Amok Time « Mission Log Podcast
It’s strange that I’ve never thought about this before but this episode made me think “how and why does Spock exist”?
Spock is a hybrid of two species from different planets. How is that possible? Star Trek constantly hits us over the head with how different from his human shipmates he is. Poisons that kill humans don’t affect him and vice versa, environmental factors that humans can’t function under are no big deal for him and vice versa, his blood is green and copper-based, his inner organs are different, his metabolism is different, he ages differently, on and on… From what I’ve read about mammal hybrids like mules, camas, ligers, zonkeys and especially Motty (the one and only African / Asian elephant hybrid ever) or hypothetical hybrids like humanzees and koolakambas, I find it completely impossible that humans and Vulcans are genetically similar enough to ever produce offspring at all, let alone healthy ones. After all, we’re looking at two species that developed completely separately and independently with no contact.
That’s the problem with science fiction, whenever one starts to look at
the “science” part, it all falls apart almost immediately. As much as I love the genre, it’s a constant source of frustration for me, too. Spock simply couldn’t exist in reality. Bummer!
Also, just as an aside, humans and Vulcans have completely different mating behaviours. Humans have sexual urges all year round while Vulcans are only “interested” once every seven years and show a very different and aggressive behaviour that has nothing to with the way they act most of the time. Which human female would put up with a partner who turns into a sexual werewolf every seven years (I’m using hyperbole) and ignores her needs the rest of the time or lectures her that it’s not logical to have sex outside of his “mating season”? In my social circle, the answer would be… nobody!