they are not the hell your whales
Tag: tos movies
this was in my drafts but i donβt remember making it??Β ?
[screencaps from Star Trek IV: Voyage Home, or the one with the whales. Kirk is on a date with
Dr Gillian Taylor, the marine biologist lady. she asks him βyou live in outer space right?β. kirk responds βall right, first of all, my parents live in outer space / i live in the momentβ]
thereβs a specific wikipedia article forΒ βstar trek canonβ and in it i read, βRoddenberry considered elements of Star Trek V and Star Trek VI to be apocryphal,β so honestly if star trek canon ends after The One With the Whales for gene roddenberry himself then goddamnit thatβs where star trek canon ends for me too
The Wrath of Khan
βThey destroyed the Simulator Room and you with it.β

the first ever pride flag (1978) versus the TMP movie poster (1979)
happy pride month!
what she says: i’m fine
what she means: in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, spock performs a mindmeld with dr. mccoy, depositing his katra, or soul, into the latter’s mind. the katra transfers at the moment of the mind-meld rather than at the point of the original holder’s death. spock gives mccoy his katra before he enters the radiation chamber. when kirk arrives to the scene, spock asks him ‘ship… out of danger?’ to which kirk assures him that all are safe. then spock tells him ‘i have been and always shall be your friend’ and dies. in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, once spock’s katra is reintegrated with his body, he approaches kirk and asks him ‘ship… out of danger?’ again, clearly not remembering any of the events after he placed his katra in mccoy’s mind. however, soon after, he tells kirk ‘i have been and ever shall be your friend,’ a clear echo of his previous ‘i have been and always shall be your friend,’ which he should not be able to remember. there is no in-universe explanation for this, UNLESS kirk was thinking of spock’s death and how he said ‘i have been and always shall be your friend’ and those thoughts transferred through a vulcan marital bond to spock’s mind, in which case spock’s vocalisation of those thoughts, which was said in a questioning manner, could have been a test to see if their marriage bond were still in place.
I HAVE NEVER HEARD SUCH ROMANTIC DIALOGUE IN ANY BOOK, MOVIE, OR TV SHOW AS I HAVE IN βSEARCH FOR SPOCKβ
-βthe noblest part of myselfβ
-βsome of our dearest bloodβ
-βWe were separatedβ¦he couldnβt touch me.β
-βeternal soulβ¦as if it were my very ownβ
-βthe cost would have been my soulβ
god and have you heard the SOUNDTRACK
Oh please explain the soundtrack, I would pay you if I could π
ALRIGHT HERE WE GO. THIS IS GONNA BE LONG.
in Wrath of Khan, there is a one-minute track calledΒ βSpockβ that plays when kirk comes into spockβs meditation zone, around where the lineΒ βi have been and always shall be yoursβ is said. That melody is spockβs melody; it essentially follows him throughout the movie and it plays when he dies.
In Search for Spock, as kirk goes on Sadness Walksβ’ around the enterprise, saying heβs left the noblest part of himself down there on that newborn planet, spockβs melody plays β spock is haunting him, even in the soundtrack. spockβs melody also plays in spockβs cabin.
When sarek mindmelds with kirk, spockβs melody is very veryΒ strong,Β showing how present spock is in kirkβs thoughts. The melody is more present in kirkβs mind than it was in spockβs cabin (or any other place) aboard the enterprise.
Whatβs interesting is that musical tracks between lovers often are heavy on the strings (violins in particular). The music that plays between kirk and spock when they are reunited on Vulcan uses strings and a Vulcan horn. The spock melody comes back just as spock comes back (thatβs the bit on the Vulcan horn) and the backing note is violin.
This is all well and good, but NONE OF THESE LITTLE FACTS ARE MY FAVORITE BIT. (okay, maybe the part about the spock melody being in kirkβs thoughts make me a little emo. but anyway.)
What i want to talk about next is a bit subtle and required some digging; itβs about the ten-minute jazz piece that plays in the bar scene early in the movie. it lacks lyrics and may not seem significant, but when you look at the lyrics to the songs it is composed of (βThat Old Black MagicβΒ βTangerine,β andΒ βI Remember Youβ), they foreshadow the events of the movie. Letβs look atΒ βI Remember Youβ first:
βI remember you; youβre the one who said you love me trueβ
and
βWhen my life is through and the angels ask me to recall the thrill of them all, I shall tell them I remember you.βThe song is about remembering a loved one; that is β surprise β the entire end scene of the movie. Spock remembers, saying βJimβ¦ your name is Jim,β andΒ βI have been and ever shall be your friend.β (which incidentally reminds me of an old Indian wedding vow which includes the linesΒ βwe may ever live as friends.β But thatβs beside the pointβ¦ or is it?)
βTangerineβ is a pretty standard bar love song. So isΒ βThat Old Black Magic,β but there is a couplet in there that really jumped out at me.
βYou are the lover that Iβve waited for, the mate that fate had me created for.βΒ
And thatβs pretty damn perfect for their relationship, isnβt it?
If you want to know what James Horner (the composer for both Wrath of Khan and Search For Spock) has to say about all this:
βWhat was most important to me as a storyteller was the relationship between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. (β¦) I set up this relationship, this bond between these two characters and that was the key to Star Trek II. (β¦) What has to be brought to the surface more in the storytelling is the deep affection that occurs between these two characters, Spock and Kirk, and thatβs really what I focussed on. It ended up fortuitously working to set it up that way because it cemented something that wasnβt in the first movie; it cemented something on a big scale that wasnβt in the television series. It was always implied. I tried to nail it in the movie (β¦)Β It was all about that relationship.β (x)
So, you know. Make of all that what you will, but it all seems damn romantic to me.
star trek advent: day twoΒ β favorite movie
β³ Β TheOne With the WhalesVoyage HomeβDonβt tell me youβre from outer space!β
βNah. Iβm from Iowa. I just workΒ in outer space.β
you: spockβs rocket boots
me, an intellectual: spocket boots











