I was thinking in the shower this morning (as one is wont to do) about that annoying line of Spock being the first Vulcan in Starfleet. Now, we've always interpreted it to mean that he was the first ever...but no Vulcans until the 2250s? And then all of a sudden there's enough to crew Intrepid? Weird.
But think about this: what if it could be interpreted to mean that Spock was the first Vulcan to JOIN UFP Starfleet?
Follow the line here.
It's more than reasonable to infer that Earth Starfleet becomes the primary foundational basis for UFP Starfleet. We know that T'Pol is not the first person to work with Earth Starfleet, although she is the one with the longest assignment. It's not unreasonable to infer that with the founding of the UFP, every member race has personnel attached to the new UFP Starfleet; otherwise, who would compose the thing?
Now, let's say T'Pol is in her forties or fifties; it's enough of an age to make her rigid in Vulcan ways, yet young enough to make her flexible to human influences. This could mean she's alive until the beginning of the 24th century. Assume that this is about the average age of the Vulcan delegation to the new UFP Starfleet.
We now have a foundational groups of..well, let's call it an even 1000 Vulcans to staff this new organization with. Given the length of Vulcan lifespans, it then doesn't become unreasonable that there isn't a new infusion of personnel from that planet until Spock comes along in the 2240s and 50s. He's the leading tide of a new generation of Vulcans, the second to have been born & grown up with the Federation around (remember, Sarek was born in 2165), & they're naturally curious & wish to be part of this organization. Up till then, the only Vulcans you found in UFP Starfleet were "foundational Vulcans," those who'd been there since day one, & who are, upon Spock's Academy graduation, on average 120 to 150 years old.
I think it works.
Posted by CaptainMike XXIII (Member # 709) on :
did we ever find where that line came from? i only remember it from non-canon sources
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I was discussing that theory a bit with Masao via e-mail a few weeks ago. I thought that the line was in "Whom Gods Destroy," but it's not there.
Also, don't forget the 430 Vulcans that were aboard the USS Intrepid in TOS season two (c.f. "The Immunity Syndrome")... which definitely suggests that there were a reasonable number of Vulcans in the fleet, even if there were overwhelming numbers of Humans.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Indeed, but I took them into account with the foundtaional group. Still, 1000...alright, let's up that base figure to 3000.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
After searching through Eric's Excruciatingly Detailed Star Trek (TOS) Plot Summaries, I can find no mention of Spock being the first Vulcan in Starfleet. I think this is either just one of those fandom myths, something Roddingberry mentioned or something out of TAS.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
IIRC it was something Roddenberry said, perhaps it was in the series bible. (Check Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek.) It's not from TAS.
-MMoM Posted by CaptainMike XXIII (Member # 709) on :
yeah. i'm just fine with that being an erroneous assumption based on the series bible. requires a lot less explanation.
Posted by Ryan McReynolds (Member # 28) on :
It wasn't in the bible either. It's fan-myth, sillies.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
The first TOS drafts also say Spock is a red demonic Martian.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
My favorite TOS course correction is...well, I forget where it is from. An early episode, to say the least. McCoy and Spock are in sickbay, and Spock says something, and McCoy tosses back a witty rejoinder, which he follows up with "Maybe that's why your people were conquered." The heck? The tone of the scene seems to imply that it was humans who did the conquering. I always enjoy that scene, because otherwise everything is more or less spot on as far as what later becomes canonical Trek.
Maybe you had to be there.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Damn you. Now I can never, ever sleep again. At least until I remember what episode that was.
Er, it wasn't crazy mental patient one, was it?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"Dagger of the Mind"? I think you might be right.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
It was "The Conscience of the King".
McCoy: "Would you care for a drink, Mr. Spock?"
Spock: "My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol."
McCoy: "Oh. Now I know why they were conquered."
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Let's just call it a McCoyism and leave it at that.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Or in hindsight, a possible reference to the 100 years Romulan/Vulcan war. But then would McCoy even be aware of that?
It's possible that Vulcan was conquered by another race who later decided to leave, were later driven off or who's empire collapsed. Similar in a way to what happened to most european countries when thr Roman Empire fell or indeed the Cardassian/Bajorian situation.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
The fact that the entire crew of the Intrepid was Vulcan also implies that at least some Vulcans had to have been in Starfleet long enough to make Captain and Commander ranks- in other words, almost certainly longer than Spock.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Well here is something that might explain away the line. Maybe Spock was the first Vulcan to attend STARFLEET ACADEMY and work his way up through there? Maybe all the others came via the Vulcan Science Academy/Vulcan Security/Vulcan fleet or whatever. It would gel with Sarek's disapproval of Spock going to Starfleet Academy. It would also alow T'Pol etc. Or any Vulcans in between as they would be part of Starfleet via a merging or crossing over of their home-planet's own Fleet/forces/services.
Andrew
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Andrew: There. Was. No. Line.
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
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