From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun May 07 2000 - 21:32:00 MDT
On Sunday, May 07, 2000 4:28 PM Spike Jones spike66@ibm.net wrote:
> > > Death to 7 of 9, the Borg, Data, and Spock, proud upholders of the
> > > frickin' *stupid* tradition that intelligent people are supposed to be
> > > unable to understand emotions. Hail Gene Roddenbury, who managed to
do
> > > more damage to American rationality than, well, just about anyone.
Actually, Spock was not originally supposed to be emotionless. In the first
pilot "The Menagerie" also seen as flashbacks in "The Cage", Spock smiles
when he finds the plant with leaves humming in the wind.
Two things led to the development of Spock.
Firstly, the NBC executives cut the female commander "Number One" out of the
show. She was going to counter the Captains's testosterone by trying to
think through problems instead of fighting through them; supposedly a
woman's point of view. With her character cut from the show, it fell to
Spock, as first officer, to try to advise the captain with reason to balance
the military aspect of command.
Secondly, people seeing the pilot being shot thought that Spock was comical.
They thought he was a green elfin man with pointed ears. They expected him
to prance around and be a fantasy-character sidekick to the captain.
Roddenberry wanted a serious show with serious respect for nonhuman races.
He decided that Spock needed to avoid the appearance of being funny. He was
supposed to remain serious and business-like, and to keep the emotions of
the Captain in check when human instinct takes over.
Not a bad reason for the character. Data was based on the android from "The
Questor Tapes". As a computer, it made sense not to have emotions. Also,
as a computer, it made sense to have better memory and faster processing
than humans. Rather than claiming to be superior, as Spock often did, Data
claimed to be inferior without emotions and sought to gain them.
Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct to something-or-other, is a different story.
She often seems emotional to me. However, her Borg background is supposed
to be hive-like, so insects don't have emotions. It's hard to show
non-humans, and frequently avoiding human emotions seems the way to do it.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> IBM Certified Senior Security Consultant, Legal Hacker, Engineer, Research Scientist, Author.
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