Or, is he? I mean I love Spock as much as everyone else but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when his smug attitude doesn’t get annoying, or he does something that’s, well, illogical! Now some things seem silly but we get what’s going on so we forgive it. For instance, we have no idea what Spock is exactly doing to save the ship at the end of TWOK, but it works so we let it go. In “Galileo Seven” jettisoning the fuel seems so out of character that it would ruin the episode..except the episode goes out of its way to give Spock an “out” at the end so that it makes “logical” sense. In “That Side of Paradise” he is waayyy out of character, but we blame that on those darn spores. His whining when he mind melds with the Horta in “Devil in the Dark” is goofy out of context but it makes sense from the Horta’s point of view. He acts silly in “I, Mudd” but that is just following orders. And in “Plato’s Stepchildre” he does some truly crazy things, but he’s under mind control and it’s dealt with in the episode.
Here are five Spock moments that are not explained away, they’re just silly or annoying.
Spock explains what amusement parks are to Kirk
Ok this is a small one I suppose and maybe it’s just me. The point of having Spock explain something is so that either audience or the characters will understand what is going on. Ok, fine. But in the episode “Shore Leave” he does it at a stupid moment. At the end the caretaker is trying to explain that the planet provides experiences (see the episode long story) that were intended to amuse them all by giving their fantasies reality. But it’s all fake. Spock then sums it up by saying the term is “amusement park”. He then turns to Kirk and explains that amusement park is an old Earth term for a place humans would got to see and do fascinating things. Uh, you know Kirk is human right? I really can’t believe Kirk has never heard of amusement parks. Sure in the 23rd century they would be different, but if Kirk knows what trick or treating is I’m sure he’s heard of an amusement park! It’s a small one but that still bugs me. Why even have Spock say that at all? Did they really think the audience were going to be confused by that term? It would have worked better to have given Kirk the line and Spock be confused by it. It’s like in TNG when Data would be confused by things he should understand for a cheap gag. This isn’t even that! And finally, the word amusement park doesn’t even make sense here really. Why not a carnival? Or a circus? All in all, that line was just stupid.
Spock gets attacked by poisonous flowers, exploding rocks, lightning, and a force field in the same episode!
I talked about “The Apple” before, and I won’t get into a plot breakdown again here. But this is one episode where Spock has a really tough day. Ok he isn’t attacked by the exploding rocks, but comes close when he throw a rock aside and it explodes. But he does attacked by the poisonous thorns from a flower. This is actually one of the lamest excuses for a commercial break ever. Before the commercial, Spock needs to be rushed to sick-bay. After the commercial, he’s suddenly fine. Then not only does he get repelled by a force field but he also get struck by lightning! Good this he’s a main character, the same lightning that burned him actually fried a red shirt earlier in the episode!
Spock assists with his one brain surgery!
Yeah this seemed like such an easy target I almost kept it off the list. But then I decided the episode was written, filmed and aired so it should count. Guess one scene wasn’t enough, this whole episode is a slap in the face! So where do we begin? Spock’s brain is stolen by alien’s because they need it to…run their stuff, I don’t know. After The Enterprise tracks it down we get the following…a mindless Spock controlled by a headset, Kirk is able to talk to Spock over his communicator (in Spock’s voice!), and in the end Spock’s brain is restored without even a muss in his hair. The best part is when McCoy forget the knowledge he acquired to do the surgery (long story watch the episode). He is able to tap into Spock’s vocal cords, and Spock proceeds to talk McCoy through the remainder of the operation. Umm….yeah, sure. Ok. Spock wasn’t a robot guys!
Spock jams with the hippies
Man, third season Trek was not kind to Spock was it? I have talked before about how god awful “Way to Eden” was, I absolutely despise it. One of the reasons is that the episode stops for musical numbers from the “space hippies”. The dumbest has to be when Spock sits in with them! Now Spock playing the liyr is not out of character, he did this with Uhura in a much earlier episode and is seen using it in others. But sitting in with these hippies? It’s just so stupid! So I watched the clip again for this article…and I got nauseous. The best part is the end of the scene. Spock gets up and walks out without a word. You almost see Nimoy thinking to himself “Are you f****ing kidding??” I could explain why he was jamming with the hippies and all, but I don’t remember the episode that well and I’d prefer it stayed that way.
Spock can’t pick which Kirk
This is one is a classic. Season 3 Classic Trek was awful, have I mentioned that? This is an episode where not only is Spock stupid, but the scene would have been even dumber if Leonard Nimoy hadn’t spoken up! Ok I gotta explain the plot a bit for this one. Kirk and Spock beam down to an asylum to find out one of the prisoners has taken over. His name is Garth of Izar and he has the ability look like anyone. Long story short, Spock is looking for Kirk when he walks into a room and finds Kirk and Garth disguised as Kirk. Now you would this would be a piece of cake, right? How many ways could Kirk prove himself? There have to a million questions Spock could ask! Or heck, just stun them both and sort it out later! For pete’s sake even Turnabout Intruder was smarter than this with a similar setup. But no Spock has no idea and after asking a random question not personally related to Kirk in the slightest, he decides to sit and wait for Garth to tire himself out. As he gets a chair, because just standing there would have been to hard, Garth hits Spock and suddenly the two Kirk’s are fighting. And Spock just sits on the floor and watches. The real Kirk finally tells Spock to fire at them both, and suddenly then it’s clear who is Garth. I read that the scene was supposed to involve Nimoy getting hit over the head, but that was removed (though the line referencing it later was kept in) but Nimoy hated the original script so much he literally wrote to the network about it! It was supposed to more intelligent but the director changed it and made it more action, and Spock comes out looking stupid.
Ok so he didn’t own every moment, still Spock was one of the best characters ever on TV and Leonard Nimoy played him perfectly. Did I miss a good example? And I chose to ignore the movies but I’m sure there are examples in those too.
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