From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From Address: ryon@dslnorthwest.net
Subject: Re: This Side Of Paradise Notes [K/S] (Humor, commentary)
On Oct 2, 8:39apm, ToolPackinMama wrote:
> This Side Of Paradise Notes
> by Laura Goodwin
>
> In This Side of Paradise, we see lots of interesting scenes with Spock
> and Kirk. This episode establishes a very important point about Spock's
> sexuality. Kirk, as usual, acts like a masochist who's in love with
> Spock, of course... doesn't he always?
>
> In the beginning, when Leila Kalomi says she has met Mr. Spock before,
> Kirk and Spock exchange a long look.
>
> [NOTE: What's up with that?]
>
> We the audience soon learn that it never came to anything, but Kirk is
> not present for that revelation.
>
> When Spock is first infected by the spores, he reacts as if in great
> pain. Leila says, "It didn't hurt any of us!" and Spock replies "I'M NOT
> LIKE YOU."
>
> Moments later he smiles at her and says, "I love you!", then corrects
> himself. "I can love you!"
>
> [NOTE: The fact that Spock corrected his impulsive remark to qualify it
> is NO MINOR POINT.]
>
> When we next see Spock, he has doffed his uniform in favor of the
> jumpsuit and lace-up boots the colonist's wear.
>
> [NOTE: Uh oh! When did Spock change clothes, and why? Did Spock get
> laid? It's possible! If so, this is highly significant, since this is
> before the events of Amok Time. If Spock is sexually viable before his
> first Pon Farr, when he is not influenced by Pon Farr, then that means
> he could have established a sexual relationship with Kirk already, which
> in fact, he seems to have done.]
>
> Kirk is not affected by the spores when first exposed to them. Why? We
> don't know why at first, but later we learn that anger counteracts the
> spores.
>
> REWIND...
>
> Kirk calls Spock on the communicator, and has a very strange
> conversation with the intoxicated Mr. Spock. Kirk orders Spock to report
> to him, and Spock playfully but firmly refuses to do so. Confused,
> disturbed, Kirk brings Sulu and DeSalle with him as he sets out to
> search for Spock.
>
> At this point Kirk is concerned, worried, puzzled, but not angry.
>
> They find Spock with Leila, and he's climbing a tree like a
> seven-year-old, while she watches. Kirk demands an explanation, and at
> this point seems somewhat worried, puzzled, concerned, but not angry.
> Spock invites the Captain and the others to follow him and Leila, to a
> place where their questions will be answered. Spock takes Leila's hand,
> and they set off.
>
> Everybody is curious so everybody follows them. Everybody stops at a
> stand of the mysterious blossoms. Spock stands next to Leila holding her
> hand. At this point Sulu is not upset. He's seen nothing upsetting.
> DeSalle is not upset, either. These guys are simply curious, so when the
> spores hit them, they are affected immediately. Kirk, however, remains
> unaffected. Why? Because he is angry at the time, that's why. Why is he
> angry?
>
> REWIND...
>
> Spock stands next to Leila holding her hand...
>
> After the entire Enterprise crew gets infected and beams down, Kirk has
> been left alone aboard the empty vessel. At first he's furious, but when
> he stops to make a log entry, he quiets down and becomes somber. He says
> he never realized before how quiet the ship could be. He admits he sees
> no way out of his problem and calls himself marooned. He sits at the
> helm, props his chin with his hand, and lapses into deep thought.
>
> While in this calmer, contemplative state, he get blasted by a plant
> that was left sitting on the bridge.
>
> After a moment, his face lights up. Now he gets it! He understands! It's
> so simple! He doesn't have to stay alone on the ship, he can go join Spock!
>
> He calls Spock on the communicator and says, "I've joined you!" Spock is
> glad to hear it.
>
> Kirk prepares to leave. He packs a suitcase, and puts it on the
> transporter pad, but suddenly he gets angry again. This again removes
> the spore's influence. Now he gets it! Anger removes the spores!
>
> At this point Kirk does something very odd. He could bring McCoy up, he
> could invite almost anybody else up, Mr. Scott, for example, who could
> help him to get the people back. He could selectively beam people up one
> by one, and systematically unintoxicate them all without risking harm to
> himself. But N0oo! Instead, he chooses to bring Mr. Spock up, and to
> infuriate him KNOWING that an angry Spock is a very dangerous man. He
> sets himself up for a date with a man-size can of opened Whup-Ass. Was
> that ~really~ necessary?
>
> [NOTE: Apparently *he* thinks it is.]
>
> Kirk armed himself before the confrontation, showing that he knew ahead
> of time that if he was successful, Spock would not cry, he'd *get mad*.
> Then Kirk would have a real fight on his hands, perhaps a fight for his
> life.
>
> Kirk verbally abuses Spock to anger him out of his spore-induced
> silliness. Kirk knows Spock well enough to zero in on the most sensitive
> issues in Spock's life. He attacks Spock's parents, his loyalty as an
> officer of the fleet, the Vulcan nation, his mixed racial status, his
> integrity, his manhood, and his very personhood. He's especially
> emphatic when haranguing Spock about having the gall to make love to a
> human GIRL.
>
> "Does she know what she's getting Spock?" Kirk says, as if *he knows*.
>
> Captain James T. Kirk knows this about Spock:
>
> A) Spock has emotions. B) Spock is sensitive about the central fact of
> his life, which is that he's an unusual creature. C) If you play too
> casually with Spock's sensitive emotions, you just might get your lungs
> pulled out through your ass.
>
> After the short and very brutal fight, Kirk forgives everything, Spock
> forgives everything, and it's now once again the two of them against the
> galaxy.
>
> [NOTE: Uh oh! Spock changed clothes, again! Did Spock get laid? It's
> possible! Him and Kirk had the whole ship to themselves! Anything could
> have happened!]
>
> [NOTE: This marks a change in the K/S relationship. Before this, things
> were unbalanced, since Kirk was the only one of the two who ever seemed
> tempted by women. Now that Spock has proven himself susceptible, Kirk
> cannily uses it as a bargaining chip to buy himself a little bisexual
> breathing room.]
>
> Kirk tells Spock that how he handles Leila is his own concern.
>
> [NOTE: Behold the birth of the gentleman's agreement - from this moment
> forward they allow each other to toy with girls on the side.]
>
> The first thing Spock does to get right with Kirk is to dump the girl.
>
> [NOTE: the way he still expects Kirk to do, the next time, and every
> time that Jim's in a similar situation.]
>
> At the end, when dumping Leila, Spock explains that he has a duty to his
> ship, to THAT MAN ON THE BRIDGE, and then adds, "I AM WHAT I AM".
>
> Well! That explains everything!
>
> [Special NOTE: Before this, if Kirk was actively interested in a woman,
> Spock would deny it was happening (refer: Conscience Of The King) or
> would in other ways demonstrate anxiety about it. Kirk felt the need to
> conceal his m/f activities from Spock, since it made Spock uptight
> (refer: Dagger Of The Mind). After this, they are both more
> philosophical about the rare sidecar infatuation. Of course, there is a
> bit of a learning curve. They gradually grow more emotionally secure by
> small degrees, from this moment forward, as time goes by.]
There's only one point-- and ONLY one point that I am going to adress
because it is a common misconception: D.C. Fontanna, the one who
*wrote* Amok Time, has made it clear that Vulcans are _not_ limited to
pon farr when it comes to sex. If so, there wouldn't be Vulcans 46
years-old, or 95 years-old, or any age that was not a multiple of
seven.
So if Spock wanted to get it on with Leila or that dip from Stratos
(sp?), Droxine, then that's his business but he doesn't have to wait
until pon farr. And anybody with two cents worth of brains would know
that since his mother Amanda, a human Earth woman, sure wouldn't live
with a man who would only go into sexual heat once every seven years,
love or no love. And of course, Spock himself is not some multiple of
seven; he's about two years older than Kirk at this time. And this is
all I am going to say; anything else concerning Kirk is delusion on
your part.
Ron
_______________
Hubbard's Law:
Don't take life too seriously;
you won't get out of it alive.
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