***What happens when I, a 30-something-year-old fanboy, decide to look at the Star Trek franchise for the first time with an open heart? You get “Rob Watches Star Trek.”***
SERIES: Star Trek
EPISODE: S2:E1 “Amok Time”
STARRING: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
GUEST-STARRING: Celia Lovsky, Ariene Martel
WRITER: Theodore Sturgeon
DIRECTOR: Joseph Pevney
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: September 15, 1967
SYNOPSIS: Spock returns to his home planet along with Kirk and Bones for a wedding ritual, which ultimately takes a violent twist.
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
At the risk of gilding the lily, this episode further reinforces the point I made last week about Spock not being a lifeless robot with no concept of human emotion. Because he damn sure gets his emo on in “Amok Time.”
Come to think of it, maybe Spock’s “Vulcan cut” is simply an early version of an emo haircut. Or later, I suppose. This does takes place in the future.
Here’s one of the brilliant things about the original Star Trek series, at least in my book: It’s a bromance. It’s emotional core is the unlikely friendship between Kirk and Spock. It’s certainly at the core of the season two premiere, “Amok Time.”
But what about Spock and Bones? There’s an argument to be made, at least in my book, that the dynamic between those two is actually more interesting than that of Spock and Kirk.
Think back to the opening scene of “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” As Kirk and Spock play space chess, it’s they’re having fun. Kirk seems to find Spock’s attempt at emotional detachment endearing. As if he knows Spock can’t ever fully detach from his feelings, and the Vulcan’s efforts are obviously in vain. He doesn’t say anything, however. As it’s not his place to tell someone how to live. Kirk respects Spock, both as a first officer and a comrade.
I’m not sure if it was an unintentional byproduct of how DeForest Kelley played the role, or if the scripts really were written with this in mind. But during season one (or at least the episodes I’ve seen from season one), Bones didn’t seem to fully trust Spock. Whether he was making cracks about his Vulcan blood, or being subtly cautious about potential connections to the Romulans, it seemed like something was always hanging in the air between those two.
I don’t know that Bones flat out disliked Spock. But have you ever been in a new workplace, and come across that one coworker you have to “earn it” with? The person who’s a little apprehensive about this new face, and wants to make sure you’ll contribute to the work being done? To me, that’s Bones. Although based on what we saw in “The Menagerie,” Spock has been on the Enterprise a lot longer than he has…
So I actually found it touching when, in choosing close friends to accompany him to this “pon farr” ceremony, Spock chooses not only Kirk, but Bones. Spock asking and Bones accepting speaks to a mutual respect, and dare I say a budding friendship between the two. And of course, it’s ultimately Bones’ ingenuity that allows both Kirk and Spock to survive their battle.
The whole “groomsmen” angle touched a personal chord with me too. Ever see, or perhaps been a part of, a wedding where the groom struggles to find groomsmen? That was me in my wedding. I was fortunate enough to stand up there with three fine gentlemen, as well as my brother. But I had to put myself out there to get them. Spock did that here. I can tell you from experience that’s not an easy thing to do.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
Star Trek, Season One
primaryignition.com 