psuvm%jif@psuvax.UUCP (03/19/84)
I would like to point out an interesting conjecture as told to me by
a Trekkie friend of mine. Many of you may recall the following dialogue
at the end of "Journey to Babel" when both Spock and Sarek are in Sick
Bay, and Amanda is chatting away in a most illogical manner.
Spock: "Why did you marry her?"
Sarek: "At the time, it seemed the logical thing to do."
Now, I ask you: Under what circumstances would the marriage of Sarek to
Amanda be the only logical thing to do ??? The ONLY possible reason was
that Sarek got Amanda pregnant and was forced to marry her to spare
them both the shame and embarrasement that would follow if they didn't.
Thus, Spock is the illegitimate son of Sarek and Amanda.
--- Mike Hyman
P.S. I welcome any/all replies (especially since this is my first Netnews
submission), but since I only have direct access to BITNET, you'll
have to show me how to route my mail to get back to you.
uucp: Eallegra, akgua, burdvax, ihnp4L!psuvax!MJH@PSUVMS1.BITNET
Arpa: MJH%PSUVMS1.BITNET@Berkeley
Bitnet: MJH@PSUVMS1hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (03/21/84)
<Lock photon torpedoes on target, Ensign> | Spock: "Why did you marry her?" | Sarek: "At the time, it seemed the logical thing to do." | | Now, I ask you: Under what circumstances would the marriage of Sarek to | Amanda be the only logical thing to do ??? The ONLY possible reason was | that Sarek got Amanda pregnant and was forced to marry her to spare | them both the shame and embarrasement that would follow if they didn't. | Thus, Spock is the illegitimate son of Sarek and Amanda. | --- Mike Hyman Nonsense. Sarek and Amanda had to go to extremes to produce offspring. Recall that they have extremely incompatible blood types. So incompatible that it required special genetic engineering to even produce Spock. Further, among Vulcans, mating is not a casual pastime. Yet further, it is very unlikely that a race which has gone to extreme ends to suppress and eradicate emotion is going to demonstrate much in the way of shame and embarrassment. <Target destroyed, Sir> Hutch
friedman@uiucdcs.UUCP (friedman ) (03/22/84)
#R:psuvm:-55400:uiucdcs:24900032:000:1763 uiucdcs!friedman Mar 21 08:14:00 1984 Mike Hyman says: Now, I ask you: Under what circumstances would the marriage of Sarek to Amanda be the only logical thing to do ??? The ONLY possible reason was that Sarek got Amanda pregnant and was forced to marry her to spare them both the shame and embarrasement that would follow if they didn't. Thus, Spock is the illegitimate son of Sarek and Amanda. There are a couple of things wrong with this line of reasoning. First, Sarek didn't say marrying amanda was the ONLY logical thing to do; he merely said it was logical (or, rather, seemed at the time to be -- not quite the same thing). There are lots of other logical reasons possible: political; affection (even though he disclaims emotion, he could care for another person enough that the difference from what a human would call love might be negligible); convenience of some sort other than preganancy; and on and on. Second, how would Sarek have gotten Amanda pregnant without intending to do so? Spare me, please, the cliche of his coming to pon far with no other female available. But in the absence of such a scenario (which, to me, is far fetched indeed), he could have had no sexual interest in a human female -- or indeed in any female. Third (minor semantic point): if they married after Amanda was pregnant, that would not make Spock illegitimate, at least in most western (human) traditions. Any explanation of Sarek and Amanda's marriage has a lot to explain: What happened to the Vulcan woman to whom Sarek was presumably betrothed as a child (on the model suggested by Spock's explanations of his pon far)? What brought Sarek and Amanda together? And, of course, what was the logical reason for the marriage, in the face of all the difficulties that had to arise from it?
smw@tilt.UUCP (Stewart Wiener) (03/22/84)
>>Any explanation of Sarek and Amanda's marriage has a lot to explain: What >>happened to the Vulcan woman to whom Sarek was presumably betrothed as a >>child (on the model suggested by Spock's explanations of his pon far)? I go with the story that Sarek's first wife died young. Whether before or after their pon farr and marriage, I dare not guess. But if she did die before Sarek hit his pon farr, Sarek would have had to keep a tight grip on himself and take frequent cold showers before he found Amanda. Maybe he channeled his frustrated sexual energies into his diplomatic career... D. C. Fontana (story editor of ST, and author of several of the better episodes including "Journey to Babel") made the arbitrary decision that Spock is an only child. Most people will take her word for it. One group that didn't is the authors of KRAITH, a huge series of short stories and novelettes in a variant ST universe. Here, Spock has a Vulcan half-sister, T'Uriamne, who is also his greatest philosophical/political rival. -- Stewart Wiener :-) "Read and weep as did Princeton Univ. EECS :-) Alexander when he beheld {allegra,ihnp4!mhuxi}!princeton!tilt!smw :-) the glories of Egypt."
jrb@wdl1.UUCP (John R Blaker) (03/22/84)
Also remember that Vulcan's would NEVER talk about pon farr. No Vulcan would ever admit to having emotions at all, much less describe the extremely emotional mating process. John R Blaker UUCP: ...!fortune!wdl1!jrb ARPA: jrb@FORD-WDL1
ix21@sdccs6.UUCP (03/23/84)
On the record Inside Star Trek (Columbia 34279) Gene Roddenberry
conducts an interview with Sarek, naturally portrayed by Mark
Lenard. The interview stated that Spock's birth required removal of
the embryo after one month and treatment in a test tube for two
months, the fetus was reimplanted for months 4 -9, and because a
Vulcan's term of gestation is 12 not nine months, the fetus required
another 3 months in an incubator. Because all this intervention was
necessary for the birth of Spock, Sarek mentioned that all previous
Terran-Vulcan matings were unsucessful, it is unlikely that Spock is
illegitimate. Sarek also stated that at the advanced age that he
married Amanda he was not susceptible to the periodic mating madness
that overcomes younger Vulcan males.
--
David Whiteman sdcsvax!sdccs6!whiteman
UCSD Medical School, La Jolla CA
{insert boring .signature file here}jmike@uokvax.UUCP (03/24/84)
#R:psuvm:-55400:uokvax:5800006:000:294
uokvax!jmike Mar 22 15:23:00 1984
wait just a sec... how can you say the only possible solution?
were you there? I admit that statement doesn't suggest many possibilities
and was probably only in the script for its humor but i think your
statement is just a bit presumptuous.
mike stanley
...ctvax!uokvax!jmike