He's Dead -- For Now...
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| Title: | He's Dead -- For Now... |
| Creator: | Margaret Boyd |
| Date(s): | April 1985 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
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| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
He's Dead -- For Now... is a 1985 essay by Margaret Boyd printed in the New Zealand zine Nome v.3 n.2.
The editors of the zine preface the essay with: "Readers will notice that one of our articles "He's Dead For Now" is a bit out of date since the third film, but it is felt that its message is important, and so we decided to print it without alternation."
Some Topics Discussed
- the use of lines from movies and shows as cultural markers, and as titles of fanworks
- the death of Spock in the recent movie
- manipulation of fans' emotions in order to sell tickets
- "sly trickery"
The Essay
Sayings from "Star Trek" abound. Fan publications use them as titles - such as our own "Hailing Frequencies", and the renowned "Starlog"; T-shirts sport them - "Beam me up Scotty, I don't like it here!"; bumper stickers proclaim them: "It's only logical!" Even the first "Star Trek" film, with its clumsy, never-changed working title "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", gave us one. While not, to many, a very worthy effort on the whole, the lines, "Give me the information. I want the information." have gone on to become famous. But surely the most famous of all the one-liners is the one that cropped up again in the second film, "The Wrath of Khan": what else but "He's dead Jim!". (And no, I am not going to mention that it is the name of our rival publication.)
The words, "He's dead Jim" were most often pronounced by the doctor to the captain, as they both bent over the latest hapless security guard, or temporary guest star - at least, that was the case in the television series. However, in the film "The Wrath of Khan", the doctor did not say them, or, more probably, would not. Even though the death was expected. In fact, the event could be described more accurately as 'anticipated'.
A death expected? Anticipated even? What was going on there? What was there about it that attracted so much attention - of the peculiar, maybe even ghoulish, variety?
It was leaked. To the press and thus to the potential viewing public months before the film was even finished, let alone released. And the demise of one of the charac ters was not merely an incidental to the plot, it came to be regarded as the reason for the plot, maybe for the entire movie! With the media hype, it became not just a death, but THE DEATH. And not just anyone's, but one of the most well-known characters in science fiction was soon to be no more. Exit Mr Spock.
Or was he?
In the lead up to the awesome event, art very much imitated life: it could be compared to the onset of a terminal illness. There were the faint alarms, the feeling of there being something not quite as it should be, and finally the word from one in a position of authority: yes, there is something wrong. And what's worse, it is not just a bit of silly nonsense that will go away and leave every thing just as it was before. This is unstoppable. A death will be the result of this.
Except that Paramount went one step further. All was made known - not only who, but how, where, when. The whole grisly business was flogged for all it was worth, no detail too small, no press release one too many. And it paid off handsomely!
The fans flocked to see it in droves. Not just once, but twice, six, twenty times! Combined with the box office take, the vast media attention made the death one of the most talked and written about, one of the most seen, and most effective pieces of drama ever!
And if it was a real death and a real funeral, that would be it. Finish. The End. No More. Ever.
But there is more. It perhaps isn't the end. Remember that this is an art form, this is drama, science fiction at its best, where anything and everything is possible. Even to resorting to using a conveniently neat little plot device to bring a corpse back to life? So it is rumoured. A lot of things are. But a sequel to the film is planned, in fact, it is in the works right now. And studios and their financial backers like making money from films. Fact. And if a death can attract audiences in never-before numbers, just think what a re-birth, or a re-activation, or a rejuvenation could do at the box office! So goes the thinking.
But some of the fans are doing some thinking too. And are coming forward with words like cheap, used, cheated. Trifled with. Tacky. False to the point of being ludicrous.
Some of the more articulate fans are saying that, if anything as exploitive as that is attempted in the next movie, then the integrity of the whole "Star Trek" idea is in question. Death is awful, it is serious, and above all very, very permanent. Why put us through a thing like that and then lessen it by making it only a temporary experience? Like saying it's only for now, only in the meantime.
Part of the process of maturity is dying; it comes in order after birth, growing, aging. Coming back to life is not! And to pretend it is is to play with people, to use them and their feelings for profit. That is inexcusable!
But sequels are the excuse for all sorts of sly trickery these days. And it has to be admitted that a lot of mileage could be had from that one idea - save someone from having to come up with another one too! But the interest has to be kept up, if it can. It has to be admitted that the promise of the return of a favourite character in one of the most famous, and most watched science fiction shows of all time is a powerful inducement.
It is for some. It may be all along part of the plan that the film company and actor have been following, all unknown to the fans, who are just there to be taken for a ride. Then again, it may be for real, in as much as anything that comes out of Hollywood can be thought of as real. Perhaps the actor really has dipped out of playing that role, ever again. Maybe he has moved on to other things. Or is the scene set for another actor to slip in and take over, while the fans pretend it is the same as ever?
Which brings it back to why the doctor did not say those fateful words: because there was all this doubt over the ultimate fate of the supposedly dead character. Not doubt over the diagnosis, but doubt over the finality of it. And who would want their professional standing ruined by having a corpse inconveniently recalled to life? It is, in this instance, possibly a non-permanent condition. And being practised in his vocation, the doctor would have to say: He's dead, I think, or He's dead - for now, in order to save face. And who could say something as odd as that!
So this is what it has come down to. Is Commander Spock really dead? Will or won't he be brought back to life? And if so how? It certainly will be interesting to see just how the studio gets itself out of a corner like that, with something approaching integrity. Perhaps we can hope for some tact, some delicacy, some style, and plenty of dignity. One would expect them to be true to the memory of the character at least.
But as for originality - I wouldn't hold out for much of that! I have my fingers crossed that Commander Spock is resting in peace ...