dottor spock star trek

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

10 spock quotes to remember leonard nimoy.

"Live long and prosper" and "the needs of the many" are just a few of the actor's finest lines.

By THR Staff

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

Kirk loses his son but regains his best friend in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . After being reborn, advancing to middle age and undergoing a Vulcan ceremony to retrieve his aura, Spock meets Kirk again, but doesn’t remember him. He asks why the admiral would risk the lives of his crew to save him, and Kirk turns Spock’s famous logic on its head: “The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.” There’s a pause, and Spock begins reciting lines from the end of Wrath of Khan before saying “Your name is Jim.” Cue one of the most endearing Trek moments ever as the rest of the crew runs to embrace Spock.

Leonard Nimoy died at 83 Friday , leaving behind a body of work spanning decades.

For nearly 50 years, Star Trek ’s Spock has been the most prominent philosopher in movies and television, mixing the logical mind of Sherlock Holmes and the inspirational messages of ancient proverbs.

In memory of Nimoy, let’s take a look back at 10 of Spock’s finest quotes.

10. “May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.” – Star Trek , season 3, episode 7 (“Day of the Dove,” 1968)

See more Remembering Leonard Nimoy’s Career (Photos)

9. “Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them.” – Star Trek , season 2, episode 24 (“The Ultimate Computer,” 1968)

8. “Insufficient facts always invite danger.” – Star Trek , season 1, episode 24 (“Space Seed,” 1968)

7. “In critical moments, men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.” – Star Trek , season 3, episode 9 (“The Tholian Web,” 1968)

6. “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true.” – Star Trek , season 2, episode 1 (“Amok Time,” 1968)

5. “Without followers, evil cannot spread.” – Star Trek , season 3, episode 5, (“And the Children Shall Lead,” 1968)

4. “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , 1991

3. “I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together, of a friendship that will define you both in ways you cannot yet realize.” – Star Trek , 2009

Nimoy’s Spock spoke these words to a younger version of himself ( Zachary Quinto ), explaining why he asked young Kirk ( Chris Pine ) not to reveal his existence. It is among the most poignant summaries of the Kirk-Spock relationship in Trek lore.

2. “Live long and prosper.” – First spoken in Star Trek , season 2, episode 1 (“Amok Time,” 1968)

In the interview above, Nimoy revealed his Jewish heritage influenced the famous Vulcan benediction.

1. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , 1982

Spock shared this philosophy with Kirk earlier in the film, and later used it to explain why he sacrificed his own life to save the Enterprise. The line is possibly the most famous in Trek history.

Related Stories

Remembering leonard nimoy's career (photos), leonard nimoy dead: hollywood mourns 'star trek' star, leonard nimoy, the man who gave 'star trek' its heart, 'star trek': five episodes to remember leonard nimoy's spock, crack them up still 2014, thr newsletters.

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘big daddy’ turns 25: how adam sandler proved his star power with the comedy hit, amazon prime video’s new releases coming in july 2024, what ‘a sacrifice’ director jordan scott learned from father sir ridley, ‘trans memoria’ director victoria verseau on how the film “saved me” and everyone is in “transition”, kevin costner’s moment of truth: with ‘horizon,’ has the gambler’s luck finally run out, kevin costner says he makes “movies for men” but always strives to include “strong women characters”.

How Leonard Nimoy was cast as Mr. Spock on ‘Star Trek’

• Copy Link URL Copied!

His role as Mr. Spock made a lasting impact on pop culture, but Leonard Nimoy barely noticed when he first heard about the role back in 1966.

“I really didn’t give it a lot of thought,” Nimoy recalled of the time his agent first called about the part.

Nimoy -- who died Friday at 83 -- recalled how he won the landmark role as the relentlessly logical half-human, half-Vulcan Spock during a November 2000 interview with the TV Academy for its Archive of American Television Project.

Writer-producer Gene Roddenberry was developing “Trek” as a pilot for a sci-fi series about a team of explorers aboard a spaceship. He had worked briefly with Nimoy on another series called “The Lieutenant” and thought the actor might be right for the new show.

Nimoy, who had been working for years on TV at that point, kept a Spock-like cool.

“You hear that kind of thing and you’re [still] a long way from getting a job,” he recalled.

Roddenberry wanted to see what kind of range Nimoy had as a performer. So his agent sent over a scene the actor had done on the medical drama “Dr. Kildare.”

Roddenberry was impressed and asked Nimoy to visit the studio, where he showed him the set and costumes and began talking in detail about the project. Slowly it dawned on Nimoy that he was hearing a sales pitch.

“If I keep my mouth shut, I might have a job here,” he recalled thinking.

Once he was cast, Nimoy began trying to nail down exactly what kind of a character Spock would be. Settling on his appearance was important. Roddenberry had decided he would have pointy ears so that viewers would immediately perceive him as otherworldly.

He also wanted to give Spock red skin. But that proved problematic.

Most TVs in the mid-1960s were still black-and-white, Nimoy remembered.

With red skin, “I was going to be black on a black-and-white set,” he said.

The idea was dropped.

What do you think of Nimoy and “Star Trek”?

Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT

More to Read

A child porn conviction and angry ‘Star Trek’ fans: Inside the drama around a new sci-fi museum

June 3, 2024

‘Resident Alien’ star Alan Tudyk is in no hurry to return to his home planet

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is over. Now Alex Kurtzman readies for ‘Starfleet Academy’ and ‘Section 31’

May 30, 2024

The complete guide to home viewing

Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Scott Collins is a former staff reporter for the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times. He joined the staff in 2004 after previous stints at the Hollywood Reporter and Inside.com. Author of the book “Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN,” he is a frequent pop-culture expert on national TV, radio shows and industry panels. He left The Times in 2016.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Appreciation: Comedian, actor, musician and painter Martin Mull mastered the art of always being right for the job

June 29, 2024

Martin Mull dies at 80: The comic actor, ‘Roseanne’ star and painter’s life in headlines

June 28, 2024

Kevin Costner sticks to subject as Gayle King questions ‘Yellowstone’ exit: ‘This isn’t therapy’

Jared Padalecki slams the CW, opens up about ‘Walker’ cancellation: ‘Can’t fire me twice’

Spock's Entire Backstory Explained

When it comes to Star Trek laymen, Captain James T. Kirk gets all the love. But die-hard Trekkies are all about Spock. 

Where Kirk was a space-faring brawler with a galactically large libido, Spock was a character after the typical nerd's own heart. The half-Vulcan Starfleet officer could disable an opponent with a well-placed pinch, but he was much more likely to use deductive reasoning and logic to sort out his problems. Couple that fan favorite with Leonard Nimoy's incredible gift for conveying the emotions of a pathologically logical outsider, and it's no wonder that Spock has endured for as long as the fictional universe itself. 

The constant allure of Trek and each generation's desire to return to Starfleet's endless story-generating capabilities means there are always greenhorns and redshirts coming to Trek for the first time. With decades of lore to digest, getting a grip on a character like Spock can be difficult. So, we've put together a bit of a primer on a character who's lived long and prospered throughout Trek 's many incarnations.

To understand Spock, you've got to understand Vulcans

When any newcomer first starts watching Star Trek , their first question is probably, "Why does Spock look like that?"

Well, Spock is half-human, half-Vulcan, and he was born on the planet Vulcan (pictured) in the 23rd century. The Vulcans, along with the humans of Earth, are one of the four founding groups of the United Federation of Planets, so Spock grew up in a civilization under the sway of this intergalactic government. His mother was a human schoolteacher who came from Earth and lived on Vulcan with Spock's father, Sarek. The couple met and fell in love while Sarek was performing his duties as a Vulcan ambassador to the Federation. With both parents dedicated to the public good, Spock's eventual career path as a space-traveling peacekeeper for the Federation makes a good bit of sense, though that decision was far off from Spock's early years in the city of ShiKahr. In fact, given how poorly he was treated as a young boy, it's a wonder the drive for civil service survived.   

As a child, Spock was an outsider

Spock had an incredibly difficult time in his childhood , being roundly mocked and ridiculed for his half-human heritage on the almost entirely homogeneous planet of Vulcan. The Vulcan children around him liked to provoke him and then ridicule him for responding emotionally, a faux pas in the logic-based society of Vulcan. Spock's father had a full-blooded Vulcan son named Sybok, and Sarek initially looked at his half-human son with barely disguised revulsion. Through considerable effort, Spock would come to suppress his emotions in the Vulcan way, while his fully Vulcan half-brother would become a revolutionary against the cold logic of his people, due to a deep-seated belief in the concept of Heaven. 

Becoming his indefatigably logical self took time and work, however, and Vulcan schoolchildren were more than willing to make his job harder. As if that wasn't enough, Spock suffered from dyslexia. He inherited the condition from his mother's side of the family, and she worked extensively with Spock to teach him how to read and avoid further stigmatization. 

Spock proved himself as a young boy

Spock didn't take long to reach his limit. He was unusually emotional for a Vulcan, and the insistent prodding only made it worse. As such, Spock had a chip on his shoulder from a very early age, hoping to prove his doubters wrong and fully belong in Vulcan society. Vulcan's harsh code of logical living and extreme belief in problem-solving permeated every aspect of their society, including their rituals that marked the beginning of adulthood. 

For example, every young Vulcan had to go through the kahs-wan , a ritual that required young Vulcans to live in the desert for ten days without food, water, or weapons. The Vulcans believed that such self-reliance was a bulwark against getting too soft and that it provided a connection to the planet's ancient warrior past. Spock took the test for the first time at the age of seven, pushed to get it over with due to his treatment by full Vulcans. But he very nearly died in an attack by a large mountain lion, only being saved by his pet I-Chaya . His companion animal was badly mauled by the beast's venomous claws, and Spock had to decide whether to fight to save it or let it die. 

Given the agony that I-Chaya was feeling, Spock felt that he should let his friend die, though it caused him great pain. At that moment, Spock dedicated himself to the Vulcan way of thinking. He would follow the teachings of the Vulcan philosopher Surak, who preached logic and emotional control as the foundation of a life well-lived.

How Vulcans adopted logic and reason

In spite of their mistreatment of a young and moody Spock, Vulcans weren't always so dedicated to reason. Much like Earth, they spent centuries at war with one another. They developed atomic weapons around the time of 300 AD , and war threatened all life on their planet. In this time, the philosopher Surak created a monastery in the Vulcan desert and began teaching that all the world's ills were due to a failure to suppress emotion and think logically. His followers began to spread his message throughout Vulcan where it was met with open hostility from certain groups. Yet another war raged between adherents of Surak's logic-first worldview and people who believed in the rule of emotion. An atomic blast in one of these wars killed the philosopher, turning him into a martyr. 

Eventually, the logicians won out, with holdouts leaving Vulcan to go and found the Romulan Empire , a noted enemy of the Federation throughout Star Trek 's run. Other Vulcans became nomads who took a heretical stance toward Surak's teachings that would eventually line up with Spock's life. They felt that controlling emotion didn't mean outright suppression but rather allowing yourself to feel and then tamping it down. 

Spock's complicated relationship with his sister

Centuries after the logic-based "Time of Awakening," the emotions of early Vulcans had been largely forgotten. This led Spock's own father to view his son's weakness for the illogical with contempt. And though he did his best to hide it, it was clear from Spock's actions that he could tell how his father thought of him. He would act out even after taking his test of maturity, disappearing into the wilderness for days at a time without telling his father where he went. 

Around the same time, his family adopted a fully human daughter after two visiting scientists died on Vulcan. The curiously named Michael Burnham came to live with them, and Spock instantly felt attached to this new outsider. He followed the older girl around, even as her presence on the planet stirred up danger. Extremist believers in Vulcan philosophies began to target Burnham, and she tried to run away so that her new family wouldn't be harmed in any planned attack. 

While trying to find her, Spock was visited by a spirit he called "the Red Angel," which told him where to find Burnham. This inexplicable paranormal event would have a lasting impact on Spock, as it fell outside of the realm of his logical beliefs and still accurately led to Burnham. However, when Spock found his sister, Michael deliberately insulted him, taking aim at his most vulnerable attributes in order to keep him away from her and out of danger. Their relationship never recovered. 

A momentous decision and a dysfunctional family

Spock's relationship with his father became even more strained after Michael graduated from the Vulcan Science Academy. She attempted to join Vulcan's analogue to Starfleet, the Vulcan Expeditionary Group (VEG), and caused a minor scandal. No non-Vulcan had ever served, but out of respect for Spock's father, the VEG brass let the decision rest with him. However, if they allowed Burnham in, she would be the only member of his family to serve in the VEG. So, Sarek had to choose between a place for Spock or his adopted human daughter. 

He chose Spock. 

Unfortunately, his son didn't want to be a member of the VEG. He declined in order to attend Starfleet Academy on Earth, hoping to become a scientist on a Federation space vessel. Squandering the honor that his father set aside for him broke their already tense relationship, and neither man spoke to the other for 18 years. 

Spock winds up on the Enterprise

Spock left the Starfleet Academy as a distinguished student of computers, and he was assigned to the Enterprise under its then-commander Christopher Pike. Spock served the commander well, helping to get him off of the planet Talos IV after their landing party was attacked by the freaky looking Talosians. And even though he'd suffered a leg injury in a previous mission, Spock managed to help a captured Commander Pike and the rest of the landing party back on to the Enterprise . 

Interestingly, the Talosians made use of a weapon that tricked their adversaries via projected visions. While the cool and calm Spock made no mention of it to his shipmates, he believed that they might be the same species as the Red Angel that he'd encountered as a child. Along with Pike, he filed a report that urged the rest of the Federation to steer clear of the Talosians ... while personally noting that he would return. 

The time he 'turned' on Starfleet

Spock took a vacation from Starfleet at the end of a war between the Klingons and the Federation. He'd been on duty for five straight years at the time, but rather than return home to Vulcan, the science officer opted for a bit more research. The encounter on Talos had been gnawing at his brain, and he had to know if they were the source of his seemingly illogical visions. Against the Federation's own orders, he personally went to Talosian space. 

He came across a " Red Angel " and found out that they were merely advanced humanoids wearing suits whose technology was beyond current comprehension. He attempted a Vulcan mind-meld with the advanced alien and saw visions of the destruction of all major Federation planets in the future. The super-advanced humans he thought were angels had moved beyond experiencing time in a linear fashion, and the effect on Spock broke him mentally. 

His logical and ordered brain couldn't deal with the jumble of non-linear time. He had enough composure to check himself into a psychiatric hospital, but he awoke in a confused state and knocked his doctors unconscious with a Vulcan nerve pinch. The attack on Federation doctors made Spock a criminal, and Starfleet began tracking him down. He hid out on Vulcan, being protected by his mother as his condition worsened. 

Spock returns to the fold

After hiding out on Vulcan, Spock was barely cognizant and just kept repeating a jumble of numbers and several tenets of Surek's logical principles. Eventually, his family realized he was spouting the coordinates of Talos IV but in a disordered way due to his dyslexia. They took Spock there and convinced the Talosians to heal him. In order to keep him from snapping back into the experience of non-linear time, all members of the Enterprise were banned from ever mentioning the name of his sister.

Spock continued to serve on the Enterprise , getting in over 11 years of experience on the bridge of the famed ship. He stayed on even after Commander Pike was promoted, and Spock became an officer under Captain James T. Kirk. In fact, the Vulcan was on board the Enterprise when they became the first Federation members to encounter Romulans in over 100 years. Because of Romulans' shared history with the Vulcans, Spock looked considerably similar to the hostile aliens. At least one Starfleet officer believed that Spock might be an enemy agent, but his continued exemplary service and selflessness put these fears to rest. 

Kidnapping Pike

Spock became a fugitive one more time during his service to Starfleet. He was attempting to help his former captain live out his best possible life on the world that caused them both so much trouble. See, Commander Pike had been permanently disabled, left in a semi-vegetative state in a body-encompassing wheelchair that only allowed him to communicate via beeping. But because of the Talosian ability to create false realities, Spock believed he could give Pike a full life by taking him to the planet and allowing them to create an illusion for him. 

Unfortunately, visiting Talos IV was entirely forbidden for Federation members. So, Spock kidnapped Pike and took control of the Enterprise , piloting the stolen ship toward an illegal visit. Though his actions were criminal, Spock was able to convince Kirk to allow the transport of Pike. The former commander was beamed down to the planet to live out his life in a peaceful vision, and the charges against Spock were dropped.

Spock almost became a monk

At the end of another five-year stint on the Enterprise , Spock felt himself fraying at the edges. He'd moved far from his belief in logic, and now, he believed he should return to Vulcan to live the life of a Surakian monk. He retired from Starfleet and joined a monastic order to complete a revered process on Vulcan known as kolinahr . It was a years-long training that was meant to purge adherents of all emotion to reach a state of pure logic. 

Spock had completed most of the stages of the process, only to fall just short of the final level of logical enlightenment. See, just as he was about to reach his final plane of logic, he detected an impossibly powerful threat in the galaxy and reacted to it emotionally. As his attempt to achieve kolinahr was ruined, he felt that the Federation was in grave danger and returned to Starfleet. 

Spock's feelings were correct. The Earth was facing down the possibility of being destroyed by the V'ger, a life form the size of Earth's entire orbit, capable of generating more power than thousands of starships. With Spock's help, the Enterprise crew discovered that V'ger was an extremely advanced creature built around a Voyager space probe that was attempting to establish contact with humanity. Starfleet captain Will Decker sacrificed himself to meld with V'ger and keep it from destroying Earth in its attempts. As a result, the creation evolved into a higher plane of existence and disappeared. 

Spock makes the ultimate sacrifice

After the whole incident with V'ger, Spock was promoted to captain, and he became a professor for Starfleet. He trained prospective cadets on a decommissioned version of the Enterprise . This peaceful life of running simulations and keeping young would-be officers in line was agreeable to Spock, but his old buddy, James Kirk, chafed at the idea of being away from the frontier. And right about then, that's when things started to get exciting.

During a routine training run with Starfleet cadets, the Enterprise was set upon by an old rival. Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically enhanced ex-dictator, had broken free of his space exile. The former prince of a centuries-old regime on Earth that believed in eugenics, Khan was a superhuman with incredible cunning and strength. He hoped to use a machine that could terraform an entire planet to forcefully create a new home for himself and his abandoned soldiers, and he also hoped to kill his arch-enemy, Kirk.

However, as the two enemies were facing off, Spock ceded control of the Enterprise to Kirk and ultimately gave his life to save the ship in the course of their battle with Khan. He exposed himself to a deadly level of radiation to work on the vessel and keep it from imploding, with his irradiated corpse being inadvertently launched onto a newly formed planet that resulted from the terraforming machine's explosion. 

The Vulcan becomes a space diplomat

After the terraforming machine was destroyed, its life-forming waves soaked a nearby planet, which, luckily, is where Spock's body ended up. As a result, Spock was brought back to life, though he lost a lot of his memories and intellect. He trained quickly to get himself back to the level of an experienced officer and eventually became a diplomat for Federation interests. Though Vulcans were logical and rule-followers by nature, Spock frequently leaned toward his human side. He used his advanced reasoning abilities and his willingness to flaunt the rules to broker deals between the Federation and its greatest enemies. 

During his time as a representative of the Federation, he created treaties between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingons. At the time, the Federation believed that they couldn't overcome their differences with the Klingons, assuming the warrior race was too violent to become an ally. However, Spock was able to push for a truce and end two centuries of conflict between the two empires. He also attempted to create peace between the Romulans and Vulcans, doing so entirely in secret and without Federation backing. He was unsuccessful. 

The death of Spock

Spock died of natural causes in the year 2263. Of course, his life was anything but normal, due to various deaths, wormhole-assisted time travel, and alternate realities. After all, the original Spock was born in 2230, died in 2285, was revived, and eventually died in an alternate reality 161 years after he was born. And how did he wind up there? Well, Spock attempted to stop the Romulan sun from exploding with the help of "red matter," but he failed. As a result, the sun obliterated the Romulan homeworld and created a black hole, sucking up both Spock and his Romulan enemy, Nero.

The two were sent back in time, thus creating a parallel dimension known as the Kelvin Timeline . Here, Prime Spock helped his younger Kelvin counterpart defeat Nero and deal with a new version of Khan Noonien Singh. But all good things — including good Vulcans — must come to an end, and Spock eventually passed away in this alternate timeline. Still, the character continually pops up in new installments in the Star Trek  franchise . It's likely that Spock will be around as long as we continue to make Star Trek properties. Though he'd hate it, we're too emotionally attached to let him go. 

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Apr 6, 2023

Spock's Future is Clear: How Spock Learned the Rules of Time Travel

Episodes like 'The City on the Edge of Forever' show us that the younger Vulcan's path on Discovery has always had a purpose.

StarTrek.com / Rob DeHart

In the Star Trek : The Original Series episode “ City on the Edge of Forever ,” Dr. McCoy steps through the "Guardian of Forever," and the Federation ceases to exist. Captain Kirk and Spock follow McCoy through the Guardian’s time portal, chasing him to New York City circa 1930 in a desperate attempt to fix whatever he changed in time.

StarTrek.com

On Star Trek: Discovery , then-Lt. Spock has been given a vision of an apocalyptic future, where all sentient life has been eradicated. [ I find it incredibly symbolic that he sees Vulcan explode, but gets a chance to prevent it, while neither version of Spock could save Vulcan in the first J.J. Abrams film, Star Trek (2009) .] The vision, which guides the second half of Discovery ’s second season, is delivered by the Red Angel, the being responsible for seven signals that the U.S.S. Discovery tracks down throughout the galaxy.

Both shows throw Spock into situations where millions of lives are at stake, with no clear or easy answer on how to save these lives — mysteries with the highest possible stakes. In this context, it’s interesting to look at the older Spock from “The City on the Edge of Forever” as someone who has learned from his experiences on Discovery .

Michael Gibson/CBS ©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc.

After all, the Spock (Ethan Peck) in Discovery is a Spock in the process of becoming our Spock, crafted first by Leonard Nimoy. When Admiral Cornwell administers a lie detector test to Spock, there’s some discussion of why a time traveler would give Spock, of all people, the vision of the future. Spock doesn’t know. It’s a startling reminder that the Spock we were introduced to in 1966, who has saved the universe repeatedly, come back from the dead, and become a legend in his own right, hasn’t come to be just yet. He’s a much younger man on the U.S.S. Discovery , struggling with both his sense of self and concerns over mental illness, which the Red Angel’s vision only made worse. What’s a perfectly ordinary, maladjusted, half Vulcan, half human Starfleet officer supposed to do when he’s burdened with the future of all sentient life?

The vital lessons that Spock learns with the Discovery crew now seem like perfectly crafted Easter eggs from the writers' room that inform who he will become. One lesson quickly becomes apparent — information is key. The Discovery crew is constantly at a disadvantage through the season. They meet multiple setbacks due to receiving the right information just too late. It is by staying curious and diligently pursuing the truth that they finally start to gain the upper hand.

In “The City on the Edge of Forever,” Spock works night and day to construct a rudimentary computer to help parse tricorder data and determine how the timeline has changed. When Kirk learns that Edith Keeler is involved, and assumes she needs to live, Spock reminds him that they don’t have the whole story. He then works even harder to make sure they have it. Spock knows the cost of not knowing all the facts.

Spock and Kirk eventually learn that if Edith Keeler lives, she will spearhead an American pacifist movement that will indirectly allow the Nazis to develop the atomic bomb and win World War II. As improbable as that is, Spock’s experiences with Discovery must have taught him how seemingly small changes to the timestream can have a massive impact on the future. Gabrielle Burnham’s most effective move against Control is altering the gravity of the Sphere. Michael Burnham sets seven simple signals that lead the Discovery on a critical path. A friendship forged over ice cream is a critical factor in their final battle against Control.

Each small choice can alter the future. But these choices also offer an even more crucial lesson — saving the future is not a win-win scenario. Gabrielle Burnham gives up on saving her husband to save the universe. Pike sacrifices the right to choose his own destiny. Michael and the Discovery crew leave behind everything they’ve ever known in order to get the Sphere data to the future. Each chooses the needs of the many over the needs of the few, and there is no room for compromise in that choice. There is no room for error in changing the future, especially when so many lives are at stake.

When Spock says that Edith Keeler must die, Kirk retorts that he’s in love with her. He doesn’t want to see her die. ( To be fair, none of us would be happy if we learned that our perfectly nice girlfriend would one day be responsible for Nazis ruling the world .) But Kirk’s previous experiences with time travel have been all fun and shenanigans — using time travel to undo the effects of “ The Naked Time ,” and running around the 1960s with an Air Force pilot in “ Tomorrow Is Yesterday .” Spock has the benefit of experience, which is why he insists; Edith Keeler must die.

You only have to save all sentient life once before the lesson sticks.

This article was originally published on June 6, 2019.

Cindy Massre (she/her) is based out of Florida, where she works with public libraries and nerds out on the regular. Cindy talks about Spock on Twitter @yipp33kiyay.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 are also available on the Pluto TV Star Trek channel in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Get Updates By Email

Uh-oh, Javascript is required for this site.

Please enable Javascript and hit the button below!

Character Analysis

(Avoiding Spoilers)

Grew Up… on the planet Vulcan. Spock was born in the city of Shi’Kahr to his human mother Amanda Grayson and his Vulcan father Sarek. At a young age, Spock enrolled in the Vulcan Science Academy, hoping to join the Starfleet someday.

Living... on the USS Enterprise . Along with his Captain James T. Kirk and the rest of his crew, Spock is in the midst of a five-year mission exploring the final frontier and “boldly going where no man has gone before.”

Profession... first officer and science specialist of the USS Enterprise . Spock’s Vulcan heritage leads him to suppress his emotions and let logic lead his life. This is especially helpful in his role as advisor to Captain Kirk, who has a tendency to dive into situations without thinking them through.

Interests… music, poetry, and chess. Though he prides himself on objectivity, he has a true love of maybe the most subjective thing possible – art. He is fascinated by the beauty in music and poetry. He also loves playing three-dimensional chess with Kirk and trying to make sense of his Captain’s unpredictable gameplay strategies.

Relationship Status... complicated. Spock has not had many successful relationships, but was telepathically bonded to another Vulcan, T’Pring, when he was a child. He has been brought back to her on his home planet during his pon farr, a hormonal change that causes Vulcans to become violent until they mate. But what will he do when she forces him to fight Kirk to the death for the right to marry her?

Challenge... protecting the innocents of the universe, while keeping the members of the USS Enterprise from harm. Spock and his team are tasked with exploring uncharted worlds, often meeting unexpected dangers.

Personality... calm, logical, and stoic. Although Dr. McCoy would say Spock doesn’t have a personality and is cold and distant, Spock has a deep capacity for compassion through his ability to mind-meld. Mind-melding is a Vulcan power that allows Spock to share thoughts and memories with others. His level-headedness makes him an ideal leader and support to his passionate friends, but Kirk and McCoy’s emotional tendencies often put them at odds with the cooler-headed Spock. In fact, this is also similar to the internal struggle Spock feels in reconciling his human and Vulcan heritage. Needless to say, he’s a complicated man.

Recommendations

Fans of him also like:

Get to Know him in...

The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, a Vulcan, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger—boldly going where no one has gone before.

The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.

Admiral James T. Kirk is feeling old; the prospect of accompanying his old ship the Enterprise on a two week cadet cruise is not making him feel any younger. But the training cruise becomes a a life or death struggle when Khan escapes from years of exile and captures the power of creation itself.

Admiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis planet to recover Spock's body.

Fugitives of the Federation for their daring rescue of Spock from the doomed Genesis Planet, Admiral Kirk and his crew begin their journey home to face justice for their actions. But as they near Earth, they find it at the mercy of a mysterious alien presence whose signals are slowly destroying the planet. In a desperate attempt to answer the call of the probe, Kirk and his crew race back to the late twentieth century. However they soon find the world they once knew to be more alien than anything they've encountered in the far reaches of the galaxy!

Capt. Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's half brother who kidnaps three diplomats and hijacks the Enterprise in his obsessive search for God.

The crews of the Enterprise and the Excelsior must stop a plot to prevent a peace treaty between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

When a destructive space entity is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral Kirk resumes command of the Starship Enterprise in order to intercept, examine, and hopefully stop it.

Along with his Captain James T. Kirk and the rest of his crew, Mr. Spock is in the midst of a five-year mission exploring the final frontier and "boldly going where no man has gone before." Spock's Vulcan heritage leads him to suppress his emotions and let logic lead his life. This is especially helpful in his role as advisor to Captain Kirk, who has a tendency to dive into situations without thinking them through.

Play as two of the greatest science-fiction heroes ever—Kirk and Spock—in the award-winning STAR TREK, a completely original co-op experience that expands the Star Trek universe even further. Set in the 23rd Century world of the massively popular Star Trek reboot, this cover-based shooter immerses players in a rich, original story and action-packed combat.

Fasten your seat belts, bring your seat back to an upright position, you are about to pilot a Federation Starship on a wild roller coaster ride through the final frontier. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is a point-and-click adventure with multiple solutions and moral choices, combined with a first person starship simulator. As Captain Kirk, you'll control phasers, photon torpedoes, shields, and communications during eight separate space and ground missions. Visit different worlds and then join a landing party sent down to map and interact with alien races and artifacts. Piloting the U.S.S. Enterprise is a thrill in itself, but the actual voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols will make your adventure truly out of this world.

Star Trek: Armada is a real-time strategy game published in 2000 by Activision. The game's look and feel is based primarily on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and features a few of its main characters and ships. Playable factions include the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire and the Borg. The game received positive reviews and was noted for being one of the better Star Trek games to be made.

Star Trek: Armada II is a real time strategy video game published by Activision in 2001, based upon the Star Trek universe. The game was developed by Mad Doc Software. It is the sequel to Star Trek: Armada. Star Trek: Armada II was released by Activision a year after they acquired the full rights to all the franchise holding of the video game's franchise from Viacom. Like its predecessor, Armada II is set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation era of the Star Trek universe. The game showcases events in the Alpha Quadrant between the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassian Union, Species 8472, and the Borg.

Star Trek: The Animated Series is an animated science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe following the events of Star Trek: The Original Series of the 1960s.

Related Characters

To take advantage of all of CharacTour’s features, you need your own personal account. Get entertainment recommendations for your unique personality and find out which of 5,500+ characters are most like you.

Star Trek: Spock's 15 Best Quotes, Ranked

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Doctor Who’s 20 Best Companions Through the Years, Ranked

10 most emotional episodes of bluey, 18 best true crime movies and shows on prime video to watch right now.

Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek : The Original Series introduced excited science-fiction fans to the iconic duo Spock and Kirk . Often at odds with one another because of how vastly their point of view differed, Spock's logic paired well with Kirk's impetuous nature, provoking thoughtful commentary and hilarious banter. There was a definite sense of balance between them, with each man poised at opposite sides of the spectrum, but they almost always found common ground when necessary.

Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of the half-human, half-Vulcan was iconic. Spock paved the way for the creation of numerous characters as the Star Trek franchise began to expand. His influence over the development of the android artificial intelligence Data (Brent Spiner) in The Next Generation is clear in Data's curiosity about human nature. He can be seen also be seen in Voyager 's holo-physician, The Doctor (Robert Picardo), who employed an acerbic bedside manner and logic for problem-solving the crew sometimes lacked. Deep Space 9 's changeling Chief of Security, Odo (Rene Aubergenois), carried himself with a similar sense of rigidity. While each of them shared personality traits with Spock, one of the most prominent similarities they shared was the perspective of an outsider--always viewing humanity, judging and trying to understand its nature.

With Leonard Nimoy's passing, his legacy as Spock carries on through actors like Zachary Quinto and Ethan Peck. Quinto gave voice to Vulcan logic in the Star Trek reboot films directed by J.J. Abrams, while Peck portrays young Spock in Discovery and Strange New Worlds . Nimoy set the foundation, establishing an unforgettable character who spoke volumes on the nature of humanity over the years.

Spock's unique view on life, humanity, and most especially his fellow crew mates sometimes led to strained relationships. Therein lay his deepest observations and wittiest banter. Spock fought hard to deny the human side of his nature, and all too often his read on the people around him only furthered his desire to forget that despite being raised on Vulcan, he was still part-human himself.

15 "It is more rational to sacrifice one life than six, Doctor."

Logic and rationale were at the forefront of everything Spock adhered to, which often made it hard for the people around him to relate. It was easy for him to make judgment calls that would give others pause as they weighed it all out because in his mind the right answer was always the logical one. Even when it came to having to sacrifice lives, he was quick to point out something that would become a standard Star Trek philosophy: the needs of the many far outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

It is a logical observation, to be sure, but in the 1967 episode "The Galileo 7," Dr. McCoy can't wrap his head around Spock's rational response. What McCoy more than likely struggled with was how quick and easy it was for Spock to decide another's fate, even it was rational.

14 "I am frequently appalled by the low regard you Earthmen have for life."

In that same 1967 episode that provoked Spock's quick reaction to saving the many over the one, he also made note of how appalling he found the human disregard for life itself. This prompted an eventual debate about their responsibility to weigh all components before making rash judgments and decisions when his crewmates Gaetano and Boma suggest destroying the antropoids that have stranded them. This episode provided a lot of insight into how the people Spock worked with every day viewed him. They found his cold rationale to be unnerving, but in the end, he made the most sound decisions to display his respect for life as a whole.

13 "Evil does seem to maintain power by suppressing the truth."

When Spock and the crew bring a group of children suffering from amnesia aboard the Enterprise in Season 3, Episode 4, "And the Children Shall Lead," McCoy discovers that they've all blocked out the details of specific events, including what happened to their parents. While trying to make sense of not only what happened, but why those specific memories were wiped, Spock recognizes evil's inclination to avoid outright lying by withholding information entirely. So long as those they wish to control don't know all the facts, they will go on believing whatever they are told.

After the children become possessed by the dark spirit that destroyed their lives, Spock shows them footage of what really happened. Learning the truth broke the entity's hold over them, allowing them to finally grieve for what they'd lost. This is definitely a piece of wisdom that carries over into the world, encouraging everyone to seek the truth and find the facts before committing to another's beliefs or will.

12 "Vulcans never bluff."

In the 1966 episode " The Doomsday Machine ," Spock finds himself pushed out of the command position Kirk left him in when he refuses to attack a massive planet killer. Decker, the man who took over, eventually provoked Spock's ire after Kirk found out what was going on. Insisting that Decker step down, he challenges Spock's authority and accuses him of bluffing. Spock's claim that Vulcans don't bluff may be somewhat exaggerated, but their reputation for keeping a cool head in the face of adversity certainly makes his words believable. There's a chance he was bluffing, but how would one actually know?

11 "...The female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question."

The 1960s were a much different time, but Star Trek did attempt to at least given women equal opportunities aboard the Enterprise. On the other hand, the show often portrayed them in a narrow minded light. Like Spock noting his failure to understand why it was so hard for women to directly answer a question when asked. At the time, a joke like that might be easily overlooked as just women and those pesky feminine wiles of theirs. Today it wouldn't stand. Spock may have been half-Vulcan, but his half-human side didn't always prevent him from adopting a poor view on females.

RELATED: Star Trek: Worf's 10 Best Quotes, Ranked

10 "Captain, you almost make me believe in luck."

Luck is entirely illogical, according to Spock. Those who put their stock in luck are asking to be let down, but Captain Kirk's quick wit and ability to find his way out of a tight spot are often inspired. Even Spock can't help but admire the captain, confessing that the ease with which he solves a major problem in Season 1, Episode 23, "A Taste of Armageddon," is almost enough to make him believe in the possibility of luck itself.

9 "If I were human, I believe my response would be 'Go to hell'."

In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , Spock finds himself questioning whether age has made him and Kirk too rigid and set in their ways to be useful. When Uhura tells him that they are to return the Enterprise to dock, so she can be decommissioned, he lets himself give in to his human side by telling authority to go to hell. Even after all those years out there among the stars, Spock still struggled to accept that a part of him was human, clinging almost desperately to his Vulcan half. This rare moment in which he relents is proof enough that neither he nor Kirk are too old to keep going as long as it takes.

8 "Logic is the beginning of wisdom. Not the end."

Another bit of wisdom from the 1991 film, The Undiscovered Country , Spock finds himself face to face with his own Vulcan apprentice, Valeris, who turns out to be an assassin working against the Enterprise. Much of the original Star Trek saw Starfleet in constant, tense negotiations with the Klingons. Given their nature, Valeris didn't believe peace with them to be logical, and given the Klingon nature, perhaps her viewpoint was logical. But as Spock pointed out, logic is just the beginning when it comes to making wise decisions. One can't rely on that alone to determine outcomes.

7 "It is the lot of man to strive, no matter how content he is."

Even in the proposed future, with humankind out gallivanting among the stars, Spock observes their ever-present sense of ambition. No matter how far humanity comes, or how much they achieve, there is a constant push to do more, receive more, and strive for more. Perhaps slowing down and taking stock in one's contentment would grant a new perspective, one in which they don't need to strive ever onward, but it's hard to imagine. Humanity reached for the stars and grasped onto them, but there must be more and they will find it.

6 "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

As mentioned previously, this philosophy became a focal point for Star Trek as a whole. No matter where the journey takes a crew, they will always face situations that require this reminder. The number of people out there among the stars who are perfectly content to destroy an entire world or system to save just one person is greater than one might imagine. The idea of losing a single loved one is painful, but setting aside that pain and embracing logic has the power to preserve the continued growth and expansion of life overall.

RELATED: 21 Ways Star Trek Predicted the Future

5 "Insufficient facts always invite danger."

Kirk didn't become captain because he was impetuous, but he did have a tendency to charge in first and ask questions later. Fortunately, he had Spock by his side to remind him to take care. Charging into a situation without all the facts is dangerous. While Kirk may like to laugh in the face of danger, it's definitely been a source of trouble for him throughout his career. It likely would have been a lot worse if not for Spock.

4 "Men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see."

In the most critical moments, it's far too easy to overlook what's right there and see what one wants instead. How often did Spock see only what he wanted to see? Perhaps while looking in the mirror, seeing only the Vulcan side of himself, ignoring the human.

Despite his wise observations on human nature, Spock had flaws of his own. It would be easy for him to see his humanity reflected in his faults, but a good many of them boiled down to his Vulcan nature. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to ever admit that.

3 "It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain..."

Spock isn't the only living being to observe how often humans wind up getting exactly what they don't want. He noted how curious it seemed, "How often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want." It goes hand in hand with humanity's lot in life to strive. In some ways, it's an afterthought on being "careful what you wish for," though it's likely Spock would note that wishes had nothing to do with the outcome.

2 "One man cannot summon the future..."

Mankind spends a lot of time thinking about the future, wishing it would hurry up and start happening now. But that's as illogical as it is impossible. While there are definitely some parallels between Vulcan logic and Zen philosophy, Spock's advice is about as Zen as it comes. "One man cannot summon the future, but one man can change the present." If things aren't going the way one wants, looking to the future won't make change happen. Focusing on the moment, the now, is the only way to provoke the changes one wants to see in their life.

1 "Live long and prosper."

Of the many logical and wise things Spock said over his many years in Starfleet, the one he remains most remembered for are the words spoken with the Vulcan salute. Hand raised, middle and ring fingers parted in a V, it almost always accompanied the words, "Live long and prosper." Translated into Vulcan, the phrase, " dif-tor heh smusma ," is often coupled with the words, "peace and long life".

It wasn't Spock, or even Leonard Nimoy, who originally coined the phrase. The inspiration came from a number of places, including an old Egyptian blessing, the Bible, William Shakespeare, and Stephen Crane. These days, when people hear those words the first person who comes to mind is Spock, and given the impact his character has had on generations of Trekkies, chances are that isn't going to change anytime soon.

• Star trek (1966)

Benjamin Spock

Doctor Benjamin McLane Spock was a 20th century Human pediatrician .

In 2371 , while The Doctor was looking for a name , Dr. Spock was one of the possible choices. ( VOY : " Ex Post Facto ")

His first two names and his specific profession were not named in the episode. Gene Roddenberry denied rumors that he purposely used Dr. Spock's surname for his Vulcan character, Mr. Spock . ( Star Trek Encyclopedia , 3rd ed., p. 458)

In 1968 Spock was sentenced to prison after encouraging draft evaders and claiming the Vietnam War to be anti- constitutional . This resulted in a gag scene being filmed during the production of " Spock's Brain ", showing Leonard Nimoy in handcuffs and with a prop gun pointed at him, holding a newspaper with the headline, "Spock gets 2-year prison term". [1]

Furthermore, according to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (3rd ed., p. 458), Dr. Spock wrote "best-selling books on baby and child care" that "shaped a generation's view on child rearing."

External links [ ]

• Benjamin Spock at Wikipedia
• Benjamin Spock at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

• Memory Beta articles sourced from episodes and movies
• Memory Beta articles sourced from novelizations
• Memory Beta articles sourced from comic adaptations
• Memory Beta articles sourced from reference works
• Memory Beta articles sourced from short stories
• Memory Beta articles sourced from RPGs
• Memory Beta articles sourced from games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from video games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from websites
• Memory Beta articles sourced from eBooks
• Memory Beta articles sourced from novellas
• Genetic hybrids
• Federation ambassadors
• Starfleet personnel
• Starfleet personnel (23rd century)
• Starfleet personnel (24th century)
• Starfleet first officers
• Starfleet sciences personnel
• Starfleet second officers
• Starfleet cadets
• Starfleet ensigns
• Starfleet lieutenants
• Starfleet commanders
• Starfleet captains
• Starfleet admirals
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel
• HMS Bounty personnel
• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) personnel
• USS Surak personnel
• USS Intrepid II (Oberth class) personnel
• 2230 births
• Time travellers
• Starfleet chief science officers
• 2285 deaths
• Humans (23rd century)
• Humans (24th century)
• Starfleet Award of Valor recipients
• 2263 deaths

In the mid-23rd century, Spock became known as the best first officer in Starfleet while diligently serving under Captain James T. Kirk 's command on the USS Enterprise and the USS Enterprise -A , for over 30 years. By the end of the century, he was a starship commander in his own right, and quickly turned to following in his father, Sarek 's, footsteps—first, as a diplomat and special envoy, and later, as an ambassador . ( TOS ; TAS ; TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptations : The Final Frontier , The Undiscovered Country ; TNG episode & novelization : Unification )

Throughout most of the 24th century, he worked in the Federation and in the Romulan Star Empire to bring about the Reunification of Vulcan and Romulus . ( TNG episodes : " Unification ", " Face of the Enemy ", ST - Typhon Pact novels : Rough Beasts of Empire , Plagues of Night )

• 1.1 Early life
• 1.2 Education
• 1.3 Starfleet Academy
• 1.4.1 Early Voyages Begin
• 1.4.2 Vulcan's Glory
• 1.4.3 Eleven years of service
• 1.4.4 Discovery
• 1.5.1 The Five-Year Mission
• 1.6 Kolinahr
• 1.8.1 Yesterday's Son
• 1.9 Time For Yesterday
• 1.10.1 The Genesis Incident
• 1.11 The mirror universe and the Surak
• 1.12 The voyage home
• 1.13 The Enterprise -A
• 1.15 Once a hero
• 1.16 Gorkon
• 1.17 After the Enterprise-A
• 1.18 Ambassador Spock
• 1.19 Saavik
• 1.20 Romulus and Reunification
• 1.21 Romulan Supernova
• 1.22 The Kelvin timeline
• 2 Alternate timelines and realities
• 3 Starfleet service record
• 4.1 Connections
• 4.2.1 Rank insignia
• 4.3.1 Appearances
• 4.3.2 References
• 4.4 External links

Spock (meaning " uniter " in Vulcan), the son of Sarek of Vulcan and Amanda Grayson , was born deep within a cave in Vulcan's Forge on January 6 , 2230 . As is the case with most Vulcans, only his last name was used due to the difficulty non-Vulcans would have in pronouncing his full name, although on at least one occasion Spock revealed his full name. ( TOS episodes : " Journey to Babel ", " This Side of Paradise "; TAS episode : " Yesteryear "; TOS movie : The Final Frontier ; TOS novel : Ishmael ; TOS movie : Star Trek Beyond )

To avoid tissue rejection, Spock was incubated twice during his 13 months of gestation. Ordinarily a Vulcan- Human hybrid would abort in the first month, but hundreds of chemical treatments were applied during his second and third months to help the infant survive, according to Sarek. ( TOS reference : Inside Star Trek )

Spock came from a distinguished Vulcan family with a long history of involvement with Earth . His grandfather Skon had been the first to translate The Teachings of Surak into English , giving humanity access to Surak 's teachings. ( ENT episode : " Two Days and Two Nights ")

His great-grandfather Solkar had made the first official contact with Earth as captain of the T'Plana-Hath , and later served as the first ambassador of Vulcan to Earth. ( TNG movie : Star Trek: First Contact ; the Decipher CCG; ENT episode : " The Catwalk ")

His Human ancestors included Aaron Stemple , a 19th century Seattle landowner, and Jeremy Grayson , a respected 20th and 21st century peace advocate, and Jeremy's wife Dora . ( TOS novels : Ishmael , Strangers from the Sky )

Spock had a half-brother named Sybok , from Sarek's first marriage. Sybok rejected Vulcan logic and embraced his emotions. Sybok left Vulcan when Spock was very young in search of the mythical Vulcan " heaven " known as Sha Ka Ree . ( TOS novel : The Final Frontier )

Spock's parents, in accordance with Vulcan tradition, arranged for Spock to be betrothed to a Vulcan girl named T'Pring while Spock was very young. ( TOS episode : " Amok Time ")

At some point during his childhood, he used to meet with his father's friend Tarok who was like an uncle and was called "Takta" in a loving manner. He used to tell stories to young Spock of the time before the Vulcan Reformation ; some of these tales were considered inappropriate by other Vulcans. ( TOS novel : Avenger )

The seven-year-old Spock and his older self in 2237 .

At the age of seven, Spock defied his father's wishes and journeyed into the Vulcan desert known as the Forge in an attempt to complete the kahs-wan , the traditional Vulcan coming of age ritual. With the assistance of his cousin Selek (actually Spock himself from the future) and the sacrifice of Spock's pet Sehlat , I-Chaya , young Spock completed the kahs-wan ritual. It was at this time that Spock chose the Vulcan way of life over that of his human mother. ( TAS episode : " Yesteryear ")

Even after the ritual was complete, Spock would continue to defy Sarek and head into the Vulcan wilderness; Sarek would eventually track Spock on one of these journeys and Spock would explain his reasoning for his adventures. ( ST comic : " Spock: Reflections, Issue 1 ")

When Spock was a boy, he would often disappear into the mountains for days at a time. His father asked him what he had done and where he had gone but Spock refused to tell him. Sarek forbade him to go but he went regardless and endured the punishment for disobeying his father. Shortly before his death in 2368 , Sarek told Captain Jean-Luc Picard that he secretly admired "the proud core of him that would not yield." ( TNG episode : " Unification ")

Spock's parents took in orphan Michael Burnham as part of their family. Spock at first did not welcome her and retreated to his room. There, he spooked Burnham with a drawing of a dragon-like monster. Spock ignored her. Following the Logic extremists bombing of the Vulcan Learning Center , Spock was told by a Red Angel that Burnham had ran away to the outskirts of ShiKahr . ( DSC episodes : " Brother ", " Point of Light ", " If Memory Serves ")

As a child, Spock traveled with his parents as part of their duties in the Federation diplomacy services, and had occasion to be present at some key events in Federation history . When Klingon Captain Krenn visited Earth in the 2230s decade , Spock purportedly discussed games with him in an embassy meeting room, and the two had a chess match. Without mentioning Spock by name, referring to him only as the son of the Vulcan ambassador, the incident was part of a dramatized re-telling in the novel The Final Reflection decades later, of which Spock only remarked that the account was part of a fictional work. ( TOS - Worlds Apart novel : The Final Reflection )

Spock faced a great decision in his need to decide which path to follow for his higher education.

Spock's decision to attend Starfleet Academy was influenced by his interactions with B6 Blue , a Nasat scientist on Vulcan during Spock's youth. Through her, Spock learned of Starfleet's more open and adventurous approach to science. ( TOS - Constellations short story : " Devices and Desires ")

In the year 2247 , Spock befriended a human youth named David Rabin , the son of a Starfleet captain . After a harrowing encounter with a Vulcan madman named Sered in the area of the Forge called the Womb of Fire , Spock decided to again defy his father's wishes. This time, instead of joining the Vulcan Science Academy as his father wished, Spock decided to follow Rabin's lead and instead joined Starfleet Academy . ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Forge ; ST reference : The Visual Dictionary )

In 2249 , Sarek was given the choice of sponsoring either Spock or Spock's foster sister Michael Burnham for the Vulcan expeditionary fleet - they would not allow both to join the fleet. Given that choice, Sarek decided to sponsor Spock, and informed Burnham that the Vulcan fleet had rejected her candidacy. Spock decided to attend Starfleet Academy anyways the following year, rendering the sacrifice of Burnham's opportunity unnecessary. Spock's decision led to an eighteen-year rift between Spock and Sarek. ( DSC episode : " Lethe ")

Starfleet Academy

Cadet Spock.

At the Academy, Spock led his year in Astrography , Comparative xenobiology , Semiotics , Quantum mechanics , Warp engineering and four other disciplines. ( EV comic : " Flesh of My Flesh ")

Spock was friends, and often worked with, Armand St. John , who claimed Spock was the only person in the Federation capable of understanding his brilliance. Spock suspected they found something in common in that both of their respective fathers disapproved them of attending Starfleet Academy. The two often fought, as Spock found the shortcuts that St. John employed in his research to be dangerous. Spock was proved correct when St. John was expelled after one of his experiments caused extensive damage to the campus. Spock would meet St. John again years later at the Pollux II laboratory while serving aboard the USS Enterprise . ( TOS comic : " All of Me ")

Spock took the two-year Vulcan curriculum and an additional series of cadet cruises at Starfleet Academy before being commissioned as an officer at age 19, around the turn of the 2250s decade. ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Glory )

The Enterprise under Pike

Early voyages begin.

In 2253 , when Spock was still a cadet , Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise met with him with an offer; the Enterprise was about to begin a long term mission to chart the Pathiad Nebulatae , but the ship's chief science officer had been diagnosed with Virillian toxic fever . To fill the vacant position Pike offered the promising cadet Spock an internship on the Enterprise , with the rank of acting ensign . Spock accepted. ( TOS comic : " Flesh of My Flesh ")

Years later, while under the influence of a Klingon mind-sifter , Spock had a hallucinatory experience of his first day on the bridge as an ensign and acting science officer . ( TOS short story : " Chaotic Response ")

Vulcan's Glory

Lt. Spock and Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise and the Vulcan's Glory emerald.

After Spock completed a three-year tour (around the turn of the 2250s decade) as an ensign and assistant science officer aboard a cutter and a two-year tour (ending December , 2253 ) as third officer and science officer of the USS Artemis , he was promoted to full lieutenant and joined the crew of the USS Enterprise as chief science officer and second officer in 2253 , under the command of Captain Christopher Pike . At first Pike was nervous about the possibility of having a Vulcan on the bridge, feeling that Spock's Vulcan heritage would mean that he wouldn't be able to "gut out" command decisions. ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Glory )

One of Spock's first assignments on the Enterprise was to lead the landing parties to GS391 and Areta searching for the lost Vulcan treasure called Vulcan's Glory , a huge, natural, uncut emerald .

Spock became romantically involved with a Vulcan woman on his staff named T'Pris , and briefly considered dissolving his bond with his betrothed back home, T'Pring . Tragically, T'Pris was murdered by a human crewmember with one-eighth Vulcan blood named Lieutenant Daniel Reed , whose maternal great-grandmother had been disgraced when the Glory had originally been lost. ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Glory )

Eleven years of service

Spock in the 2250s .

Spock quickly became a valued member of the Enterprise crew , spending eleven years under Pike's command. ( TOS episode : " The Menagerie, Part I ")

Early in his service aboard the Enterprise , Lieutenant Spock joined Captain Pike and Lieutenant Tyler on a shuttle mission to planet Filos 4 . While evaluating Commander Knoxville 's work in developing alternative transporter technologies, a malfunction caused Spock to fall through a portal to another location, and Captain Pike jumped through after him. Following their return to the Enterprise , Spock submitted a report to Starfleet, which led them to suspend the experiments indefinitely. ( ST - Spock: Reflections comic : " Issue 2 ")

In 2254 he diagnosed, and helped to cure the vessel from a Ngultor virus . ( EV comic : " Flesh of My Flesh ")

Not long after he was among the injured during the coup on Rigel VII , he saved the Enterprise 's Nurse Gabrielle Carlotti from a Kaylar mace blow but was then thrown against a wall, damaging his leg ( EV comic : " Our Dearest Blood ")

Soon after the incident on Talos IV , the Enterprise discovered an Interspacial Rift that opened once every 33.4 years that led to the edge of the area of the galaxy known as the Gamma Quadrant .

Spock was part of a delegation that met with the Calligar , a race that lived in a series of satellites orbiting a world in flame on the other side of the rift. ( TOS novel : The Rift )

On the planetoid Darien 224 , Spock and a landing party from the Enterprise discovered the Last-of-all-Cities , a lost colony of Vulcans which crashed on the planet two millennia before, and had left Vulcan before the Time of Awakening and the logic-reformation. A splinter group from the colony (who wished to remain in isolation) had captured the USS Cortez in the hopes of using it to oppose the rest of the colony, which wished to return to Vulcan as conquerors. While Spock and the landing party did their best to keep relations with the emotional Vulcans good, Spock learned a lot about the nature of the Vulcan people. The Cortez and the colony were ultimately destroyed when they used an ancient psionic weapon. Following the incident, Spock re-assessed his way of life and underwent a purification ritual, removing what few Human emotions he did have and devoting himself fully to a life of logic and intellect, surmising to Captain Pike "Passion kills, Captain. Logic does not" . ( EV comic : " Cloak and Dagger ")

In 2255 Captain Pike informed Spock that a position had opened up on board the USS Intrepid , which was entirely crewed by Vulcans. Pike told Spock if he chose to apply for the position, he would support Spock as it would be a good career move for the Vulcan. He asked Spock to think it over and come back to him when he made a decision. A few days later the Enterprise experienced an outbreak of rigelian fever which required the ship to divert to Cypria III in order to obtain the materials to manufacture a cure. After the materials were obtained from the Cyprians and the outbreak contained Spock informed Pike that he had decided to stay on the Enterprise and not apply for the position on the Intrepid . ( TOS novel : Child of Two Worlds )

In May of 2255 , Spock, with his foster sister, the USS Shenzhou 's acting XO Lieutenant Michael Burnham entered the Juggernaut to disable it before it wipes out the colony on Sirsa III . Together, Spock and Burnham passed a number of challenges and Spock Mind melded with her to keep in contact with her. They then discovered that this ship belonged to the Turanian Empire who deemed both him and Burnham worthy of joining the Empire. However, when the Juggernaut attacks both the Enterprise and the Shenzhou , Spock and Burnham set their phasers to overload. This disabled the Juggernaut. ( DSC novel : Desperate Hours )

Following the end of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256 - 57 , Spock took a leave of absence from Starfleet due to a premonition about several Red bursts . On a unnamed planet, Spock encountered the Red Angel from his childhood. He received visions from the Red Angel that showed the destruction of Earth, Vulcan, Andor and Tellar. The encounter also caused Spock to experience time non-linearly. He decided to commit himself to the psychiatric unit on Starbase 5 . When the red bursts happened, Spock decided to leave despite his doctors' objections. He used a Vulcan nerve pinched on three of his doctors and took a shuttlecraft. ( DSC episodes : " Brother ", " New Eden ", " Point of Light ", " If Memory Serves ")

Starfleet believed that Spock had killed his doctors and was wanted for murder. Both Section 31 and the USS Discovery under Captains Leland, Georgiou and Pike searched for him and his shuttle. Eventually, Spock abandoned his shuttle and returned to Vulcan. There, his mother shielded him from everyone in a sacred crypt lined with Katra stones . Spock hid there until Burnham and Sarek discovered him and turned him over to Captain Leland in order to "repair" his mind. However, Spock and Burnham escaped to a shuttle when Georgiou warned them about the technology that would destroy his mind. ( DSC episodes : " Saints of Imperfection ", " Light and Shadows ")

Spock in 2259.

After the climactic battle with Control , Spock returned to the Enterprise and shaved his beard . Some months later, he observed the last red signal from his lost foster sister. Spock, Number One and the rest of Pike's crew continued their missions to strange new worlds. ( DSC episode : " Such Sweet Sorrow "; Strange New Worlds )

The Enterprise under Kirk

In 2264 , Pike's time as Captain of the Enterprise was coming to an end as Pike was due to be promoted to Fleet Captain . By then Pike was quite comfortable with having Spock as part of his crew. Spock was one of the few officers to remain on the Enterprise after Pike left, and Pike felt better about turning the Enterprise over to Captain James Kirk as Spock would be remaining on board, serving as both Kirk's first officer and science officer. Pike by then had come to respect Spock's dedication to logic , and felt that Spock would keep young Captain Kirk from acting rashly. ( TOS novel : Burning Dreams ; WizKids module : Attack Wing )

According to the elder Spock in TOS novelization : Star Trek , "In both our histories the same crew found its way onto the same ship in a time of ultimate crisis." This may imply that there is an untold story set in the prime timeline in which Kirk's crew faced an extremely serious challenge while still a new and untested unit.

The Five-Year Mission

Together, Spock, James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise made history .

One of the first successful missions in 2265 was making first contact with the Archernarians of Archernar IV . There, Spock defused the situation was by making a screeching noise to prevent Lt. Lee Kelso from firing his phaser at the Archernarians. ( TOS comic : " Mission's End, Issue 1 ")

In 2266 , the Enterprise was the first Federation ship to officially view the true appearance of the Romulans , who looked remarkably like Vulcans. Spock confirmed that it was indeed likely that they were a war-like offshoot of the Vulcans. ( TOS episode : " Balance of Terror ")

In 2267 , Spock came to the aid of his former Captain, Christopher Pike, after Pike had become an invalid barely capable of communication after exposure to delta radiation . Spock risked the death penalty by breaking General Order 7 and returning Pike to Talos IV, where the Talosians could give Pike the illusion of a normal existence. ( TOS episode : " The Menagerie ")

Later that year, Spock felt the fires of pon farr and returned to Vulcan to wed his betrothed, T'Pring . At the ceremony, T'Pring chose instead to pit Spock against Kirk in combat while Spock was enveloped by the plak tow , or "blood fever", in order to break her engagement to Spock and wed a Vulcan named Stonn instead. ( TOS episode : " Amok Time ")

Soon after, Spock was reunited with his parents when the Enterprise escorted a complement of ambassadors , including Sarek and his wife , to a diplomatic conference on the codenamed planet Babel . During the journey, Sarek suffered a cardiac episode requiring immediate surgery. Sarek almost died when Spock's presence was required for a massive "T" negative blood transfusion, but Spock refused to relinquish his duties to the Enterprise . After Spock was relieved of duty, he reported to Dr. Leonard McCoy in sickbay and gave the transfusion, saving Sarek's life. The incident ended an eighteen-year rift between Spock and Sarek. ( TOS episode : " Journey to Babel ")

In 2268 , the Enterprise was ordered to covertly enter the Romulan Star Empire and retrieve a Romulan cloaking device . It was during this incident that Spock first met the Romulan woman known as Charvanek . ( TOS episode : " The Enterprise Incident ")

In 2269 , Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy were sent 5,000 years into the past of the world Sarpeidon , where Spock met and became romantically involved with a woman named Zarabeth . Unbeknownst to Spock when he returned to the 23rd century , he left Zarabeth pregnant with his son, Zar . ( TOS episode : " All Our Yesterdays "; TOS novel : Yesterday's Son )

Later that year while studying Vulcan history using the Guardian of Forever , the timeline was changed, forcing Spock to travel back through the Guardian in order to preserve his own existence. Arriving in Vulcan's past, Spock posed as a cousin of Sarek named Selek . Spock saved his younger self from a le-matya attack during his younger self's kahs-wan trials. The timeline restored, Spock was returned to the Guardian's world . ( TAS episode : " Yesteryear ")

When the religious Crusaders attacked the Federation from another dimension, Spock proved vital in defeating their attempt to forcibly convert the Federation to follow their Truth and their belief that different cultures could not cooperate. By making contact with the Crown of the God-King Jaenab , which allowed him to make telepathic broadcasts to his people, while Kirk kept Jaenab occupied, Spock used a mind meld to share his own experience of different cultures interacting by using his own parents as an example, the discovery prompting Jaenab to call off his crusade and enter isolation to examine his own motives. ( TOS novel : The Weight of Worlds )

In 2270 , towards the end of the five-year mission, Spock encountered Berlis Aknista after the Enterprise rescued him. Berlis had a very powerful form of telepathy that attracted Spock and eventually led to Spock interlocking his mind with Berlis, but the connection would be broken soon after. As Spock sat in his cabin afterward he felt Berlis probing his mind and killed him in order to avoid further interference by Berlis. ( TOS novel : Troublesome Minds )

When the five-year mission of the Enterprise came to an end in 2270 , Captain Kirk recommended Spock for the command of the science vessel, the USS Grissom and the USS Enterprise . Spock turned down the offer as he believed that being in command, even of a science ship, would keep him from the scientific research that was his specialty.

Spock returned to Vulcan for six months leave with the intention of returning to Starfleet and serving again with Kirk. After Kirk accepted a promotion to Admiral , something that he swore he would never do, Spock resigned from Starfleet and took a teaching job at the Vulcan Science Academy . He soon met and became romantically involved with a Vulcan woman named T'Sura . The couple soon bonded, becoming betrothed to each other.

When the ancient katra of an unstable and very powerful Vulcan named Zakal found a host and began to terrorize the region in 2271 , Spock was drawn into the events, as were Kirk, McCoy and McCoy's friend Keridwen Llewellyn . Zakal was stopped, but at the cost of Llewellyn's life.

Spock blamed himself for Llewelyn's death, believing that it was his lack of emotional control that brought about the circumstances of her death. As a result, Spock terminated his link with T'Sura, and instead opted to become a postulate of Kolinahr in order to shed all of his remaining emotions. ( TOS novel : The Lost Years & TOS comic : " Mission's End ")

In late 2272 Spock was preparing to achieve the final stage of kolinahr by severing all ties to friends and family. Despite his efforts, feelings of friendship and affection persisted for his human friends, Kirk and McCoy, as well as the sense that his friends were in some sort of peril.

In an attempt to break his bonds to Kirk and McCoy once and for all, Spock performed the ritual of Sekhet in order to purge his remaining emotions. After the third day of motionless meditation without food or water, the sense of his friends in danger ceased.

Upon the completion of the ritual meditation Spock believed that had finally purged himself of his residual feelings for his friends, when he felt an alien presence from the depths of space . He dismissed the feeling as no more than the after-effect of his meditation ritual and thought nothing more of it. ( TOS novel : Recovery )

Several weeks later, in early 2273 , Spock was set to perform the ritual with the Vulcan masters that would indicate that he had finally achieved kolinahr , when he again felt the alien mind from across the vastness of space. It was a mind of pure logic, yet was empty, and it stirred his human emotions and blood. After being told by the masters that he had not achieved kolinahr and that his answer lay elsewhere, Spock set off in search of the source of the call from space.

Fortunately for Spock, Admiral Kirk and the Enterprise were in search of the same entity, and Spock joined the Enterprise in their search for the lifeform that became known as " V'Ger ". Spock's Starfleet commission was then reactivated and he offered his services as Chief Science Officer for the mission.

After melding with V'Ger, Spock realized that V'Ger, for all of its vast intelligence and logic, was empty, lost and devoid of further purpose. The experience made Spock realize that logic alone was not enough for the balance that he sought. Spock chose not to return to Vulcan and the study of kolinahr , choosing instead to return to Starfleet , serving on the Enterprise under Kirk in his former position. ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : The Motion Picture )

Yesterday's Son

In 2269 , Spock was sent back 5,000 years into the past of the world Sarpeidon , and had a brief but passionate relationship with Zarabeth , a woman that had been banished to live out her life alone in the barren, frozen wasteland of Sarpeidon's northern hemisphere. ( TOS episode : " All Our Yesterdays ")

A year and a half later, in late 2270 , while studying Sarpeidon's historical records, Spock found evidence in the form of a 5,000-year-old cave painting that indicated that Zarabeth had bore his child in the icy wastes.

After an appeal from T'Pau to the Federation Council, Spock obtained permission to use the Guardian of Forever to visit Sarpeidon's past and bring Zarabeth and son home with him.

Things did not go exactly as planned, and Spock, Kirk, and Dr. Leonard McCoy found themselves arriving 10 years later in Sarpeidon's past than planned. Zarabeth was dead, killed in an avalanche, and Spock's son, Zar , was nearly an adult.

Spock brought the boy back to the Enterprise with him, but their relationship was strained. Zar believed that Spock had only retrieved him out of a sense of duty, and not out of any kind of fatherly feeling. Spock, not knowing how to deal with the emotions Zar had stirred in him, had been unable to convince Zar otherwise.

Zar had unusually strong telepathic talent, even surpassing the skills of his father.

While studying Sarpeidon's history records, Zar found more evidence of his existence in his homeworld's past. In fact, he was an important historical figure whose absence would profoundly affect the timeline.

After helping Spock foil a plan by the Romulans to seize the Guardian of Forever, Zar prepared to return to Sarpeidon's past. But before he left, Spock shared a mind meld with Zar, allowing him to experience the true depths of his father's feelings for him.

Spock, his son Zar, and the Guardian of Forever.

Zar used his telepathic power to direct the Guardian to deposit him on Sarpeidon's southern continent, where he would begin his life's work. ( TOS novel : Yesterday's Son )

Time For Yesterday

Nearly fifteen years later, in early 2285 , the Guardian had seemingly malfunctioned, and was ninety days away from actually destroying the universe. After Spock was able to momentarily stabilize the portal, he jumped through with Kirk and McCoy with intent of bringing back Zar, who was the only person to successfully communicate telepathically with the Guardian.

Spock located Zar, who was at the point in the timeline where history recorded his death in battle, and explained the situation to him. But Zar refused to abandon his troops on the eve of battle and would not help with the Guardian.

It was only at the urging of Zar's new wife, Wynn , whose precognitive abilities saw this as the only way for Zar to survive the coming battle, did Zar agree to leave.

After using his powers to help the Guardian regain control of its functions, Zar returned to Sarpeidon's past to meet his fate.

Spock, however, was not willing to stand by idly and let his son die. He followed Zar back to the past, and with Spock's assistance, Zar survived the battle.

After returning to the Enterprise , Spock decided not to seek out Zar's fate in the new timeline, choosing instead to remember him as he saw him last - alive, well, and happy. ( TOS novel : Time for Yesterday )

Death and Rebirth

The genesis incident.

Spock in 2285.

By 2285 , Spock had been promoted to Captain and was assigned to Starfleet Academy, commanding the Enterprise as a teacher on a training vessel. Spock was commanding a training cruise (with an inspecting Admiral Kirk on board) when Khan Noonien Singh escaped from Ceti Alpha V with a number of his followers, who had earlier accompanied him into exile. Spock relinquished command to the senior officer, stating as a Vulcan it was clearly logical -having, "no ego to bruise." Hijacking the USS Reliant , Khan tried to avenge the death of his wife , which he blamed on Kirk. After a deadly game of " cat -and- mouse " in the Mutara Nebula , the Reliant was disabled by the Enterprise , and Khan was fatally injured. Before he died, however, Khan activated the Genesis Device that he had earlier stolen from Regula I .

The warp engine of the heavily damaged Enterprise was off-line when Khan activated the Genesis Device countdown sequence. As a result, the Enterprise would have been caught in the detonation of the device and destroyed. Realizing this, Spock went to engineering, and was about to enter the dilithium crystal chamber when stopped by McCoy . Rendering McCoy unconscious with a Vulcan nerve pinch , Spock stopped long enough to enter into a mind meld with McCoy. ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : The Wrath of Khan ) Thanks to Jonathan Archer successfully carrying Surak 's katra , Spock knew it was possible for a human brain to house a Vulcan katra , which gave him the confidence to meld with McCoy to prepare for the transfer of his katra at the end. ( TOS novel : The Autobiography of Mr. Spock )

McCoy regained consciousness a few moments later. Both he and Montgomery Scott watched in horror as Spock entered the radiation soaked chamber and began realigning the dilithium crystals. Spock succeeded in bringing the warp engines back online, and the Enterprise was able to escape the detonation of the Genesis Device. But by then, Spock had already received a fatal dose of radiation.

Summoned to engineering, Kirk was prepared to enter the chamber himself and pull Spock out. Kirk was held back by McCoy and Scott before he could flood the whole engineering section with radiation. When Kirk protested that Spock would die, Scott replied that Spock was dead already, with McCoy confirming that it was too late for Spock. The two friends spoke to each other for what was apparently the final time. Spock saw his sacrifice as his solution to the Kobayashi Maru scenario , and asked Kirk what he thought of his solution. Before dying from radiation poisoning , Spock gave Kirk the Vulcan salute, and told Kirk to, "Live long and prosper."

A short time later, a funeral was held for Spock in the torpedo bay of the Enterprise . As Captain Spock's will stated that Spock was not to be returned to Vulcan, Admiral Kirk decided to have his friend's body placed in a photon torpedo casing and fired into the space above the newly formed Genesis Planet . It was Kirk's intention that Spock's body would be cremated when the torpedo casing burned up upon entering into the atmosphere of the Genesis Planet. For the eulogy, Kirk said, "Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human ." ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : The Wrath of Khan )

However. the planet was still forming when the torpedo was fired from Enterprise , and the gravitational fields of the Genesis Planet were in flux at the time. As a result, instead of burning up in the atmosphere or crashing into the planet, Spock's torpedo soft-landed on the surface. Over the next few weeks, the remnants of the Genesis wave re-generated the body of Spock. His cells were regenerated as that of a child's, which began to rapidly age as the Genesis Planet aged. A survey mission from the USS Grissom soon arrived, mistaking quickly evolved microbes near Spock's landing site as the animal lifeforms detected from the Grissom . He was later discovered by Dr. David Marcus and Lieutenant Saavik . By then, Spock's body had aged to be the equivalent of eight to ten Earth years of age.

Spock undergoing Fal-tor-pan on Vulcan.

In orbit, the Grissom was destroyed by a Klingon bird-of-prey , commanded by Kruge . While Kruge's men searched for the Grissom survivors, Spock's body and the Genesis Planet were rapidly aging. As Spock's body became that of a young man and began experiencing pon farr , Saavik helped the Spock through this.

Meanwhile on Earth , Spock's father Sarek revealed to Kirk that Spock may have transferred his katra into a different mind. After failing to find the katra in Kirk's mind, the two searched through engine room recordings of Spock's final moments, finding that Spock had transferred his katra into McCoy's mind. Sarek requested that both McCoy and Spock's body be brought to Vulcan so that the two could find peace. When Starfleet refused to allow Kirk to return to the Genesis Planet, Kirk and the senior staff of the USS Enterprise stole the Enterprise and traveled to the Genesis Planet.

By the time the Enterprise arrived in orbit , Marcus, Saavik and Spock's body were captured by Kruge . Overwhelmed by the battle, the Enterprise was disabled. When Kruge's men killed Doctor Marcus, Kirk agreed to surrender the ship. Kirk and the Enterprise crew beamed down to the Genesis Planet after setting the auto-destruct device of the Enterprise . Several of Kruge's warriors beamed aboard the Enterprise and were killed when the auto-destruct device destroyed the ship.

Kruge then beamed down and confronted Kirk on the surface of Genesis. He ordered Maltz to beam everyone else except himself, Kirk, and Spock on board his ship. Kirk and Kruge fought on to the edge of a cliff overlooking a sea of lava. When Kruge tried to pull Kirk into this sea of lava, Kirk had enough and kicked Kruge away, who fell to his death. Spock's body had by now reached the same age as it was just prior to Spock's entering the dilithium crystal chamber of the Enterprise . Beaming on board the Klingon ship, the crew managed to capture the ship from Maltz - the only warrior left on the ship - and set course for Vulcan .

Arriving at Vulcan, the crew of the late Enterprise climbed the steps of Mount Seleya - where the crew of the Enterprise believed that Spock's katra would be transferred to the Hall of Ancient Thought . Upon arriving at the summit of Mt. Seleya, Sarek requested instead that fal-tor-pan , or "the refusion" of Spock's body and mind be performed. For the first time in many years, fal-tor-pan was performed by the High Priestess T'Lar , removing Spock's katra from McCoy's mind and placing it back in Spock's body. ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : The Search for Spock )

Spock would later write in his autobiography that his memories of the time were hazy, but he remembered seeing Mt. Seleya through Dr. McCoy's eyes, the long and exhausting climb up the steps, the grueling fal-tor-pan ritual that lasted throughout the night, and waking up the next morning in his own body. ( TOS novel : The Autobiography of Mr. Spock )

The mirror universe and the Surak

Soon after, Kirk and his crew took the bird-of-prey to the Regula I space station in order to have a funeral service for David Marcus with his mother, Carol while the still-unstable Spock recuperated on Vulcan.

Deadly reflection.

As his recovery seemed to take a turn for the worse, Spock was confronted in his home by a representation of himself from one of the variant mirror universes , who had come to attempt to gain the secret of the Genesis device from his counterpart's DNA .

The two Spocks mind-melded and battled on the mental plane, with the twin results of Spock's mental instability being cured, and the mirror-Spock switching sides.

The two Spocks set off for the mirror-universe, following Kirk in the bird-of-prey, who had re-commandeered the USS Excelsior from James T. Kirk , and taken her to the mirror-universe in an attempt to forestall an invasion.

Upon arrival in the mirror-universe and catching up with Kirk, the two Spocks assisted Kirk in his plans to assist the underground resistance fighting the Terran Empire led by the mirror- David Marcus .

Upon returning to Earth, it was decided by Grand Admiral Stephen Turner that while the Federation dealt with the repercussions and ramifications of the Genesis incident, Spock would command the USS Surak , a science vessel where Spock's miraculous condition could be monitored and studied. ( TOS comic : " The Mirror Universe Saga ")

During his brief command of the Surak , Spock and his crew encountered the planet Proto , where an air-borne pollen induced dream-like states in several of the crew, and faced down an attack from a Romulan invasion team that was testing new transporter technology on the planet Verdee . ( TOS comics : " Dreamworld ", " The Trouble with Transporters! ")

After the Surak encountered a derelict ship with only a sole surviving Andorian passenger, Spock's crew began to come down with a mysterious malady that struck down the entire ship's complement. Spock, infected but the only survivor, set the Surak 's course for a nearby star in hopes of eradicating the disease.

Spock was rescued from the Surak by the timely arrival of Kirk and the Excelsior . Determined to find a cure for the virus, Kirk disobeyed orders and followed the infected Andorian across the Romulan Neutral Zone . With the assistance of a Romulan commander, a cure for the virus was found using the ship's transporter as a filter.

Spock was cured of the virus, but the positive effects of Spock's mind meld with his mirror counterpart were undone, causing Spock's mind to unravel. Kirk and his command crew returned to Vulcan in the bird-of-prey, again in violation of orders, in order to get Spock the medical attention that he needed. ( TOS - The Doomsday Bug! comics : " Death Ship! ", " Stand-Off! ", " The Apocalypse Scenario! ")

The voyage home

For the next three months, the senior staff of the late Enterprise remained in exile on Vulcan . During this time Spock and McCoy each participated in mind meld sessions with T'Lar to ensure that any remaining part of Spock's mind still in McCoy's mind was transferred back to Spock. Also during this time Spock underwent a Vulcan retraining program to ensure that his knowledge was intact. Because the training was based on Vulcan logic, Spock was initially unsure of how to handle questions about how he was feeling, but his mother was confident that the feelings from his human half would resurface in time.

The voyage home.

When the Enterprise senior staff decided to return to Earth to face the consequences of their actions in early 2286 , Spock decided to travel with them to offer his own testimony. What the crew expected to be a quick voyage back to Earth and the end of their Starfleet careers was sidetracked when an alien probe arrived in Earth orbit and began damaging the planet. Spock was able to determine that the probe's transmissions were the songs sung by the extinct humpback whale species of Earth. When Admiral Kirk decided to go back in time and retrieve such whales, Spock was able to prepare the Bounty to go back in time completely from memory. He was later able to correctly guess the best course to return to the 23rd century .

After the probe had left the Sol System , the senior staff of the Enterprise stood before the Federation Council to face the consequences of rescuing Spock. Even though Spock had not been charged, he decided to stand with his shipmates. The mitigating circumstances caused by the probe 's visit to Earth prompted the Federation council to dismiss all but one of the charges - which was directed solely at Admiral Kirk. The council ordered Kirk reduced to the rank of Captain , but gave him the command of the USS Enterprise -A . Spock returned to active duty in Starfleet, assuming the role of first officer on the Enterprise . ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : The Voyage Home )

The Enterprise -A

At first, Spock harbored doubts as to whether he was fully restored and capable of performing his duties as science officer, but after he was able to quickly repair the Enterprise -A's warp core on the fly after it had been sabotaged by a religious zealot, Spock realized that he was indeed fit for duty. ( TOS comic : " Choices! ")

Devil Down Below! .

Several weeks later, the Enterprise returned to planet Gamma Trianguli VI , twenty years after Kirk destroyed the planet-controlling computer called Vaal , despite Spock's strong objections. Without Vaal's influence, Gamma Trianguli VI's indigenous people had regressed into near-savagery. Kirk was forced to admit his earlier error, and Spock managed to reactivate Vaal, even briefly "joining" with it, while still granting the local population more freedom of thought and action than was previously available under Vaal. ( TOS episode : " The Apple "; TOS comics : " Paradise Lost! ", " Past Perfect ", " Devil Down Below! ")

Soon after, when Kirk had been viciously attacked, stabbed through the heart by a mysterious assailant, Spock sensed it immediately. Spock met Dr. McCoy at the entrance of Kirk's quarters where Spock forced the door, and found the dying Kirk.

McCoy managed to save Kirk's life, and Kirk identified Ensign William Bearclaw as his attacker. Bearclaw was a discipline case that Kirk had recently put up for transfer. After being drawn into the investigation, Spock began to harbor doubts as to Bearclaw's guilt. Spock articulated his doubts to Kirk and asked him to keep an open mind just before Kirk was again attacked by the shape-shifting Garth of Izar , who had previously impersonated Bearclaw. Spock returned in time to save Kirk from Garth, dropping him with a Vulcan nerve-pinch. ( TOS comic : " Who Killed Captain Kirk? ")

The Enterprise returned to Earth in 2287 so that chief engineer Montgomery Scott could track down the numerous bugs that popped up. Spock was taking his shore leave in Yosemite National Park with Kirk and McCoy when the call about an emergency on Nimbus III (aka "The Planet of Galactic Peace") came in. The ruling council, consisting of a human, a Klingon, and a Romulan, had been taken hostage. Upon viewing the recording made by the kidnapper, Spock recognized him as his half-brother, Sybok , whom Spock had not seen since he was a child. Sybok had left Vulcan after he had rejected his culture's reliance on logic, and embraced his emotions.

The Enterprise raced to Nimbus III, only to have the ship taken by Sybok, who employed a mysterious mental power on the Enterprise crew. Sybok took the Enterprise through the barrier at the center of the galaxy, hoping to release The One , whom Sybok believed to be a God -like being from Sha Ka Ree , the Vulcan " heaven ". The One , rather than being a benevolent force, was murderous and cruel. The One killed Sybok, and was about to do the same to Kirk when Spock rescued him with the assistance of General Korrd of the Klingon Defense Force . ( TOS movie : The Final Frontier )

Once a hero

During a 2287 landing party excursion to Dinar IV in search of the missing Federation freighter Arcade , Spock became involved in a firefight against Haigy raiders who had grounded the vessel. When Security Officer Thomas Lee was fatally struck by a disruptor blast, Spock initiated a mind meld to attempt to stabilize the ensign . The damage to Lee's body was too great, and Spock only managed to calm Lee as the young man passed away. Spock later shared with Kirk that Lee's last conscious thought was that the ensign couldn't wait to go swimming again. ( TOS comic : " Once a Hero! ")

This incident was an early impetus for Spock to consider a more diplomatic role in Starfleet than a scientific one. ( ST reference : The Star Trek Encyclopedia ) The following year, when the Enterprise ferried a number of Federation diplomats to Starbase 49 for a peace summit with the Klingons, Spock engaged in several conversations with Klingon diplomatic aide Toladal , which further fueled these thoughts. ( TOS novel : In the Name of Honor )

Then in 2293 , at the behest of his father, Spock opened up talks with the Klingon Chancellor , Gorkon , following the destruction of the Klingon moon, Praxis . The destruction of Praxis had damaged the ozone layer of Qo'noS , the Klingon homeworld, and left the Empire incapable of self-sufficiency so long as hostilities with the Federation proceeded. The pair agreed to a summit between the Federation and the Empire on Earth.

Spock volunteered the services of the Enterprise on Kirk's behalf to escort the Chancellor and his party to Earth. This last mission under Kirk's command (Kirk had previously announced his retirement) went disastrously wrong when a cloaked bird-of-prey commanded by the renegade General Chang attacked Gorkon's ship, killing the Chancellor and leaving the blame with Kirk.

Kirk and McCoy were arrested and tried by the Klingons for the Chancellor's assassination and sentenced to life imprisonment at the penal colony of Rura Penthe . Spock disobeyed orders from Starfleet Command to return to Earth and devised a rescue plan.

After the rescue of Kirk and McCoy, Spock discovered that Kirk had been betrayed to the Klingons by Valeris , his own protégé . When Valeris refused to divulge the new location of the peace talks, Spock forcibly retrieved the information by establishing a mind meld with the unwilling Valeris, an action from which Valeris never fully recovered.

Soon afterward at the Khitomer conference, Kirk saved the lives of Klingon Chancellor Azetbur , Federation President Ra-ghoratreii , and uncovered a conspiracy between Chang, Starfleet Admiral Lance Cartwright , and Romulan Ambassador Nanclus to maintain the current state of hostility by assassinating the leaders suing for peace. Kirk was exonerated in the eyes of the Klingons, and a new era began between the two powers. It was here that Spock first met future Romulan Senator Pardek . ( TOS movie : The Undiscovered Country , TOS comic : " Enter the Wolves ", TNG episode : " Unification ")

After the Enterprise-A

Spock joined the Melpomene Players after the decommissioning of the USS Enterprise -A . He was a part of their production of Romeo and Juliet . He left the group shortly after a production of Hamlet in which he played Polonious in 2293 . ( TOS novel : The Fearful Summons )

After James Kirk's apparent death aboard the USS Enterprise -B , Spock gave the eulogy for his friend. In it, he mentioned "returning the favor" due to Kirk having given Spock's eulogy. ( ST reference : Federation: The First 150 Years )

In 2294 , Spock, while still holding the rank of captain, was transported by the Victory to the USS Enterprise -B. Captain John Harriman introduced himself to Spock and showed him the James T. Kirk dedication plaque in engineering . ( ST comic : " Spock: Reflections, Issue 1 ")

Ambassador Spock

Captain Spock in 2296 .

In 2296 , three years after the presumed death of James T. Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise -B , Spock was in command of the the USS Intrepid II , a science vessel.

After a reunion with David Rabin and a final confrontation with Sered on the planet Obsidian , Spock began to wonder if Starfleet was still the place for him.

Sered had believed that Vulcan and her sundered cousins needed each other, and Spock had come to the realization that he agreed. Except where Sered wanted to unite with the Romulans as conquerors, Spock felt that they must come together as allies, as brethren. Spock resigned his commission in Starfleet, and joined the Federation Diplomatic Corps , with the ultimate goal of bringing together Vulcan and Romulus.It was during this time that Spock first met his long-standing Romulan ally in his quest for reunification, Ruanek . ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Forge )

By the year 2300 , Spock had attained the rank of Ambassador , though he still found himself occasionally involved in Starfleet affairs. ( TOS novel : Cast No Shadow )

Spock soon established himself as an Ambassador of great skill, with accomplishments that rivaled even his father's.

In 2320 , Spock returned to Talos IV after being summoned to the planet by the Talosians. Having a private shuttle, Spock was able to slip away with a minimum of difficulty this time and reached Talos IV. He arrived in the Talos Star Group to find a drastically altered Talos IV. Instead of a planet with high levels of radiation and a sickly yellow appearance, now Talos IV had a healthy blue color, with radiation levels lower than that of Earth. Spock landed on the surface of the planet to find a rebuilt city. The Magistrate, or Keeper as he was originally known, had shown Spock around, and explained that Pike had recently died. He showed Spock a message Pike had recorded for Spock. Pike asked Spock to convey some of his ashes back to Earth, and to present the Talosians petition to not only repeal General Order 7 , but to join the Federation as well. ( TOS novel : Burning Dreams )

In the year 2327 , Spock and Sarek had a very public disagreement over how the Federation should shape their policy toward a new race that the Federation had contacted, the Cardassians .

Ambassadors Spock and Sarek, circa 2327.

Matters were made worse by Sarek's new wife, Perrin . Spock's mother, Amanda, died in the year 2293 of natural causes. Sarek had left his place at Amanda's deathbed when the Federation contacted him about a diplomatic emergency, knowing that he would never see his wife alive again. Spock had long harbored resentment against his father for this. ( TOS novel : Sarek )

In the years that followed Amanda's death, Sarek had found himself to be lonely, and had recently married the much younger Perrin .

Perrin angered Spock, when she drunkenly gave him an ultimatum to apologize to Sarek on the Cardassian issue, or he would no longer be welcome in Sarek's home. Spock responded by saying, "In that case, I shall not trouble you by visiting (Sarek and Perrin's home in) Shi'Kahr again". This began a new rift between Spock and Sarek that would last until Sarek's death in 2368 . ( TOS comic : " Enter the Wolves ")

Spock first met his future wife, Saavik , in 2274 , when he rescued the young Vulcan/Romulan hybrid from a barbaric existence on the Romulan border world of Hellguard .

Spock spent some time teaching Saavik Vulcan logic and discipline before bringing her to Vulcan and arranging for his parents to continue Saavik's education. When Saavik was ready, Spock sponsored her application to Starfleet Academy . ( TOS novel : The Pandora Principle )

Saavik was present on the Enterprise when Spock experienced his death rescuing the ship from Khan Noonien Singh in the Mutara Nebula , and tended to his needs after his miraculous rebirth at the Genesis Planet in 2285 . ( TOS movies : The Wrath of Khan , The Search for Spock )

Spock and Saavik remained close over the years that followed, with their relationship evolving over the years from mentor/apprentice, to shipmates, colleagues, confidants, friends, and finally something more.

The couple formally announced their betrothal, or engagement, in a formal ceremony on the planet Vulcan in the year 2328 . Among the attendees were Ambassador Sarek, Admiral Leonard McCoy and Lieutenant Jean-Luc Picard . The Lady Perrin was not in attendance.

Over the years that followed, Spock's career in diplomacy and Saavik's career in Starfleet kept them from being together for long periods or planning their wedding, but they kept in close contact.

Spock's repeated attempts over the years to convince Vulcan to look into the possibility of reunification with the Romulans met with little or no success. In this period he was given numerous, if more mundane, assignments (e.g., to Earth in 2342 , to Andor in 2343 ).

In 2344 , Spock successfully negotiated a trade agreement between Vulcan and the reclusive Federation member Oriki .

Shortly after success with the trade agreement and still on Oriki, Spock received a covert communique from Charvanek , a Romulan officer that he had met years ago during the Romulan cloaking device affair of 2269 . He left immediately for Romulus, believing that Charvanek would only summon him if the security of both The Federation and the Romulan Star Empire were at stake. When Starfleet found out what Spock had done, Captain Uhura directed Saavik to covertly extract Spock, no matter what his reason for going.

Vulcan's Heart .

On Romulus, Spock and Saavik discovered the plans of the mad Romulan Praetor Dralath to attack the Klingon civilian colony of Narendra III and use it as a staging area to attack both the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

Saavik fled Romulus in order to warn the Federation, and Spock remained behind to neutralize the threat that Dralath posed.

Saavik managed to reach the starship USS Enterprise -C , under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett . After sending Saavik off to Vulcan for medical attention, Captain Garrett took the Enterprise to Narendra III and defended the Klingon civilians from the sneak attack, at the cost of the lives of her crew and ship. To the Klingons, this was a tremendous act of honor, one that cemented the relationship between the Klingon Empire and the Federation for years to come.

On Romulus, Spock (who was suffering from the early stages of pon farr ) assisted in taking Dralath, who ordered the Narendra attack without the authorization of the Romulan Senate , into custody. A new Praetor, Narviat , took office.

Spock escaped from Romulus with the assistance of his old friend and ally from Obsidian , Ruanek. Soon after Spock's reunion with Saavik, the couple tended to the needs of Spock's Pon Farr .

Soon after, in a ceremony on Vulcan's Forge , Spock and Saavik were married. Among the attendees at this ceremony were Admiral McCoy and Captain Uhura. ( TOS novel : Vulcan's Heart )

Romulus and Reunification

Ambassador Spock in 2368.

In 2368 , Spock decided to take his re-unification effort directly to the Romulan people by re-locating himself to Romulus in order to work with Romulus' growing underground movement. This did not mean that he was through with the affairs of the Federation, as he would periodically leave Romulus for brief periods on matters of importance to the Federation.

He later admitted to Picard (working undercover with him) that his " cowboy diplomacy " he used now and in the past was viewed as "arrogant presumption" by his friend, James T. Kirk . Picard for the most part, reminded Spock of that former captain . ( TNG episode : " Unification ")

In 2371 , Spock was part of a group of Romulan dissidents rounded up by Romulan authorities on the world of Constanthus and scheduled for execution. Starfleet dispatched the USS Enterprise -D along with Admiral Leonard McCoy in an effort to retrieve the ambassador. Taking it upon himself to mount a rescue was a recent arrival to the 24th century , Montgomery Scott . Scotty commandeered the Constitution -class USS Yorktown and set off for Romulan space.

The joint rescue efforts ultimately proved successful, and Spock was recovered (exhibiting a brief display of emotion as he materialized on the Yorktown 's transporter pads and saw Scotty at the controls) and returned to Federation space. He chose, however, to return to his work on Romulus. ( TNG novel : Crossover )

In 2372 , Spock received a message on Romulus from Captain Picard, informing him of Captain Kirk's return from the Nexus and subsequent death on Veridian III . Spock soon left Romulus to see the site of his friend's death himself. He crossed the Neutral Zone aboard an Orion transport, and disembarked at Deep Space Station E-5 , where he chartered another ship, owned by the Bolian captain Moxx , to take him from there to Veridian III . ( ST comic : " Spock: Reflections ")

While on Veridian III to pay his respects at James Kirk's grave, Spock was intercepted by T'Pring (his former betrothed), who questioned him about his hopes for Romulan/Vulcan reunification. She also returned a brooch that Spock's mother had given her before the wedding that never happened. ( TOS - Strange New Worlds 9 short story : " The Smallest Choices ")

In 2373 , Spock was called in to consult on the situation in the recently fallen Thallonian Empire . Spock had been in Thallonian space a decade earlier on a fact-finding mission about the reclusive Thallonians. Despite having to cut that mission short (so he could rescue a captured Vulcan woman named Soleta , and see her safely back to Federation space by way of a freighter named Qualor's Pride ), Spock was still the Federation's greatest, living authority on Thallon , and thus his expertise was needed in the crisis. ( NF novel : House of Cards , NF short story : " Out of the Frying Pan ")

During the Dominion War , Spock used what influence he had on Romulus to convince the Romulans that it would be in their own best interests to join in the Federations war effort against the Dominion . ( ST short story : " Blood Sacrifice ")

As Starfleet's resources became lean as the Dominion War heated up, many former command officers were reactivated to active or reserve service, including Spock. Spock was re- commissioned as an admiral and met briefly with other reactivated officers aboard the USS Sovereign , including Admiral Leonard McCoy, Captain Montgomery Scott, and Captain James T. Kirk. The group was instrumental in uncovering an impostor in that action, as it was revealed that Fleet Admiral Alynna Nechayev had been replaced by her mirror universe counterpart . Ironically, the mirror Nechayev had been instrumental in reactivating Spock and Kirk before they revealed her identity. While this action was decisive in protecting Federation security, Spock did not play any further publicly known role in his service as wartime admiral. ( TOS novel : Spectre )

The Borg also attempted to assimilate Ambassador Spock in order to stop peace treaty negotiations between the Klingons and Romulans, however the timely intervention of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise -E prevented their success. Even though such an act would have been needless-given the fact that Spock's psyche still resonated fragments from a branch of the Collective -in the form of his old mind meld with V'Ger 's Ilia/probe. ( TNG video game : Armada , ST novel : The Return )

Romulan Supernova

In the early 2380s Spock left Romulus, believing there was nothing more he could achieve in the face of the predicted supernova. He was contacted by now Admiral Jean-Luc Picard when his journey brought him to an unplanned rendezvous with the USS Verity . ( PIC novel : The Last Best Hope )

In 2387 , Spock had befriended a Romulan named Nero . He also discovered a star , Hobus , had gone supernova which threatened to destroy Romulus , and attempted to intervene. Spock promised to save Romulus.

With the help of the USS Enterprise -E , Spock hoped to use Geordi La Forge 's experimental starship, the Jellyfish , to insert Red matter into the heart of the exploding star, creating a singularity to consume the star and thus saving Romulus. The ambassador piloted an advanced space craft equipped with red matter and proceeded to the star to carry out his mission, but before he could, the star's effect destroyed Romulus.

With other worlds threatened with destruction, Spock continued his mission and successfully created a black hole which consumed the supernova. Before he could escape, however, he was intercepted by the Romulan mining vessel Narada , commanded by Nero .

Nero blamed Spock for Romulus's destruction and was bent on revenge, but both the Narada and the Jellyfish were pulled into the black hole. Spock, aboard the Jellyfish , was sent to the 23rd century , as was Nero aboard the Narada , instantly creating an alternate reality . Spock was presumed to be dead in the prime reality . ( TOS comic : " Star Trek: Countdown ", TOS movie : Star Trek , ST website : StarTrek.com )

Despite's Spock's apparent death, he became known as "The Great Spock". He was still seen as a great benefactor for the eventual reunification of the Vulcan and Romulan people when Vulcan became Ni'Var . ( PIC episode : " The End is the Beginning "; DSC episode : " Unification III ")

The Kelvin timeline

Spock emerged from the black hole in the year 2258 of an alternate reality created by the actions of Nero, who had emerged twenty-five years earlier . Nero was waiting for Spock when he arrived, and he and the Jellyfish were captured. Rather than kill Spock, Nero marooned him on Delta Vega , where he could witness the destruction of Vulcan from the planet's surface. Nero then used some of the red matter from the Jellyfish to create a black hole in Vulcan's planetary core ; Spock watched helplessly from Delta Vega as his homeworld was destroyed.

Shortly thereafter, Spock was searching an ice cave for supplies when he encountered a young Starfleet Cadet about to be eaten by a native beast . Using his torch to scare the animal off, once out of danger Spock looked at the still-shocked Human, and realized just who he had rescued: one James Tiberius Kirk , who had been marooned on the planet by that era's Spock for mutiny . The elder Spock was surprised that Kirk, who didn't believe him, (he had dismissed Spock's self-identification, and claim of lifelong friendship, as "bullshit" ) was not captain of the Enterprise - but at the mention of Nero, young Kirk decided he just might be telling the truth. Through a mind meld, Spock explained to Kirk his presence in this time period and the reasons behind Nero's history-changing actions (told that, in addition to Kirk and himself, the counterparts of Dr. McCoy , Uhura , Chekov and Sulu - all but one of the six officers who had once risked their careers to save him - were all serving aboard the Enterprise , Spock deduced that the timeline was attempting to "repair" itself). He then walked with Kirk to a nearby Federation outpost, where they met the one member of their core group not yet aboard the ship, Montgomery Scott , whom Spock had previously avoided but whose presence he now viewed as more evidence of his timeline theory. Using Scotty's equation for transwarp beaming (which Scott had not actually figured out yet), Spock was able to transport Kirk back to the Enterprise along with Scott. When asked why he would not come with them, Spock stated that his other self must not know of his existence, implying that it could cause some kind of temporal paradox.

After the Enterprise had defeated Nero, the elder Spock returned to Earth. There, he met his less-than-surprised younger self (Kirk had kept his word, but upon being recognized by the Jellyfish , the most advanced spacecraft he had ever seen, and discovering it was built in 2387, young Spock deduced who must have assisted him), convincing him to remain in Starfleet. He also explained that the reason he did not return to the Enterprise with Kirk to explain things was that he did not wish to deprive Kirk and Spock of the chance of working together and developing the friendship they were destined to have. He then wished his younger self good luck, after which he witnessed the promotion of Jim Kirk to captain of the USS Enterprise .

He left with an intention to establish a Vulcan colony . ( TOS movie : Star Trek )

With his true identity kept secret from all but a key few individuals. Although he had a brief conversation with his father during the trip, when he attempted to speak up in the council to warn them against establishing the new Vulcan on Ceti Alpha V, he was informed that, for his role in Nero's attack, he was stripped of his rights as a citizen and was therefore not considered a Vulcan by the Council. ( TOS comic : " Legacy of Spock, Part 1 ")

With Vulcan no longer an option, Spock travelled to Romulus in an attempt to initiate the peace process that he had played in back in his own reality, but was captured by the Romulans and accused of trying to destroy Romulus early based on the words of the last two survivors of Nero's crew. ( TOS comic : " Legacy of Spock, Part 2 ")

Fortunately, he was able to escape with the aid of a Romulan resistance movement led by Pardek , allowing him to make contact with the Vulcan fleet- still heading for Ceti Alpha V despite his warning- and warn them that the Romulans were coming, intending to use the last of the red matter to destroy the fleet. ( TOS comic : " Legacy of Spock, Part 3 ") The appearance of the Enterprise was enough to give the Vulcan fleet time to drive off the Romulans, with Kirk's word helping the Vulcans decide to accept Spock's advice and follow his recommendations to find a suitable planet. ( TOS comic : " Legacy of Spock, Part 4 ")

In 2259 of the alternate reality, Spock contacted the older version of himself for information regarding Khan Noonien Singh . The following year , Spock had departed New Vulcan before the Enterprise returned when the younger Spock entered Pon farr . ( TOS movie : Star Trek Into Darkness , TOS comic : " After Darkness, Part 2 ")

Spock died in January of 2263 on New Vulcan . Two Vulcans were sent to Yorktown Station to inform the younger Spock of Spock's passing, and to give him some of elder Spock's personal property. Included was a photo of Spock and his crewmates on the bridge of the prime-reality USS Enterprise -A sometime prior to 2293. ( TOS movie : Star Trek Beyond )

Vulcan civilization would thrive on New Vulcan over the next 3,000 years, and over the years Spock would become a revered figure to the Vulcan people. By approximately 5259 , a statue of Spock had been built on New Vulcan, surrounded by a number of monuments. While many of the surrounding monuments were larger than life, the monument of Spock was life size. According to legend, this had been at Spock's request, as he felt a larger than life depiction of him would not be logical. ( TOS - Legacy of Spock comic : " Part 4 ")

Alternate timelines and realities

A major tangent of the prime timeline was created in 2373 . Called the First Splinter timeline , this alternate reality 's Spock was an influential part of Federation politics and also the battle to stop the Devidian temporal apocalypse . ( Coda )

In 2269, the Romulans put their Second History project into motion, interfering in human history at a key moment, and ensuring that the United Federation of Planets never came into being. However the results were not what the Romulans intended. While the Federation did not exist in the timeline, the Vulcans were still powerful, and able to keep the Romulans in check. The Vulcans helped humanity get back on their feet following a devastating war.

Spock in this timeline was a Captain , and the commanding officer of the VSS ShiKahr , which was this timeline's version of the USS Enterprise . A number of people who served on board the Enterprise of the original timeline served on the ShiKahr , including Doctor Leonard McCoy and Montgomery Scott . James T. Kirk served on the ship as an Ensign , whose career was sidelined after he was convicted of murder while in the Academy. Additionally, Christopher Pike had served as a first officer under Spock on the ShiKahr until he was given his own command. Spock and the ShiKahr crew realized in 2269 that the Romulans had tampered in history, and he and James T. Kirk were able to stop Second History and return history to its original form. ( TOS novel : Killing Time )

Starfleet service record

• Personal log , Spock

Connections

Rank insignia.

Spock was portrayed in The Original Series as an officer with two specialties, as both the Enterprise first officer and science officer . To this end, he ended up wearing multiple uniforms over the years, as the different colored uniforms showed the different specialties.

As a science officer, Spock wore the blue tunic of a member of the sciences division in his first appearance in TOS episode : " The Cage ", but had already begun to work as an executive ( command division ) in his dual position as second officer , being third in command of the ship. By his next canon appearance in TOS episode : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", Spock had been promoted to lieutenant commander and been made first officer of the Enterprise . To show this, he wore the verdant-gold tunic of a command division officer, even though he was still also the science officer. The uniform style of the era had no different sleeve insignia for any officer grade, so his rank stripes had not changed any by this point. In later appearances following TOS episode : " The Corbomite Maneuver ", he would switch back to his blue sciences uniform despite maintaining both the science and command positions.

The uniform style evolved into a slightly different tunic and rank stripe in the mid- 2260s with that episode, but with similar color codes, in that science officers still wore blue and commanding personnel still wore greenish-gold. Spock apparently could have worn gold but instead stayed with blue. At this point, an irregularity could be observed in Spock's uniform wear. He was referred to as a lieutenant commander for much of the first year of TOS , but he wore the insignia of a full commander. He was eventually promoted to commander and continued to wear that insignia, raising the possibility that he had received some kind of brevet or provisional promotion that became permanent, thus explaining his uniform insignia.

On at least one occasion, Gold Key Comics released an issue in their series of Star Trek comics where Spock wore the red uniform of the operations division , on the cover of TOS comic : " The Mummies of Heitius VII ". While it could be supposed that Spock could have held a third position as some sort of operations manager , it seems more likely this was a mistake based on foreign artists' unfamiliarity with the appearance of the television characters.

When Spock left Starfleet circa 2270 , the uniforms changed again, but to a similar variation. When reactivated as science officer and first officer in TOS movie : The Motion Picture , Spock's commander insignia was unchanged but worn on uniforms with color-coded patches. Spock's patches were orange to show his specialty in the sciences division, but as an executive officer he also could have worn white command division patches. When Spock was promoted to captain, he did wear the appropriate command division colors as of TOS movie : The Wrath of Khan , but he also ended up serving double duty as a science officer on occasions, meaning he very well could have opted for science services gray uniform patches, just as Scotty sometimes opted to wear a flight engineer's yellow uniform accoutrements after being promoted to captain.

Spock's Starfleet commission was inactive after his retirement following the Khitomer mission, but he was still held in reserve as an officer. By the era of the Dominion War, Spock was reactivated as an admiral. His uniform was not seen, but again, his dual divisions of service meant that he could have worn the red uniform shirt of a command officer or the blue shirt of a science officer.

Appearances and references

Appearances.

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 TOS comic : " Who's Who in Star Trek, Issue 2 ".

External links

• Spock article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Spock article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• Spock article at the Star Trek Timelines Wiki .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 USS Voyager (NCC-74656-A)
• 3 Lamarr class

New to Doctor Who or returning after a break? Check out our guides designed to help you find your way!

• Star Trek characters
• USS Enterprise crew
• Individual Vulcans
• Fictional scientists from the real world
• Fictional military personnel from the real world
• Dalek Dome visitors

Spock was also a character in the science fiction series Star Trek , ( PROSE : The Face of the Enemy , COMIC : Ophidius , etc.) where he was portrayed by Leonard Nimoy . ( PROSE : Lonely ) Rose Tyler once asked the Ninth Doctor to "give [her] some Spock", as well as introducing the Doctor as "Mr Spock" when talking to Jack Harkness . ( TV : The Empty Child )

• 1 Biography
• 2 Other references
• 3.1 Earth-33⅓
• 4 Behind the scenes
• 5 External links

Biography [ ]

On one occasion, the Eleventh Doctor recalled memories of his fourth incarnation meeting up with James T. Kirk and the command crew of the USS Enterprise to combat a CyberNomad invasion of Aprilia III . With Montgomery Scott , Spock fired his phaser at the Cybermen , the beams distracting the invaders long enough for Kirk and the Doctor to defeat the Cybermen. Following the Eleventh Doctor and the Enterprise -D defeating the cyber-web , the Doctor suspected that his encounter with Kirk's crew had been erased from the timelines. ( COMIC : Assimilation² )

Spock at the bar. ( PROSE : Between the Wars: A Slow Night in Paradise )

Spock appeared to have also visited the Dalek Dome on Earth , alongside Captain Kirk in 2323 . ( COMIC : Liberation of the Daleks )

Spock was seemingly present at the Mars Old-Fashioned Alcohol Bar in the 26th century . ( PROSE : Between the Wars: A Slow Night in Paradise )

Other references [ ]

Spock and Captain Kirk at the Dalek Dome . ( COMIC : Liberation of the Daleks )

A fictional character named Spock appeared in the science fiction television series Star Trek in the Doctor's universe. When the Third Doctor told Sgt. John Benton that he had visited a parallel universe , Benton asked, "You mean like that Star Trek episode where Spock had a beard?" ( PROSE : The Face of the Enemy ) This character was played by Leonard Nimoy , and at least once said, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." ( PROSE : Lonely )

" Spock's Brain " was an episode of Star Trek which both Izzy Sinclair and Destrii had seen. Destrii even went so far as to call it her favourite. She cited "the bit where Sulu has to do the " captain's log " as a particularly memorable moment and even quoted back a portion of the log, in unison with Izzy: " Captain Kirk 's hunch that Spock's brain is on this planet appears to be correct!" ( COMIC : Ophidius )

Spock was a character that Rose Tyler associated with a more "professional" approach to the use of technology. Whilst in London in 1941 , she once bemoaned the Ninth Doctor 's reliance on the sonic screwdriver and conversation as his primary investigative tools. She demanded that he "give [her] some Spock" in their search for a downed Chula ambulance . Later, in an effort to explain to Captain Jack Harkness who the Doctor was, she gave the Time Lord the alias "Mr Spock," because she suddenly realised that she didn't even know his proper name. ( TV : The Empty Child )

Donna Noble also seemed familiar with the character of Spock. She compared the Tenth Doctor 's method of reading a person's thoughts to that of Spock's "mind meld". ( AUDIO : The Nemonite Invasion )

After George Sheldrake 's time tunnels had been stopped, the Tenth Doctor jokingly referred to Mark Seven as "Mr. Spock" to the confusion of his 41st century audience. ( AUDIO : The Wrong Woman )

Other realities [ ]

Earth-33⅓ [ ].

Spock and Kirk at the Doctor Who Magazine Annual Poll . ( COMIC : Doctor Who? 176 )

Spock also existed in Earth-33⅓ . When Star Trek 's Beverly Crusher won the Favourite Doctor Award at the Doctor Who Magazine Annual Poll , Spock told Captain Kirk that it was "' acting ', Jim[,] but not as we know it". ( COMIC : Doctor Who? 176 )

Behind the scenes [ ]

The mentions of Mr Spock in The Face of the Enemy , Lonely , Ophidius , The Empty Child and The Nemonite Invasion treat him as a fictional character (as do, implicitly, other references to Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation in Doctor Who stories). Assimilation² treats him as a "real" individual in an alternate dimension. This is similar to the treatment of Doctor Who in COMIC : TV Action! and COMIC : The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who .

Assimilation² depicts Spock with the likeness of actor Leonard Nimoy , who originally portrayed him in Star Trek . Leonard Nimoy was seriously considered to direct the 1996 TV movie , as recounted in the book, The Nth Doctor .

J. K. Woodward , who worked on the Star Trek crossover Assimilation² , released pieces featuring Spock, gleaning the image of a jelly baby in a mind meld with the Fourth Doctor , assimilated by the Borg , in the midst of a cyber-conversion matching that of Craig Owens in Closing Time , facing a Gorn with the Eleventh Doctor , and within the " coral " TARDIS control room .

External links [ ]

• Spock at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek canon wiki
• Spock at Memory Beta, the wiki that covers all licensed Star Trek works
• 2 Empire of Death (TV story)
• 3 Ruby Sunday

Star Trek (TV Series)

The immunity syndrome (1968), leonard nimoy: mister spock.

• Quotes (18)

Photos 

Quotes 

Mr. Spock : [from shuttlecraft]  Brace yourselves... the area of penetration will no doubt be sensitive.

Mr. Spock : [Kirk has ordered a tractor beam placed on the shuttlecraft.]  Captain, I recommend you abandon the attempt. Do not risk the ship further on my behalf.

Dr. McCoy : Shut up, Spock, we're rescuing you!

Mr. Spock : Why, thank you, *Captain* McCoy.

Dr. McCoy : Spock, how can you be so sure the Intrepid was destroyed?

Mr. Spock : I sensed it die.

Dr. McCoy : But I thought you had to be in physical contact with a subject before...

Mr. Spock : Doctor, even I, a half-Vulcan, could hear the death scream of four hundred Vulcan minds crying out over the distance between us.

Dr. McCoy : Not even a Vulcan could feel a starship die.

Mr. Spock : Call it a deep understanding of the way things happen to Vulcans, but I know that not a person, not even the computers on board the Intrepid, knew what was killing them or would have understood it had they known.

Dr. McCoy : But, 400 Vulcans?

Mr. Spock : I've noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.

Dr. McCoy : Suffer the death of thy neighbour, eh, Spock? Now, you wouldn't wish that on us, would you?

Mr. Spock : It might have rendered your history a bit less bloody.

Mr. Spock : [Kirk has chosen Spock over McCoy for the mission]  We're wasting time. The shuttlecraft is ready.

Dr. McCoy : You're determined not to let me share in this, aren't you?

Mr. Spock : This is not a competition, Doctor. Whether you understand it or not, grant me my own kind of dignity.

Dr. McCoy : Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don't understand?

Mr. Spock : Then employ one of your own superstitions - Wish me luck.

[Spock walks into the shuttlecraft bay and climbs aboard the shuttlecraft. The bay door closes] 

Dr. McCoy : [quietly]  Good luck, Spock.

Mr. Spock : That sound was the turbulence caused by the penetration of a boundary layer, Captain.

Capt. Kirk : What boundary layer?

Mr. Spock : Unknown.

Capt. Kirk : A boundary layer between what and what?

Mr. Spock : Between where we were and where we are.

Capt. Kirk : Are you trying to be funny, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock : It would never occur to me, Captain.

Mr. Spock : [form the shuttlecraft]  This is Spock. I am slowly losing life support and minimal shield energies. According to my calculations...

[static] 

Mr. Spock : ...nervous energy of the organism...

[louder static] 

Mr. Spock : ...is maximal... just within... its outer... protective... membrane. Relatively insensitive to interior irritation.

Mr. Spock : Believe sufficient charge of...

Mr. Spock : ...could destroy the organism. Tell Dr. McCoy...

Mr. Spock : ...he should have wished me luck.

Capt. Kirk : Spock! You're alive!

Mr. Spock : [communicating from shuttlecraft]  Obviously, Captain, and I have some fascinating data on the organism.

Dr. McCoy : Don't be so smart, Spock, you botched the acetylcholine tests!

Mr. Spock : Captain, the Intrepid would have done all these things, too, and yet they were destroyed.

Capt. Kirk : Well, they may not have done ALL of these things. You just pointed out how illogical this situation is.

Mr. Spock : True. It is also true they never knew what was killing them. Their logic would not have permitted them to believe they were being killed.

Capt. Kirk : Explain.

Mr. Spock : Vulcan has not been conquered within its collective memory. The memory goes back so far that no Vulcan can conceive of a conqueror. I knew the ship was lost because I sensed it.

Capt. Kirk : What was it you sensed?

Mr. Spock : Touch of death.

Capt. Kirk : And what do you think they felt?

Mr. Spock : Astonishment.

Capt. Kirk : If you can't tell me what it is, let's use reverse logic. Perhaps it'll help if you tell me what it isn't.

Mr. Spock : It is not liquid, gaseous, or solid, despite the fact we cannot see through it.

Capt. Kirk : So far that's not much help.

Capt. Kirk : Spock, give me an update on the dark area ahead.

Mr. Spock : No analysis due to insufficient information.

Capt. Kirk : No speculation, no information, nothing? I've asked you three times for information on that thing and you've been unable to supply it. Insufficient data is not sufficient, Mr. Spock! You're the science officer. You're supposed to have sufficient data all the time.

Spock : [in shuttlecraft]  Oh, and Dr. McCoy, you would not have survived it.

Dr. McCoy : [on bridge of the Enterprise]  You wanna bet?

Mr. Spock : Personal log, Commander Spock, U.S.S. Enterprise. I have noted the passage of the Enterprise on its way to whatever awaits it. If this record should survive me, I wish it known that I bequeath my highest commendation and testimonial to the Captain, officers, and crew of the Enterprise, the finest Starship in the fleet.

Capt. Kirk : Spock?

Dr. McCoy : What is it, Spock? Are you in pain?

Mr. Spock : Captain, the Intrepid. It just died. And the four hundred Vulcans aboard, all dead.

[the viewscreen is completely blank] 

Chekov : Captain, the stars are gone!

Capt. Kirk : Malfunction, Mr. Spock?

Mr. Spock : Negative, Captain. All systems functioning properly.

Capt. Kirk : Then kindly tell me what happened to the stars.

Mr. Spock : Sir, we are accelerating. We're being pulled toward the center of the zone of darkness.

Capt. Kirk : By what, Spock?

Mr. Spock : Unknown, Captain. I suggest you order Mr. Scott to give us reverse power.

Capt. Kirk : He just gave us reverse power. We lurched forward.

Mr. Spock : In that case, Captain, I would suggest we apply forward thrust.

Mr. Spock : It's logical to assume that something within this zone absorbs all forms of energy whether mechanically or biologically produced. Whatever it is, it would seem to be the same thing which drew all the energy out of an entire solar system and the Intrepid.

Capt. Kirk : The same thing, not the zone itself?

Mr. Spock : I would say not, Captain. The analysis of the zone indicates it is a negative energy field, however illogical that may sound, but it is not the source of the power drain.

Capt. Kirk : Maybe it's a shield of some kind, some form of protection for something else.

[Spock, McCoy and Kirk discuss sending a one-man probe into the giant creature. McCoy volunteers to go] 

Mr. Spock : You have a martyr complex, Doctor. I submit that it disqualifies you.

Mr. Spock : I assure you, doctor, I'm quite alright. The pain was momentary; it passed quickly.

Dr. McCoy : Well, all my instruments seem to agree with you - if I can trust these crazy Vulcan readings.

Release Dates | Official Sites | Company Credits | Filming & Production | Technical Specs

• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos
• User Reviews
• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

Screen Rant

Who & what are star trek’s organians.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

10 Star Trek Aliens Who Don't Look Human

House of the dragon season 2, episode 3 release date & time, bridgerton has set up the spinoff nobody knew we all needed.

• Organians are advanced, non-corporeal beings introduced in Star Trek: TOS.
• They appeared as human-like on Organia, helping the Federation and Klingons reach a ceasefire.
• They made another appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise, testing the crew with a deadly virus.

The Organians were introduced on Star Trek: The Original Series , but just who were these strange alien lifeforms? Following Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew of the USS Enterprise, the first Star Trek series premiered in 1966 and launched a massive and beloved franchise. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) became some of the most iconic science fiction characters of all time , and their adventures took them to all kinds of fascinating planets. Throughout its three seasons, Star Trek: TOS introduced numerous alien species, some more human-like than others.

Star Trek: The Original Series season 1, episode 27, "Errand of Mercy," may be most remembered for introducing the Klingons, but the episode also introduced another alien species. In "Errand of Mercy," the Enterprise travels to Organia, a planet located in a strategic position along the border between Federation and Klingon space. Captain Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet and attempt to convince the Organians to help them resist the Klingons, but the Organians have no desire to get involved. When the Klingons arrive, the Organians do not put up a fight, allowing the Klingons to take control of their planet.

Most Star Trek aliens look human, for obvious reasons, but the franchise has still introduced some truly alien lifeforms over the years.

Organians In Star Trek: The Original Series

Captain kirk meets these non-corporeal aliens in star trek: tos season 1, episode 27, "errand of mercy.".

When Captain Kirk and Spock first meet the Organians, they appear to be indistinguishable from humans and live in a relatively primitive society led by a man named Ayelborne (John Abbott). Kirk cannot understand the Organians' lack of concern regarding conflict with the Klingons. In an attempt to inspire the Organians to resist the Klingon occupation, Kirk and Spock sabotage the Klingons' supplies. This does finally prompt the pacifistic Organians to intervene, but not in the way Kirk expected. When Commander Kor (John Colicos) and his Klingons attempt to torture Kirk and Spock for information, the Organians mysteriously free them.

The Organians' actions appear to be contradictory, which further confuses Kirk and Spock, until Ayelborne reveals their true nature. Organians are actually highly advanced incorporeal beings who took on a humanoid appearance to interact with other cultures. As they can control both armies, the Organians force the Federation and the Klingons to accept a ceasefire. Ayelborne explains that it took the Organians millions of years to evolve beyond the need for physical bodies, and he informs Kirk and Kor that their peoples will one day be friends.

It's unclear what the Organians really looked like, but they are implied to be close to immortal. Among their abilities, the Organians are aware of events happening far away, can possess humanoid bodies, and can even resurrect the dead.

Organians In Star Trek: Enterprise

Captain archer encounters the organians in enterprise season 4, episode 11, "observer effect.".

The Organians made another appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, episode 11, "Observer Effect," in which the non-corporeal beings test and observe the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 . "Observer Effect" opens with two Organians possessing the bodies of Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) and Ensign Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery), as they discuss the game of chess and the brevity of human life. The Organians wish to see how the crew reacts to a deadly silicon-based virus, and Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) soon return to the ship infected.

To maintain continuity with Star Trek: TOS , the Organians wiped the memories of everyone aboard the Enterprise NX-01, so none of them remembered this encounter.

Prior to their official first contact with the Federation in "Errand of Mercy," the Organians spent ten thousand years observing various corporeal species. They were trying to determine whether any of these species were ready for first contact, and the younger of the two observers saw promise in humanity. When the younger Organian revealed his presence to Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), Archer convinced the beings to save his crew members and destroy the virus. In both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Enterprise , the Organians claimed to have policies of non-interference, similar to Starfleet's Prime Directive, but they just couldn't help intervening when it came to humanity.

Star Trek: The Original Series

*Availability in US

Not available

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.

2 characters can truly be pointed to as being 'peak' Star Trek: Voyager writing

I adore Star Trek: Voyager . Couldn't you tell? The cast, the crew, the storylines, the ambiance. it's just fantastic. Despite my undying love for the series, I admit that it has its strengths and weaknesses. Some episodes are duds, some are among the best in franchise history. It's no different than any other Star Trek series.

One of the biggest criticisms is the lack of focus and growth of some of the cast members. Henry Kim in particular. The man remains an ensign for seven years. Most people in the US Navy hold that rank for just two years, before being promoted to lieutenant junior grade. So it's fair to say that Kim had the ball dropped on his progression.

Yet, two of the characters who were well written had great progression and gave fans endless stories to tell were The Doctor and Seven of Nine. When you look at the best writing, at least with regard to character development, you couldn't get any better.

Yes, Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay had their fair share of moments, but neither had to grow. They were both seen as leaders, who were well into their own by the time the show began. At a certain point, who you are is who you are. Yet, neither the Doctor nor Seven of Nine were seen as being "done" growing as characters.

While Janeway and Chakotay were galvanized through their lived experiences, both Seven and The Doctor were seen as, for lack of a better term, children. Both came onto the ship with no knowledge of what is to live and grow. One was a holographic computer, the other a Borg drone her entire existence.

To say that neither knew about emotions, let alone how to understand and experience them in a healthy manner, would be an understatement. The growth both characters showed as people resonated with fans in a way that it's hard to understand. For some reason, fans love characters who struggle with the complex emotions of humanity.

If you look at the core shows, the "Spock" character seems to be the favorite. The Original Series had Spock, the Next Generation had Data, Deep Space Nine had Odo, while Voyager had Seven of Nine and The Doctor. It bucks the trend with Enterprise, though not by much. T'Pol was beloved, but Charles "Trip" Tucker and Jonathan Archer are often cited as the most popular, with T'Pol right behind them.

Fans love watching characters grow from a caricature, into a person. It's why The Doctor and Seven of Nine were so widely embraced. They brought nuance and depth to storylines that would otherwise not be there had the characters involved been more fleshed out and established already. So for that reason, we completely why Voyager leaned so heavily into them during the final four seasons or so.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as 2 characters can truly be pointed to as being 'peak' Star Trek: Voyager writing .

Star Trek's The Galileo Seven Was A 'Rip-Off' Of A Forgotten Lucille Ball Film

In the "Star Trek" episode "The Galileo Seven" (January 5, 1967), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Lieutenant Commander Scott (James Doohan), and three specialists are assigned to take Enterprise's shuttlecraft, the Galileo, on a special survey to map the Murasaki-312 quasar. A mysterious spatial phenomenon pulls the shuttle off course, however, and it crash lands on a nearby world inhabited by vicious 10-foot-tall cavemen. 

The seven people on board the Galileo have to repair their ship and find a way to contact the Enterprise through the signal-scrambling mists of the quasar. Their job is made more difficult by the attacking cavemen, who want to murder them with spears. The collected and logical Spock attempts to scare off the brutes, while his more emotional, human counterparts encourage deadly force. When two of the Galileo Seven are killed, Spock discourages a memorial service. The episode is ultimately about how Spock's logic isn't always a practical tool when it comes to desperate command situations. Spock, we see, wouldn't necessarily be a good captain . At least not until he learns more about leading by instinct and intuiting what his crew requires of him.

Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Kirk (William Shatner) wants to search for the downed Galileo but is discouraged by an uffish dignitary named Ferris (John Crawford). 

The teleplay for "The Galileo Seven" was written by Oliver Crawford and S. Bar-Davis, and it was based on an obscure 1939 feature film that few remember to this day. It's explained in the oral history book "Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross that the writers were inspired by "Five Came Back," a plane crash melodrama directed by John Farrow and co-written by Dalton Trumbo.

But first, The Flight of the Phoenix

In "Captains' Logs," longtime Trek writer David Gerrold points out that, for its first 10 episodes, "Star Trek" was still finding its footing and establishing an identity. As such, none of the writers had yet given the show its own voice and had to rely on borrowed plots from recent hit films. Gerrold noted that "The Galileo Seven" was at least partially taken from a 1965 Robert Aldrich film. He said: 

"If you look at the episodes that Roddenberry was responsible for in the beginning, [...] which was pretty much like the first 10 episodes, there's not a lot of [...] noble purpose there. There's bumbling around trying to find out what the show is about [...]. Because no one knew what 'Star Trek' was, they were continually inventing it. [...] They also a lot of rip-offs — 'The Galileo Seven' was 'Flight of the Phoenix,' 'Balance of Terror' was 'The Enemy Below' — and so they didn't really know what they could do with the show yet." 

"The Enemy Below" was, of course , a 1957 World War II submarine film with Robert Mitchum. Transpose submarine action into space, and you have "Balance of Terror." 

Aldritch's "The Flight of the Phoenix," meanwhile, was about an airplane that crashed in the Sahara, and the crew that had to survive the heat and get the plane working again. It was remade in 2004. One can see the blueprint of "The Galileo Seven" in "The Flight of the Phoenix." 

Screenwriter Oliver Crawford, however, admitted that "Galileo" was a direct ripoff of "Five Came Back," a film that predates "Phoenix" by 16 years. 

It was actually inspired by 'Five Came Back'

"Five Came Back" is about a plane that, while en route from Los Angeles to Panama City, is blown far, far off course. It crashes somewhere in northern Brazil, and the passengers have to learn to survive. A lot of personal confessions begin to flow out of the terrified travelers. Lucille Ball plays a character named Peggy , a woman with a mysterious past. Chester Morgan and John Carradine also appear. Crawford admitted to being a fan of "Five Came Back," and deliberately used the film as the basis of "The Galileo Seven." Crawford said:

"Most of my approach as a writer had been to look at old movies and say, 'Gee, this would make a good "Star Trek" or a good western or a good detective story.' The foundation for 'The Galileo Seven' was actually an old motion picture called 'Five Came Back.' That was about a plane crash in the Andes and the survivors who have to deal with headhunters over the next hill. I remembered it because it was such a dramatic gimmick, a very tight one."

"Five Came Back" is more of a traditional Hollywood melodrama, while "The Galileo Seven" was more action-forward and survival-focused. That might have been the result of Crawford's co-screenwriter Shimon Wincelberg, credited as S. Bar David, who was called in to re-write the script independently. 

"The Galileo Seven" is, as Gerrold noted, classic "Star Trek" in that it doesn't quite feel like the heady, more sci-fi-oriented series that "Star Trek" would eventually become.

The 10 Best Captain Kirk Episodes in 'Star Trek: The Original Series'

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

A good Captain in Star Trek is the embodiment of the ideals of the Federation. Captain James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) came first, so he set the standard. He taught all of us Trekkers what it means to believe in this future: standing up to bigotry, treating everyone as equals, and always helping when possible. Equality in Star Trek is not leaving the less fortunate to suffer; it is lifting each other up so that they, too, can go forward and lift others.

Captains must also be tested, forged, and tempered. Kirk relishes conquering a challenge. He has faced sacrifices that tempered him and taught him when to bluff to the last breath and when to have mercy. The crew has absolute loyalty and trust in Kirk, and they know that to serve him is to stand by the same ideals as their Captain. To do otherwise would be to fail him. The following are shining examples of what it means to live by the values of Star Trek. As well as reasons why Captain Kirk of Star Trek: The Original Series will always be one of the finest Captains in Starfleet .

Star Trek: The Original Series

*Availability in US

Not available

10 "Obsession"

Season 2, episode 13.

This is Kirk's Captain Ahab moment long before Khan , but how he handles it shows that while he is not faultless, he can be brought back to reason. In this episode, Kirk confronts a familiar creature, one he previously battled and felt he had failed to defeat. He feels guilt and shame about the incident. When young Ensign Garrovick ( Stephen Brooks ) shows the same hesitation, Kirk is harsh, and the young ensign quickly shows the same shame. The Captain is at first uncharacteristically illogical in his obsession with the creature's demise.

It's only once he sees that a phaser blast does not affect the beast that he's able to forgive himself, and in doing so, the young ensign can forgive himself as well. This shows that the Captain can still make mistakes. He, too, is human, but he can still learn. He doesn't stay stubborn and hateful; he learns, adjusts, and forgives.

9 "A Taste of Armageddon"

Season 1, episode 23.

In "A Taste of Armageddon," Kirk and Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ) land on a planet that has learned how to sanitize war. The society of Eminiar VII is at war with a neighboring planet, but in a way that avoids damage to their buildings and materials. Computers initiate the attacks and provide the leaders with the projected casualties if the attack had been real. The people then surrender themselves to suicide booths. They consider this a cleaner and superior way to go to war.

Kirk is disgusted once he fully comprehends the situation. He decides to destroy the suicide booths , despite the possible consequences, to force them to face the horrors of war once again. Thousands have died. Kirk knows if they see the truth of war again—the ugliness of it—they will be forced to strive for peace. "That's all it takes...knowing that we're not going to kill today."

8 "The Corbomite Maneuver"

Season 1, episode 10.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" is a classic episode, often cited as one of Star Trek's best . It opens with Kirk in his quarters. Faced with dietary restrictions from Doctor McCoy ( DeForest Kelley ), and served by Yeoman Janice ( Grace Lee Whitney ), Kirk tells McCoy the only female he can worry about is The Enterprise. It's a slice-of-life moment, giving us a glimpse of the Captain's downtime and his commitment to the ship .

The Enterprise then comes across a new foe seemingly intent on trapping them. Kirk won't abide an unwinnable scenario, so he bluffs his way through. The crew is surprised to meet Balok ( Clint Howard ), a jovial character who only wished to learn about the ship's inhabitants by testing them. When Lt. Bailey volunteers to stay with Balok and teach him about us, Balok asks if he's Earth's best. Bailey answers no, that he will make mistakes, but Kirk states that he'll "...find out more about us that way." After all, to err is to be human.

7 "The Cloud Minders"

Season 3, episode 21.

Kirk and Spock land on a planet ruled by a literal upper class . Below them live the Troglytes, a people responsible for mining the planet's goods but prevented from enjoying the toils of their labor. The Enterprise is there on a mission for zenite, which can save another planet from a plague. Unfortunately, the citizens of Stratos made the deal while the people in charge of mining were busy fighting for their freedom.

Kirk is repulsed to see the High Advisor Plasus and his daughter Droxine (who claimed that Stratos was rid of violence) use torture, a violent and futile tactic , on one of the fighters. Plasus considers the Troglytes less evolved and incapable of learning civility, but McCoy quickly finds that the mines are filled with a gas that lowers IQ. When Plasus refuses to let Kirk dispense filtered masks, the Captain takes the masks straight to the Troglytes. No matter the politics and the zenite, he cannot stand seeing such inequity.

6 "The Omega Glory"

Season 2, episode 23.

Responding to a distress signal, Kirk finds a member of Starfleet, Captain Tracey ( Morgan Woodward ), manipulating two cultures in the hopes of commandeering what he believes to be their fountain of youth. Kirk has no desire to take down a fellow Captain, but he firmly believes that his morality outweighs that of any individual . The message, written by Gene Roddenberry himself, is undeniably overhanded. Its intention must nonetheless be acknowledged.

When Kirk begins to quote the Constitution, the words ring clear and sincere. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty....They must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing!" To Spock and Bones, he states, "Liberty and freedom must be more than just words." There are few instances in which the message is so absent of subtext or metaphor. Here, Roddenberry has Kirk say it plainly, hoping that viewers will hear it.

5 "Balance of Terror"

Season 1, episode 14.

"Balance of Terror" shows Kirk once again facing bigotry, but this time on his own bridge . The Enterprise faces an unknown ship led by a Romulan Commander played brilliantly by Mark Lenard , who would later play Spock's father, Sarek. When the crew sees their likeness to Vulcans, Lt. Stiles ( Paul Comi ), whose family had lost members to Romulan attacks, grows suspicious of Spock and his pointy ears. Kirk immediately makes it clear what he thinks of prejudice aboard his ship.

Kirk and the Romulan Commander then enter an intense battle of wits. While the Romulan ship has cloaking capabilities and powerful plasma torpedoes, the Enterprise is swifter and more maneuverable, packing quite a punch herself. The two commanders grow a healthy respect for one another's shrewd strategy as the game unfolds. The Enterprise is ultimately victorious, and the Romulans choose to self-destruct, showing the crew of the Enterprise their resolve as warriors. The encounter is later revisited in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ).

4 "The Enemy Within"

Season 1, episode 5.

A transporter malfunction tore Kirk's psyche asunder, creating two physical forms of the Captain. One embodies kindness and timidity, while the other exudes aggression and a cavalier attitude. This episode gives Shatner a chance to chew up the scenes with some Olympian acting and shows what Kirk would be like if he were to lose balance. When the "bad" Kirk attacks Yeoman Janice, his crew's devotion is again shown in her hesitation to blame the Captain or "get him in trouble." Spock immediately deduces that there must be an imposter aboard because the possibility of his Captain committing such a heinous act is illogical.

When Kirk fears that his darker half has all of his best traits, McCoy reminds him that his softer side is the bravest. It takes courage to stand by your principles. As the situation comes to a head, he is given a choice: risk death by attempting to rejoin his worse half or deprive the Enterprise of her Captain. For Kirk, it is no choice at all.

3 "Space Seed"

Season 1, episode 22.

"Space Seed" begins Kirk's most significant arc as a character and sows the seed for the greatest Star Trek movie : The Wrath of Khan . The Enterprise happens on the U.S.S. Botany Bay, a ship from the 20th century. Kirk finds the vessel full of genetically modified warriors, led by Khan, who is played exquisitely by Ricardo Montalban . Lt. Marla McGivers, the ship's historian, is undone by an immediate attraction to this living embodiment of the ancient Sikh warriors of her texts.

Despite Khan's ability to lure Marla to his side, Kirk clocks Khan's instincts and sees the danger inherent. Kirk must stay in step with Khan's intellect without any genetic advantages or lose the ship entirely. There are multiple instances throughout the show where Kirk outsmarts robots and A.I., but none deliver the challenge that Khan does. Kirk regains command of the Enterprise with help from his crew and still offers Khan mercy: a planet of his own with which to make his destiny. He goes, a sign of the respect Khan now holds for Kirk.

2 "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

Season 3, episode 15.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" perfectly encapsulates the road of futility that prejudice will take you down . Commissioner Bele ( Frank Gorshin, fresh off 1966's Batman as The Riddler ) and Lokai ( Lou Antonio ) are two beings locked in an eternal duel, all because one is black on the right side and the other on the left. Bele seizes control of the ship to escort Lokai to their home world of Cheron, but Kirk chooses to activate the ship's self-destruct sequence rather than let anyone take his Enterprise. "You can use your will to drag this ship to Cheron, but I command the computer. MINE is the final command ."

Once control of the ship is back in his hands, he offers mercy yet again. He explains that the Federation is ruled by peace and implores them to consider finding a new purpose. But the two are so entrenched in their hatred that they choose instead to continue to pursue each other, presumably until the end of time, on a dead planet, ravaged by their resentment.

1 "Court Martial"

Season 1, episode 20.

The original trial episode, "Court Martial," started a fan-favorite tradition in the form of the courtroom drama. Kirk stands accused of murder by a crewman's daughter, Jame ( Alice Rawlings ). He recalls perfectly not jettisoning the pod until he had activated red alert and had no choice . Yet, the computer's record doesn't match his recollection. Kirk, unafraid to dig for the truth and steadfast in the knowledge that he would never doom a man without cause, demands a trial.

During the trial, Spock explains, "It is impossible for Captain Kirk to act out of panic or malice. It is not his nature." Even an angry young daughter is later shaken by her conviction and pleads with Kirk's defense attorney, Cogley ( Elisha Cook ), to help him. Kirk has no resentment toward her for the accusation. Even once he finds the man responsible for putting him in this position, he wants only to help him. "Court Martial" shows Kirk strong and steady in his principles, his crew's utter faith in him, and his unfailing belief in mercy over violence. Star Trek continues the tradition most recently through Strange New Worlds ' second season.

NEXT: What We Know About Captain Pike's Next Voyage in 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 3

• William Shatner