[NCC-73515]

A grinning Vulcan can be seen in IV, congratulating Kirk to his punishment.

[Kiko Kea]

I never felt Quinto's Spock was off, at all. My impression is that new Spock's childhood was somewhat different from Spock Prime's- his father was more supportive and did not cut him off. In the book, during the discussion after Spock whups up on the bully, Sarek puts his arm around his son. After telling the VSAcademy thank, but no thanks, Spock sees respect in his father's eyes.

This made him more confident, or perhaps more at peace with himself. He allows himself to have a relationship with Uhura. He seems comfortable as the only Vulcan (I saw) on the Enterprise working with human. So, I see him as simply reacting a bit differently, given a different past.

[chator]

Thanks for those quotes DevilEyes. I've also seen and read a few interviews done where similar questions were asked. I'm glad Nimoy is at peace with the performance and not angry about it. I think he has essentially disowned the character and is glad to pass the mantle onto someone else to carry the torch a little bit longer. It means a new lease on life for the character, and ensures Spock's popularity for generations to come.

[T'Pau]

Another thanks for the quotes, DevilEyes. That Nimoy was so moved at seeing Urban's performance is really touching. I love how much space he gives this new cast to shine, to make their own choices. He's a class act.

[cjopbj]

Chator, I feel your pain and certainly share some of your concerns.

First, it was the writer's decision, not Quinto's, to create the relationship between Spock and Uhura. Quinto took the words on the page and gave them life.

Clearly TOS Spock never had an affair with Uhura. The only change from that timeline so early in his life was the destruction of the Kelvin. In some way TOS Kirk's relationship with Spock and/or Uhura prevented a Spock/Uhura hook up. Perhaps Kirk was top dog at the academy and Uhura took him up on his offer. Perhaps Kirk was her supervisor, not Spock. Maybe Spock never even met Uhura until later on in the tale. Ironically, other than losing Vulcan, Spock is actually happier in this time line.

My dad used to say you never become an adult until your parents pass away. I think Vulcan's destruction will limit Spock's need to constantly prove himself to be Vulcan. It will be interesting.... and different. In some ways better but in some ways worse. We'll see.

[DevilEyes]

Originally Posted by cjopbj

Chator, I feel your pain and certainly share some of your concerns.

First, it was the writer's decision, not Quinto's, to create the relationship between Spock and Uhura. Quinto took the words on the page and gave them life.

Clearly TOS Spock never had an affair with Uhura. The only change from that timeline so early in his life was the destruction of the Kelvin. In some way TOS Kirk's relationship with Spock and/or Uhura prevented a Spock/Uhura hook up. Perhaps Kirk was top dog at the academy and Uhura took him up on his offer. Perhaps Kirk was her supervisor, not Spock. Maybe Spock never even met Uhura until later on in the tale. Ironically, other than losing Vulcan, Spock is actually happier in this time line.

I don't know how much this means as it has never been stated in the show or the movies, but according to Nichelle Nichols, the backstory that she and Roddenberry had created for Uhura included Spock being her mentor.

"Gene and I agreed that she would be a citizen of the United States of Africa. And her name, Uhura, is derived from Uhuru, which is Swahili for "freedom". According to the biography Gene and I developed for my character, Uhura was far more than an intergalactic phone operator. As head of Communications, she commanded the corps of largely unseen communications technicians, linguistis, and other specialists who worked in the bowels of Enterprise, in the "comm-center". A linguistic scholar and a top graduate of Starfleet Academy, she was a protege of Mr. Spock, whom she admired for his daring, his intelligence, his stoicism, and especially his logic. We even had outlined exactly where Uhura had grown up, who her parents were, and why she had been chosen over other candidates for the Enterprise's five-year mission."

- Nichelle Nichols, Beyond Uhura - Star Trek and Other Memories, p. 144-145


"I created a relationship between Uhura and Spock as being her mentor and the person she looked up to. Uhura was the only one who could play the Vulcan lyre and the only one who had the audacity to sing a song teasing Spock."
- Nichols in a 2008 inteview http://trekmovie.com/2008/02/14/trek...trekkies-more/

[That Metal Beastie]

Originally Posted by chator

That wasn't intentional. It was because Nim oy didn't have a handle on the character yet. Yet, some take this to be canon that Spock was more emotional, not as matured as he'd become during Kirk's command. Well, i suppose you could go with this. Spock tells Kirk in "The Menagerie, Part I" that he served with Pike for 17 years, that's plenty of time to mature.

It was both intentional and not. The emotions Spock displayed early on were certainly written and performed that way intentionally. And yes, it was decided a little later he showed no emotions because Vulcans had no emotions. Then later it was decided that Spock, being half human, did have emotions but with rigid Vulcan control surpressed and controlled them.

It was not that Nimoy didn't have a handle on the character but that the creators- producers, writers and Nimoy- were still in the process of developing and nailing down the character of Mr. Spock.

That all was 'taken as canon' because that's how was canon developed and established. It was determined decades ago that 'if it was on the screen, it was canon'. And that's been (for the most part) true for these decades. And when something presented on screen seemed to contradict canon, explainations for these apparent canon violations were contrived. And were often, if not usually, satisfying. And THAT my friend has been the pleasure and pain of Trek canon.

What JJ, Orci and Kurtzman did was look at the early 'emotional', developing Spock performances and gave them a canonical(?) explaination. Brilliant and satisfying, IMO.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by That Metal Beastie

It was both intentional and not. The emotions Spock displayed early on were certainly written and performed that way intentionally. And yes, it was decided a little later he showed no emotions because Vulcans had no emotions. Then later it was decided that Spock, being half human, did have emotions but with rigid Vulcan control surpressed and controlled them.

It was not that Nimoy didn't have a handle on the character but that the creators- producers, writers and Nimoy- were still in the process of developing and nailing down the character of Mr. Spock.

That all was 'taken as canon' because that's how was canon developed and established. It was determined decades ago that 'if it was on the screen, it was canon'. And that's been (for the most part) true for these decades. And when something presented on screen seemed to contradict canon, explainations for these apparent canon violations were contrived. And were often, if not usually, satisfying. And THAT my friend has been the pleasure and pain of Trek canon.

What JJ, Orci and Kurtzman did was look at the early 'emotional', developing Spock performances and gave them a canonical(?) explaination. Brilliant and satisfying, IMO.

But they (JJ, Orci, Kurtzman) cited and used canon in the creation of this story. TNG established the multiple alternate universes theroy more than one, and subsequent Trek shows backed it up. So this laternate universe is supported by canon ideas.

[That Metal Beastie]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

But they (JJ, Orci, Kurtzman) cited and used canon in the creation of this story. TNG established the multiple alternate universes theroy more than one, and subsequent Trek shows backed it up. So this laternate universe is supported by canon ideas.

Brilliant and satisfying, IMO.

[Samuel]

Originally Posted by That Metal Beastie

It was both intentional and not. The emotions Spock displayed early on were certainly written and performed that way intentionally. And yes, it was decided a little later he showed no emotions because Vulcans had no emotions. Then later it was decided that Spock, being half human, did have emotions but with rigid Vulcan control surpressed and controlled them.

And then later it was shown that in fact all Vulcans had suppressed emotions. Ah the evolution of Trek and its correction or expansion of all things 'canon'.