Vulcan. To a Star Trek fan, the word denotes both the harsh desert world that orbits 40 Eridani and the coolly logical people that dwell there. Though they appear nearly human, Vulcans are very much not — green blood, based on copper, flows through their veins, and they govern their turbulent passions with the philosophy of logic formulated by Surak in the planet’s most ancient of days.
For its September 2010 issue, Star Trek Magazine offers readers a Vulcan Super Special in the true Marvel Manner! In addition to the people and their culture, a number of Vulcans, from Surak in the most ancient of days to Tuvok aboard Voyager and Titan, were profiled in the magazine’s pages, illuminating their role in the Star Trek universe and the unique perspective on the Vulcan race they offer.
For this special issue I wrote a profile of Sybok, the mysterious half-brother of Spock introduced in 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Sybok represented an interesting departure for Vulcans in Star Trek — he was a mystic, he rejected the path of logic, he sought his own truths. He was, essentially, the Gnostic Vulcan. (Indeed, my initial title for the article was “The Apocryphon of Sybok,” riffing on the Gnostic text “The Apocryphon of John.”)
In the course of the article I discuss Sybok’s role in Spock’s development and what Sybok says about Vulcan philosophy.
It was a fun article to write, but it’s not the only thing in Star Trek Magazine #28!
While there’s no coverage of T’Pau, the band, there are other Vulcans profiled in the issue are:
- Surak, by Lance Parkin
- Soval, by Kevin Lauderdale
- T’Pol, by William Leisner
- T’Pau, by Christopher L. Bennett
- Sarek, by Margaret Wander Bonanno
- Spock, by Kevin Dilmore & Dayton Ward
- Saavik, by Scott Pearson
- Sybok, by Allyn Gibson
- Valeris, by David A. McIntee
- Selar, by Keith R.A. DeCandido
- Tuvok, by Andy Mangels
- Taurik and Vorik, by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dimore
And Marco Palmieri provides a general overview of the Vulcan race from “The Cage” to Star Trek Online.
Plus, regular features such as reviews, a look into the Star Trek archives, and other news and notes. All in all, it’s another solid issue from Titan Publishing, and if the logical people of planet Vulcan intrigue you, picking up this issue off the newsstand is only the… ahem… logical thing to do! :spock: