Real Life in Star Trek, The Enterprise Incident
Disclaimer
This is a discussion of a non-āFree as in Freedomā popular culture franchise property with references to a part of that franchise behind a paywall. My discussion and conclusions are free, but nothing about the discussion or conclusions implies any attack on the ownership of the properties. All the big names are trademarks of the owners and so forth and everything here should be well within the bounds of Fair Use.
Previouslyā¦
The project was outlined in this post, for those falling into this from somewhere else. In short, this is an attempt to use the details presented in Star Trek to assemble a view of what life looks like in the Federation.
This is neither recap nor review; those have both been done to death over fifty-plus years. It is a catalog of information we learn from each episode, though, so expect everything to be a potential āspoiler,ā if thatās an irrational fear you have.
Rather than list every post in the series here, you can easily find them all on the startrek tag page.
The Enterprise Incident
Despite the relentless focus on the overall heist plot and the emotional messes that it creates, we get a surprising amount of information out of this episode.
KIRK: Yes, Mister Chekov. I can read, and as usual your theoretical evaluations do not tally with mine. Return to your duty and Iāll let you know when your work is satisfactory.
Yes, thereās a plot point, here, but itās also worth pointing out that Kirk is able to do Chekovās theoretical work.
SPOCK: Intelligence reports Romulans now using Klingon design.
You might remember that, in Balance of Terror, the Romulans had stolen and adapted Starfleet designs. Here, they have abandoned that and moved to Klingon designs. We donāt have enough information to know why, but itās reasonable to consider that the infiltration we heard about in that episode has been prevented through stricter security.
Of course, Scott will later suggest that the Romulans arenāt aware of how Federation technology works, so this episode may just not be written with that one in mind.
TAL: The subspace message will take three weeks to reach Starfleet. The decision is yours, Captain. One hour.
Even faster-than-light communication is extremely slow at the distances weāre talking about. This would limit anything like a conference call (which weāve seen) to short ranges.
COMMANDER: Your language has always been most difficult for me, Captain. Perhaps you have another word for it.
Even in situations like this, theyāre not using the universal translator. Instead, the Commander is speaking English for Kirkās convenience.
COMMANDER: He is a Vulcan. Our forebears had the same roots and origins. Something you wouldnāt understand, Captain. We can appreciate the Vulcans, our distant brothers. I have heard of Vulcan integrity and personal honor. Thereās a well-known saying, or is it a myth, that Vulcans are incapable of lying?
SPOCK: It is no myth.
While episodes like The Menagerie, Part 1 have tried to push this idea that a Vulcan isnāt able to lie, but episodes like Space Seed also make it extremely clear that Spock can and does lie. So, itās definitely a myth.
COMMANDER: The USS Enterprise, under command of Captain James T. Kirk, is formally charged with espionage. The testimony of First Officer Spock was highly instrumental in confirming this intrusion into Romulan space was not an accident. First Officer Spockās testimony was specific that your ship was not under orders from Starfleet Command or the Federation council to perform such a spy mission.
Thereās a Federation council that sounds like the leadership.
COMMANDER: To whom is your allegiance then? Do you call yourself Terran or Vulcan?
SPOCK: Vulcan.
In episodes like Who Mourns for Adonais?, weāve already seen the idea that people are supposed to have some sort of loyalty to their ākind.ā This shows it as more pervasive.
COMMANDER: Or is it that no one has offered you, a Vulcan, that opportunity?
SPOCK: Such opportunities are extremely rare.
This takes us a step further. Obviously, everything in this episode is part of a heist, but the confidence both of them have in this exchange suggests that thereās fairly consistent discrimination against Vulcans in Starfleet.
MCCOY: I didnāt know it until I beamed aboard the Romulan ship. Jim and Spock were operating under Federation orders.
Assuming that McCoy doesnāt consider Starfleet and the Federation to be interchangeable (which seems to happen, on occasion), the civilian government has authority over Starfleet, and itās not against directing illegal missions.
COMMANDER: Iāve had special Vulcan dishes prepared for you. I hope theyāre to your liking.
We see some Vulcan dishes, but we donāt get any information on any of them.
COMMANDER: Yes. Yes, it will, Mister Spock. You do know I have a first name.
Apart from the fact that the Commander has been given no name at all, this seems to imply by the tone that Romulans and probably Vulcans identify themselves with personal given names followed by family names. The fact that we donāt hear it but are told that itās ābeautifulā and ārareā suggests that, like Vulcan names, theyāre outside the range of sounds that humans can produce.
SPOCK: My crime is sabotage. I freely admit my guilt. The oath I swore as a Starfleet officer is both specific and binding. As long as I wear the uniform, my duty is to protect the security of the Federation. Clearly, your new cloaking device is a threat to that security. I carried out my duty.
Way back in Tomorrow Is Yesterday, we were told that Starfleet officers donāt take any oath, though based on The Omega Glory suggest that captains might. This sounds comparable to the oath of enlistment, promising to defend the United States āagainst all enemies, foreign and domestic.ā
MCCOY: Well, are you coming, Jim? Or do you want to go through life looking like your First Officer?
KIRK: Iām on my way.
Kirkās reaction reminds me of the various informal surveys that have been done asking rooms full of white people how many of them think that Black people are advantaged in society, then asking how many would like to be treated as if they were Black. The first question usually gets a surprisingly large response, because white people often see attempts to end racism as unfair. The second question never gets a volunteer, because they know thatās not really true.
Blish Adaptation
The Enterprise Incidentās adaptation comes from Star Trek 4. Itās mostly just the episode dialogue, but the first act is chopped down to an explanation from Kirkās perspective, leading to the initial discussion with the Romulans. There are a handful of embellishments, though, most notably that the story keeps the focus almost entirely on Spockās experience.
āYou mean to insult me, but there is nothing discreditable in not knowing everything. Finding a Vulcan so highly placed in the Federation fleet does surprise me, I readily grant. Howeverā¦ā
The suggestion of discrimination against Vulcans being well-known was implied in episode dialogue, whereas this is pretty blatant.
āKirk here. Iām already on boardāgreen skin, pointed ears, uniform and all. Do you have the information?ā
This is the closest we get to bringing into focus the recurring implication that Spock doesnāt look like the portrayal that we see on screen.
āI tooāmust confessāthat I am moved emotionally. I know it is illogicalābutā¦ā
See? Even James Blish knows that Spock is only suppressing his emotions.
āAnd so,ā the Commander said with bitter contempt, āthe story that Vulcans cannot lie is a myth after all.ā
āOf course, Commander. Complex interpersonal relationships among sentient beings absolutely require a certain amount of lying, for the protection of others and the good of the whole. Among humans such untruths are called āwhite lies.ā A manās honor in this area is measured by whether he can tell the difference between a white lie and a malicious one. It is a much more delicate matter than simply charging blindly ahead telling the truth at all times, no matter what injury the truth may sometimes do. And there are occasions, such as the present one, when one must weigh a lie which will cause personal injury against a truth which would endanger the good of the whole. Your attempt to seduce and subvert me, Commander, was originally just that kind of choice. If it became something else, I am sorry, but such a danger is always present in such attempts.ā
Itās a shame that this exchange didnāt make it into the episode, despite its length, but itās a crystal clear admission that Vulcans absolutely can and do lie, rather than it being some biological or conditioning prohibition.
āCertainly. The Commanderās appeal to my Vulcan loyalties, in the name of our remote common racial origin, was bound to fail; since beyond the historic tradition of Vulcan loyalty there is the combined Vulcan/Romulan history of obedience to dutyāand Vulcan is, may I remind you, a member of the United Federation of Planets. In other wordsā¦ā
This (maybe weirdly) doubles down on the idea that people have some obligation to their species, but the more important aspect of this is that it introduces the idea of membership to the Federation, suggesting that itās an intergovernmental association (like the United Nations), rather than a government of its own.
Conclusions
We get a stronger sense of what the Federation actually is, in this episode. It appears to be a coalition of planetary governments, which become member worlds. Most likely, its legislative branch is the Federation Councilāsince thatās what town and city councils areāand itās not out of the question for that Federation Council to direct individual Starfleet officers on illegal missions that could easily be interpreted as acts of war.
This episode also suggests that Vulcans (and Romulans) natively use the naming convention common to Western Europe, of a personal name followed by family name.
The Good
Kirk, despite his (ordered) treatment of the crew, continues to be capable of doing everybody elseās job.
The Bad
We increasingly seem to get the sense that not only does the Federation primarily speak English, but humans expect everyone else to learn English to speak to themā¦and somehow, that works.
We get some reiteration of the idea that Vulcans arenāt able to lie, though the adaptation does a great job of subverting that and admit that itās just a convenient stereotype.
Thereās similar repetition and expansion that people have duties to people of the same species that might transcend community or nationality. And maybe related to that philosophy, it has never been more clear than in this episodeāexcept for the adaptation of the episodeāthat Starfleet discriminates against Vulcan officers, providing them with few opportunities for advancement. This is echoed by the ending, where Kirk shudders at the possibility of living life looking like a Vulcan.
The adaptation reminds us that Vulcan emotional suppression isnāt healthy, suggesting strongly thatāignoring the con to steal the cloaking deviceāSpock would have felt guilty for finding the Romulan Commander attractive, because thereās no logical reason to do so.
Finally, as mentioned above, this episode makes it clear that the Federationās leadership is willing and able to conduct illegal military missions by issuing direct orders to Starfleet officers.
The Weird
For some reason, the Romulans have shifted their ships from stolen Federation designs to Klingon designs. There may be security aspects to this choice, such as prior infiltration no longer being active. It may be political, such as in the many unofficial works that assumed a Klingon-Romulan alliance. The adaptation suggests that the Klingon ship design might work better with the cloaking device. Itās hard to know.
Next
Next up, Kirk stumbles into some racist stereotypes and does some stereotypical white savior nonsense in The Paradise Syndrome.
Credits: The header image is Peacock in the Woods (1907) by Abbott Handerson Thayer, long in the public domain.
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Tags: scifi startrek closereading