Spock has always been my favorite ST character. So I always tend to watch ST from a “Spock-centric” point of view. These viewpoints are strictly personal ones. I’m not worried about “canon” or “fanon.” I have my own particular take on ST and try to take the “best” of what I see and hear from the various incarnations of ST.
Spock was a half-breed Vulcan. He was ashamed of his human side after being tormented by his classmates as a youth and his constant failure to meet his father’s exacting standards. He felt at home neither on Vulcan nor on Earth so he joined Starfleet to find a home where he wouldn’t be judged. It was a logical decision from his point of view.
After leaving the Academy, he found a home on the Enterprise. Pike respected Spock and gave him the distance to be himself. I think others found him more difficult to work with. He’s been troubled by human feelings all his life but outside of his mother, he’s had no other everyday contact to put it into perspective until joining Starfleet. By the time Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he’s still like Data or Saavik trying to understand humor and emotions but missing the punch line and not getting the hang of it.
According to the LP album“Inside Star Trek,” Spock was the first Vulcan/human hybrid to survive. He is truly going “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” What better title for the first episode produced featuring Kirk and Spock?
The opening scene is in the rec room with Kirk and Spock playing chess. It is the perfect scenario for setting up the Kirk/Spock relationship. Spock embraces his logical Vulcan side during the first 5-year mission. Kirk represents the emotional human side.
When Spock prompts Kirk to make his next move, Spock’s ever logical eye is blindsided by Kirk’s emotional maneuver which leaves Spock checkmated. Kirk teases Spock about being “irritated” by the move. Spock denies it as an earth emotion but concedes that “one of his ancestors married an human female.” Kirk continues to tease him about having bad blood but hopes that Spock may learn to enjoy it some day. The friendship of Kirk and Spock is one of exploring the dynamics of emotional humans vs. logical Vulcans…and how the two may complement each other.
Kirk and Mitchell are long time friends. Mitchell describes Kirk as being “a stack of book with legs” at the Academy. Kirk was seemingly a very serious person at the beginning of his career…not the self-confident cocky officer we usually think of him as. Kirk’s scene with McCoy in “Balance of Terror” where Kirk admits to wondering if he’s made the right decisions would seem to support this. In the beginning, at least, Kirk is more of a “Hornblower in space” than an invincible “Superman.”
The fact that Spock identifies himself as “Second Officer” in “The Enemy Within” leads me to the idea that Mitchell is the First Officer here. When Mitchell is struck by his slow mutation, Spock is Kirk’s right-hand man in dealing with the situation. Kirk is struck down emotionally by being too close to Gary to be objective. Spock provides the clear-cut logical thing to do in the briefing room scene. Being the peace loving Vulcan, his first recommendation is to strand Mitchell alive on Delta Vega. When Kirk resists the idea, only then does Spock recommend killing Mitchell while he still can in order to remove the threat.
As Nimoy once said in “Shatner: Where No Man,” Spock understands that Kirk is in a bind making a very emotional decision but is duty bound to offer Kirk the logical perspective in order to make the right decision to insure the safety of the ship. Kirk eventually concedes the point and orders a course set for Delta Vega where Kirk is forced to kill Mitchell anyway.
In the final scene, Spock admits that he felt for Mitchell, too. As described in Star Trek Lives, Spock recognizes the sacrifice Kirk made by killing Mitchell and Kirk recognizes the sacrifice Spock made by admitting to having felt an emotion. Kirk quietly adds that there may be “hope for him after all” as he makes a small step towards learning to enjoy that human blood.
In the turbolift scene with Kirk, Spock, and Mitchell talking about the chess game, Mitchell’s dialogue definitely sounds like something that could have came out of McCoy’s mouth. Maybe this explains a little of why Spock “felt for him too.” A foreshadowing of similar feelings later for McCoy?
But in the end logic saves the day over emotion here in this story. Kirk probably valued that quality about Spock to the point of recommending him for the vacated spot of First Officer. Kirk may have taken some heat for promoting the Vulcan to this position seeing how Spock wore the Commander stripes for a year but was still referred to as a Lieutenant Commander (“Court Martial,” “The Menagerie,” “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”).
In the next episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” emotion saves the day over logic. Thematically, this makes it a nice “bookend” or “sequel” to “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
Kirk is confronted by the alien, Balok, who threatens the ship. The crew, especially Bailey, is emotionally distressed. At a crucial point in the show, the director gave Nimoy the insight he needed to portray Spock by having him react coolly with “fascinating” to provide contrast to the emotional crew.
When faced with impending doom at the end of an allotted period of time, Spock’s only advice for Kirk is the idea of “checkmate” during a game of chess. Kirk admonishes him for not having another alternative. Spock almost says “I’m sorry” but changes it to apologizing for not having a “logical alternative.”
Spock’s game strategy idea does spark a different alternative when Kirk comes up the poker concept after his disagreement with McCoy about being bluffed. Kirk channels his emotions into “lying or bluffing” his way out of the situation. The idea works and eventually a peaceful ending follows. Here, we see McCoy taking over Kirk’s emotional role and Kirk being pushed towards the middle between him and Spock’s logical role. Kirk is more accurately represented as the will—the decision maker with Spock and McCoy as his two shoulder angels giving voice to the thoughts going on inside his head.
I can imagine Kirk having a discussion with Spock afterwards about using his logic to supply Kirk with all the alternatives that Spock can find…not just the logical ones. Spock needs to provide all the alternatives, whether logical or not, and let the Captain decide which course of action to take. Spock is not to weed out the illogical ones before presenting the options to Kirk. That decision belongs to the Captain. That’s part of Spock’s job as First Officer if he wants to keep that title.
Spock claims not to have ambition to command (“The Galileo Seven,” “The Enterprise Incident,” “The Wrath of Khan”). That may have been part of Starfleet’s concern about Kirk wanting Spock as his First Officer. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kirk didn’t have to tutor Spock in some of the finer points of command in the beginning. (Like Data had to learn in “The Ensigns of Command.”)
Kirk was born to command. In “Mudd’s Women,” we find out that Kirk is “married” to his ship as much as Spock is “married” to logic. Those two obsessions in their lives seem to make both Kirk and Spock less susceptible to the effects of the Venus drug that Mudd’s women have on the rest of the crew. Kirk fails to be manipulated by Eve and Mudd tells the women to “save it” because Spock can “turn himself off from many an emotion.”
In “The Enemy Within,” we find Kirk split into two beings—one good and the other evil. It gives Kirk a very unique opportunity to really understand the conflict that the hybrid Spock goes through first hand. Good and evil. Human and Vulcan. Not implying that Vulcan is good and human is bad or vice versa. It just gives Kirk the chance to know what kind of conflict that such a duality brings to a person. It gives Kirk some common ground with Spock…and another reason to solidify the growing friendship between them.
In the Sick Bay scene, we really get to see Spock and McCoy voice opposing sides to the decision that Kirk must make about being recombined by the transporter before the landing party dies. Spock says that his intelligence wins out over both and forces both sides to live together. Another little insight of why Spock prizes his logic/intelligence so much…it helps him ease the suffering of his dual heritage and the conflict it brings to him.
In “The Naked Time,” we find both Kirk and Spock suffering from the Psi 2000 virus which breaks down a person’s pretense and reveals their inner selves. Kirk is burdened by the loneliness of being a starship captain even though being a starship captain is the driving force in his life. Spock regrets not being able to tell his mother that he loved her even though following the Vulcan way of logic he values discourages that expression.
That briefing room scene gives both Kirk and Spock a quick glimpse behind each others’ facades and who they really are. Each one’s greatest strength also provides the opportunity for their greatest weakness. Kirk’s desire to command a starship and Spock’s desire to being totally logical prevents each of them from living life to the fullest. Recognizing that incompleteness in their lives also gives them another reason to bond as friends. As the old saying goes, “Misery loves company.”
In “Balance of Terror,” we find Spock in yet another dilemma. He’s been so involved in denying his human side and putting on his best Vulcan face…and then the enemy Romulans are revealed to have the same Vulcan-looking face. Stiles, who’s already prejudiced against Romulans, sees Spock now as being a suspicious threat.
The fact that the Romulan Commander looked so much like his own father must have been really disturbing. After running from his emotional human side, now Spock finds his Vulcan side being under scrutiny. It’s a good thing that he and Kirk have had the chance to begin bonding. Kirk has seen behind Spock’s personal barriers and knows him for being Spock not as being a Vulcan…or human. When Stiles steps over the line and picks on Spock, Kirk snaps Stiles back into line and protects his friend in a quiet, professional way without excessive emotion.
When the Romulan Commander and Kirk talk over the viewscreen, we find Romulans are committed to “duty” as much as Vulcans are committed to “logic.” Spock isn’t there to witness it but I’m sure Kirk would have filled Spock in on it or Spock would have reviewed the tape that was surely made of it.
Being dedicated to duty is also a trait seen in Vulcans. It makes me wonder if Spock saw a part of his dual heritage (logical/emotional) being reflected back at him through the Romulans. An idea that is really picked up more on later in “The Enterprise Incident” and TNG’s “Unification.”
Spock was a half-breed Vulcan. He was ashamed of his human side after being tormented by his classmates as a youth and his constant failure to meet his father’s exacting standards. He felt at home neither on Vulcan nor on Earth so he joined Starfleet to find a home where he wouldn’t be judged. It was a logical decision from his point of view.
After leaving the Academy, he found a home on the Enterprise. Pike respected Spock and gave him the distance to be himself. I think others found him more difficult to work with. He’s been troubled by human feelings all his life but outside of his mother, he’s had no other everyday contact to put it into perspective until joining Starfleet. By the time Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he’s still like Data or Saavik trying to understand humor and emotions but missing the punch line and not getting the hang of it.
According to the LP album“Inside Star Trek,” Spock was the first Vulcan/human hybrid to survive. He is truly going “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” What better title for the first episode produced featuring Kirk and Spock?
The opening scene is in the rec room with Kirk and Spock playing chess. It is the perfect scenario for setting up the Kirk/Spock relationship. Spock embraces his logical Vulcan side during the first 5-year mission. Kirk represents the emotional human side.
When Spock prompts Kirk to make his next move, Spock’s ever logical eye is blindsided by Kirk’s emotional maneuver which leaves Spock checkmated. Kirk teases Spock about being “irritated” by the move. Spock denies it as an earth emotion but concedes that “one of his ancestors married an human female.” Kirk continues to tease him about having bad blood but hopes that Spock may learn to enjoy it some day. The friendship of Kirk and Spock is one of exploring the dynamics of emotional humans vs. logical Vulcans…and how the two may complement each other.
Kirk and Mitchell are long time friends. Mitchell describes Kirk as being “a stack of book with legs” at the Academy. Kirk was seemingly a very serious person at the beginning of his career…not the self-confident cocky officer we usually think of him as. Kirk’s scene with McCoy in “Balance of Terror” where Kirk admits to wondering if he’s made the right decisions would seem to support this. In the beginning, at least, Kirk is more of a “Hornblower in space” than an invincible “Superman.”
The fact that Spock identifies himself as “Second Officer” in “The Enemy Within” leads me to the idea that Mitchell is the First Officer here. When Mitchell is struck by his slow mutation, Spock is Kirk’s right-hand man in dealing with the situation. Kirk is struck down emotionally by being too close to Gary to be objective. Spock provides the clear-cut logical thing to do in the briefing room scene. Being the peace loving Vulcan, his first recommendation is to strand Mitchell alive on Delta Vega. When Kirk resists the idea, only then does Spock recommend killing Mitchell while he still can in order to remove the threat.
As Nimoy once said in “Shatner: Where No Man,” Spock understands that Kirk is in a bind making a very emotional decision but is duty bound to offer Kirk the logical perspective in order to make the right decision to insure the safety of the ship. Kirk eventually concedes the point and orders a course set for Delta Vega where Kirk is forced to kill Mitchell anyway.
In the final scene, Spock admits that he felt for Mitchell, too. As described in Star Trek Lives, Spock recognizes the sacrifice Kirk made by killing Mitchell and Kirk recognizes the sacrifice Spock made by admitting to having felt an emotion. Kirk quietly adds that there may be “hope for him after all” as he makes a small step towards learning to enjoy that human blood.
In the turbolift scene with Kirk, Spock, and Mitchell talking about the chess game, Mitchell’s dialogue definitely sounds like something that could have came out of McCoy’s mouth. Maybe this explains a little of why Spock “felt for him too.” A foreshadowing of similar feelings later for McCoy?
But in the end logic saves the day over emotion here in this story. Kirk probably valued that quality about Spock to the point of recommending him for the vacated spot of First Officer. Kirk may have taken some heat for promoting the Vulcan to this position seeing how Spock wore the Commander stripes for a year but was still referred to as a Lieutenant Commander (“Court Martial,” “The Menagerie,” “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”).
In the next episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” emotion saves the day over logic. Thematically, this makes it a nice “bookend” or “sequel” to “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
Kirk is confronted by the alien, Balok, who threatens the ship. The crew, especially Bailey, is emotionally distressed. At a crucial point in the show, the director gave Nimoy the insight he needed to portray Spock by having him react coolly with “fascinating” to provide contrast to the emotional crew.
When faced with impending doom at the end of an allotted period of time, Spock’s only advice for Kirk is the idea of “checkmate” during a game of chess. Kirk admonishes him for not having another alternative. Spock almost says “I’m sorry” but changes it to apologizing for not having a “logical alternative.”
Spock’s game strategy idea does spark a different alternative when Kirk comes up the poker concept after his disagreement with McCoy about being bluffed. Kirk channels his emotions into “lying or bluffing” his way out of the situation. The idea works and eventually a peaceful ending follows. Here, we see McCoy taking over Kirk’s emotional role and Kirk being pushed towards the middle between him and Spock’s logical role. Kirk is more accurately represented as the will—the decision maker with Spock and McCoy as his two shoulder angels giving voice to the thoughts going on inside his head.
I can imagine Kirk having a discussion with Spock afterwards about using his logic to supply Kirk with all the alternatives that Spock can find…not just the logical ones. Spock needs to provide all the alternatives, whether logical or not, and let the Captain decide which course of action to take. Spock is not to weed out the illogical ones before presenting the options to Kirk. That decision belongs to the Captain. That’s part of Spock’s job as First Officer if he wants to keep that title.
Spock claims not to have ambition to command (“The Galileo Seven,” “The Enterprise Incident,” “The Wrath of Khan”). That may have been part of Starfleet’s concern about Kirk wanting Spock as his First Officer. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kirk didn’t have to tutor Spock in some of the finer points of command in the beginning. (Like Data had to learn in “The Ensigns of Command.”)
Kirk was born to command. In “Mudd’s Women,” we find out that Kirk is “married” to his ship as much as Spock is “married” to logic. Those two obsessions in their lives seem to make both Kirk and Spock less susceptible to the effects of the Venus drug that Mudd’s women have on the rest of the crew. Kirk fails to be manipulated by Eve and Mudd tells the women to “save it” because Spock can “turn himself off from many an emotion.”
In “The Enemy Within,” we find Kirk split into two beings—one good and the other evil. It gives Kirk a very unique opportunity to really understand the conflict that the hybrid Spock goes through first hand. Good and evil. Human and Vulcan. Not implying that Vulcan is good and human is bad or vice versa. It just gives Kirk the chance to know what kind of conflict that such a duality brings to a person. It gives Kirk some common ground with Spock…and another reason to solidify the growing friendship between them.
In the Sick Bay scene, we really get to see Spock and McCoy voice opposing sides to the decision that Kirk must make about being recombined by the transporter before the landing party dies. Spock says that his intelligence wins out over both and forces both sides to live together. Another little insight of why Spock prizes his logic/intelligence so much…it helps him ease the suffering of his dual heritage and the conflict it brings to him.
In “The Naked Time,” we find both Kirk and Spock suffering from the Psi 2000 virus which breaks down a person’s pretense and reveals their inner selves. Kirk is burdened by the loneliness of being a starship captain even though being a starship captain is the driving force in his life. Spock regrets not being able to tell his mother that he loved her even though following the Vulcan way of logic he values discourages that expression.
That briefing room scene gives both Kirk and Spock a quick glimpse behind each others’ facades and who they really are. Each one’s greatest strength also provides the opportunity for their greatest weakness. Kirk’s desire to command a starship and Spock’s desire to being totally logical prevents each of them from living life to the fullest. Recognizing that incompleteness in their lives also gives them another reason to bond as friends. As the old saying goes, “Misery loves company.”
In “Balance of Terror,” we find Spock in yet another dilemma. He’s been so involved in denying his human side and putting on his best Vulcan face…and then the enemy Romulans are revealed to have the same Vulcan-looking face. Stiles, who’s already prejudiced against Romulans, sees Spock now as being a suspicious threat.
The fact that the Romulan Commander looked so much like his own father must have been really disturbing. After running from his emotional human side, now Spock finds his Vulcan side being under scrutiny. It’s a good thing that he and Kirk have had the chance to begin bonding. Kirk has seen behind Spock’s personal barriers and knows him for being Spock not as being a Vulcan…or human. When Stiles steps over the line and picks on Spock, Kirk snaps Stiles back into line and protects his friend in a quiet, professional way without excessive emotion.
When the Romulan Commander and Kirk talk over the viewscreen, we find Romulans are committed to “duty” as much as Vulcans are committed to “logic.” Spock isn’t there to witness it but I’m sure Kirk would have filled Spock in on it or Spock would have reviewed the tape that was surely made of it.
Being dedicated to duty is also a trait seen in Vulcans. It makes me wonder if Spock saw a part of his dual heritage (logical/emotional) being reflected back at him through the Romulans. An idea that is really picked up more on later in “The Enterprise Incident” and TNG’s “Unification.”
