smw@tilt.UUCP (Stewart Wiener) (03/20/84)
Saavik's ancestry (as several have pointed out) is half-Romulan and
half-Vulcan. Her Vulcan parent was raped. She doesn't know who her parents
are, or even which sex the Vulcan one was. Doesn't want to know, either.
This is all revealed in the book. NO WAY could she be a daughter of Spock;
in the book, she nearly punches out David for inadvertently implying that
Spock was so dishonored. Satisfied? (Well, it IS a remote possibility, but
a really CHEAP one. I say it couldn't be.)
The book goes on to tell us that she grew up in the streets of a MEAN
Romulan colony called Hellguard. The colony was declared a failure, the
Romulan government evacuated the colonists... but left the old and the sick
and the half-caste embarrassments. Spock came along with a Vulcan science
team to rescue them, and spotted the potential in this grimy waif. And now
she's a fine Starfleet officer.
This might be fabrication on Vonda McIntyre's part -- she's done PLENTY else-
where in the novel -- since it leaves unexplained just where this fits into
Spock's life. After the original 5-year mission, certainly; probably after
ST:TMP. Anybody know how many years (in the ST universe) between ST:TMP
and ST2:TWOK? The bare minimum for Saavik's background to be plausible is
five years, assuming she's an amazingly fast learner (from illiterate to
Starfleet Academy graduate...)
--
Stewart Wiener :-) "Read and weep as did
Princeton Univ. EECS :-) Alexander when he beheld
{allegra,ihnp4!mhuxi}!princeton!tilt!smw :-) the glories of Egypt."starner@psuvax.UUCP (Mark L. Starner) (03/21/84)
In regard to the question about the length of time between ST:TMP and ST:TWOK:
If we go by references in the novels and the movies, ST:TWOK occured
15 years after Khan was marroned on Ceti Alpha V. The "Space Seed" Episode
occured during the first season of Star Trek, so It must have been rather
early in the 5 year mission (say late 1st, early 2nd year).
ST:TMP occured approx. 18 months after the end of the 5 year mission, so that
would make the amount of time between ST:TMP and ST:TWOK as less than 10 years.
In regard to Spock being Saavik's father (this would not be possible since the
Romulon Commander Episode occured in the 3rd season (approx. 13 years before
TWOK).
--
Mark Starner
Computer Science Department (814) 863-0392
301b Whitmore Lab {allegra,ihnp4}!psuvax!starner
The Pennsylvania State University starner@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, PA 16802 starner@psuvax1 (bitnet)