From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: graemecree@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: Amok Time: my review   
      
   On Jan 5, 2:35apm, Led4Aces  wrote:   
   > Hard to argue. Not my personal favorite, but the performances and the   
   > establishment of Vulcan lore make it one of the most important eps.   
   > 10/10   
   It's a tricky episode in terms of what came later, though.  We're   
   supposed to believe that Vulcans serve in Starfleet, but nobody knows   
   that they may periodically require an emergency leave to go home,   
   because they're too embarrassed to say so.   
   In the original conception, this kind of made sense.  They seem to   
   have thought of a Vulcan in Starfleet as being something rare, perhaps   
   unique.  Mendez's Talos IV log, several times points out the   
   (irrelevant to Talos IV) fact that Pike's Science Officer was half   
   Vulcan, as if to say "Look!  A Three Headed Monkey!"  If Spock is the   
   only Vulcan in Starfleet, it's believable that he himself might have   
   hushed this up.   
   But then later, they postulate that Vulcan is actually one of the   
   founding members of the Federation, and even in the same season of   
   TOS, we had the Intrepid, a starship manned entirely by Vulcans.  At   
   that point, the idea that the need for these emergency leaves would   
   not be understood, by the top brass at least, if not by the rank and   
   file, just isn't believable.  Not Sturgeon's fault, though, all this   
   was changed after he wrote Amok Time.   
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