Keep em humble lol The get to do 'carry granny around' duty now and again
The Vulcans
- Thread starter 2takesfrakes
- Start date
First, let me say that I completely understand the argument of "why have Vulcans all act the same." It's come up before, naturally and I get it ... but I see it from a different perspective:
Having them homogenous makes them alien ... not just Vulcans, but Klingons, or whatever ... Bajorans ... you name it, any of them. Without that uniformity, they sort of come off to me as ordinary Humans in Fancy Dress. It gives it away and kind of ruins the magic.
Having them homogenous makes them alien ... not just Vulcans, but Klingons, or whatever ... Bajorans ... you name it, any of them. Without that uniformity, they sort of come off to me as ordinary Humans in Fancy Dress. It gives it away and kind of ruins the magic.
But I do not think they were ever homogenous apart from the one party state religion/philosophy which is similar to what Bajorans and the Klingons have. This is why I believe the novels are better at expanding the aliens of Star Trek, there is no time to develop every single alien in the movies or the tv shows.
Makes them sound made up and one dimensional
Can't please everybody! haha >: )
Makes it easy for those humans that like to place people in boxes, those of the 'they all look the same mentality'. We have enough of those in real life. In a fictional ST universe if Vulcans were homogenous I would advice them to stay away from Earth. They would be racially profiled in a heartbeat and catching a cab would be impossible ...
T'Pau was pretty huge in the UK and Europe, and fairly big in Japan and in certain parts of the Spanish-speaking world, too. "China In Your Hand" was their biggest hit - but in the United States it only made it into the 50s in the Hot 100. I guess the US just wasn't in the mood for cerebral pop about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in the mid-to-late 80's.
And honestly, as much as I love "Heart and Soul" (it's my favorite song), it probably wouldn't have done as well as it did here either if not for having been featured in an ad for Pepe Jeans.
My sources for chart info indicate that "China in Your Hand" didn't chart in the U.S. Hot 100 at all. Strictly a one-hit wonder here.
WTF is Pepe Jeans?T'Pau was pretty huge in the UK and Europe, and fairly big in Japan and in certain parts of the Spanish-speaking world, too. "China In Your Hand" was their biggest hit - but in the United States it only made it into the 50s in the Hot 100. I guess the US just wasn't in the mood for cerebral pop about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in the mid-to-late 80's.
If we're quoting all their songs, are we having a T'Pau Wau?
For some reason, this gives me the urge to Wang Chung...perhaps tonight....
There's a part of me that wonders if maybe they do this to make humans seem more exceptional in a universe full of races who can ostensibly accomplish things as well as any other race.
I think maybe there should be some generality to the aliens so as to make them necessary. If say a character is acting in a way we all could, then why create that species in the first place? Why not use a human or any number of other aliens?
At the same time, we should observe that many of the humanoid aliens we've seen should realistically have a wide breadth of characteristics, some of which will overlap with other humanoid aliens and humans themselves. This makes the job of the writer more difficult, but 1) done well, they would get that much more glory for it, and 2) it just makes sense given the similarities between aliens we've seen.
I'm usually most impressed by writers who create new ways of being and new forms of being (non-humanoids) well. If we ever find real aliens, I hope they're very different from us and in studying them, we learn not only more about what it is to be "human" beings, but beings of the universe, period.
We aren't even *close* to quoting *all* of their songs. I can begin if you'd like, though.
Subliminal messaging for the win! (Note my signature.
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^ I'd give more credit to the commercial.... 
I agree with your sentiments, for the most part. And I hope that if aliens ARE out there, that it's possible for us to have some kind of meaningful exchanges. They might not use language with their mouth, for instance. They might be Cricket People ... chirp! chirp! chirp! chirp! ... And Humanity has had pets since time forgot and we still don't know how to communicate with them, beyond on a purely emotional level. All they've taught us about ourselves, really, is that we don't love as unconditionally as they do. Has that fundamentally changed us, as a species? There's no real evidence for that, as far as I can tell. But the World is a very small place, now, thanks to technology ... it would be nice to meet somebody new.
M
marlboro
Guest
I think the only times that Vulcan's are interesting is when they aren't behaving like Vulcans. Spock and T'Pol struggling with their emotions, Tuvok murdering Neelix in the holodeck etc. The dry sarcasm they sometimes demonstrate can be amusing, but only when aimed at a deserving target such as Neelix or Bones (when he's needling Spock). When they don't have those types of characters to play off of, they just come across as smug, superior, and a bit boring.
^ Yeah, but you enjoy that interplay because they're the logical Vulcans acting out. Without that foundation, they're less intriguing for it. I think the same holds for the utopian Federation. If they're not this good place you hope for, then there's less weight to the threat of it assimilation by the Borg or when they act less than honorably.
Further, smugness is not a logical trait. I would argue that boring isn't either: what was Spock doing with his logic but saving the universe? These are problems of presentation more than premise.
Further, smugness is not a logical trait. I would argue that boring isn't either: what was Spock doing with his logic but saving the universe? These are problems of presentation more than premise.
So...setting aside a day to celebrate a momentous ocassion is illogical? Wow.
