Observations

Fanfiction
Title:	Observations
Author(s):	jAnon
Date(s):	posted 24 August 2009 - 8 May 2010
Length:	~ 400K
Genre(s):	Action Adventure/Romance/Character Study
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: Reboot
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Observations (LJ) (108 comments), Observations (FanFiction.Net) (1,265 comments), Observations (KSA) (126 comments)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Observations is a super epic reboot K/S story by jAnon. It is written from Spock's POV and details the deep space five year mission from his perspective. Many of the episodes from Star Trek: The Original Series are rebooted (adapted for the rebooted/alternate reality universe) and interwoven into the story such as Arena, City on the Edge of Forever, The Trouble with Tribbles, Operation-Annihilate!, and many others. Warnings are listed for explicit violence and rape.

The story has extensive end notes by the author.

Summary

Summary from author's LJ:

"First Officer Spock comments on life aboard the Enterprise and his service under Captain James T. Kirk."

Fan Art

For the story, in_the_bottle did an art piece for the City on the Edge of Forever chapter and latenightarting did artwork for a scene in chapter 115, entitled Thermogenesis.

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

Told from Spock's POV, her Spock voice is simply PERFECT (as is her Jim as well) and she has the ability to say so much with so few words. This fic has reduced me to tears more than once and is a beautiful, very slow building epic romance. If you read nothing else, read this.

an epically long fandom classic that will last you a few life-times, encompasses the entirety of the 5-year mission, and is just… one of a kind. 400+k words. Worth every second.

2010

This story has been a work-in-progress on LiveJournal for quite some time, and I held off from reading it until it was completed. It is a true epic – 262 chapters, over 400,000 words. It is without a doubt the most well-written 'reboot‘ story I‘ve read. Once I started getting into the story and realized how amazing it was going to be, I even started taking notes so that I could write a review that would do it some justice! The story tracks the five-year mission of the STXI crew from beginning to end. It is written from Spock‘s point-of-view, and is indeed his "observations" of his time aboard the Enterprise. Overall, the story has a very heavy tone to it, broken up in three or four places with fun, light situations, such as shore leave or end-of-the-year celebration on the ship. The author rewrites some of the most important TOS episodes to fit this new timeline, and she does so brilliantly. A particular episode re-write that shines above the others is "The City on the Edge of Forever," which takes place in modern day New York City. The time that Kirk and Spock spend there is crucial to the building of their friendship and later relationship, and therefore a lot of time is spent there. These episode re-makes are very unique, and although I was apprehensive about reading them, they turned out to be engaging and wonderful. With a story as long as this one is, we get to see the course of Kirk and Spock‘s romantic relationship from its very beginning, as well as all the ups and downs. And there are many ups and downs. One of my favorite things about this story was how the author wrote and described mind melds between the two. I‘ve never read a story where mind melds were discussed and described in as much detail as these were. Again, extremely well-written. My favorite scene, which comes near the end of the story and which I will not give away, pulled at all my heartstrings and I was near tears with happiness for them. Throughout the story Spock mentally recites one of the verses from the Hebrew Bible (in this story his mother is Jewish), and when the verse is used again in this scene, it hit me so powerfully that I just wanted to melt into a puddle. I would urge everyone to read this story, even if you’re apprehensive about reading a STXI fic - you just might fall in love with it, as I did. It is a masterpiece, a true work of art. In the author’s endnotes she says that she hopes that some part of the story resonated with the readers. The entire story resonated with me, and it’s one I won’t soon forget.

2011

As you can see by the word count, this is a long fic, and honestly, it has pretty much everything. It's Spock's observations of life aboard the Enterprise, and the writing style is hard to pin down, in a good way. Some chapters feel like journal entries, others are stream of consciousness, there are a few interview/article style chapters, and more are just a typical first-person story. jAnon has an awesome Spock voice, but that, and the deft mixture of styles, while wonderful, are not why I'm reccing this fic. Something that struck me as I read this fic was how much respect jAnon gives to pretty much all the subjects she addresses. Uhura and Chekov get to speak Swahili and Russian, and while jAnon does provide translations in annotations, those are linked elsewhere, not in the text. But the languages mixed in don't feel like they're excluding me, a reader who doesn't speak Swahili or Russian -- they feel like they're including more aspects of who Uhura and Chekov are. [...] There are so many issues that this story deals with, but again, respectfully. There's prejudice, ability and disability, dealing with past trauma, dealing with current trauma, the end of relationships, the beginning of relationships -- it's not easy, but jAnon shows how utterly worthwhile it is to deal with this stuff, and the love and respect she has for the characters and the world permeates the entire fic."

2012

Why You Should Read This: This is the Enterprises’ five year mission told through the reboot characters. It’s first person Spock point of view, but don’t be scared off. This fic is extremely long, but the progression of Kirk and Spock’s relationship is fantastic – gradual, from the movie ‘verse strained relationship, to friendship, to more. It’s fascinating to read TOS experiences told through the reboot characters, and the author does a fantastic job of nailing down Spock’s characterization, and through his eyes, a great job on everyone else’s characterizations.

2012

This is an interesting arc and one I had not come across before. I like the way that you explore the maturation of the characters. Also how you have considered the timeline and how tht might change who is in command and how a mission might change or stay the same in a different timeline.

2016

HOLY SHIT. THAT WAS WAS THE LONGEST STORY/FAN FICTION I HAVE EVER READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I SERIOUSLY THOUGHT I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO FINISH IT BUT I DID. GOD, THIS WAS A GOOD STORY TO KICK OFF MY SUMMER. I WAS JUST CRYING DURING THE SAD PART WITH SPOCK AND KIRK WHEN THEY WERE APART/TORTURED. AND THIS ENDING, I STILL CANT BELIEVE I READ THIS. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I'M CAPABLE OF READING IT AGAIN. I SUCK AT DESCRIBING THINGS BUT THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A STORY. GOD, I HOPE U AREN'T IRRITATED BY ALL CAPS. ITS JUST HOW I FEEL.

2020

I really enjoyed reading Observations. So long, it is a journey in of itself. I was there with the crew by Spock's side every step of the way. The only subject I am sad about is not knowing what happened that Spock ended up with the sex-slave traffickers. What happened before, how long was he gone? If it wasn't for the step dad, would Winona have hated Jim? With Sam hating Jim, did something happen before step dad got to the farm?

Even with all the questions, I look forward to having another journey through space with you. Of course reading about Spock and Jim's romantic love journey that is. More hurt comfort and drama please. Such a devilish want. Thanks for sharing your extraordinary adventures with us.

2021

I just wanted to say that I could not stop reading it from start to finish all the way will say that there were parts of it that were a little tricky to follow insofar as to was speaking but I thought that you captured the dynamic and emotionality of the characters with perfection you managed to showcase all of the crew or at least the core crew brilliantly and still make it action and drama and all of the elements that keep drawing people back to this universe. I really want to commend you on the length of the story to because I enjoy a good sized Fanfiction as opposed to one shots. the only thing that I am particularly missed was the interaction between Jim and Spock prime however I did enjoy the fact that at least in this Fanfiction you allowed Jim and young Spock to discuss the implications of the mind meld with Spock prime maybe not as in-depth as I would've liked it but more so than a great number of other fanfics and done rather eloquently thank you.

You know how there are one or two books you read that you don't want to end? Well this epic was one of those. I completely lost myself in this portrayal of everyday (!) life on the Enterprise. I didn't look to see which Universe it was in but just the rhythm of Spock's thoughts and Kirk's attitude told me immediately. But it was fascinating to experience well known episodes from a different perspective. I've never questioned before why all the main protagonists didn't suffer from PTSD but reading this, it made sense that they probably did! Command training or not..

I also particularly appreciated the decisive or is it impetuous way Kirk initiated their physical relationship (and the slow progression). 'He kisses me' . Ye gods those three words were far more affecting than the pages of sex in many a first timer. The slow burn in City on the Edge of Forever was incredibly effective, too.

I found the relationship between the main bridge crew very touching. I'm glad Uhura was placed as she was 're Spock. I never bought it in the film's....could be biased. I'm not sure I quite believe in the interdependence between them all but I enjoyed it thoroughly both for the fun and more emotional times.

I confess I found the latter parts of the story a bit tricky but on the whole unputdownable.

A wonderful portrayal of the Abrams Kirk and Spock with a lot of thought given to what made them what they were.

I was moved to watch the film's again and I can see the spark in Kirk's eyes for Spock, but also the insecurity laying beneath the brashness.

Congratulations jAnon.