When a Man Loves a Vulcan: The beautiful history of Spock and Kirk's unrealized lust.
| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | When a Man Loves a Vulcan: The beautiful history of Spock and Kirk's unrealized lust. |
| Commentator: | Ryan Britt |
| Date(s): | February 24, 2017 |
| Venue: | online |
| Fandom: | Star Trek |
| External Links: | Would Spock and Kirk Really Have Sex and Fulfill Slash Fiction?, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
When a Man Loves a Vulcan: The beautiful history of Spock and Kirk's unrealized lust. (also "Would Spock and Kirk Really Have Sex and Fulfill Slash Fiction?") is a 2017 article by Ryan Britt at "Inverse."
Note: see the original article for the some some original links.
Some Topics Discussed
- Kirk/Spock fanworks
- the pro novel Killing Time by Della Van Hise.
- D.C. Fontana's insistence that Kirk and Spock were not lovers
- Kirk/Spock (and therefore slash) was invented by women
- Theodore Sturgeon
Excerpts from the Article
As the first male characters to become the subject of erotica written by devoted fans, Star Trek’s Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk are the godfathers of slash fiction. But the question remains: Would they really do it?
After a thorough investigation, we think it’s pretty damn likely that they’d at least experiment.
Van Hise was one of the first Kirk/Spock erotica writers, and then in 1985, authored a legit Star Trek novel called Killing Time. Ostensibly, the plot of the book is all about an alternate timeline which results in Kirk as Spock’s subordinate, not the other way around. There were two editions of Killing Time published by Pocket Books, because the first version “was recalled by the publisher, re-edited, and re-issued… all without so much as even explaining to me precisely what the hell was going on,” Van Hise says.
Della Van Hise didn’t have to get permission to author some of the most explicit Kirk/Spock fan fiction in the ‘80s. And yet, she insists that she did not include any racy material in the first draft of her “real” Star Trek book. Numerous fans have documented the changes from the first edition to the second edition over the years, and most of it has to do with Kirk noticing the “warmth” of Spock’s hand during a mind meld, and not any long-rumored Vulcan ejaculate.
Still, Della Van Hise believes Spock would totally do it with Kirk. After explaining that she thinks of Spock’s Vulcan logic as his “programming,” she said she believed there could be ways for him to subvert it. “Spock is one smart cookie,” Van Hise says. “And I think he would come to see not only beyond, but through the programming. What he might do after that? Who’s to say?”
In contrast, one of the original writers for Star Trek — Script Editor Dorothy Fontana — believes there is nothing going on between Kirk and Spock other than friendship.
“Some people feel that there’s a romantic connection underlying the relationship between Kirk and Spock. Not true,” she told Inverse. “The producers, writers, directors, and actors played it, or wrote it, or directed it, as a true friendship that was reached through the years and the adventures shared by these characters.” Because Fontana practically invented these characters, it’s hard to debate with her assessment of what they might not do in “reality.”
But Kirk/Spock persists nonetheless, in part due to subtext fans found in the original series, and then later, in the rebooted movies.
In contrast, one of the original writers for Star Trek — Script Editor Dorothy Fontana — believes there is nothing going on between Kirk and Spock other than friendship.
“Some people feel that there’s a romantic connection underlying the relationship between Kirk and Spock. Not true,” she told Inverse. “The producers, writers, directors, and actors played it, or wrote it, or directed it, as a true friendship that was reached through the years and the adventures shared by these characters.” Because Fontana practically invented these characters, it’s hard to debate with her assessment of what they might not do in “reality.”
But Kirk/Spock persists nonetheless, in part due to subtext fans found in the original series, and then later, in the rebooted movies.