Have you ever been engaged, Mr. Spock?
So, I know that in 50+ years everything has been said about Kirk/Spock, but I want to talk about this anyway. :D
In one of the first episodes, specifically "What are little girls made of?", we get a pretty interesting scene:
In context, Christine is hearing her fiancé's voice after 5 years, but because of his unusual request, Spock wonders if it's actually him talking. Christine is sure that it's him, and she probably thinks that anyone who's been in a close romantic relationship would get it. Which is why she teases the First Officer: "Have you ever been engaged, Mr. Spock?"
After her question, the camera switches to Kirk (okay, I could actually write another essay about why the hell do they show Kirk right after Christine asked Spock if he's ever been engaged???, but whether you believe it or not, this isn't what I want to focus on here :D), then we finally see Spock.
NOW, let's see what happens. First of all, Spock doesn't answer the question. Why? We might never know what Star Trek writers were thinking when they wrote that episode, because it was very early in the series. If I had to guess, I'd say nobody had planned Amok Time when the first part of season 1 was shot, but it's also possible that they were already considering giving Spock a Vulcan fiancée/wife. Either way, since we can't prove anything about the creators' intent, we can at least talk about what is actually canon in the series.
Spock's answer to Christine's question "Have you ever been engaged, Mr. Spock?" would be "Yes". Spock is currently engaged to T'Pring, he's been engaged since he was a child. Even if we don't know anything about it when we watch season 1 for the first time, "Yes" is the canon answer, the only 100% official one.
So, let's think about it again: Christine asks Spock a private question about his romantic life, and Spock doesn't answer. Well, to be precise, this is what he does:
Yeah, it's just a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, sure, but you can see that he lifts his right eyebrow. That's his way to answer. Now, I'm sure a lot of you are starting to suspect what I'm getting at, but let me sum it up first:
Someone asks Spock a personal question about his romantic life. ("Have you ever been engaged, Mr. Spock?")
Spock raises his right eyebrow and doesn't answer.
The 100% canon answer to that question is that he is indeed involved in that kind of matters. ("Yes, I am currently engaged.")
Why doesn't Spock say anything? Well, we know that Vulcans don't like lying, but they can refuse to answer. So we can deduce that Spock doesn't want to reply to that kind of question, especially when the truth isn't "no, I've never had a mate", but something that would make others too curious. Spock is a private person, he doesn't like the way humans make everything about feelings and emotions. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem for him to deny everything about his potential romantic/sexual relationships, if it was the truth.
Anyway, speculations aside, the most important thing is that the episode "What are little girls made of?" sets a precedent:
- Someone asks Spock a personal question about his romantic life.
- Spock raises his right eyebrow and doesn't answer.
- The answer is YES.
SO, YOU KNOW...
- Someone asks Spock a personal question about his romantic life.
- Spock raises his right eyebrow and doesn't answer.
- The answer is YES.
YOU KNOW RIGHT?
- Someone asks Spock a personal question about his romantic life.
- Spock raises his right eyebrow and doesn't answer.
- The answer is YES.
From "Star Trek The Motion Picture" novelization, Roddenberry's footnote:
Someone asks Spock a personal question about his romantic life. ("Did you and Admiral Kirk become lovers, Mr. Spock?")
Spock raises his right eyebrow and doesn't answer.
The answer to that question is...
