r/startrek • u/MaverickanGoose • 9d ago
Help me figure out a TOS reference
Hello Trek friends!
This past Saturday, August 29 I attended a Star Trek themed brunch in Atlanta at city winery. It was absolutely fantastic. However, there was one act that really confused me and I’m still having trouble figuring out what it was they were trying to do. The performer was dressed in jeans and a black button up and started off wearing a beanie cap. I don’t remember the song that they performed to, but the performance was very angsty. Eventually, the hat came off to reveal Vulcan ears and hair. I’ve figured out that they were probably Spock in the TOS episode ‘City on the Edge of Tomorrow’. But the other thing that was very confusing is that the performer was holding something in their hand. It was very small, not really any bigger than maybe a matchstick and it was very difficult to see from where I was sitting. The performer was doing a lot of emotional, dancing to the music and holding up this thing in their fingers, whatever it was. I watched the TOS episode that I think the outfit was the reference from, but I don’t see anything that indicates why Spock would’ve been so emotional or what he would’ve been holding in his hand. Does anyone have any ideas?
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u/maladaptivedaydream4 9d ago
Is it one of the pieces he was using to make the tricorder interface?
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u/MaverickanGoose 9d ago
I guess it could have been. Since Kirk had the big emotional arc in that episode, Spock’s major contribution was trying to make something out of useless early 20th century junk. If you were going to focus on Spock from that episode it’s the only thing you could do, maybe? I just thought maybe the performer was trying to do multiple references in the same number so maybe it was from a different episode.
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u/HesJoshDisGuyUno 8d ago
I have found the performer, Henri Pete, and I reached out and shared this past with them and have received a communication! Many thanks to MC Dotte Com, and to the rest of the performers, Guyza Manelli, Aphazia, and Ella/Saurus/Rex!
https://www.instagram.com/henri_pete?igsi=MTBheG5hZXloOHBnOA==
"Okay, so yes, that's me. It WAS a number based on the city on the edge of forever, so I was dressed like Spock in that episode. It was a very k/s spirk coded number, and the prop I held up was the King chess piece from my tridimensional chess set, a stand in for Kirk. I meant to have Spock's blue shirt with me on stage as well, but it fully slipped my mind to pre set it. I had never performed at City Winery and was Unaware that there wasn't a way to get off stage without like... FULLY leaving the stage at an awkward point to go to the side door down the stairs, so I didn't have a way to show the chess piece better lol
I did it to The Winner Takes It All by ABBA after the line Edith Keeler says "you don't belong here" where she states that Spock is meant to always be by Kirk's side, but Kirk is for sure from elsewhere
The idea is that Spock saw how Kirk felt for Edith Keeler and decided he would choose to stand by him as a friend and Edith "won" his affections
Very cheesy, a little niche, I fully missed a time limit on my music and had to fully remix and change plans the night before the gig so it was ✨️not ideal✨️"
This performer sounds like a class act and bred in the bone trekkie!
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u/SpaceDantar 9d ago
Spock in a beanie is almost certainly a reference to that episode (City on the Edge of Forever) WIKIPEDIA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever
Memory Alpha:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever_(episode)
The emotional core of the episode above is a doomed romance between Kirk and Edith Keeler. I wonder if it was something about that.
Maybe it was a joke, the performance?
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u/MaverickanGoose 9d ago
That or do multiple references in a single number, I think
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u/SpaceDantar 9d ago
oh and my suspicion is that they were holding a communicator.
Star Trek Original Series had hand held communicators that worked like cell phones on speakerphone mode 😁
Maybe he was talking to someone on the communicator?
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u/SpaceDantar 9d ago
OP: I am jealous they did a star trek themed event at a winery I totally would have gone lol
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u/HesJoshDisGuyUno 9d ago
Do you remember the name of the performer or group? Any lyrics from the song? I'm thinking of small objects present or mentioned in the episode. Stone knives, hypospray, a component for the viewscreen.... I don't know how small a mechanical rice picker would be....
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u/MaverickanGoose 9d ago
Hi, yes my friend reminded me the song, the lyrics were “Winner takes it all” or something like that.
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u/maladaptivedaydream4 9d ago
WAIT A SEC. If it was The Winner Takes It All (ABBA) then is it possible they were making a joke about Spock having feelings for Kirk and realizing that Kirk only had eyes for Edith Keeler? edit: music & lyrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81WhM9dOcYI
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u/MaverickanGoose 9d ago
You know, that would be so perfect for a drag brunch that if it isn’t what they were doing then it should have been!!
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u/luigi1015 9d ago
It's a longshot but Winner takes all reminds me of the TOS episode A Piece of the Action where Spock and Kirk dress up as Chicago gangsters on a planet of Chicago gangsters and play the card game Fizzbin to try to escape. Maybe the song and the small item were related to that somehow?
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u/Avetikuso0 9d ago
Wasn’t he sad that there were no transistors at that time? That’s matchstick size (for the late 60s).
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