ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

These Are The Voyages: TOS Season Two by Marc Cushman. "Amok Time," September 15, 1967.
Written by Theodore Sturgeon. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

NBC press release: Mr. Spock's strange malady on planet Vulcan forces him into combat with Captain Kirk on the first episode of Star Trek's second season.

The strange illness of Mr. Spock and a bizarre Vulcan custom presided over by T'Pau (guest star Celia Lovsky) force Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock into a deadly combat against each other, in "Amok Time," starting the second season of Star Trek.

Captain Kirk grants his seriously stricken executive officer aboard the United Space Ship Enterprise permission to return to his native planet of Vulcan, where Spock reveals an ancient practice compelling him to marry or face death ... also starring in this episode are Arlene Martel as T'Pring and Lawrence Montaigne as Stonn.

From TV Guide, September 9, 1967:

"Amok Time." The Enterprise begins a second year in space with a visit to Mr. Spock's native planet. Obeying an ancient Vulcan marriage rite, the science officer engages in mortal combat with his fiancee's chosen champion -- Captain Kirk! Script by Theodore Sturgeon.

"Amok Time" is stark and startling more than 45 years after it first aired. The writing is tight and concise. For its time, the production is impeccable. The performances are uniformly superb.

Dorothy Fontana said, " 'Amok Time' took a lot of time to get out of Ted Sturgeon, who really wasn't used to television pace. He was used to writing his short stories and his novels at his own speed."

Roddenberry, a firm believer in keeping Star Trek serious and as far away as possible from the campiness of Lost In Space, instructed Sturgeon to be less cute and less precious based on Ted's early draft script.

[mach7]

Overall a nice tight episode. Sturgeon wrote it, but it was (I believe) reworked heavily by Fontana, Roddenberry, and even Coon. Joseph Pevney did a great job directing also.

The Vulcan scenes were very well done, for 1967 episodic TV even more so. They are so good that the remastered version does not significantly change the look.

This was the 5th episode filmed for season 2, but it was the 1st broadcast.

I'm not surprised, this episode really adds depth to the series most popular character. We learn a lot about Spock's back story.

One thing that always confused me, why were Spock's parents not present at Spock's wedding? (or Sybok and Burnham)?

"Journey To Babel" was in the production lineup. Presumably Wyatt and Lenard were cast. Even a throw away line staying they were unable would make it.

Another issue is Kirk and Spock are friends, how is it that Kirk has never heard of T'Pring?

In "Strange New Worlds" Pike knows about her.

Just a few nit picks on what is a very good episode. One of the top ten for sure!

[Bud Brewster]

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Nice comments, Mach7!

[mach7]

Yah Bud,

Good point about SNW. I do tell TOS fans who have not watched it to watch it, but don't expect it to be truly "cannon".

In my mind, the last episode notwithstanding, it's the second best Trek after TOS.

[Bud Brewster]

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I enjoy it sort of like an "alternate reality" version of Star Trek — something the franchise has used pretty often in literal ways (not just my "sort of" way of looking at this one).

I'm not, however, too please by things like the dismissal of certain aspects of the Vulcans, such as the one I mentioned above. It's like they show runners just said, "Ah, screw all that science fiction pon farr crap. Let's just allow Spock to get laid whenever he wants!"
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[mach7]

I'm trying to think of the timeline.

It seems to me that from Spock mating with T'Pring in SNW to TOS Amok Time is just about 7 years.

If we accept that Spock can have sex at less than 7 year intervals, he just is driven to madness on a 7 year cycle then it all works.

From D.C. Fontana on Pon Farr:

-Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion –humanoid emotion– when you're in love. When you want to, you know when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart.-

I believe (now I will have to go back and watch again) that this is supported by T'Pol in Enterprise. T'Pol and Trip have sex to get her through her Pon Farr, and then they do it again later.

Not having watched much of Voyager, How does Tuvok handle Pon Farr?

Can the holodeck help "fool" the vulcan body into resetting the 7 year cycle?

[Pow]

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season Two.

The script called for T'Pring to arrive at the ceremonial site via a flying machine. Knowing that the budget prevented creating any such kind of vehicle, it was planned that the audience would hear the vehicle arriving offscreen but never see it.
D.C. Fontana wrote that the audience would feel cheated by such a trick and suggested that "T'Pring arrive on foot or by travois or dogsled or howdah or anything but a flying machine we can't show our audience."

Theodore Sturgeon created a Vulcan language for this episode. It was deemed too confusing for the audience to follow.

Pete Sloman (Kellam de Forest scientific consultant) said, "They did try on Star Trek. And they got many things right. But one of their problems was their TV writers didn't understand science fiction, and their science fiction writers didn't understand TV. So the scientific accuracy of Star Trek could have been a lot better. But it could have been so much worse, that I give them an absolute A+ for effort."

Leonard Nimoy did not appreciate the scene where Mr. Spock showed an emotional experience with Captain Kirk at the conclusion of the episode when Spock is surprised to see Kirk alive. He felt that Spock would not have made that revelation in front of Dr. McCoy & Nurse Chapel in sickbay. Spock would have gone off alone someplace to show how he felt.

Gene Roddenberry wanted to do location filming for "Amok Time." He suggested Vasquez Rocks, Palm Springs, or Mohave. Producer Robert Justman disagreed. He argued that they could not mix scenes shot outdoors with others on a stage, even with the use of rear-screen projection process shots, and keep Vulcan looking truly un-Earth like.

The cast members were excited over the excellent script by Sturgeon.

Arlene Martel (T'Pring) was not pleased with the alien gown Bill Theiss put her in, saying, "My costume actually made me bleed! It was made of metallic wire, and, at the end of each day I was bloody right underneath my rib cage. I had a really good body, which they concealed totally, and I thought it looked like a maternity dress!

Leonard Nimoy devised the Vulcan salute for this episode. Celia Lovsky (T'Pau) was unable to do the salute.

Theodore Sturgeon flipped out upon seeing the episode for the first time in the screening room. They had cut Spock's line, "You can have her. After a time, however, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical but it is often true."

Sturgeon went down to producer Bob Justman's office and raised hell over the deletion. The line was edited back into the episode.

Final price tag for the episode was $200,906.

[Bud Brewster]

[mach7]

Yah the holodeck seems a dangerous place.

All sorts of mischief happening there.

Did Voyager have other Vulcans of both sexes? if so it would seem only logical to help each other out during Pon Farr.

Pow,

I'm glad Sturgeon got that line back in the show, it's a great line and true.

[Pow]

Nitpicker's Guide.

After Spock "kills" Kirk, McCoy comments that it may seem strange, but the first officer now commands the Enterprise. Does that seem right?

Wouldn't Starfleet have some sort of regulation prohibiting the acquisition of command by assassination?

Sidebar: Agreed. Starfleet regulations would designate Scotty in command of the Enterprise while Mr. Spock would be confined, with guards, to his quarters. Starfleet would probably cancel the Enterprise's attending the ceremony at Altair VI and have the Enterprise proceed to Starfleet Command on Earth in order to begin the proceedings of Spock's trial.

Sidebar: Dr. McCoy mentions an Aldebaran shellmouth, while Mr. Spock refers to the great eel-birds of Regulus V on this episode. I always thought that it would have been nifty to actually see these creatures in one of the Star Trek movies with the original cast, or on one of the franchise TV series.

Always wondered if T'Pau found Dr. McCoy's ruse clever, or was she displeased over it?

Shouldn't Spock's parents have been present at such an important ceremony? I know the show wasn't about to hire Jane Wyatt & Mark Lenard to appear in what would have been cameo roles given the production's budget. And Jane & Mark would not guest-star as Spock's parents until "Journey to Babel" which came later on in the season after "Amok Time."

[mach7]

I wondered earlier about Spock's parents not being present.

As I said "Journey to Babel" was in the production lineup at the time. Even a throwaway line would have helped.

I doubt Spock would be arrested or convicted if Kirk had died. Spock was deep in the Plak Tow, he was not of rational mind.

Spock does tell McCoy that he will give command to Scotty.

In the end T'Pau must have found out, as a minimum, that Kirk was "Revived". T'Pring said Spock is almost a legend on Vulcan, his captain must have been known also.

T'Pau did end up calling StarFleet to say she requested the Enterprise to divert to Vulcan.