Over the past 50 years, Star Trek has portrayed many iconic friendships. And now, The Star Trek Book of Friendship is exploring these relationships and giving fans a look into Trek’s most “enduring and endearing friendships,” including Kirk and Spock, Picard and Data, Janeway and Seven of Nine, and many more.
The Star Trek Book of Friendship hits shelves on May 10, 2022, and IGN has an exclusive excerpt from the book that sees its authors Robb Pearlman and Jordan Hoffman discuss the legendary relationship between Kirk and Spock.
This fully authorized book, with illustrations from J.K. Woodward, dives deep into these friendships and many more, and it comes complete with a foreword from Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and Ethan Phillips (Neelix).
The Star Trek Book of Friendship retails for $18 USD, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit The Planetary Society, a nonprofit that is dedicated to empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.
Without further ado, here is an excerpt from The Star Trek Book of Friendship:
Jordan Hoffman: Before we start duking it out like Kirk and the Gorn, do you have an all-time favorite on-screen Star Trek friendship?
Robb Pearlman: I will always stan Kirk and Spock’s friendship the most. I know that’s not the hottest take in the quadrant, but nothing short of an agony booth is going to change my mind in this or any mirror universe.
Hoffman: You can’t beat a classic! And of course that’s my pick, too. They have a true friendship and recognize how they complement each other. Usually when I think about the two of them it’s, “Oh, Kirk needs Spock so much,” which of course he does, but I think Spock also sees things in Kirk that he has actively trained himself to suppress.
They each have traits the other simply can never have. Kirk knows that without Spock to keep him in check, he’ll default into just being a man of action and wind up using that Kirk Chop too much.
Pearlman: I’ve been thinking about this a lot, maybe even overthinking, as is my wont, about when Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise in The Wrath of Khan. And they do the hand thing . . .
Hoffman: Wait, you are going to make me cry! You can’t just surprise me with that!
Pearlman: Sorry not sorry. Just pretend I’m Sybok and share your pain with me. What I’m trying to say is that it’s exactly when we’re sharing those final moments with Kirk and Spock that I think we all realize that that declaration of friendship had never been as deeply articulated before. For example, when Spock returns to the Enterprise in The Motion Picture, Kirk is like, “You’re back! Great! Please sit down!” And as much as we know that Spock is glad to see him, he has his own reasons to be there. And half-Vulcan that he is, he never allows himself the luxury to share, let alone express, his joy in being reunited.
Hoffman: The closest we would have seen them express anything like that would have been at the end of TOS season two’s “Amok Time,” when Spock thinks he’s killed Kirk, and then Kirk’s like, “Aha! Fooled you!” which is played for laughs. That kind of posturing, that ribbing back and forth goes all the way back to that first Tridimensional chess game from season one’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and it’s completely dropped when we get to The Wrath of Khan.
There’s an openness which goes both ways, like when Kirk takes command, that scene in Spock’s quarters with the awesome sequined IDIC mural, Spock stops him and says, “Jim… I am a Vulcan. I have no ego to bruise.” It’s very different from the last episode of season one’s “Operation: Annihilate!,” when Kirk’s brother is killed, and Spock clumsily tries to extend condolences. Kirk just interrupts him with a, “Yes, yes,” and finds an excuse to spring to action just to let Spock off the hook.
The Star Trek Book of Friendship will be released on May 10, 2022, for $18 USD, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit The Planetary Society.
For more on Star Trek, check out our reviews of the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. You can also find out who won our Star Trek crew member face-off and our look at Captain Pike’s story so far.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Continue reading...
The Star Trek Book of Friendship hits shelves on May 10, 2022, and IGN has an exclusive excerpt from the book that sees its authors Robb Pearlman and Jordan Hoffman discuss the legendary relationship between Kirk and Spock.
This fully authorized book, with illustrations from J.K. Woodward, dives deep into these friendships and many more, and it comes complete with a foreword from Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and Ethan Phillips (Neelix).
The Star Trek Book of Friendship retails for $18 USD, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit The Planetary Society, a nonprofit that is dedicated to empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration.
Without further ado, here is an excerpt from The Star Trek Book of Friendship:
Jordan Hoffman: Before we start duking it out like Kirk and the Gorn, do you have an all-time favorite on-screen Star Trek friendship?
Robb Pearlman: I will always stan Kirk and Spock’s friendship the most. I know that’s not the hottest take in the quadrant, but nothing short of an agony booth is going to change my mind in this or any mirror universe.
Hoffman: You can’t beat a classic! And of course that’s my pick, too. They have a true friendship and recognize how they complement each other. Usually when I think about the two of them it’s, “Oh, Kirk needs Spock so much,” which of course he does, but I think Spock also sees things in Kirk that he has actively trained himself to suppress.
They each have traits the other simply can never have. Kirk knows that without Spock to keep him in check, he’ll default into just being a man of action and wind up using that Kirk Chop too much.
Pearlman: I’ve been thinking about this a lot, maybe even overthinking, as is my wont, about when Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise in The Wrath of Khan. And they do the hand thing . . .
Hoffman: Wait, you are going to make me cry! You can’t just surprise me with that!
Pearlman: Sorry not sorry. Just pretend I’m Sybok and share your pain with me. What I’m trying to say is that it’s exactly when we’re sharing those final moments with Kirk and Spock that I think we all realize that that declaration of friendship had never been as deeply articulated before. For example, when Spock returns to the Enterprise in The Motion Picture, Kirk is like, “You’re back! Great! Please sit down!” And as much as we know that Spock is glad to see him, he has his own reasons to be there. And half-Vulcan that he is, he never allows himself the luxury to share, let alone express, his joy in being reunited.
Hoffman: The closest we would have seen them express anything like that would have been at the end of TOS season two’s “Amok Time,” when Spock thinks he’s killed Kirk, and then Kirk’s like, “Aha! Fooled you!” which is played for laughs. That kind of posturing, that ribbing back and forth goes all the way back to that first Tridimensional chess game from season one’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and it’s completely dropped when we get to The Wrath of Khan.
There’s an openness which goes both ways, like when Kirk takes command, that scene in Spock’s quarters with the awesome sequined IDIC mural, Spock stops him and says, “Jim… I am a Vulcan. I have no ego to bruise.” It’s very different from the last episode of season one’s “Operation: Annihilate!,” when Kirk’s brother is killed, and Spock clumsily tries to extend condolences. Kirk just interrupts him with a, “Yes, yes,” and finds an excuse to spring to action just to let Spock off the hook.
The Star Trek Book of Friendship will be released on May 10, 2022, for $18 USD, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit The Planetary Society.
For more on Star Trek, check out our reviews of the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. You can also find out who won our Star Trek crew member face-off and our look at Captain Pike’s story so far.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Continue reading...