What's the deal with Saavik?

[Tosk]

Okay, I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I only just noticed this, but why does Saavik only wear one earring in TWOK? When I finally noticed, three decades later, I thought for a moment maybe one had fallen off between takes, but she seems to favor the style.

Even if there's no real reason other than a stylistic choice (which is fine, when I had earrings they were only in my left ear too, just like her), I just kind of hope I'm not the only one who is so damn unobservant.

 

[Timewalker]

Maybe the novel mentions it?

 

[John Clark]

I noticed it in the movie, but I don't think it mentioned it in the novel.

I seem to remember it being mentioned in Dwellers in the Crucible by Margaret Wander Bonnano with regards another vulcan though Saavik was present for that.

 

[Timewalker]

Okay, that rings a bell. I think it's supposed to be a sign that a woman is single. Leaving out Enterprise or TNG, the only Vulcan women we saw were either married or betrothed.

My copy of that book vanished years ago in one of my moves, so I'm going to have to replace it.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, I have a vague memory of one of the novels saying it was a symbol of an unbonded Vulcan female. I think maybe they couldn't find a match for her because her background as an orphan from Hellguard.

Did Robin Curtis wear a single earring, too?

 

[Timewalker]

Yeah, I have a vague memory of one of the novels saying it was a symbol of an unbonded Vulcan female. I think maybe they couldn't find a match for her because her background as an orphan from Hellguard.

Did Robin Curtis wear a single earring, too?

I never noticed. It doesn't make much difference to me, seeing as her character is Saavik in name only (as in she has nothing of Saavik's personality).

 

[Greg Cox]

I noticed it in the movie, but I don't think it mentioned it in the novel.

Chances are, a costuming choice like that would not have been mentioned in the script, although I suppose it's likely Vonda McIntyre was shown some advance photos of Saavik when she was writing the book. But it's not necessarily something a novelization would need to explain since it's not a plot point . . .. .

 

[Kibbin]

Chances are, a costuming choice like that would not have been mentioned in the script, although I suppose it's likely Vonda McIntyre was shown some advance photos of Saavik when she was writing the book. But it's not necessarily something a novelization would need to explain since it's not a plot point . . .. .

Yeah but don't the books sometimes run with stuff like that that is maybe explained in a cut scene or lost line. I've never checked this out myself so I could be talking nonsense but doesn't the novel for Star Trek V explain the Marshmellon pronunciation? I'm mainly bringing this up so I can get a more definite answer than the one I currently have and figure this would be the message board to bring it up.
Also I have never noticed this in any watch of the movie so it's not just you

 

[Nightowl1701]

Yeah but don't the books sometimes run with stuff like that that is maybe explained in a cut scene or lost line. I've never checked this out myself so I could be talking nonsense but doesn't the novel for Star Trek V explain the Marshmellon pronunciation? I'm mainly bringing this up so I can get a more definite answer than the one I currently have and figure this would be the message board to bring it up.
Also I have never noticed this in any watch of the movie so it's not just you

"When I attempted to access information on camping out—as you clearly surmised I would—the data revealed a number of most interesting errors . . . such as the term ’marsh melons.’ The next time you attempt such a practical joke, Doctor, I recommend you take the time to also alter the cross-index files.”
“I never touched the computer,” McCoy protested.
Both Jim and Spock raised disbelieving brows at that.
“You know me. I don’t know a dad-blamed thing about computers. I paid one of the engineering maintenance workers good money to do it.” McCoy grinned wickedly. “Sounds like I better ask for a refund.”
- ST V:TFF novelization

 

[Kibbin]

"When I attempted to access information on camping out—as you clearly surmised I would—the data revealed a number of most interesting errors . . . such as the term ’marsh melons.’ The next time you attempt such a practical joke, Doctor, I recommend you take the time to also alter the cross-index files.”
“I never touched the computer,” McCoy protested.
Both Jim and Spock raised disbelieving brows at that.
“You know me. I don’t know a dad-blamed thing about computers. I paid one of the engineering maintenance workers good money to do it.” McCoy grinned wickedly. “Sounds like I better ask for a refund.”
- ST V:TFF novelization

That's what I'd been told so that's two for two and more reading I don't have to do. Guess I can spare those brain cells on booze and vidja games after all.
Thanks for that double check though

 

[Greg Cox]

Yeah but don't the books sometimes run with stuff like that that is maybe explained in a cut scene or lost line. I've never checked this out myself so I could be talking nonsense but doesn't the novel for Star Trek V explain the Marshmellon pronunciation? I'm mainly bringing this up so I can get a more definite answer than the one I currently have and figure this would be the message board to bring it up.
Also I have never noticed this in any watch of the movie so it's not just you

True, but "marshmelon" was dialogue, so it would have appeared in the script. Visual details like jewelry or hairdos or costumes are not typically mentioned in a movie script unless their appearance is somehow relevant to the plot. ("The sacred dagger bears a star-shaped symbol that matches Ilonna's tattoo.") Screenplays mostly consist of action and dialogue. There's usually very little in the way of actual physical description, because that's not the screenwriter's job. That's up to the art director, the costume department, the production designer, etc.

In other words, it's unlikely that the script would mention an earring at all, let alone include any scenes or dialogue explaining it. That's not how scripts are written.

This actually drives me nuts when I'm writing novelizations, because the scripts seldom tell me what anything looks like. The script will say something like "She walks into the room and all heads turn," but not actually tell me what she's wearing!

 

[Kibbin]

Interesting so the choice of say one earring may never even cross the director or writer but may just be a costume designers choice or maybe the actors or a combination of just those two people on a whole movie set? This may have been what you were saying before and I didn't listen so I apologise.

 

[TrickyDickie]

The script for a two-hour film is already fairly hefty. Revised scripts may include colored pages with the changes. But let's just assume for a moment that colored pages were assigned to all the different departments. Can you imagine the size of a single script if it included detailed directions about virtually everything for every department? It would be about the size and weight of an anvil.

 

[Greg Cox]

Interesting so the choice of say one earring may never even cross the director or writer but may just be a costume designers choice or maybe the actors or a combination of just those two people on a whole movie set? This may have been what you were saying before and I didn't listen so I apologise.

No need to apologize. Not everybody thinks about novelizations all the time.

Ultimately, the director makes the final call on everything. But, yeah, that kind of visual detail is unlikely to be spelled out in the script. That's the kind of thing that gets worked out by the director, the actor, the costume department, and various others along the way, usually after various designs are considered or rejected.

"Hey, suppose she only wears one earring? Like that's some sort of Vulcan thing?"
"Maybe. Let's see how it looks."

Heck, the script was almost surely written before Kirstie Alley was cast, so the writer would have had no idea what she was going to look aside from maybe an vague description like "Enter SAAVIK, an attractive Vulcan cadet in her early twenties" or something like that. Nothing about her costume or makeup or anything like that.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Heck, the script was almost surely written before Kirstie Alley was cast

Absolutely. TWOK was 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture II' and then it was 'Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country'. Saavik was originally Valeris. TPTB didn't approve of those, so they were changed. When Nicholas Meyer was brought back to direct the 6th film, he finally got what he had wanted earlier.

 

[Greg Cox]

The script for a two-hour film is already fairly hefty. Revised scripts may include colored pages with the changes. But let's just assume for a moment that colored pages were assigned to all the different departments. Can you imagine the size of a single script if it included detailed directions about virtually everything for every department? It would be about the size and weight of an anvil.

Yep. The rule of thumb is that one page of script roughly corresponds to one minute of screen time, so the script for a two-hour movie will be about 120 pages long. And the different colored pages help to track the various revisions, but those revisions aren't going to contain added details about the sets, costumes, etc, just changes to the dialogue and action. Maybe a long monologue will get boiled down to five lines of dialogue, or a sex scene will be cut to get a lower rating or something like that. Descriptions of the costumes and such aren't going to be added to the script because that's not what the script is for. It's not supposed to read like a novel.

And an actor, trying to memorize their new lines, doesn't want to have to wade through paragraphs of description about the sets and costumes and make-up.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Saavik's a rebel chick, that's all. She's the kind of Vulcan who gets her hair done and swears, a little bit, and who's vulgar and crass enough to put her emotions on display. The singular earring is merely representative of her rebellious attitude ... Saavik just has to be different!

 

[TrickyDickie]

And actor, trying to memorize their new lines, doesn't want to have to wade through paragraphs of description about the sets and costumes and make-up.

Or lug a heavy ball and chain like that all over the place, either.

@MotleyCrue

 

[Nerys Myk]

Okay, I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I only just noticed this, but why does Saavik only wear one earring in TWOK? When I finally noticed, three decades later, I thought for a moment maybe one had fallen off between takes, but she seems to favor the style.

Even if there's no real reason other than a stylistic choice (which is fine, when I had earrings they were only in my left ear too, just like her), I just kind of hope I'm not the only one who is so damn unobservant.

It was from her secret life as the Dread Pirate Saavik.

 

[Timewalker]

Vonda McIntyre's novelization differed from the on-screen versions in some very significant ways. There was a sub-plot that Saavik was tutoring Peter Preston in some subject and they were friends, so that's why she reacted as she did to his death, and later on she sat vigil over his body in the morgue (a custom on Hellguard to keep animals and thieves from disturbing the dead).

I would need to dig out the novels to see if there's a mention of the earring. Unfortunately, most of my Star Trek books are buried in large boxes and I can't get to most of them.


Oh, and about scripts... in my time when I worked in musical theatre, there are different kinds of scripts. I didn't get the ones including the songs (other than the bare lyrics) and the cast probably didn't get the ones with the lists of props and set pieces.

I always insisted on getting a script that included the basic dialogue and stage instructions, as I not only needed to know what stuff was needed, but who was going to use it, where, and how. Sometimes that made a hell of a difference in how it was made or what we bought.