sarek

For Valentine’s Day — 14 Star Trek TOS Romances; Both Awful and Wonderful.

/ Therese / 7 Comments

Star Trek could be awfully romantic at times. And although most of the love stories featured Kirk, there was an occasional nod to lesser character’s love life. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I present to you 14 relationships that warmed or chilled our hearts. Be sure to relate your faves in the comment section. Happy Valentines Day <3

Eve Huron and Ben Childress: Not the best love match. Why Eve stays with grumpy Childress is beyond me. She’s tough and has independence in her blood. She deserves better than a man who admired her only on face value and bitched about her cooking.
So let me get this straight–she knew and said outright that Ben was looking for a woman who was “selfish, vain, useless” yet since she ‘believed in herself’ she could look as beautiful on the outside without the Venus Drug? True love knows no ugliness. You’ll never convince me that in the whole universe there isn’t a better man for her than Childress! I’d like to think she ditched him after a year or so and started her own agricultural empire.
Khan and Marla McGivers: Alas, Marla is so enamored of this ‘superman’ from the past, she cannot see that he’s a total megalomaniac. Their first meeting in sickbay should have been a huge red flag as he totally disregards her professionalism, grabs her by the arm and plays with her hair. Sure, he might be a passionate lover, but playing passive-aggressive mind games with her later and forcing her to kneel before him and demanding her loyalty would make for a hellish, toxic marriage. If she accepted her court martial instead of exile with him, she very likely would have lived longer. And happier.
Spock, T’Pring, and Stonn: Marriage by decree and selective politics. Despite their great intelligence, Vulcans still would insist on antiquated arranged marriages for their progeny; giving no choice in their children’s lives as to who they might marry. It might be logical to help carry on the family line, but it is such an archaic and patrilineality system I doubt there would be any (secret) joy in it. I applaud T’Pring for listening to her heart, selfish as it was. I’m pretty sure Spock knew he didn’t want to marry T’Pring from the start, but came out of duty and the threat of death. As for T’Pring; Stonn wanted her, she wanted him.
Logical. Flawlessly Logical.
Kirok and Miramanee: Free of any Starfleet responsibilities, let alone his memories and actual name, Jim was free to have a truly loving and devoted marriage with Miramanee. Although she married him out of duty, you could see they were blissfully happy (despite Salish’s jealously). In the original script, Miramanee survived the stoning and gave birth.
I wish the the original script had held; imagine Kirk being a Daddy/Captain and running the Enterprise as well.
Zephram Cochran and The Companion: Zephram Cochran is initially appalled that the companion is a female and that he let her “…crawl around inside me, into my mind, my feelings? … It fed on me. It’s disgusting!” Yet once The Companion inhabits and revises the dying body of Nancy Hedford, suddenly he “knows that I love her”. As Spock states “The matter of gender could change the entire situation.” This brings to mind the idea of unconditional love. No doubt it is very romantic and satisfying that The Companion united with a lovely, yet lonely young woman who had ‘never had love’ and as both entities finds lasting love with Cochrane. I bet if Metamorphosis was written today, Hedford could have been a non-human or even a human male and I’d like to think the result would be the same. For as the Companion/Nancy said: To touch the hand of man; nothing is as important.“ <3
Nona and Tyree: What Nona wants, Nona gets. This Kanutu Woman had power and passion. Did Nona love Tyree? Certainly she was aroused by him, as she did put him under a spell to make him want her, and uses certain herbs from “The night of madness” to ‘keep him’. However she wasn’t loyal, toying with Kirk right under Tyree’s nose. Did Tyree really love Nona? His anguished cry and passion for vengeance at her murder answer that question.
Spock and Leila Kalomi: Darn fun while it lasted wasn’t it? A blast of pollen was worth it just to see Spock cavorting in the woods and swinging from a branch! Although all this lusty playfulness was brought out by the spores, you cannot deny that under all the stoicism, Spock’s human half is not only as playful and joyous as any child, but to his astonishment, devotedly in love. You can see that he truly loved her and was happy. I wonder what happened during the transfer of Sandoval’s people to Starbase 27? Did Leila and Spock have more conversations? Did they settle on a (perfectly logical) friends-with-benefits package? Did Nurse Chapel climb the walls? Which brings us to…
Christine Chapel and Dr. Roger Corby: Christine tends to fall for men who love their work more than her. Roger is a brilliant scientist, but one has to wonder if he really loved Christine so much, WHY didn’t he make an android that looked like HER instead of Andrea??? You could understand Chapel’s jealousy of the scantily-clad, submissive Andrea. Would the real Roger have expected Christine to be the same? Turns our Roger was an android replica too, so you dodged the bullet on that one, Christine!
Christine Chapel and Spock: Pity the heart of unrequited love. Roger Who? Well, once she got over her late fiancé she couldn’t help but notice that tall glass of Plomeek Tea that was Spock. McCoy chided her “You never give up hoping do you?” (Shame!) but I have no doubt her love for him was real. When forced to kiss him by the Platonians, she protested, but you know darn well she was delighted. She slobbers all over his hands in The Naked Time declaring her love, to which Spock sincerely replies “I’m sorry, I am sorry!” for even if he consented to loving Christine his heart may be elsewhere.
Carolyn Palamas and Apollo: Honestly, if you had the choice between and Engineer married to his work or a Gorgeous Greek God, well Carolyn initially is very cool toward Apollo, but he charms her into his arms. She is dazzled by his glory and falls for him, and they are one. hot. couple. But does he really love her? I’m on the fence, on one hand he truly seems devastated when his power is taken away, yet he is still another power-hungry dictator who actually rapes Carolyn (in the original script, Carolyn becomes pregnant). Carolyn, stick with Scotty.
Spock and Zarabeth: Another case of Spock forgetting who he was, and Zarabeth was all the luckier for it! True, Zarabeth set her cap for the handsome Vulcan within moments of seeing him, and she was a tad manipulative (stressing ‘alone’). Again, Spock is astonished that he feels attraction to this woman, and together they indulge in bliss. Saddest part is he couldn’t take Zarabeth with him, but he couldn’t deny he had regressive passion for her. I wonder how it could have evolved if Spock and McCoy stayed stranded? Would Spock have killed McCoy? How many children would have been born between the three of them?
Amanda and Sarek: Opposites attract! Well, you know darn well that Sarek’s beloved human wife Amanda was not chosen for him by his parents! Despite knowing that he’d most likely outlive her, Sarek followed his heart and married the loving, no-nonsense Amanda. She knew it wouldn’t be easy married into the Vulcan culture, but her heart ruled too for this most elegant and remarkable Vulcan. The were in for the long haul. And Sarek loved
Amanda so, his next wife was also a human. (I deny that Star Trek V and Sybok ever existed—it was just a fever dream of Kirk’s!)
Jim Kirk and Edith Keeler: I have no doubt that Edith and Miramanee were Jim Kirk’s dearest loves. Plenty of flirtations of course, but these two each took his heart. But his romance with Edith would be disastrous even if she lived. Since she died, time was restored to it’s proper place, but had she lived, Kirk, McCoy and likely Spock, would cease to exist in the first place. Could Kirk take her with him to the future? That would likely open a whole new can of Space/Time/Continuum worms. So Kirk was fated to only have Edith in his memories and dreams. But he’d never forget her.

Kirk and Spock: Okay, I know. Diehards would say that Kirk and Spock were the best of friends, like brothers. A true Bromance. (And I agree) But considering how the original fanzines of the 1970s pretty much invented “Slash” and “Spirk” this ‘relationship’ has been a fan-fic trope ever since. Check out any of the Star Trek fan art on DeviantArt.com and you’ll find half of it devoted to these ‘space husbands’. And you must admit there are times in TOS one can see Kirk gazing at Spock in pure awe, if not affection! A while back, Shatner was asked by a fan who was Kirk’s greatest romantic conquest? “SPOCK!” Shatner joked. Now, the theory goes that Kirk is Bisexual while Spock is Gay (i.e. Spock: “Jim, when I feel affection for you, I’m ashamed!”) I say that I have no doubt that Kirk and Spock are loving brothers. But I say that while since Jim with his rampant hormones could possibly be Bi, Spock is merely Logical.
Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! <3

Toon Tuesday 10/16/12 My 98th StarTreKomic! (and a poll too)

/ Therese / Leave a comment

I’ve noticed the other week  in my StarTreKomic listings that this is my 98th StarTreKomic!!!   Wow, I’ve been doing this since May of 2011, so 98 divided by 15  months, that comes to about 6 and a half comics a month…So in two weeks I’ll be posting a special 100th edition!  Watch for it, and in the meantime my loyal subscribers– please answer this little poll:
1) What is your favorite StarTreKomic?

2) What characters would you like to see in future StarTreKomics?

Thanks! -Therese

A Belated Valentine for You!

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Behold the Ultimate Star Trek Valentine!

One thing I’ve noticed about TOS in all these years was that it was just jam-packed with romance.  Not just Kirk and his sweetie of the week, but the love between many different characters, romantic, platonic,bromance, maternal, and  sentimental.  I’ve tried to capture all these loves, and just some plain silly notions too, (Carol Burnett???)  and of course, the real-life friendship of Bill, Leonard, and De. I wish you all the nerd love in the world! Be sure to zoom in so you can see everyone.   Thanks for enjoying my site, Therese