Let's talk about Treks, baby

[seriousfic]

Amidst all the speculation about Star Trek 2 and all the fangirls who want to see a strong female character from TOS brought in to stand alongside the Big Seven--you know, Chapel or Rand or Gaila (seriously, how weird is it that the girls are the ones clambering for the boy-hungry green space babe to come back?)--it occurred to me. There already is a big non-Uhura female presence in the bridge crew.

Y'all remember Saavik?


And her boss nightie?

She showed up in Star Trek 2 to replace Sulu, who was getting his own ship. Then in Star Trek 3 she came back, albeit with Kirk's son David, and totally did it with Spock. Then in Star Trek 4 she stayed home because she was pregnant with Spock's kid--though that was deleted, along with her half-Romulan heritage. Good on the Romulan thing, it'd make her too similar to fellow half-Vulcan Spock, but bad on the ret-bortion. Dealing with the fall-out from that would be a lot more interesting than anything that happened in Star Trek 5, the movie that made Captain Kirk wrestling a catgirl boring.

But okay, she's gone from Star Trek 4--there's precedent for that. Chekov was absent from most of Star Trek 2, Uhura sat out Star Trek 3 (along with Spock, obviously), but she'd come back in Star Trek 5? No, for some reason. And then she was supposed to be in Star Trek 6, but they couldn't get either of the actresses to reprise the role (marking the last time "Kirstie Alley is too busy to take the part" would ever be uttered), so they created an entirely new character rather than recast again. Which sucks, because having someone we know in ST6 would've immeasurably improved the mystery plot (who could the traitor be? Not the person who just showed up, surely!), but also given her a nice tragic arc. And you could always redeem her in EU novels.

Maybe it's that the character kept getting recast that stopped her gaining a lot of traction. But anyway, with all the timeline goofiness, she could totally show up in Star Trek 2 as a contemporary of Kirk as opposed to the more experienced Spock. I mean, Vulcans don't age like humans, right? I believe according to Roddenberry, they don't age, and they can only be killed by someone cutting off their head and undergoing the Quickening.

Comments

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

How would you rewrite her origin, tho? Because the novel/movie one wouldn't work. I think.

I suppose you could graft Soleta's origin, another half-romulan, onto Saavik.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Soleta

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

She's a Vulcan officer in Starfleet; that's about all you need.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

Not really. Both being half vulcan was a bonding point for them in the old canon. Spock was actually descriminated against as a mixed breed, so I doubt he'd get along well with just a regular Vulcan. (Admittedly pre-reboot. He might have not been picked on in the new canon)

[rap541.livejournal.com]

Not to be a geek, but Kirstie Alley didn't resume the role in Star Trek 3 because they were not willing to pay her shit and the role was significant in comparison to the money being offered.

Robin Curtis likewise didn't come back for Star Trek 5 because she was getting paid shit and was screwed over in the storyline of Star Trek 4 AND the part woud have been identical to Valeris - Saavik would have betrayed Spock and Starfleet.