Why was Spock the only one shot onto Genesis planet? spoilers - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Discussion

[–] Stevicus-2 10 years ago

Midshipman Preston stayed at his post while other trainees ran.
Why not send him off to Genesis as well?
Thoughts?

Good question. In other Trek funerals, they just send the casket out into space (just like burial at sea) - or they might bury someone on a planet if necessary. But to just send an unburied casket to languish on the surface of Genesis does seem a bit odd. At the time, Kirk didn't know it would be planet forbidden. For all he knew at the time, they could have soon been planning new communities right where he dumped Spock's casket.

As for Preston, he may have been given a regular Star Fleet funeral.

I wonder if cremation was an option. I'd hate the idea of my remains floating around in space. Just put my body in a disintegration chamber.

reply

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

In the DC Comics that follow the movie, Scotty took Preston's remains back to Scotland and gave his ashes a burial.

reply

[–] PillowRock 10 years ago

I'll preface this by stating up front that all I've got is speculative "maybes" without any supporting evidence beyond seeing Spock's funeral in the movie and Spock being the only one that was reborn in the next movie.

Maybe the torpedo casing for a casket is an honor reserved for command rank officers.

Maybe only the torpedo casing burials were capable of powering themselves all the way to the planet.
Or, alternatively ......
Maybe all of the non-torpedo-casing burials burned up when they entered the planet's atmosphere.

Maybe aiming Spock's torpedo toward the planet (as opposed to some random angle in deep space) was a poetic touch that Kirk added on his own for his friend.

Maybe it was McCoy who suggested that poetic touch to Kirk. ("Remember.")

reply

[–] truther 10 years ago

I agree that it's probably a combination of things. Part of it is just Hollywood's tendency to forget about anyone's death besides the star's. Once Spock dies it's like the Enterprise literally had only the one casualty.

But also Spock deserves some sort of honor burial because he's the second in command who gave his life literally so the others could live. The Genesis planet would have been created either way but they're only alive to see it because of Spock personally. So it makes sense that he alone would get some sort of photon torpedo burial where he's launched onto the new planet.

Preston and most of the others died earlier enough in the movie that they would already have been buried before Spock's death. I'm not sure we know for sure that anyone is killed in the final battle with Reliant, though there are certainly casualties.

reply

[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

In the books and in the latest remake, corpses are kept "in stasis", presumably so they can be returned to their families for death rituals.

So perhaps Spock's family had declined the honor of getting the corpse back, perhaps Vulcans are true to their Jewish roots and want funerary services done quickly, perhaps the other corpses were sent off after Spock's and the camera didn't follow them, whatever. Perhaps there wasn't enough left of the other stiffs to regenerate.

reply

[–] Alerra (244) 6 years ago

But remember in ST3, Sarek asks Kirk to retrieve Spock's body so his soul could be returned to Vulcan. So I'm going to guess that, at the time of Spock's funeral, the news of his death had not yet reached his family (who, presumably, is on Vulcan, given Kirk's surprise at seeing Sarek on Earth in ST3, and Amanda's presence on Vulcan in ST4). Because if it HAD, I'm going to guess that Sarek would have immediately demanded that it be sent home.

Also, fwiw, the books aren't actually canon. So we can't actually look at them for guidance.

reply

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Good point about Sarek, and damn. Can you imagine admitting a fuck-up of that level to Sarek? To his face? Oh, the drama!

* * *

PS: True about the books, and I will tell you I stopped with the fan-fiction books a decade or two ago... but a few little things have crept from the books into the movies. Like Sulu and Uhura's first names, which were never used in the original series. Fan fiction writers invented the names and shared them with each other, and they became such ironclad "fanon" that they were eventually adopted into the canon.

reply

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 10 years ago

It's only natural that Spock's funeral had more fanfare than that of a midshipman. Spock had been serving on the ship for decades, Preston had only recently arrived. Also, he was technically the captain of the Enterprise, even though Kirk had temporarily taken over as acting captain for the mission.

Maybe it wasn't Preston's wishes to be buried in space, it apparently wasn't even Spock's. Maybe Scotty was going to take him back to his sister/Preston's mother for a family burial or something.

See you guys at the 10 year prison reunion - Ben Richards

reply

[–] aluminum_foil 9 years ago

Maybe not necessarily canon, but according to the ST III novelization, Scotty brought Preston back home to be buried in the family plot.

Can't speak for the rest of the crew who died, though.

reply

[–] dawnantonis 9 years ago

I just watched it and wondered the same thing. I mean, he was no Spock, but he was a relatively of Scott you and a noble character...

reply

[–] herbsuperb 9 years ago

Midshipman Preston stayed at his post while other trainees ran.
Why not send him off to Genesis as well?
Thoughts?

Guess I always assumed they'd already been 'buried' by the time the Genesis planet came to be.

reply

[–] adamdurrance 9 years ago

Maybe Preston's body was in storage to be sent back to his family.

reply

[–] hachmom-1 9 years ago

Scotty takes his nephew back to his family, according to the Search for Spock novelization. I believe somewhere in the novelization of either WOK or SFS it reference burial on the planet being in keeping with Spock's wishes.

It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices

reply

[–] ManuelManipulation 8 years ago

He was tiny so they threw him in the warp core to incinerate his body to ash, as per his uncles wishes, and spray his ashes into space via The Buzzard Collectors.

reply