• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Ways that SNW actually improved TOS

Didn't T'Pol also suffer side effects from Point Farr? If splitting up didn't break the telepathic bond, T'Pring might also have been suffering emotionally but hid it well. She just managed to determine a logical way out.
 
Yeah. BAD. I don't how they're going to get her from here to there but I'm looking forward to seeing it play out. If I'm still alive by the time they get anywhere near it.
I think it comes down to her deciding she was going to serve herself entirely. Spock's hesitancy made it clear he was not dedicated enough to their relationship.
 
At this point it's clear that T'Pring has been willing to put far more into this relationship than Spock, who is insecure and not really committed.

I like that. The show has redeemed T'Pring a bit.

I don't expect that any of these characters will ever turn into the TOS stiffs.
 
Last edited:
I don't expect that any of these characters will ever turn into the TOS stiffs.

Stiffs? You mean the guys who ended every episode with a joke? The guys that coined the term "mechanical rice picker"? The guys who defeated an advanced invading species by essentially drinking them under the table? You call those guys stiff?

"Less noble" is one thing. "Willing to make a man kill his best friend purely out of spite" is orders of magnitude away from that, and from the way SNW has developed her as a character. It's an unintended contradiction that they evidently didn't think through.

I think we'll have to agree to different interpretations on that. Killing an innocent bystander to get what she wants is pretty horrible regardless of motivations. I happen to vastly prefer how SNW is setting it up. It makes her more three dimensional and also salvages Vulcans reputation. To quote Tarka, "That's a feature, not a bug."
 
Stiffs? You mean the guys who ended every episode with a joke? The guys that coined the term "mechanical rice picker"? The guys who defeated an advanced invading species by essentially drinking them under the table? You call those guys stiff?
I think he might mean Chapel, who's TOS incarnation makes watching paint dry exciting.
 
I think he might mean Chapel, who's TOS incarnation makes watching paint dry exciting.

Ah, well, they can't all be winners. Obviously, Chapel and Uhura will be much more fully realized characters than they were on TOS, but that's part of what makes me very defensive of SNW being canonical to TOS, because those characters deserve that characterization and we won't get it otherwise.
 
I think we'll have to agree to different interpretations on that. Killing an innocent bystander to get what she wants is pretty horrible regardless of motivations.

On the contrary, her motive makes all the difference. Or rather, her options make all the difference. By analogy, self-defense is only admissible as a legal defense against murder charges if the defendant had no alternatives. If killing is the only way to escape an intolerable situation, the law may forgive that. But if there was a nonlethal way to deal with the situation, then the law will not forgive choosing to kill anyway.

That's why the critical question all along has been whether there's another way to get out of the marriage. If demanding kal-if-fee was the only possible option T'Pring had, then the ultimate fault is not hers, it's the system's for making that her only way out. By showing that it's ridiculously easy to break the engagement, "The Serene Squall" changed the equation completely and shifted the fault entirely to T'Pring for insisting on a completely unnecessary deathmatch.
 
On the contrary, her motive makes all the difference. Or rather, her options make all the difference. By analogy, self-defense is only admissible as a legal defense against murder charges if the defendant had no alternatives. If killing is the only way to escape an intolerable situation, the law may forgive that. But if there was a nonlethal way to deal with the situation, then the law will not forgive choosing to kill anyway.

That's why the critical question all along has been whether there's another way to get out of the marriage. If demanding kal-if-fee was the only possible option T'Pring had, then the ultimate fault is not hers, it's the system's for making that her only way out. By showing that it's ridiculously easy to break the engagement, "The Serene Squall" changed the equation completely and shifted the fault entirely to T'Pring for insisting on a completely unnecessary deathmatch.

Again. There is a long way to go from here to there. We don't know what happens to her, why she changes, why she is so coldly and logically ruthless during Amok Time. Maybe they can break the betrothal easily before because there wasn't the biological imperative of pon farr. Because of that there is no simple (if painful) agreement to end things between two logical people.

And from what we've seen of their relationship, she might not want Spock to die anymore than she wants to risk Stonn. Hence, she picks some rube who has no idea what's going on. We know Kirk is Spock's close friend, she may not.

Doesn't make it not calculating and ruthless. I'm just way more interested in how she got there now.

And it is ruthless. she just wants someone else which is why she chooses this random guy (or maybe she chooses a guy who isn't random out of spite) but because they've made her more sympathetic to me it's much more interesting how she gets from a person who clearly has genuine feelings for him to someone who challenges.
 
Again. There is a long way to go from here to there. We don't know what happens to her, why she changes, why she is so coldly and logically ruthless during Amok Time.

And for the umpteenth time, it's not a question of whether it's possible for her to change into that, but whether it's desirable to redefine her in that way. I don't think that's what the writers of "The Serene Squall" intended, because it's inconsistent with her characterization in the show otherwise. I think it's an accidental consequence they didn't think through.


Maybe they can break the betrothal easily before because there wasn't the biological imperative of pon farr. Because of that there is no simple (if painful) agreement to end things between two logical people.

I thought of that ages ago but rejected it, because if that were the case, why wait until it was too late? T'Pring was with Stonn for quite some time before the pon farr happened. If she knew there was a risk she could be trapped into this if she waited too long, then it's illogical for her not to act sooner and avoid it, and if there's one thing T'Pring has never been portrayed as, it's illogical.


And it is ruthless.

If she has a choice. If she's forced into it, then it's the system that's ruthless. A woman who kills a loving husband is ruthless; a woman who kills an abusive husband who threatens her life if she tries to leave him is just desperate.
 
I thought of that ages ago but rejected it, because if that were the case, why wait until it was too late? T'Pring was with Stonn for quite some time before the pon farr happened. If she knew there was a risk she could be trapped into this if she waited too long, then it's illogical for her not to act sooner and avoid it, and if there's one thing T'Pring has never been portrayed as, it's illogical.

Why does she wait until it's too late? Maybe it is just viciousness. Maybe you're right and the writers messed up. That's what I'm excited to learn (from a storytelling perspective). But to me, the fact SNW brought in T'Pring at all makes me think they've got something in mind that will provide an answer.
 
I thought of that ages ago but rejected it, because if that were the case, why wait until it was too late? T'Pring was with Stonn for quite some time before the pon farr happened. If she knew there was a risk she could be trapped into this if she waited too long, then it's illogical for her not to act sooner and avoid it, and if there's one thing T'Pring has never been portrayed as, it's illogical

Every time T'Pring shows up on SNW its because there is yet another random Vulcan ceremony they have to perform on the way to the actual wedding. It could be that while they can easily break it off now, there will be another stage in the future, after which they can't break it off without the fight to the death. And then she doesn't decide to actually end things until after that unknown ceremony.
 
Why does she wait until it's too late? Maybe it is just viciousness. Maybe you're right and the writers messed up. That's what I'm excited to learn (from a storytelling perspective). But to me, the fact SNW brought in T'Pring at all makes me think they've got something in mind that will provide an answer.
Exactly so. And, again, T'Pring is interested in Spock until he becomes a legend and that becomes unacceptable to her.
 
On the contrary, her motive makes all the difference. Or rather, her options make all the difference. By analogy, self-defense is only admissible as a legal defense against murder charges if the defendant had no alternatives. If killing is the only way to escape an intolerable situation, the law may forgive that. But if there was a nonlethal way to deal with the situation, then the law will not forgive choosing to kill anyway.

That's why the critical question all along has been whether there's another way to get out of the marriage. If demanding kal-if-fee was the only possible option T'Pring had, then the ultimate fault is not hers, it's the system's for making that her only way out. By showing that it's ridiculously easy to break the engagement, "The Serene Squall" changed the equation completely and shifted the fault entirely to T'Pring for insisting on a completely unnecessary deathmatch.

My inclination is the fact that they'll probably go with the idea that "Timing is everything." Which is to say that both T'Pring and Spock had the mother of all bad timing for his Pon Farr to hit. At this point in their relationship, both had moved on with Spock having gone with Chapel then broken up and her with Stonn. However, they never formally broke it off and by the time Spock arrives, he's in a state of homicidal murder that will only be satisfied with T'Pring and would result in Stonn dying (or Spock).

T'Pring, also suffering Pon Farr at the time because we know women do now, has her logic come up with a pretty nasty and ruthless solution on the fly.
 
Chapel is hotter.

That's about it.


They haven't really done anything that comes close to the Kirk/Spock/Bones (Ego/Superego/Id) perspective.


I did meet some of the cast 2 weeks ago, and they seem to be having a lot of fun! So if that's the goal for this show, it's succeeding at it.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top