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rynnePart Two
The Final Frontier
I'm actually sort of fond of this movie. It's got some absolute stinkers, namely the God-plot and Row Row Row Your Boat, but it's got some great character moments, great Kirk/Spock moments, and great Triumvirate moments, so on the whole I actually sort of like it.
But let's start with the crap this time and get that out of the way.
Campfire singalongs?
Before I saw this movie, I read the great Reboot fic Atlas by Angel Baby1, and there's this scene where Kirk is trying to persuade Spock to go camping with him, and he says this:
"Come on, it's not like all we do is sit around camp fires singing Row Row Row Your Boat." He considered his own statement before pulling a disgusted face. "I mean, that'd be irredeemably lame. We could go on to win a pissing contest with God and all anyone would talk about would be the shitty singing. Anyway."
When I first read it I thought that was amusing, but it was only when I reread the fic recently, after having watched TFF, that I got the reference and burst into giggles. But I remembered those lines because they're so true (though I wish the author had used a term other than lame to describe it). William Shatner, what were you thinking? In what universe was that a good idea?
The Plot
I really don't want to discuss the way Star Trek treats religion, but I will say that I wish Sybok had had a goal other than God-beyond-the-Barrier.
I find the cult unconvincing. I get that Sybok releasing their pain is great, but I would think that the various ambassadors, plus the Enterprise crew, would be strong enough not to fall into cult mentality just because the pain of their burdens has been lightened. It's unsatisfying.
But I want to talk more about the things I do like in this movie.
Themes
Unlike the first four movies, this one doesn't have the Kirk/Spock relationship as its emotional heart. There are still some really great K/S moments, but this movie isn't ultimately about them. It's about family. It's about the brothers Spock and Sybok, and Spock and his father, and McCoy and his father, and Kirk claiming Spock and McCoy as his family. It's about how family can hurt us, but they can also heal us. They can be conventional or unconventional. They can be tied by blood or they can be chosen. An exploration of family is at the heart of this movie.
Another overarching theme is the nature of pain. There's the kind of pain that poisons you, and there's the kind of pain that shapes you.
Sybok's cult demonstrates the dangers of losing pain -- they act like they really have lost themselves, and exist only to do his bidding.
There are dangers in keeping pain, because as Sybok says, it can poison you. But pain is something that shapes us and defines us. As Spock shows, we can learn from our pain. That's a big part of the pain theme in this movie -- the necessity of learning from one's pain and becoming a better, more balanced person for it, as evidenced by Spock.
Sybok and his pain is actually the other side of the equation, and the lesson in action. Sybok, because he wanted to embrace emotions, was rejected by Vulcan. In response, he becomes a messiah, with people hanging on his every word -- now, finally, people will listen to him and his wisdom. But when he meets "God" beyond the Barrier, and "God" morphs into a sinister construct of Sybok's face, Sybok sees that he was acting out of his own pain, which he didn't even realize was poisoning him. He then purges this pain in the same organic process that Spock went through earlier in life -- realization of who he is and why he's done what he's done, and a determination to learn from his mistake. He recognizes his pain and is able to learn from it.
The Crew
Apart from the disappointment of the cult stuff, there are some good moments for the crew. I love Chekov being "Captain" Chekov and playing his part perfectly. Uhura/Scotty did not have as much build-up as I would have wanted, but I think it's adorable, that they're fairly well-matched, and I have no problem with it. Uhura gets to be a sexy dancer, even in her forties/fifties, and then still a competent officer through the rest of the raid. Sulu gets to be a great pilot with the shuttle. Scotty was perfectly Scotty throughout the whole thing, caring much more about the ship than any pain he might have.
But this was a Triumvirate movie, with the relationships between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy pretty much exactly how I see them, so I was pleased with that.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy -- and Kirk/Spock and McCoy
Yosemite
We start in Yosemite, with Kirk climbing El Capitan, McCoy a nervous wreck watching him, and Spock flying up on levitation boots to join him. This is interesting for a number of reasons.
First, Kirk asks Spock what he's doing there. This is an indication that they had not decided to spend their shore leave together, which I actually like. Kirk wanted some quality time with his (non-space husband) best friend, McCoy. Healthy romantic relationships include the participants having healthy relationships with other people, rather than being totally codependent. It's good for them to spend time with other people.
Second, Spock crashes the party. I'm sort of torn about this. On one hand, I wish Kirk and McCoy had gotten their quality time. But on the other, McCoy is friend to both of them, so both of them should get the chance to spend time with him.
Also, this is an indication that Spock is much more like his post-TMP self. Remember the episode Shore Leave (of the famous backrub scene), where Spock says that shore leave is for resting and says that it's illogical to use energy during a time of rest? Now he prioritizes spending time with his closest friends over doing the logical thing and resting.
There's a great character moment, which is Kirk climbing El Capitan just because it's there and he likes a challenge. There's also a great flirting moment when Kirk says that he's flattered that of all the points of interest in Yosemite, Spock picks him. It is sort of a hint that Spock is distracting him and should stop that and go find something else to study, but it's a very gentle and flirty sort of hint. And Spock doesn't take it, hah. He'd rather stay there and flirt with Kirk than go see all the cool stuff in Yosemite. Spock the explorer and scientist, the Vulcan, would rather flirt with Kirk than go discover new things.
Guys, this is one reason I like this movie. The fire has not gone out of this relationship -- they still flirt, a lot, both verbally and through body language. Great stuff.
Argument in the Brig
This scene is pretty controversial and I'm sort of torn on it myself. On one hand, I don't like that Kirk got so angry at Spock for not killing Sybok when he knows that Spock doesn't like killing. On the other hand, regardless of their personal relationship, Spock is an officer of Starfleet and he has an obligation to save his ship from hijackers, even to the extent of using lethal force if he has to. Kirk has every right to be angry at Spock, as a captain to a member of his crew, especially since he doesn't know that Spock and Sybok are brothers.
Speaking of that, I can actually buy that Kirk didn't know about Spock and Sybok. Spock may have gotten a lot more relaxed about emotional stuff since TMP, but he is still a Vulcan, from a different culture, and a primarily logical being. Humans may tell each other about our families, including estranged members, but that's humans, and Spock isn't. Sybok has had no bearing on Spock's life since he left. Sybok just never came up. He was never relevant. Why tell Kirk about him when he had nothing to do with anything? Kirk knows that Spock is his parents' only child, so of course it just would never have occurred to him that Spock would have siblings. Plus Kirk is still human and takes it for granted that Spock would tell him something like that. Honestly, I think that argument is about culture clash, which can still happen even for people who have known each other well for twenty years.
The Vulcan princess thing... *snorts* Whatever. I'm dubious about the existence of princesses on Vulcan, but Sarek having a relationship before Amanda makes sense. First, we know childhood bonding is the norm. Second, Spock was born when Sarek was roughly in his sixties, and I don't know how long Sarek and Amanda were married before Spock was born, but I doubt it was thirty-plus years. Sarek would have had to deal with pon farr before Amanda, so of course there was someone who helped him through it, and it's not unreasonable for Sarek to have had a child with that person.
I also think that the existence of Sybok makes sense for Spock personally. Sarek married an emotional human, and we assume that he loves her (he says so explicitly in Reboot, and in TNG episode Sarek). Why, then, would he want to deny her any influence on the son he had with her? Why would he want to deny the aspects of her that found expression in Spock? In refusing to accept Spock's non-Vulcan aspects, he comes off as a huge douche.
Sarek's actions about Spock make more sense with Sybok in the picture. He's still a douche, but an understandable one. If his elder son, who is full Vulcan, can give in to his emotions and run off to become an outlaw, how much easier would it be for Spock, who is half-human, raised by a mother who encourages the expression of emotion? So he tries to make Spock as Vulcan as possible in reaction to Sybok. When Spock chooses Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy, to Sarek it must feel like the second time his son has rejected his ways -- and, by extension, him. The estrangement between Spock and Sarek was not logical, but I never thought it was even before I found out about Sybok. I just think it makes more sense on Sarek's part. Like I said, he's still a douche, but an understandable one.
There's also something of interest to me in the beginning of the scene, a distinction between the relationship Kirk and Spock have with each other and the ones they have with McCoy. Kirk has gotten all angry at Spock, and McCoy interjects himself into the discussion to offer to hold Spock down, and Kirk snaps at him to stay out of this. In part, that is the Captain of the Enterprise reacting, where he has the responsibility of dressing down his crew, not his CMO. But Spock has already made this discussion personal. Kirk accused him in the beginning of the argument of betraying every man on the ship, and Spock says, "Worse. I have betrayed you." (Which is a great K/S line. Spock thinks that betraying Kirk is worse than betraying his ship.)
That line changes this discussion from being between captain and crewmember to being between Kirk and Spock. And Kirk thinks that McCoy should stay out of it. Even in a movie where McCoy has a greater role, he's not allowed into the K/S bubble. Of course McCoy is a part of the discussion, particularly once Kirk gets over being hurt and Spock finally gives out information, but when Kirk is feeling emotional in an argument between him and Spock, his instinct is that McCoy isn't part of it. This is a movie where Kirk explicitly acknowledges the three of them as family, but the K/S relationship is just different from the way they interact with McCoy.
It's not just that the three of them are different people and of course have different ways of relating to each other. In the series, which is before they would have started a romantic relationship, Kirk and Spock did still have their little K/S bubble and would forget that other people existed (see the eyesex scene in Miri), but it was a lot easier for them to pop that bubble and let other people, mainly McCoy, in. A lot of the great beginning or end of episode banter sessions have McCoy an equal party to Kirk and Spock's fun with each other (and, um, totally not meaning that in a sexual sense. :p). What I see in this scene, though, is two people in a relationship who don't think that their personal arguments are anyone else's business. It very much comes off as a couple-y thing, with McCoy there as contrast to prove what "just good friends" actually looks like.
Next comes one of my favorite K/S moments in the entire movie. Actually, probably the entire original Star Trek.
The Turboshaft Scene
Kirk is climbing up the turboshaft, while Spock thinks up something more efficient and shows up wearing his levitation boots. It's almost entirely wordless, but here's the sequence of events. I need to see if I can find a clip of this...
1. Spock says, "I believe I found a faster way."
2. He holds out his hands to Kirk.
3. Kirk puts his hand on his chest. Subtext: who, me?
4. Spock lifts his hands a bit to indicate he still has them out. Subtext: of course, you.
5. Kirk inclines his head and starts grinning. Subtext: oh, all right.
6. Close-up of Kirk stepping onto Spock's boots.
7. Kirk grabs Spock for balance, in the process hugging him quite closely.
You know what this looks like to me? Dancing. Spock extends his hands to Kirk, like, May I have this dance? Kirk puts his hand to his chest in a coquettish, Who, me? move. Spock indicates his hands, silently saying, Of course, you. Kirk inclines his head in agreement and grins. Oh, all right. Then a close-up of their feet. This is practically the entire process of a flirty dance invitation and the beginning of the dance. A slow dance, with lots of body contact.
Spock's levitation boots are undeniably a faster way up the turboshaft. But I honestly cannot think of any other way to interpret the way Kirk puts his hand on his chest and inclines his head, other than flirting. Seriously, cannot think of any other possible interpretation.
Oh my god, you guys. It's been twenty years and they still take every possible opportunity to flirt. And in this scene they do it almost entirely without words. I love this ship.
Then we shift to McCoy, who once again presents a contrast. McCoy has already complained about having to climb up the turboshaft, but when Kirk and Spock offer him a lift, he says, "You two go ahead. I'll wait for the next car." In what universe is that not McCoy saying, "Don't you two look cozy together. Don't let me interrupt." Seriously. Of course Kirk refuses to leave McCoy behind and McCoy has to grab on anyway, but wow. This scene. Amazing.
Facing Pain
In the very beginning of the movie, we see Sybok in the act of taking someone's pain. This scene makes it clear that it happens entirely in the mind. Right here we don't get the see what the guy's pain is, because, unlike Sybok, we can't see into someone's mind.
How Sybok takes pain does not involve projecting it somehow. Honestly, I don't know how a Vulcan would even begin to project an image directly from someone's mind using only telepathic or empathic powers, so that other people (who he is not touching) could see this image. We are given no indication throughout canon thus far that this is a possibility.
When Sybok uses his empathic ability on McCoy and Spock, the scene is projected visually -- but it's to the audience, not to the room in general. The audience cares more about McCoy and Spock than Sybok's random follower, so we are allowed a glimpse into their minds and their pasts. But do remember that it is still in their minds.
Throughout the scene with McCoy, Kirk and Spock are watching, but what they are watching is most likely McCoy having a freaky cathartic experience, which is enough to hold their attention. They do not speak or move into the scene. Apart from the fact that they are looking in McCoy's direction, there is no indication that they can see what he sees. Considering that this catharsis takes place solely in the mind, as we saw at the beginning of the film, it is most likely that they in fact can't see what McCoy sees. Sybok can, because it's his power that's causing this. McCoy can, because it's his mind. Kirk and Spock can't.
Spock's experience, on the other hand, includes Kirk. Kirk moves with him into the scene and speaks to him about what they both are seeing. They are inside Spock's mind, and Kirk is just naturally there with them, without the intervention of a mind meld or anything visible. The only explanation for this is some kind of mind link between Kirk and Spock.
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spookyfbi has talked about this before, but I was reading that meta and then thinking of further implications.
There are indications in the series that Kirk and Spock have some sort of mind link, like in The Tholian Web. It becomes more explicit in Roddenberry's novelization of The Motion Picture, where Spock hears Kirk's thoughts across sixteen light years and then later Kirk isn't surprised when Spock tells him that. Both of these instances, however, happen before The Wrath of Khan.
This means two possible options for the mind link in TFF. One is that the mental link between Kirk and Spock survived Spock's death. The other is that the link was broken when Spock died, but sometime between the fal-tor-pan and this movie, Kirk and Spock re-established their link. And do remember that there is very little time happening between TSfS and TFF, so most likely if they re-established the link, they did so deliberately.
Guys, both of those options are romantic and slashy as hell, oh my god. I'm leaning towards option two, because I find it kind of difficult to believe that an actual mind link can survive death (yes, Spock's katra was still around, but I think the existence of a physical mind linked to the katra would be at least somewhat necessary), but it's still a possibility. Otherwise -- dude, they want to be linked to each other. I don't suppose they have to actually be married to have chosen to mentally bond with each other, but, um, that's certainly what I believe.
Once again Star Trek talks about where Spock belongs. This time he is literally standing by Kirk's side as he says it. How many times have they found ways to emphasize that Kirk and Spock belong together now?
This scene ends with a great Triumvirate moment. McCoy is initially all set to join Sybok's cult, but unlike the rest of the crew (gah), his loyalty to his friends outweighs his brainwashing/gratitude. Awww. Go McCoy!
Klingons Ruin Everything
Oh yes, the best line in the entire film -- "Please, Captain. Not in front of the Klingons." :D
You know, that's a pretty awkward position if Kirk's just going in for a hug. He's already got his hands on Spock's biceps, so moving them for a hug would be possible, but still awkward. The position of his hands makes much more sense if he's going in for a kiss. Just saying. :p
And hah, I love Spock at the end of this little moment too. Kirk lowers his hands and looks around at the Klingons and then back at Spock, and Spock gives him this little arch, sort of smug, hah-I-teased-Jim look. Very cute.
Family
The final scene of this movie.Because the campfire didn't happen. What campfire? I'm guessing Shatner forgot about Sam Kirk, because there's a brother that Kirk lost and didn't get back. But still. Kirk gets to be sappy about Spock, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are family, oh yeah. :D
The Undiscovered Country
This is actually my least favorite of the TOS-era movies. There are moments when I have trouble believing that these characters are really Kirk and Spock, I don't think the writers are using the concept of prejudice correctly, I find it hard to believe that Uhura can't speak better Klingon (it only makes sense for the communications officer to know the language of one of your main enemies), and I go wtf? at the idea of a high-level conspiracy to screw up the peace summit. I mean, you don't have to trust Klingons to try to make peace with them. It seems sort of ridiculous to me that Vulcans and Starfleet captains and admirals would let their distrust of Klingons go so far as to sabotage peace talks. It's not logical and it's not professional. Kirk, ironically, got to be the model of professional, diplomatic behavior. Everyone, Federation and Klingons, knew that he didn't like Klingons, and that he had some very personal and viable reasons for not liking Klingons, but he still did his duty. Reluctantly and snarkily, but he did make an effort. Plus, the Federation conspirators actually worked with the Klingon General Chang...to make sure they would never have to work with Klingons. Um, how does that make sense? I know it's supposed to be part of the irony of the movie, but these are all smart people! They couldn't have missed that they worked with a Klingon so they wouldn't have to work with Klingons. It just seems entirely stupid to me.
That's about all I want to say about plot, though, so let's move on to the stuff that interests me more -- theme and character.
Themes
This movie is a thematic sequel to The Final Frontier, more specifically the pain theme. In TFF, Kirk refuses to let go of his pain, claiming that it's what makes him who he is and he needs his pain. There is no quick fix for it.
This movie is about the organic process of letting go of a pain that poisons you, as Kirk's pain about his son is poisoning him. He's been holding tight to his hatred of Klingons, who he had never liked even before TSfS, but this movie shows what that hatred has done to him. "Let them die!" Kirk says to Spock.
Kirk's pain poisoned him, and this movie shows him learning how to let it go. Working with Klingons, and believing there's something in them that he can identify with and sympathize with, is how Kirk manages to let go.
Prejudice is also a theme in this movie, though it's very heavy-handed (not quite as heavy as the environmental message of Star Trek: Save the Whales, but still very obvious) and used strangely.
A prejudice is a preconceived opinion, or an opinion formed without true knowledge or reasoning. Kirk is not prejudiced against Klingons, because he has very valid reasons for feeling the way that he does. If it had only been that his son had been killed by Klingons, I would have been more willing to accept Kirk's attitudes in this movie as prejudice, blaming the many for the actions of a few, and so on. But it wasn't just David. Kirk has never had a positive interaction with a Klingon. Day of the Dove comes sort of close, because Kirk and the Klingons are eventually willing to work together, but that was a dubious truce with a lot of vitriol still going around. Kirk's interactions with Klingons in The Trouble With Tribbles are more neutral than usual, but considering Kirk uncovered a Klingon plot at the end, it's not that like that was a step forward. Klingons have never treated Kirk very well, so he has reason to dislike and distrust them.
As for Spock saying that he was prejudiced by Valeris's accomplishments -- what? So he didn't suspect her immediately, because of her accomplishments. Umm, sounds reasonable to me. Innocent until proven guilty, there's no logic in suspecting someone who does nothing suspicious, etc. I would have found it stranger if Spock had suspected her, because he had no reason to. (The audience does, because she's this random new character given a prominent role; it makes narrative sense for her to be the villain. But Spock, as a character, would not be privy to that line of reasoning.)
I don't really see prejudice in this movie. I see a lot of people who have reason not to like each other who slowly start to overcome their differences. Very big difference from prejudice.
There are four things I really liked about this movie. One is the pain theme, that Kirk is finally learning to let go of his pain. The other things I like are...
Shakespeare
Shakespeare! I am a big English geek, and like many of my kind, I am quite fond of Shakespeare. It was great to see him quoted so often, whether or not it was in the original Klingon. *snorts* The reason Shakespeare has endured to even the twenty-first century is because he says relevant things about the human condition. I'm glad to see him enduring even farther.
The Crew
The crew's loyalty to Kirk is so awesome. Chekov is first officer on the Reliant for awhile in TWoK, and we finally see Sulu get his own command in this movie, but Chekov and Sulu still demonstrate serious loyalty to Kirk even when they aren't his subordinates anymore.
Of course the writers have typically kept the crew together because they're the established characters, the audience already knows them, and it's best not to screw with the dynamic. But inside the universe, it means that all of these characters have constantly passed up better opportunities in order to keep serving under Kirk. Spock is already a captain as of TWoK -- he could have been given his own command at any point, but he follows Kirk everywhere. It makes sense for McCoy and Scotty to be planted where they are -- McCoy has greater attachment to Kirk than to Starfleet, and Scotty's first love is the Enterprise. But Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu didn't have to stay in the same positions they've had on the Enterprise for more than twenty years. Sulu finally does advance his own career in this movie, but he's still unquestionably loyal to Kirk. It's really very heartwarming.
The Klingon Chancellor's Daughter
What was her name, Azetbur? She was awesome. Yay, a strong woman! She leads her people, is not going to give in about the peace talks but is also not going to give in about her father's murder, and accepts that Kirk is innocent when given proof. She's reasonable and intelligent and strong. Go Azetbur!
Okay. Apart from two K/S moments, that's about it for the stuff I actually liked. Now I'll talk about the stuff that made me raise an eyebrow and/or stare incredulously.
Kirk and Martia
Honestly, I think Martia exists because the production team for this movie realized that Kirk hasn't kissed a woman since the sixties and they wanted to make it less incredibly obvious that Kirk is married to Spock.
This one I don't dislike. I don't really like her, but Kirk kisses her for the same reason he kissed most of the other women linked to him during the series -- with ulterior motives. First of all, she's the one who kisses him. He doesn't want to jeopardize his chances of escape by being rude to the person willing to help him, so he can't push her away.
Second, he never took her at face value. He was always waiting for her to show her real motives, and he knew they were not attraction to him. He displays no real attraction to her either.
Third, and something I actually appreciate about Martia -- she's not really a woman! We don't know what she is! She even shifts into Kirk's body. She may have been in a female form when she kissed Kirk, but we can't take it for granted that that's her true gender. Kirk has finally kissed someone who is not necessarily female! I do appreciate that, even if I'd rather see him kiss Spock.
I am dubious that Kirk was so willing to get her killed, though. It doesn't really seem like Kirk to me.
The Kirk/Spock Argument
This argument is very hard for me to watch, for several reasons. It's not entirely unreasonable and out of character, but it has its moments. Let's start with talking about Kirk.
Kirk
He calls Spock making this decision for him "arrogant presumption". It is pretty arrogant and presumptuous for a subordinate (regardless of his actual rank) to go over his captain's head in volunteering his ship for a mission. Not a good thing in a military organization. But Kirk...usually lets Spock get away with a lot. In The Menagerie, Spock hijacked his ship and Kirk said that he must have had his reasons.
My interpretation of this line is two-fold. The first is that it's arrogant presumption for Spock to make decisions on Kirk's behalf without consulting him. And honestly, regardless of any personal relationship between them, that's true. I'm not married, but if I were, I would get angry at my spouse if they made decisions about me without my input. It would be worse for Kirk, who is so fiercely independent and who fears losing command.
The second aspect of this line is that it was about Klingons. It was arrogant presumption for Spock to go over Kirk's head in making this decision when he knew that it was something Kirk would not have agreed to. So from Kirk's perspective, this is a really shitty thing for Spock to do, especially since Spock knows Kirk so well and would know how he would think of this.
Kirk also tells Spock, "You should have trusted me." I had to really think about this line to understand what Kirk was trying to say there, and I'm still not entirely sure I'm right. My initial reaction, when I first watched this movie, was to think that Kirk was being an ass, accusing Spock of not trusting him when he's the one right there not trusting Spock. Which is true, he really isn't trusting Spock.
The line also sort of came out of nowhere and I had to think about why Kirk is bringing up trust in the first place. The answer that I came up with goes back to the going-over-Kirk's-head thing. Kirk is angry with Spock for not trusting him with his plans, not trusting Kirk to make his own decisions. That's the best I can come up with, and I'm still not sure how well it fits.
Then there's Kirk's "Let them die!" line. Which I still can't quite believe, even as I fanwank it away. I mean, I've already talked about Kirk's pain and how it's poisoning him and he needs to learn to let it go, so obviously this is something that illustrates how much Kirk's pain has poisoned him. Even so, I'm incredulous that Kirk would say something like that. He can be a hothead who jumps to his own conclusions, but he's also a compassionate guy in general. He doesn't like seeing people die for no reason, even when they're his enemies. I find it hard to believe that Kirk would be willing to condemn an entire species to death, no matter how much he dislikes them.
There are things that Kirk is justified being angry about in this scene, but it's still difficult to watch, and not just because I don't like watching arguments.
Spock
First of all, I don't think the "Vulcan proverb", "Only Nixon could go to China", ages well. I mean, I get the reference, and the Cold War allegory that the film represents, but it feels off. This might just be personal preference, though.
All right, the rest of this scene. I think that Spock volunteered the Enterprise for the mission for Kirk's sake. I think he saw how Kirk's pain was poisoning him, and decided to do something about it. I can see Kirk, out of stubborn independence, completely denying that there's a problem, which forces Spock to go sneaky in order to solve it. But I do think that Spock's goal here is to make Kirk confront his pain and work through it.
Kirk even proves how necessary Spock's tactics and goal were. Spock had to go sneaky because Kirk would have turned it down if he'd been given the choice. And "Let them die!" makes it clear to Spock that an intervention is needed. Spock will make decisions on Kirk's behalf if he thinks it's for Kirk's own good. Which would be infuriating to Kirk, of course, but I don't think it's out of character.
The Mind Meld with Valeris
Oh my god, this scene. Kirk tells Spock to mind-rape his Vulcan protégé, and Spock does it.
What. WHAT.
And no one says anything! Kirk and Spock don't even go through the motions of regretting that it has to come to this, or whatever. Nope. They just do it and it's done and that's that. For the good of the Federation.
Jesus Christ. I've puzzled through it to have it make some semblance of sense, but I still think it's out of character on both their parts, especially Spock. But anyway.
So, Kirk is easy enough to explain. There's time-sensitive information that Valeris knows and is not willing to say, so he has to get it out of her somehow. The mind meld is the easiest and quickest way to do so. I seriously don't like this moment, but I can understand it.
Plus, Kirk is emotionally compromised throughout the whole movie, which is the only way I can explain things like "Let them die!" or engineering Martia's death. The Valeris scene is yet another of his strange moral failings in this movie.
Spock is harder. In the previous movie, he would rather let the Enterprise get hijacked than kill his brother, even at Kirk's order. But here he's willing to mind-rape his protégé? Any possible justifications for that leaves a nasty aftertaste in my mouth, so I'm going to make it clear right now that I am trying to explore Spock's possible reasons for doing this, and trying not to justify them, because I honestly think this is unjustifiable. I wish they had found some other way of getting the information.
I think the main thing to keep in mind with Spock is that Valeris's actions led directly to Kirk nearly getting killed. Spock does not deal well with the idea of Kirk in danger. In The Man Trap and Devil in the Dark, he'd rather endangered species go extinct than Kirk get killed. Spock could probably forgive anything, except what hurts Kirk. He's willing to treat her with disregard because of what she did to Kirk.
I sort of wonder if this is a downside to Spock being more comfortable with his emotions. The relaxation of his strict Vulcan control makes him more willing to relax his ethical standards as well. Reboot!Spock seems to think so, at the revelation that Spock Prime is willing to practice deception. In Reboot, it's framed as a good thing. In this movie, Spock's ethical violation is not framed as anything at all, except necessary.
I mean, it's not the first time that Spock has mind melded without permission. He did the same thing at the end of Requiem for Methuselah, in a scene I also dislike, but he does it in response to McCoy claiming he'll never understand what love can drive a man to do. I do find it squicky that Spock's tampering with Kirk's memories is framed as an act of love, but that entire episode is about how love makes people do questionable things. I don't think Spock's tampering is meant to be shown as a good thing.
There are plenty of times when Spock melds (and I mean a full meld, not whatever Jedi-mind-trick suggestibility thing he can do) with something that hasn't given him permission, but apart from Requiem for Methuselah, the only instances I can think of are cases where there's no communication even possible without the meld, like with the Horta and the whales. There was just no other way to communicate with them.
There is just one instance I can think of in the entire show and movies that comes close to what Spock does in this scene. One instance where Spock melds with a sentient being who is able to communicate with him by other means, and who doesn't want the meld (looking terrified when it happens), and Spock disregards his wishes and melds with him anyway. That would be Mirror!Spock, with McCoy.
But no, in this movie there's nothing wrong with Spock mind-raping a woman and an officer on the bridge. It's for the good of the Federation.
I don't know if "it's the most logical and expedient thing to do" suffices as an explanation either, even for Spock. I mean, we know from Journey to Babel that Sarek at least, despite the ethical precept against killing/violence, would be able to kill if that were the logical thing to do. Vulcans are capable of prioritizing logic about moral imperatives.
But I don't think that this is necessarily the rule among Vulcans. Spock was unable to kill his brother, even though there was logical reason to do so and his failure created a lot of difficulties. As I mentioned way at the beginning of this entire essay, Kodos in The Conscience of the King was a highly utilitarian figure -- keeping the idea of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" in mind, Kodos's actions were actually rather logical. Even the eugenics side, because it's logical to have the survivors be people who already have a genetic edge on the population. Yet Spock disapproves of Kodos on moral grounds.
Vulcans have the potential to be amoral people concerned only with logic, but that's not entirely what we see, particularly from Spock, who is after all the focus of this discussion. Spock, though he does prefer to make his decisions through logic, is also a supremely moral person throughout the series and movies.
So there are two main things that leave a bad taste in my mouth about this scene. One is the ethical violation on the part of Spock (and Kirk), while the other is the way that it's framed. Like I said, there are no consequences, and no one things anything of it except that it's necessary. That's not how we think of Mirror!Spock's mind-rape of McCoy -- maybe it was necessary in the context of the episode for Mirror!Spock to gain that information, but we're not exactly meant to laud him for how he got that information. But in this movie, no one cares that Spock, a sympathetic and beloved character, mind-rapes someone. I hate that the movie has no issue with it.
I am just...very much not pleased with how this scene was handled.
All right, let's end this movie with the K/S stuff. Might as well go out on a good note.
What Chekov Saw
So...what purpose does this scene serve, in the narrative sense? We don't know what Kirk and Spock are talking about, apart from Spock saying that something is possible.
Honestly, having them go off on their own and then showing them standing so close together that they could be kissing has no real narrative purpose. Having them go off together on their own would be enough to indicate they're making a plan to catch Valeris. Though these two have known each other for nearly thirty years, so we don't even need to see them in the process of making a plan to know they'll have made a plan. We can just assume that, therefore this scene is not really necessary.
It's just cute. Look, Kirk and Spock are standing so close they could be kissing? Personal space, what's that?
Kirk and Spock Make Up
This scene can easily be paraphrased as:
Spock: You were right, I was wrong.
Kirk: No, you were right and I was wrong.
Spock: No, I was wrong! You could have been killed.
Kirk: I wasn't, so don't beat yourself up about it. Let's just say we were both partly right and partly wrong.
It plays very like a couple who is tired of arguing and each party wants to claim all the blame for themselves. Quite cute. I don't really have anything else to say about this, though.
Yeah, I'm not too impressed with this movie. There were some scattered good moments, but not many of them, and they were short. But lucky me, now I get to talk about Generations, which was worse.
Generations
I'd heard a lot about this movie before I saw it, and therefore my expectations were extremely low. For the most part the movie actually exceeded them, to my surprise -- at least while I was watching. Once I started thinking about what had actually happened, I saw that there's too much that doesn't hold up, plot-wise as well as character-wise. The scenes in the Nexus weren't much help.
The Enterprise-B scenes weren't too bad. Kirk was recognizably Kirk, and though I did not get a good impression of Captain Harriman, the rest was mostly all right. There was some good dramatic tension, especially leading up to the revelation that Kirk was where the hull breach was.
I do have to wonder, though, why Kirk retired in the first place. Yeah, the Enterprise-A was decommissioned, but that means that he's done with Starfleet as a whole now? What was he intending to do for the rest of his life?
(Though hey, didn't Spock retire at this time as well? If so, what a coincidence! Except not. Spock spent his career after meeting Kirk following Kirk around, so now Kirk returns the favor. Kirk's retirement makes the most sense in response to Spock's retirement, except for Kirk's line about being lonely. But that line about loneliness is the sole and complete setup for his life in the Nexus, so of course the writers had to shoehorn it in there.)
At this point I've just started season four of The Next Generation, but I was engaged enough with the TNG aspects of the story. Picard did sound like something of a douche when he seemed to care more about the end of his family name than that his brother and nephew are dead, but I hope I can just blame that on bad writing not getting the point across very well.
The themes were fairly consistent in this movie. I wasn't exactly pleased with how those themes were dealt with -- loneliness, family, what makes people happy -- but they were still consistent. But I think this movie would have done far, far better if it had been purely TNG, because trying to make Kirk fit just didn't work.
There are plenty of things that are wrong with the movie itself. For instance, Data's emotion chip serves no purpose apart from comic relief, which I find disappointing considering Data is my favorite TNG character.
This movie also commits the cardinal sin of having a plot that requires the characters be stupid, which is not something I tend to forgive a story for. Some of the very stupid decisions the characters made include:
• Making Troi drive the ship when Riker alone is a much better pilot.
• I don't understand why Soran took Geordi in the first place.
• Having the characters completely forget about modulating shield frequencies during the Klingon attack, even though modulating their shields is something they've done many times across the series and it would be the most logical response to the attack.
• I have to wonder why no one was suspicious when the Klingons were willing to exchange Geordi for Picard going down to the planet to talk to Soran. They exchanged their hostage for a hostage who wasn't even going to be where they could keep an eye on him. The audience knows why they were willing to do that -- they wanted Geordi back on the ship so they could see through his VISOR -- but that should have been a deal that made no sense to the Enterprise. But no one seems to have even seriously checked Geordi out to make sure that, say, no one had bugged his VISOR.
• Having Picard determined to stop Soran on Veridian III, even though the Nexus can take him to any time and any place and therefore it would be a lot easier for Picard to stop him when he first shows up. Except that would have been a lot safer and the writers couldn't have killed off Kirk. *eyeroll*
I am not a fan of rampant plot-required stupidity. I am also not a fan of people being out of character, which leads me to the Nexus.
I first watched this movie when I'd only been a couple seasons into TNG. At that point, I'd been just as angry about Picard as I was about Kirk, because from the episodes I'd seen, it looked like Picard was not a family man and he wasn't inclined to be domestic and the Nexus trying to give him this random wife and kids set off my non-traditional-lifestyles-are-okay-too RAGE and most of my review of this movie was taken up with a rant about how people don't have to be domestic to be happy.
That rant does still apply to Kirk, but while I haven't finished TNG yet, I have watched far enough, and discussed enough with my best friend (who is a huge TNG and Picard fan), to have a better understanding of Picard and the Nexus.
Again, I have not actually watched this far myself, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I gather that Picard's view of family is something that has changed over the course of the series. Initially he was career-driven, not a family man, not inclined to be domestic, etc. But I've heard about several episodes that happen later that begin to shift his views on this. Enough to make him at least somewhat wistful and regretful that he turned down opportunities for a family of his own in favor of his career.
Picard's experience of the Nexus, I think, comes from the road not taken. The deaths of his brother and nephew earlier in the movie focus Picard's attention on the issue of family, and whether or not he should have had children, and the Nexus took this regret and wistfulness and created a happy fantasy of a happy family.
In light of this, it's unsurprising that he realized so quickly that what he was seeing wasn't real. The Nexus made up the family, apart from the nephew, out of whole cloth, so there was nothing for Picard to anchor himself to and try to accept it. There wasn't enough real there to even begin to hold him.
I am still frustrated that the Nexus created domestic fantasies for both Picard and Kirk, even given questions about the road not taken. What is unquestionable about both men is that they are happy in command of their starships, that the bridge of their ships is where they thrive. Given Picard's life and personality, I think what the Nexus could have done to give him his greatest happiness was to have a family join him on the Enterprise, so that he could have the best of both worlds. But that didn't happen -- it was just straight domestic fantasy. I find it more understandable now than I did when I first watched the movie, but I do still find it frustrating.
Kirk's characterization, on the other hand, has no such excuse. He was practically unrecognizable, even given the idea that the Nexus operates on wondering about the road not taken. (Which is not the impression I got of its purpose, by the way -- the movie only talks about happiness.) Picard manages to figure out within minutes that what he's seeing isn't real, but Kirk can't believe it until Picard comes to nag at him? Kirk? Existing happily in the Nexus? When he's chosen a life of meaning and struggle over mindless happiness how many times in the series? The Kirk from This Side of Paradise and Who Mourns for Adonais? would be horrified to see himself in this movie.
So, this is how I'm choosing to think of the Nexus -- it is the Matrix. This random energy ribbon/pocket universe needs the energy of all the people inside it in order to travel the galaxy. In order to keep them ignorant and complacent, it tries to create a world where they'll be happy and not try to leave. Guinan gets to be Morpheus.
Furthermore, the Nexus is incapable of creating real people in all their complexity, which is why it can't possibly create Spock and McCoy for Kirk, the two people he loves most in the world. The Nexus is also reluctant to create anything that the people inside it would really care about, in case they would become unsatisfied with the copies and would want the real thing. So Kirk and Picard aren't allowed to be on the Enterprise, and are stuck with the Nexus creating feelings in them for people who have either never existed or were only minor presences in their lives. Nothing that would make them emotional enough to leave and want to find the real thing.
This is the only way the Nexus makes sense in my mind. Seriously.
Also, this is how Generations ends:
Conclusion
I first started these reviews because I saw a lot of differences between the structure of these movies and the structure of Reboot (though I didn't end up talking about Reboot -- another time, maybe), and that discussion just kept building up in my head. The bulk of this essay sort of exploded from me in a week, though I've been tweaking it since I finished. And whatever I thought of the movies themselves (*coughundiscoveredcountryandgenerationscough*), something I do appreciate all of these movies for is that there is a lot about them to analyze and discuss. I'm glad I finally got my thoughts on paper (so to speak) and out of my head.
Acknowledgments
Thank you totkeylasunset for looking this over and reassuring me that I actually make sense. All screencaps come from trekcore.com. Quotes from The Wrath of Khan script come from here. Quotes from The Final Frontier script come from here. All other quotes come from seeing clips of those scenes enough to memorize them. :p Discussion of hamartia/the tragic flaw comes from Aristotle's Poetics and what I remember of my drama class on tragedy, and discussion of the heroic journey comes from Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces.
And finally, thank you to all of you who read this thing that is long enough to be a master's thesis (25,000 words!) on the first seven Star Trek movies. :D
The Final Frontier
I'm actually sort of fond of this movie. It's got some absolute stinkers, namely the God-plot and Row Row Row Your Boat, but it's got some great character moments, great Kirk/Spock moments, and great Triumvirate moments, so on the whole I actually sort of like it.
But let's start with the crap this time and get that out of the way.
Campfire singalongs?
Before I saw this movie, I read the great Reboot fic Atlas by Angel Baby1, and there's this scene where Kirk is trying to persuade Spock to go camping with him, and he says this:
"Come on, it's not like all we do is sit around camp fires singing Row Row Row Your Boat." He considered his own statement before pulling a disgusted face. "I mean, that'd be irredeemably lame. We could go on to win a pissing contest with God and all anyone would talk about would be the shitty singing. Anyway."
When I first read it I thought that was amusing, but it was only when I reread the fic recently, after having watched TFF, that I got the reference and burst into giggles. But I remembered those lines because they're so true (though I wish the author had used a term other than lame to describe it). William Shatner, what were you thinking? In what universe was that a good idea?
The Plot
I really don't want to discuss the way Star Trek treats religion, but I will say that I wish Sybok had had a goal other than God-beyond-the-Barrier.
I find the cult unconvincing. I get that Sybok releasing their pain is great, but I would think that the various ambassadors, plus the Enterprise crew, would be strong enough not to fall into cult mentality just because the pain of their burdens has been lightened. It's unsatisfying.
But I want to talk more about the things I do like in this movie.
Themes
Unlike the first four movies, this one doesn't have the Kirk/Spock relationship as its emotional heart. There are still some really great K/S moments, but this movie isn't ultimately about them. It's about family. It's about the brothers Spock and Sybok, and Spock and his father, and McCoy and his father, and Kirk claiming Spock and McCoy as his family. It's about how family can hurt us, but they can also heal us. They can be conventional or unconventional. They can be tied by blood or they can be chosen. An exploration of family is at the heart of this movie.
Another overarching theme is the nature of pain. There's the kind of pain that poisons you, and there's the kind of pain that shapes you.
KIRK: Dammit, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're things we carry with us - the things that make us who we are. If we lost them, we lose ourselves. I don't want my pain taken away. I need my pain.
Sybok's cult demonstrates the dangers of losing pain -- they act like they really have lost themselves, and exist only to do his bidding.
There are dangers in keeping pain, because as Sybok says, it can poison you. But pain is something that shapes us and defines us. As Spock shows, we can learn from our pain. That's a big part of the pain theme in this movie -- the necessity of learning from one's pain and becoming a better, more balanced person for it, as evidenced by Spock.
Sybok and his pain is actually the other side of the equation, and the lesson in action. Sybok, because he wanted to embrace emotions, was rejected by Vulcan. In response, he becomes a messiah, with people hanging on his every word -- now, finally, people will listen to him and his wisdom. But when he meets "God" beyond the Barrier, and "God" morphs into a sinister construct of Sybok's face, Sybok sees that he was acting out of his own pain, which he didn't even realize was poisoning him. He then purges this pain in the same organic process that Spock went through earlier in life -- realization of who he is and why he's done what he's done, and a determination to learn from his mistake. He recognizes his pain and is able to learn from it.
The Crew
Apart from the disappointment of the cult stuff, there are some good moments for the crew. I love Chekov being "Captain" Chekov and playing his part perfectly. Uhura/Scotty did not have as much build-up as I would have wanted, but I think it's adorable, that they're fairly well-matched, and I have no problem with it. Uhura gets to be a sexy dancer, even in her forties/fifties, and then still a competent officer through the rest of the raid. Sulu gets to be a great pilot with the shuttle. Scotty was perfectly Scotty throughout the whole thing, caring much more about the ship than any pain he might have.
But this was a Triumvirate movie, with the relationships between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy pretty much exactly how I see them, so I was pleased with that.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy -- and Kirk/Spock and McCoy
Yosemite
We start in Yosemite, with Kirk climbing El Capitan, McCoy a nervous wreck watching him, and Spock flying up on levitation boots to join him. This is interesting for a number of reasons.
First, Kirk asks Spock what he's doing there. This is an indication that they had not decided to spend their shore leave together, which I actually like. Kirk wanted some quality time with his (non-space husband) best friend, McCoy. Healthy romantic relationships include the participants having healthy relationships with other people, rather than being totally codependent. It's good for them to spend time with other people.
Second, Spock crashes the party. I'm sort of torn about this. On one hand, I wish Kirk and McCoy had gotten their quality time. But on the other, McCoy is friend to both of them, so both of them should get the chance to spend time with him.
Also, this is an indication that Spock is much more like his post-TMP self. Remember the episode Shore Leave (of the famous backrub scene), where Spock says that shore leave is for resting and says that it's illogical to use energy during a time of rest? Now he prioritizes spending time with his closest friends over doing the logical thing and resting.
There's a great character moment, which is Kirk climbing El Capitan just because it's there and he likes a challenge. There's also a great flirting moment when Kirk says that he's flattered that of all the points of interest in Yosemite, Spock picks him. It is sort of a hint that Spock is distracting him and should stop that and go find something else to study, but it's a very gentle and flirty sort of hint. And Spock doesn't take it, hah. He'd rather stay there and flirt with Kirk than go see all the cool stuff in Yosemite. Spock the explorer and scientist, the Vulcan, would rather flirt with Kirk than go discover new things.
Guys, this is one reason I like this movie. The fire has not gone out of this relationship -- they still flirt, a lot, both verbally and through body language. Great stuff.
Argument in the Brig
This scene is pretty controversial and I'm sort of torn on it myself. On one hand, I don't like that Kirk got so angry at Spock for not killing Sybok when he knows that Spock doesn't like killing. On the other hand, regardless of their personal relationship, Spock is an officer of Starfleet and he has an obligation to save his ship from hijackers, even to the extent of using lethal force if he has to. Kirk has every right to be angry at Spock, as a captain to a member of his crew, especially since he doesn't know that Spock and Sybok are brothers.
Speaking of that, I can actually buy that Kirk didn't know about Spock and Sybok. Spock may have gotten a lot more relaxed about emotional stuff since TMP, but he is still a Vulcan, from a different culture, and a primarily logical being. Humans may tell each other about our families, including estranged members, but that's humans, and Spock isn't. Sybok has had no bearing on Spock's life since he left. Sybok just never came up. He was never relevant. Why tell Kirk about him when he had nothing to do with anything? Kirk knows that Spock is his parents' only child, so of course it just would never have occurred to him that Spock would have siblings. Plus Kirk is still human and takes it for granted that Spock would tell him something like that. Honestly, I think that argument is about culture clash, which can still happen even for people who have known each other well for twenty years.
The Vulcan princess thing... *snorts* Whatever. I'm dubious about the existence of princesses on Vulcan, but Sarek having a relationship before Amanda makes sense. First, we know childhood bonding is the norm. Second, Spock was born when Sarek was roughly in his sixties, and I don't know how long Sarek and Amanda were married before Spock was born, but I doubt it was thirty-plus years. Sarek would have had to deal with pon farr before Amanda, so of course there was someone who helped him through it, and it's not unreasonable for Sarek to have had a child with that person.
I also think that the existence of Sybok makes sense for Spock personally. Sarek married an emotional human, and we assume that he loves her (he says so explicitly in Reboot, and in TNG episode Sarek). Why, then, would he want to deny her any influence on the son he had with her? Why would he want to deny the aspects of her that found expression in Spock? In refusing to accept Spock's non-Vulcan aspects, he comes off as a huge douche.
Sarek's actions about Spock make more sense with Sybok in the picture. He's still a douche, but an understandable one. If his elder son, who is full Vulcan, can give in to his emotions and run off to become an outlaw, how much easier would it be for Spock, who is half-human, raised by a mother who encourages the expression of emotion? So he tries to make Spock as Vulcan as possible in reaction to Sybok. When Spock chooses Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy, to Sarek it must feel like the second time his son has rejected his ways -- and, by extension, him. The estrangement between Spock and Sarek was not logical, but I never thought it was even before I found out about Sybok. I just think it makes more sense on Sarek's part. Like I said, he's still a douche, but an understandable one.
There's also something of interest to me in the beginning of the scene, a distinction between the relationship Kirk and Spock have with each other and the ones they have with McCoy. Kirk has gotten all angry at Spock, and McCoy interjects himself into the discussion to offer to hold Spock down, and Kirk snaps at him to stay out of this. In part, that is the Captain of the Enterprise reacting, where he has the responsibility of dressing down his crew, not his CMO. But Spock has already made this discussion personal. Kirk accused him in the beginning of the argument of betraying every man on the ship, and Spock says, "Worse. I have betrayed you." (Which is a great K/S line. Spock thinks that betraying Kirk is worse than betraying his ship.)
That line changes this discussion from being between captain and crewmember to being between Kirk and Spock. And Kirk thinks that McCoy should stay out of it. Even in a movie where McCoy has a greater role, he's not allowed into the K/S bubble. Of course McCoy is a part of the discussion, particularly once Kirk gets over being hurt and Spock finally gives out information, but when Kirk is feeling emotional in an argument between him and Spock, his instinct is that McCoy isn't part of it. This is a movie where Kirk explicitly acknowledges the three of them as family, but the K/S relationship is just different from the way they interact with McCoy.
It's not just that the three of them are different people and of course have different ways of relating to each other. In the series, which is before they would have started a romantic relationship, Kirk and Spock did still have their little K/S bubble and would forget that other people existed (see the eyesex scene in Miri), but it was a lot easier for them to pop that bubble and let other people, mainly McCoy, in. A lot of the great beginning or end of episode banter sessions have McCoy an equal party to Kirk and Spock's fun with each other (and, um, totally not meaning that in a sexual sense. :p). What I see in this scene, though, is two people in a relationship who don't think that their personal arguments are anyone else's business. It very much comes off as a couple-y thing, with McCoy there as contrast to prove what "just good friends" actually looks like.
Next comes one of my favorite K/S moments in the entire movie. Actually, probably the entire original Star Trek.
The Turboshaft Scene
Kirk is climbing up the turboshaft, while Spock thinks up something more efficient and shows up wearing his levitation boots. It's almost entirely wordless, but here's the sequence of events. I need to see if I can find a clip of this...
1. Spock says, "I believe I found a faster way."
2. He holds out his hands to Kirk.
3. Kirk puts his hand on his chest. Subtext: who, me?
4. Spock lifts his hands a bit to indicate he still has them out. Subtext: of course, you.
5. Kirk inclines his head and starts grinning. Subtext: oh, all right.
6. Close-up of Kirk stepping onto Spock's boots.
7. Kirk grabs Spock for balance, in the process hugging him quite closely.
You know what this looks like to me? Dancing. Spock extends his hands to Kirk, like, May I have this dance? Kirk puts his hand to his chest in a coquettish, Who, me? move. Spock indicates his hands, silently saying, Of course, you. Kirk inclines his head in agreement and grins. Oh, all right. Then a close-up of their feet. This is practically the entire process of a flirty dance invitation and the beginning of the dance. A slow dance, with lots of body contact.
Spock's levitation boots are undeniably a faster way up the turboshaft. But I honestly cannot think of any other way to interpret the way Kirk puts his hand on his chest and inclines his head, other than flirting. Seriously, cannot think of any other possible interpretation.
Oh my god, you guys. It's been twenty years and they still take every possible opportunity to flirt. And in this scene they do it almost entirely without words. I love this ship.
Then we shift to McCoy, who once again presents a contrast. McCoy has already complained about having to climb up the turboshaft, but when Kirk and Spock offer him a lift, he says, "You two go ahead. I'll wait for the next car." In what universe is that not McCoy saying, "Don't you two look cozy together. Don't let me interrupt." Seriously. Of course Kirk refuses to leave McCoy behind and McCoy has to grab on anyway, but wow. This scene. Amazing.
Facing Pain
In the very beginning of the movie, we see Sybok in the act of taking someone's pain. This scene makes it clear that it happens entirely in the mind. Right here we don't get the see what the guy's pain is, because, unlike Sybok, we can't see into someone's mind.
How Sybok takes pain does not involve projecting it somehow. Honestly, I don't know how a Vulcan would even begin to project an image directly from someone's mind using only telepathic or empathic powers, so that other people (who he is not touching) could see this image. We are given no indication throughout canon thus far that this is a possibility.
When Sybok uses his empathic ability on McCoy and Spock, the scene is projected visually -- but it's to the audience, not to the room in general. The audience cares more about McCoy and Spock than Sybok's random follower, so we are allowed a glimpse into their minds and their pasts. But do remember that it is still in their minds.
Throughout the scene with McCoy, Kirk and Spock are watching, but what they are watching is most likely McCoy having a freaky cathartic experience, which is enough to hold their attention. They do not speak or move into the scene. Apart from the fact that they are looking in McCoy's direction, there is no indication that they can see what he sees. Considering that this catharsis takes place solely in the mind, as we saw at the beginning of the film, it is most likely that they in fact can't see what McCoy sees. Sybok can, because it's his power that's causing this. McCoy can, because it's his mind. Kirk and Spock can't.
Spock's experience, on the other hand, includes Kirk. Kirk moves with him into the scene and speaks to him about what they both are seeing. They are inside Spock's mind, and Kirk is just naturally there with them, without the intervention of a mind meld or anything visible. The only explanation for this is some kind of mind link between Kirk and Spock.
spookyfbi has talked about this before, but I was reading that meta and then thinking of further implications.There are indications in the series that Kirk and Spock have some sort of mind link, like in The Tholian Web. It becomes more explicit in Roddenberry's novelization of The Motion Picture, where Spock hears Kirk's thoughts across sixteen light years and then later Kirk isn't surprised when Spock tells him that. Both of these instances, however, happen before The Wrath of Khan.
This means two possible options for the mind link in TFF. One is that the mental link between Kirk and Spock survived Spock's death. The other is that the link was broken when Spock died, but sometime between the fal-tor-pan and this movie, Kirk and Spock re-established their link. And do remember that there is very little time happening between TSfS and TFF, so most likely if they re-established the link, they did so deliberately.
Guys, both of those options are romantic and slashy as hell, oh my god. I'm leaning towards option two, because I find it kind of difficult to believe that an actual mind link can survive death (yes, Spock's katra was still around, but I think the existence of a physical mind linked to the katra would be at least somewhat necessary), but it's still a possibility. Otherwise -- dude, they want to be linked to each other. I don't suppose they have to actually be married to have chosen to mentally bond with each other, but, um, that's certainly what I believe.
SPOCK: Sybok, you are my brother, but you do not know me. I am not the outcast boy you left behind those many years ago. Since that time I have found myself and my place. I know who I am. And I cannot go with you.
Once again Star Trek talks about where Spock belongs. This time he is literally standing by Kirk's side as he says it. How many times have they found ways to emphasize that Kirk and Spock belong together now?
This scene ends with a great Triumvirate moment. McCoy is initially all set to join Sybok's cult, but unlike the rest of the crew (gah), his loyalty to his friends outweighs his brainwashing/gratitude. Awww. Go McCoy!
Klingons Ruin Everything
Oh yes, the best line in the entire film -- "Please, Captain. Not in front of the Klingons." :D
You know, that's a pretty awkward position if Kirk's just going in for a hug. He's already got his hands on Spock's biceps, so moving them for a hug would be possible, but still awkward. The position of his hands makes much more sense if he's going in for a kiss. Just saying. :p
And hah, I love Spock at the end of this little moment too. Kirk lowers his hands and looks around at the Klingons and then back at Spock, and Spock gives him this little arch, sort of smug, hah-I-teased-Jim look. Very cute.
Family
The final scene of this movie.
The Undiscovered Country
This is actually my least favorite of the TOS-era movies. There are moments when I have trouble believing that these characters are really Kirk and Spock, I don't think the writers are using the concept of prejudice correctly, I find it hard to believe that Uhura can't speak better Klingon (it only makes sense for the communications officer to know the language of one of your main enemies), and I go wtf? at the idea of a high-level conspiracy to screw up the peace summit. I mean, you don't have to trust Klingons to try to make peace with them. It seems sort of ridiculous to me that Vulcans and Starfleet captains and admirals would let their distrust of Klingons go so far as to sabotage peace talks. It's not logical and it's not professional. Kirk, ironically, got to be the model of professional, diplomatic behavior. Everyone, Federation and Klingons, knew that he didn't like Klingons, and that he had some very personal and viable reasons for not liking Klingons, but he still did his duty. Reluctantly and snarkily, but he did make an effort. Plus, the Federation conspirators actually worked with the Klingon General Chang...to make sure they would never have to work with Klingons. Um, how does that make sense? I know it's supposed to be part of the irony of the movie, but these are all smart people! They couldn't have missed that they worked with a Klingon so they wouldn't have to work with Klingons. It just seems entirely stupid to me.
That's about all I want to say about plot, though, so let's move on to the stuff that interests me more -- theme and character.
Themes
This movie is a thematic sequel to The Final Frontier, more specifically the pain theme. In TFF, Kirk refuses to let go of his pain, claiming that it's what makes him who he is and he needs his pain. There is no quick fix for it.
This movie is about the organic process of letting go of a pain that poisons you, as Kirk's pain about his son is poisoning him. He's been holding tight to his hatred of Klingons, who he had never liked even before TSfS, but this movie shows what that hatred has done to him. "Let them die!" Kirk says to Spock.
Kirk's pain poisoned him, and this movie shows him learning how to let it go. Working with Klingons, and believing there's something in them that he can identify with and sympathize with, is how Kirk manages to let go.
Prejudice is also a theme in this movie, though it's very heavy-handed (not quite as heavy as the environmental message of Star Trek: Save the Whales, but still very obvious) and used strangely.
A prejudice is a preconceived opinion, or an opinion formed without true knowledge or reasoning. Kirk is not prejudiced against Klingons, because he has very valid reasons for feeling the way that he does. If it had only been that his son had been killed by Klingons, I would have been more willing to accept Kirk's attitudes in this movie as prejudice, blaming the many for the actions of a few, and so on. But it wasn't just David. Kirk has never had a positive interaction with a Klingon. Day of the Dove comes sort of close, because Kirk and the Klingons are eventually willing to work together, but that was a dubious truce with a lot of vitriol still going around. Kirk's interactions with Klingons in The Trouble With Tribbles are more neutral than usual, but considering Kirk uncovered a Klingon plot at the end, it's not that like that was a step forward. Klingons have never treated Kirk very well, so he has reason to dislike and distrust them.
As for Spock saying that he was prejudiced by Valeris's accomplishments -- what? So he didn't suspect her immediately, because of her accomplishments. Umm, sounds reasonable to me. Innocent until proven guilty, there's no logic in suspecting someone who does nothing suspicious, etc. I would have found it stranger if Spock had suspected her, because he had no reason to. (The audience does, because she's this random new character given a prominent role; it makes narrative sense for her to be the villain. But Spock, as a character, would not be privy to that line of reasoning.)
I don't really see prejudice in this movie. I see a lot of people who have reason not to like each other who slowly start to overcome their differences. Very big difference from prejudice.
There are four things I really liked about this movie. One is the pain theme, that Kirk is finally learning to let go of his pain. The other things I like are...
Shakespeare
Shakespeare! I am a big English geek, and like many of my kind, I am quite fond of Shakespeare. It was great to see him quoted so often, whether or not it was in the original Klingon. *snorts* The reason Shakespeare has endured to even the twenty-first century is because he says relevant things about the human condition. I'm glad to see him enduring even farther.
The Crew
The crew's loyalty to Kirk is so awesome. Chekov is first officer on the Reliant for awhile in TWoK, and we finally see Sulu get his own command in this movie, but Chekov and Sulu still demonstrate serious loyalty to Kirk even when they aren't his subordinates anymore.
Of course the writers have typically kept the crew together because they're the established characters, the audience already knows them, and it's best not to screw with the dynamic. But inside the universe, it means that all of these characters have constantly passed up better opportunities in order to keep serving under Kirk. Spock is already a captain as of TWoK -- he could have been given his own command at any point, but he follows Kirk everywhere. It makes sense for McCoy and Scotty to be planted where they are -- McCoy has greater attachment to Kirk than to Starfleet, and Scotty's first love is the Enterprise. But Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu didn't have to stay in the same positions they've had on the Enterprise for more than twenty years. Sulu finally does advance his own career in this movie, but he's still unquestionably loyal to Kirk. It's really very heartwarming.
The Klingon Chancellor's Daughter
What was her name, Azetbur? She was awesome. Yay, a strong woman! She leads her people, is not going to give in about the peace talks but is also not going to give in about her father's murder, and accepts that Kirk is innocent when given proof. She's reasonable and intelligent and strong. Go Azetbur!
Okay. Apart from two K/S moments, that's about it for the stuff I actually liked. Now I'll talk about the stuff that made me raise an eyebrow and/or stare incredulously.
Kirk and Martia
Honestly, I think Martia exists because the production team for this movie realized that Kirk hasn't kissed a woman since the sixties and they wanted to make it less incredibly obvious that Kirk is married to Spock.
This one I don't dislike. I don't really like her, but Kirk kisses her for the same reason he kissed most of the other women linked to him during the series -- with ulterior motives. First of all, she's the one who kisses him. He doesn't want to jeopardize his chances of escape by being rude to the person willing to help him, so he can't push her away.
Second, he never took her at face value. He was always waiting for her to show her real motives, and he knew they were not attraction to him. He displays no real attraction to her either.
Third, and something I actually appreciate about Martia -- she's not really a woman! We don't know what she is! She even shifts into Kirk's body. She may have been in a female form when she kissed Kirk, but we can't take it for granted that that's her true gender. Kirk has finally kissed someone who is not necessarily female! I do appreciate that, even if I'd rather see him kiss Spock.
I am dubious that Kirk was so willing to get her killed, though. It doesn't really seem like Kirk to me.
The Kirk/Spock Argument
This argument is very hard for me to watch, for several reasons. It's not entirely unreasonable and out of character, but it has its moments. Let's start with talking about Kirk.
Kirk
He calls Spock making this decision for him "arrogant presumption". It is pretty arrogant and presumptuous for a subordinate (regardless of his actual rank) to go over his captain's head in volunteering his ship for a mission. Not a good thing in a military organization. But Kirk...usually lets Spock get away with a lot. In The Menagerie, Spock hijacked his ship and Kirk said that he must have had his reasons.
My interpretation of this line is two-fold. The first is that it's arrogant presumption for Spock to make decisions on Kirk's behalf without consulting him. And honestly, regardless of any personal relationship between them, that's true. I'm not married, but if I were, I would get angry at my spouse if they made decisions about me without my input. It would be worse for Kirk, who is so fiercely independent and who fears losing command.
The second aspect of this line is that it was about Klingons. It was arrogant presumption for Spock to go over Kirk's head in making this decision when he knew that it was something Kirk would not have agreed to. So from Kirk's perspective, this is a really shitty thing for Spock to do, especially since Spock knows Kirk so well and would know how he would think of this.
Kirk also tells Spock, "You should have trusted me." I had to really think about this line to understand what Kirk was trying to say there, and I'm still not entirely sure I'm right. My initial reaction, when I first watched this movie, was to think that Kirk was being an ass, accusing Spock of not trusting him when he's the one right there not trusting Spock. Which is true, he really isn't trusting Spock.
The line also sort of came out of nowhere and I had to think about why Kirk is bringing up trust in the first place. The answer that I came up with goes back to the going-over-Kirk's-head thing. Kirk is angry with Spock for not trusting him with his plans, not trusting Kirk to make his own decisions. That's the best I can come up with, and I'm still not sure how well it fits.
Then there's Kirk's "Let them die!" line. Which I still can't quite believe, even as I fanwank it away. I mean, I've already talked about Kirk's pain and how it's poisoning him and he needs to learn to let it go, so obviously this is something that illustrates how much Kirk's pain has poisoned him. Even so, I'm incredulous that Kirk would say something like that. He can be a hothead who jumps to his own conclusions, but he's also a compassionate guy in general. He doesn't like seeing people die for no reason, even when they're his enemies. I find it hard to believe that Kirk would be willing to condemn an entire species to death, no matter how much he dislikes them.
There are things that Kirk is justified being angry about in this scene, but it's still difficult to watch, and not just because I don't like watching arguments.
Spock
First of all, I don't think the "Vulcan proverb", "Only Nixon could go to China", ages well. I mean, I get the reference, and the Cold War allegory that the film represents, but it feels off. This might just be personal preference, though.
All right, the rest of this scene. I think that Spock volunteered the Enterprise for the mission for Kirk's sake. I think he saw how Kirk's pain was poisoning him, and decided to do something about it. I can see Kirk, out of stubborn independence, completely denying that there's a problem, which forces Spock to go sneaky in order to solve it. But I do think that Spock's goal here is to make Kirk confront his pain and work through it.
Kirk even proves how necessary Spock's tactics and goal were. Spock had to go sneaky because Kirk would have turned it down if he'd been given the choice. And "Let them die!" makes it clear to Spock that an intervention is needed. Spock will make decisions on Kirk's behalf if he thinks it's for Kirk's own good. Which would be infuriating to Kirk, of course, but I don't think it's out of character.
The Mind Meld with Valeris
Oh my god, this scene. Kirk tells Spock to mind-rape his Vulcan protégé, and Spock does it.
What. WHAT.
And no one says anything! Kirk and Spock don't even go through the motions of regretting that it has to come to this, or whatever. Nope. They just do it and it's done and that's that. For the good of the Federation.
Jesus Christ. I've puzzled through it to have it make some semblance of sense, but I still think it's out of character on both their parts, especially Spock. But anyway.
So, Kirk is easy enough to explain. There's time-sensitive information that Valeris knows and is not willing to say, so he has to get it out of her somehow. The mind meld is the easiest and quickest way to do so. I seriously don't like this moment, but I can understand it.
Plus, Kirk is emotionally compromised throughout the whole movie, which is the only way I can explain things like "Let them die!" or engineering Martia's death. The Valeris scene is yet another of his strange moral failings in this movie.
Spock is harder. In the previous movie, he would rather let the Enterprise get hijacked than kill his brother, even at Kirk's order. But here he's willing to mind-rape his protégé? Any possible justifications for that leaves a nasty aftertaste in my mouth, so I'm going to make it clear right now that I am trying to explore Spock's possible reasons for doing this, and trying not to justify them, because I honestly think this is unjustifiable. I wish they had found some other way of getting the information.
I think the main thing to keep in mind with Spock is that Valeris's actions led directly to Kirk nearly getting killed. Spock does not deal well with the idea of Kirk in danger. In The Man Trap and Devil in the Dark, he'd rather endangered species go extinct than Kirk get killed. Spock could probably forgive anything, except what hurts Kirk. He's willing to treat her with disregard because of what she did to Kirk.
I sort of wonder if this is a downside to Spock being more comfortable with his emotions. The relaxation of his strict Vulcan control makes him more willing to relax his ethical standards as well. Reboot!Spock seems to think so, at the revelation that Spock Prime is willing to practice deception. In Reboot, it's framed as a good thing. In this movie, Spock's ethical violation is not framed as anything at all, except necessary.
I mean, it's not the first time that Spock has mind melded without permission. He did the same thing at the end of Requiem for Methuselah, in a scene I also dislike, but he does it in response to McCoy claiming he'll never understand what love can drive a man to do. I do find it squicky that Spock's tampering with Kirk's memories is framed as an act of love, but that entire episode is about how love makes people do questionable things. I don't think Spock's tampering is meant to be shown as a good thing.
There are plenty of times when Spock melds (and I mean a full meld, not whatever Jedi-mind-trick suggestibility thing he can do) with something that hasn't given him permission, but apart from Requiem for Methuselah, the only instances I can think of are cases where there's no communication even possible without the meld, like with the Horta and the whales. There was just no other way to communicate with them.
There is just one instance I can think of in the entire show and movies that comes close to what Spock does in this scene. One instance where Spock melds with a sentient being who is able to communicate with him by other means, and who doesn't want the meld (looking terrified when it happens), and Spock disregards his wishes and melds with him anyway. That would be Mirror!Spock, with McCoy.
But no, in this movie there's nothing wrong with Spock mind-raping a woman and an officer on the bridge. It's for the good of the Federation.
I don't know if "it's the most logical and expedient thing to do" suffices as an explanation either, even for Spock. I mean, we know from Journey to Babel that Sarek at least, despite the ethical precept against killing/violence, would be able to kill if that were the logical thing to do. Vulcans are capable of prioritizing logic about moral imperatives.
But I don't think that this is necessarily the rule among Vulcans. Spock was unable to kill his brother, even though there was logical reason to do so and his failure created a lot of difficulties. As I mentioned way at the beginning of this entire essay, Kodos in The Conscience of the King was a highly utilitarian figure -- keeping the idea of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" in mind, Kodos's actions were actually rather logical. Even the eugenics side, because it's logical to have the survivors be people who already have a genetic edge on the population. Yet Spock disapproves of Kodos on moral grounds.
Vulcans have the potential to be amoral people concerned only with logic, but that's not entirely what we see, particularly from Spock, who is after all the focus of this discussion. Spock, though he does prefer to make his decisions through logic, is also a supremely moral person throughout the series and movies.
So there are two main things that leave a bad taste in my mouth about this scene. One is the ethical violation on the part of Spock (and Kirk), while the other is the way that it's framed. Like I said, there are no consequences, and no one things anything of it except that it's necessary. That's not how we think of Mirror!Spock's mind-rape of McCoy -- maybe it was necessary in the context of the episode for Mirror!Spock to gain that information, but we're not exactly meant to laud him for how he got that information. But in this movie, no one cares that Spock, a sympathetic and beloved character, mind-rapes someone. I hate that the movie has no issue with it.
I am just...very much not pleased with how this scene was handled.
All right, let's end this movie with the K/S stuff. Might as well go out on a good note.
What Chekov Saw
So...what purpose does this scene serve, in the narrative sense? We don't know what Kirk and Spock are talking about, apart from Spock saying that something is possible.
Honestly, having them go off on their own and then showing them standing so close together that they could be kissing has no real narrative purpose. Having them go off together on their own would be enough to indicate they're making a plan to catch Valeris. Though these two have known each other for nearly thirty years, so we don't even need to see them in the process of making a plan to know they'll have made a plan. We can just assume that, therefore this scene is not really necessary.
It's just cute. Look, Kirk and Spock are standing so close they could be kissing? Personal space, what's that?
Kirk and Spock Make Up
This scene can easily be paraphrased as:
Spock: You were right, I was wrong.
Kirk: No, you were right and I was wrong.
Spock: No, I was wrong! You could have been killed.
Kirk: I wasn't, so don't beat yourself up about it. Let's just say we were both partly right and partly wrong.
It plays very like a couple who is tired of arguing and each party wants to claim all the blame for themselves. Quite cute. I don't really have anything else to say about this, though.
Yeah, I'm not too impressed with this movie. There were some scattered good moments, but not many of them, and they were short. But lucky me, now I get to talk about Generations, which was worse.
Generations
I'd heard a lot about this movie before I saw it, and therefore my expectations were extremely low. For the most part the movie actually exceeded them, to my surprise -- at least while I was watching. Once I started thinking about what had actually happened, I saw that there's too much that doesn't hold up, plot-wise as well as character-wise. The scenes in the Nexus weren't much help.
The Enterprise-B scenes weren't too bad. Kirk was recognizably Kirk, and though I did not get a good impression of Captain Harriman, the rest was mostly all right. There was some good dramatic tension, especially leading up to the revelation that Kirk was where the hull breach was.
I do have to wonder, though, why Kirk retired in the first place. Yeah, the Enterprise-A was decommissioned, but that means that he's done with Starfleet as a whole now? What was he intending to do for the rest of his life?
(Though hey, didn't Spock retire at this time as well? If so, what a coincidence! Except not. Spock spent his career after meeting Kirk following Kirk around, so now Kirk returns the favor. Kirk's retirement makes the most sense in response to Spock's retirement, except for Kirk's line about being lonely. But that line about loneliness is the sole and complete setup for his life in the Nexus, so of course the writers had to shoehorn it in there.)
At this point I've just started season four of The Next Generation, but I was engaged enough with the TNG aspects of the story. Picard did sound like something of a douche when he seemed to care more about the end of his family name than that his brother and nephew are dead, but I hope I can just blame that on bad writing not getting the point across very well.
The themes were fairly consistent in this movie. I wasn't exactly pleased with how those themes were dealt with -- loneliness, family, what makes people happy -- but they were still consistent. But I think this movie would have done far, far better if it had been purely TNG, because trying to make Kirk fit just didn't work.
There are plenty of things that are wrong with the movie itself. For instance, Data's emotion chip serves no purpose apart from comic relief, which I find disappointing considering Data is my favorite TNG character.
This movie also commits the cardinal sin of having a plot that requires the characters be stupid, which is not something I tend to forgive a story for. Some of the very stupid decisions the characters made include:
• Making Troi drive the ship when Riker alone is a much better pilot.
• I don't understand why Soran took Geordi in the first place.
• Having the characters completely forget about modulating shield frequencies during the Klingon attack, even though modulating their shields is something they've done many times across the series and it would be the most logical response to the attack.
• I have to wonder why no one was suspicious when the Klingons were willing to exchange Geordi for Picard going down to the planet to talk to Soran. They exchanged their hostage for a hostage who wasn't even going to be where they could keep an eye on him. The audience knows why they were willing to do that -- they wanted Geordi back on the ship so they could see through his VISOR -- but that should have been a deal that made no sense to the Enterprise. But no one seems to have even seriously checked Geordi out to make sure that, say, no one had bugged his VISOR.
• Having Picard determined to stop Soran on Veridian III, even though the Nexus can take him to any time and any place and therefore it would be a lot easier for Picard to stop him when he first shows up. Except that would have been a lot safer and the writers couldn't have killed off Kirk. *eyeroll*
I am not a fan of rampant plot-required stupidity. I am also not a fan of people being out of character, which leads me to the Nexus.
I first watched this movie when I'd only been a couple seasons into TNG. At that point, I'd been just as angry about Picard as I was about Kirk, because from the episodes I'd seen, it looked like Picard was not a family man and he wasn't inclined to be domestic and the Nexus trying to give him this random wife and kids set off my non-traditional-lifestyles-are-okay-too RAGE and most of my review of this movie was taken up with a rant about how people don't have to be domestic to be happy.
That rant does still apply to Kirk, but while I haven't finished TNG yet, I have watched far enough, and discussed enough with my best friend (who is a huge TNG and Picard fan), to have a better understanding of Picard and the Nexus.
Again, I have not actually watched this far myself, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I gather that Picard's view of family is something that has changed over the course of the series. Initially he was career-driven, not a family man, not inclined to be domestic, etc. But I've heard about several episodes that happen later that begin to shift his views on this. Enough to make him at least somewhat wistful and regretful that he turned down opportunities for a family of his own in favor of his career.
Picard's experience of the Nexus, I think, comes from the road not taken. The deaths of his brother and nephew earlier in the movie focus Picard's attention on the issue of family, and whether or not he should have had children, and the Nexus took this regret and wistfulness and created a happy fantasy of a happy family.
In light of this, it's unsurprising that he realized so quickly that what he was seeing wasn't real. The Nexus made up the family, apart from the nephew, out of whole cloth, so there was nothing for Picard to anchor himself to and try to accept it. There wasn't enough real there to even begin to hold him.
I am still frustrated that the Nexus created domestic fantasies for both Picard and Kirk, even given questions about the road not taken. What is unquestionable about both men is that they are happy in command of their starships, that the bridge of their ships is where they thrive. Given Picard's life and personality, I think what the Nexus could have done to give him his greatest happiness was to have a family join him on the Enterprise, so that he could have the best of both worlds. But that didn't happen -- it was just straight domestic fantasy. I find it more understandable now than I did when I first watched the movie, but I do still find it frustrating.
Kirk's characterization, on the other hand, has no such excuse. He was practically unrecognizable, even given the idea that the Nexus operates on wondering about the road not taken. (Which is not the impression I got of its purpose, by the way -- the movie only talks about happiness.) Picard manages to figure out within minutes that what he's seeing isn't real, but Kirk can't believe it until Picard comes to nag at him? Kirk? Existing happily in the Nexus? When he's chosen a life of meaning and struggle over mindless happiness how many times in the series? The Kirk from This Side of Paradise and Who Mourns for Adonais? would be horrified to see himself in this movie.
So, this is how I'm choosing to think of the Nexus -- it is the Matrix. This random energy ribbon/pocket universe needs the energy of all the people inside it in order to travel the galaxy. In order to keep them ignorant and complacent, it tries to create a world where they'll be happy and not try to leave. Guinan gets to be Morpheus.
Furthermore, the Nexus is incapable of creating real people in all their complexity, which is why it can't possibly create Spock and McCoy for Kirk, the two people he loves most in the world. The Nexus is also reluctant to create anything that the people inside it would really care about, in case they would become unsatisfied with the copies and would want the real thing. So Kirk and Picard aren't allowed to be on the Enterprise, and are stuck with the Nexus creating feelings in them for people who have either never existed or were only minor presences in their lives. Nothing that would make them emotional enough to leave and want to find the real thing.
This is the only way the Nexus makes sense in my mind. Seriously.
Also, this is how Generations ends:
Conclusion
I first started these reviews because I saw a lot of differences between the structure of these movies and the structure of Reboot (though I didn't end up talking about Reboot -- another time, maybe), and that discussion just kept building up in my head. The bulk of this essay sort of exploded from me in a week, though I've been tweaking it since I finished. And whatever I thought of the movies themselves (*coughundiscoveredcountryandgenerationscough*), something I do appreciate all of these movies for is that there is a lot about them to analyze and discuss. I'm glad I finally got my thoughts on paper (so to speak) and out of my head.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to
tkeylasunset for looking this over and reassuring me that I actually make sense. All screencaps come from trekcore.com. Quotes from The Wrath of Khan script come from here. Quotes from The Final Frontier script come from here. All other quotes come from seeing clips of those scenes enough to memorize them. :p Discussion of hamartia/the tragic flaw comes from Aristotle's Poetics and what I remember of my drama class on tragedy, and discussion of the heroic journey comes from Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces.And finally, thank you to all of you who read this thing that is long enough to be a master's thesis (25,000 words!) on the first seven Star Trek movies. :D
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Date: 2011-04-21 02:55 am (UTC)Also for ST:V, I LOVE the turbolift shaft scene as well. It's just so cute and flirty ^w^
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Date: 2011-04-22 05:02 am (UTC)The turboshaft scene is totally one of my favorite K/S moments ever. I just can't see any possible interpretation of it other than flirting. :D
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Date: 2011-04-21 12:02 pm (UTC)(I would totally gush over this more, but it's been waaaay too long since I've last slept. @___@)
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Date: 2011-04-22 05:04 am (UTC)And please, if there's anything in particular you want to discuss when you've slept, feel free to talk about it. As is probably obvious, I enjoy discussion. :)
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Date: 2011-04-22 08:02 am (UTC)Anyway I loved this post, especially the end of 5, because I hadn't really noticed the fact that Kirk can see Spock's experience. So thanks for that, and the excellent analysis!
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Date: 2011-04-22 09:07 pm (UTC)Otherwise, I'm glad you liked my analysis. :)
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Date: 2011-04-23 07:53 am (UTC)It’s given me a lot of new things to think about like the comparison between The Menagerie and TSfS which I’ve never considered before.
I also love the screenshot of Scotty and Uhura from TVH because it provides some more evidence for my theory that Scotty and Uhura are just as close a couple as Kirk and Spock are. Maybe they aren’t married, but a tight couple none the less.
Scotty/Uhura works for me because while the relationship appears new to the audience in TFF, it seems to be established for the characters. Uhura says that they were supposed to be taking shore leave together, she brings dinner for ‘us’ as opposed to ‘I brought dinner for you’, and both of them are comfortable with close physical displays of affection; and in public no less! These are clearly not two people testing the waters of a new relationship or Uhura having an infatuation with Scotty that’s completely one sided and comes out of nowhere (sorry SFDebris). And watching the series again after watching TFF I’ve noticed that the personal space bubble between these two shrinks considerably whenever Scotty is in command of the ship. Maybe I should just do my own essay about them?
Totally agree with you on the whole Kirk in retirement problem. Since Kirk tells Picard not to let them do anything to take you off the bridge of that ship it seems that Starfleet has a mandatory age of retirement. And from the way McCoy and Scotty talk it’s seems they’re all being retired at the same time which supports that idea, but if it’s because of age why weren’t Scotty and McCoy retired first considering they’re the oldest ones? It obviously isn’t done just because you decommission the ship they’ve been working on because Sulu is still going to be captaining the Excelsior. I honestly don’t get it.
Now since the Generations writers shoehorned that stuff about loneliness in to make the Nexus work I’ll happily shoehorn it in to my interpretation of Kirk and Spock. Taking the deleted pendant scene into account from the reboot movie it seems Spock is well on his way to establishing a new career in diplomacy, and his work with the peace process in TUC further supports this. This new career move may be taking him away from home more often leaving Kirk with an empty house. Kirk may be jealous of Spock dealing with this change in life so easily, while Kirk is clearly not. And who can blame him? Kirk hates being idle and while retirement can certainly be a busy and productive time of life, for those who haven’t planned for it well though, and let’s face it Kirk doesn’t handling aging well so he probably didn’t, it can become very boring very quickly.
This, as you said, makes the Nexus cabin seem so out of character that it hurts. The only way I can deal with is to think of it like the Matrix too, but where the Nexus only has access to surface thoughts of the people it pulls in. Picard’s thoughts are dwelling on the family and family name he has lost. So, the Nexus gives him a wife, lots of children to carry on the name, and his nephew is alive again. Picard will now be happy. Kirk doesn’t want to be retired so will put him at a time when he wasn’t retired. However, as we’ve seen through out the series the stress of command does get to him and we get his wistful ‘I wish I was on a long sea voyage...no responsibilities’ ‘girl on the beach’ ‘Tahiti Syndrome’ thinking some of which is probably running through his head on the Enterprise B, if only subconsciously. Thus we get a scenario where Kirk is in a beautiful peaceful paradise with no responsibilities, a nice girl, and where Kirk still needs to do things so he starts chopping wood.
Honestly the only good thing about the Nexus, two things really, is that since echoes apparently stay in there this has great potential for Spock/Kirk reunion fanfics in the reboot universe. Heck the writers created it solely to bring Kirk and Picard together so I can use it to bring Spock and Kirk back together if I want to; and since he has been in there for 70+ years the age gap between Kirk and Spock that was probably becoming an issue during the time of the Enterprise B has now been negated.
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Date: 2011-04-25 04:31 am (UTC)As for Kirk's retirement -- I don't really buy a mandatory age of retirement. The very first episode of The Next Generation has Admiral McCoy making an inspection of the Enterprise-D's sickbay, and he's like 130-something. I figured Kirk "don't let them take you off the bridge of that ship" thing was more about the way Kirk let himself be promoted to Admiral and then regretted it.
I think that Kirk's retirement really only makes sense in response to Spock's retirement, and your interpretation of why Kirk is feeling lonely then even given a relationship with Spock is awesome and totally my new headcanon. :D Thank you for that!
You know what I really desperately want someone to write? Kirk survives Generations, gets back together with Spock, they've got another sixteen years or so of being together, and then Kirk refuses to let Spock do the red matter thing without him so they both end up in Rebootverse. I want that SO MUCH, but no one seems to be writing it, so I might be forced to do it myself. XD (I've got it all planned out and everything -- now I just need to make myself write it!)
Anyway. Thank you for the long comment (I love discussion!), and I'm glad you enjoyed the essay!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-30 08:42 am (UTC)