Issue 4: Life in Space
By Mr. Atoz, The Librarian

Amok Time Review

Amok Time
Rating: “Jim!“

Synopsis:
Dr. McCoy reports to Kirk that Spock is acting rather strangely, appearing to be nervous and illogical. Spock, after having thrown a bowl of soup at Nurse Chapel, asks the captain for his leave time. Spock asks to be taken to Vulcan and Kirk reluctantly agrees. However, after receiving Starfleet orders to rendezvous for an inauguration ceremony in the Altair system earlier than scheduled, Kirk is forced to delay the trip to Vulcan. After ordering a physical examination of Spock, Kirk receives news from Bones that unless Spock goes to Vulcan he will die. But Spock will not reveal the reason. All Bones can find out is Spock’s body functions are fatally imbalanced.

Kirk then orders Spock to divulge why his life is in danger. Reluctantly, Spock explains to his captain that he is going through the period known as Pon Fa’ar, the time of Vulcan mating. He says he must go back to Vulcan to find his designated mate, T’Pring. Disobeying Starfleet orders, Kirk, McCoy and Spock arrive on Vulcan to partake in the “marriage” ritual. They meet with T’Pau, the only Vulcan to have ever turned down a seat in the Federation, who will be officiating the ceremony. As Spock is about to bang the gong that will cause the ritual to proceed, T’Pring stops him and wants the challenge, which the Vulcan female is entitled to. She may, in fact, choose a champion to fight her designated mate for her hand.

As luck would have it, T’Pring chooses Kirk as her champion.

The challenge, as Kirk fails to realize, is a duel to the death. In a horrible state of “blood fever,” Spock pleads with T’Pau to not allow T’Pring to choose Kirk as her champion, but T’Pau refuses. The two proceed to duel to the death, with Spock seemingly killing Kirk. Spock refuses T’Pring’s hand (she wanted Ston, another Vulcan, anyway) as he realizes the challenge was her way of getting Ston as her mate. Back on the Enterprise, Kirk is really not dead. Dr. McCoy gave him a neural sterilizer to make him appear to be dead.

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This episode is held as a TOS best, but I think I may like it for reasons separate from the documented accolades. Sure, delving into the Vulcan culture and biology is extremely interesting, but this episode is engaging because it shows just how human Spock’s human half really is. It is also great for what the series as a whole is great for: unintentional comedy. My favorite moment of this episode is when Spock is playing his harp or “Vulcan lute” or whatever that peculiar instrument is that sounds like a street organ when you try to tune it. Uhura pages him over the intercom, and Spock, in his primal, boner-otic state, proceeds to march over to the communicator and bash it in, bellowing, “Leave me aloooone….leave ME ALOOOOONE!!” Comedic value in the scene rises even further when you see that that the communicator is made of some sort of cheap vinyl in a moment of special effects hijinx reminiscent of the shark scene in “Batman: The Movie.”If you can get past that, and Chekov’s hair, then you can fully see the episode for everything it is worth. Later in the show, Spock and Kirk proceed to fight with what can only be described as some sort of Vulcan lasso-belt. As Kirk is distracted, his feet are lassoed by Spock and he is tripped up and dragged. It’s a laugh-out-loud moment that is very typical of TOS fight scenes. Hopefully that, along with reflections from Jim Carrey’s The Cable Guy, will not prevent you from viewing the scene in earnest.

I love the closing line after T’Pau tells Spock to live long and prosper after “the mess has been cleaned up.” Spock retorts, “I shall do neither. I have killed my captain, and my friend.” It is quite possibly the most profound line in any TOS episode. It just demonstrates how Spock, in all his cold logic, loves and cares for his human friends. Love and care is a human trait. Spock desires desperately to switch off his emotions, but his human “biology”, (ironically the reference point of the plot), will not allow him to disregard his grief. Nor will it allow him to disregard his joy at seeing his friend alive on the Enterprise: (”JIM!!!”)