# Pon farr **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735 "2016-09-12T03:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/41 "2016-09-13T00:36:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > In earlier Trek, that could make sense. But we’re now privy to way too many accidental interspecies pregnancies to presume test tubes are necessary. I don’t have my copy with me, but in _ **The Making of Star Trek** _ it was clear that the intervention of the advanced Vulcan school of medicine was required to bring Amanda’s pregnancy to full term. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/42 "2016-09-13T00:37:53Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > One of my favorite moments in the first reboot was when Sarek confided to Spock that he married Amanda because he loved her. Dorothy Fontana chose the name “Amanda” for her because it means “worthy of being loved.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/43 "2016-09-13T03:26:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > She was also “Tiger,” the French Resistance fighter on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _. And Marty Bach on an episode of _The Rockford Files_, and a glamorous actress on _Banacek_, and… Something made me look her up on IMDb a couple years ago. As I looked at her listing it turned out I’d seen her in several different roles and never realized they were all the same actress. There’s not a much better endorsement than that. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/44 "2016-09-13T03:50:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Fer sure, there were a lot of possibilities he could have explored with Nurse Chapel! 😉 One would hope. > [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Sarek had [something to say](https://youtu.be/iHg_1Ni6k-c?t=15m15shttp://) on the subject. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I’m not sitting through an entire hour of that to find what you reference. At what point does the Sarek thing come up? I think Cartoonacy meant to link to [15:15](https://youtu.be/iHg_1Ni6k-c?t=15m15s) but borked the link. That said, you could start at [15:40](https://youtu.be/iHg_1Ni6k-c?t=15m40s) without missing anything Sarek actually says. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/45 "2016-09-13T03:52:49Z")
In the Khan thread, I recommended a fanfic by a fine writer called Rabble Rouser. (On Archive Of Our Own, she also goes by the name harmony\_bites.) [Here’s another one](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/452636/1/Sympathy-for-the-Devil) by the same author, from T’Pring’s point of view–showing her to be not quite so cold and heartless as fandom would have us believe, and showing that the supposedly egalitarian Vulcan society is much harder on its females than they like to advertise. I think you might like it. Would you believe she actually makes Sybok seem far less of a ridiculous character than STV made him out to be? And I like the fact that her Stonn is not a scientist/rigid Vulcan thinker, but a former follower of Sybok who is an operatic tenor at the Met. And this fic pretty much follows on from D.C. Fontana’s conception–that Vulcans _can_ have sex anytime they wish, but pon farr is the only time they _have_ to. (This may have been written before anything on Enterprise contradicted any of its notions of female pon farr.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/46 "2016-09-13T04:08:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > She was also “Tiger,” the French Resistance fighter on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _. _Oui_. Ti-GHER. She’s also the “room for one more, honey” role in the Twilight Zone episode 22. And the spy who has a pair of red maracas in The Monkees. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/47 "2016-09-13T04:22:15Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > Vulcans _can_ have sex anytime they wish, but pon farr is the only time they _have_ to. … Or when they’re trying to seduce horny Romulan females while on an espionage mission. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/48 "2016-09-13T05:07:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … Or when they’re trying to seduce horny Romulan females while on an espionage mission. 😃 D.C. Fontana was actually quite peeved at how that episode turned out. She’d written the “love scene” as being in-character for Spock when he was in full control of his emotions–his most intimate line was, “I admire your mind,” and the Commander understood that for the compliment it was coming from someone as brilliant as Spock. When the scene was rewritten to be not much different than a human love scene, D.C. wrote a lengthy memo to the production staff protesting it–in addition to it being quite out-of-character for the Spock that had been presented up until then, in-story such behavior should have set off alarm bells in the Commander’s brain if she’d been thinking properly. But the re-writes were left in, and D.C. personally apologized to Leonard Nimoy for it. To top it all off, because her name was the main one in the writers’ credit, fans blamed her for the scene. (David Gerrold had quite a few problems with The Enterprise Incident as well…mainly because it presented dishonest behavior, spying and thievery, as acceptable as long as Starfleet guys did it. It was supposed to be a retelling of the Pueblo Incident, a 1968 snafu in which a US military ship was captured by North Korea under suspicion of spying, but the network wouldn’t allow it to hew too closely to actual events, so they came up with this. David thought it would have been a far more dramatic story if it actually WERE a closer retelling of the incident, and in order to save his crew, Kirk signed the confession that he was spying, then confronted the authority who’d ordered the mission.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/49 "2016-09-13T05:38:20Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > D.C. Fontana was actually quite peeved at how that episode turned out. There was a thread on this subject about a year ago. I was chastised for saying I preferred “Turnabout Intruder” to “The \*Enterprise \*Incident” any day. (So sue me!) The episode \*\*as it turned out \*\*was a “Mission: Ridiculous” from every point of view. The idea of Kirk feigning insanity and putting the \*Enterprise \*and its crew in jeopardy so that they _just might possibly_ succeed in stealing a cloaking device and then getting away safely boggles the mind. I can’t help wondering what Dorothy’s original script looked like. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/50 "2016-09-13T16:42:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The idea of Kirk feigning insanity and putting the \*Enterprise \*and its crew in jeopardy so that they _just might possibly_ succeed in stealing a cloaking device and then getting away safely boggles the mind. It depends upon how badly Starfleet wanted to examine a cloaking device. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/51 "2016-09-13T16:54:55Z")
Voyager took Pon Far to creepy levels. There was a token young Vulcan on board that chases after B’Elanna Torres. They are on this planet inside some caves alone. She had to literally fight him off. Meanwhile Tuvok was too embarrassed to offer much advice to Janeway or to counsel the horny young Vulcan. Even worse, B’Elanna Torres gets all excited at the end and is chasing Tom Paris. Her mixed alien background responded to Pon Far. This eventually lead to the B’Elanna / Tom romance storyline in later episodes ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/52 "2016-09-13T17:06:44Z")
I looked it up. The Episode is Blood Fever. The plot summary is hilarious. This is why Trek writers should avoid Pon Farr stories. LOL > **[Blood Fever (Star Trek: Voyager)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Fever_(Star_Trek:_Voyager))** > > "Blood Fever" is the 58th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the 16th episode of the third season. This episode focuses on life aboard the Federation spacecraft USS Voyager, stranded on the opposite side of the galaxy as Earth. Even with its fictional faster than light warp drive, it will take decades to return normally. This show focuses on the characters B'Elanna Torres, Ensign Vorik and Tom Paris, and explores the nature of the Vulcans. > The Vulcan Ensign Vorik proposes marriage to B'Elanna Torres... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/53 "2016-09-13T17:29:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It depends upon how badly Starfleet wanted to examine a cloaking device. The IMF could have pulled it off much better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/54 "2016-09-13T17:54:42Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I think Cartoonacy meant to link to [15:15](https://youtu.be/iHg_1Ni6k-c?t=15m15s) but borked the link. That said, you could start at [15:40](https://youtu.be/iHg_1Ni6k-c?t=15m40s) without missing anything Sarek actually says. Indeed. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/55 "2016-09-13T17:59:43Z")
George Takei was on Colbert this week and repeated the “they only mate once ever seven years” version. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/56 "2016-09-13T19:22:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The IMF could have pulled it off much better. 😃 Tom Cruise refused to have surgery that altered his face. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/57 "2016-09-13T19:27:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Tom Cruise refused to have surgery that altered his face. I was thinking more of Steven Hill or Peter Graves, who were right next door on the Desilu lot. But okay… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/58 "2016-09-13T19:28:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Tom Cruise refused to have surgery that altered his face. With an IMF mask, whoever went in wouldn’t have needed surgery! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735/59 "2016-09-13T19:41:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I was thinking more of Steven Hill or Peter Graves, who were right next door on the Desilu lot. But okay… 😃 Nimoy worked for both outfits, come to think of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pon-farr/765735.md?page=2)