Kirk was often a man who studied only what he needed to accomplish a given mission and left the little details for later.
Spoilers Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3x08 - "Four-And-A-Half Vulcans"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Picard was the same sometimes, having a turbo lift briefing as part of the opening.
"I know your father is the Vulcan ambassador, for heaven's sake!"You'd think Spock's parents would be listed on his file/service record somewhere for a Captain to consider when making a choice for First Officer, but either Kirk felt he knew Spock well enough from their interactions and meetings before he was granted Command of the 1701 - or Kirk only bothered to look at certain sections that he felt mattered.
Maybe he didn’t chose. Spock was just who he was given/inherited. I’m not sure how things like that work IRL militaries. Places I’ve worked you get the team that’s there when you step into a leadership role. Only once did I have to build my team from scratch.
"Yes, Captain, you know now because circumstances demanded that I reveal that fact to you back in 2267."
"By the way, Spock . . . WHY wasn't the fact that your father was the Vulcan ambassador part of your service record?"
"Technically, it is. You just did not have the clearance necessary to know. My parentage is irrelevant to the performance of my duties as a Starfleet officer. Were it widely known, I might receive what humans used to refer to as 'undeserved special treatment' from prospective future commanders."
"Did Pike know?"
"Yes, Jim, he knew; however, after being involved in a series of certain sensitive and classified events that I am still not at liberty to discuss, decisions were made on both personal and professional levels, with the approval of the highest authorities at Starfleet Command, to restrict access to certain information about me from the official record."
this was my favorite episode in season 3 like when kirk and scotty were hanging out and that 1 lol scene when the 4 and a half vulcans walked down the hall in somewhat slow mo leaving enterprise and there was the scene at medbay i think and the 4 vulcans told number 1 that they did not want to turn back to humans and then since then there behaveor threw out the episode was well vulcan but in the comical ways
It's really odd how they sidestepped the "acting this way due to biology" thing with the comment about them absorbing Spock's experience only go go right into this with La'an, and does make it come across like the line was added due to the backlash of the original clip being posted. The apex of what I think is SNW being the least interesting modern Trek show as to how it treats the different species in Star Trek. But it's doubtful I could say anything that hasnt already been said so I'll leave it there.
Despite hating most of this, I have to say the Spock/Una/Doug stuff was great. Not enough to elevate the rest but I should shout that part out.
Despite hating most of this, I have to say the Spock/Una/Doug stuff was great. Not enough to elevate the rest but I should shout that part out.
It would be very interesting if they did add something in response to the backlash. It would be nice to know that they can do this as the feedback from season 3 could provide some valuable guidance on season 4. I was very surprised that they had Spock say those negative things to La'an. It just seems like something that would have pained Spock terribly if T'Pring had said something similar to him (e.g. you're weak and emotional because you're human to the core). It also plays on La'an's worse fears which were well established in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Him being the one to say that did surprise me.
I'm on the fence about Doug and Una. It was funny and Rebecca did it well but I don't love the first officer going to gaga over a romantic interest. It didn't fit Una's personality very well.
The whole episode had funny moments but made me feel uncomfortable.
That reminded me of the scene from The Right Stuff where The Mercury Seven are walking down the hall in their spacesuits to soaring music. I've not been able to find a clip of just that scene on YT.
It's also entirely possible that Kirk never read Spock's service record. He already knew Spock and what he was capable of and he knew that they worked well together and he was already familiar with the ship and crew that he was taking command of. Kirk's not the type to read through a bunch of personnel files before choosing a first officer like Picard, he's going to act on his gut.
“If he was good enough for Chris Pike, then he’s good enough for me.”
That doesn't sound like a "stack of books with legs".
He only reads personnel files written by Spinoza
And yet he didn't know Spock's parents.
Not sure why a "stack of books with legs" is expected to read everything. Kirk is demonstrated to not know every officer.
A stack of books, not a filing cabinet. I suppose Spock is the latter with pointy ears.
I did see some "we're listening and learning" stuff on social media after the episode but I couldnt be more specific since I didnt save the post. And there were some articles saying S4 had more time and a less rocky development and should be better. That being said, there would be no time for S3 feedback to greatly affect S4 since Im sure they were well into making it while S3 was airing, much less now. If anything, this feedback would be affecting season 5.
I've been burned too hard by this season to get my hopes up for S4 being amazing or anything (because imo some of the problems are things I felt were present from the beginning of the show, not just this season) but hopefully it can at least be better than S3. And I am curious to see how all this will affect S5.
Kirk first met Spock in 2260. He didn't know who his parents were for another seven or more years and had no idea he had a half-brother until twenty-seven years after the first meeting. Kirk's a well-read, smart guy, but he clearly doesn't go digging too deeply into crew biographies.
Kirk was never written as a memorize the crew and their histories type of leader. Too many crew where he has no clue who they are. Starting with Dehner in WNMHGB.
He doesn't even recognize Surak's name the first time Spock says it. I mean, Surak. One of the Vulcans any A-tier Starfleet officer living and working 200 years after First Contact should probably recognize. 
I've certainly seen some acknowledgements of problems but this seemed to be largely blamed on the writers strike. I could see that that was the reason that some episodes were loose and had inconsistencies but I think that there were deeper problems with the character arcs. It looks to me that they chose to do the character arcs in season 3 because they wanted to and not because they didn't have time to fix them. I hope that they'll take the feedback onboard and in relation to what they cut out and perhaps move scenes around. I heard on Trek Culture that they were some specific apologies for this 4.5 Vulcan episode because it clearly has the potential to be offensive (whether we are individuals agree that it was or wasn't, it clearly can be viewed in an offensive way) but I haven't seen this myself. It would be good if they learnt the lessons of this episode but my concerns were more about the characters across the season as a whole rather than an individual episode. (Although for the first time ever, I disliked Anson Mount's acting in this episode. He's usually brilliant with comedy and this was so weird... it was like he was a conehead instead of a Vulcan).
Feel free to send me a message if you'd like to compare notes about what we did or didn't like in this season
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