Date: 30 May 2012 10:30 Title: The Family I Know
It took me a little while to place the scene, but I eventually got it. I love how the deepest wounds and joys of Spock's soul are ever-present, even in his death. Beautifully written.
Author's Response:
Thanks! When I heard the song that inspired this piece, this scene sprang immediately to mind. I can only imagine how difficult it was for the newly-born Spock to reconcile those two aspects of not only his life, but his personality as well. I just took the images the song conjured up and ran with them. ;-)
Date: 01 Apr 2012 00:00 Title: The Family I Know
What a great story! You do a great job at expressing Spock's thoughts. I personally love the Vulcans and so it's great to see someone who can write them so well. Your descriptive language is brilliant, and the story fits in with the movie wonderfully too! Well done.
Author's Response:
Thanks. One can only imagine the jumbled thoughts that must have been going through Spock's mind at that moment. This is but one interpretation of that instant of clarity; that realization of just what those people meant to him.
[Report This]Date: 10 Dec 2011 14:33 Title: The Family I Know
I really like how this is written. The present tense first person gives it the disjointedness that is Spock's mind during this time. I also like the brief flash at the beginning that says McCoy without even really mentioning him. Very effective.
You are tempting me to stay up very late tonight.
Nutty
(1am already)
Author's Response:
Thanks, Nutty. In the scene in the movie, Spock's confusion and disorientation were expressed very well by Nimoy's sutle, nuanced facial expressions, but as usual, I wanted to know more - just what was going on inside that jumbled, yet logical, brain of his?
Oh and BTW, know that I'm sending you a virtual pot of strong coffee - what to help with the sleep deprivation and all. ;-)
Date: 03 Oct 2011 00:47 Title: The Family I Know
Especially since you've volunteered to look at that scene, I wanted to return the favor. :-)
Even though I'm not the biggest TOS person here, as usual, when the series is presented in written form, I really feel the life in it. You do a wonderful job of capturing Spock at the moment of the fal-tor-pan, and the confusion of familiarity, amnesia, and disorientation that he's experiencing as his new body gets used to having a mature mind in it. I especially love his tentatiev reflections on his two families.
I'm curious...do you have any thoughts on whether the katra transfer is like a flash-drive backup, or whether there's something deeper to it in your universe?
The one final question--I saw Kirk, for sure as the "brother," but am I right that I also saw McCoy's childhood memories, too? The plants you were describing sounded an awful lot like Alabama to me, and if I'm right and McCoy's from Georgia, that would certainly fit him too.
I wonder that, given that it was McCoy's mind where his katra was housed last. I really would've been interested to see some more about why he felt McCoy was an appropriate choice for his katra--whether it was just convenience, or if he would instead use convenience as an excuse to cover up deeper feelings. Maybe you could write that as a sequel someday. ;-)
I also wonder if McCoy's influence, along with Kirk, is what eventually leads to the Spock who is comfortable enough in his own skin in The Undiscovered Country, to make the "go to hell" comment. And the one in Trek XI (though I know you may not like him) who truly struck me as a hybrid of Vulcan and human in his behavior and not just his lineage.
Date: 21 Sep 2011 14:43 Title: The Family I Know
One thing that Leonard Nimoy has done so beautifully over the years - and that a lot of the other actors who have played Vulcans in various Star Trek series and iterations have done - is to present not an emotionless, monotonal shell, but an actual, complex being. There is often the feeling of emotions barely being hidden under the surface. The tidal wave is under there and he's trying to push it back with his bare hands. He makes you believe that there is a reason why Vulcans embraced logic, that they had a huge number of personal tidal waves, and it was so hard for them all to keep them down that, in order to preserve their society, they pretty much had to take a different pathway.
Very well done, and very evocative, and it all falls into beautiful place and makes sense. Outstanding!
Author's Response:
I couldn't agree more - Nimoy was a master at allowing us to see into Spock's soul through subtle expressions and gestures. Perhaps my favorite one of all is the scene in 'Bread and Circuses' between him and McCoy in the cell. The look on his face when McCoy accuses him of being afraid to 'let his human half peek out,' is positively gut-wrenching, but a few seconds later, the expression melts into unperturbed neutrality, stoic indifference if you will, when he turns to McCoy and blandy says, 'really, Doctor.' Pure, unadulterated genius - and part of what I find so 'fascinating' about the Spock character, brought vividly to life by Nimoy's considerable talent and perfect understanding of that unique hybrid personality.
Glad you liked it, and thanks so much for taking the time to read and review. :D
[Report This]Date: 21 Sep 2011 12:34 Title: The Family I Know
I started to suspect what moment it was in second paragraph and by third I was certain. Spock's katra left McCoy and returned to its old "new" body.
It was a wonderful journey through Spock's feelings and thoughts. He remembers his family, including Sybok and he includes his shipmates into his family, too, although he logically finds another, separate name for them. He doesn't really understand everything he feels, what it all means or why all those people are so important to him, but his heart doesn't need his mind to explain that. His heart knows and it's his heart that informs his mind who is who and what they mean for him, Spock.
A wonderful story :)
Author's Response:
Thank you, Gul Rejal. I really wanted to show how jarring, and how confusing that process must have been for Spock, as he was assaulted not only by his memories - some pleasant and others not so much, but by some of McCoy's as well resulting from the time they spent together sharing one mind, one consciousness.
That was one of the most heart-wrenching things for me about this scene - his friends SO wanted him to be okay, and intact; to pick up where he left off as if nothing had happened. I wanted to show that it just wasn't that simple, and represented a period of adjustment for Spock as he rediscovered his past relationships and friendships; knowing instinctively that all these people were important to him for different reasons, but needing time to make sense out of the snippets he remembered.
As always, taking the time to read and review is greatly appreciated. :D