November 23

[evay]

Originally Posted by admiral sab

Tuvok didn't have to become more human, but he did have a few episodes where he lost control of his emotions or where his Vulcan guard was down. The scene where Tuvok says goodbye to Neelix. How very uncharacteristic of Tuvok to move his foot as a gesture of friendship for Neelix. We the viewers knew that it was Tuvok's way of dancing. Neelix said he would get Tuvok to dance before they made it home (or whatever) and Tuvok gave Neelix that as a goodbye gift. Now was it necessary for Tuvok to do this? No. But it was a very sweet moment and an unguarded moment for Tuvok. The episode Gravity is another sentiment to moments where Tuvok had a very Un-Vulcan like moment. Is this bad writing on the parts of the writers or B & B? I don't think so.

There is a difference between Doing As The Romans Do on occasion and changing one's essential nature to abandon one's culture and species. On Trek, each species/culture tends to have one or two markers to identify them so that Roddenberry could use them as foils for humanity, and to represent various aspects of our nature so he could write stories about that struggle. Obviously in reality individuals don't act like clones or have cookie-cutter personalities, but within the Trekiverse, Klingons are generally loud and obnoxious and honor-obsessed, Vulcans are cool and logical and rational, Orions are sneaky and plotting, etc.

Tuvok planned ahead and deliberately, openly chose to give Neelix the gift of a moment's dance. In "Gravity," if you're referring to his rebellious past, teenagers are of course given more slack than adults. I not sure what else in that show you'd consider to be un-Vulcan.

Now, at the end of "Breaking the Ice," we see that T'Pol has deliberately (and privately) chosen to try a piece of pecan pie, as a symbol of being willing to choose her own path. No problem. That's an example of bending to another culture's or another individual's wishes for an instance, out of respect or curiosity or whatever. It is not semantically equivalent to, for example, "Riddles," when amnesiac Tuvok was baking cakes and hanging out with Neelix.

Do you see the difference? Tuvok with amnesia making a sundae and Tuvok gravely waggling his foot at Neelix's departure are light-years apart. The point I am making, and Blalock's complaint, is that TPTB on ENT (and I believe it to be mostly B&B) have aimed for a version of T'Pol With Amnesia so they can have her be nekkid and emotional a lot, instead of T'Pol Waggling Her Foot, which would have much more impact. They have consistently worked to change T'Pol's essential, individual nature, to make her more human and less Vulcan. There is no dramatic reason for it. She's not half-human, she's not an android hoping to be a real live boy, she's not a former Borg trying to recapture the culture she lost, she's not a Changeling studying Solids.

Consider: V'Lar learned to shake hands, because it's what many other species do. She was curious and forthright. BUT: Did she show up in skin-tight robes? Did she laugh or cry or yell?

Consider: Sarek had two human wives. BUT: Did he take brain-damaging drugs recreationally, because it felt good?

Consider: Unca Jim's recap of the end of "Riddles":

Originally Posted by Jim Wright

{Tuvok says} "Well, then, why? Wh-why do you want me to go back to the way I was?!"

Because it's much better if it's your choice. Resistance is futile. Radical character alteration is irrelevant.

"Because," Neelix says at last, "this crew needs its tactical officer on the bridge. And I wouldn't be a very good friend if I ignored that, just so you'd be nicer to me."

It is my opinion, and that of many fans, and maybe that of Blalock, that this is what B&B have done. They've ignored the need for a collected, logical Vulcan XO on the bridge just so they can get Blalock's clothes off.


It is simple and researchable fact that in the three seasons where B&B had creative control, especially S3, T'Pol had her clothes off a lot (more often than anyone, Trip a close second), and lost her emotional control as a Vulcan. In the fourth season so far where Manny Coto has had more creative control, T'Pol has stayed clothed and has regained some of that control. You can draw whatever conclusions you want, you can think it interesting or pathetic, but that is fact.