#kirk: can. can I help you?

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

I have so many AU's in my head and so little energy to write them so have an OG Star Trek/Edward Scissorhands crossover I vividly hallucinated on the way to walmart today and want to write when I'm not so exhausted:

So this has the structure of an OG Star Trek episode but like the special guest is Edward. So it starts off normally with Kirk's voiceover telling his captain's log what the Mission is this episode. Said mission is to investigate weird energy readings on a planet and see if they pose any threat to the small Earth colony on the planet.

Kirk, Spock and a security team (aka redshirts) beam down to the rocky, mountainous planet and presently discover a tunnel where the energy readings are coming from. Kirk and Spock go through the tunnel and come out the other side into the verdant garden of Edward's mansion.

(rest under the cut because this got ridiculously long)

They investigate and Spock says that the tricorder readings say that this is an entirely different planet from the one they just left and that there is one life sign nearby. After investigating the garden (which even Spock comments on, leading Kirk to comment that he thought Vulcans didn't appreciate beauty, to which Spock replies that Vulcans are capable of appreciating the aesthetically pleasing without having an emotional response.)

They head inside the mansion and are surprised by the stark difference to the garden. They inspect the machines but don't know what they're for and Spock informs the captain that the life sign is on the top floor of the mansion. Since they've done this sort of thing a few times they realize this could be a trap so they retrieve the security team and also call down Bones and Scotty from the Enterprise- Scotty to see if he can get the machines in the mansion running and Bones in case anyone gets hurt.

Kirk, Spock and Bones head up to the attic. Once there they inspect the hole in the roof but all they can see out of it is the town. Kirk and Bones also find Edward's bed and look curiously at his little cutouts until Spock calls them over and tells them their mystery life sign is in the corner of the attic.

Edward is hiding in the corner like he does in the movie and they can kind of see the vague outline of a person there so Kirk gives his normal spiel introducing himself as captain of the Enterprise, on a peaceful mission, etc. Eventually he manages to coax Edward out to where they can see him.

They're less shocked at his appearance than Peg was but they're still surprised. Bones scans him from a safe distance and confirms the tricorder readings that said Edward is kind of human. Kirk questions Edward and they manage to learn his name and that he was created in the castle by his father and that he's been alone since his father died and he hasn't gone down into the town because he's "not finished". Edward is just as nervous meeting people for the first time as he is meeting Peg in the movie.

They're interrupted by a bang from downstairs and Scotty yelling that he got the machine working. Kirk asks Edward if he knows what the machine is and Edward tells him it makes cookies. Bones is skeptical. Spock mutters "fascinating" as he continues to fiddle with the tricorder. Kirk convinces Edward to come downstairs with them.

Kirk sends the security team outside so as not to freak Edward out any more than need be. Edward and Scotty are slightly alarmed at the sight of each other but Edward is quickly distracted by his father's machine actually working. Scotty confirms that it is a machine for making cookies.

Kirk asks Spock and Bones for their analysis of the situation and Spock informs them that they have not only traveled in space, but time and that they are currently on Earth in the mid 20th century (again) and that the portal between the two places will close in about an hour.

Kirk then asks what they think of Edward. Bones says he must be some kind of android and that while he looks like a man Edward obviously has the mind and understanding of a child. Spock adds that it's impressive that an inventor in the 1900's was able to make such a creature. Kirk is reluctant to leave Edward behind all alone because of his childlike nature but Spock reminds him that they're in the past and that taking Edward to the Enterprise could have dangerous consequences to the timeline. So Kirk orders him to go back to Enterprise and check history to see if Edward ever leaves the castle and if taking him could affect anything.

A little while later Spock contacts them and explains that if they leave Edward he'll eventually go down to the town, live there a few months and then be chased out by the townsfolk and subsequently killed in an altercation with them and that there's no other records of Edward that the computer or Spock can find. Kirk concludes that removing Edward from the timeline would have a negligible effect but Spock reminds him that it could have unexpected consequences. Bones adds that they don't know why the townspeople chased Edward away either and that it could be because he turned violent. They look over at Edward, who is currently sitting on the floor next to his father's cookie machine, holding a heart sugar cookie and looking sad. Kirk gives Bones a look that says, "Really? You sure about that?" and then goes over to talk to Edward.

Kirk asks Edward if he'd like to live with other people and of course the poor lonely boy says yes. Kirk tells him that Edward could come with them to Enterprise and that they could find a home for him with other people- and give him proper hands too. Edward is very excited at the idea of this, but Bones adds that Edward would never be able to come back to the mansion, he'd be leaving forever. Edward is sad at the idea of that, but he still wants to come with them.

So when the group leaves they take Edward with them. Edward is anxious and a little reluctant to go through the portal and gives one last look to his garden, but Kirk calls to him and after a moment Edward follows. The portal closes behind him.

The security team is beamed up first and Edward freaks out a little when they just disappear. Scotty tries to explain the transporter to him and Bones grumbles about having his atoms rearranged.

Once Edward is on the ship he's pretty overwhelmed. Kirk sends him with Bones to sickbay to get checked out and promises to come get Edward and show him his new quarters (he has to explain what "quarters" are) after the ship is underway.

Bones gives Edward a medical exam and reports to Kirk when he comes down to sickbay. Bones is... a little surprised and unnerved by Edward's anatomy and the fact that he's not just partially mechanical but that he's made up of such weird old mechanical bits (I took some pictures of the Inventor's sketches for Edward's body from the movie and I'm pretty sure this kid has a bellows for lungs HOW does that work???). He also reports on Edward's mental state and reiterates that Edward has a very childlike understanding of most things, but that he seems perfectly intelligent and can read and do things like basic math. He's still not sure if bringing Edward here was a good idea.

We then go back to Kirk's captain's log comments where he talks about the next few days and Edward settling in to being on the ship. The crew, for the most part, likes Edward and pretty much everyone is endeared by how sweet and polite he is. Kirk notes however that unlike other times when things like this have happened it seems to be perfectly natural and organic and Edward is definitely not manipulating anything. They plan to leave Edward on an Earth colony planet with the means to craft him normal hands and integrate him into society.

Edward is happy to be on the ship and with people. He's easily startled and overwhelmed and incredibly sensitive and not at all violent. In fact, on the rare occasion someone yells at him/gets annoyed/angry he'll retreat and apologize and sometimes panic and hide. The crew quickly figures out he's basically a child and treats him as such (but like, the way you SHOULD treat children, not in a demeaning way like the neighbors in the movie). He pops up in random places sometimes, like engineering and the bridge, but they're pretty sure he just gets lost sometimes and ends up there because he'll just stand in one spot and look wide eyed and lost until someone tells him what to do. He's basically the least problematic outsider they've ever had on the ship.

And then, a week or so after Edward comes on board, a dead crewman is found, stabbed through the heart.

Instantly, Edward is under suspicion. And, like, for good reason this time, like, they never bring anyone on this ship without having problems it's a theme.

They call Edward to sickbay where Kirk questions him. Edward isn't sure what's going on but he answers truthfully. Kirk shows him the body of the dead crewman and asks Edward if he knows him and Edward says he doesn't. Edward asks what's wrong with the man and Bones replies that he's dead. Edward asks Bones if he can fix him and Bones snaps at him that no, he can't, dead is dead and it would take an act of God to bring a dead person back, and then he very pointedly adds that when you stab someone through the heart that kills them. (Bones thinks that Edward killed the man, and that the townspeople drove him out on Earth because he hurt/killed someone.)

Edward is shocked and frightened by Bones' tirade, and at the end of it he very quietly states that that's what happened to his father. Kirk feels bad and tells him he can go.

Kirk and Bones argue about this; Bones doesn't think Kirk should let Edward freely roam the ship because he might become violent and hurt someone. Kirk argues that Edward has done nothing violent so far and seems innocent. Bones says that Edward's innocence might be the problem, that Edward might not even know he has the ability to kill someone and that he might have done it for the first time on accident... but he might do it a second time on purpose. Kirk just doesn't believe Edward had anything at all to do with the first murder.

A tense couple of days pass. People are more nervous and hostile around Edward now, though a fair number of the crew still believe he's innocent. Edward keeps following Spock around because Spock doesn't get angry with him. Spock is trying to teach him to play chess. Edward is not very good at it. (Spock would never admit it but he feels a bit of a connection with Edward- he understands being half human but not being able to understand or fit in with them)

Three days after the murder the bridge gets a panicked, one word message from Edward, "Help". They find him in a corridor standing over the body of a woman crewmember with blood on his hands. Edward tells them "I didn't mean to". The woman has been stabbed.

She is still alive this time though and is rushed to sickbay. Edward is confined to quarters. Kirk and Spock go to sickbay where Bones informs them that he thinks he can save the woman but he has to do surgery immediately. He berates Kirk for not locking Edward up sooner but Kirk thinks that things don't add up. After all, why would Edward stab someone and then call for help?

Spock agrees with Kirk that they're missing something and offers to do a mind-meld to find out what really happened. Bones says that they can't do it with the crewwoman because he has to take her into surgery, to which Spock replies that he meant he'd mind meld with Edward. Kirk asks if that's possible since Edward is part machine and Spock says they'll find out.

They go to Edward's quarters and find him sitting against the wall in a corner with his knees against his chest, crying. He's overwrought and tries to apologize and Kirk tells him they're here to find out what really happened. Spock explains, in basic terms, what a mind meld is and asks Edward if he's willing to try it. Edward agrees and they do the mind meld.

Spock learns that Edward was walking down a corridor when he heard voices shouting and went to try and see what was going on/help. He found a man with a knife raised, poised to stab to the injured crewwoman. Edward ran forward to try and help and, while he couldn't prevent the woman from getting stabbed he did chase the man away by running into him and accidentally cutting him- which was how the blood got on his hands. Realizing the woman was dying, Edward panicked and called the bridge for help.

Armed with this new information Kirk and Spock now know that Edward is innocent, but they now need to catch their true murderer. Kirk comes up with a plan to trap the man and prove Edward's innocence- but it involves putting Edward in danger. Basically, they assume that the killer will want to get rid of Edward now that Edward's seen him and so Kirk figures that they can trap the man by using Edward as bait. He explains this to Edward and tells him they'll come up with a different plan if he doesn't want to do it, but Edward agrees- he doesn't want anyone else put in danger and he, kind of, in a way, sees himself as expendable.

Kirk and Spock leave Edward's quarters but stay nearby with a security team and wait. Maybe an hour or so later the murderer arrives and goes into Edward's room where he confronts Edward and attacks him. Kirk, Spock and the security officers then rush into the room to apprehend the man, but he's gone mad and a madman is powerful. Luckily so is the Vulcan neck pinch and they manage to subdue him. Edward is injured but not badly, he's more just shaken and traumatized by everything.

Everything turns out alright; the crewwoman recovers, the murderer is put in the brig, and Edward's innocence is proved.

Later, Kirk questions the murderer and discovers that the man had personal grudges against the two people he attacked and that he'd been planning to kill them for a long time, Edward just gave him the perfect excuse to finally go through with his plan. Kirk is disgusted and a little unnerved. As he leaves the brig, Spock appears and tells him that he ran the murderous crewman's name through the computer and discovered that he is the descendant of the man Edward would have killed had he stayed in the proper timeline. They have a somewhat existential discussion about how history still demanded a life be taken and this was the way history righted itself and Kirk is upset that his actions caused the death of one of his crew and wonders if he did the right thing.

And then Edward appears and smiles at them and asks Spock if they can play chess and Kirk decides that he still made the right choice.

The End

Bonus scene/story to go with this: Enterprise takes Edward to some specialized medical facility and he gets his hands and shows them and he's all excited to go on adventures with them now and no one has the heart to tell him they were gonna just leave him (no, not even Spock, the main guys probably go through passing the potential conversation to the next until it stops on Spock and Spock's like "I believe the captain wishes me to relay that he has put in a request to Starfleet to allow you to join the crew." and Kirk is like "WHAT- I mean, of course, yes, right-" and Edward's just so happy and delighted. Kirk sends a message to Starfleet like "Listen you have to let me keep him. Someone will ADOPT him if necessary but not even my Vulcan science officer can bear to break his little mechanical heart by telling him he has to leave so he's a part of my crew now. I've stopped 27 universe-ending disasters in the past week, you have to give me this.") so they just. keep Edward. And he's just a little guy who hangs out on Enterprise and they teach him how to run parts of the ship.

[muirmarie]

jim being canonically the shortest one of the triumvirate is genuinely so important to me lmao, like yesssssss, let that beefy babe be shorter than both his boyfriends!!!!

[mamawasatesttube]

the timkon fans who shit on bart are annoying, the konbart fans who shit on tim are annoying, and i don't actually know if there are timbart fans who shit on kon, but i sure hope not, because they'd be annoying. the three of them are a set!!! do NOT separate. red tornado literally assigned them one shared brain cell. what is not clickign

[drvision]

I never thought Star Trek would get me into such trouble. Normally I feel like Spock but this time I ended up in such an idiotic situation that I feel like Jim.SO MY ADVICE TO ANY STAR TREK FAN IS IF YOUR GYM CRUSH WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE MCCOY IN THE KELVIN TIMELINE GIVES YOU ATTENTION, RUN HE JUST LOOKS YOUNGER BUT IN REALITY HE LITERALLY HAS A SON YOUR AGE!!!!!

[lichqueenlibrarian]

Anything…?

[ilovefredjones]

the man who loves you in every universe leaves you in every universe :)

[namorian]

Star Trek: the future is kinda sorta utopian. Like it’s now Mostly Not Bad and people are Usually Good

Me, gleefully making ocs: so this is a whole multi-planetary faction of primarily clone cyborgs who are just warhammer 40k for cowards (read: the cover of a metal album but a whole society) and this is a planet of human colonists that got shunted back in time and way across space who’ve devolved into mad max shit and these two are mistreated orphans who become best friends and basically run a criminal organization just out of reach of the primary political powers and this—

[woman-of-many-fandoms]

Look, I know there are a lot of people who like this scene and think it's romantic. Ok. No big deal. I can see it.

But I saw the Barbie movie somewhat recently and now when I see it I only think

And it makes me think of the difference men and women have to the here, let me help / let me show you.

[ignorantsanonymous]

The Tragedy Prayer

"Let us offer up a prayer to those who have perished in this nightmarish act of cruelty today.

And I remind you all, once again, that we pray not to God, but to ourselves; to sharpen our minds and to focus our wills.

Our Power, which burns within Us, exquisite be Our Might.

Our Kingdom come, Our Will be done, on Earth as it is within Us.

Give Us this day our fondest wish, and improve ever upon Us, as we strive ever to improve Ourselves.

And lead Us not into corruption or malaise, but give Us strength to persist in the face of adversity.

Lives have been taken needlessly from Us by a loathsome lost soul on a mission of evil.

May the sickness of this rotten death-urge vacate Our collective Being.

May the exploiters of tragedy find that their words turn to shit in their mouths.

May the deniers of tragedy find that they are denied mercy until they repent.

May the cruelty of this world be alleviated by the love and fellowship and brotherhood and sisterhood and siblinghood that We may find in Ourselves.

To love One Another and to serve One Another and to serve those that love Us.

And may Those whose souls are on this day scorched with pain and anguish find Their way to the balm of kindness.

Let Those who have been so darkly touched by the worst of humanity see now the best of it.

And may Our differences be cast aside, and all the bullshit cut through, until all that is left is the truth.

Let it be so."

-TJ Kirk (May 2022)

[self-made-purgatories]

MCCOY: It's hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness. KIRK: Not when you've sat in that room.

Kirk is remembering the feeling of the brainwiper. He is starting to spiral. He looks over at Spock, and the "cold, emotionless" Spock looks genuinely concerned.

I'm here. I see you. How can I help you? What do you need?

But just that one gentle, loving, concerned look from Spock, is enough to make Kirk feel safe again. He starts acting normal again. He smiles, ever so slightly. He gives an order.

KIRK: Take us out of orbit, Mister Spock. Ahead warp factor one.

This time, the supposedly "emotionless" Spock, literally smiles, ever so slightly, back at Kirk. He does that little lip-pursing thing he does when he's trying really hard not to smile for real.

Why is Kirk giving the order to Spock? That's an order for the helmsman. It's almost as if, to Kirk, Spock is the only other person in the room.

And the flirty, sparkly bedroom eyes Spock makes during "Warp factor one"?

Come on, let's gay flirt our way out of this place. I'll help you forget the tortures of this planet ever existed. We're together. All is right with the galaxy.

SPOCK: Acknowledged, Captain. Warp factor one.

(gifs)

[sad-trekkie-life]

Idk why some people say The Piece of Action is one of the worst episodes, while it’s one of the best. Here are some reasons:

- Kirk having so much fun with the whole thing, you can tell he didn’t want to change the society so he could LARP there from time to time.

- The plot is so ridiculous and random it’s brilliant.

- The mobster saying to Bones he’s got innocent baby blue eyes.

- All bosses having cute yet dangerous eye candy girls beside them, telling them to sit next to them and Kirk telling to do the same to Spock, implying that Spock is the cute yet dangerous eye candy girl of Kirk the boss.

- Spock saying how easy it is to contact Enterprise through the radio, getting the radio program instead of Enterprise and looking at Bones as if it is his fault.

- Spock and Bones suddenly having besties energy during the episode, and Spock and Kirk having extremely married couple energy.

- Kirk’s driving skills and I’m sure Spock could drive much better, and Spock knows it, but he preferred to watch the chaos unfold and be a passenger princess instead of helping.

- Kirk getting a hand on a jargon and confusing Scotty all the time is a top tier comedy for me.

- Spock at some moment getting a hand on jargon as well.

- Scotty trying to use jargon and getting it wrong.

- Kirk willingly continuing using jargon when they left the planet.

- Kirk calling Spock “Spocko”.

- Kirk calling Scotty “babe” and “sweetheart” and Scotty not minding it at all.

- Mobsters wanting to touch Kirk all the time for some reason and Kirk being annoyed by this.

- Kirk being so good as a mobster that mobsters wanting him to be the boss is very in character of Kirk and I love it.

- How good Spock and Kirk were looking in that clothes.

- Kirk understanding fashion.

- Bones being nervous he left the communicator there and not wanting to tell Kirk.

- The whole ending is basically being a punchline of a 50-minute joke (I laughed out loud).

- The only thing that could make the episode better would be to have Uhura, Sulu and Chekov there. I’m sure Sulu would accidentally become the boss there.

[celestialholz]

Live long and fuck in Hondas (or 'why that Vulcan salute is way more significant than you think it is')

Hey. Hey Holz. Did you know Deadpool and Wolverine fucked in the Odyessy? Did you know that they now live in a one-bed with Blind Al? Did you know that -

Yes, friend. I know all of it. And you're all super fucking valid for pointing it out.

... But maybe all of you aren't seasoned Trekkies like me. Maybe not all of you gorgeous people understand the true significance of this.

Or maybe you just want a definitive way to win the argument of "are these two fucking?"

But either way, I'm here to help, and to tell you why, amongst all the absurdly homoerotic text of this film, this moment? Might be the gayest of them all.

Now, we must start by saying that although you wouldn't know it from the bullshit Abrams films, these two:

Are the fathers of gay fanfiction. Spock and Kirk here are the reason you're living in the fantastic timeline where you can write/read men fucking without any other shred of plot and that this is a legitimate and normalised internet experience - everyone say thank you, iconic papas. These guys were so homoerotically coded that even in the 60s, the era of wondrously overdramatic performances of all kinds and fairly prevalent homophobia, The Girlies still took notice, still started mailing each other fics and making zines and being just hugely excited at the thought of these two getting space-married. They are fandom as we know it today's beginning, and seventy years later they're still an enduringly popular ship on AO3. (You should all go and watch Amok Time, by the way. Contains the Honda Odyessy scene of the 60s, except there's weird biology and wrestling and just go and put it on your screens, thank me later. They fucked on that planet.)

Anyway, these two were as close as early colour TV could ever allow two men to be, deepening their *coughs* friendship almost every single episode or film - Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry even gave them a unique word in Spock's Vulcan language, with the meaning of 'friend, brother, lover.' (And if that isn't ringing any Poolverine bells, I'm not actually sure what you want out of this post. Enjoy it anyway, love you.)

... And then we get to 1982's The Wrath of Khan, and to that moment that every iconic screen couple must face - the ol' classic, it's you or me and I won't let it be you.

Sure, the set-up's a little different here - the chamber Spock's in is filled with radiation, and the scene's quieter, softer. And Kirk isn't a mutant so he can't smash his way in, he can just sit there and inwardly die as his emotional support Vulcan does.

... But you get where I'm coming from here. Ryan Reynolds doesn't take a million other potential love scenes from across the cinematic ages - no, he takes this. What is for many the romantic acknowledgement of a whole generation. The humble and desperately sweet beginning of it everything we fans know and love nowadays. The most ambiguously romantic homosexual relationship in television, directly comparative to what is now arguably the most ambiguously romantic homosexual relationship in cinema. And lest we forget, Wade doesn't believe in a fourth wall - this is a conscious choice, both in canon and in the writer's room.

Oh it's so clever and so beautiful a girl could weep. Ryan just introduced the MCU to the gays, just as Kirk and Spock did all those years ago to the masses of the time.

And then there's what it means.

This is the Vulcan salute, created to mean either 'live long and prosper' or 'peace and long life' - it's used more or less interchangeably.

But part of that's irrelevant when you're as immortal as these two.

So we're left with the sentiments of prosperity and peace, given to a man who up to this point can't imagine ever prospering again, is the furthest thing away from being at peace. Wade gives Logan the opportunity to go on, to find the things he's been lacking for so long now - things he has already helped him find. Spock tells Kirk during The Wrath that 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,' and that's exactly what Wade's doing here - sacrificing himself for the greater good of his friends and his newly beloved, however much it will hurt them all.

And that's lovely, and poignant, and character-growing, and I think we all would have been content to leave it at that and have our noble sacrifice, however much we would have wept. Kirk goes on to find the remnants of Spock's soul in the next film in the series, to bring him essentially back from the dead because he felt it was more than his own soul's worth not to have done... which, again, ringing a bell anyone?

Because Logan, in not so many words, tells dear Wade to fuck right off, and we get this.

What we've got here is a direct translation of one of cinema's gayest moments, made somehow infinitely more gay. A true achievement here - I genuinely think I spontaneously acquired tetanus in the cinema for a good minute, my jaw dropped so hard on seeing this. The pillars are the same colour as Kirk and Spock's original uniforms, for fuck's sake. I'm dying out here.

What we've done here is create narrative equality. The whole film's kinda done that leading up to this anyway - they're both mentally fucked up men who can't die, who are constantly dying anyway, who are evenly-matched in battle and both enjoy Honda fucking, who have forged a real love even as they piss each other off at every turn.

But here, they place one another in narrative equality for the first time. It's not about a sacrifice, not now, even though they're assuming it is one - it's about what should be done. It's about righting wrongs, being heroes, being together because every option other than that is unacceptable, because neither understands quite how to lose anyone else. They've both made the same choice, and that's not to let the other die alone.

It's about holding hands and loving and never letting go, even if it kills them.

... It's just about the most romantic and gorgeous thing I've ever fucking seen.

There are no more instances of masks, once they're done in this station. They don't need them any longer; they will never need them again.

And that's only emphasised by the parting shot we get of this... almost directly after Vanessa and Wade share a final sweet look.

I don't know, man. It's almost like the true conclusion is hidden behind the acceptable masquerade. Imagine that in the MCU, folks.

They've taken one of the most intimate and sweet moments in screen history, and made even more glorious.

They did The Wrath of Khan better than The Wrath of Khan did it.

And that's... that's gay. That's just about the gayest thing they could ever have done, and I adore it to the smallest pieces.

So remember, the next time your friends disbelieve you... show 'em this. Show them that they redid the very beginnings of slash fandom, and did it better.

(And then you can add on that they now live in a one-bed with their grandma, daughter and dog, and will do for the rest of their lives. Kirk and Spock didn't even get THAT shit.)

[tprings-hair]

the interesting thing about journey to babel is that I legitimately can't tell who's having the worst day.

spock just had his parents show up to his work and embarrass him, briefly thought his dad was a murder suspect until his dad had a heart attack, and his mom said if he didn't choose his estranged father over his job then she'd never forgive him and slapped him.

kirk is trying to be diplomatic when all he wants is to smack everyone's heads together and yell PLAY NICE, and then he gets straight up stabbed and has to make decisions in a battle situation while he's in so much pain he literally can't sit straight.

mccoy gets a good childhood story about spock, but spock and sarek manage to corner him into agreeing to perform an operation he isn't trained for, and then he has to do it while losing his balance every couple of minutes, knowing that he might kill both his friend and his friend's dad if he messes up. and then his other best friend gets stabbed and he has to manage that crisis too!

sarek just saw his estranged son for the first time in years, got into a fight with another ambassador, got accused of killing said ambassador, was forced into displaying vulnerability and admitting that he lied to his wife, and then nearly died like twice.

amanda showed up wanting everyone to get along and instead her son is upset and hiding it badly, her husband is having a health emergency and hiding it badly, and she stands in the corner watching while mccoy is operating on both of them.

and okay, uhura and chekov aren't winning the "worst day ever" competition, but they're not having the best time either. the atmosphere on the bridge would be weird when your science officer is refusing to go help his sick father and your captain is literally hunched over in pain pretending he's okay to make clear-headed decisions. uhura gets yelled at when she can't find the source of the transmission soon enough for kirk's taste, and chekov -- actually, chekov gets to fire phasers this episode, and he seemed pretty pleased about it. maybe we can remove him from the list.

journey to babel is a spy drama, a medical drama, a family drama, and a murder mystery all wrapped into one. and nobody is having a good time.

edit: vote on who you think had the worst day here!

[jesseisquick]

💯

Spread throughout the adaptation of The Corbomite Maneuver’s script are bits and pieces of how Jim sees his captaincy, and it’s fascinating.

Bones calls him out for pushing Lieutenant Bailey too hard, questioning whether Kirk made the decision to promote him based on facts or because he saw something of himself in the young crewman.

From this it sounds more like Kirk might be trying to squash out any illusions in Bailey about serving on a starship, let alone any aspirations towards command. The Naked Time has Kirk bemoaning his inability to fully exercise his desire to love and be loved, because the Enterprise and her crew are of paramount importance. There’s also that last sentence, suggesting Kirk races towards captaincy for the glamour, not fully appreciating what he’d have to give up in exchange.

That in itself is interesting because there isn’t really a strong case that he should have to make a sacrifice out of his personal life- there are members of the Enterprise crew who come from Starfleet families- and that Kirk is martyring himself. He could have those things but there’s still going to be a cost, and judging by the trail of good friends Kirk has left across Federation space, it’s not something he would willingly pay.

Perfection or nothing else because that’s what a Starship Captain demands, followed immediately by how tired he is, how burnt out. Is Kirk asking for perfection to exercise his frustration with the situation they’re in and his situation as captain or because being Perfect means that his personal martyrdom to the image of a Starship Captain makes the sacrifice worthwhile?

Kirk’s also somewhat dismissive and nearly resentful of the crew with the exception of Spock. During the countdown he is sharply aware that how he conducts himself affects the bridge crew, that awareness separates him from them, in his own thoughts putting him outside the community of the bridge crew. Kirk feels that, having seen him pull a rabbit out of his hat at the last minute to save them during previous crises, they’re now dependent on him to pull rabbit after rabbit out of his hat.

At one point he even has to smother his upset with Sulu, who is looking at him with awe. Kirk says he’s bored of excess awe and excess dependency.

The literal next sentence is that Spock isn’t prone to excessive awe or dependency, and Kirk notes that Spock never asks that Kirk pull a rabbit out of his hat. I think there’s some resentment associated with that perceived excess of awe and dependency (not just of Sulu but the whole crew), that he’s the one that always has to come up with the plans, be something more than human, be A Starship Captain.

I think it’s interesting that Spock is, to Kirk, set apart from the crew not only because of his role as First Officer but because he’s the only one who Kirk feels isn’t dependent on him. There’s equality between himself and Spock in a way that he needs desperately and can’t get with the way he’s set up: never breaking the Starship Captain persona for the rest of the crew, being married to the Enterprise (and a faithful husband). The crew can’t see him as a person, and he can’t give himself to any other person because that would be tantamount to adultery.

He loves the Enterprise as much as he resents her, and even though he feels trapped he can’t free himself.

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Sexism in TOS: Worst Offender, or Progressive in Retrospect in Comparison?

I see a lot of folks claim that TOS was the most sexist of the Star Trek shows by a landslide -- and while I agree that it definitely suffered from the sexism of the times, I also have other perspectives to share to give some food for thought.

I am of course not insinuating that TOS isn't sexist -- it is, but I have to ask folks to consider the breadth and depth of Berman's sexism in his run and ask yourself: Was Gene Roddenberry genuinely more sexist in his storytelling and delivery than Rick Berman?

I'm not telling you to feel one way or the other, but all I ask is that you hear me out and consider some perspectives and make your own balanced assessments. Nobody is obligated to share my opinion, but it means a lot just to have folks hear it and see their thoughts on the subject. So here is what I was originally responding to:

Someone's response to this photo:

"Devil's advocate. This was a part of the popular form of cardio during the production time of TNG. Yes, it was heavily sexualised by men, but so is literally every other way women work out. Men have been caught taking pictures of women while trying to do dead lifts, running on tracks and working on sled machines. They post them online to share too. The fact is, there is no way a woman can be shown working out without it going there. And yeah,t hat includes the combat forms of workout they do in Star Trek. Just look at how Dax dresses when she spars with Worf. Yes, they're dating, but still, same goes when 7 does and any other female.

Aerobics routines like this were made dirty and cringy. This was what women wore then by and large. This is how the workout was done. We make it cringy."

My response to them:

"I respect your take, but I disagree on a few fronts.

The miniskirt was chosen by the TOS female cast, not the male cast, specifically requested by Grace LW and affirmed by Nichelle and Majel who would go on to vehemently defend the miniskirt over the years as comfortable and embraced by them.

Grace said it was comfortable and seen as a symbol of female sexual empowerment during the 60s and thought it would be a progressive garment (and turns out that it was, as it was later adapted and worn by male crew as a skant on TNG) -- FYI those were designed by a gay man and Gene approved them.

This was also supposed to be Spock's TMP outfit:

Literally lingerie.

We saw both Uhura (who saves Kirk in from Marlena Mirror Mirror) and Yeoman Landon (the first to initiate combat with a classic Kirk-esque kick to help the Captain being attacked in The Apple) carry out their combat training in their Starfleet uniforms without ever being made to change into any ridiculous workout gear.

In fact, I'd argue Jim Kirk was sexualized even more than the ladies of the week on the show and I saw his naked body more than anyone else's on a fairly regular basis. He wore red yoga tights while topless in Charlie X while the women wore full length gymnastic suits that covered their entire body. If anything, it went out of its way to avoid sexualizing women practicing fitness in those scenes and instead focused on Kirk.

Gene confessed that he asked to have Shatner filmed in suggestive/provocative ways to "give something to the ladies", so he -- as he said -- liked to "film him walking away" or have him conveniently busting out of his shirts in just about every episode as it were, because Shatner apparently had great assets. LOL

Gene made an effort to at least sexualize both if he was going to sexualize one, and he carried that attitude forward in wanting the m/m and f/f scenes in the background on Risa for TNG. He also insisted that the men and women wear skimpy outfits on THAT TNG planet. You know the one. LOL I mean the dudes even had on less than the women:

Gene also gave permission to K/S shippers to have their conventions back in the 70s when he was asked for permission. Gene and Nimoy felt with all the skimpy outfits they had the ladies wear, why not let the ladies and gay men have their fun, too? It's how we ended up with moments like this:

Yes, those are two people dressed up as Kirk and Spock's penises doing interpretive dance. Gene didn't give two damns. LOL

In my eyes, that was a very progressive take on Gene's part for the 60s. It was actually PARAMOUNT STUDIOS who had the big problem with K/S stories and vehemently tried to shut them down. Gene literally hired slash authors on his payroll and even had several slash stories/writers published in his official Star Trek books (The New Voyages & The New Voyages II).

I feel I saw Uhura and women in TOS engaged in more physical combat/altercations defending themselves that Troi or Bev were shown holding their own.

In fact, Kirk used to get furious when someone would "dress up" his female crew members without their consent (Trelane episode, Shore Leave episode) because like his male crew members, he wanted them to be treated professionally and to also have his male crew act professionally.

Berman brought some of his own personal biases into Star Trek that in some ways regressed it. While TOS had blatant sexism and was called on it time and again, that show was made in the 60s -- a solid 21 years before TNG. We as a modern audience understood why some of it was cringe/sexist due to the time period -- look at any other media coming out in the 60s and Star Trek was miles ahead of what other shows were doing.

Compare that to Berman who was churning sexist stuff out when women like Starbuck and Scully were simultaneously on screen on other programs airing, and we had already had Sigourney Weaver and other strong women in Holywood playing respectful roles.

In my eyes, there was no need of the sexism seen in TNG but especially VOY and ENT. There was no excuse for it when other shows were writing women far better and a number of those weren't even set in the future like Trek was, making it age even faster due to having those dated perspectives frequently highlighted.

In the Center Seat documentary as well as "The Fifty Year Mission" book you will find cast members, writers and other studio alumni who attest to this. Some discussions from "The Fifty Year Mission":

"First, Berman was supposed to have been a real sleaze ball . . . According to Terry Farrel, he would go on constantly about how her breasts weren't big enough, how she should do something about it, and how his secretary was a good example to follow as she had huge breasts. She even had to have fittings to get larger bras, and that was all done at his behest.

Later Berman and Braga developed a name for Jeri Ryan's character prior Seven of Nine. They originally called the character "perineum" which if you look it up it is the area between the anus and the scrotum. Later they floated the name "6 of 9". I mean, what does it tell you about where these two were coming from in the development of this character if they had names like that put forward in all seriousness for her?"

Gene Roddenberry also had some of his own more progressive ideas for TNG cut or watered down by Berman. Roddenberry agreed TNG should have homosexual relationships and representation at a con in the 80s and insisted on it in a meeting with his writers -- something Berman later would not honor. Gene wanted the AIDS episode, showing m/m and f/f in the Riza scenes -- these were some of Roddenberry's requests to include in TNG that Berman later stonewalled.

Berman's era was sadly dated by his own misogynist bias, IMO, to the point that it can somewhat hurt the shows he worked on through his cringe egoism and blatant disrespect toward his female cast.

There is a reason why Gene could keep female actresses working with him and Berman had a revolving door of women that he couldn't seem to keep working for him -- he was abhorrent to women, on and off set. Gene wasn't perfect at all, he had a lot of issues himself -- but Berman was a whole other level. Just look at what he did to poor Jolene Blalock, Marina Sirtis and his toxic commenting on her body weight which exacerbated her struggles with eating disorders, or how he treated and talked to Terry Farrell.

Anyway, just some food for thought. I'm not saying anyone is wrong regarding a take like that, but there are a variety of ways to look at this. Gene Roddenberry isn't a saint by any means, but it definitely bothers me how folks will tote the Berman era as if it were the lesser of two evils or the more progressive depiction of women when I felt there were far more concerning portrayals of women in his era with far less justification.

(P.S: I don't event want to go near the sheer amount of "creepy old dude/villain preys on innocent/naïve/scared young woman or little girl" stories there were in Berman's era, either. But that's a whole other can of worms I can write about in a part 2.)

[betty-fran]

Long post about the impact of traumatic experiences on Jim Kirk's behavior, and how the difference in these experiences makes TOS and AOS so not similar

This is a rather subjective topic, but I've thought a lot about it because of my work in art therapy for traumatic experiences, and after reading these two great TOS analyses about Jim is a victim of SA here and here by @sad-trekkie-life I decided to compile my thoughts about this in one place.

tw: mentions of dv, genocide, sa/csa, please be careful

I first encountered how Kirk's character is read through experience as a victim of SA in... AOS fanfictions, and before I started watching TOS, I actually thought it was some kind of only AOS fandom thing, which was strange to me because there were no direct hints of it in the movies. Still, it could be explained considering the time and environment in which AOS was released. People write things influenced by their own life experiences, and what proportion of people experience SA in their lives in modern society? How many experience DV? Especially as children? And how many of them get help? When the first AOS movie came out in 2009, I was 13 and had my own experience of domestic violence in the house where I lived. And I lived in a family of educated middle-class people. Domestic violence is actually something that happens not only in poor neighborhoods, often it can be things that are not as easy to classify as real "violence", and which are not taken seriously when you seek help. I'm sure that the situation with DV in America is even worse than in Europe, and if we are talking about the 21st century, this is undoubtedly part of it.

JJ Abrams is not a director of poetic or philosophical cinema (no one doubts this) and while AOS clearly lacks the depth, subtlety, and sensitivity of the original series, it's very much a product of its time (and for its time, it has well-preserved this “We change. We have to. Or we spend the rest of our lives fighting the same battles” idea of ​​Star Trek about becoming better, kinder, and learning to empathize). Yes, Pines' Kirk is no Shatner's Kirk, but where the hell would you find someone like the original Jim Kirk in all this capitalist cynicism, millennialism, narcissism, self-centeredness, and dystopian sentiment after 9/11? AOS Kirk was very adaptable to the environment in which he was created, and this is the main reason why I think the headcanon of AOS Kirk's childhood/teenage SA experiences isn't that far off the mark.

We are shown a boy growing up without a father on a godforsaken farm in a small town somewhere in the middle of Iowa and having noticeable self-destructive tendencies and a lack of fear of his own death; his mother is not mentioned (except at the very beginning, which makes you wonder if she even figures in his life), but a certain Frank is mentioned, who is apparently the only adult male figure in his surrounding (read: a person who has power), and with whom he has a clearly strained relationship; in one of the cut scenes, we are also shown that his older brother, ran away from their home when he was a teenager and left Jim, who was still a child, alone with the problems he was running away from. These are all just blatant red flags of domestic abuse and emotional neglect, which I consider canon for AOS Kirk. It doesn't confirm, but it doesn't deny, the possibility of SA being a part of this experience. Especially if we add that in adulthood Kirk demonstrates all possible mechanisms for not overcoming traumatic experiences - avoiding responsibility for his own life and thoughts about the future; self-destructive tendencies - alcoholism, aimless fights, promiscuous sexual contacts; lack of trust in people and outright disrespect for authority; and, the most important, lack of any shock at violence against himself as if it's deserved and expected.

Like TOS Kirk, he have a quick reaction in dangerous situations, high stress tolerance and efficiency under pressure, and like TOS Kirk, he easily uses his body to survive, protect others, or achieve what he wants, both in situations where this means flirting and sexual contact, and in situations where it means taking on pain or sacrificing his life; he easily distances himself from his own body, and like TOS Kirk, his survival reaction is instinctive, unconscious, sewn deep under the skin by constant repetition.

But for me, that's where they're perceived so differently: TOS Kirk survival reaction is the result of the Tarsus IV genocide, AOS Kirk survival reaction is the result of domestic violence. This is, of course, my headcanon, but I think that Tarsus was never mentioned in AOS not only because Abrams forgot? didn't know? it, but also because in 2009 it wasn't the kind of experience you could associate yourself with, unlike the 60s. And in fact, the only topic that the AOS really raises, and which is an echo of the early 21st century, is terrorism. Nero, Khan, Edison in AOS were terrorists. Even the Vulcan genocide is perceived precisely as a terrorist act - a quick, uncompromising, instantaneous one, and not the slow psychological and physical torment that Tarsus was. This shift in the focus of the experience of mass tragedy from Kirk to Spock in AOS is undoubtedly intentional, because AOS is constantly playing in reverse, and it further confirms for me the theory that the traumatic experience in AOS Kirk's life is primarily domestic.

TOS Kirk's traumatic experience is that of a survivor of a mass tragedy, one of a thousand, where his own trauma is depersonalized, if not devalued, in the face of such unmitigated grief. AOS Kirk's traumatic experience, on the other hand, is isolated in its individualism, and although domestic violence affects almost one in three people, it's a very personal trauma, something that remains behind closed doors between you and your abuser. Traumatic experiences are not measured in percentages, and while their impact on a person can vary, it's impossible to say which is actually worse: being a victim of war, or your own caregiver; being isolated in an entire city that is slowly dying from hunger and bullets, or in the house where you live that has turned into a house of horrors. These are all experiences that should not be. Something that cannot be endured without losing something in oneself.

Therefore, I tend to think that AOS Kirk doesn't so much crave captaincy (and the sense of control it gives) as the sense of belonging and acceptance that the ship and close people give. That's why he tries to leave the captaincy in Beyond, because in reality he continues to feel this inner emptiness even on the ship, a disconnection from the people around him; because it's not the role of captain that gives meaning to his life, but the connection with people, the opportunity to change the situation through his own actions (which noticeably distinguishes him from TOS Kirk, for whom captaincy and responsibility, on the contrary, are what really ground him). In this regard, I consider Leave No Soul Behind (in which Jim gives up the captaincy, remaining in the role of a point in the thick of things, and finding his sense of belonging) not just the best reading of the AOS dynamic, but better than it has even been done in the films. AOS Kirk's traumatic experience is easier to read; he can't really hide it, he's not very subtle about it, it lies closer to the surface, visible through his sharp angles and actions. It's the personal nature of his traumatic experience that makes it so obvious, it's like a broken bone that long ago healed incorrectly and can't be fixed, and it's immediately apparent when you get closer, and he knows it because it's personal, and he carries this scar without pride, just doesn't know what the hell to do with it.

It's more difficult with TOS Kirk, because he's much more subtle and adept at concealment. He's a really well-written, multi-layered character, and his traumatic experiences are built on the experiences of people who went through WW2 and who saw things that we would have had a hard time imagining in the real world before the events of recent years. When I started watching TOS, I didn't really associate him with any traumatic experiences at all. Part of this was influenced by how often in AOS fanfiction he is referred to as a happier, luckier version of Jim who had everything that AOS Kirk didn't have, which I now find to be just a blatant misunderstanding of his character (and what can I say, if even in SNW he's read through this lens). And he really gives that impression. But if you look at him through everything we know about his experience, his trauma is much deeper and more complex. But it's less personal, and therefore not as noticeable at first glance. From TOS we know that he survived Tarsus IV as not just a child, but a child at the beginning of his transitional age, when you already understand very well what is happening to you, and this experience is already conscious. A genocide where thousands of people were executed, where there was hunger and disease, and the fear of being killed, where he was isolated, alone, and had to quickly learn to do everything to survive. In his 20s, he witnessed half the crew of the starship he served on, along with the captain, being killed, and he had to live with the constant feeling that it was his fault because he couldn't stop the killer in time, even though logically he understood that he couldn't have done it, that it would've been impossible for anyone.

TOS Kirk is a good actor, as is repeated over and over again throughout the series, and his flippant demeanor is more often a game than a real comfort. This becomes especially noticeable over time as you begin to better read Shatner's acting, which is built on undertones and eye contact. And as a boy-from-a-good-family-with-a-happy-childhood, he slips into survival mode all too easily and does it unconsciously, naturally, practically domestic, which indicates an experience deeper than the experience of a command track. Many things speak to the influence of Tarsus IV on his behavior. His well-known belief in the impossibility of a no-win scenario stems from his fear of not being able to influence the situation, because as long as he can do something, there is always a chance. His behavior often reflects the trauma of a survivor, in how demanding he is of himself, in his obsessive sense of guilt towards the people he failed to protect. The inability to truly build a stable relationship, not so much because it's really impossible for him as a starship captain (because despite certain difficulties, it's obviously possible), but because he denies himself this, because what he really seeks in love, this complete acceptance, the merging of two essences (which he says in S2EP9 “Metamorphosis” - "You haven't the slightest knowledge of love, the total union of two people") is almost impossible to find, and no other relationship will be sufficient for him, won't give him the feeling of finally being seen, of being heard. This isn't allowed by his inner loneliness, which he is terribly afraid of and wants to stop feeling, but which is such an integral part of him, part of his survival, that letting it go for him means remaining defenseless before another, believing that this other person won't abandon, won't leave him alone, which he cannot afford to believe, because it means returning to his deepest fears.

He really easily uses his own body to survive, protect others, and achieve what he needs, often doing so (again) unconsciously, as if without thinking about alternative options. And he easily distances himself in these moments, which is really indicative of the SA victim's experience. Tarsus IV leaves room for this, given that it was a famine stretched over time in constant fear, surviving in something like that meant using pretty much everything you could, especially if Jim was responsible for someone besides him. There are many uncomfortable scenes in TOS where Kirk has no control over his own body, and which are really taken as scenes of violence towards him, and we always see how hard it is for him. While he flirts easily with both women and men, and often manipulates another person's affection for him, he's not a manslut and he doesn't get pleasure from it. From what we are shown more than once, he really understands women and sympathizes with them. He really understands what it means when you say no and mean no, and the other person thinks you mean yes. But truly, I think surviving genocide and famine is also enough to learn to adapt to any inconvenience and distance yourself from your feelings, to simply survive the moment, because that's how the self-defense mechanism works during a traumatic experience. All of these things also make me wonder what the situation is with TOS Kirk's parents, considering they are NOT mentioned in the original series, and taking it as canon alone, I have no positive theories for that.

Whatever TOS Kirk experienced on Tarsus IV, it had a strong impact on his later life and on his moral views. But it doesn't define him. It has an impact, it causes damage, it determines many patterns of behavior, but the trauma doesn't define him (and it doesn't define you). I think what defines every Jim Kirk is his capacity for compassion, his humanity, his empathy, his belief in people, and that there are no situations that are impossible to overcome. And his traumatic experiences didn't take that away from him. On the contrary, the harder it is for him, the stronger he holds on to his belief in a better world. That's why we love him so much.