Casablanca (Star Trek: TOS story)

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Casablanca
Author(s):	Karla Kelly
Date(s):	1991
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Casablanca is a Kirk/Spock story by Karla Kelly.

It was published in the print zine Counterpoint #4.

Summary

"Kirk falls asleep when he takes Spock to see a movie and dreams of them in the movieʼs roles."

Reactions and Reviews

One severe handicap I had in reading this story is that I don't care for the movie CASABLANCA. I realize that this is an old fashioned movie that was made in "the good old days", but the old-fashioned sex roles that go with it seem to me less than enchanting. I wouldn't bring this up at all, if the sex role problem didn't surface in this story. You see, my suspension of disbelief, flew out the window never to return when I read that Spock had to "be taken to safety." It's bad enough to see a woman being viewed as a "helpless heroine" in need of protection, but when said "helpless heroine" is a Vulcan it becomes truly jarring. Being told that Sarek had "taken" Spock from Kirk, when it was Spock's decision to go on these diplomatic missions, is another example of this extremely uncomfortable fit in sex roles. Is this supposed to be a charming fantasy? How is it charming that Kirk gives Spock no credit for initiative or independence? I find this sort of humor irritating rather than amusing. I did like the aside about getting Spock to see that he was Vulcan "Even on Vulcan." This was a really significant remark since being Vuican among not-so-very-IDIC-minded Vulcans is Spock's greatest difficulty. That's the kind of humor that I really appreciate -- witty comments that make serious points.

I was lost during some of the dream sequences because I don't know tne title movie well. Otherwise. I thought this was a clever way of introducing K and S's feelings for each other. I particularly lined McCoy in this story, but my favorite passage was the paragraph on page 36 that startswith Kirk calling Sarek, Bastard". That paragraph was a powerful lecture that sounded just like Kirk.

I wasn’t terribly intrigued by this use of the movie of the same name to bring our favorite lovers together. But than, I’ve never been enamored of the original. The “present” non-dream parts saved the story for me. In these sections, the author proved she didn’t need the entanglement with Bogart and Bergman to tell us about love. She did that beautifully.

I loved McCoy’s comment, “Sometimes I don’t know how you got to be a starship captain, Captain”. And his loving thought, “dumb as rocks, both of them.” Sometimes Bones has a daunting task convincing K & S they belong together.

In Spock’s opinion (expressed in thought as he’s enveloped in Kirk’s arms) reality is better than the movie. I heartily concur.