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Braga was asked if T'Pol would go through pon farr during her time on the NX-01. "We have talked about it," he said. "We want to wait until the time is right � when we really need the ratings!"

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It was all I could do to stop myself from screaming in frustration -- because it was 5 AM and everyone else in the house was asleep.

This makes me sick! Okay, so T'Pol, by her very nature as a Vulcan, is probably going to have to deal with the pon farr at some point or another. But it's Braga's attitude that's extremely disturbing -- he's viewing the entire plot as a potential ratings stunt.

Anyone else want to be that this will turn into a disaster?
 

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Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
 
Well, purely the fact that pon farr has always been something that has been limited to Vulcan males makes me think that this will be a disaster. Granted, it's never been stated that Vulcan females don't go through pon farr, it's just never been mentioned any of the times it's come up.

To me, it's just been pretty obvious that this was a males only thing. Until now. Until there are no Vulcan males on the ship. Now it's an equal-opportunity chemical imbalance.

I'm not really as bitter as all that. There are worse things than Jolene Blalock running around the ship all hot and bothered...but add to all this the fact that noone was supposed to have ever heard of pon farr until TOS and the suop gets stirred even more.

And yes...the idea that it'll be used when they "need" the ratings... that's just bad juju...
 

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Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
 
Or maybe they if ratings go really down they could always do that Gell Scene. Or on the other hand, they could travel to the year 2002, and stop a mad man from destroying the 23rd century! Or they could discover the Borg which came from the 35th century and try to destroy the Enterprise, but somehow she ends up destroying the whole Collective.

Or what they could do if they don't want ratings to go down, is to have A+ episodes and get off of UPN and go on some other respectable station.
 

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Posted by koy'peled Oy'tio (Member # 796) on :
 
i would be intrested to see what a female pon farr would be like...quick everyone stop watching enterprise.
 

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Posted by Flower Man (Member # 780) on :
 
*sigh* GR must be rolling in his grave right now.
 

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Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
 
He's been rolling since Voyager.
 

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Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
 
The rotation speed has been increasing. Scientists are considering attaching magnets to Roddenberry's body so that he can be used as a power source. As long as B&B continue to besmirch his legacy, his grave-rolling motion could be used to light a small city.

(BTW he was cremated)
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 

 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
If both genders went through pon farr, it would cause some problems. What are the chances a married couple would both just happen to be synchronized?
 

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Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
 
So, what are you saying, Tim? Vulcans CAN'T mate if they're not in pon-farr? Or they just can't knock someone up? 'Cuz, as I remember, T'Pol slept with some random Vulcan in a prior episode, and, er, I don't think either of them were in pon'farr ... or were they?
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
Frankly, the whole concept is pretty shaky.

T'Pol would be the second female to go through it onscreen, though. First Vulcan female, admittedly, but there you are.
 

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Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
 
Thanks for posting this, Dan. I think exactly the same about it and came here to post it too. Such an attitude is simply disgusting, and even if it was meant as a joke we know that it's how he actually writes the show (considering the progression "bed" --> "kiss" --> "bondage" --> "nude" he obviously needs to do something about the ratings already now).
 

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Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
 
Am I being hopelessly optimistic by reading a joking tone into the comment?
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay:
So, what are you saying, Tim? Vulcans CAN'T mate if they're not in pon-farr?

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I'm surprised that no one's mentioned Saavik yet, from ST3.
 

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Posted by U//Magnus (Member # 239) on :
 

 

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Posted by Alshrim (Member # 258) on :
 
Saavik wasn't in Pon Farr... she was bonding with Spock to ease his!!
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
Jeff: Well, they haven't really explained the technicalities of it all. But I assumed it had something to do w/ fertility (of course, then you'd think only the women would go through it, but oh well). Otherwise, why would it happen?
 

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
 
Tom, you're asking Star Trek fans to have a sense of self-awareness, or even ironic detachment. 21st century notions that are far beyond the 19th century mindset of fandom.
 

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Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
 
You'ns all seriusly need to purchase some senses of humor. He's making a damn JOKE.

Trust me. If you ever want to kiss a girl, you NEED to be able to pick up on things like that.
 

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Posted by The Apocalypse (Member # 633) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Malnurtured Snay:
So, what are you saying, Tim? Vulcans CAN'T mate if they're not in pon-farr? Or they just can't knock someone up? 'Cuz, as I remember, T'Pol slept with some random Vulcan in a prior episode, and, er, I don't think either of them were in pon'farr ... or were they?

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quote:

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As for the much-requested storyline of T'Pol experiencing the Vulcan mating ritual known as pon farr, Braga commented wryly, "We have talked about it. We want to wait until the time is right — when we really need the ratings!"

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Originally posted by The_Tom:
Because half the people here need the fact that this is humorous spelled out to them like I'm writing for an avionics journal, from the original bloody article...

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Talk about going off half-cocked.
 

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by The_Tom:

quote:

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As for the much-requested storyline of T'Pol experiencing the Vulcan mating ritual known as pon farr, Braga commented wryly, "We have talked about it. We want to wait until the time is right — when we really need the ratings!"

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Wry: Dryly humorous, often with a touch of irony.

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THANKYOU - he was (let's hope) joking.

quote:

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ALSO originally posted by The_TOM:

quote:

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In other words, fan most likely went up to microphone, asked Braga about T'Pol and sex, and he made a funny. Whether the people at the con found it funny or not is open to debate.

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LOL! *funny scene entered my head* Braga answers this questions... no one laughs... murmurings and gasps and audible whispers are heard coming from the audience... the dull roar becomes louder and louder... 35 year old men in ill-fitting starfleet uniforms and large-esque women in klingon uniforms rush the stage and Braga! LOL!

[ April 01, 2002, 18:37: Message edited by: AndrewR ]
 

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Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
 
I don't know if this is already said here, but Vulcan females DO NOT go through pon farr... That was established in a TOS episode AND in 'The Search for Spock'.
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
Prove it. With quotes.

And as Tim said, prove it in a way where we can't just say "it has a different name for women".

If they do, I wonder if it's like how women's periods tend to sync up if they are in close proximity for prolonged time; the male and female would end up experiencing pon farr simulatiously.
 

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Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
 
Just caught TSFS on TV tonight, and paid careful attention to "the line" and the surrounding context. The way it's said, it most certainly rules out anyone drawing any conclusions about how Vulcan women breed. It merely implies that a 7-year mating cycle called "Pon Farr" affects Vulcan men specifically. Vulcan women canonically appear to be able to do the nasty at any time (Saavik didn't need to be telepathically bonded to Spock Jr. before they could start, um, stroking one another) but on top of that they could go through "pon farr" every nine years or "ponette farr" every seven and the line would still make perfect sense.

[ April 21, 2002, 21:30: Message edited by: The_Tom ]
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 

"...women's periods tend to sync up if they are in close proximity for prolonged time..."

Really? I'd never heard that before...
 

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Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
 
T'is true.

The evolutionary explanation I've heard is so that a roving lone proto-Nix could arrive at a community of lustful cavewomen and impregnate as many as possible in a brief period of time, thus maximizing the number of baby proto-Nixes created while minimizing the amount of time he'd have to spend hanging around the icky-pooey females.
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
Something like that. It's caused (from a scientific POV), by hormones in the air and, er, stuff.
 

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Posted by Saiyanman Benjita (Member # 122) on :
 
I think B was making a joke. If anyone took it seriously, they would cause a havoc.... oh wait... um... What thread am I posting in again?

Even a casual Trek fan knows Pon Farr. My wife, who isn't into the intracicies (sp?) of the show, watches it casually for a few laughs and even she knows it's a "man-only" thing.

We may be able to forgive something like Ferengi, but something stated many times (TOS, TSFS, TNG?, VOY) and more or less is a running thing, wouldn't be so easily overlooked.
 

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Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
 
Well, TOS and ST3 are the only ones to speak of it as male-only, and even there the two alternates ("Ponette Far" and a non-seven-year female cycle) are left open. VOY is annoyingly ambiguous, although it certainly clears up a thing or two about when Pon Farr begins and whether it can be avoided. B'Elanna Torres did get Pon Farr'y, but that was apparently the *male* variety of the ailment, transmitted to the wrong sex and wrong species.

So "Fusion" alone doesn't yet contradict the TOS and ST3 statements. But they are walking a semantic tightrope there.

Timo Saloniemi
 

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Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
 
So basically what we have is a race that gets horny, violent, and so on every 7 years. And it might be possbile that the male version is a mild one, if we follow human female reactions to their little Pon Farr. Combined with PM and Pon Far, I don't want to be near a Vulcan emale.
 

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Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
 
why, what kind of encryption does Vulcan email use?

Also, I think the only reason that Spock (and Vorik's) pon farrs were do difficult was the lack of a suitable mate.. possibly there would be no need for the advanced blood fever aspect unless they did not find a mate in the time allotted.. if Sorik Q. Vulcan wakes up on June 5th and starts to feel a little feverish, he calls into work, him and the wife settle it, and he goes back to work a day or two later, and all his buddies nudge him at the water cooler.. "Hey you get over the 'flu', buddy?" while raising their eyebrows up and down
 

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Saiyanman Benjita:

Even a casual Trek fan knows Pon Farr. My wife, who isn't into the intracicies (sp?) of the show, watches it casually for a few laughs and even she knows it's a "man-only" thing.

We may be able to forgive something like Ferengi, but something stated many times (TOS, TSFS, TNG?, VOY) and more or less is a running thing, wouldn't be so easily overlooked.

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