From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: graemecree@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: Turnabout Intruder: my review   
      
   On Apr 29, 5:59aam, Wiseguy  wrote:   
   > He wasn't telling Kirk when to call Star Fleet. aHe was asking Kirk why   
   > should they. aBig difference.   
   Exactly.  Big difference indeed.  The point of the question was to   
   suggest that they should NOT call now, so it amounts to about the same   
   thing.  We're splitting hairs here.   
   > He wasn't challenging anything. aHe was asking. aThe job of a science   
   > officer.   
   So you're saying he DIDN'T do his job when he stayed out of it in   
   Turnabout Intruder.  But that isn't suggested in the episode.  Kirk/   
   Janice accepts his explanation.   
   As for whether he was challenging anything, it's pretty clear that he   
   was:   
   SPOCK: Captain, why are we bothering Starfleet?   
   KIRK: That was an order, Spock.   
   SPOCK: This bridge is under complete control.   
   Even after Kirk tries to put his foot down, and insist, he's still   
   questioning it.  Why is this so important to him?  (Why is it so   
   important to you for that matter?) It's not like Kirk is about to   
   jettison half the crew into space, which would be worth challenging.   
   To his mind, all Kirk is planning is to make an unnecessary call   
   home.  Why can't you connect the dots and see that the reason why is   
   that he's afraid of bothering Starfleet, just like he said?  So afraid   
   that he doesn't back down even when Kirk says "That was an order".   
   Especially when we can see evidence of the same in other episodes.   
   Devil in the Dark shows him not liking to look foolish, Turnabout   
   Intruder shows him butting out of Kirk's dealings with Starfleet   
   without a good reason to interfere.  Your alternate explanation, that   
   the kids simply removed his memory of recent incidents without making   
   him afraid... doesn't explain.  Your explanation takes away any need   
   to call Starfleet, but it doesn't provide a good reason for him to   
   interfere, or twice question a harmless seeming direct order.  It's   
   only a few seconds later that Spock does try to make the call and   
   finds out that he can't.   
   > No, it's not complicated at all. aYou have to be right even when there's   
   > evidence to refute it or no evidence to support it.   
   In other words, you're conceding the Devil in the Dark example.  The   
   ad hominem is pretty funny, and amounts to "You only came up with   
   examples to prove your point because you wanted to!"  Nice one   
   Centurion, like it, like it.   
   > Like when I told you Kirk told Mendez that he took over the Enterprise   
   > from Pike and you insisted he didn't. aEven though I had a VHS copy of   
   > the episode. I had to tell you three times before you believed it, if   
   > you believed it at all.   
   That claim was based on evidence (that you were very slow to   
   present).  If you have evidence that you're holding back in this case,   
   now's the time to use it.  If you're not able or willing to provide   
   it, and I have to find it myself, it might take that long for me to   
   come up with it.  But you can't complain too much if I'm having to   
   argue your case for you as well as my own.   
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