LogFAQs > #934225698

5. Spock
Loginating.

Surprise! I bet you thought Worf was #5. Worf has a big advantage over Spock, though: for this list, Im counting all appearances. The character who suffers most from this is Spock, since he has the great misfortune to be on Discovery, where he informs us that, in fact, he likes science. Its not clear from his actions or his status as a scientist that he likes science, so Spock looks directly at the camera, winks to the audience, and says LOGICAL. No, he doesnt, but if he did, would that surprise you? In all seriousness, Spock is tainted by Discovery in the same way Darth Vader is tainted by the prequel trilogy. To be sure, OT Darth Vader is still great, but if you factor in the now-canon stuff from the prequels, hes way dumber. Although the prequels are at least fun because theyre so horrible.

Spock is basically the perfect science-fiction character. Hes got this weird but completely reasonable philosophy about logic, hes Torn Between Two Worlds, hes got the only actually good actor in TOS, and hes got a personality that makes him easy to insert into any scenario as either an asset or a detriment. I will go out and call him the single best-designed sci-fi character of all time. If Spock has a weakness as a character, its that Nimoy has a bit more dignity than Shatner and that Spock is easier than Kirk to shoehorn into places that he doesnt belong, so Kirk mercifully avoided Discovery and the Abramsverse. God, can you imagine if like 24 year-old Kirk showed up in Discovery as a lieutenant or whatever and served Michael Burnham coffee? By the way, Microsoft Word recognizes Abramsverse as a word, but not Worf.

Like really, Spock is such a good character, I almost cant put it into words. Being cold and analytical but also gripping by constant roiling emotions is the perfect setup. Spock and Kirk are the two ingredients that make TOS work (sorry, McCoy), and I would probably say that Spock is the more important ingredient. Whenever theres a wacky space scenario, it falls to Spock to either figure out the solution or figure out a solution and present it completely heartlessly. Sometimes he even does this off-screen, and its still believable! Remember the time they go to the Mirror Universe, Kirk goes back to the main universe at the end, and Spock is like lol yeah I figured out what was going on in five seconds with zero information and its completely believable? This whole writeup could just be Spock moments like that. Remember when he got mind controlled by space fungus and Kirk had to insult him into getting angry to defeat it? Remember when he invited McCoy to his super-secret Vulcan ceremony? Remember when his brain got stolen by space hookers okay well not that one.

So someone on Discoverys writing staff watched The Cage. I know this because when Spock shows up on Dis

Actually lets stop there for the moment. Well come back to that later. Can I just say that the idea of Spock having a secret adopted human sister he never mentioned before is the stupidest thing ever? Like really, shut up. Im not even going to explain why thats the dumbest thing. And dont bring up the fifth movie where he has a secret brother, all I have to say to that is Discovery should not be mining The Final Frontier for ideas, unless its going to steal the giant glowing Sean Connery head shooting lasers out of its eyes.

Anyway, someone on Discoverys writing staff watched The Cage and noticed how Spock smiles one time in the episode because the idea of Vulcans being logical hadnt been hammered out yet. Yes, he said. I can use this. So Discovery Spock is super emotional. He smiles, he gets angry, he basically acts like a human. You might think this will lead to actually wait a second, wouldnt this just make Sarek hate him more? Wouldnt this be a huge embarrassment to the entire family? Anyway, you might think this will lead to Spock learning to be logical and not emotional in the future, and thats why hes the Spock we know in TOS, right? But his arc in the show ends with Michael Burnham telling him to be friends with humans and find the people furthest from you, so why does he give up emotions? Like you made a point of that! God I hate Discovery.

Michael is like I cant tell you guys what I did to Spock as a child, its unforgivable, dont make me talk about it, and then when we see it, she pushed him and said a bad word. Can you imagine being a thirty-five year-old man and hating your sister because she pushed you when she was twelve? It just makes Spock the stupidest person of all time. Like, if I was rating only Discovery Spock, hed be so low on this list. Hed be Ash Tyler-tier. Actually, thinking about it, Spock has the most actors, right? Nimoy, Quinto, Discovery guy, child Spock from 09, child Spock from TAS, child and teenage Spock from SfS Am I missing one? I cant even say the Discovery guy is a bad actor, its just the fault of bad writing.

God, I didnt want this writeup to be just anti-Discovery stuff, so lets talk about Spocks and Kirks relationship. Its pretty much epitomized with Wrath of Khan. Kirk is like lol I never lose at the beginning, Spock says nothing, and then at the end, when Kirk has failed and everyone is going to die, Spock sacrifices himself and is like lol if my goal was to save the ship, then I didnt lose either. Brilliant. Perfect writing. In a movie about an old man whose chest was so ripped that audiences thought he was wearing a fake chest until he said no, my chest actually does look like that, the most memorable thing is still Spock dying. Until Lorca, it was the only good Star Trek death, and Lorcas is only good because its so silly.

I also just want to say that Spock is how you write a scientist character. If you want to see how to most efficiently write every character, watch The Undiscovered Country. Every character has a moment that shows off his or her skill, and Spock has the best stuff, where hes just relentlessly puzzling through the mystery until he figures it out. Like you dont have a scientist just spout technobabble and build a whatever device, you have figure things out in a way the audience can follow, then take reasonable actions based on what he figured out.

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Started: July 6, 2005