The Messed Up Reality Of The Vulcans From Star Trek

Even if you only have a passing familiarity with "Star Trek," then you've surely heard of the Vulcans. Spock, the first officer in the original series of the 1960s, is now such a famous figure that his greeting hand gesture — the Vulcan salute, inspired by a Jewish blessing gesture Spock's actor Leonard Nimoy saw as a child — is practically shorthand for Trekkies to recognize one another. And perhaps it's also a quick way for even non-Trekkies to recognize a certain kind of dedicated, enthusiastic sci-fi fan.

Of course, as interesting and pervasive as Spock may be, he doesn't necessarily stand for all Vulcans. In fact, if you give yourself a bit of time to dig deeper into the many "Star Trek" series' depiction of these highly intelligent, pointy-eared desert dwellers who are seriously big fans of logic, you may start to notice some complexities. On the surface, Vulcans are often interpreted as friendly allies to humans, even if their devotion to strictly controlling their emotions can be galling to more impassioned folks. 

Yet there is a dark side to the Vulcans that may cause you to take a second look and reconsider everything you thought you knew — yes, even if you're a dedicated Trekkie. From a long-ago past that threatened to engulf their planet in nuclear war to occasional (or more sustained) dabbling in espionage, child endangerment, and organized crime, the reality of the Vulcans of "Star Trek" can get seriously messed up.

In the world of "Star Trek," Vulcans come onto the screen with a reputation for having the coolest heads in the entire galaxy. In fact, they're so notorious for having non-reactions to anything and everything that it's a sticking point for characters like the irascible Dr. McCoy. But it wasn't always that way. Go further back into their history, and you'll see that Proto-Vulcan society was wracked by intense emotion, deeply held religious beliefs, and bloody warfare — complete with potentially world-ending nuclear capabilities. Given the psychic powers and sheer physical strength of Vulcans on their own, this state of war was surely a brutal affair.

Clearly Vulcans didn't bomb each other into irradiated oblivion, so what happened? Surak. Just when things seemed to be on the precipice of annihilation, this philosopher emerged with the idea that the strong emotions felt by all Vulcans were at the core of their troubles. Controlling those feelings with a rigid framework of logic was, to Surak and his followers, the only answer. 

While Surak's teachings didn't exactly take off — enough people weren't into it that they broke away from Proto-Vulcan civilization entirely, but more on that in a moment — they did eventually become the predominant mode of thought on the planet Vulcan. While Vulcans hardly became the hugs-for-everyone, handing-out-flowers type after this, they did collectively rededicate themselves to peace, science, and galactic exploration, becoming one of the four founding species of the United Federation of Planets.

Humans and Romulans have a difficult past, to say the least. The Earth-Romulan War, a key event in the "Star Trek" timeline, was a major 22nd-century conflict that kicked off when humanity became an important power in the Alpha Quadrant of the galaxy. The general issue was that the humans, along with the other future founding species of the Federation, typically wanted to play nice and make alliances. Meanwhile, the Romulan Star Empire wanted to control everything and everyone. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but the gist is that the war was highly destructive, finally ending with a tenuous peace agreement and the formation of a hands-off Neutral Zone (breached by both sides in just about every subsequent series).

As for the Vulcans' part in all this, the whole existence of the Romulan Star Empire is kind of their fault. In broadcast terms, it began with the 1966 "Original Series" episode "Balance of Terror," in which we first see the Romulans. We, along with some on-screen characters, can't help but notice that they look an awful lot like confirmed Vulcan and first officer Spock. 

Later episodes acknowledge that both Vulcans and Romulans were originally Proto-Vulcans in the violent pre-Surak era. It's assumed that some Proto-Vulcans turned their noses up at Surak's logic, took to the stars, and established their own territory-hungry empire. To be fair, even the Vulcans grew forgetful, as Spock himself was surprised to see that he and the Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror" looked like long-lost cousins.

Proto-Vulcans created a few ongoing issues for their descendants. If it's not Romulans, it's a superweapon that they only haphazardly neutralized. Anyway, if sufficiently determined aliens can find it in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," then it can't have been that well-hidden. As explained in the 1993 episode "Gambit, Pt. II," the Stone of Gol was created to boost Vulcan mind powers to such an extent that they could kill.

It makes a kind of sense, to learn that a Romulan is actually a Vulcan secret agent out to recover the Stone of Gol. Said agent, T'Paal, explains to the Enterprise's Captain Picard that she joined up with space pirates to secure the weapon, as one does. Though she concludes that Picard is a helpful ally, T'Paal warns him that she's ready to destroy everyone to keep the Stone of Gol out of the wrong hands. However, as the episode continues and you're already wondering about the existence of a secret Vulcan intelligence service, you learn that T'Paal is actually part of a group of Vulcan isolationists that would like to control the weapon for its own purposes.

Eventually, Picard realizes that the Stone of Gol does nothing if the intended target is peaceful, and the episode winds down. But, while Vulcan security forces ultimately take the weapon and promise that it will definitely, for sure be destroyed, one can't help but wonder if the mega-weapon could still be out there.

You can't really blame the Vulcans for turning so whole-heartedly to logic. Wouldn't you, if the alternative was nuclear annihilation? But, in the intervening centuries, it could be that some Vulcans have gone a bit too hard-core, denying their emotions to the point of actively harming both their own and even, by proxy, loyal Trekkies. Some fans have reported that, by trying to emulate the largely emotion-free existence of (admittedly fictional) Vulcans, they were only harming their own decidedly human emotional well-being. 

In-universe, the logical Vulcan way of life can come across as cold, calculating, or downright villainous. Depending on what episode of which series you watch, Vulcans can be distant parents (ahem, Spock's father, Sarek), paternalistic bullies, or even discriminatory toward their own kind when someone steps out of line (Spock's rebellious, emotion-loving half-brother Sybok is the villain in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" and is institutionalized in one episode of "Strange New Worlds").

But perhaps this emotion-logic dichotomy isn't a fair depiction. After all, Spock himself is almost constantly wrestling with his logical and emotional sides, at least in the earlier part of his character arc. Yet, as he matures, Spock learns to balance logic and feelings, drawing strength from both without denying either. And in "Star Trek: Discovery," even Sarek is written as sympathetic to this struggle, adopting a human child (Michael Burnham) partially in an attempt to help his half-human son deal with big feelings in a balanced way.

The "Original Series" episode "Spock's Brain" is notorious for a reason. In this Season 3 entry, the Enterprise is boarded by a mysterious woman who absconds with Spock's brain. Spock's still-functioning body is left behind, though Dr. McCoy says that it will die after 24 hours. No problem — they just go after Spock's brain with a quasi-animate, remote-controlled Spock's body. Turns out his brain has been stolen by an underground society that needs it to control advanced technology. After a convoluted series of events, Spock's brain is reinstalled, the society is probably fine anyway, and the Enterprise sails off.

Some view it as a complete disaster marred by unbearably goofy concepts and poor execution. Others defend the campy story and note that maybe obsessively ranking episodes and arguing over the results isn't the best side of "Trek" fandom anyway. But you also ought to consider the weird side of Vulcan physiology highlighted in "Spock's Brain." After the brain thievery, most of Spock is left behind to sort of stumble around while wearing a silly hat. He is, effectively, a zombie with an RC controller. Though McCoy re-installs the brain thanks to a sci-fi helmet that gives him temporary superintelligence (really, don't think about it too much), the fact remains that Spock comes out of it just fine. Perhaps it's poor writing, or perhaps this odd situation is due to the fact that Vulcans are simply made of stronger, weirder stuff than humans.

For a while there, Vulcans looked like they were going to be a bit square, sure, but well-intentioned and ready to help out a newly spacefaring humanity. Then things got complicated with the airing of "Star Trek: Enterprise" from 2001 to 2005. Set before the United Federation of Planets was formed, it depicted the crew of the first Starship Enterprise, captained by Jonathan Archer. On that ship was Sub-commander T'Pol, a Vulcan official who at least initially acted like something of a combination babysitter and informant.

Though T'Pol became a more human-friendly character, the series as a whole made it clear that Vulcans knew a lot more than they were sharing with humanity. The general idea was that humans were simply too impulsive and immature to be given free rein in space; at the same time, they were strategically allowed to screw up on occasion to discourage what Vulcans perceived to be humanity's flaws. Vulcans went from being a smart older friend to an annoying, paternalistic school principal of the stars. Sure, humans would almost certainly have had a rougher go of things if they didn't have Vulcan backing as they ventured out into the wider interplanetary scene and encountered new species. What's more, we humans seem to keep Vulcans fascinated, with multiple episodes revealing that Vulcans had already visited Earth well before officially making first contact. But it's a paternalistic kind of fascination that, at least from a human perspective, really rankles.

Going from evidence found in a couple "Star Trek" series, Vulcan parents would not only happily send a kid off to kindergarten, but also force them to go on a potentially deadly camping trip all by their tiny lonesome. First mentioned in the "Star Trek: The Animated Series" 1973 episode "Yesteryear," this kahs-wan ritual is meant to mark a young Vulcan's entrance into adulthood. In it, Vulcan children are sent out into their planet's vast desert to see if they can make it for a period of time without supplies.

Like so much of "The Animated Series," this episode plays rather fast and loose with "Star Trek" canon. For one, the Guardian of Forever portal that sent Kirk and Spock back to 1930s Earth in "The City on the Edge of Forever" comes back but is far more tractable. It not only allows Spock to investigate a sudden time anomaly (in which he is reported to have died in the kahs-wan ritual at age 7) but also zaps him back into his own past with no problem. While there, he interacts with his parents and his young self, even saving little Spock during the ritual. But even if you don't hew super closely to the canon established by the cheap, animated version of "Star Trek," it's mentioned again in "Star Trek: Enterprise." In one episode, T'Pol relates her own kahs-wan experience, but she rather fondly remembers it.

Vulcans might be annoyingly paternalistic, but they aren't about to sink to the levels of petty internecine conflict that just sows further discontent ... right? Don't tell the writers of "Star Trek: Enterprise" you believe in such starry-eyed things. In that series, the image of the Vulcan people as front-of-the-class, straight-A student presidents was considerably tarnished.

One of the first major dents in the Vulcan reputation came in the premiere season with "The Andorian Incident." There, the crew of the Enterprise gets involved in a touchy situation on the planet P'Jem, where the Vulcans have long had a monastery. Commanding officer Jonathan Archer and the ship's Vulcan liaison, T'Pol, beam down to find that Andorians are holding the monks captive. The Andorians say the Vulcans are using the monastery as a spy base, which sounds ridiculous until the crew uncovers a surveillance operation in the basement.

If that weren't enough, a Season 4 episode, "The Forge," shows that Vulcans aren't above framing their own people. Here, that's the Syrranites, fundamentalist Vulcans who follow what they believe are the genuine teachings of Surak. The Syrranites are pacifists, or at least it seems that way until they are blamed for the bombing of the United Earth embassy on Vulcan. Only, it turns out that they've been framed by the authoritarian government of Administrator V'Las. Could you say that V'Las and his inner circle were working independently? Perhaps, but it's hardly a point in favor of Vulcans.

If high-ranking members of the Vulcan government are engaged in espionage from time to time, then can't we at least expect regular Vulcan folks to mind their manners? Not necessarily. According to the Season 3 "Imposters" episode of "Star Trek: Picard," there's at least one Vulcan criminal gang operating out there. Known as the V'Lashi crime syndicate, it's headed by Vulcan gangster Krinn. While his appearance is plenty flashy with his shiny necklace and dramatic facial scar, Krinn claims that his position as a notorious criminal is only logical. He argues that utopias can't exist without crime and that he's therefore presenting an important element which the good guys can fight against (while lining his own pockets, naturally).

Logical or not, Krinn presents an interesting figure in the larger world of "Star Trek." For one, this isn't the first time a Vulcan has taken on a gangster role, as Spock himself kind of did so in the "Original Series" Season 2 episode "A Piece of the Action." But, of course, the straight-laced Spock was really just playacting in order to stop a planetary war, so he can't really get credit for doing something truly awful. Krinn, however, is the all-too-real deal who is more than willing to take lives and otherwise dramatically harm people in order to achieve his more-or-less logical ends.

If you really consider the Vulcan mind meld, things get awkward fast. The mind meld is a deep psychic connection between two beings in which their minds merge. Practically speaking, it's been used to get rare and intimate insight into someone's thoughts, emotions, and motivations. But what if one of the participants in such a maneuver isn't exactly willing?

In "Star Trek: Enterprise," the Season 1 episode "Fusion" notes that Vulcans themselves aren't always comfortable with the mind meld. When the Enterprise makes contact with a Vulcan ship, they realize that the occupants are slightly rebellious Vulcans who, while adhering to the basics of logic, skip out on societal standards like meditating and fully denying emotions. At one point, first mate Tolaris tells Enterprise's Vulcan liaison, T'Pol, that mind melds might be useful in engaging with emotions. But both acknowledge that the practice has gone out of fashion. When they attempt a mind meld, T'Pol asks to stop, only for Tolaris to persist.

If that was uncomfortable at best, it's painful to watch the mind meld between Spock and Lt. Valeris at the end of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." The connection reveals that Valeris is a traitor, but she very clearly does not consent to the procedure. And Dr. McCoy does not clearly consent to host Spock's katra (essentially, a Vulcan's soul) at the end of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," even if it does mean Leonard Nimoy returned to play a resurrected Spock many times afterward.

The Vulcans aren't the only "Star Trek" species with a dark side — be sure to read our features on the messed-up truth about Klingons and messed-up things about the Ferengi.