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thefourthvine) wrote2009-12-20 06:44 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2009-12-20 06:44 pm
Entry tags:
The Search for Spock
Okay. This is going to be pathetic. I know that. I can't help it.
A little less than two weeks ago, I watched Star Trek XI, a departure from my normal non-canonical reading policy occasioned entirely by my love of Spock. We will not speak of the 94 pages and counting of STR drawerfic I have written in the last ten days (while having my Yuletide story beta-read and beta-reading another, and of course taking care of the earthling, and celebrating Hanukkah). What we will speak of, in sad, sad tones, is the lack of Spock in my life.
This is causing me to contemplate something entirely unprecedented: watching original Star Trek. For more Spock. (Actually seeing the movie gave me an unholy love not just of Reboot Spock but of Nimoy Spock, too. He is so awesome! He loves Jim so much! I want to squeeze his pointy ears OMG!)
But watching the whole series is entirely out of the question. I don't have the time, and I really really don't have the tolerance for television. So, dear people who have already seen the original series - if I'm only going to watch eight episodes, which is generally my max for any series, what should they be? (I am willing to watch both Spock-intensive and just generally awesome episodes. Also anything really slashy, of course. And if you want to include notes about why I should watch them, my love for you will be that much greater.)
Also helpful: any episodes that I should definitely avoid, for reasons of animal harm, child harm, or massive suckiness.
I thank you in advance. And so does Best Beloved, who will have to watch all these episodes at least twice - once without me, once with, so that she can explain what the hell is going on - and who is, frankly, just not that into Spock. If you want, I can even post episode reviews of the ones I end up watching, as an expression of my gratitude (and total Spock-driven insanity).
A little less than two weeks ago, I watched Star Trek XI, a departure from my normal non-canonical reading policy occasioned entirely by my love of Spock. We will not speak of the 94 pages and counting of STR drawerfic I have written in the last ten days (while having my Yuletide story beta-read and beta-reading another, and of course taking care of the earthling, and celebrating Hanukkah). What we will speak of, in sad, sad tones, is the lack of Spock in my life.
This is causing me to contemplate something entirely unprecedented: watching original Star Trek. For more Spock. (Actually seeing the movie gave me an unholy love not just of Reboot Spock but of Nimoy Spock, too. He is so awesome! He loves Jim so much! I want to squeeze his pointy ears OMG!)
But watching the whole series is entirely out of the question. I don't have the time, and I really really don't have the tolerance for television. So, dear people who have already seen the original series - if I'm only going to watch eight episodes, which is generally my max for any series, what should they be? (I am willing to watch both Spock-intensive and just generally awesome episodes. Also anything really slashy, of course. And if you want to include notes about why I should watch them, my love for you will be that much greater.)
Also helpful: any episodes that I should definitely avoid, for reasons of animal harm, child harm, or massive suckiness.
I thank you in advance. And so does Best Beloved, who will have to watch all these episodes at least twice - once without me, once with, so that she can explain what the hell is going on - and who is, frankly, just not that into Spock. If you want, I can even post episode reviews of the ones I end up watching, as an expression of my gratitude (and total Spock-driven insanity).
no subject
I suggest everything by Diane Duane, but especially Spock's World; the IDIC Epidemic and the Vulcan Academy Murders (also there is Captain Pike-ness in these!); The Price of the Phoenix and the Fate of the Phoenix (epic H/C with barely hidden slash!); Ishmael (crossovers out the wazoo! Amnesia!); Strangers from the Sky (more amnesia! Spock on 21st century earth hanging out with hippies and peaceniks!); Prime Directive (Spock hanging out with hippies and peaceniks in 21th century Earth! Dr. McCoy: Space Pirate!)
The problem with me reccing you episodes is that there is *nothing* that hits my embarrassment squick so badly as "Vulcans losing control of their emotions", and nearly all the episodes that most Spock fangirls would rec you have a plot that consists of "Vulcans losing control of their emotions." (Spock snapping & then retiring to meditate like in Reboot was fine; I'm talking epic, extended, public wallowing where he visibly tries to either stop or go hide but can't.)
I still haven't watched "Amok Time" all the way through; "This Side of Paradise" was agony; "Journey to Babel" was fine, except for the Spock storyline; "All Our Yesterdays" was so traumatizing I can't even face reading the novels based on it; "The Galileo Seven" wasn't *as* bad, but still not something I'd voluntarily subject myself to; "The Naked Time" had many cringe-and-look-away moments; "The Enterprise Incident" was a combination of pure win and I-can't-believe-they-made-him-do-that-on-camera; "The Search for Spock" required me to not watch the screen at any point when Spock was on it.
So. Um.
It's possible that watching Star Trek at a young age gave my embarrassment squick a particular trigger for Vulcans, but I don't suggest you risk it.
I'd suggest the second and fourth movies (get a summary of the third one);
the animated series episode "Yesteryear" (has some bad bits, but outweighed by the adorableness of six-year-old Spock)(sorry, forgot that one has animal harm); and a selection of episodes that are good, if only moderately Spock-heavy."Devil in the Dark", "A Piece of the Action", "Spectre of the Gun", "A Private Little War", "Immunity Syndrome", "Balance of Terror", "The Tholian Web", and "The Trouble With Tribbles"* are eight episodes that are objectively quite good, and all have plenty of Spock being awesome without him having to weep in the middle of the bridge, thank you.
*There is harm to tribbles in that episode, but it's off-camera. And it's tribbles.
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Just... you know, not the episodes that are about making Spock lose his control in public. D: (Or pretend, under orders, to lose his control in public. Or be persecuted because he doesn't want to lose his control in public--)
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And I've read Spock's World, which I thought was strangely McCoy-centric for, you know, a book about Vulcans, but entirely worth reading. (Just, I find I judge tie-in novels more harshly than I do most pro fic.) I will look into Duane's other tie-ins, definitely.
I can totally understand, though, why Star Trek was the first slash fandom - slash is all about that emotional breakthrough, and Spock is apparently the ultimate character people want to see make that emotional breakthrough, just going by the number of eps that squick you.
no subject
I have to admit that as much as I love Spock, McCoy is my favorite, which *may* skew my recommendations a bit. (Or rather, Spock is who I identified with. McCoy is who I wanted to marry. ST:TOS is an OT3 fandom for me, and it doesn't get much more OT3 than Spock's World.)
Oh, and I have belatedly realized that "Devil in the Dark" will almost certainly twig you on child harm and/or animal harm, even if the children/animals being murdered are just badly made props; it almost makes me cry sometimes, and I never cry at TV.
So I replace my rec for that with "Unification", which is the TNG episode that has Ambassador Spock bringing peace to the Romulans in it, and is both very relevant for Reboot and full of old!Spock awesome.