What's the huge hole? Was it Spock and Uhura? Because that's not how Vulcans are supposed to mate.
Oh, right.
But also the mating thing. Whatever happened to being overcome with strange urges once every seven years, compelling one to return to Vulcan for an elaborate ritual that might culminate in mortal combat with one's best friend and superior officer? (Or something like that -- it's been a while since I saw that episode.)
I don't remember any mention of casual hookups at the Federation Academy (for Spock anyway -- for Kirk, they go without saying).
You thought maybe Wikipedia didn't include (science fictional) mating rituals?
Au contraire!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pon_farrPon farr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPon farr is an element of the fictional Star Trek universe that occurs both in the canonical TV series and in fan fiction based upon the series. In Star Trek, Vulcan males and females go into heat every seven years, going into a blood fever, becoming violent, and finally dying if they do not mate with someone with whom they are empathically bonded.
In canonIt was introduced in the original series episode
"Amok Time", written by
Theodore Sturgeon, which depicts
Mr. Spock going into pon farr and being returned to Vulcan by
Captain Kirk and
Doctor McCoy in order to undergo the mating ritual and save his life.[1]
Pon farr has occurred as a female Vulcan cycle in the character of
T'Pol from the final
Star Trek series, Enterprise.
Spock experienced an accelerated version of
pon farr due to the Genesis planet's influence in Star Trek III, as a young man. He was aided by fellow half-Vulcan,
Saavik.
In
Voyager,
Tuvok experienced
pon farr while the vessel was trapped far away from any other Vulcans, so he was unable to mate with his wife. Initially he claimed that he had Tarkalean flu to the crew to spare the embarrassment of discussing his actual condition. He attempted to control the
pon farr through meditation and drugs, but was not ultimately successful until he met with his wife in a holodeck program.
Star Trek DC comics 7 and 8 in 1984. Saavik went into a fever,
Pon Farr and attacked the Enterprise. When Saavik crash lands on a Romulan controlled planet; her mate,
Xon, explains she is going through
Pon Farr. And, issue 8 the comic emphasized she mated with him to help her through
Pon Farr since Xon was her mate.
In fan fictionPon farr also occurs, and has been extensively elaborated from what is canon, in fan fiction. One such fan fiction story is
"The Ring of Soshern", which was probably written before 1976, and circulated as samizdat until 1987, when it was formally published in the anthology
Alien Brothers. The story is denoted as a "K/S" story — the designation for fan fiction stories that feature an explicitly sexual relationship between Kirk and Spock. (See slash fiction.) In the story, Kirk and Spock beam down to an unexplored planet, and are marooned there when the Enterprise is forced away by an ion storm. [1]
One element of
pon farr in fan fiction that is typified by
"The Ring of Soshern" is that Spock is unwilling to engage in sexual intercourse even when in the full throes of
pon farr. This plot device allows stories to include many more occasions for erotic couplings. Other such elements include
"plak tow" as the name for the blood fever; the fact that Kirk, because of his empathic bond with Spock, can sense when Spock is about to go into
pon farr, and even suffers some of its symptoms himself; and "lingering death" as the name for the death of a Vulcan male in
pon farr who is unable to claim a mate.[1][2][3]
InterpretationPon farr stories are so popular with slash story fans that at least one fanzine,
Fever, is devoted to containing only
pon farr stories.
Constance Penley believes that part of the stories' popularity rests in the idea of men being subject to a hormonal cycle, observing that in slash fiction the symptoms of
pon farr are "wickedly and humorously made to parallel those of PMS and menstruation, in a playful and transgressive levelling of the biological playing field".[2]
Pon farr is perceived by many female fans of
Star Trek fan fiction as a symbol of human sexuality in American males, who, like Vulcans, are trained not to express their feelings. The fan fiction stories are guides for readers in how to handle sexual encounters with human men, who are just as "alien" as Vulcans to women, being equally as unpredictable and uncontrolled.[4]
ContrastPon farr in canon and
pon farr in fan fiction are presented very differently. In the TV series, sex is an intrusion into the world of work and male companionship. Vulcan males find
pon farr to be embarrassing. It is uncontrollable, physical, and frightening. In fan fiction, in contrast,
pon farr reveals male emotions in a controlled manner, making them available to the female partner, who controls the male's less controllable physical urges via the telepathic contact that married Vulcans share. [4]
Fan fiction stories embodying this are the
"Night of the Twin Moons" series by
Jean Lorrah, in which
Amanda teaches
Sarek and then other Vulcan couples to enjoy
pon farr and to accept their physical and emotional natures.[4]
And even more hilariously:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03zrxTiWzN4[/youtube]
