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Star Trek: Discovery — Who is Amanda Grayson?

Who is Amanda Grayson? Everything you definitely don’t know about Spock and Michael Burnham’s mom in Star Trek.

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Warning: This Star Trek: Discovery articles contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 7: “Light and Shadows.”

In Star Trek: Discovery , we’ve gotten to know the character of Amanda Grayson a whole lot better than we ever did in either  The Original Series or any of the films. Famously introduced in 1967 episode “Journey to Babel,” Amanda (as played by Jane Wyatt) was seemingly just as steady and smart as her husband Sarek and her son Spock.

In Discovery , we’re learning exactly why Amanda is so badass, and also, why she’s a great mom. Mia Kirshner’s version of Amanda is giving new dimension to the character, but to be, fair, the depth of Amanda has been there since the beginning, and, in some cases, lurking in tantalizing apocrypha of Star Trek  lore.

The origin of the character.

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For starters, its relevant to remember that Amanda was created by a woman. The writer of “Journey to Babel,” was D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana, a script editor on the original Star Trek , who is probably responsible for much more of the foundation of Trek canon than most fans might know.

In addition to “Journey to Babel,” Fontana wrote (or co-wrote) the following Original Series episodes: “Charlie X,” “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” “This Side of Paradise,” “Friday’s Child,” “By Any Other Name,” “The Ultimate Computer,” and “The Enterprise Incident” Fontana also used the pseudonym of “Michael Richards” for the scripts “That Which Survives”  and “The Way to Eden.” Further, it was Fontana who did one of the uncredited re-writes on Harlan Ellison’s “The City on the Edge of Forever,” which made it into the episode we know today.

read more: Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Episode 7 Easter Eggs & References

Past that, Fontana was the de facto showrunner of The Animated Series , wrote tons of Star Trek novels, as well as the Deep Space Nine episode “Dax.” Why bring this all up? Well, because, in many ways, Fontana was the the mother of Star Trek , in the same way Amanda is the mother of Spock and Michael. When I talked to Fontana in 2016, she told me that her goal as a writer on Trek was: “To do stories that had strength, emotional content, and stories that would live.” This sentiment certainly applies to everything we know about the character of Amanda Grayson.

Fontana’s contributions to the Amanda Grayson character are most evident in her very first appearances in Trek canon—in “Journey to Babel,” but also in The Animated Series episode “Yesteryear.” In those episodes, we can see that Amanda actively pushes back against Sarek’s stoicism relative to letting Spock act a little more human.

In those two episodes, Amanda does this with a kind of wink and a smile, but Discovery is showing us some of the out-in-the-open conflict behind all of that. In “Light and Shadows,” Amanda clashes with Sarek, and, to an extent, with Michael, out of protectiveness for Spock (Ethan Peck). Some of his is suggestive of Amanda’s guilt about giving Spock mixed message about his heritage, which is also subtly referenced in the 2009 reboot movie.

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In that film, Amanda was played by Winona Ryder, who tells Spock (Zachary Quinto) that she will be proud of him no matter which path he chooses. This is relevant because, in that movie, we see Spock choose his mother over his father when the Vulcan Science Academy openly disses Amanda, referring to her existence as Spock’s “disadvantage.” This scene, as well as literally every other Trek episode with Sarek, subtly suggests that Amanda is not only the victim of interspecies racism, but sexism, too.

Why the hell would Amanda choose to marry a Vulcan? 

The non-canon novel, The Vulcan Academy Murders , written by Jean Lorrah in 1984 might provide an answer to this question—one that is not raised as frequently as the question of why Sarek would marry a human.

In the book, the Enterprise goes back to Vulcan to find that Amanda is being treated for some crazy form of space sickness. Throughout the course of the book, we learn the origin story of how Sarek and Amanda met, which is mostly connected to Amanda being a translator for the Federation.

read more: Star Trek: Discovery Renewed For Season 3

In some ways, Amanda is exactly like Michael Burnham: deeply interested and sympathetic to other non-human species. While Michael is a xenoanthropologist, Amanda is a translator, infinitely curious as to what other cultures have to offer. This novel also offers another interesting tidbit, which, could effectively explain why Amanda can look so young in Discovery  and considerably older in “Journey to Babel,” which is only about a decade in Discovery ’s future.

In Lorrah’s book, the medical treatment that Amanda undergoes for her space sickness has an interesting side effect: it make her look 20 years younger. This prescient detail from Lorrah is seemingly in the book to help explain how a human like Amanda could keep up with a Vulcan lifespan. But, the cool thing now is that it also neatly explains how Amanda can look like Mia Kirshner, Winona Ryder, and Jane Wyatt and have it all be perfectly canonical.

She might be related to Sherlock Holmes & Irene Adler.

Here’s one other thing no one talks about when they talk about the character of Amanda Grayson: she could be related to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler. And, when I say “related,” I mean, literally.

In writing about the connections between Sherlock Holmes and science fiction, Nicholas Meyer (the director of Star Trek II and Star Trek  VI ) told me that you could make a literal connection between Amanda’s family history and that of Sherlock Holmes.

In The Undiscovered Country , Spock quotes Holmes, but prefaces the quote as coming from “an ancestor of mine.” So, Amanda is either related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  or Sherlock Holmes. But, as Meyer told me, it’s more fun to think of Amanda being a descendant of Sherlock Holmes, and that’s because when I pressed him about this connection for my essay “Baker Streets on Infinite Earths,” Meyer said that, if the Spock/Holmes connection is literal, that means the other maternal human ancestor is “Of course, Irene Adler.”

For Holmes fans, Irene Adler is the pseudo-love interest of Sherlock Holmes from the short story “A Scandal in Bohemia.” In the story, Adler is the only person who stands up to Sherlock Holmes, much like Amanda Grayson seems to be the only person who seems to stand up to Sarek.

read more: Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 and the Reintroduction of Captain Pike

In this season of Star Trek: Discovery , we also see Amanda actively solving the mystery of where Spock his hiding, and doing whatever it takes — including stealing important documents — to make it happen. This means that Nick Meyer’s assertion that Spock’s mom has the blood of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler running through her veins is suddenly all the more viable.

As a Star Trek character, Amanda combines the best of what fans love about this fictional universe. She’s rational, tenacious, but also full of love. In fact, D.C. Fontana once said that she choose the name of “Amanda,” because one of the meanings of the word is “worthy of being loved.” For Michael and Spock — and for Trek fans everywhere right now — Amanda Grayson is more worthy of being loved than ever before.

Ryan Britt  is the author of the book  Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths  (Plume/Penguin Random House). You can find more of his work  here .

Ryan Britt is a longtime contributor to Den of Geek! He is also the author of three non-fiction books: the Star Trek pop history book PHASERS…

Star Trek: Discovery Casts Spock's Mom, Amanda Grayson

Star Trek: Discovery has cast The L Word actress Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson, the biological mother of Spock and adoptive mother of Michael Burnham.

Star Trek: Discovery has cast the role of Spock's biological mother and Michael Burnham's adoptive mother, Amanda Grayson.

RELATED: No, The Shorthand for Star Trek: Discovery Is Not ‘STD.’

While at the blue carpet premiere of Star Trek: Discovery last month, the folks at TrekMovie had the chance to talk to the show's executive producers Aaron Harberts, Gretchen J. Berg, and Heather Kadin regarding how big a role Sarek’s family will play going forward in the series. Although the three couldn't reveal much -- including whether Spock will make an appearance at some point -- Harberts did reveal to the outlet that The L Word actress Mia Kirshner has been cast as Amanda Grayson. The role, of course, was originated by Jane Wyatt in the season two episode of Stark Trek titled "Journey to Babel." The role was later played by actress Winona Ryder in director J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot.

Along with her work on The L Word , Kirshner has also appeared in Syfy's Defiance as well as the CW's The Vampire Diaries . It's currently unknown in which episode of Discovery Kirshner will make her debut as Amanda.

RELATED: Star Trek: Discovery Fueled Massive Increase in CBS Mobile App Downloads.

Set 10 years before the adventures of Kirk and Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series , Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp, with Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller, Heather Kadin, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, Akiva Goldsman, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth serving as Executive Producers.

The series is currently streaming on CBS All Access in the United States, Crave TV in Canada, and Netflix internationally; it kicked off on September 24, and will run until November 5 before taking a short break until airing its second half in January 2018. The third episode is set to hit the streaming service today.

Photo via Star Trek.com

Spock’s mom will appear in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’—but when?

Spock's father sarek is all over the new 'star trek' trailers. so where's his wife, amanda grayson.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Posted on Aug 8, 2017   Updated on May 22, 2021, 9:21 pm CDT

Spock’s dad has a surprisingly major role in  Star Trek: Discovery . The main character, Starfleet officer Michael Burnham, lost her parents at a young age and was raised in the Vulcan tradition by Spock’s parents.

James Frain plays Spock’s father, the Vulcan diplomat Sarek. He appears prominently in the trailers, depicted as one of Burnham’s key mentors. Presumably, his human wife Amanda Grayson was involved as well, but where is she?

Amanda Grayson first appeared in the Original Series episode “Journey to Babel” as a cheerful and charming counterpoint to Sarek’s stern Vulcan nature. Played by Winona Ryder in the 2009 reboot movie, she was killed off halfway through—another casualty of Hollywood’s obsession with dead moms and distant dads. In a similar vein, plans for the next Star Trek movie suggest the return of Kirk’s dad, ignoring his mother entirely. So, there’s reason to be worried that  Discovery might sideline Amanda Grayson in favor of more paternal tension with Sarek.

Fortunately, it sounds like that won’t happen.  Discovery ‘s creator Bryan Fuller said last year that he wanted to include Grayson, and while he was replaced by new showrunners , Grayson is still part of the story. She just isn’t in the trailers because they only include footage from the first few episodes.

At Comic-Con , James Frain said he’d just filmed an episode with Amanda Grayson. “In the last episode I shot, she had just been introduced,” he told TV Guide . “So I’m pretty sure we’re going to be finding out about that. But I haven’t read the last five episodes.”

Intriguingly, CBS hasn’t revealed who plays Amanda Grayson. Could it be someone famous, or are we massively overthinking a simple casting announcement? (Probably the latter.) Whoever it is, this highlights how little we know actually about  Discovery . Unlike the episodic nature of most Trek shows,  Discovery is highly serialized and may involve a more changeable cast. Even if we haven’t seen anything from Amanda Grayson yet, Sarek’s role suggests she’ll appear more in later episodes.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a staff writer at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Specializing in sci-fi movies and superheroes, she also appears as a film and TV critic on BBC radio. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested. Follow her on Twitter: @Hello_Tailor

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The many faces of Amanda Grayson

Credit: Michael Gibson/CBS

For a character that has only appeared in one Star Trek episode and (briefly) in two movies prior to Star Trek: Discovery , Amanda Grayson has had an outsized impact on the Trek universe. She presents herself as a dutiful wife to her husband Sarek and a devoted mother to her son, Spock. But underneath that meek exterior, there is a will of fire and steel, and a determination to do right by her family. Her portrayal on screen has been rocky and flat at times, but thanks to Mia Kirshner and the Star Trek: Discovery writers, she’s finally becoming important in her own right, rather than because of who she’s connected to.

Amanda was first introduced to the screen in The Original Series episode “Journey to Babel,” where she was played by Jane Wyatt. “Journey to Babel” revealed quite a bit about Spock’s history, as it centered on his strained relationship with his father, Sarek. In the episode, Ambassador Sarek boards the Enterprise with his wife, Amanda, but refuses to speak to his son because of their estrangement over Spock’s decision to enter Starfleet instead of the Vulcan Science Academy.

Credit: CBS

This performance set the stage for Amanda, though her subsequent portrayals are much flatter. In “Journey to Babel,” she’s very good at being who she needs to be, depending on the occasion, and displays a sparkling wit and feisty personality that’s often missing later. As a result, Amanda’s role is often relegated to a supportive wife and nurturing mother; while there’s nothing wrong with being either of those things, it’s hardly a full portrayal of a three-dimensional character with her own motivations and ability to make decisions.

We don’t see Amanda again until J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot. While she’s played by the exquisite Winona Ryder, she doesn’t have much to do except to show the audience she loves her son and then dies, setting the course for Spock’s development over the movie. It’s a criminal underuse of such a great actress.

Credit: Paramount

Amanda arrives on the Discovery after stealing Spock’s medical file from Starbase 5. That, in and of itself, sets the stage for this fantastic performance that adds depth to the character that’s been missing across her franchise portrayal. If we know anything about Amanda, we know that she’s a caring mother. But Kirshner showed us just how far Amanda would be willing to go to protect her son. She has an iron will and an almost Vulcan stubbornness, and she’s willing to use it to figure out what happened to Spock.

At the end of the episode, Amanda discovers that Michael wounded her son in order to protect him. And what she does after she finds out is telling: She gives Michael a kiss and then leaves, saying she’ll find Spock herself. Amanda still loves her adopted daughter, but she doesn’t trust her to do what’s best for her brother, given past decisions. The coldness that Amanda displays is deep. It’s a rift that will need to be mended, for sure, but the kiss signals that Amanda still loves her daughter and will fight for her family.

Credit: Jan Thijs/CBS

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Who Plays Spock's Mother On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

Amanda Grayson, the human mother of the half-Vulcan science officer Spock, has appeared in several different "Star Trek" properties since Emmy Award winner Jane Wyatt first played the character in the original series in 1967. From the "First Lady of Star Trek," Majel Barrett, voicing her in "Star Trek: The Animated Series" to two-time Academy Award nominee Winona Ryder's portrayal in the 2009 film "Star Trek,"  no matter where Spock ends up in the franchise, his mother is bound to show up sooner or later, and Ethan Peck's take on the mind-melding persona from "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is no exception.

In Season 2, Episode 5 ("Charades"), after being pulled into a mysterious anomaly, Spock finds himself waking up in sickbay with his logic-loving Vulcan half gone, leaving him riddled with illogical emotions as a full-fledged human. The timing couldn't be worse, as the ceremonial engagement meal, or V'Shal dinner, where Spock needs to impress his future in-laws, can no longer be postponed. Luckily, Spock has his mother, played by Mia Kirshner, who teaches him about his human side, mainly how to lie, and plays a crucial role in helping him pull off pretending nothing is wrong. Even though they make it through the ordeal, when Kirshner's motherly persona is disrespected, Spock comes clean and defends her, which brings the two closer together.

Before Amanda educated her son on his human heritage in "Strange New Worlds," Kirshner played the role of Spock's mother and the foster mother of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in eight episodes of "Star Trek: Discovery." While she has had plenty of "Star Trek" experience, Amanda Grayson is far from the only credit on the actor's resume.

Where fans have seen Mia Kirshner before she played Amanda Grayson

Prior to playing Spock's mother in two popular "Star Trek" shows, Mia Kirshner took on a wide range of roles that people probably recognize. Some highlights include "24," "The Vampire Diaries," and "Defiance." She also had a rewarding experience playing the persona that fans loved to hate, Jenny Schecter, in 70 episodes of "The L Word." The actor said of the show to  Afterellen.com , "In retrospect, in spite of some of the weirdness with the storylines, particularly with my character, it was wonderful. Showtime gave us a lot of freedom, and I realize how rare that is, and how lucky we were to have those jobs." 

In addition to her small-screen efforts, the actor has done a number of movies, like "Not Another Teen Movie," "The Crow: City of Angels," and "30 Days of Night: Dark Days." She even received praise for her performance in the 2006 Brian De Palma film "The Black Dahlia." Mick LaSalle wrote in his review for SFGate , "Mia Kirshner, who plays the Dahlia, is seen only in audition and stage footage, but she makes a real impression of the Dahlia as a sad, lonely dreamer, a pathetic figure."

When choosing which parts to play, Kirshner employs a simple yet reasonable strategy. "Usually, I choose characters that are completely different from me, and of course, it really comes down to the director and the writing," the actor said in an interview with  Filmsactu.com . Her efforts and careful planning have resulted in a fascinating array of credits, which includes Amanda Grayson in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

Star Trek: Discovery Casts Mia Kirshner As Spock’s Mother

Star Trek: Discovery is taking things back to Lt. Michael Burnham’s past by casting Mia Kirshner as Amanda, Spock’s mother, and Michael Burnham’s adoptive mother. The series has already shown Michael’s Vulcan upbringing in flashbacks and introduced Sarek, played by James Frain.

Now it seems that more of Michael’s family, as well as major players in the Vulcan corner of the Star Trek universe, will be making an appearance. It’s a smart move since bringing in Michael’s adoptive parent will continue to provide background for the leading lieutenant, making it all the more important.

Amanda Grayson first made her television debut in Star Trek: The Original Series. Played by Jane Wyatt, she first appeared in the episode ‘Journey to Babel’ and again in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Originally a school teacher, she met Sarek, the Vulcan ambassador to Earth.

The two married and had their son Spock. Originally created by science fiction writer D.C Fontana who worked on Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She was portrayed by Winona Ryder in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek that inspired the Discovery continuity.

Originally reported by TrekMovie.com, it’s unknown when Kirshner will make her debut or in what context. After all, a second season isn’t expected until 2019. It’s also unknown if Kirshner’s arrival will mean that her and Sarek’s other child will make an appearance in Star Trek: Discovery or what role they might play.

At its heart, that’s why adding Amanda and drawing Michael Burnham closer into the Star Trek mythology is important. Kirshner’s presence on the show will add more backstory to Green’s Lt. Burnham. There’s never been a story like Burnham’s told before, but it’s worth wondering if introducing Amanda and drawing her further into Sarek’s family would be a welcome move.

She is the first Black woman to take the lead on any science fiction property and drawing her into the complicated web of the well-knonw family as well as leading to a potential introduction for Spock, is a bit of a tough sell. The writers should be careful that drawing her deeper into the mythos doesn’t distract from a character strong and powerful enough to stand on her own.

You can watch Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access with new episodes arriving every Sunday at 8:30 ET.

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Star Trek: Discovery

Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.

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• Trivia The Starfleet vessels seen in the first season, including the Discovery, the Shenzou and the redesigned Enterprise, were all designed by production artist John Eaves. Eaves' work with Star Trek spans three decades. Probably his most notable contribution was the design of the Enterprise-E for Star Trek: First Contact (1996) .
• Goofs With Michael being the adoptive sister of Spock, the series has many flashbacks to their childhood and upbringing on Vulcan. Spock's Vulcan half-brother, Sybok, does not appear nor is mention during these scenes. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) , Spock says that he and Sybok grew up together. However, since it's never stated when Sybok joined Sarek's home - only that he did so following his mother's death - or when he was exiled from the family, it's not impossible Sybok moved in after Burnham, and left before she graduated (the two extremes of the flashbacks). Also, since Sybok was never mentioned before Star Trek V, it seems reasonable the family never spoke of him again after his estrangement.
• Alternate versions The serif-font legends and subtitles in the "broadcast" episodes are absent from the DVD versions, where they are replaced with the standard DVD subtitles.
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Starfleet career

Starfleet academy.

During his time at Starfleet Academy, Spock had Onafuwa for Fundamentals of Quantum Stochastics and several other advanced courses. He was commissioned as a Starfleet officer in 2250 with the serial number S 179-276 SP and held an A7 computer expert classification. Later in life, he wrote a memoir about the challenges he faced at Starfleet Academy, titled The Many and the One . ( PIC : " The Star Gazer "; ST : " Q&A "; TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ", " Court Martial ", " The Ultimate Computer ")

Early postings and assignments

One of Spock's early assignments was to the USS Kongo . ( SNW : " Memento Mori ")

Serving under Christopher Pike

Arrival on the enterprise.

Spock and Lieutenant Una Chin-Riley in a turbolift shortly after his arrival.

In 2253 , Spock was assigned to the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike . When Ensign Spock was first transported aboard the Enterprise , he bonded with the ship's first officer , Lieutenant Una Chin-Riley (who preferred to be known simply as "Number One"). When they became trapped in the turbolift while on their way to the bridge, Spock asked Una many questions and the two opened up to each other. ( ST : " Q&A "; SNW : " Among the Lotus Eaters " display graphic )

By 2254 , he was promoted to lieutenant . ( TOS : " The Cage ")

Rescuing Pike from the Talosians

Spock in 2254

Later that year, Lt. Spock was wounded in the leg when Pike's landing party was attacked on Rigel VII .

As the ship proceeded to the Vega colony for medical care, a radio wave distress call forced Pike to divert the ship to Talos IV . Still limping, Spock joined a landing party that transported to the barren surface of the planet where Talosians captured Pike.

He was the first of the ship's crew to realize the Talosians had powerful illusory abilities. Spock's final report, along with Pike's, recommended a ban on visitation to the planet. Starfleet's General Order 7 supported that judgment. ( TOS : " The Cage ", " The Menagerie, Part I ", " The Menagerie, Part II ")

Searching for the Red Angel

Spock in 2257

Following the end of the Federation-Klingon War in 2257 , Spock took an unspecified leave of absence from Starfleet. He had accumulated a number of months during the five-year mission which, according to Pike, took a toll on the whole crew as well as Spock. Upon reviewing Spock 's personal log entries on the Enterprise , Michael Burnham learned that Spock had been having visions ever since he was a boy, and that he had had premonitions of the mysterious red bursts that the USS Discovery was likewise investigating, which Spock believed were related to his childhood visions of "the Red Angel." ( DIS : " Brother ")

Spock followed his visions to an unknown planet where he encountered the Red Angel. Through a mind meld , he discovered that it was a Human but one clad in a suit far beyond 23rd century technology. Through the meld, he received a vision of the destruction of Earth , Vulcan , Andor , and Tellar , and began experiencing time non-linearly. ( DIS : " If Memory Serves ") He decided to have himself committed to the psychiatric unit on Starbase 5 . In doing so, he requested that Starfleet not inform his family about the matter, including his father and foster sister. While there, he was observed to display acutely emotional dissociation and extreme empathy deficits. When he was told the red bursts had occurred as he had predicted, Spock broke out of the facility, disabling three of his doctors with Vulcan nerve pinches and fleeing on a shuttlecraft . ( DIS : " New Eden ", " Point of Light ", " If Memory Serves ")

Starfleet subsequently claimed that Spock had murdered his doctors and made finding him a priority. The USS Discovery and Section 31 became involved in the search. Aware he was being pursued, Spock abandoned his shuttlecraft in the Mutara sector and secretly returned to Vulcan. There, his mother hid him in a sacred crypt where katra stones shielded him from telepathic searches. Spock had become delusional and incoherent, unable to bear the experience of viewing time non-linearly, and repeated the First Doctrines of Logic and a sequence of numbers over and over. Burnham convinced Amanda to take her to Spock, but Sarek followed Burnham and convinced her that the best way to help Spock was to hand him over to Section 31. Burnham took Spock to the Section 31 ship NCIA-93 where Captain Leland promised he would help repair Spock's mind. However, Philippa Georgiou warned Burnham that Leland intended to extract Spock's memories using a process that would destroy his mind. At Georgiou's suggestion, Burnham overpowered her and took Spock from the Section 31 ship in a shuttlecraft. ( DIS : " Saints of Imperfection ", " Light and Shadows ")

Burnham realized that, since Spock's mind had regressed to childhood, the sequence of numbers he had been repeating was reversed due to his L'tak Terai . In the opposite order, the numbers represented the coordinates for Talos IV . Burnham thus set a course for that planet. There, the Talosians and Vina agreed to help heal Spock and subsequently projected illusions to the pursuing NCIA-93 to allow Burnham and Spock to escape to the USS Discovery which was commanded by his old friend Captain Christopher Pike while the USS Enterprise was down for repairs. ( DIS : " Light and Shadows ", " If Memory Serves ")

Stopping Control

Spock subsequently joined the Discovery 's ongoing mission to investigate the red bursts , discovering that Control had framed Spock for murder ( DIS : " Project Daedalus ") and helping to trap the Red Angel on Essof IV . To everyone's surprise, the Red Angel was revealed to actually be Gabrielle Burnham , Michael Burnham 's mother who was long believed to be dead. While attempting to prevent Control from wiping out all life in the galaxy after gaining full sentience, Gabrielle had discovered that Spock was the only one capable of truly perceiving her and her purpose. However, an effort to beam Gabrielle into their time permanently failed and resulted in the Red Angel suit and Gabrielle getting pulled back into the 32nd century , unable to return due to Gabrielle's time crystal being destroyed. ( DIS : " The Red Angel ", " Perpetual Infinity ")

When the decision was made to send Discovery into the future in order to prevent Control from ever getting its hands on the Sphere data, Spock decided to accompany his sister on the one-way trip. During the Battle near Xahea , Spock helped to guide Burnham's use of the second Red Angel suit from a shuttlecraft, but his engines were damaged and he couldn't return to the ship with her. With Discovery too badly damaged to risk lowering its shields to beam him onboard, Spock was forced to remain behind in 2257 . Burnham promised to send the seventh red burst to signal her brother that they had successfully made it and offered him some final words of advice. Spock told Burnham that he loved her, a sentiment that she returned, before Spock had the USS Enterprise beam him out. From the Enterprise bridge, Spock witnessed Burnham successfully lead Discovery through the wormhole to the future. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow ", " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

Return to Starfleet

Spock in 2258

After the battle against Control , Spock returned to his position as science officer aboard the Enterprise in 2258 . He was sworn to secrecy, along with the rest of the crew of Pike's starship, to never again speak the name of his adoptive sister or the ship she served on aloud in public again. Four months after the Discovery 's departure, the seventh red burst appeared near Terralysium , confirming to Spock that his sister had made it to the future. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

In 2259 , T'Pring, his betrothed, proposed marriage to him, which he accepted. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

Later that year, the pirate Captain Angel , lover of Spock's half-brother Sybok, came aboard, manipulating Spock at an attempt to free Sybok from the Ankeshtan K'til Retreat he was currently confined to. Angel ultimately took control of the Enterprise and tried to blackmail T'Pring into releasing Sybok, using Spock as leverage. Spock and Christine Chapel foiled her plans by pretending to be in love with each other and temporarily ending his betrothal to T'Pring. They renewed their bonding afterwards. ( SNW : " The Serene Squall ")

When an alien consciousness from the Jonisian Nebula brought the fairy tale The Kingdom of Elysian to life on the Enterprise , Spock was used for the character of the Wizard Pollux . He didn't remember the events after the ship was returned to normal. ( SNW : " The Elysian Kingdom ")

Spock was part of a mission to the USS Peregrine , which had made a crash landing on Valeo Beta V . Inside the ship, confronted with young Gorn who had just hatched and hunted the landing party, Spock allowed himself to give into his unchecked emotions and rage to provoke and draw out the Gorn. Afterwards, he had still trouble controling his anger as well as his pain and that his mind was weak, but was assured by Christine Chapel that it was not a weakness, but him being human. ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

Meeting Leila Kalomi

On Earth briefly in 2261 , Spock met Leila Kalomi . Although she declared a love for Spock, his emotional control prevented him from reciprocating until 2267 when he was infected by the spores on Omicron Ceti III . Under the spores' influence, he became peaceful and happy but Captain James T. Kirk infuriated him, which killed the spores and returned him to normal. ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Spock's service under Pike (eleven years, four months, and five days) inspired considerable respect and loyalty from the young officer. In 2267, Spock risked his life and career for the sake of his former captain. ( TOS : " The Cage ", " The Menagerie, Part I ", " The Menagerie, Part II ")

Serving under James T. Kirk

Lieutenant Commander Spock in 2265

After Pike's promotion to fleet captain , Kirk assumed command of the Enterprise in 2265 , with Spock as his first officer. An early mission proved disastrous when Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell , a close friend of the new captain, developed enhanced psionic abilities when the Enterprise encountered an energy barrier at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy .

Spock and Kirk in 2265

Spock examined the tapes of an earlier ship, the SS Valiant , that had encountered the same barrier and was destroyed. As Mitchell's powers increased, Spock believed he had become extremely dangerous and feared that he would destroy the Enterprise . He therefore advised Kirk to either strand Mitchell on the uninhabited and desolate Delta Vega to isolate him from galactic civilization or kill Mitchell before it was too late. Kirk hesitated but initially attempted the former, but the scope of Spock's concerns were eventually borne out and Kirk was forced to kill Mitchell. ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ")

The Enterprise repelled the first Romulan incursion of Federation space in over a century on stardate 1709.2. Spock and the bridge crew became the first Starfleet officers to make visual contact with Romulans who finally revealed their Vulcan-like appearance to Starfleet. Lieutenant Stiles briefly suspected Spock of being a Romulan agent until Spock saved his life in the course of battle. ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

Spock kidnapped Fleet Captain Pike and hijacked the Enterprise . Pike had been crippled and was confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak, as a result of an accident. Spock wanted to return him to Talos IV ; he wished to return Pike to the Talosians there so he could enjoy the rest of his life in an illusory reality and would not have to continue enduring his disability. After a lengthy inquiry into the matter, and in light of the Talosian-provided images, Kirk allowed Pike to beam down. Commodore Jose I. Mendez also dropped all charges against Spock. ( TOS : " The Menagerie, Part I ", " The Menagerie, Part II ")

While commanding an away mission aboard the Galileo on stardate 2821.5, the shuttlecraft crashed on the surface of Taurus II . Giant hostile creatures killed two crewmembers while the shuttle was stranded there. Spock, aided by Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott , eventually launched the shuttle. Knowing that it could not break free of the planet's gravity, Spock ignited the shuttlecraft's remaining fuel to use it as a flare. His gamble paid off; it alerted the Enterprise which turned around and rescued the team. ( TOS : " The Galileo Seven ")

Spock in command of the Enterprise after the Metrons abduct Kirk

After being thrown back in time to Earth of 1969 and interacting with that planet's US Air Force , Spock was able to recreate a time warp with a slingshot maneuver around the sun. ( TOS : " Tomorrow is Yesterday ")

Spock being questioned at Kirk's trial in 2267

When Kirk was court-martialed for causing the death of Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney , Spock proved that Finney had altered the Enterprise 's computer tapes to frame Kirk, by beating the computer at chess four times in a row, something which would ordinarily be impossible. ( TOS : " Court Martial ")

Spock confronts Landru with Kirk

Spock, along with Kirk, helped disable Landru , a computer that controlled the lives of a civilization on Beta III and allowed no free thought or creative thinking. ( TOS : " The Return of the Archons ")

Spock helped Kirk to retake the Enterprise after Khan Noonien Singh , a 20th century Augment dictator whom the Enterprise 's crew had found in stasis , commandeered the starship. He flooded the ship with gas, disabling Khan and his followers. ( TOS : " Space Seed ")

On stardate 3192.1, Spock and Kirk were taken prisoners on Eminiar VII which had been at war for over five hundred years with Vendikar . Computers fought the war virtually so that the destruction of actual warfare did not devastate the two worlds, thus preserving both civilizations. Whenever the computer registered a hit, the affected citizens reported to a disintegration chamber where they were vaporized. When the Enterprise entered orbit around Eminiar VII, it became a legitimate target for Vendikar. The war computer soon declared that a tricobalt satellite explosion had destroyed the Enterprise ; as a result, Eminiar officials expected the crew to report to the disintegration stations. They abducted Kirk and Spock to ensure compliance, but the two escaped captivity and destroyed the computers on Eminiar VII. With the threat of a real war looming over the inhabitants of both planets, Spock and Kirk negotiated a peace between Eminiar VII and Vendikar. ( TOS : " A Taste of Armageddon ")

On the mining planet Janus VI , an unknown creature was killing miners there. After locating the creature, Spock mind melded with it. He discovered that the creature was called a Horta and determined that its killing of the miners was an attempt to protect its young. The miners had been unintentionally killing the Horta's offspring by destroying silicon nodules which were really the creature's eggs. Spock negotiated a pact between the Horta and the miners: The miners would leave the eggs alone and the Horta, in turn, would help the miners locate valuable minerals. ( TOS : " The Devil in the Dark ")

Spock is forced to use a destructive measure in order to protect the Federation

Spock and Kirk later became trapped on Organia during a Klingon occupation of that planet. The Klingons wanted to use Organia as a base in their war against the Federation. The Organian council refused the Federation's help, and after the Klingons invaded and took control of Organia, Kirk and Spock had civilian identities imposed on them, with Spock being given the identity of a merchant . They then became involved in sabotage. After the Klingons captured them, the Organians set Spock and Kirk free. Just as war began to break out, the Organians revealed themselves to be powerful energy beings. They neutralized both sides weaponry and stopped the war. ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ")

On stardate 3134.0, Spock and Kirk traveled back in time using the Guardian of Forever to retrieve Dr. Leonard McCoy who had entered the time portal and somehow changed history. Spock discovered McCoy saved the life of Edith Keeler who, in the altered timeline, led a pacifist movement that delayed the United States of America 's entry into World War II , thus allowing Adolf Hitler to win the war. Spock persuaded Kirk that allowing Keeler to die in an auto accident was only way to restore the timeline. ( TOS : " The City on the Edge of Forever ")

A neural parasite attacking Spock

Near the end of the year, a Denevan neural parasite that destroyed the colony on Deneva also attacked Spock. He submitted to an experiment that destroyed the creature inside him but also left him blind. However, the blindness was only temporary due to an inner set of eyelids that all Vulcans possessed. ( TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! ")

Commander Spock in 2267

In late 2267 , the Enterprise encountered a probe called Nomad that had destroyed multiple star systems and their inhabitants. Spock mind-melded with the probe and discovered it was an old Earth probe originally tasked with seeking out new life. Somehow damaged in space, it had merged with an alien probe on a mission to sterilize "imperfect" biological organisms from soil. These two missions had merged into sterilizing or improving anything that was not "perfect." Using its own logic against it, Kirk destroyed the probe. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

On stardate 3219.8, an alien cloud creature took control of a shuttlecraft carrying Spock, Kirk, and Federation diplomat Nancy Hedford , landing it on a deserted planet. There, they found Zefram Cochrane , the inventor of Earth's warp drive who was believed to have died decades ago. The cloud creature, which Cochrane called the " Companion ", had discovered him and kept him alive and young. The creature had brought the three Starfleet officers to be companions for Cochrane. When Spock tried to repair the shuttlecraft, the Companion stopped him. The situation was resolved when the Companion joined with Hedford, who was terminally ill, and cured her. Hedford/The Companion remained on the planet with Cochrane. ( TOS : " Metamorphosis ")

At some point around Spock's fourth year on the Enterprise , he was offered an assignment with Medusan Ambassador Kollos which he turned down, as he claimed that he " was unable to accept, " as his " life is here, " aboard the Enterprise . The assignment, instead, went to Miranda Jones . ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

In 2268 , Spock and other crewmembers of the Enterprise encountered Harry Mudd stranded on a planet of androids . The androids wanted the Enterprise to escape the planet and serve Humans so that they would not have to explore space. Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew eventually managed to overload the androids' central control by acting in a illogical manner, causing the chief android, Norman , to have a breakdown. ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

While traveling to a peace conference on Babel , Spock was reunited with his parents. There was still much friction between Spock and his father. When Sarek was accused of the murder of another delegate , it was revealed that he was ill with a cardiac defect which made it unlikely that he could have committed the crime. McCoy was then tasked with performing surgery on Sarek while in a space battle with an enemy ship. It was then discovered that Orions were responsible for the murder, and Spock made himself available for a blood transfusion for his father's surgery because they shared the same rare blood type , T-negative . Recovering in sickbay , Sarek and Spock made peace with each other, even playfully teasing Amanda. ( TOS : " Journey to Babel ")

On stardate 4523.3, Spock helped foil a Klingon plot to poison quadrotriticale earmarked for Sherman's Planet while at the same time trying to clear the Enterprise of a fast-breeding alien species called tribbles . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

Spock later visited Sigma Iotia II whose inhabitants had modeled their society on the gangster era of Earth's 1930s . An earlier starship had left behind a book about gangsters from Earth's 20th century that the imitative Iotians had used as a blueprint for their society. Spock played the part of one of the bosses of the main syndicate, "The Federation," and helped Kirk unite the two warring bosses into a form of government . ( TOS : " A Piece of the Action ")

Spock sensing the terrible deaths of an entire Vulcan crew

Spock, along with the Enterprise , encountered a space amoeba that destroyed entire star systems . The USS Intrepid , which was sent to investigate the phenomenon, was destroyed, and Spock felt the Vulcans on the ship dying. In order to gain information on the creature, Spock piloted a shuttle into the amoeba and found that it was about to reproduce by fission. He subsequently destroyed the creature with an antimatter bomb. ( TOS : " The Immunity Syndrome ")

Spock's body was later taken over by Henoch , one of three survivors of an ancient civilization that had destroyed itself. The three had become energy beings to survive and wished to build androids to house their minds. Henoch, the rival of fellow survivor Sargon , refused to relinquish Spock's body and attempted to kill Sargon. He himself was killed with the help of Spock's consciousness and Sargon's wife Thalassa . ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ")

Ekosian Nazis capture Spock

Spock came in contact with various other worlds in the early part of 2268. He was captured by Ekosians who had based their society on that of Nazi Germany and tortured him for information about the Enterprise . John Gill , a Federation historian , had visited Ekos and attempted to use the efficiency of Nazi Germany to bring stability to the planet. Toward the end of the encounter, it was found out that Gill was drugged by his deputy Melakon. Through the use of the mind meld, Spock helped bring Gill to almost full wakefulness. ( TOS : " Patterns of Force ")

Spock battled Kelvans who tried to take over the Enterprise in order to return to their homeworld in the Andromeda Galaxy . He helped Kirk stop Ronald Tracey , a Federation captain interfering in Omega IV 's societies by arming the Kohms against the Yangs . He battled the government of a planet where a Rome -like civilization had never fallen and gladiatorial games still took place in the planet's modern era. ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ", " The Omega Glory ", " Bread and Circuses ")

Spock's mindless body equipped with a neural stimulator after the Eymorgs stole his brain

Later the same year, Spock's brain was stolen by the Eymorgs to help power the Great Teacher that controlled their society and provided for all their needs. McCoy was able to reconnect Spock's brain to his body with the same technology used to remove it. ( TOS : " Spock's Brain ")

Spock, along with Kirk, stole a cloaking device from the Romulans. As part of the plan to retrieve the device, he pretended to kill Kirk in self-defense and romanced the craft's commander in order to gain her trust. He initially intended only to carry out his mission but experienced actual feelings for the beautiful and brilliant commander. After Kirk returned to the Romulans' craft disguised as a Romulan and stole the device, Spock stalled the Romulans long enough for the device to be installed in the Enterprise . The ship escaped with the cloaking device and the Romulan commander on board, who made a pact with Spock to keep their mutual feelings for the other a secret. ( TOS : " The Enterprise Incident ")

Spock later saved Kirk and a tribe of transplanted Native Americans when he helped save their planet Amerind from an asteroid by activating a deflector beam. ( TOS : " The Paradise Syndrome ") He allowed Kollos to take over his body so that he could guide the Enterprise back into the galaxy after a mad Larry Marvick had driven it into an uncharted region. The Medeusans were a highly intelligent species but their bodies were grotesque in form – so much so that gazing upon a Medeusan would cause instant insanity in humanoids. However, it was said that telepathically viewing a Medeusan's mind, as Spock did, was quite a beautiful experience. ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

Spock helped save an landing party from the Melkotians who had, as punishment for trespassing, forced them to relive the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral in a recreation of Tombstone , Arizona . ( TOS : " Spectre of the Gun ") He also helped redirect Yonada from colliding with Daran V . ( TOS : " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky ")

Spock took command of the Enterprise when a spatial interphase trapped Kirk between universes. Despite a Tholian attack from Commander Loskene , Spock and the Enterprise crew managed to retrieve Kirk and escaped from the Tholians' energy web. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

A race of psychokinetics later captured Spock, Kirk, and McCoy. The aliens forced them to take part in dangerous games and unwanted love affairs. ( TOS : " Plato's Stepchildren ")

After hyper-accelerated aliens took over the Enterprise and hyper-accelerated Kirk to take as a hostage, Spock managed to receive a warning from Kirk and became hyper-accelerated himself but carried an antidote with him. He and Kirk stopped the aliens and retook the ship. ( TOS : " Wink of an Eye ")

Spock was part of a landing party that aliens were using to test the worthiness of an empathic race. A supernova was going to destroy their planetary system, and the aliens wanted to see if their race should be saved. After the aliens tortured Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, the empath Gem healed them. Impressed by this, the aliens saved her planet. ( TOS : " The Empath ")

Spock attempting to differentiate between two almost identical Kirks in 2269

In early 2269 , Spock and Kirk took a new medicine that could cure mental illness to a Federation mental facility. However, under the leadership of former Starfleet captain Garth of Izar , inmates had taken over the facility. Garth captured Spock and Kirk, putting their lives in danger. Spock escaped and found Kirk but Garth, who had developed shapeshifting powers, had assumed Kirk's identity. Spock determined the real Kirk from the impostor and subdued Garth, thus giving him medication that helped his mental illness. ( TOS : " Whom Gods Destroy ")

In the same year, Spock was part of a landing party that found a Human named Flint . He found masterpiece paintings and original classical music. Flint admitted that he had been Johannes Brahms and Leonardo da Vinci on Earth , and that he was an immortal being. ( TOS : " Requiem for Methuselah ")

Spock with Droxine

Spock helped Kirk negotiate a peace treaty between two societies on Ardana . He also became attracted to Droxine , the daughter of Plasus , the ruler of Ardana; he referred to her as a work of art and even discussed pon farr with her. However, nothing ever came out of the relationship. ( TOS : " The Cloud Minders ")

The Excalbians forced Spock and Kirk into a battle between good and evil to study Human concepts. The aliens created images of people who possessed "good" qualities, such as Abraham Lincoln and Surak , against "bad" people such as Colonel Phillip Green and Kahless . ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain ")

Spock, Kirk, and McCoy entered a time portal, and were stuck in different past eras of Sarpeidon which was about to be destroyed by an exploding sun. Spock and McCoy traveled into the planet's ice age where they met Zarabeth , who had been sent there as punishment. Even though McCoy was dying from the cold, Spock wished to remain with the woman with whom he had fallen in love since, in this time period, he had emotions. Eventually, he discovered the portal door and saved McCoy. ( TOS : " All Our Yesterdays ")

After Janice Lester transferred her consciousness into Kirk's body and his consciousness into her body, she attempted to kill Kirk and assume his captaincy. However, Spock managed to expose her and helped to re-transfer Kirk's consciousness into his body. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ")

Spock (left) along with McCoy, rapidly aged on planet

Spock with Klingons from the IKS Klothos

Spock joined a landing party that beamed down to inspect the second planet of the Taurean system . There, he became affected by the glandular secretion of the female members of Theela's species who inhabited there, who were known for controlling the male mind. This drained Spock of his "life force," causing him to age at a rate of ten years per day. Spock escaped the females of the planet and contacted the Enterprise . An all-female security detachment led by Lieutenant Nyota Uhura eventually recovered him and the landing party. By using their molecular pattern stored in the transporter system, Spock and the others were returned to their previous ages. ( TAS : " The Lorelei Signal ")

Spock Two performing a mind meld on Spock

On a mission to Phylos , Spock was captured by Stavos Keniclius who planned to clone him and make an army of Spock clones to enforce an era of peace throughout the galaxy. His first clone, Spock Two , possessed all of the original's memories, abilities, and sense of logic. However, the cloning process left the original Spock near death. Since Spock Two possessed his progenitor's sense of logic, he mind melded with him and restored his mind, most likely transferring his katra back into the original Spock. The original Spock proposed that Spock Two remain on Phylos to help Keniclius rebuild the Phylosian society. ( TAS : " The Infinite Vulcan ")

Purging emotions

After completing the Enterprise 's five-year mission of exploration, Spock chose to return to his home planet. As a result of his occasional displays of emotion during his Enterprise missions, he decided to undergo the kolinahr ritual to purge himself of the last vestiges of emotion. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

V'ger crisis

Two and half years after leaving Starfleet, Spock felt the arrival of a vast consciousness. He aborted his kolinahr training and resumed his Starfleet career both for personal reasons and to help Rear Admiral Kirk during the V'ger incident. Spock's return to Starfleet amazed former colleagues and others but his reputation remained excellent, with Commander Will Decker stating that he was "well-aware of Mr. Spock's qualifications" when Spock offered to again serve as science officer. Within three hours, he helped Scott repair the Enterprise 's malfunctioning warp drive . ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Commander Spock in the 2270s

" Jim, this simple feeling is beyond V'ger 's comprehension. "

Spock's attitude towards his colleagues was far different from when he had served with them during the five-year mission. Wishing to rid himself of any personal attachments to Starfleet, he no longer considered any of the crew to be his friends and barely acknowledged them upon his return except where his duties demanded it. Feeling that the consciousness would answer for his quest, he broke into an airlock and stole a thruster suit . He exited the ship and proceeded to the next chamber of the mechanism, witnessing a planet populated by living machines. There, he attempted a mind meld and he realized V'ger 's quest. Knocked unconscious by the enormous power of V'ger during the meld, Spock was recovered in open space by Kirk. Later, he was in sickbay being treated for neurological trauma. He informed Kirk that V'ger was a life-form of its own, seeking answers to its questions; specifically " Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more? " Grasping Kirk's hand while lying on a biobed , Spock told Kirk that the simple feeling of touching another was something beyond V'ger 's comprehension.

Spock later accompanied Kirk, Decker, and McCoy to the heart of V'ger , guided by the Ilia probe . The group discovered V'ger was actually the 20th century NASA probe Voyager 6 . Spock deduced that the old probe was found by the living machine inhabitants of a planet located on the other side of the galaxy and they built the mammoth vessel so it could fulfill Voyager 's simple programming, " learn all that is learnable ." Spock told Kirk that V'ger had to evolve, as its knowledge had reached the limits of the known universe.

Spock informed McCoy and the others that other dimensions and higher levels of being could not be proven logically and V'ger was therefore incapable of believing in them, needing the Human quality to leap beyond logic. Decker chose to merge with V'ger , and Kirk, McCoy, and Spock escaped shortly thereafter when it and Decker evolved into another dimension. Afterwards, Spock chose to remain on the Enterprise rather than return to his homeworld .

Spock's direct encounter with V'ger showed him that purging his emotions and operating on pure logic would not answer his questions but would simply create new ones. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Death and resurrection

Sometime after the V'ger incident, Spock was promoted to captain and assigned to Starfleet Academy where he trained cadets on the Enterprise which had been retired from active service.

The death of Spock in 2285

In early 2285 , Spock, while on a training mission, ceded command of the Enterprise to Kirk during a mission that involved keeping the Genesis Device from Khan Noonien Singh . When Kirk and the Enterprise defeated Khan, he armed the device. Spock repaired the Enterprise 's warp drive in a severely irradiated portion of engineering in order to save the crew. He saved the ship but sacrificed his own life in the process. Following his funeral service, Kirk gave Spock a "burial by sea" by firing Spock's body into space inside a torpedo casing. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Spock, resurrected on Mount Seleya

Spock's coffin landed on the surface of the Genesis Planet . The radiation emanating from the planet regenerated his cells. Spock was thus reborn as a child but quickly aged to adulthood. However, his mind was a complete blank. Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise 's senior staff disobeyed Starfleet orders so that they could retrieve Spock's body. On Vulcan, Spock's living body, now at the age of his death, was reunited with his katra which Spock himself had placed in McCoy prior to his death via mind meld. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

After his katra and body were re-integrated, Spock trained for three months with the help of his mother to bring his knowledge and intellect back to where it had been before he died. Answering many complicated questions at rapid fire during his memory test , he had difficulty answering the question " How do you feel? ", something he felt was irrelevant, though his mother disagreed. Returning back to Earth aboard the HMS Bounty with his Enterprise crewmates to offer testimony in their defense to the Federation Council , Spock and the crew discovered that the planet was under siege by a mysterious alien probe which was causing critical damage to Earth's oceans and subsequently Earth's ecosystem. Analyzing the transmission the probe was producing, Spock concluded that the probe was transmitting the songs sung by whales , specifically humpback whales . Spock informed Kirk that the humpback whales had been extinct since the 21st century and suggested the crew travel back through time to acquire humpback whales. Spock's calculations from memory for the slingshot effect around Sol proved instrumental in the Bounty 's successful journey back to the year 1986 .

Spock, with Kirk in San Francisco in 1986

Upon the landing of the cloaked Bird-of-Prey in Golden Gate Park , Spock teamed up with Kirk and together they set off in search of humpback whales. The pair discovered George and Gracie at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito . Spock jumped into the whales' tank and mind melded with Gracie, discovering she was pregnant . After traveling back to 2286 with the whales and cetacean biologist Gillian Taylor , Spock and the rest of the crew saved Earth once again by releasing George and Gracie into the San Francisco Bay from the sunken Bounty . The whales successfully communicated with the probe and it left Earth's solar system . After the dismissal of all charges to the crew of the Enterprise , save for Kirk, Spock spoke to his father and asked him to relay a message to his mother: That he felt fine. Spock went on to serve as a Starfleet officer for several more years aboard the new USS Enterprise -A . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

The Enterprise -A

Prior to the launch of the new Enterprise , Spock was recruited to test the new brig as he was the most "intelligent and resourceful person the designers could find." However, despite his ingenuity, he failed to escape. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Spock joined Kirk and McCoy for shore leave at Yosemite National Park and observed Kirk climbing El Capitan with his levitation boots . He saved Kirk's life when he slipped and fell off of the mountain, grabbing his ankle just seconds before he was killed by the impact. Later, Spock told Kirk and McCoy that before leaving the Enterprise -A, he had studied all the details involving "camping out" and roasted a marshmallow over a fire . Spock's shore leave was interrupted when Commander Uhura brought the shuttlecraft Galileo to the trio's campsite to bring them to the Enterprise as the transporters were malfunctioning.

Spock says goodbye to his half-brother Sybok

Upon the Enterprise 's mission to Nimbus III to resolve a hostage situation, Kirk retained Spock as his first officer. During the Enterprise strike team's rescue mission to Paradise City on Nimbus III, Spock discovered his long-lost half-brother Sybok had been the leader of the Galactic Army of Light , the group responsible for capturing the three diplomats. Sybok hijacked the Enterprise and ordered that it be brought through the Great Barrier . During the subsequent voyage in the shuttle Copernicus to the mythical Sha Ka Ree , Spock tried to console his brother when they could not initially find " God " on the surface.

Shortly thereafter, the landing party encountered the supernatural being when it presented itself to them. Learning of the malevolent nature of the being calling itself "God", Sybok sacrificed his life to save Spock and his friends. Spock and McCoy were beamed up to the Enterprise through the repaired transporter, leaving Kirk alone. The transporter was severely damaged when Klaa's Bird-of-Prey fired on the Enterprise . Spock saved Kirk's life from the entity by commandeering the Bird-of-Prey with the help of General Korrd and firing on it with the Klingon ship's weapons. Later, in the Enterprise -A's observation lounge, Spock reflected on the loss of his brother. Kirk told him that he had lost a brother once, but he was fortunate in that he got him back. Returning to Earth, Spock resumed his shore leave in Yosemite with Kirk and McCoy, this time playing " Row, Row, Row Your Boat " on his Vulcan lute . ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

In 2293 , Spock was chosen to be the Federation's special envoy to the "Gorkon Initiative" as it was he who opened secret talks with Chancellor Gorkon following the Praxis disaster. Spock later committed Kirk to the negotiations with the Klingon Empire. During Kirk and McCoy's subsequent trial and imprisonment for the assassination of Gorkon, Spock took command of the Enterprise and the murder investigation. He led the rescue mission of Kirk and McCoy from Rura Penthe and helped stop an assassination attempt on the Federation President. Though this mission was successful, Spock blamed himself for endangering Kirk and the consequences that followed, a guilt that lasted seventy-five years. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; TNG : " Unification II ")

Diplomatic career

Captain Spock (2293)

In 2293, on the suggestion of his father, Spock opened a dialog with Gorkon in the hopes of initiating peace talks. He recommended an alliance between the Klingon Empire and the Federation at the Khitomer Conference , and Gorkon agreed to negotiate. His recommendation produced a major dispute because the Federation viewed Klingons as outlaws who built their empire through violence and brutality. Despite seemingly insurmountable odds, an alliance was nevertheless forged, bringing peace and stability to the Alpha Quadrant that had not existed for two hundred years. Tuvok , who initially opposed the alliance, later noted that " Spock's suggestion, so controversial at first, proved to be the cornerstone of peace ." ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; VOY : " Alliances ")

Also during the Khitomer Conference, Spock opened up negotiations with Ambassador Pardek of Romulus in an attempt to unify Vulcan and the Romulan Star Empire . ( TNG : " Unification I ", " Unification II ")

Ambassador Spock in 2368

Spock and Sarek publicly disagreed over issues involving the Cardassians , leading to a rift in their relationship. ( TNG : " Unification I ")

In his later years, Spock went into semi-retirement, choosing to act as a Federation ambassador, much as his father had done. ( TNG : " Unification I ")

Reunification attempts

In 2368 , Spock undertook a secret personal mission to Romulus , unauthorized by the Federation Council or Starfleet. As he knew it would be risky, he preferred not to involve others and wrapped up his affairs. He acted to facilitate Romulan-Vulcan reunification , avoiding contact with the rest of the Federation as he was reluctant to risk anyone's life but his own on such a mission after the near-fatal consequences to Kirk and McCoy in their involvement in the Khitomer conference. Captain Jean-Luc Picard met Spock on Romulus and informed him of his father's death. Before Picard's departure, the two mind-melded, allowing Spock to realize the depth of his father's feelings for him. ( TNG : " Unification I ", " Unification II ")

In 3189 , a recording of Spock made on stardate 45825 while on Romulus was retrieved from the personal files of Admiral Picard and viewed by Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker . ( DIS : " Unification III ")

"Cowboy diplomacy"

In 2369 , Spock was involved in an incident of " cowboy diplomacy " in which Deanna Troi was temporarily kidnapped to help with the defection of three Romulans, including Vice-Proconsul M'ret , to the Federation. He also had a message sent back to the Federation indirectly through the defector DeSeve . ( TNG : " Face Of The Enemy ")

When an unknown person was beamed on board the USS Enterprise -D in 2370 , Ben told a few junior officers that he heard that this was Ambassador Spock. ( TNG : " Lower Decks ")

In 2380 , Ensign Beckett Mariner asked Ensign Brad Boimler if he knew who Spock was, to which Boimler answered, "I think I know who Spock is." ( LD : " Second Contact ")

The Red Matter incident

Spock arrives too late to prevent Romulus' destruction

In 2387 , Romulus faced destruction when its sun threatened to go into a massive supernova . After a synth attack on Mars destroyed the Federation fleet being assembled to evacuate Romulus, Spock formed a plan which involved injecting red matter into the star, thus creating an artificial black hole which would consume the star instead. Piloting the Jellyfish , an advanced spacecraft equipped with red matter, Spock proceeded to the star to carry out his mission. Before he could, the star went supernova and 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, the Romulan mining vessel Narada , commanded by Nero , intercepted him. Nero blamed Spock for Romulus' destruction and was bent on revenge. The black hole eventually pulled in the Narada and the Jellyfish . ( Star Trek , PIC : " Remembrance ")

Though brought up to embrace a Vulcan way of life that he would eventually commit to as a young man, Spock's encounter with V'ger had a profound impact on his personal philosophy. From that point forward, Spock began to further embrace his human half and more readily explore the influences and impacts of human emotion, though he continued to temper his outward expressiveness. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Star Trek )

Spock's self-sacrifice to save the Enterprise from Khan formed the basis of Starfleet's The Needs of the Many holographic training drill , while the rescue of his resurrected self from the Genesis Planet was the basis for the Escape from Spacedock drill. Both simulations were in use by 2381 . ( LD : " I, Excretus ")

Kirk's old bar on Starbase 25 still had Kirk and Spock's names scratched into the counter top as of 2381. ( LD : " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers ")

Spock was known as " Sprok " to Enderprizians , and was " well-known for his words so wise ", including the phrase " most illogical. " ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ")

By 2399 , Spock would become known as "The Great Spock". ( PIC : " The End is the Beginning ")

His work towards reunification eventually led Romulans to settling on Vulcan and beginning to merge their society with the Vulcans, eventually renaming the planet to Ni'Var centuries after Spock's disappearance. However, they eventually left the Federation after the Burn . After reaching Federation Headquarters in 3189 , a year after her arrival from 2257 , Michael Burnham learned of her brother's achievements and viewed a recording of Spock talking to Jean-Luc Picard . Despite Ni'Var's separation from the Federation, Burnham's status as Spock's sister opened the chance for her to negotiate for the SB-19 data. ( DIS : " Unification III ")

Spock's legacy further extended into the alternate reality. It was he who located New Vulcan, a new homeworld for the Vulcans following the loss of their old one. ( Star Trek ) Following his death, alternate reality Spock originally planned to resign his Starfleet commission and continue the work the ambassador began on New Vulcan. However, after seeing a photograph of the prime reality Enterprise crew that was among old Spock's personal effects, alternate Spock changed his mind, having come to the conclusion that for now, his destiny lay with his crewmates. ( Star Trek Beyond )

Involvement in the alternate reality

Spock witnesses the destruction of Vulcan

Spock emerged from the black hole in the year 2258 of the alternate reality . Since Nero had emerged twenty-five years earlier , Spock was immediately intercepted by the Narada upon his arrival. Both Spock and the Jellyfish were captured by Nero who had been waiting for him. Spock's life was spared by Nero, although Nero marooned him on Delta Vega where he could witness the destruction of Vulcan from the planet's surface. After Nero 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.

Spock realizes whose life he just saved

Shortly thereafter, Spock rescued a Starfleet officer from a hengrauggi , only to discover that the young officer was James T. Kirk himself, that reality's Spock having marooned him on the planet for mutiny . The elder Spock was surprised that Kirk was not captain of the Enterprise . When Spock heard from Kirk that Captain Christopher Pike had been captured, Spock knew that Nero was responsible, describing the Romulan as "particularly troubled." Through a mind meld, Spock explained to Kirk his presence in this time period and the reasons behind Nero's actions.

He then walked with Kirk to the Starfleet Delta Vega outpost , where they met Montgomery Scott . Using Scott'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. Knowing his younger self would never take the course of action that could stop Nero but that Kirk would, Spock instructed Kirk to use Regulation 619 to force his younger self to give up command to him by proving he was emotionally compromised. He informed Kirk he knew his younger counterpart was emotionally compromised due to the destruction of his homeworld. Kirk followed his advice and, by emotionally manipulating the alternate Spock, managed to take command of the Enterprise .

Spock meets himself

After the Enterprise defeated the Narada and Nero, the elder Spock returned to Earth. There, he met his less-than-surprised younger self (while Kirk had kept his word, his word was no match for even the intellect of the younger Spock, as he had figured out who Kirk's mysterious benefactor must be) and convinced him to remain in Starfleet. He also explained the reason he had not returned to the Enterprise with Kirk to explain things was that he had not wished 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 and walked away.

" Thrusters on full… "

Afterwards, Spock witnessed the official promotion of Kirk to captain of the USS Enterprise , repeating what he knew the crew would say before launch, apparently commiserating on his own experiences as a member of the crew of the Enterprise . He left with an intention to establish a Vulcan colony . His attempts to convince his younger self succeeded and the younger of the two Spocks returned to the Enterprise to act as Kirk's first officer. ( Star Trek )

Spock warns his younger self just who the Enterprise is up against

A year later, Spock was living on New Vulcan, having made a solemn vow not to further interfere with history by keeping information about his experiences confidential. However, when the younger Spock contacted him for information regarding Khan Noonien Singh , the old Spock felt obligated to break his vow. He responded that Khan was the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise had faced, and that it had required a great sacrifice to stop him.

Ironically, the younger Kirk later made the same sacrifice Spock himself had made when facing Khan in the prime reality to save the crew of the Enterprise , though he was revived. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ; Star Trek Into Darkness )

Final death

Ambassador Spock: 2230.06-2263.02

Spock passed away of natural causes on New Vulcan on January 2, 2263 .

Spock and his comrades, 2287

After his death, a small cache of personal items Spock had managed to retrieve from the Jellyfish was turned over to the younger Spock, including a photograph of the prime reality's bridge crew of the Enterprise -A from around 2287 , illustrating to the younger Spock that his destiny was to serve alongside Kirk, McCoy, and the others for decades to come. After struggling at first with whether or not to leave Starfleet in light of the elder Spock's death, this inheritance caused the younger Spock to change his mind and remain with his friends instead. ( Star Trek Beyond )

Alternate timelines and realities

Alternate neutral zone incursion.

Commander Spock in an alternate 2266

In an alternate timeline where Captain Christopher Pike avoided his crippling fate, Spock was his first officer on the USS Enterprise in 2266 during the Neutral Zone Incursion . Having been brought from 2259 by his future self to see the consequences of his actions, Pike enlisted Spock's help to make sense of his presence in the future and what he was meant to do there. During the following confrontation with the Romulans, Spock worked on repairing the weapons systems on the Enterprise and was severely injured, leaving him in a state similar to the Pike of the correct timeline. Spock's prognosis was grim and even if he survived, he was unlikely to ever be the same again. As a result, Spock could not take part in causing reunification between the Vulcans and Romulans and Pike came to believe that he had exchanged his own fate for Spock's. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

After showing his 2259 self the future, the Christopher Pike of the alternate timeline revealed that he had learned from the Boreth monks that in every timeline where Pike changed his own fate, Spock died as a result. Because of this, in all of those futures, Spock couldn't go on to do the great things that he was meant to do which would change the fate of the galaxy. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

Alternate 2259

Captain Spock in an alternate 2259

In an alternate timeline where Vulcan was at war with the Romulan Star Empire, where by 2259, Spock held the rank of captain and commanded the Sh'Rel .

During an engagement with the Romulans, the Sh'Rel was damaged and he requested United Earth Fleet Captain James T. Kirk of the UEF Enterprise for assistance. Kirk however refused as United Earth had their own problems with the Romulans and could not afford to fight a war on two fronts. ( SNW : " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ")

Anything but canon scenarios

First contact day party.

Spock providing entertainment for the First Contact Day party

According to an anything but canon account, Spock provides entertainment for a First Contact Day party . The duty originally was assigned by the captain of the USS Enterprise to Lieutenant Hemmer , the chief engineer , however he turned it over to Spock, since Spock actually was both Human and Vulcan ; and therefore a better choice considering the holiday was intended to be a celebration based upon the first meeting between those two species .

Spock begins with a blooper reel that he had compiled featuring clips of many of the biggest bloopers in Starfleet. Most of the bloopers that had occurred aboard the Enterprise , including a gruesome transporter malfunction , that Chapel, Number One, Nyota Uhura and many others that were present found to be more disturbing than humorous, and finally Uhura tells him that he needed to tone it down a little. She explained that it doesn't have to involve such big bloopers, because those aren't funny at all, especially when death resulted from it. She told him that bloopers should be smaller than that, like when someone accidentally runs into a door that doesn't open in time, or when someone mispronounces his name as " Spork ."

Spock believed that he finally got the idea of what she was trying to say, even though it seemed pretty clear that he still didn't fully understand the concept of humor in the same way that they did. He decided to play one last video in the hopes of making them laugh . It involved an ensign with space diarrhea who, while running, slipped on a freshly mopped floor, which caused him to slam his genitals into the mop , before pooping his pants right then and there. Uhura told him that was the perfect blooper. Spock was finally pleased with his success, and grabbed a mop and chased Hemmer with it, to demonstrate to the crew a "live blooper." ( VST : " Holiday Party ")

Klingons destroy the Enterprise

Spock, minutes before his death

In another anything but canon account, Spock was present on the bridge while the ship was under the command of another captain , while ship was under attack by several Klingon battle cruisers .

During the scenario, Spock reported to the captain that their weapons were disabled and their shields were down. The captain then informed Spock that he knew of a way out. After hearing this, Spock further updated the captain, informing him that their warp and impulse engines were also offline. The captain then turned to Spock, and uttered a figure of speech that compounded the situation by offending a number of the bridge crew. As the misunderstandings continued, Spock interrupted to suggest that the captain avoid the use of figures of speech until they were free of the impending doom. The captain continued to trip over his own tongue, as Spock updated the captain that the hull was breached , and the next shot woulf finish the ship off. As the captain continued on his tangent, the Enterprise exploded killing Spock and the rest of the crew. ( VST : " Skin a Cat ")

Jam session on the bridge

Spock on the viewscreen along with McCoy, Scott, and Kirk

During another anything but canon account, a Post Mainframe Acid-Cardassian Ten Forwardcore jam session broke out on the bridge, during which, scenes appeared on the viewscreen that used sound effects for the song, such as the hum of the transporter when Spock, Kirk, Scott, and McCoy transported wearing life support belts .

Other clips on the viewscreen corresponded with the song lyrics and showed Spock putting his hands around two Klingon's shoulders , as if they were his " buddies ". That was followed by a clip of Spock during the time Nurse Chapel feigned "accidentally" sat down on his lap after she used Harry Mudd 's love crystals on him. A final clip of Spock and Kirk helping one another from slipping in an icy corridor, looped to appear as if they were dancing . ( VST : " Walk, Don't Run ")

Although half Human, Spock's physiology retained most of its Vulcan characteristics such as the green blood, the placement of his liver, ( TOS : " The Apple ", " A Private Little War ") his strength, ( TOS : " The Naked Time ", " This Side of Paradise ", " Operation -- Annihilate! ") telepathic abilities, ( TOS : " Dagger of the Mind ", " A Taste of Armageddon ", " By Any Other Name ") and his greater lifespan ( TOS : " The Deadly Years "; TAS : " The Lorelei Signal "; TNG : " Unification II "; Star Trek ) when compared to the average Human. However, it should also be noted that the life he lived was still about forty years shorter than the average Vulcan, who generally lived to be around two hundred years old. His father Sarek, for example, was 203 at his death. ( Star Trek Beyond ; ENT : " Broken Bow "; TNG : " Sarek "; TNG : " Unification II ")

His Human characteristics were obvious when Sarek was in need of a blood transfusion and concern over donating his hybridized blood would be a danger to Sarek's full Vulcan physiology. ( TOS : " Journey to Babel ") The other instance where his Human side was evident happened during the final stages of his Kolinahr ritual acceptance. While on Vulcan performing the ritual, the V'ger probe approached proximity and its own emotional instability affected Spock's Human emotional side which he worked so hard to repress. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) Spock's Human side was also present when spores affected him on Omicron Ceti III . ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Like most Vulcans, he experienced pon farr neurochemical imbalance at least every seven years until the symptoms were remedied through ritual mating or kal-if-fee (dueling). If not dealt with, a Vulcan could die within eight days of the first symptoms. Spock experienced pon farr at least twice, once performing the kal-if-fee with Kirk's assistance, once mating with Saavik while physiologically a youth as a result of his regeneration by the Genesis Device . Both successfully relieved his symptoms of pon farr 's neurochemical issues. ( TOS : " Amok Time "; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

As of Vulcan rituals concerning death, Spock was able to transfer his katra into someone that was close to him – such as a family member – who could then transfer the katra into a large repository on Vulcan. In his case, he picked Dr. McCoy as a host for his katra when he decided to expose himself to fatal warp core radiation in order to restore warp power to the Enterprise . His corpse regenerated when his torpedo casing casket was shot towards the Genesis planet and was subjected to the Genesis cycles that rapidly evolved all life on the planet. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

After Spock received a mind meld from Captain Picard, he seemed to have accepted his Human side. He admitted to being emotionally compromised and showed some emotions when he dealt with Nero destroying Vulcan in the alternate timeline and dealing with his younger self . ( TNG : " Unification II "; Star Trek )

Spock playing three-dimensional chess

On his Human side, Spock once implied he had an ancestral relationship to British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Personal interests

Spock carried a lifelong interest in art, literature, poetry, music (especially the Vulcan lute and the piano), and three-dimensional chess . ( TOS : " Requiem for Methuselah ", " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", " Charlie X ", " The Cloud Minders ", " Court Martial "; TAS : " The Jihad ", " The Magicks of Megas-Tu ") He disliked Italian food, possibly because like most Vulcans, he was a vegetarian . ( TOS : " All Our Yesterdays "; TAS : " The Slaver Weapon "; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Relationships

Friendships, james t. kirk.

Lt. Kirk and Lt. Spock meeting for the first time in 2259

Spock first met Kirk aboard the Enterprise in 2259 , when it was under command of Fleet Captain Christopher Pike . ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

In 2265 , after the death of Gary Mitchell , Spock's detached and logical analysis was relied on by Kirk as a supplement to his own intuitive and impulsive nature. Their official relationship deepened into a friendship of mutual respect and love that was, without a doubt, the most important relationship of both Spock and Kirk's life. As Edith Keeler observed of Spock's place in the world, " You? At his side. As if you've always been there and always will. " ( TOS : " The City on the Edge of Forever ")

Spock with Kirk and McCoy

Kirk once described his Vulcan friend as "the noblest half of myself" and declared that Spock's immortal soul "is my responsibility, as surely as if it were my very own." Kirk even told Spock's father that he would never realize how important Spock was to him, and declared that, despite losing the Enterprise and his son, had he not tried to rescue his friend, " the cost would have been my soul. " ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

The polywater intoxication that affected the Enterprise crew in 2266 led to a difficult encounter between Spock and Kirk. When Spock was urgently required by his commanding officer, an anguished and reflective Spock was found by Kirk, Spock regretting his inability to express love even for his mother. Trying to bring the first officer around to the moment, Kirk slapped him. Spock's reaction was flat and revelatory, " Jim, when I feel friendship for you, I'm ashamed. " Struck again, Spock responded in kind, sending Kirk backwards over a table. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Spock was sympathetic to Kirk's plight after the transporter divided the captain's personality into opposite aspects. He referred to his own halves, "submerged… constantly at war with each other." Spock believed that Kirk could survive such a contest intact, and urged him to embrace the part of himself that, seemingly ugly, was crucial to his personality and captaincy. ( TOS : " The Enemy Within ")

Spock comes into conflict with Kirk over destroying a Gorn starship

After Kirk discovered emotional rage was the key to nullifying the effect of the pod plants ' spores , his first step in retrieving his crew was to taunt Spock into anger. Anticipating the result of a Vulcan's strength pitted against him, Kirk wielded a pipe for protection. After calling him an "elf with a hyperactive thyroid" and saying he belonged "in the circus, right next to the dog-faced boy," Spock indeed lost control, nearly killing Kirk before regaining control of himself. ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Kirk holding Spock after his encounter with a Denevan neural parasite

In 2267 , Spock began his pon farr mating cycle, and behaved bizarrely aboard the Enterprise . Kirk called Spock "the best first officer in the Fleet" and "an enormous asset to me" as he pled with Spock to explain his actions. When told that taking Spock to Vulcan was against Starfleet orders, Kirk fired back, " I owe him my life a dozen times over! Isn't that worth a career? " Joining him on Vulcan for his marriage ceremony, Kirk was drawn into T'Pring's scheme to marry another, and forced to fight Spock to the death. McCoy, knowing Kirk was endangered, faked Kirk's death, and the marriage was not consummated. Spock, despondent that he had murdered his captain, was thrilled at the sight of Kirk alive, exclaiming, " JIM! " which McCoy delighted in needling Spock about, once he gained his composure. ( TOS : " Amok Time ")

Kirk's understanding of Spock had an enormous impact on the parallel mirror universe , visited after a transporter accident in 2267 . As Kirk's party prepared to return to their proper universe, Kirk implored the mirror Spock to re-examine his role in the fascistic Terran Empire , insisting, " One man can make a difference. " Mirror Spock's consideration of those words led to his rise to dominance and reform of the Empire, with drastic consequences. ( TOS : " Mirror, Mirror "; DS9 : " Crossover ")

When Kirk was trapped in spatial interphase during a rescue operation in Tholian space, Spock ordered the Enterprise to maintain its position in an effort to retrieve him, in spite of the danger the Tholians presented and the disruptive nature of the local space. After Kirk's assumed death, Spock and McCoy viewed the "last orders" Kirk had prepared. He urged Spock to use all the Vulcan disciplines at his disposal, tempered with intuitive insight. Kirk believed Spock had the latter qualities, but should they elude him, he was urged to seek out McCoy. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

Spock making Kirk " forget " about Rayna Kapec

Kirk once commented to Captain Garth that he and Spock were "brothers". Spock merely responded, " Captain Kirk speaks somewhat figuratively, and with undue emotion, but what he says is logical and I do, in fact, agree with it. " ( TOS : " Whom Gods Destroy ")

When Dr. Janice Lester , a former lover of Kirk's, took over Kirk's body, Spock performed a mind meld on Kirk while he was trapped in Lester's body. Spock believed Kirk was Lester before anyone else, and when Lester as Kirk ordered his execution, he continued to stand by his friend. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ")

Spock with Kirk aboard the Enterprise again in the 2270s

At the end of the Enterprise 's five-year mission, a period marked by his frequent loss of emotional control, Spock chose to leave Starfleet and his friends, to pursue the kolinahr discipline of logic on Vulcan. His return to the Enterprise during the V'ger threat was a cold event, without acknowledgment of his past friendships. In V'ger 's aftermath, Spock finally achieved equilibrium, able to express his friendship for Kirk without the influence of aliens or illness, and notably lacking any threat of physical violence. In 2285 , Spock was calmly able to tell Kirk, " You're my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours. " ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Kirk and Spock, together on Kirk's birthday

Spock's sacrifice of his own life, to save the Enterprise from Khan's detonation of the Genesis Device , deeply affected Kirk. At his funeral, Kirk could only bring himself to say of Spock, " Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… Human. " ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

The revelation that Spock's katra , his living spirit, survived in the tormented mind of McCoy, led Kirk to risk his career, and in turn, his crew's. He first asked Fleet Admiral Morrow for permission to retrieve Spock's body from the Genesis Planet , to bring it, and McCoy, to Vulcan. Kirk insisted that any chance to save Spock's soul was his responsibility, " as surely as if it were my very own. " His request declined, he told his crew, " the word is No. I am therefore going anyway. "

With the help of Uhura, Scott, Sulu, and Chekov, Kirk rescued McCoy from confinement and commandeered the Enterprise from Spacedock One . The renegade mission saw the death of Kirk's ship as well as his son. Finding Spock's body re-animated by Genesis, Kirk brought him and McCoy, to Vulcan for the fal-tor-pan (re-fusion) ritual. The first person Spock recognized was Kirk: " Jim. Your name, is Jim. " ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

During their homecoming from Vulcan, and eventually their trip to 1986 , Kirk tried to remind the resurrected Spock, suffering from memory loss, of their friendship and past adventures together. After Kirk and the crew's trial, Spock told his father, his "associates" were his friends. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Spock in an attempt to save Kirk's life at Yosemite National Park

In 2287 , Spock accompanied Kirk and McCoy on a camping trip together at Yosemite National Park , which abruptly ended when Spock's half-brother, Sybok, diverted the Enterprise to Nimbus III . After their adventure on Sha Ka Ree and Sybok's death, Kirk referred to Spock once again as his "brother", and told him and McCoy that they were his real family. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

When Spock later entered the alternate reality , he told the James T. Kirk of that reality of their deep friendship, despite the fact that the alternate Spock had marooned Kirk on Delta Vega . Before returning Kirk, along with Scott's counterpart , to the USS Enterprise (revealing to this Scott an advancement in transporter technology over a century before his prime counterpart perfected it), Spock – who in this reality had designed the Kobayashi Maru simulation and openly begrudged Kirk outsmarting it – was reminded that this could be viewed as "cheating", to which he replied that an "old friend" – namely, Kirk – had taught him how to cheat.

Later, when Spock Prime spoke to his own alternate reality counterpart about that universe's Kirk, he explained that he had resorted to a level of subterfuge in order to inform both men of the necessity of their friendship, both to themselves and to others. Spock Prime explained, " 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 )

Leonard McCoy

The relationship between Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy seemed a little strained at times on McCoy's part because of his taunts about Spock's green blood and lack of emotion . However, there was an obvious respect and friendship among James T. Kirk , Spock, and McCoy. McCoy, in fact, was one of the two friends Spock requested to join him in his marriage ceremony. ( TOS : " Amok Time ")

While he would rarely do so without provocation, Spock was also quite capable of turning the tables on the doctor. During Kirk's court-martial, after an astonished McCoy discovered him in the briefing room playing chess against the ship's computer, Spock casually allowed him to assume the worst (to the point of thanking him after the furious doctor had said he was " The most cold-blooded man I've ever known "), waiting until he reached the door to reveal that he had been victorious in four consecutive games – since the computer, whose account of the incident was the main evidence against Kirk, was programmed to be unbeatable, this proved that it had been tampered with (something only Kirk, Spock, and the "dead" Commander Finney were authorized to do), and cast doubt on the credibility of its account, keeping the trial going long enough to discover that Finney was, in fact, alive.

Later that year, after the Enterprise crew had defeated the androids on planet Mudd (beings almost Vulcan-like in their lack of emotion and their "logical, pragmatic" thinking), McCoy told Spock that he must be quite unhappy to see that "poor, illogical" Humans were able to fairly defeat them, Spock responded that this was quite satisfactory, as nobody needed him and his logical ways as much as a ship full of Humans. ( TOS : " Court Martial ", " I, Mudd ")

Christopher Pike

Spock and Pike developed a mutual respect and fondness for one another during their service aboard the Enterprise ; Pike at one point expressed how important Spock was to him, a feeling Spock reciprocated. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ") Spock's loyalty to Pike went even so far as to risk court martial in 2267 to kidnap his disabled former captain and bring him to Talos IV to live a life of illusion and happiness. ( TOS : " The Menagerie, Part I ", " The Menagerie, Part II ")

Sybok, Spock's elder half-brother, encountered Spock on Nimbus III in 2287 , shortly before Sybok hijacked the Enterprise -A for his quest to find Sha Ka Ree in the Great Barrier . Spock had remained silent on the subject of his brother for decades, not even telling Kirk until Sybok had already taken control of the Enterprise . At first, Spock was extremely distant from him, but following Sybok's death, he realized what he had lost. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Michael Burnham

Michael Burnham was Spock's adoptive sister after her parents' presumed deaths. When she first met him, a very young Spock shut his bedroom door on her after greeting her with a holographic drawing of a dragon screaming. Over time, Spock and Michael grew closer and Spock grew to idolize his older adoptive sister. However, feeling that she placed her adoptive family in danger from logical extremists who targeted her due to being Human, Michael decided to run away. Spock tried to persuade her otherwise, telling her that he "loved her" and would run away with her. To push Spock away, Michael insulted him by calling him a "half-breed" who was "incapable of love." While well meaning, her insults deeply hurt Spock who shunned his Human half in response and grew to no longer trust people. Over the years, Michael tried to make amends, but Spock showed no interest in reconnecting.

After they both grew up and entered Starfleet, they rarely talked to each other. Eventually Spock and Michael were forced to come to terms with each other after the Federation-Klingon War. Michael searched for a missing Spock after meeting his commanding officer, Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise . Eventually finding her brother, she was dismayed to find Spock suffering from a mental breakdown due to an encounter with a time traveler. She was able to help restore Spock's mind with the help of the Talosians, but this did not resolve the animosity between the siblings as they clashed several times with Spock blaming her for causing the Federation-Klingon war and calling her out on her habit of assuming responsibility for all the wrongs in the universe. Eventually, the two came to terms with their respective short-comings and eventually grow closer as they worked together to solve the mystery of the Red Angel.

When Burnham needed take Discovery to the future in order to avoid Control having access to the Sphere information stored in the ship's memory, Spock volunteered to help her. Unfortunately, while helping Burnham prepare, Spock's shuttle was badly damaged. Both distraught that they could not be together in the future, they shared a bittersweet farewell and Spock was transported away after one last "live long and prosper." ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

In the months following Discovery 's disappearance, Spock was unnerved that they had not received a signal to indicate that Discovery had arrived safely in the future. When the signal arrived, Spock found peace. ( DIS : " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ")

Burnham and Book watch a holo-recording of Spock

In 3189 , Michael Burnham watched a recording of Spock. She told her boyfriend Cleveland Booker that since she had arrived in the 32nd century , she hadn't bothered researching history to find out the type of man that Spock eventually became. But she was proud of who he had became, and she was happy he had found a way to reunify the Vulcans and Romulans. ( DIS : " Unification III ")

Spock with T'Pring in 2267

At age seven, Spock was bonded to T'Pring in a family-arranged Vulcan ceremony described in Human terms as " less than a marriage, but more than a betrothal. " ( TOS : " Amok Time ")

T'Pring formally proposed marriage to Spock in 2259 , but the two had not been married by 2267. ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

When Spock experienced his pon farr of 2267 , he succumbed to the madness of the plak tow mating instinct. The Enterprise diverted to Vulcan in time to consummate the marriage. Accompanied by Kirk and McCoy, Spock arrived at his family's ancient koon-ut-kal-if-fee site for the wedding ceremony officiated by the matriarch T'Pau . Unexpectedly – but within the bounds of Vulcan tradition – T'Pring demanded the challenge of kal-if-fee , forcing Spock to earn the right to marry his bride through victory in personal combat. Rather than her prospective consort Stonn , T'Pring chose Kirk as her champion.

Unwilling to appear weak or disrespectful in front of the legendary T'Pau, Kirk agreed to fight his first officer . Between rounds using the lirpa and ahn-woon weapons, T'Pau belatedly revealed the combat was "to the death," and it became clear that Kirk had little chance against Spock in the throes of his blood fever. McCoy intervened, deceptively dosing Kirk with a drug that simulated his death.

Spock's plak tow subsided after his apparent victory. Appalled at the turn of events, Spock calmly questioned T'Pring's decisions. T'Pring admitted her distaste for Spock's growing fame among Vulcans, and her mutual attraction to Stonn. By her logic, choosing Kirk meant neither victor would claim her in the end, and she would have her life with Stonn. Spock acknowledged her way of thinking, referring to it as "flawless". T'Pring, for her part, was honored, but Spock advised Stonn that he would find that " having… is not so pleasing a thing after all… as wanting ."

After returning to the Enterprise , McCoy revealed Kirk's clandestine survival. A rare show of extreme emotion came from Spock when he exclaimed " JIM! " with a beaming smile. ( TOS : " Amok Time ")

Christine Chapel

Spock and Christine Chapel met when she was assigned to the Enterprise in 2259 along with Doctor Joseph M'Benga . ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ")

Spock kissed Christine in a ruse to prevent T'Pring from handing over Sybok to the pirate angel

When the pirate Angel took over the Enterprise , Angel took Spock and Christine Chapel hostage in an effort to get T'Pring to hand over a prisoner that was Angel's lover. To prevent the prisoner transfer, Spock and Christine Chapel engineered a ruse where Spock and Christine had developed romantic feelings for one another and kissed in front of Angel and T'Pring. ( SNW : " The Serene Squall ")

During Chief engineer 's Hemmer 's funeral , Chapel consoled Spock as he was feeling emotions such as rage and pain. Spock didn't want her to follow him but did so anyway and Chapel ended up hugging him. ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

Spock and Chapel entered into a relationship for some time after his engagement with T'Pring ended due to him not confiding in her that he was transformed into a full human and stripped of his Vulcan genes. The relationship reached its conclusion when Chapel was accepted into Roger Korby 's fellowship . ( SNW : " Charades ", " Subspace Rhapsody ")

Spock with Christine Chapel, being emotionally influenced by the Psi 2000 intoxication

When the Psi 2000 intoxication infected the crew of the Enterprise in 2266 , Chapel admitted her love for Spock, who was thereupon emotionally shocked. Her love for him was an ongoing issue, but never interfered with her professional duties. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Chapel once housed Spock's consciousness to keep him from being destroyed by Henoch . They were later forced by powerful telepaths to kiss each other, but neither enjoyed the forced situation. ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ", " Plato's Stepchildren ")

While under the spell of Harry Mudd 's love potion , Spock became infatuated with Chapel, and was willing to fight for her love. However, the potion eventually wore off and then Chapel, as a side effect of the drug, seemed to hate Spock for a brief time. Spock commented to Mudd that a few brief moments of love being paid for with several hours of hatred is scarcely a bargain. ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion ")

Leila Kalomi

On stardate 3417, Spock was infected by Omicron spores while on Omicron Ceti III by Leila Kalomi , who was serving as the Omicron colony 's botanist. The spores broke down Spock's emotional control, and he confessed his love for Kalomi. Their time together was short-lived, however, as Kirk deduced a method of destroying the spores with intense emotion and induced anger in Spock.

Once free from the spores, Spock freed Kalomi and the rest of the planet from their influence. He later reflected that his time with Kalomi was the first time in his life at which he had felt happy. ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

When visiting the planet Sarpeidon Spock got trapped in in the planet’ ice age in the past with Dr. McCoy. When there Spock began to act like the Vulcans of that time period and started to act emotional. There he fell madly in love with her. Eventually McCoy realized what was happening and they were eventually able to escape back to their time period without Zarabeth . ( TOS : " All Our Yesterdays ")

A hologram of Spock was created by the Romulans in 2368 for Sela to use to give a false address to the Federation . It was known by the title " Spock One ". ( TNG : " Unification II ")

During Dal 's setup of the Kobayashi Maru scenario aboard the USS Protostar in 2383 , he requested that the computer select the best officers on his behalf, which included a holographic version of Spock, from the TOS era , as a member of his command crew. ( PRO : " Kobayashi ")

Spock's head on a holographic amalgamation of four other Starfleet officers

The head that resembled Tucker was attempting to freeze the playback of a holographic program that featured Neelix watching a holonovel that was one of many "silly stories " he saw on his PADD . The program seemingly froze, but then Tucker noticed he wasn't actually Tucker, but a strange monstrous combination of the aforementioned Starfleet officers .

• 2230 : Born in ShiKahr on Vulcan
• 2247 – 2250 : Cadet at Starfleet Academy
• Between 2250 and 2253: Assigned to the USS Kongo
• 2253: Assigned to the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike
• Takes a leave of absence from Starfleet following the Federation-Klingon War
• Assists the USS Discovery in solving the mystery of the Red Angel
• 2258 : Returns to service aboard the Enterprise .
• 2259 : Becomes engaged to T'Pring
• 2268 : Is offered an assignment with Medusan Ambassador Kollos .
• 2270: Resigns from Starfleet and returns to Vulcan to undergo the Kolinahr ritual
• 2270s : Returns to Starfleet to help with the V'ger crisis
• Between the 2270s and 2285: Appointed captain of the USS Enterprise
• Dies on the USS Enterprise
• Transfers his Katra to Leonard McCoy
• Is resurrected on the Genesis planet
• Transfers to the USS Enterprise -A
• 2287 – 2293 : First officer/science officer of the USS Enterprise -A
• Resigns from starfleet
• Becomes a Federation ambassador
• Begins attempts to reunify the Romulan and Vulcan people
• 2387 : Attempts to stop a star from destroying Romulus and ends up pulled into a black hole and transferred to an alternate reality.
• 2258 ( alternate reality ): leads the surviving members of the Vulcan people to start a new colony on New Vulcan
• 2263 (alternate reality): Dies on New Vulcan. The age must be around 161 if the time travel in 2387 through the black hole was in very short time and it led him to the same month in 2258.

Memorable quotes

" Is there a valuable question in your arsenal? " " Yes. Do you actually think the beard is working? "

" History will not provide an answer to your query, doctor. Instead you should be asking me, 'How is it I can remember tomorrow?'"

" This will go easier if you answer me. Or it could go harder. " " I beg to differ. Say goodbye, Spock. " (Spock raises his hand in the Vulcan salute) " Goodbye, Spock. "

" Greetings, captain. " " Spock. Are you all right? " " Much better for seeing you in person, sir. Even if we are riding into danger. " (Spock smiles) " Is that a smile I see on your face?" " I believe it is. Yes. " " Well, Welcome to Discovery . "

" I don't suppose the Red Angel offered you any advice on how to handle a situation like this. " " No. But my limited experience as a fugitive suggests only one course of action. " " And what is that? " " We run. "

" I happen to have a Human thing called an adrenaline gland. " " That does sound most inconvenient, however. Have you considered having it removed? " " Very funny. " " Try to cross brains with Spock, he'll cut you to pieces every time. "

" I am endeavoring, ma'am, to construct a mnemonic circuit using stone knives and bearskins. "

" I have never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question. " ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

" A curious creature. Its trilling seems to have a tranquilizing effect on the Human nervous system. Fortunately, of course, I am… immune… to… its… effect… "

(To Alice 27) " I love you. " (To Alice 210) " However, I hate you. " " But I am identical in every way with Alice 27! " " Exactly. That is exactly why I hate you; because you are identical. " [The androids violently malfunction.] " Fascinating. "

" Logic is a little, tweeting bird, chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad. " ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

" Nowhere am I so desperately needed as among a shipload of illogical Humans. " ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

" On my planet, 'to rest' is to rest, to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass, using energy instead of saving it. " ( TOS : " Shore Leave ")

"Enterprise to signaler on planet's surface. Identify self. " (Reads answer) " 'Hip, hip, hurrah…' and I believe it's pronounced 'Tally ho'. " ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ")

" 'Fascinating' is a word I use for the unexpected. In this case, I should think 'interesting' would suffice. "

" I have been, and always shall be, your friend. "

" Jim. Your name is Jim."

" If I were Human, I believe… my response would be 'Go to Hell.' If I were Human. "

" Billions of lives lost, because of me, Jim because… I failed. "

" Thrusters on full. "

" Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before. "

Catchphrases

" Fascinating. " ( Star Trek: The Original Series )

" Live long and prosper. " ( Star Trek: The Original Series )

" Interesting. "

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

Kirk and Spock

" Have I ever mentioned you play a very irritating game of chess, Mr. Spock? " " Irritating? Ah, yes: one of your Earth emotions. "

" Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, captain. " " I prefer to call it 'inspired'. " " As you wish. "

" You'd make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock. " " That is very kind of you, captain! "

" So, we're stranded here, in the middle of a Klingon occupation army. " " So it would seem. Not a very pleasant prospect. " " You have a gift for understatement, Mister Spock. It's not a very pleasant prospect at all. "

" You didn't really think I was going to beat his head in, did you? " " I thought you might. " " You're right. "

" Well, Mr. Spock, if we can't disguise you, we'll find some way of explaining you. " " That should prove interesting. "

" My friend is obviously Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears. They're actually easy to explain. " [Long pause.] " Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child. " " The 'unfortunate' accident he had as a child. He caught his head in a mechanical… rice picker. "

" Don't grieve, admiral. It's logical. The needs of the many… outweigh… " " The needs of the few. " " Or the one. I never took the Kobayashi Maru test, until now. What do you think of my solution? "

" You know, coming back in time, changing history… that's cheating. " " A trick I learned from an old friend . "

Awards and achievements

Spock in dress uniform 2267

• Twice decorated with the Starfleet Award of Valor ( TOS : " Court Martial ")
• Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor ( TOS : " Court Martial ")
• The Vulcan IDIC ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")
• An A-7 computer expert classification ( TOS : " The Ultimate Computer ")
• Innovator of time travel methodologies: the warp drive cold start and the "slingshot" maneuver ( TOS : " The Naked Time ", " Tomorrow is Yesterday ")
• Twice recommended for commendations by Captain Kirk. ( TOS : " Space Seed ", " The Immunity Syndrome ")

Spock's personnel file

Appearances

• " The Cage "
• " Where No Man Has Gone Before "
• " The Corbomite Maneuver "
• " Mudd's Women "
• " The Enemy Within "
• " The Man Trap "
• " The Naked Time "
• " Charlie X "
• " Balance of Terror "
• " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
• " Dagger of the Mind "
• " The Conscience of the King "
• " The Galileo Seven "
• " Court Martial "
• " The Menagerie, Part I "
• " The Menagerie, Part II "
• " Shore Leave "
• " The Squire of Gothos "
• " The Alternative Factor "
• " Tomorrow is Yesterday "
• " The Return of the Archons "
• " A Taste of Armageddon "
• " Space Seed "
• " This Side of Paradise "
• " The Devil in the Dark "
• " Errand of Mercy "
• " The City on the Edge of Forever "
• " Operation -- Annihilate! "
• " Catspaw "
• " Metamorphosis "
• " Friday's Child "
• " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
• " Amok Time "
• " The Doomsday Machine "
• " Wolf in the Fold "
• " The Changeling "
• " The Apple "
• " Mirror, Mirror "
• " The Deadly Years "
• " I, Mudd "
• " The Trouble with Tribbles "
• " Bread and Circuses "
• " Journey to Babel "
• " A Private Little War "
• " The Gamesters of Triskelion "
• " Obsession "
• " The Immunity Syndrome "
• " A Piece of the Action "
• " By Any Other Name "
• " Return to Tomorrow "
• " Patterns of Force "
• " The Ultimate Computer "
• " The Omega Glory "
• " Assignment: Earth "
• " Spectre of the Gun "
• " Elaan of Troyius "
• " The Paradise Syndrome "
• " The Enterprise Incident "
• " And the Children Shall Lead "
• " Spock's Brain "
• " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
• " The Empath "
• " The Tholian Web "
• " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
• " Day of the Dove "
• " Plato's Stepchildren "
• " Wink of an Eye "
• " That Which Survives "
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• " Whom Gods Destroy "
• " The Mark of Gideon "
• " The Lights of Zetar "
• " The Cloud Minders "
• " The Way to Eden "
• " Requiem for Methuselah "
• " The Savage Curtain "
• " All Our Yesterdays "
• " Turnabout Intruder "
• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " Yesteryear "
• " One of Our Planets Is Missing "
• " The Lorelei Signal "
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• " The Survivor "
• " The Infinite Vulcan "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Time Trap "
• " The Ambergris Element "
• " The Slaver Weapon "
• " The Eye of the Beholder "
• " The Jihad "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " The Practical Joker "
• " Albatross "
• " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth "
• " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond (picture only)
• " Unification I "
• " Unification II "
• DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " (archive footage)
• " Brother "
• " New Eden " (archive voice footage)
• " Light and Shadows "
• " If Memory Serves "
• " Project Daedalus "
• " The Red Angel "
• " Perpetual Infinity "
• " Through the Valley of Shadows "
• " Such Sweet Sorrow "
• " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 "
• " Unification III " (archive footage)
• " Stormy Weather " (picture only)
• " Q&A "
• " Ask Not "
• " No Small Parts " (picture only)
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers " (picture only)
• PRO : " Kobayashi " (hologram; archive audio)
• " Strange New Worlds "
• " Children of the Comet "
• " Ghosts of Illyria "
• " Memento Mori "
• " Spock Amok "
• " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach "
• " The Serene Squall "
• " The Elysian Kingdom "
• " All Those Who Wander "
• " A Quality of Mercy "
• " The Broken Circle "
• " Ad Astra per Aspera "
• " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow "
• " Among the Lotus Eaters "
• " Charades "
• " Lost in Translation "
• " Those Old Scientists "
• " Under the Cloak of War "
• " Subspace Rhapsody "
• " Hegemony "
• " Skin a Cat "
• " Holiday Party "
• " Holograms All the Way Down " (background hologram)
• " Walk, Don't Run " (archive footage)

Background information

Spock was played by Leonard Nimoy in the vast majority of the character's television and cinematic appearances. The Genesis -regenerated versions of Spock at nine, thirteen, seventeen, and twenty-five years of age in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock were portrayed by Carl Steven , Vadia Potenza , Stephen Manley , and Joe W. Davis , respectively. Spock's screams in that film were provided by Frank Welker .

The young Spock from TAS : " Yesteryear " was voiced by Billy Simpson . Carey Scott recorded some dialogue for a younger Spock in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , but his scenes were cut . Spock is also portrayed by an unknown infant in that film. And while Nimoy portrayed the elder Spock in the film Star Trek , his younger alternate reality adult self was played by Zachary Quinto (who reprised the role in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond ), as well as briefly by Jacob Kogan , who portrayed Spock as a young boy. Nimoy reprised the role of Spock for a cameo in Star Trek Into Darkness . Liam Hughes portrayed a young Spock in the Discovery episode " Brother " while Ethan Peck voiced the adult version of the character in the same episode. Peck also played the character in subsequent episodes of Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Short Treks , and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

A deleted scene from Star Trek featured a newborn Spock, portrayed by Jenna Vaughn . As Spock's birth would have occurred before the universe split, technically, she would have been the only performer to portray both Spock Prime and his alternate reality counterpart, as well as the only actress ever to play Spock.

Jane Wyatt , who played Spock's mother Amanda Grayson , was once asked by fans at a convention what Spock's first name was. She replied, perhaps jokingly, " Harold " [13] However, the question itself was flawed, since the episode " Journey to Babel " makes it clear that "Spock" is Spock's personal name.

On the other hand, Spock's family name has never been established in canon . In the episode " This Side of Paradise ", Leila Kalomi says to Spock, " You never told me if you had another name, " to which he replies, " You couldn't pronounce it. " D.C. Fontana – who was considered the "Vulcan expert" of the TOS behind-the-scenes staff and who created such details as the fact that Spock's father was an ambassador and his mother a school teacher – revealed, in an issue of the fanzine Spockanalia , that she had intended his family name to be "Xtmprsqzntwlfd", but since this is unpronounceable, there wasn't really any way to get this said in dialogue during an episode.

The Pocket TOS book Ishmael gives Spock's full name as "S'chn T'gai Spock".

Since the release of the film Star Trek , the original reality version of Spock is now often referred to on websites and other media as "Spock Prime", to differentiate from the alternate reality version of the character.

From concept to series

From the start of thinking Spock up, Gene Roddenberry knew he wanted the character to be partly alien, and that he wanted Leonard Nimoy to play the role. Roddenberry later explained, " I made [Spock] a half-caste, because I remember thinking a half-breed Indian would be a lot more interesting than a full-blooded Indian or white, because he's going to be tugged in many different directions. " ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , p. 15)

Gene Roddenberry also wanted Spock's appearance to be very similar to typical portrayals of Satan the Devil. " I did purposely give him a slight look of the 'devil' because I thought that might be particularly provocative to women, particularly when his nature contrasted so greatly to this, " Roddenberry stated. [14]

The following character biography appeared in Roddenberry's original, 1964 series pitch Star Trek is... (and was reprinted in The Making of Star Trek ) [ page number? • edit ] :

In the revised first draft script of " The Cage " (dated 6 October 1964 ), Spock was described thus; " The only exception to the familiar types represented by the crew, Mister Spock is of partly alien extraction, his reddish skin, heavy-lidded eyes and slightly-pointed ears give him an almost satanic look. But in complete contrast is his unusual gentle manner and tone. He speaks with the almost British accent of one who has learned the language in textbooks. " The episode's revised final draft script (dated 20 November 1964 ) excluded mention of the "reddish skin" but otherwise remained the same. Later in the script, one of Spock's statements was directed to be delivered in an "excited" manner.

Gene Roddenberry thought up the unemotional aspect of Spock. Roddenberry explained, " As I created him, I said to myself, 'If I could just get rid of the emotions that plague me and work things out logically… ah , the things I could do! " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 47) Casting Director Joseph D'Agosta added, " On the Spock character, the only guidelines I had were that he had to be thin, and a good actor with no emotion. He was a cold, calculating, logical person. Humor was not even considered at that time. " ( The Star Trek Interview Book , p. 213)

Actor Martin Landau (Commander John Koenig of Space: 1999 ) was an early casting consideration for the character of Spock in TOS. This was before the role went to Leonard Nimoy.

In spite of studio request to get rid of "the guy with the ears," Gene Roddenberry insisted on keeping the character through both pilot episodes of the series. ( Leonard Nimoy: Star Trek Memories ; Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime )

According to Leonard Nimoy, he felt the need to play the character as more emotional when Jeffrey Hunter was playing the internalized Christopher Pike, as opposed to William Shatner 's portrayal of Captain Kirk. ( Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime ; et al.) Also, there was room for Spock's emotional detachment when the similarly emotionless character of Number One was discarded along with Pike, after " The Cage ". ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , p. 15)

NBC 's early- 1966 publicity booklet gave this bio for Spock (reprinted in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story ):

The unemotional quality of Spock's persona was extremely appealing to Leonard Nimoy. " What immediately intrigued me was that here was a character who had an internal conflict, " Nimoy observed. " This half-Human, half-Vulcan being, struggling to maintain a Vulcan attitude, a Vulcan philosophical posture and Vulcan logic, opposing what was fighting him internally, which was Human emotion. There was a dynamic there to work with from an acting point of view. " ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , p. 15)

Gene Roddenberry recognized Spock as a team effort. " I'll take credit for formulating Spock and guiding the character, " he said, " then give as much credit to Leonard Nimoy for making it work, and also credit to the writers who kept it going in many story situations. " [15] On the other hand, Roddenberry proclaimed, in a letter to Isaac Asimov , " It's easy to give good situations and good lines to Spock. " Roddenberry also thought it was easier to write Spock than it was to write McCoy. [16] Nonetheless, the depiction of Spock was still to be further developed as the show began. Recalling the character's genesis, TNG Producer Robert Lewin noted, " Spock was not the hero that he became during the early part of the first series. " ( The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years , p. 71)

The series writers' guide (third revision, dated 17 April 1967 ) gave the following description of Spock ( Star Trek: The Original Series 365 ):

Season 2 salary issue

In the spring of 1967 , before production began on Star Trek 's second season , Leonard Nimoy and his agent got into an argument with the producers regarding the actor's salary (Nimoy felt it unfair that series star William Shatner was paid US$5,000 per episode, while he was only paid US$1,250). The agent wanted US$3000 per episode for his client, and would settle with US$2,500. However, a misunderstanding resulted in the agent believing that Mission: Impossible stars had at least US$11,000 salaries, so he suddenly demanded US$9,000 for Nimoy. The studio, of course, refused. Nimoy threatened to leave the series if the dispute was not solved.

In response to Nimoy's threats, Desilu executive Herb Solow asked Casting Director Joseph D'Agosta to compile a list of possible "Vulcan replacements", in case negotiations went unresolved. Three lists were made of actors who were deemed suitable for the role of Spock:

"A" List: Mark Lenard , William Smithers , Liam Sullivan , Lloyd Bochner , Joe Maross , Donald Harron , Edward Mulhare , James Mitchell , Michael Rennie , Peter Mark Richman , Charles Robinson , Chris Robinson , Stewart Moss , David Canary , John Anderson , David Carradine

"B" List: Anthony James , Perry Lopez , George Bachman , Alan Bergmann , Lee Kinsolving , Blaisdel Makee , Bill Fletcher , Henry Darrow , Anthony George , Curt Lowens , Jacques Denbeaux , Maxwell Reed

"C" List: Lawrence Montaigne , Ron Hayes , Patrick Horgan , Paul Mantee , Bruce Watson , Robert Yuro , Richard Evans , Joseph Ruskin , Ted Markland , Lee Bergere , John Rayner

In reality, these lists were only a psychological ploy to put pressure on Leonard Nimoy and his agent. The only two actors considered as possible replacements were Mark Lenard and Lawrence Montaigne (ironically, both of them appeared as Vulcans in the second season, Lenard playing Spock's father, Sarek).

Eventually, Desilu (at the insistence of NBC ) and Nimoy settled with US$2,500 per episode, plus US$100 for additional expenses, a better billing, a better merchandising deal, and more script input. However, when Montaigne was cast as Stonn in " Amok Time ", his contract had an option of recalling him to be cast as Spock, "just in case." ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 317-324)

Animated depictions

For approximately half an hour while Star Trek: The Animated Series was in early development, a boyhood version of Spock was considered for inclusion as a regular character in the upcoming series, along with other child equivalents of the series' main characters. ( The Art of Star Trek , pp. 42 & 43)

While initially developing TAS : " Yesteryear ", D.C. Fontana realized she wanted to feature Spock in the story, since he had always been her favorite main character and was the focus of her favorite episodes from the ones she had written for Star Trek: The Original Series , such as " This Side of Paradise " and " Journey to Babel ". ( Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before , p. 56) She was excited by the prospect of showing "part of what made Spock Spock," delving into his backstory in "Yesteryear". ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 97)

Reappearances

The notion of Spock suffering racial prejudice, alluded to in TAS : " Yesteryear " and the film Star Trek , was shared by the unmade prequel Star Trek: The First Adventure , in which Spock first met Kirk when he was defended by him from bullies at Starfleet Academy.

Gene Roddenberry once distributed a memo to the TNG writing staff which declared that, due to financial considerations, it would probably be impossible for Leonard Nimoy to ever guest star on that series as Spock (though Roddenberry also suggested Sarek appearing in a guest star role as an alternative). ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , p. 22)

In an interview with TrekMovie.com 's Anthony Pascale in July 2007 , Leonard Nimoy explained that he felt Spock had been superfluous in the script of Star Trek Generations and that that was why he had chosen not to appear in the film. Nimoy initially proclaimed, " There was no Spock role in that script, " then elaborated, " There were five or six lines attributed to Spock […] but it had nothing to do with Spock. They were not Spock-like in any way. I said to Rick Berman , 'You could distribute these lines to any one of the other characters and it wouldn't make any difference.' And that is exactly what he did. There was no Spock function in the script. " [17]

In a memo he wrote Manny Coto (on 20 August 2004 ), Michael Sussman suggested that both an elderly Spock and a young version of the character be featured in a story covering an episode or two from the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise , if Leonard Nimoy was interested in appearing. As Sussman proposed, the older depiction of Spock would have been portrayed, in a framing story, by Nimoy, while the young Spock would have been played by another actor (a technique inspired by the portrayal of Indiana Jones in a two-parter from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles called "Mystery of the Blues", which features not only a young version of Jones, but also a middle-aged Jones, played by Harrison Ford ). In the same memo, Sussman envisioned Spock in the 24th century, as a "distinguished and retired Ambassador," being visited by a young Vulcan/Human hybrid who sought advice for balancing the two halves of his own personality. The elderly Spock then began recounting an adventure that took place in the early 23rd century, in which he, as a Starfleet cadet, assisted a middle-aged T'Pol , learning, in the process, "some lesson which helped him choose his own path in life." Sussman went on to suggest that a lot of new details about Spock could be divulged in the story, possibly including that, in his young adulthood, he had been torn between life as a diplomat (like his father) and a Starfleet career. The memo continued by proposing that Spock's mission include the now-aged other senior officers from Enterprise NX-01 , and be "a secret and possibly illegal TBD mission." However, this Spock story ultimately wasn't developed. [18]

Roberto Orci , a co-writer of the film Star Trek , wrote the Spock character as being essential to that film's narrative without considering a back-up story, had Leonard Nimoy turned down appearing in the film. He recalled Nimoy raised an eyebrow at the idea of the destruction of Vulcan . [19] Commented J.J. Abrams , " Leonard was a dream to work with. He was always incredibly encouraging and excited about what he was seeing. He had a couple of thoughts, but he loved everything related to his role […] He was happy to see Spock look so damn good! " ( Star Trek: Costumes: Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier , p. 240) Abrams also stated, " It's a big deal for him to come back and play this part again. I don't think it's something he expected to do. Directing him as Spock for the first time was as surreal a moment as I've had. It was preposterous, but wonderful. " ( Empire , issue 234, p. 126)

After the making of the film Star Trek , Leonard Nimoy retired (again) from acting and publicly stated that he did not intend to return to the role of Spock again, as he felt that to do so would be unfair to Zachary Quinto. Nimoy even went as far as to say, " I definitely will not be in Star Trek 2," and, " I think I can be definitive about the fact that I will not be in it. " ( SFX , issue #200, p. 68) However, it was eventually confirmed that he would indeed be returning to the role of Spock for the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness . [20] [21] Regarding how J.J. Abrams invited him to make a cameo appearance in the film, Nimoy recalled, " He just said, 'Would you come in for a couple of days and do me a favor.' " Whereas Nimoy had declined to cameo in Star Trek Generations because he felt Spock's part in that movie had been too general, Nimoy was persuaded that Spock had such a specific role in Star Trek Into Darkness that he was willing to accept the part. Addressing why he had claimed not to be in the film, Nimoy, who was very pleased that the truth of his involvement was kept secret, initially said, " I was asked time and time again if I was in the movie, and I managed to avoid answering without lying. " He laughed, but was then reminded that he had flat-out denied being in the film and replied, " Maybe I was confused. Of course, speaking, if you'll pardon me, logically, I wouldn't know if I was in the movie until I saw the movie. " [22] His cameo marked Nimoy's final appearance as Spock and his final role overall prior to his death in February 2015 .

In 2017, Star Trek: Discovery producer Akiva Goldsman said that Spock would not be seen on Discovery . [23] However, two years later, Spock did appear in Discovery's second season , played by Ethan Peck.

Other language voice actors

An excerpt from the German version of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; Weicker, voicing Spock, saying, " Wenn ich ein Mensch wäre, wäre meine Antwort mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit: Fahr zur Hölle!… Wenn ich ein Mensch wäre. " English: If I were Human, I believe my response would be 'Go to Hell!'… If I were Human.

Herbert Weicker was a German stage and voice actor who is widely associated with Spock, since he voiced this character in all German translations of episodes and films with the exception of the first run of Star Trek: The Animated Series .

Similarly, Czech television and film dubs have almost uniformly featured the late Jiří Plachý in the role of Spock, specifically, in the dubs of the TV appearances in Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , as well as in the six TOS era films and the first two Kelvin Timeline films. Zdeněk Junák dubbed the younger alternate reality Spock of the Kelvin Timeline films, while Lukáš Hlavica voiced Spock in the Czech dub of Star Trek: The Animated Series .

Slovak film and television dubs of Spock have included Štefan Kožka for the six installments of the TOS era film series, Ivan Letko for Spock's appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation , as well as Marián Slovák as an older prime timeline Spock and Filip Tůma as a younger alternate reality Spock in the first Kelvin Timeline film.

Spock became one of the most enduring symbols of Star Trek . Accounting for the character's popularity, Gene Roddenberry stated, " I think that everyone was so smitten with Mr. Spock because he stood for loyalty and reliability. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 27, No. 11/12, p. 47)

The popularity of Spock was one factor that motivated Leonard Nimoy into demanding a salary increase for the second season of TOS. " By this time, Leonard's popularity had convinced him of what he already knew: He had the most important role, " Herb Solow observed. In a memo Gene Roddenberry sent Gene L. Coon (on 1 April 1967 ), Roddenberry mentioned Spock having generated "considerable mail volume and public adulation" during the first season. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 317 & 319) NBC likewise regarded Spock and Nimoy as the most popular part of the original Star Trek series, and believed that losing them would be very unflattering. The popularity of the character was thus influential in Leonard Nimoy's continuation in the part. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 324)

Roberto Orci has cited Spock as his favorite character. [24]

Casting Leonard Nimoy as an elderly version of Spock in the film Star Trek gave irate fans pause, caused them to stand down, and even won them over. ( Empire , issue 234, p. 126) However, William Shatner has been disapproving of how Spock is portrayed in that movie and its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness , commenting, " I thought the two Spock appearances were gratuitous. J.J. [Abrams] wanted to pay homage to Spock I guess, but he didn't offer anything to the plot […] I told Leonard, 'You know that you're old when you go back in time and you're still old.' " (" Empire Presents 50 Years of Star Trek " supplement, p. 15)

Spock is referred to as a lieutenant commander in " Court Martial ", though the final draft and revised final draft of that episode's script instead referred to him as a full commander . The Star Trek Chronology listed Spock as having been promoted from lieutenant commander to full commander following "Court Martial". However, in a captain's log entry made by Kirk in " The Menagerie, Part I ", Spock is still identified as a lieutenant commander, as he is again in " Tomorrow is Yesterday ". Spock was first referred to as a commander in " Amok Time ". Throughout all his appearances on The Original Series , Spock wore the rank stripes of a full commander.

Near the end of the Star Trek: Discovery episode " Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 ", Spock dons his Starfleet uniform for the first time in that show, wearing lieutenant junior grade stripes. However, in the earlier episode " Project Daedalus ", Spock identifying himself as a lieutenant . "Lieutenant" is the proper way to address lieutenant junior grades as well as full lieutenants, however, Spock was stating his own rank while being questioned by Admiral Cornwell and thus would have used his full rank. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Spock was still identified as a lieutenant and wore the correct insignia.

Spock was the inspiration for the Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, from the "Transformers" franchise. Comic book writer Bob Budiansky, who gave Shockwave his name and personality, described the character as "my attempt to take Spock from Star Trek and make him into a Decepticon." [25]

A portion of this article was paraphrased into first person and used as the content of Spock's memoir The Many and the One in PIC : " The Star Gazer ". [26]

Barbara Hambly 's novel Ishmael gives Spock's unpronounceable full name as "S'chn T'gai Spock," with "S'chn T'gai" apparently being the family name as opposed to the personal name. The ebook Seasons of Light and Darkness also uses this name.

According to Diane Duane 's novel Spock's World , Spock was a descendant of Surak .

The novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home states that during the exile of the Enterprise command crew on Vulcan, Spock and McCoy underwent a series of mind melds facilitated by T'Lar to ensure that any lingering parts of the other's personalities were transferred back to the right person. In the days following Kirk and the Enterprise command crew saving Earth from the destructive effects of the whale probe, McCoy went to see Spock, who was temporarily staying at the Vulcan embassy on Earth and expressed worry that any punishment handed down by the Federation might not let him participate in future mind melds if needed. Spock assured McCoy that the fal-tor-pan was complete, and no further mind melds were needed. Spock told McCoy the two would always retain a smart part of each other in their minds.

Spock briefly reactivated his Starfleet commission , with the rank of admiral , during the Dominion War , according to Spectre , a novel on whose writing William Shatner collaborated with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens .

In the novel Crossover , Spock and several unificationists were captured by the Romulan Empire. He was ultimately rescued by Montgomery Scott, Commander Riker , Data , and Geordi La Forge aboard the USS Yorktown that Scott stole from a Starfleet museum using the shuttle he was given by Picard to control the Yorktown 's computer. After believing Scott dead for 75 years, Spock was momentarily startled to see him behind the transporter controls, but quickly regained his control. Scott promised to explain how he reached the 24th century later to Spock.

In the novel The Fire and the Rose , Spock began to lose his emotional control after hearing of the death of Captain Kirk , and eventually returns to Gol to take Kolinahr training again. Spock ultimately succeeded and became truly emotionless, a situation that neither Sarek nor Amanda agreed he should have tried to do. Amanda in particular, felt Spock had rejected his Humanity and therefore in some measure, her by extension. Spock's lack of emotion also ultimately alienated McCoy when he came to ask Spock to stand with him at his wedding to Tonia Barrows and Spock refused. Ultimately, after Amanda's death in a shuttle accident and Spock seeing Sarek grieve for Amanda (which surprised Spock as he mistakenly believed Sarek to have also been a student of Kolinahr ) , and when Spock realized that he can't grieve for Amanda and that he didn't even miss her, he sought McCoy out on Earth to help him engage in an ancient Vulcan ritual to reverse the Kolinahr , allowing Spock to feel emotions again. This accomplished, Spock rebuilt his relationship with McCoy, was able to grieve for his mother and Captain Kirk, and once again found the balance and peace between his Vulcan and Human halves, allowing him to have emotional control again without rejecting his emotions.

In the novel Provenance of Shadows , Spock, having been contacted by McCoy's wife Tonia Barrows , and told that McCoy was taking a turn for the worse, went to see McCoy because he had regretted that he didn't get to see either Kirk or his mother once more before their deaths, and he was not going to make that mistake this time. Spock did spend the day with McCoy and planned to return the next day, but as he left McCoy's house, Spock was left with the impression he would never see McCoy alive again. Spock's feelings are proved correct as McCoy does die peacefully in his chair on the porch that same evening before Spock can return, with Tonia by his side, reflecting on his life and the good work he's done and his family and friends.

In the novel Vulcan's Forge , Spock commanded the science ship Intrepid II in 2294 , a year after Kirk was lost in the Nexus . Within the story, Uhura was Spock's first officer and McCoy his chief medical officer .

Other novels set after Star Trek VI established that Picard was at the wedding of Spock and Saavik met Sarek.

In the novel Yesterday's Son , Spock found out that he had a son with Zarabeth , whom she had named Zar.

In the game Star Trek: Armada , Ambassador Spock was sent aboard a Galaxy -class starship to mediate a treaty between the Klingon and Romulan empires on Romulus. The Borg intercepted this ship and assimilated him. The USS Enterprise -E traveled two days back in time to make sure he reached the peace conference. The plan succeeded, resulting in Romulan and Klingon ships being dispatched to assist the Federation in defending Earth.

Spock in Star Trek: Countdown

In the comic series Star Trek: Countdown , leading up to Star Trek , Spock was aided in his attempts to help convince the Vulcans to provide the Romulans with the red matter necessary to stop the impending supernova explosion by Jean-Luc Picard , who was now Federation Ambassador to Vulcan, as well as by a restored Data , who was now captain of the Enterprise -E. Also, the comic established that Geordi La Forge had designed the Jellyfish , which Spock used to drop the red matter into the supernova. Just after the Jellyfish and the Narada were pulled through the black hole and into the alternate reality, the black hole finished collapsing and the Enterprise arrived in the area finding no indication anywhere that Spock managed to escape. Presuming Spock to be dead, Picard said that he hoped his friend's soul did indeed live long and prosper.

In the novelization of Star Trek , after Kirk told Spock that Dr. McCoy , Sulu , Chekov , and Uhura – all but one of the group of officers who had once been willing to throw away their careers to save him – were all serving on the USS Enterprise (taking McCoy's presence for granted when following the confirmation of the other three), Spock suggested to Kirk that their meeting, and the way the crew was already coming together, was the work of the timeline attempting to "fix" itself. As for the one person not yet aboard the ship, he had been well aware that Scotty was stationed at the outpost, which he had visited on occasion for supplies – though it wasn't clear whether they had actually met – but he had a made a point of keeping his distance. This self-imposed isolation was the only reason that he happened to be at the right place with a torch as the hengrauggi wrapped its tongue around Kirk's leg, which struck him as yet more evidence to support his theory – Kirk's arrival made it clear that the three had converged there for a reason, since he could give Scott the basics of his own invention, and therefore return Kirk to the Enterprise , with a way to take his rightful place in command (seeing that the young officer was obviously unaware of Regulation 619, he admitted to having forgotten how insignificant such things had been to the Kirk he knew so well), and hopefully be able to minimize the damage to the timeline.

In the comic series Star Trek: Spock: Reflections , the events leading up to Countdown were detailed. He traveled to Veridian III after Picard sent him a message following the events of Star Trek Generations explaining what really happened to Kirk regarding his "death" on the USS Enterprise -B to retrieve his body where he brought him back home to Earth to be reburied at the Kirk family farm in Iowa . Spock explained to Picard how Kirk did the same for him, at a terrible cost and that he needed to be equal to Kirk's sacrifice. Picard then tells Spock that he would be welcomed to return to Starfleet duty, in any capacity, but Spock planned to return to Romulus to continue his work. Picard asks whether arrangements can be made to make Spock's presence there official, but Spock declined, saying he has always led "a life of solitude and duty". As Spock remembers how he once worked with remarkable friends and comrades, he tells Picard to treasure those times in his own life, since they will someday end. They exchange the Vulcan salute and Picard walks away, but turned back to see Spock still standing quietly by his friend's grave.

Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto also lent their voices to Star Trek Online ; Nimoy reprised his role as Spock and narrated key events to players, while Quinto voices a Mark VI Emergency Medical Holographic program who helps the player though the tutorial level.

The 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals was using Nimoy's picture for card #103 "Ambassador Spock".

The Star Trek: Ongoing story arc Legacy of Spock focuses on his place in the alternate reality 's new Vulcan settlement . Though initially blamed in part for the ultimate destruction of Vulcan, he is ultimately revered for his dedication to his people and receives a monument that is still standing 3,000 years later. Unlike the other monuments, which are massive, his is life-size, reportedly because he felt to make it any larger would not be "logical".

The Doctor offering Spock a jelly baby

In the third issue of the Doctor Who crossover comic Assimilation² , Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott investigate a Federation archaeological team on the planet Aprilia III on stardate 3368.5, which had lost contact with Starfleet. Upon landing in the shuttlecraft Galileo , they are greeted by project manager Jefferson Whitmore, who assures them that all is well and gives them a tour of the facility, but Kirk finds the staff suspiciously calm, which Spock agrees with as by Human standards, the research team seemed remarkably placid and unemotional. The team later return to the facility after dark where they meet the Fourth Doctor , assuming he's a member of the research team and he helps them break the electronic lock with his sonic screwdriver and then offers Spock a jelly baby . Together, they infiltrated the facility. There, they find the researchers standing catatonically, with small cybernetic devices in their ears. It is discovered they were under the control of the Doctor's enemies, the Cybermen . A battle ensues and Spock and Scotty use their phasers on two Cybermen, while Kirk and the Doctor handle the Cyber-Controller . The Doctor then uses gold dust to clog up the Controller's respiration, allowing Spock to fire his phaser and destroying it. After the Cybermen are defeated and the Doctor slips quietly away, Spock assures Kirk there are no signs of anymore Cybermen on the planet, but Kirk arranges for a permanent garrison of Starfleet Security personnel to protect the researchers just in case.

In Star Trek Cats , Spock is depicted as an Oriental Shorthair cat .

In the Star Trek: Picard novel The Last Best Hope , Spock left Romulus in the early 2380s , believing there was nothing more he could achieve in the face of the predicted Supernova, but not without taking as many survivors as his small ship can carry with him. He was later contacted by now-Admiral Jean-Luc Picard when his journey brought him to an unplanned rendezvous with the USS Verity .

Spock appears in the video game Star Trek: Resurgence , where he comes aboard the USS Resolute to assist in stopping a crisis between the Hotari and the Alydians.

External links

• Spock at StarTrek.com
• Spock at Wikipedia
• Spock at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Spock at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Discovery Season 5 is Taking a Huge Swing With Star Trek Canon

Get out your space history books.

Why do so many Star Trek aliens look like humans? The real-world explanation is that way back in 1964, Gene Roddenberry said the format of Star Trek would focus on stories that took place on “parallel worlds.” This didn’t mean Trek was an alternate universe-hopping show, but that allegorically, the people encountered by the Enterprise were humanoid, thus making the stories easier to write and understand (and, from a budget perspective, easier to make). But there’s an in-universe explanation for this, too.

In 1993, Star Trek: The Next Generation devoted an episode to answering this big question. And now, 31 years later, Star Trek: Discovery is doubling down with a Season 5 storyline that serves as a direct sequel to that story. Here’s what this means and why it matters. Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2.

The return of Star Trek’s Progenitors

The Progenitor’s message in the Next Generation episode “The Chase.”

At the end of Discovery Season 5, Episode 1, “Red Directive,” we learn that the data the crew has been assigned to protect is connected to discoveries made by a Romulan scientist in the year 2369. Season 5 happens roughly 820 years after that date, but as Kovich (David Cronenberg) tells Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), this information has been kept hidden for centuries. Why?

Well, in “The Chase,” Picard, Crusher, and the Enterprise-D crew — along with representatives from the Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans — discovered an ancient message coded within DNA that revealed everyone descended from the same ancient aliens. The Progenitors, as their message explains, “...seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. The seed codes directed your evolution toward a physical form resembling ours.”

Captain Burnham is floored by this information, which makes sense since she’s originally from the 23rd century, and her pre-time travel adventures in Starfleet predate Picard’s by about 100 years. But Burnham’s ignorance of the Progenitors isn’t because she and the Discovery crew are time travelers. There’s another reason why this has all been classified.

Discovery’s new God-mode tech

Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is racing to find the most powerful Trek tech of all time.

The fact that most humanoid-looking life in Star Trek descended from an ancient alien species isn’t a new revelation to longtime Trek fans. Even Original Series episodes “Return to Tomorrow” and “The Paradise Syndrom” hinted that several species originated thanks to some kind of organized panspermia . What is new is that the technology the Progenitors used to create life on thousands of worlds has been found.

In Discovery’s “Red Directive,” the journal left by the Romulan scientist is just the first piece of the puzzle. The larger mission is to find the technology the Progenitors developed millions of years ago, and so Discovery has revealed the most powerful technology in all of Trek canon to date. In The Wrath of Khan , we got the Genesis Device , a tech capable of instantly terraforming planets. In Voyager’s “Year of Hell,” the Kremin weapon ship pushed entire planets out of the spacetime continuum, altering history in the blink of an eye.

But those examples of super-tech were unstable. What’s interesting about the ancient Progenitor tech is that it obviously works . Discovery’s imperative to find the tech is classic Trek: if the ability to seed life on a planetary scale falls into the wrong hands, the galaxy could be changed forever. In the grand tradition of Star Trek, the biggest superweapons aren’t planet-destroying superweapons, but something that could redefine and rewrite life itself.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 airs on Paramount+.

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Published Apr 10, 2024

A Brief History of the Progenitors in Star Trek

They designed life itself!

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Discovery 's "Red Directive ."

StarTrek.com

Captain Burnham's top-secret mission in the final season of Star Trek: Discovery has finally been revealed. But this time, the Discovery crew isn’t stopping a future-destroying A.I., or a lethal, extra-galactic force. Instead, they’re investigating the basic mysteries of why most species in the Star Trek universe look vaguely human.

As revealed in " Red Directive ," the search for technology used by ancient "Progenitors" sets-up a massive treasure hunt for the season. But, who are the Progenitors? What did Jean-Luc Picard know about the secrets of inter-species alien DNA? And how does all of this fit in with Gene Roddenberry’s earliest ideas for Star Trek ?

Here’s a brief history of the Progenitors, from the early 1960s, to the 24th Century, all the way to 2024, and the 31st Century.

The Real World-Origins of the Progenitors

"The Cage"

When the U.S.S. Enterprise first set out to seek out "new life and new civilizations," a huge swath of those alien lifeforms turned out to look a lot like human beings. And the primary reason for that, at least behind-the-scenes, was two-fold.

First, human actors are more affordable, and second, Gene Roddenberry wanted the classic Star Trek to avoid the sci-fi trope of "Bug-Eyed Monsters." And so, in one of the original 1964 pitch documents for Star Trek , Roddenberry floated the idea of "The Parallel Worlds" concept . The idea was that the format of Star Trek — from a writing and production standpoint — would generally deal with "...plant and animal life, plus people, quite similar to Earth. Social evolution will also have interesting points of similarity with ours."

Unlike a huge swath of science fiction on TV at the time, the promise of strange, new worlds, that were, in fact, populated by people , is something that set Star Trek apart, and was the cornerstone of what gave the series its humanist angle. But, the side effect of course, was an in-universe question — why were so many aliens humanoid?

The Old Ones, Sargon, and The Preservers

"The Paradise Syndrome"

The first two seasons of The Original Series are sprinkled with hints that, in the distant past, the galaxy was visited by super-powered aliens with technology far more advanced than anything in the Federation.

In " What Are Little Girls Made Of? ," we meet Ruk, an android built by "The Old Ones," an alien race capable of creating humanoid androids that were basically immortal. In " Return to Tomorrow ," the disembodied soul of Sargon, refers to humanity as "my children." While Dr. Muhuall says this idea flies in the face of evolutionary theory, Spock mentions the idea that aliens seeded life would "explain certain elements of Vulcan pre-history."

Then in Season 3, in " The Paradise Syndrome ," Bones and Spock tackle the question head-on. When they realize an ancient race of "Preservers" helped various humanoid species throughout the galaxy, the idea of an ancient alien race guiding and "seeding" a ton of humanoid species became less of a myth and more of a working theory. "I’ve always wondered why there were so many humanoids scattered through the galaxy," Bones says. To which Spock replies, "So have I. Apparently, the Preservers account for a number of them."

And then, the questions about an ancient humanoid species went answered. At least, until The Next Generation . 

"The Chase"

Directed by Jonathan Frakes and written by Ronald D. Moore and Joe Menosky, " The Chase " was a sixth-season episode of The Next Generation , which, according to The Next Generation Companion , was considered in the writers' room the most "Roddenberryesque" episode of TNG at that time. The story itself took cues from Carl Sagan's novel Contact , and posited that yes, ancient aliens not only seeded most of the humanoid species, but also hid a message in the DNA of all those species.

Captain Picard's interest in archeology comes in handy during the quest to locate all the DNA strands and reveal the message, which was also represented metaphorically by the ancient artifact known as the Kurlan naiskos .

At the end of the episode, representatives from the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Cardassian Union, and the Federation, all witness the truth — an ancient Progenitor (played by Salome Jens) makes it clear that all the humanoid species in the galaxy don’t exist out of pure hubris, but instead, out of a kind of desire for legacy. "You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence…. Remember us."

Ronald D. Moore pointed out that there's no reason to believe that the Progenitors from "The Chase" and the Preservers from TOS aren't one in the same. Though not explicitly stated in the script, he said, "But this could be them, and be internally consistent."

Discovery Brings It All Home

"Red Directive"

While The Next Generation established a canonical fact that TOS only danced around, that only answered the question of why . With Discovery Season 5, a stranger, and more complex question is getting broached — how ?

"The Chase" told us why there are so many humanoid species in the galaxy, but we had no idea how the Progenitors specifically pushed life to evolve on various planets toward the exact form of life we’re all so familiar with. As the crew of Discovery — and other forces — are in pursuit of this ancient tech, Star Trek is boldly speculating on one of the biggest questions of all time.

If there was a supreme intelligence behind the creation of life, what was their method? While these kinds of questions are somewhat mind-boggling in real life, what Discovery is doing now is what Star Trek has done all along: Ask provocative questions that are beyond what we know now, so that maybe, in the future, we’ll be better prepared.

We don’t know that the Progenitors exist in real science, but the "panspermia hypothesis," is a very real scientific concept. A friendly alien may not have consciously sparked life on Earth eons ago, but, in reality, it is possible that some building blocks for life itself may have come from the stars.

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Ryan Britt is the author of the nonfiction books Phasers on Stun! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World (2022), The Spice Must Flow: The Journey of Dune from Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023), and the essay collection Luke Skywalker Can’t Read (2015). He is a longtime contributor to Star Trek.com and his writing regularly appears with Inverse, Den of Geek!, Esquire and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, Maine with his family.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

• Star Trek 101

Biggest Star Trek Retcons

• Star Trek's Federation and Klingon relationship is a source of debate among fans over formal membership vs. alliance.
• The infamous Eugenics Wars conflict was pushed into the mid-21st century due to timeline discrepancies in the show.
• Klingons have undergone significant changes in appearance and behavior throughout the Star Trek franchise.

Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek franchise is full of iconic heroes, aliens, and starships. Set centuries in the future, it imagines a galaxy where the human race has abandoned its worst tendencies in favor of exploring the wonders of the galaxy . This format has proven remarkably successful, as Star Trek: The Original Series overcame initially poor odds to spawn over half a dozen spin-off series, as well as several movies and hundreds of books, comics, and video games.

Star Trek: 7 Alien Civilizations Discovered By Captain Kirk

Yet like every long-running franchise, the universe of Star Trek is full of contradictions, forgetful writers, and behind-the-scenes errors. From Spock's rapidly growing family tree to numerous issues involving the Klingons, it's safe to say that the final frontier is far from set in stone.

The Members of the Federation

How far-reaching is the utopian alliance.

Despite representing the undisputed system of government for Earth and countless other worlds, very little concrete information is divulged about the Federation and its members throughout the Star Trek franchise. The size of the alliance fluctuates wildly depending on the source consulted: while The Original Series implies that there are just over 30 worlds in the Federation, information related to the more-or-less concurrent Kelvin timeline suggests a group at least four times larger. While this discrepancy can be attributed to divergent timelines, one point of contention remains: the status of the Klingon Empire.

While it's undeniable that the Federation and the Klingon Empire were allies during The Next Generation , various set dressing details and throwaway lines hint at a deep relationship. A Klingon starship carries the Federation flag on its bridge in "Heart of Glory", perhaps implying membership, while a later conversation between Picard and Wesley Crusher is even more explicit. In "Samaritan Snare", Wesley refers to a time "before the Klingons joined the Federation". However, many fans discount this line, suggesting that it refers to the Treaty of Alliance rather than formal membership.

The Eugenics Wars

What actually happened (and when).

The infamous Eugenics Wars (first referenced in The Original Series episode "Space Seed") was a devastating conflict that killed millions and resulted in humanity abandoning its research into genetic augmentation. According to a conversation between Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy, the conflict took place between 1992 and 1996—the distant future for viewers of the episode's original broadcast. However, given that the mid-nineties came and went without any global conflict, Star Trek 's writers have subsequently scrambled to reconcile sixties' world-building with contemporary knowledge.

Star Trek Fans Debate Who Deserves Credit For Defeating Khan

In an attempt to make sense of the timeline, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds suggested that temporal interference from various factions pushed the Eugenics War (and the actions of the genocidal Khan ) forward into the mid-twenty-first century. Whether future franchise showrunners will be forced to kick the can further down the road remains to be seen, but it certainly wouldn't be the first retcon to this vital part of Star Trek lore.

Can They Use Transporters?

The Trill are one of Star Trek 's more bizarre aliens, as some of the humanoid species are physically connected to a centuries-old symbiont. When the host dies, their memories live on within the symbiont, which is subsequently transferred into another individual. The Trill's unique physiology was central to their introductory episode "The Host", which saw Beverly Crusher fall in love with one of the aliens only for its host to tragically die.

The decision to foreground the Trill in the subsequent Star Trek: Deep Space Nine meant that the aliens underwent a radical overhaul. In The Next Generation , joined Trill were unable to use transporters because doing so would endanger their symbiont, while DS9 's Dax frequently made use of the technology. Also notable was the change in the Trill's appearance: the show's writers were apparently scandalized that the beautiful Terry Farrell would be given the Trill's original ugly makeup, and suggested using the spots previously seen on the Kriosians in The Next Generation .

Starfleet's Identity

Just who is captain kirk answerable to.

The Federation Starfleet is now so much of a part of nerd culture that the organization's chevron symbol is recognizable even outside its original context. However, both the famous insignia and the identity of Starfleet itself were once very far from concrete, as evidenced by early episodes of The Original Series . In "Charlie X", Captain Kirk makes a report to "UESPA headquarters", rather than Starfleet Command. Then, in "Tomorrow is Yesterday", the acronym is defined as referring to the United Earth Space Probe Agency, and Kirk suggests that this organization is responsible for the Enterprise 's mission.

Star Trek: Best Starships To Work On

The United Earth Space Probe Agency doesn't roll off the tongue in quite the same way as "Starfleet", so the decision to alter the name of Kirk's employers into something punchier makes a lot of sense. Interestingly, future shows did play lip service to the UESPA concept: an unmanned probe launched by the group is discovered by the USS Voyager in "Friendship One", while Star Trek: Enterprise implies that UESPA is part of Starfleet rather than a separate organization.

Spock's Family Tree

How many long-lost siblings can one vulcan have.

The Vulcan Spock may have an impeccable sense of logic, but he also appears to have a terrible memory when it comes to his own family. While this vagueness can be traced back to The Original Series (his claim that a human woman married one of his ancestors is a strange way to refer to his own mother and father), Spock is particularly susceptible to suddenly recalling previously unmentioned siblings. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) introduced audiences to estranged half-brother Sybok , while Star Trek: Discovery saddled Spock with an adopted human sister in the form of Michael Burnham.

Why the Discovery writing room decided to draw inspiration from what is widely regarded as the worst Star Trek film remains unclear—it may be that Spock is perceived to be such a cultural heavyweight that linking new characters to the original Vulcan is seen as a way to ensure their popularity. Whether this is actually accurate is up for debate, but with countless other Star Trek projects currently in development, Spock may find his family tree yielding further undisclosed branches.

The Klingons

They do not discuss their retcons with outsiders.

The Klingons are probably Star Trek 's most iconic alien race, but when it comes to internal consistency, the classic species is sorely lacking. The Original Series cast the Klingons as scheming space Soviets; The Next Generation reinvented them as honor-bound warriors . Nor do the Klingons maintain a constant appearance: they didn't grow their craggy foreheads until Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), while the recent Star Trek: Discovery chose to depict the Klingons as bald space orcs. While most of these changes can be attributed to behind-the-scenes budget increases, the in-universe logic is far murkier.

Star Trek: Worf's Best Quotes

Star Trek: Enterprise made a valiant effort to explain the change in Klingon appearance and behavior, only to be completely ignored by the subsequent Star Trek: Discovery . Deep Space Nine 's "Trials and Tribble-ations" perhaps puts it best—when asked why he doesn't resemble the Klingons of Kirk's era, Worf shuts down the conversation by saying that it is not a topic that they discuss with outsiders.

Created by Gene Roddenberry

First Film Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Latest Film Star Trek Beyond

First TV Show Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Creation Year 1966

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery season 5 episode 4 ending explained.

Moll and L'ak send Burnham, Rayner and Stamets hurtling through their past, present, and future as Star Trek: Discovery's treasure hunt continues.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange".

• Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner navigate through time to stop the time bug, showcasing their growth and teamwork.
• A Voyager connection reveals the menacing Krenim "time bug" and its catastrophic effects on the USS Discovery's crew and timeline.
• Burnham reflects on her journey as she faces challenges from her past while navigating through alternate futures in "Face the Strange."

Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) find themselves hurtling through the USS Discovery's past, present, and future in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange". Written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose, "Face the Strange" demonstrates how far Burnham and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) have come since Discovery season 1 . It's also a chance for Burnham and her new Number One, Rayner, to finally work as a team, as they literally race against time to get Discovery 's hunt for the Progenitors' treasure back on track.

"Face the Strange" reveals that Moll (Eve Harlow) planted a Krenim " time bug " on Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 3 . Having worked its way into the USS Discovery's systems, the time bug traps the crew in their own history, randomly cycling the ship through the past, present, and future, freeing Moll and L'ak to retrieve the next clue . Burnham, Rayner, and Stamets are unaffected and work together to get the USS Discovery back to the 32nd century in time to stop Moll and L'ak from completing the next step in Discovery 's treasure hunt.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

How burnham, rayner & stamets beat star trek: discovery's time bug explained.

The time bug in Star Trek: Discovery is a particularly nasty piece of temporal technology, which proves hard for Burnham, Rayner, and Stamets to beat. Their first attempt to nullify the device fails, because time inside the surrounding field is moving at a rapid pace. Anything that enters the field to remove the time bug will cease to exist within seconds , forcing Stamets to come up with a far riskier strategy.

the warp bubble is what protects the crews of Star Trek 's starships from the effects of relativity...

The trick to beating the time bug is to reduce the flow of time in the surrounding field , but to do that, the USS Discovery has to break the warp bubble and throw relativity out of sync. As they travel faster than the speed of light, the warp bubble is what protects the crews of Star Trek 's starships from the effects of relativity . Abruptly breaking the warp bubble means that the time bug has less time to readjust to relative time outside the USS Discovery. This would weaken the surrounding field for long enough for Rayner to remove the time bug.

The main issue with Commander Paul Stamets ' plan was that the time-traveling trio were in the worst possible time period when it comes to Burnham's standing aboard the USS Discovery. The time bug's final cycle took Burnham, Rayner and Stamets to an early point in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, when Michael was still seen as a dangerous mutineer. For Stamets' plan to succeed, Burnham had to make her way to the bridge, fight and incapacitate her younger self, then successfully convinced the bridge crew to follow the orders of their future captain .

A line of dialog places these scenes at some point between episodes 3 and 4 of Star Trek: Discovery season 1, as Commander Landry is said to still be alive.

Star Trek: Discovery's Time Bug Is A Voyager Connection

Commander Rayner reveals that the time bug is a " Krenim chronophage " left over from Star Trek 's Temporal Wars . The Krenim are a technologically advanced species first introduced in Star Trek: Voyager 's season 4 two-parter, "Year of Hell." The USS Voyager's first encounter with the Krenim went so badly wrong that it created an alternate timeline that descimated the majority of the ship's crew .

This forced Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to make the ultimate sacrifice to restore history. Hailing from the Delta Quadrant, the Krenim had devastating temporal weapons that were capable of removing entire species from existence. While Star Trek: Discovery 's time bug is much smaller, it can still have a devastating impact on its victims , as shown by what will happen if Moll and L'ak get their hands on the Progenitors' technology.

Voyager Is Why Star Trek Is Replacing Discovery’s Spore Drive

Burnham and stamets’ time travel shows how much they've changed on star trek: discovery.

Burnham and Stamets are forced to relive some painful moments from their pasts, but these incidents remind viewers just how far the Star Trek: Discovery characters have come. Stamets hilariously draws on his angrier, snarkier past self from Discovery season 1, which helps him swiftly empty engineering. It's a fun callback to the person that Stamets used to be, before his tardigrade DNA made him more mellow, making him a better husband to Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and a father figure to Adira. However, Stamets' tartigrade DNA has one drawback; he still experiences the pain of being impaled during the Battle of Control .

Burnham also gets a welcome reminder of how far she's come, courtesy of the Krenim time bug and some words of encouragement from Rayner. Rayner reminds her that she never gave up on her path from prisoner to starship captain , and so she shouldn't give up when faced with their bleak alternate future. Captain Burnham stirring the crew of the USS Discovery on the same day that her younger self came aboard as a prisoner is a strong affirmation of her journey between Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 5.

Burnham's awkwardness around Book seems more rooted in her suppressing her attraction than trying not to change the future

Burnham also gets a chance to reflect on her relationship with Booker (David Ajala), when she meets his past self, fresh out of the shower. Burnham's awkwardness around Book seems more rooted in her suppressing her attraction than trying not to change the future. It's another hint that Burnham and Book's Star Trek: Discovery love story isn't over yet.

Star Trek: Discovery Finally Solves Its Biggest Short Trek Mystery

In the fan-favorite Short Trek , a soldier, Craft (Aldis Hodge) was picked up by the USS Discovery after his escape pod had drifted through space for a month. Craft formed a bond with Zora (Annabelle Wallis) who had been left behind by the USS Discovery a thousand years earlier. For years, fans speculated over where "Calypso" fitted into the Star Trek: Discovery timeline, something that the showrunners promised would come further down the line. Now, Discovery season 5, episode 5 "Face the Strange" provides the answer. "Calypso" takes place in an alternate version of the 42nd century, a thousand years after the Progenitors' technology had fallen into the wrong hands .

Star Trek Needs To Bring Back Short Treks

Burnham and Rayner's jump into the future reveals that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Breen got hold of the Progenitors' technology and used it to destroy Starfleet and the Federation. As the USS Discovery hangs in space, Burnham and Rayner look out at a devastated Federation Headquarters, as Zora pleads with them to change the future. The use of a calypso version of Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera" is Star Trek: Discovery 's subtle confirmation that it's this catastrophe that left Zora abandoned for a thousand years before Star Trek: Short Treks .

Did Star Trek: Discovery Retcon Airiam’s Season 2 Sacrifice?

While convincing the crew of the USS Discovery to help with her plan to return to the 32nd century, Captain Burnham reveals that Lt. Commander Airiam (Hannah Cheeseman) will sacrifice her life to save her crew mates. Airiam accepts Burnham's future knowledge, because she knows that she would sacrifice her life in those circumstances. Airiam's knowledge of her own future is what eventually convinces her to follow Burnham's orders by breaking the warp bubble . In normal circumstances, knowledge given to her by a time-traveling Burnham would mean that Airiam will sacrifice her life in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 because she knows she has to.

However, due to the nature of the Krenim time bug, and Stamets' solution, Burnham telling Airiam about her tragic future doesn't retcon Star Trek: Discovery season 2. By removing the time bug before the next loop, Burnham, Rayner and Stamets negate everything that they did, meaning that, for example, young Burnham won't remember her fight with her future self. This means that Airiam will still make the decision to sacrifice her life in Discovery season 2, independently, not because she was inspired to do so by Captain Burnham .

Rayner Is Finally “Connecting” With USS Discovery's Crew

Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner continues to go from strength to strength in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. Following Burnham's orders to " connect " with the Discovery crew in the previous episode, Rayner demonstrates how much he was paying attention during his brisk one-on-one meetings. Not only does Rayner give Burnham the encouragement she needs not to give up, he and Stamets appear to bond over being " old dogs " who specialize in " gruff candor ".

Why I'm On Rayner's Side In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Rayner's most notable connection is with Gen Rhys, whose theory about Moll and L'ak he brusquely dismisses at the start of the episode . Thrown back into time when Rhys was just a lieutenant, Rayner gets through to the young officer by bonding with him over a love of Constitution-class starships. Rayner's connection with Rhys is enough to convince the officer to lower his phaser and let him and Stamets proceed with their plan. Back in the 32nd century, Rayner finally acknowledges the value of Rhys' tactical assessment that Moll and L'ak would just follow Discovery to the next clue .

Rayner also tells Rhys that he's lost his family, teasing more about the new Star Trek: Discovery character's backstory.

Where Have Moll And L’ak Gone In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5?

The Krenim time bug caused the USS Discovery crew to lose six hours to Moll and L'ak in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 . Returned to Tzenkethi space in the 32nd century, Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) picks up Moll and L'ak's trail, but it quickly stops dead , meaning that they've seemingly disappeared. A starship trail that drops dead just before an episode called "Mirrors" would certainly play into Star Trek: Discovery season 5's Mirror Universe theory . Perhaps the reason that Moll and L'ak's trail stops dead is because they've phased into another reality altogether.

It's possible that Moll and L'ak picked up more than a Romulan puzzle box...

Alternatively, given Star Trek: Discovery season 5's Romulan connection, their ship could have used an interphasic cloak, first seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Next Phase". Interphasic cloaking technology effectively turned Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) into ghosts, unable to be seen by their crewmates. It's possible, therefore, that Moll and L'ak picked up more than a Romulan puzzle box in Star Trek: Discovery 's season 5 premiere, meaning that they could have a considerable tactical advantage over Burnham and the crew in the next stage of the treasure hunt.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.