[The Guardian]

I'm trying to understand why JJ & co. decided to kill off Amanda. Any thoughts?

[TGElder]

They needed a catalyst to put Kirk in command. And being two-bit writer's they couldn't come up with any more reasonable method.

[horatio]

Spock joined Starfleet because the Vulcans did not apperciate his human side. The destruction of Vulcan drove him back to his Vulcan side while his mother's death reminds him to honour his human side as well and above all makes him cook and overboil. He would not have understood Kirk and certainly not become his friends if he had not experienced such strong emotions.

Sarek and NimoySpock later tell him that he can find a balance between his two sides thus making him much wiser than NimoySpock at this stage in his life ... but wait, did not NimoySpock also visit his younger self in "Yesteryear"?

So Amanda is a central element in the story. Furthermore, her death gives Vulcan's destruction a face and shows that anything can happen in the new timeline, major or minor characters can die.

[T'Pau]

Because they hate us?

No, but seriously, they did it for shock value, same reason they blew up Vulcan. To do something super-big that's never been done in Trek before. If you're wondering why they did it dramatically, it was to impact Spock, give us a reason to believe Uhura would feel driven to the elevator scene, and give Spock a reason to blow when Kirk challenged him for leadership of the Enterprise. That's my interpretation, anyhoo.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by horatio

Spock joined Starfleet because the Vulcans did not apperciate his human side. The destruction of Vulcan drove him back to his Vulcan side while his mother's death reminds him to honour his human side as well and above all makes him cook and overboil. He would not have understood Kirk and certainly not become his friends if he had not experienced such strong emotions.

Sarek and NimoySpock later tell him that he can find a balance between his two sides thus making him much wiser than NimoySpock at this stage in his life ... but wait, did not NimoySpock also visit his younger self in "Yesteryear"?

So Amanda is a central element in the story. Furthermore, her death gives Vulcan's destruction a face and shows that anything can happen in the new timeline, major or minor characters can die.

Indeed.

There's a kind of symetrical balance going on with what Spock goes through. And while part of it is to drive the plot and give Kirk a way to relieve hime of command there's more to it than that.

He loses part of his Vulcan heritage (his planet) and his human heritage (his mother).

But he still has his Vulcan father and his other home, Earth, to remind him that his life will always be a balancing act between the two influences.

[omegaman]

I wasn't shocked by Amanda's death or the destruction of Vulcan. That said there's now room for more "shocks" to come. The death (no rebirth) of one of the major/minor characters in play could happen. No one's safe!

[kevin]

The only mystery now is why they bothered casting Winona Ryder for two scenes. Even with the expanded ones on the DVD there was little there for her to do.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by omegaman

I wasn't shocked by Amanda's death or the destruction of Vulcan. That said there's now room for more "shocks" to come. The death (no rebirth) of one of the major/minor characters in play could happen. No one's safe!

There is one certain redshirt who should be put into harm's way.

Keenser must die!

[TGElder]

Originally Posted by horatio

There is one certain redshirt who should be put into harm's way.

Keenser must die!

[kevin]

There's also the question of if you don't do anything to the characters to make them have to go through emotions and experiences we can identify or relate to - what's the point of having any characters?

Or should only wonderful, happy things happen to them?

You have to have dramatic, serious events show up from time to time or it's all just completely unrealistic and have the characters go through these things.

(Even for a fictional show set in the 23rd Century)