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“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
#StarTrek
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
#StarTrek
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Subcommander Tal retweeted
Apropos of my prior share, this single Star Trek TOS scene established who (and what) Spock was. More than almost any other similar scene in the original series. Spock is the audience's gateway to an alien emotional landscape where logic and dispassion displace all other 's accentuated because Spock has been trying to prove who he is all his life. His mother's story about young Spock being persecuted by the true-blood Vulcans is a huge tell that Spock is forever working to show the world—as he is working to show himself—that he is totally Vulcan. Master of himself. Disciplined and proper.
But there's a heavy toll for that kind of constant vigilance. Spock can't let himself slip up. Not even when his father's life is in the balance. It would cost him not only his father's respect—which he clearly values greatly—but his self-respect as well.
And his mother makes it plain that in so doing he will cost himself her respect.
In order to be 100% Vulcan he risks the one human relationship which has buoyed him across his years. More even than his relationship with Kirk.
This kind of writing is what prevented Star Trek from going to way of a lot of 1960s television that didn't age into successive decades. There were TOS moments when the predicament of *being* was shown with such aching and profound poignancy, it made us overlook the snoozers and the duds in the TOS lineup.
And again, scenes like this fully and truly established who Spock was. He became a powerful, three-dimensional presence in the broader story. Not just some stranger with eyebrows and pointed ears. Spock became a compelling person because we all know what it's like to be caught on the horns of weighty dilemmas. When there are no good choices. Just necessary ones.
Also, that hand on the door. At the end of the scene. There's so much being told with that hand which isn't being told in words. Masterful acting.
But there's a heavy toll for that kind of constant vigilance. Spock can't let himself slip up. Not even when his father's life is in the balance. It would cost him not only his father's respect—which he clearly values greatly—but his self-respect as well.
And his mother makes it plain that in so doing he will cost himself her respect.
In order to be 100% Vulcan he risks the one human relationship which has buoyed him across his years. More even than his relationship with Kirk.
This kind of writing is what prevented Star Trek from going to way of a lot of 1960s television that didn't age into successive decades. There were TOS moments when the predicament of *being* was shown with such aching and profound poignancy, it made us overlook the snoozers and the duds in the TOS lineup.
And again, scenes like this fully and truly established who Spock was. He became a powerful, three-dimensional presence in the broader story. Not just some stranger with eyebrows and pointed ears. Spock became a compelling person because we all know what it's like to be caught on the horns of weighty dilemmas. When there are no good choices. Just necessary ones.
Also, that hand on the door. At the end of the scene. There's so much being told with that hand which isn't being told in words. Masterful acting.
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I am an Original Series guy, but I enjoyed The Next Generation and was brought into that show mainly through Patrick Stewart’s excellent performances like this one. Hard to have another Trek loss like this. R.I.P. Sir Patrick.
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Subcommander Tal retweeted
My heart is broken. RIP Sir Patrick. Thank you dear Admiral. 🖖🏽💔
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund
alzresearch.org/giving/
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources
alzfdn.org/donate/
Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia
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We all have our allotted time...
"End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take." --J.R.R. Tolkien
"End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take." --J.R.R. Tolkien
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Subcommander Tal retweeted
POSTSCRIPT. The other cool thing about Walter of course is that he’s one of us! A genuine genre fan. More than any other cast member I think he understood the slightly obsessive mindset of the Trek fan…
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I’m very sad to hear of the passing of Walter Koenig, aka Pavel Chekov from Star Trek. I got to meet him on a few occasions, and he was always genuine, thoughtful, and a little anxious in a way that made him very relatable. R.I.P.
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Subcommander Tal retweeted
"He stood in front of the temple and spread himself upon the wind, thinner and thinner, until only the wind remained"
Sadly, we've lost another member of the Star Trek family. Rest in peace, Michael Forest.
April 17, 1929 - October 14, 2026
#TOSSatNight
Sadly, we've lost another member of the Star Trek family. Rest in peace, Michael Forest.
April 17, 1929 - October 14, 2026
#TOSSatNight
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The older I get the more I seem to rediscover my childhood interests... Star Trek is certainly part of that. I've been rereading old fantasy/sci-fi novels from my youth and recently reread "Steel Beach" by John Varley. The gender-switching and rogue AI hits harder these days...
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Next up for me will be "Gateway" by Frederick Pohl, which is kind of the Platonic Ideal as far as pulp sci-fi is concerned. Great book! After that, "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. LeGuin, which is very moving.
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Subcommander Tal retweeted
Stardate 6034.6
if the men who reach out into space are able to find ways to feed the hungry millions of the world and to cure their diseases then how come I feel so empty inside all the time
if the men who reach out into space are able to find ways to feed the hungry millions of the world and to cure their diseases then how come I feel so empty inside all the time
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