Steve reviews 'Journey To Babel'

[Phaser Two]

Thanks, @Phaser Two!

If you figure Spock never talked about his family, which makes sense if his father was shunning him, that just leaves the question of "Amok Time," which came along weeks earlier.

I'd say it's a Vulcan tradition for the groom's parents not to attend his wedding. If you are deep in the Plak Tow, so torqued up for your wedding night that you can't see straight— you want that babe so bad— then it follows that you don't want Mom and Dad watching. So of course Kirk never met the folks.

You're quite welcome! I forget the most recent one where you amazed me, completely fixing and removing one of about six TOS plot holes/dialogue issues I had long written off as insoluble. "Someone's beaming down from the bridge" from "Shore Leave," maybe? I think it was even better. I'll remember to look it up for a rainy day.

Oh, I didn't realize that "Amok Time" even figured into the perceived problem of Kirk and McCoy not knowing the identities of Spock's parents. Yep, you're right on track; that poses no issues for me whatsoever. You've got it on both counts—Sarek wasn't on speaking terms with Spock, and you don’t invite your parents to a highly charged ritual with sexual and mental illness overtones. That's particularly true if your betrothed might turn out to be an evil genius. (Well, until McCoy outwits her and Spock then eviscerates her and her dope Stonn with a devastating putdown.)

In fact, now that you've connected the two eps for me (see just how darn helpful you are??), you can make an argument that Sarek and Amanda's absence from the ceremony makes Kirk and McCoy less likely to suspect that his parents are the folks who show up on the Enterprise some weeks later. Also, "Amok Time" makes clear that the Vulcans carry quite a bit of pull in the UFP, as T'Pau, obviously understanding what McCoy did, makes one or two calls and solves the entire question of Kirk's career jeopardy within less than an hour. It's therefore not too hard to believe that she and the Vulcans could keep the identities of Spock's parents an almost complete secret, and a total mystery to two Starfleet officers at the O-6 and O-4 ranks.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Also to keep people from kidnapping Spock every week to influence diplomatic policy.

Not only is pon farr rather private, but seeing Spock in a crazed lather would cause Amanda's mother heart pain.

 

[Tallguy]

Implying he experienced/observed it in his own presence (and therefore probably household), you mean?

(Because I was asking, when did they decide it would be his father's wife who was Human, not his grandfather's or great-grandfather's, say.)

Where No Man and Corbomite are consecutive in production order. And Corbomite is where it is stated outright that Spock's father is Vulcan and his mother is Human.