In the first season episode “This side of Paradise”, the crew of the Enterprise end up getting sprayed by plant spores that makes them want to abandon their ship and live a simple life on Omicron Ceti III.
Kirk finally finds out that strong emotions somehow overwhelm the control of the plants/spores, and he picks a fight with Spock to free him, and get his help to free the rest of the crew. Here’s the dialog of the taunts (bolding mine):
Anywho, Spock actually objects to “computerised”, but doesn’t object to “Traitor(s)”?
Has there been any followup or explanation of this?
My fanwank: Earth got into a war with the Romulans, as stated in “Balance of Terror”. Vulcan(s) opted out. Humans held a grudge about it.
I can go along with that. Especially since Vulcans and Romulans are, for all intents and purposes, different factions of the same species. And it’s never been established in canon exactly when the Vulcans became aware of this (or if they were always aware). This wasn’t known among humans until Balance of Terror (which took place before This Side of Paradise), but the Romulans were conducting covert operations on Vulcan (with the help of Vulcan collaborators) as early as the 22nd century. IIRC T’Pol also seemed rather knowleldgable about the Romulans (to the point of correcting Capt. Archer’s pronunceation) when they encountered the Romulan probe ship.
I always assumed that Kirk was just making up random shit to try to rile Spock. Most of his accusations could be passed off by Spock as exaggeration or opinion, but the “computerized” term was factually inaccurate, so he had to object.
I’ve been watching TOS with my kids and they sure did enjoy insulting Spock! The other day we saw “What are little girls made of?” and I had to point out to them that Kirk was cleverly programming the android with a clue for Spock–which was of course an insult.
I’m betting that would never work now, all the ‘half-breed’ stuff.
Isn’t it simply because Spock is failing to follow orders, and deserting? Calling him disloyal is accurate, mutinous and a traitor only a slight exaggeration.
I thought of that, but I am not certain. “Computerised” is a negative exaggeration of Spock’s anal retentive, err… analytical and detached demeaner. A hint of truth stretched into an insult.
Granted, the statement “an elf with a hyperactive thyroid” isn’t really factual.
But saying that “there never was a Vulcan with an ounce of integrity” sounds like it ought to have some history behind it, even if incorrect or grossly exaggerated. (Like most stereotypes. )
I’m nowhere fan enough to know what happened when or anything, but I suspect it has to do with the Romulans. Their attitude is to pretty much conquer (rather than ally with) anything non-Romulan. The Vulcans go against this and became part of the Federation. So from an ancestral point of view, they are traitors to their origins.
Had Romulans and their disdain for Vulcans working (and breeding) with humans been established at this point in the series?
I think the explanation is a little more direct. Spock was half-Vulcan and half-human. He self-identified as Vulcan. Kirk insulted the Vulcans to belittle everything Spock had chosen to believe about himself: logic, rationality and so on, not to mention his responsibility to the ship and the Federation.
That part may not be directly related to the “traitor” bit, beyond using it as a springboard. Part of the Vulcan schtick is never lying, so saying that none of them have any integrity is a pretty major insult.
Actually, that’s entirely untrue. The one TOS episode in which it was claimed, Spock was lying a lot. He let the Romulan Commander believe Vulcans never lied (after she asked about it), but of course he was lying.
Later TNG writers seemed to take this as canon (though it didn’t come up much since there wasn’t a Vulcan character in the main, or even recurring, cast), though ENT writers did not.
I didn’t say they never lied, I just said it was part of their schtick. His lies wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if it weren’t–though even at that, he went out of his way through most of the episode to phrase things so that they were misleading, rather than outright false.
Tensions between Earth and Vulcans was a major plot arc of Enterprise. Vulcans were repulsed by the stench of humans. They considered us infantile and untrustworthy for space travel. Later stories showed tension over decisions Commander Archer made.
We were’t always a-hole buddies with the Vulcans.
Even in TOS IIRC Spock was the only Vulcan that went to the Starfleet Academy. His father nearly disowned for that decision.
Enterprise did a really good job fleshing out the back story of the Vulcans. They were society based on peace. Most of their early space policies were focused on appeasement. The Vulcans were very alarmed when Archer stood up to the bullies in space.
Spock holds his anger in check enough to make a rational response to the first insult; by the time we get to “traitorous” Spock is so angry that he is struggling to resist punching Kirk through a bulkhead - he’s in no state to make a rational response anymore.
