STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS: Episode 105: “Spock Amok”

“Spock Amok,” the fifth episode of STRANGE NEW WORLDS, has Mr. Spock torn between pursuing his Starfleet career or making his fiancée T’Pring happy. The story opens with Spock, as a human, dueling against his Vulcan self to marry T’Pring. Spock wakes up from the nightmare and discovers his wife is on board the Enterprise. Meanwhile, the Enterprise ship undergoes lengthy repairs at a Federation starbase. Most of Spock’s crewmates go on “shore leave” or vacation.

Spock goes to Nurse Chapel for “girlfriend” advice. She tells him he needs to be honest with his future wife. T’Pring tells Spock he’s leaning too far on his vulnerable “half human” side. Spock convinces her he can mend their waning, long-distance relationship. The duo performs a Vulcan telepathy ritual for better mutual understanding. However, the ritual goes haywire and causes both users to transfer their minds into the other person’s body. Spock’s mind inhabits T’Pring’s body while T’Pring’s mind inhabits his body.

In the B-plot, Lieutenants Number One and Noonien-Singh play “Enterprise Bingo” to pass the time on board. The other crew mates joke that Number One can’t enjoy anything “fun.” The two women apprehend two ensigns in the brig, experiment with the teleporters, and walk on top of the ship’s exterior. Both ladies prove they’re are more than just “[the place] where fun goes to die.”

Meanwhile, Captain Pike enters negotiations with the Rongovian alien race. He tries to convince them to join the Federation instead of siding with the Klingons or Romulans.

With the discussions on the brink of failure, Pike learns about Spock and T’Pring’s accidental mind swap. He enlists T’Pring’s control of Spock’s body to patch up the negotiations. Moreover, Spock’s control of T’Pring’s must negotiate with Vulcan diplomat Barjan over the sentence of a high valued prisoner. Barjan admits his distaste for T’Pring’s high tolerance of humans and their low-level emotions. Enraged, Spock uses T’Pring’s body to punch the ambassador in the face, justifying it as “a logical choice.”

Back on the Enterprise, Pike plays a hunch against the Rongovian diplomat. The Captain correctly figures out that the aliens “just wanted to be understood.” Pike appeals to their emotions and almost gives the Federation Admiral a heart attack.

“Spock Amok” is an emotional, comedic triumph. It harbors healthy romantic advice for engaged couples. Spock commits to being honest about his shortcomings and literally stepping into his future wife’s perspective. The episode also explores Spock and T’Pring’s clash of exhibiting human emotion versus sticking to cold hard Vulcan logic. The hijinks involving the mind-swap twist will put a smile on any Star Trek fan’s face.

Ultimately, the episode has a strong redemptive, moral worldview. For example, it extols sacrifice, service and duty. It also repeatedly extols ideals/virtues of empathy and honesty in all relationships, macro and micro. There are, for example, examples of relationships between friends, relationships between two heterosexual couples, relationships between bosses and workers, and the diplomatic efforts to establish a positive relationship between the Federation and the alien race that’s thinking about joining the Federation. Honesty and especially empathy help solve the impasse between the two negotiating teams. In fact, Captain Pike deduces that the alien race has a diplomatic technique that he calls “radical empathy.” Eventually, it’s empathy that brings the two sides together.

There is, however, a brief bedroom scene in “Spock Amok” between Mr. Spock and his future wife. The episode also contains six obscenities, some violence and brief references to bisexual dating and human “evolution” from apes. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children for “Spock Amok.”