ENT - Fusion

[Admiral X]

I liked the idea of Pon Farr being a male-only thing just because it's the opposite of what one would expect since with most animals that have a cycle, it's the female that usually has to suffer it. I've always maintained though that the Pon farr just meant that they had to, not that that was the only time that they did it. I almost hate to use VOY as an example, but Tuvok's children weren't 7 years apart in age. Also, even T'Pol remarked that Vulcans appreciate beauty. Besides, I think that the odd logic and hypocrisy that Vulcans had about things like love, sex, and marriage (and the old rituals that often accompanied these) just helped to flesh them out a bit and make them not just some perfect elf race or something.

[FaxModem1]

So how does Pon Farr work? If Vulcans are only in heat once every 7 years, why does he find T'Pol sexually attractive? Y'know, I always thought that this could have been the in-universe justification for her asset enhancing catsuit: no one on her planet would have been even the slightest bit distracted by the sight of a big boobed woman in a tight outfit - and they have a ritual axe fight to deal with the ones that are. But now we see that no, that isn't true at all. Then again, ENT also retconned Pon Farr being a male only thing so there is plenty of nonsense concerning their mating cycle to go around.

Incidentally, one of the things that always bothered me about the retcon that females also Pon Farr WAS the axe fight ritual. Because if men are forced to fight, what do the women do? Besides get sweaty in a tank top and hot pants for Berman's pleasure I mean. Seems a bit of a massive double standard but Vulcan logic never did make much sense to begin with.

The logic(heh heh), is that Vulcans can mate whenever they choose to. However, due to evolution, they NEED to mate every 7 years, or express themselves enough to release the build up. Think of it as being equal to a woman's menstrual cycle, and that they can mate when they are not on their period, but it does improve chances of breeding when done around that time.

Also remember that Vulcans, when done correctly, are more like an emotionally explosive Amish or stereotypical Japanese child training rather than a sociopathic calculator. They are very emotional creatures, to where if those passions are followed without restraint, leads to constant warfare and violence. This led to their nuclear war that almost made them extinct, and led to Surak's beliefs in logic the mainstream belief on the planet.

Say what you will about the flaws in their philosophies, but it has allowed them to thrive despite their biological constraints.

Also keep in mind, thanks to the three parter in season 4, that the Vulcan philosophy/religion is, at the time of Fusion, not following the true beliefs of Vulcan culture, and this is why they are a bit more militaristic and rude than they should be.

[clearspira]

I liked the idea of Pon Farr being a male-only thing just because it's the opposite of what one would expect since with most animals that have a cycle, it's the female that usually has to suffer it.

It must have been pretty scary to be a Vulcan woman back in the warlike age though - any man you know could snap and become an incredibly violent rapist any day. I kind of think in real life men would be banned from the workplace on the approach towards their Pon Farr. You also got to wonder what rape laws would even look like in such a society; I guess that if it can be predicted, and you don't take reasonable precautions against putting yourself in a bad situation, then the Pon Farr wouldn't actually be an excuse.

Of course, I'm talking real life here. The Federation despite Pon farr clearly being common knowledge by the 24th century is quite happy to let Vorik be in a situation where he mind rapes Torres instead of actually pre-empting it. Between this and our conversations about how little the Federation cares about telepaths invading people's minds in the ''Remember'' thread, the Fed is a place that is FAR too trusting.

[Mickey_Rat15]

I liked the idea of Pon Farr being a male-only thing just because it's the opposite of what one would expect since with most animals that have a cycle, it's the female that usually has to suffer it.

It must have been pretty scary to be a Vulcan woman back in the warlike age though - any man you know could snap and become an incredibly violent rapist any day. I kind of think in real life men would be banned from the workplace on the approach towards their Pon Farr. You also got to wonder what rape laws would even look like in such a society; I guess that if it can be predicted, and you don't take reasonable precautions against putting yourself in a bad situation, then the Pon Farr wouldn't actually be an excuse.

Of course, I'm talking real life here. The Federation despite Pon farr clearly being common knowledge by the 24th century is quite happy to let Vorik be in a situation where he mind rapes Torres instead of actually pre-empting it. Between this and our conversations about how little the Federation cares about telepaths invading people's minds in the ''Remember'' thread, the Fed is a place that is FAR too trusting.

That would be the reason for the Vulcan tradition of arranged marriages from childhood with a psychic link, which T'Pau stated in "Amok Time" dated from before Surak's time That would be one method of how to regulate such things. Also, letting a male of your group in Ponn Farr attack an unwilling and unlinked female of another group would probably be something to start a clan feud over. There would not be a free for all, even in a wildly passionate culture, there would be sexual mores developed to keep tensions to a minimum but in line with Vulcan biology. On the other hand, the less civilized aspects of the Vulcan Marriage Ritual that are retained suggests that pre-Surak Vulcan males had a more proprietary view of the females.

The fact that the Voyager command staff does not realize there is a potential problem with male Vulcans in the crew with their likely extended time away from any other Vulcans until a crisis actually happens, especially with a Vulcan security chief, is just another example of their poor foresight.

[Darmani]

Honestly I liked this episode like a lot of Enterprise it was about examining a lot of the assumptions especially the fan in that it built up around the series. Re-examining the Vulcans and their culture in particular asking the natural question of hey what if someone doesn't want to go on long with the virtually mandated stoicism say nothing about the fact that to say that the Vulcans are contradictory and ad hoc would not be off

I think between t'pol the rapist and the other guy we got a pretty reasonable look at the Vulcan way of doing things. It showed that yes a tradition can be challenged but it normally normally exists for a reason. And also the people who are selling you a radical new idea or just as likely to be infiltrated or act as a cover for some very dangerous characters. Or can have motives simming from less than sure circumstances such as intergenerational conflict.

Besides it's nice having the Vulcans just out-and-out be kind of dicks about humans like we are allowed to and McCoy was allowed to be about Vulcans. As for pain far they pretty much explained it Vulcans can always have emotions it's just that when the Blood Fever happens they're pretty much unable to block the dang no matter how much they train.
This would have over start Enterprises tradition of sexually Menace the women for drama.

[Yukaphile]

Still, even if so, it seemed poorly executed.

[Darth Wedgius]

I did like that it hinted that the Vulcans we'd met in Enterprise weren't supposed to be the Vulcans we knew in TOS. It's to be expected that some Vulcans be jerks, but when the audience and crew are surprised to run into a Vulcan who isn't a tool, IMHO something's gone awry.

[Linkara]

While it's a rare moment of Trip not being a complete douchebag, this continued the trend, for me anyway, of how dumbed down the show had become because of his anecdote. That girl he was pining for that he never asked to dance?

It was in Elementary school.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

His big regret that has haunted him for 20 years is from not asking a girl to dance before he hit double digits in age. Now there's plenty of dumb things that I regret from my Elementary school days... but the big moment that they chose to contrast with a guy not being able to make amends with his father before he dies was... a grade school crush? Come on, now. It's just... dumb.

[Meushell]

I like the episode, but was bothered that the captain wasn’t told about the attack. At first, I thought the captain and the creepy Vulcan were the same person because of the way it was handled. It took rewatching to realize the captain was innocent and probably has no idea he has a dangerous man aboard his vessel.

[MixedDrops]

Surprised nobody has brought up Star Trek V yet, because that was the thing that ran through my mind the first time I saw this episode. Not even saying that as a mark against the episode or anything, I actually think there a lot of elements behind the character of Sybok that were good, so revisiting the "faction of emotional Vulcans" part of that could work pretty well.

To me the episode is dragged down by ENT's consistent decision to stick in sex where it doesn't belong. Exploring sexual themes in an episode like this might seem like it makes sense, but I just don't see how sexual desire would be the first thing T'Pol would experience. It feels like it's just there because they wanted to titillate people using Blalock again. And as mentioned the mind date rape in the episode is the first in a long list of episodes that place T'Pol in sexually suggestive situations.

And while Kov was a lot more likable, aside from some naivete involving humans he felt less like a Vulcan embracing emotion and more of a human with pointy ears to me. Granted it's really hard to find that balance, but I don't feel Kov really hit that balance right.