#John Vulcan

[jhsharman]

Nelson revealed

Yes. The John Vulcan Scandal. Seen earlier in this digest, as the editor ties unrelated stories into the same narrative universe. I don't think you need to know anything about John Vulcan and his sordid affairs, but just as a refresher -- or introduction -- here is how that whole sordid affair was resolved.

And I guess Archie walks in right after that and meets up with Veronica now. Thanks to Nelson for the clarification.

Wait. Nelson. So that's who This is. An editor for digests, whose work is marked by a conspicuous typecast redone dialogue that forces a tying in of divergent stories. And who I now suspect was doodling himself into empty spaces.

[diioonysus]

roman & greek gods + art

[red-cicada]

I am going ballistic.., and crazy…. Saw. Saw Star Trek… saw star trek . Saw but it is Star Trek…

i got some things planned already, pls have patience i can only work on limited days.... have this sketch of Vulcan John Kramer for now, ill have some more soon hopefully

[bumblingbabooshka]

POV: You collapsed after eating a poisonous berry on an away mission Patreon | Ko-fi

[allstarnotrek]

I love watching Stargate: Enterprise

[dig-jules]

Vulcans mentioned ‼️

[xmencovered]

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 480 / Published: November 2006 / Artist: John Watson

[comicwaren]

From X-Men Red Vol. 2 #010, “The New Age”

Art by Stefano Caselli, Jacopo Camagni and Federico Blee

Written by Al Ewing

[foxmuld3r]

I was talking to @sassycordy about John Sheppard and Star Trek and I had this sort of brain wave that, because John is such a nerd he definitely watched all the Star Trek he could when he was younger. While watching Trek he noticed his ears match to Vulcans and so he decided to repress his deep emotions to be like them to cope with stuff. In this essay I will… 👀

[quarkanar]

I’ve been enjoying Enterprise more than I thought I would. What I’ve heard about it wasn’t always too good so my expectations were extremely low, but it’s fun! And the theme song is so catchy too??

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda's "Together Again" feat. Gabriel Afathi

New Audio: Endrik Schroeder Shares a Club Friendly Italo Disco-Leaning Remix of John Lord Fonda's "Together Again" feat. Gabriel Afathi @JohnLordFonda @HeyGroover @romainpalmieri @DorianPerron @citizenrec

Cyril Thévenard is a Dijon, France-born, classically trained flute player, and highly regarded electronic music producer and artist. Initially influenced by French touch, Thévenard becomes a DJ and plays at raves under the moniker Hermetic Unity. Thévenard started releasing material as John Lord Fonda in 1997 with the release of that year’s Vulcan through Choice Records. After gaining experience…

[vintagegeekculture]

Because she was an intentionally mysterious woman initially only seen in a single episode, and before she got an on-air backstory in the recent streaming series, Star Trek supplementary material developed contradictory information on who - or what - Number One, the female first executive officer of the Enterprise, was. To my count, she has four different, completely incompatible backstories in the comics and novels, and this is absolutely unique in Star Trek, which usually keeps it consistent.

Peter David, in his New Frontier novels, identified Number One as a long lived immortal human mutant (like Flint from the original series) named “Morgan Primus” who was an early genius in cybernetics and artificial intelligence, which is why the Enterprise computer has her voice. One of the names Morgan Primus assumed to hide her immortality was Morgan Lefler, and one of her daughters was Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher’s love interest from the Next Generation Series played by Ashley Judd. Robin Lefler did not inherit her mutant ability to heal all injuries.

Alternatively, the DC Star Trek Comics of the early 1980s said that Number One was from an obscure planet of peaceful, open, friendly telepaths who resemble humans exactly, and that she was present at first contact with Starfleet. They explained that her blunt, direct, undiplomatic manner is due to her being from a telepathic culture that values total honesty. This would make her the first telepath on the Enterprise, with Spock and Arex coming later. Her planet was created before the Next Generation, but her species being a peaceful, open, telepathic race resembling Mediterranean humans who are not well known or commonly encountered in the original series era….well, that certainly sounds an awful lot like Betazoids to me. If this backstory is true, she may have been the first Betazoid seen on screen, in much the same way fans generally believe Trelane was either Q or a member of the Q Continuum.

D.C. Fontana’s only Star Trek novel, “Vulcan’s Glory,” was one of the earliest attempts to give the character a backstory, and was the most consequential long term. The first novel set in the era of the first Star Trek pilot with Captain Pike and a young Spock, "Vulcan's Glory" identified Number One as being an Illyrian, a race of human-like beings who specialize in species wide breeding programs and genetic improvement. This genetic superiority is why she was cool, intellectual, aloof, and a bit arrogant. Her nickname “Number One” came from the fact she was the supreme product of the hyper-competitive Illyrian system, and won at everything from academics to athletics. According to DC Fontana, her actual Illyrian name is impossible to pronounce, so when dealing with humans, she assumed the human name “Una Chin-Riley.” Una of course, being “Number One” in Greek.

As DC Fontana is such an important figure in Star Trek history and only actually wrote one Star Trek novel in her life, many future materials used the backstory established in “Vulcan’s Glory,” like the David Stern Pike-era novels of the 2010s....but more importantly, the Discovery and Strange New Worlds series, which canonized the “Una Chin-Reilly” name by using it on screen (I remember gasping when Pike called her Una in a Discovery episode, meaning they were going with the Fontana backstory, a detail that may not have been significant to the casual viewer). Since DC Fontana wrote “Vulcan’s Glory” in the 80s, a lot more information was learned about the role of genetic engineering in the Federation, however, and interesting things were done in that series to bring her in line with everything we’ve learned since in Deep Space 9 and Enterprise about augmentation and the society wide prejudice against it. For example, they established that the fact Number One was Illyrian was not public knowledge, but that she pretended to be human her entire life.

The one person who didn’t see fit to give her a backstory or even a real name was John "Johnny Redbeard" Byrne in his comic series about the Cage era Enterprise, who thought the mystery of the character was the most interesting thing about her, and he was deliberately cagey about any details. To Johnny Redbeard, she was just “Number One.” There was a running joke that every time someone says her actual name, or when we see her personnel file, it was blurred out, or somebody’s thumb was over it, and so on. It was rather like the running joke where Mr. Burns never remembers Homer Simpson's name. Johnny Redbeard loves mystery men and women who don't talk about their past, since that was the characterization he famously gave to Wolverine in his X-Men comics.

The one detail of Number One's past that is clear is that Number One in Byrne's comics is competent, mysterious, and has mystique, certainly, but she is completely human, without any powers. Byrne always got exasperated that his X-Men co-creator Chris Claremont added fantastical and far out details to the background of X-Men characters (like how Nightcrawler's girlfriend Amanda turned out to be a sorceress) because he felt "some people should just be allowed to be normal." Byrne always said his original idea for Wolverine's "true" backstory was that he was a Vietnam veteran in intelligence who volunteered for bionic experiments that wiped his memory, and disliked the idea he was immortal, and vetoed the very, very early Dave Cockrum idea Wolverine was an actual mutated wolverine who achieved sentience and a human shape (which early X-Men comics hint at). Byrne was reportedly enraged that they gave Moira MacTaggart a mutant power, as he saw her as just being a scrappy Scottish housekeeper.

Johnny Redbeard didn’t give Number One a past (other than to show she was on the Enterprise's shakedown cruise with Robert April as a rookie officer), but he did give her a future, as he showed an older Number One as a starship commander in the Kirk era (aging gracefully with a white tuft like Tongolele), and later, a flag officer in the Motion Picture era.

To what extent are these backstories compatible? Well, with what we currently know about Number One, that she hid her true species and status to avoid prejudice, it could be that some of the other versions were tall tales she spread to obscure her true origins. The John Byrne idea she served as an Ensign with Robert April in the Enterprise's very first mission hasn't been confirmed, but hasn't been denied, either. The Peter David "Morgan Primus" backstory is completely incompatible, but perhaps there are some elements to it that are true, like the idea that the early part of her career involved working as a computer engineer in artificial intelligence, which is why the computer has her voice.

[without-ado]

Liftoff of ULA Vulcan l John Kraus

l First U.S. commercial robotic launch to the Moon l ULA(United Launch Alliance) l more info at NASA

[bumblingbabooshka]

T'Rahni'hk putting on a sweater for a day of lounging at home

[eco-lite]

Some fun little things from Sanctuary by John Vornholt:

[Text ID: “A gentle rapping on the door awoke Captain Kirk, and he sat up in the unfamiliar bed to see Spock sitting on the settee across from him, looking quite elegant in a gold-embroidered robe of royal blue. The Vulcan might have been awake for hours, judging by the alertness in his eyes and the sun streaming through the cheery lace curtains. McCoy was still snoring away in the other bed, even after the rapping sounded again.” End ID]

This classic quote I’ve seen around… So… he was just sitting there? In his gorgeous elegant robe?? Okay sure.

[Text ID: “Kirk could see that both Senites who were in attendance that day were hovering around the large party in the dining room, so he turned to McCoy and screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘How dare you call me that!’ ‘But that’s exactly what you are!’ yelled McCoy. ‘And I’ll call you that any time I like!’ ‘Oh yeah!’ thundered Kirk. ‘I’ll make you eat those words!’ By now, the Senites had come running, and several of the new arrivals were peering out the curtained windows at the loudmouths on the veranda. ‘Now, now,’ said Spock with reasoned assurance, ‘anger never solved a problem. Let us order some wine and have a toast.’ ‘I can’t drink with him,’ snarled Kirk, pointing a finger at McCoy. ‘Did you hear what he called me?’ ‘No, I did not,’ Spock answered, truthfully. ‘He called me a…what was it?’ ‘A pompous windbag,’ the doctor replied. ‘That was it!’ shouted Kirk. ‘Those are fighting words!’” End ID]

Shatner would eat this up if it was in an episode.

[Text ID: “The Andorian continued, ‘For the immediate future, the three of you are considered a domestic unit. I hope that is acceptable?’ ‘Most of the time,’ Kirk said with a grin.” End ID]

Yes! They are a domestic unit! Do not separate them! (They’re in a community where abandoned ships are used as homes for families. The trio is living in the shuttle they crash landed in, which they refer to as a “shuttlehome” from this point. 🥹)

[mothdogsart]

The [Vulcan] Kiss ♥️

Redraw of this piece from five years ago :)