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T'Pau's Wife

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I mean I'd be totally on board with T'Pau having a same-sex marriage (obviously)
But there's also the less exciting possibility that she just wasn't in office during whatever year the song takes place. I'm sure a logical people like the Vulcans have elections and term limits and things like that.
 
So, yes, it's never explicitly said in the show that T'Pau is Vulcan's leader. But I think it'd take a lot of fingers in the ears and nannie-nannie-boo-boo to say she can't be.

But the way Kirk and McCoy talk about her in the episode is not the way real people would talk about a current head of state or head of government. It would be like two people from outside the US going to a wedding in 1990 where George H. W. Bush was officiating and one of them saying to the other "Do you know who that is? He used to be Ambassador to the United Nations."
 
There is also the lens of perspective of the ‘60s and ‘70s—no one then was likely to suggest a female dignitary had a wife, not even on Star Trek TOS.
 
it makes sense that the representative would be the current or prior leader of a planet.

It makes sense that the Federation Councillor could be chosen by a planet's leader, but it wouldn't actually BE the leader.

I mean, you don't see the Governor of a US State suddenly becoming that state's representative in Congress, do you?

non-canon though this may be, the novelverse suggests (and I find it likely) that every Federation member world selects its Councillor any way they want to. For instance, Betazed holds direct popular elections, the Andorian Parliament selects theirs, Bajor has a candidate chosen by the First Minister and ratified by the Chamber of Ministers, etc.

(We don't know how Earth or Vulcan choose their Councillors, AFAIK.)
 
Novels had her as leader of Vulcan after the discovery of the Kir'Shara. Even if she stepped down decades ago, she still would be likely to be an influential figure.
 
Kirk and McCoy expressed the attitude you would have if you (unwisely) went to North Korea for your friend's wedding, and Kim Jong-un showed up to officiate. "Do you know who that is ??!!"

Regarding the Federation Council, I don't think it's impossible to have a seat on the Council and at the same time be the dictator of Vulcan. But there is no canon on the subject, just Memory-Beta stuff. It was left open-ended on purpose.
 
Kirk and McCoy expressed the attitude you would have if you (unwisely) went to North Korea for your friend's wedding, and Kim Jong-un showed up to officiate. "Do you know who that is ??!!"

Regarding the Federation Council, I don't think it's impossible to have a seat on the Council and at the same time be the dictator of Vulcan. But there is no canon on the subject, just Memory-Beta stuff. It was left open-ended on purpose.

Mayhaps -- it's also pretty clear that the creators at the time at least thought T'Pau was the ruler (or at least a ruler of Vulcan).

As indicated by the caption "Vulcan ruler."

Your mileage may vary on the "lesbian Vulcan ruler" part. If I am ever given the opportunity to write for Trek, I will make T'Pau being the lesbian leader of Vulcan canon.

Bwahahahahaha.
 
Kirk describes T'Pau as "All of Vulcan in one package."

That description, along with statements that T'Pau officiating at Spock's wedding signifies that Spock's family was very important in Vulcan society, strongly implies to me that the production team of the sixties meant us to believe that T'Pau was the leader of that society.

Just as it was the intention of the production team of "The Cage" that the character played by Laurel Goodwin was named "Yeoman Colt" despite not being identified as such onscreen or in the credits.

The intellectual contortions some of you go through to justify declaring this bit or that bit of Trek lore non-canon never ceases to amaze me.:devil:

Next, you'll be trying to convince me that Kirk and Pike were lowly commanders in "The Cage" and "Where No Man . . ." and that the Enterprise was assigned only to unimportant milk runs during Kirk's tenure.:devil::devil:
 
Just as it was the intention of the production team of "The Cage" that the character played by Laurel Goodwin was named "Yeoman Colt" despite not being identified as such onscreen or in the credits.

The intellectual contortions some of you go through to justify declaring this bit or that bit of Trek lore non-canon never ceases to amaze me.:devil:
When it comes to minor details that are not shared in dialog I am just not overly fussed by canon status. Laurel Goodwin is a good actress and yeoman, regardless of their name. That the name isn't official doesn't change that.
 
Next, you'll be trying to convince me that Kirk and Pike were lowly commanders in "The Cage" and "Where No Man . . ." and that the Enterprise was assigned only to unimportant milk runs during Kirk's tenure.:devil::devil:
And don’t think thats never been suggested.
 
Would you be making such a stink about this topic if T’Pau was a guy?

Seems like you’re just trying to make some kind of point with flimsy evidence that T’Pau is gay (your ‘evidence’ of a photo caption is dubious at best, since in that same book there is a device listed as a ‘ray gun’ which wasn’t anything of the sort.) Is that what you’re implying? Because that wasn’t remotely implied in the episode she was featured in. So any kind of ‘progressiveness’ that you’re trying to push here is of your own making, for your own purposes. And trying to hide behind ‘people are taking my post too seriously’ is a pretty flimsy excuse to justify whatever your agenda here is.
 
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In all of these years, I have never even considered her to be the ruler/leader/President of Vulcan. I thought she was some type of ritualistic/spiritual leader and important in terms of Sarek's circle of influence. I assumed the "all of Vulcan" comment was concerning her personality, control, etc, that she embodies all of the stereotypes / heart and soul of Vulcan culture in one package.
 
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The intellectual contortions some of you go through to justify declaring this bit or that bit of Trek lore non-canon never ceases to amaze me.:devil:

There's no contortion. If the production team had intended T'pau to be the top leader of the planet, it would have been simple to write a line to that effect into the script. If that was the case, that would have surely been the first thing Kirk mentioned to McCoy.
 
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