Vulcans

[Trekfan12]

I've been re-watching all the Star Trek shows on Heroes and Icons station. And took noticed of the Vulcans that have been shown on the shows. Of course there is Spock, Tuvok, Vorik and T'Pol I was wondering, knowing what we know about Vulcans, which one do you feel represented how Vulcans truly are. (I think Spock should be an exception because he was not a full Vulcan. So he walked a tight rope between being Vulcan and his Human half)

I'm just curious. I like Tuvok a lot. As well as Vorik. (On Voyager)

 

[USS Triumphant]

All of 'em. Vulcans would be diverse just like humans are. The only Vulcans I can recall that I didn't think seemed very "Vulcan" were Sybok (ST:TFF) - who was acting against his species norms intentionally - and Ambassador T'Pel ("Data's Day"), who turned out to be a Romulan spy, so I was correct!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Sarek.

 

[The Wormhole]

The problem is most of the time we get any focus on Vulcans, it's when they're acting un-Vulcan like, almost villainous. Like the smug baseball players in DS9, the psycho who killed people for smiling, the majority of Vulcans in Enterprise, which eventually became a three episode story arc. Hell, quite a few of the episodes which do focus on the Vulcans who were regulars of their series has them acting un-Vulcan like as well.

 

[Trekfan12]

The problem is most of the time we get any focus on Vulcans, it's when they're acting un-Vulcan like, almost villainous. Like the smug baseball players in DS9, the psycho who killed people for smiling, the majority of Vulcans in Enterprise, which eventually became a three episode story arc. Hell, quite a few of the episodes which do focus on the Vulcans who were regulars of their series has them acting un-Vulcan like as well.

I guess that was one of the reasons I never got into Enterprise.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Mark Lenard really had a handle on portraying Vulcans. Did Leonard Nimoy give him a hand in that? I've no idea, but the man himself, Mark Lenard, was just so unusual, even for his day. He was a gentleman's gentleman, he was very refined and dignified. Not so much that he'd eat his M&M's with a knife and fork, but just to say that he had class about him. He certainly had range, as evident in the TMP. He could play a half-savage as well as an Ambassador, but he was his own kind of cool. He brought that to Sarek and it really fit. His argument with the Telarite ambassador in Journey to Babel says it all. With minimal effort, he repels the attacking Telarite and is ready with comeback lines, after.

 

[Trekfan12]

Mark Lenard did have a wonderful presence, he was very regal in his portrayal of Sarek. I did hear that both he and Jane Wyatt spoke to Leonard about portraying Vulcans. That they are very hand oriented people and I believe they came up with the Vulcan version of a kiss. The index and middle fingers touching.

 

[Kor]

Mark Lenard did have a wonderful presence, he was very regal in his portrayal of Sarek. I did hear that both he and Jane Wyatt spoke to Leonard about portraying Vulcans. That they are very hand oriented people and I believe they came up with the Vulcan version of a kiss. The index and middle fingers touching.

Which got mutated into doing the same thing with the Vulcan salute in "The Enterprise Incident."

Kor

 

[FormerLurker]

As I recall, Spock and Sybok saluted, and then pressed their salutes palm-to-palm just before Sybok sacrificed himself to the whatever-it-was in TFF. Seemed a much more intimate greeting/goodbye than usual. I reasoned it was because they were brothers.

 

[Trekfan12]

As I recall, Spock and Sybok saluted, and then pressed their salutes palm-to-palm just before Sybok sacrificed himself to the whatever-it-was in TFF. Seemed a much more intimate greeting/goodbye than usual. I reasoned it was because they were brothers.

I just had such a problem with the concept of Spock having a brother. (aside from his human brother, Kirk)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Isn't this question like asking who represents how humans really are in Star Trek? I'd be curious what people would answer that with.

I believe the Vulcans at large are as depicted in TOS and Enterprise. They've got lofty ideals, but in practise fall short. They strive for emotional suppression and logic but rarely achieve it to the extent they'd like to.

Really, since it's all unhealthy learned behaviour, the "truest" Vulcans in Star Trek are the Romulans.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Really, since it's all unhealthy learned behaviour, the "truest" Vulcans in Star Trek are the Romulans.

Within that framework, I disagree: Romulan behaviour is a reaction - and in some cases, a kneejerk reaction - to the Reformation on Vulcan, so if you believe that Vulcan behaviour is "unhealthy learned behaviour", that would apply to the Romulans, too. So by your definition, the "truest" Vulcans would be Mintakans.

However, I disagree with the whole framework. The way you're dividing the behaviours is very much like when people create a distinction between "the works of Man" and "natural things" - humans are creatures of nature, and thus an atomic bomb is no less "natural" than a beaver dam. A distinction between "good" and "bad", or better yet, "healthy" and "harmful", would be much more real and useful - the current distinction leads to things like the metaphorical fear of Frankenstein's Monster, or an unnuanced dismissal of all medicines or GMOs as "unnatural".

Perhaps Vulcanoid peoples have an inborn tendency to establish and strongly adopt intricate patterns of behaviour - be it Vulcan "logic" or the strange (to us) society described in the novel "The Romulan Way" or whatever the Mintakans will eventually develop - and so that is very "true" to whom they are, regardless of which pattern it is.

 

[Scotchy]

Aaron Hotchner from Criminal Minds. Sorry, couldn't resist bringing him up, he always seemed very Vulcan like on that show. Maybe now that he's been fired off that show (ironically for showing intense emotion off camera) they can just slap on some pointed ears and cast him in Discovery.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

For my money, Mark Lenard was the embodiment of Vulcan.