybrid, although that is treated as unusual.

Spock also has a more varied service record than he was later established to have in the Okuda Star Trek Chronology. He enters the Academy at 16 in the accelerated two-year course for Vulcans and one year in the required cadet cruises on various ships. He graduates at 19, and once commissioned, serves for three years as the assistant science officer aboard on a space cutter in the Sol system (ship unnamed). He then is promoted to Lt. JG and serves another two years aboard the Artemis under Captain Daniels as third officer and assistant science officer.

I consider this service history for Mr. Spock to be much more interesting and logical than the Okuda version where he just comes aboard the Enterprise as a cadet, so I incorporated it into my Star Trek Timeline.

Oh, and BTW, as @Therin of Andor is fond of pointing out, Fontana also snuck in a mention of Spock being the only child of Sarek and Amanda into that chapter, quietly expressing her disagreement with Spock suddenly being revealed to have a half-brother Sybok in the then-upcoming STV: The Final Frontier.

Journey to Babel leaves me with a lot of questions:
CHAPEL: I've checked the blood bank. There isn't enough Vulcan blood and plasma to even begin such an operation of this type.
KIRK: There are other Vulcans aboard.
The Enterprise does have a blood bank with Vulcan blood in it, but not a lot. Is this just for Spock, or is it for other full Vulcans, too? Does Kirk's line only apply to visiting Vulcans for the Babel conference, or are there other Vulcans aboard in the crew?

I take it to mean that Kirk is talking about the Vulcan delegation that's on board. I don't think any other TOS episodes indicate that there are other Vulcan crewmembers aboard the Enterprise besides Spock. (Except "Mirror, Mirror" as noted above, but that shouldn't really count.)

BTW, when I noticed how soon Dr. M'Benga first appeared after "Journey to Babel", it entered my headcanon that Dr. McCoy's experience in "Journey to Babel" convinced him to request a doctor who was more versed in Vulcan medicine, so he didn't have that sort of trouble again. In my timeline, I have JTB taking place in September 2268, M'Benga coming aboard in October 2268, and "A Private Little War" happening not long after that, still in October.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

I may be misremembering, but I thought in one episode when asked if other Vulcan's were in Starfleet, Spock replied:

"As far as I know, I am the only one."

Or words to that affect.

I check Enterprise Incident and it's not there. I may be imagining it.

 

[Warped9]

^^ You imagined it.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I may be misremembering, but I thought in one episode when asked if other Vulcan's were in Starfleet, Spock replied:

"As far as I know, I am the only one."

Or words to that affect.

I check Enterprise Incident and it's not there. I may be imagining it.

That almost sounds familiar to me, too. I wonder if it could be TAS dialogue, or from a novel.

 

[Warped9]

Pretty sure it’s not in TAS either.

 

[Noname Given]

That almost sounds familiar to me, too. I wonder if it could be TAS dialogue, or from a novel.

Honestly I don't think it's from anything in the TOS. I think a lot of people are confusing Spock for TNG's Klingon Worf, who was asked a couple of times how many Klingons were in Starfleet, and he always responded with: "As far as I know I'm the only one..."

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Honestly I don't think it's from anything in the TOS. I think a lot of people are confusing Spock for TNG's Klingon Worf, who was asked a couple of times how many Klingons were in Starfleet, and he always responded with: "As far as I know I'm the only one..."

Yes that's it! Data says something similar in an episode as I recall, too.

 

[PCz911]

MCCOY: Yeah. Hot as Vulcan. Now I understand what that phrase means.
Ever work in a data center where the AC is cranked to max? As in it's Texas in the summer and it's 100º outside but you have to bring a parka to work because of the AC is so cold?

That's what it probably feels like to Vulcans serving on a ship set to human standards.

its not just in IT centers…. Restaurants, stores, etc in Texas are refrigerated in summer. I lived there 5 years and it was always shocking the temp difference between outside and inside.

 

[BK613]

its not just in IT centers…. Restaurants, stores, etc in Texas are refrigerated in summer. I lived there 5 years and it was always shocking the temp difference between outside and inside.

I live here. I know.

 

[johnnybear]

Right! I remember this. We hardly ever talk about "Shore Leave" here. I think the gun fires too many bullets or something as well. (Not lessening Kirk's awesome, reflexive use of it.)

Of course we can simply say the Keeper and his manufacturing array got a few minor details wrong; quite understandable. It's not like he improperly sized a Starfleet shuttlecraft or failed to show his work on the turbolift's alignment to a Constitution-class bridge or something!!!!

Maybe Sulu was thinking of a projectile weapon which could hold more bullets in it's chamber than the ones we do know of?
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Agreed. Speaking of script blunders, we get to see "Angela" (Barbara Baldavin) three times but the script editor couldn't follow cast members' names in the scripts. We see Barbara Baldavin in Balance of Terror, Shore Leave and Turnabout Intruder, but with three different last names.

<I've covered her appearances in previous posts here.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/mental-illness-in-star-trek.299562/page-3#post-12942867
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/tos-chronology.304218/page-5#post-13415789>.

Sadly it was William Shatner's error that wasn't picked up when he called her Teller in Shore Leave instead of Martine but I think she was still called Angela by Rodriguez, am I right and I think Lieutenant Lisa or Lysa was meant to be a totally different character by the end of the third season, although I'd be very happy if she was the same Angela Martine from season one and that it was Kirk's fault (as Janice Lester) that made the error! strangely enough that scene where Kirk calls her Lt.Lisa was always cut by the BBC here in the UK right up until the 90s anyway!
JB

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Sadly it was William Shatner's error that wasn't picked up when he called her Teller in Shore Leave instead of Martine but I think she was still called Angela by Rodriguez, am I right and I think Lieutenant Lisa or Lysa was meant to be a totally different character by the end of the third season, although I'd be very happy if she was the same Angela Martine from season one and that it was Kirk's fault (as Janice Lester) that made the error! strangely enough that scene where Kirk calls her Lt.Lisa was always cut by the BBC here in the UK right up until the 90s anyway!
JB

I still think Barbara Baldavin had three character names to avoid having to pay royalties to a previous script writer.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/script-blunders.304609/page-16#post-14323001

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sadly it was William Shatner's error that wasn't picked up when he called her Teller in Shore Leave instead of Martine

Did he adlib that?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Sadly it was William Shatner's error that wasn't picked up when he called her Teller in Shore Leave instead of Martine...

How is it Shatner making an "error" if he was following the script? Is he supposed to remember the character name of every bit player who came on to the show? That's what the script supervisor is for.

Remember, Bruce Hyde wasn't brought back to play Kevin Riley again in "The Conscience of the King." He was cast as Lieutenant Robert Daiken and they just changed the character name to his previous character when someone realized that he'd guested on the show earlier in the season. It was the same thing with Baldavin, but they didn't adjust her character name until after they'd already shot the scene where Captain Kirk called her "Teller."

 

[johnnybear]

That's true, Jonny, I was quick to damn the Shat but it should have been picked up and edited but I guess they thought no one would notice or even care let alone remember the same actress from a much earlier episode! Only it wasn't as it was the last one shown but in production order it was the ninth I believe?
JB

 

[Nerys Myk]

That's true, Jonny, I was quick to damn the Shat but it should have been picked up and edited but I guess they thought no one would notice or even care let alone remember the same actress from a much earlier episode! Only it wasn't as it was the last one shown but in production order it was the ninth I believe?
JB

I imagine it was a low priority in the editing process

 

[ChallengerHK]

Wasn't Baldavin Joe D'Amato's wife? If myh memory is right about that I would think he would be the first to remember that he had cast her previously.

 

[Phaser Two]

Wasn't Baldavin Joe D'Amato's wife? If myh memory is right about that I would think he would be the first to remember that he had cast her previously.

Wait a sec . . . you look familiar to me . . . I can't quite place it . . . .

 

[johnnybear]

There have been quite a few characters with different names or called by another name from what we knew in the series.
I'm looking at you Mr.Leslie!!!
I'm sure that they thought no one would notice and that there would never be a place to chat about it anywhere in the future either, except on the street corner.
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

Episodic TV, especially of that era, was full of guest actors coming back and playing different characters. Star Trek was a little more strict than others, but Eddie Paskey was Connors, Rand (which feels like a weird name to use hen Grace Lee is in this episode prominently) and Leslie at least. He also died in Obsession and came back later. David L Ross was Galloway/Galway and Johnson (Ross also died and came back later).

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea did this regularly.

Over on The Fugitive, Richard Kimble's brother in law was played by (at least) 4 actors. Lt. Gerard's family changed each time we saw them.

The production has people in place to make sure continuity works. Either they care or they don't, but you know who's job it isn't?

William Shatner's. Or David Janssen's or Richard Basehart's. They have their own jobs to do.