#squire trekking the stars

[squireofgeekdom]

perpetually obsessed with the storytelling/character/meta brilliance of the decision to have pike know about the accident in his future

further obsessed with the added layer of brilliance of the decision to have spock also know that pike knows

further further obsessed with the decision to have a substantial part of pike’s decision to accept that future be rooted in protecting spock from a similar fate (and protecting spock’s future), and then to have spock also know that

yes obviously after the snw s2 trailer i am back in my feelings pit how did you guess it’s almost like i told you before or something XD

because like. there’s the nature of doing something set before an established story of knowing where the status quo has to end up. and when you bring in known characters from an established story you know where those characters have to end up. 

with bringing in chris pike in discovery s2, you know that the answer to ‘what happens to chris pike’ was set over 50 years ago by a two-part episode ‘the menagerie’ (that contains all of the on-screen content of the mainverse version of the character up to that point, by basically re-airing the unaired pilot as clips, and an off-ramp from future stories by leaving pike on talos iv) 

so what do you do with the fact that a share of your audience is going to be going ‘oh no, i know what happens to this character’ - and on a broader level, that you are telling a story where you know where some of the pieces have to end up (though very cleverly by their discovery-to-the-far-future prequel-sequel switcheroo, not all, i want to shake hands with the creative team who came up with that) 

you give an on-screen story that’s wrestling with ‘oh i know how this ends’. you give the character where people know ‘oh no, i know what happens to this character’ the knowledge of ‘oh no, i know what happens to me’ and you have that aspect of the audience’s pov in this character and being wrestled with in this story as a mirror (and it also lets folks who haven’t seen tos in on context folks who have seen or are otherwise familiar with tos have, which is *chef’s kiss*), it’s so brilliant, i also want to shake hands with the creative team who came up with that

it’s not something that would have worked with a character like spock, or in snw, uhura, where there’s so much we know with what happens to them that trying and picking through and then thinking about what that changes in terms of framing would be far too complicated and involve too many asspulls. pike is just about perfectly set up for it because what we know about what happens to him is so contained and set as an ending -- and works out specifically so that if you cut his foreknowledge off with the accident, it is going through and trying to face a tragedy and still have it be a meaningful piece of self sacrifice - as it’s originally framed as in tos, and not knowing that will be mitigated in the context of the existing narrative

and speaking of mitigation. we get to spock.

having spock know that pike knows - but not know the full details - is such a fascinating and good choice, because it just subtly shifts the framing where pike’s accident is no longer something that would come as a tragic shock, it’s something spock has known is coming for ~seven years, but not known the exact details of. he knows that pike chose to go forward anyway, that he was prepared and accepted the nature of whatever sacrifice, whatever ‘death of the man he was’ was coming. the layers that adds to spock saying ‘and i’m going to choose to try and make up for some of that sacrifice, to give back whatever’s possible to the man i knew, whatever sacrifice that means for me’ is. a lot.

because they do so much in s2 of discovery to set up parallels to the menagerie. ‘hey you know how spock took his ship against orders and ran away with it off to this forbidden off limits planet for pike in tos? here’s pike before that taking his ship against orders and running away with it off to the same forbidden off limits planet for spock in tos’

you chose to risk yourself for me. i choose to risk myself for you. 

(”Starfleet... is a promise. I give my life for you; you give your life for me. And nobody gets left behind.” - thanks for putting it so succinctly Chris)

that then giving spock the knowledge that pike’s self sacrifice is in part related to sparing himself adds yet another layer. ‘i accept that you willingly choose to sacrifice for me. but i am also going to willingly choose to sacrifice for you.’

(and the layers of potential implication from chris being told by his future self that spock’s future is important and the implication inherent in chris’s choice of sacrifice choosing spock’s future over his own and spock’s decision in the menagerie then having the framing of saying, no i still have a choice in my future and i’m making this choice even if it risks my future, i’m making this choice so you can have a choice about your future’ im. the fact that you can reframe foreknowledge of a story that by the nature of the shared universe you’re working in you actually can’t change as still having deep threads of choice. despite having acceptance be an important part of the character with foreknowledge’s story. ohboy. it’s a lot. *spock voice* fascinating)

and that’s brilliant and just makes me wail about these two even more. everything they do to frame the menagerie and pike and spock just. absolutely brilliant. (and i really hope saying that isn’t jinxing it for s2 lol)

(“eleven years four months and five days“)

anyway i have already written about this a fair bit in fic and am currently writing MORE fic but it turns out i just need to yell more! about it!! 

[fritzmonorail]

Let’s give it up for Trelane, Q’s cringe earth Weeb predecessor. He truly whined to his mom so that Q could “Mon capitaine”

[spockeveryday]

[hornyverymuch]

I HAD TO turn this scene into a gif, Spock's reactions as always, are, priceless

[aenslem]

ooh

[fun-k-boards]

Gayest pickup line I've ever heard...

[mephistopheles]

[skybson]

1x17 - The Squire of Gothos

[starofhisheart]

Jim when Spock says anything:

Jim ur gay is showing

Bonus: how he looks at Spock when Spock's not looking

These two weren't even subtle

[your-name-is-jim]

Uh-oh.

[s1 e17 - The Squire of Gothos]

[spaceguardian15]

trelane really said punish mr. spock rn and kirk said no, actually, mr. spock gets a gold star.

then trelane said but i don’t like him! and kirk said get off my ship.

[squireofgeekdom]

Finishing up my s1 rewatch before jumping into s2 (!!!) and just. I've said before that Prodigy ends up doing some of the star-trekkiest star trek out there, but wow. It really does. Love this show, so excited for the new season!!

[andyoullhearitagain]

[spockeveryday]

[lichqueenlibrarian]

Spock: My father is from the planet Vulcan

Trelane: And are its natives predatory?

Spock: Not generally, but there have been exceptions.

[aenslem]

i should just make a collection of screencaps where mccoy is on the bridge like