The Pon Farr plot hole

[CrazyMatt]

My goodness, the Pon Farr plot hole????

Talk about your "no pun intended" thread titles.....

 

[Tracy Trek]

My goodness, the Pon Farr plot hole????

Talk about your "no pun intended" thread titles.....

It was un-intended.

 

[Marsden]

Pon Farr and seven years are never mentioned together.

Pon Farr is in Amok Time and seems to be a one time thing.

Seven years is mentioned in Cloud Minders:

DROXINE: You only take a mate once every seven years?
SPOCK: The seven-year cycle is biologically inherent in all Vulcan’s. At that time, the mating drive outweighs all other motivations.
DROXINE: And is there nothing that can disturb that cycle, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam.

And mentioned by a non Vulcan. Mr. Spock doesn't correct her, however. I think this is two different aspects of something. It's also strange how hard a time Spock has telling Jim but he's just blabbing away about it here. My worthless fan theory is Spock didn't want to correct her because he wanted to score.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Pon Farr and seven years are never mentioned together.

Pon Farr is in Amok Time and seems to be a one time thing.

Seven years is mentioned in Cloud Minders:

DROXINE: You only take a mate once every seven years?
SPOCK: The seven-year cycle is biologically inherent in all Vulcan’s. At that time, the mating drive outweighs all other motivations.
DROXINE: And is there nothing that can disturb that cycle, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam.

And mentioned by a non Vulcan. Mr. Spock doesn't correct her, however. I think this is two different aspects of something. It's also strange how hard a time Spock has telling Jim but he's just blabbing away about it here. My worthless fan theory is Spock didn't want to correct her because he wanted to score.

True. In the Original Series, there is no direct correlation between pon farr & seven years. That comes from the movies and later TV series (Voyager, mostly):

SAAVIK: Pon farr. Vulcan males must endure it every seven years of their adult life.

PARIS: She could die from this?
TUVOK: Yes.
PARIS: And you've gone through it every seven years of your adult life?

PARIS: All right, all right, hold on. If you were married in 2304 and your daughter was conceived in your eleventh pon farr, that would make you a hundred and sixty two years old.

TUVOK: If you must know, I am suffering from a neurochemical imbalance.
PARIS: An imbalance?
TUVOK: It is native to my species.
PARIS: Ah. This wouldn't be the kind of imbalance that comes around once every seven years?
TUVOK: My pon farr is in the early stages. The urges are still controllable.
PARIS: You never fail to amaze me, Tuvok. A man of your advanced years still driven by the mating instinct?
TUVOK: Unlike in humans, the Vulcan libido increases with time.

MIRROR TUCKER: I did you a favour once.
MIRROR T'POL: We agreed never to discuss that.
MIRROR TUCKER: And I haven't.
MIRROR T'POL: I'd hardly call it a favour. You enjoyed yourself.
MIRROR TUCKER: Several times, as I recall. So, how many years is it until your Pon farr comes around again?

 

[Push The Button]

Seven Vulcan years, or seven earth/Federation?

 

[johnnybear]

If it was 2 or 3 years after the series in TMP then Kirk planned to wear a dark syrup just in case he prematurely got bald then?
JB

 

[Timo]

Or he constantly experimented with different wig styles. After all, that was a wig in TOS already - why not in-universe, too?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The dialog supports the Okuda's, but it is open to interpretation - Kirk states that he was put in command due to five years dealing with the unknown, to which Decker responds that he hasn't logged a single star hour in two-and-a-half years. Most fans link the two directly, but Kirk could have had a stint as a commodore in the heart of the Federation, which would allow logging star hours, but perhaps dealing with more mundane tasks than encountering the unknown on a five-year deep space mission. Kirk obviously dealt with unknowns in his pre-captain assignments, but chose not to mention that experience as an advantage.

This honestly makes much more sense than assuming that Kirk got promoted from Captain straight up to Admiral right after the series. I think it'd be fun to read a Lost Years Era story featuring "Commodore Kirk."

Pon Farr and seven years are never mentioned together.

Pon Farr is in Amok Time and seems to be a one time thing.

Seven years is mentioned in Cloud Minders:

DROXINE: You only take a mate once every seven years?
SPOCK: The seven-year cycle is biologically inherent in all Vulcan’s. At that time, the mating drive outweighs all other motivations.
DROXINE: And is there nothing that can disturb that cycle, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam.

And mentioned by a non Vulcan. Mr. Spock doesn't correct her, however

This is an important point that's very easy to forget. Just going by TOS, we could easily assume that Pon Farr and the seven-year mating cycle are two different things. The two weren't explicitly linked together until TSFS, although by that point it was basically canonizing a long-held fan assumption.

I've always liked the theory that I read in one fan chronology of ST: Spock was unconsciously suppressing his Pon Farr, due to his estrangement from his father and his desire not to marry T'Pring. Or maybe Spock's half-human biology just screwed up the timing ("I had hoped to be spared this...").