The pon farr thread

[Aquarius]

I gotta find that episode again. A lot of those Voyager ones were long enough ago for me that I only remember the basic gist of the plot, but none of the real details.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Well, it's conveniently called Blood Fever

[JadziaKathryn]

I know at one point, maybe 2 years ago or so, we had a long and involved discussion of pon farr. Unfortunately, I don't know if it was before or after the Great TriS Crash.

If there was a way singles met with someone to take care of pon farr (the Vulcan equivalent of prostitutes? ) they'd have to find some way of getting around the bond thing. Hmm. You can't have these people forming bonds willy-nilly.

[Aquarius]

About the bond...

Would one form during sex with a virtual stranger, sex that was being had not because the couple was mated, but because a business transaction was made to keep one of the involved parties from dying?

I got the impression that bonds form because of familiarity and intimacy. It seems to me that T'Pol was able to bond with Trip because of the intimate nature of their contact prior to the sex act and not just from the sex act itself. They cared about each other, at the very least as friends, and felt a degree of personal attachment to each other. Therefore, I think the climate was ripe for a bond, because whether or not they realized it, both were sorta open to it. If T'Pol had conducted her "experiment" with any other guy in the crew, I doubt there'd be a bond.

This also may have something to do with why Vulcan couples typically live together for a year before returning to offworld assignments, etc.; since it's fairly common that bride and groom are virtual strangers at the time of their wedding, the basis for a personal attachment needs to be formed, they need time to get to know each other.

In a more clinical arrangement, who knows? It's probably possible, but I'm wondering if it's comparatively low-risk?

[panyasan]

About the bond...

Would one form during sex with a virtual stranger, sex that was being had not because the couple was mated, but because a business transaction was made to keep one of the involved parties from dying?

I got the impression that bonds form because of familiarity and intimacy. It seems to me that T'Pol was able to bond with Trip because of the intimate nature of their contact prior to the sex act and not just from the sex act itself. They cared about each other, at the very least as friends, and felt a degree of personal attachment to each other. Therefore, I think the climate was ripe for a bond, because whether or not they realized it, both were sorta open to it. If T'Pol had conducted her "experiment" with any other guy in the crew, I doubt there'd be a bond.

This also may have something to do with why Vulcan couples typically live together for a year before returning to offworld assignments, etc.; since it's fairly common that bride and groom are virtual strangers at the time of their wedding, the basis for a personal attachment needs to be formed, they need time to get to know each other.

There also seemed other methods to deal with Pon farr as a single, like we saw with Tuvok and also Vorik (fighting it off so to speak).
I think Vulcans did develop strong rules regarding touching, because they are telepathic. They seemed to have a strong sense of not invading someone privacy without permission. If forming a bond is the thought behind all that, in that line of thinking, forming a bond (aka a relationship on a very intimate level, you can feel each other feelings etc.) is naturally not possible without some kind of openess (permission) from both parties. Does this make sense?

[Aquarius]

Yeah, I think so. I think you and I are pretty much on the same page with this. If the parties involved are emotionally/mentally guarded and limit their touching, no bond.

T'Pol, on the other hand, maybe believing it wasn't possible outside her species, or maybe subconsciously wanting this with Trip, let her guard down. And Trip was just naturally unguarded. And all that getting to know each other and caring about each other amidst all that touching...

*sigh*

[/dopey mushy moment]

[WarpGirl]

OK I have to say I'm a very vocal opponent of what they did with Pon Farr in Enterprise. Everything we have heard in ST about it whether <cough> canon <cough> or in outside sources seems to state that only males enter into Pon Farr. Think about this T'Pring wasn't in heat during "Amok Time" and according to Spock they were betrothed at age 7. So they were the same age. Now with Spock's human blood things were a little different, but if T'Pring had gone through Pon Farr before him they would have already been married. Therefore it's highly unlikely that women go through it in the same way. During "Blood Fever" (VOY) Tuvok explains that Vulcan males link with their mates setting off a bio-chemical reaction and instigating the Plak-Tau. So technically in "Bounty" T'Pol wasn't going through Pon Farr the Suliban had drugged her into Plak-Tau which is very different from Pon Farr.

Strictly speaking only males experience the seven year mating drive. An un-bonded or widowed Vulcan woman would never experience Pon Farr. T'Les never remarried and she's doing just fine. Also those Pon Farr Priestesses serve un-bonded Vulcan men, I've never heard of Priests doing the same for un-bonded women. T'Pol wouldn't experience Pon Farr with Trip because he's human. Although I suppose if a Vulcan male in Pon Farr melded with Trip it could trigger Plak-Tau and in turn T'Pol would be affected as well. Who knows, depending on which source you use Pon Farr is the only time Vulcans can make babies. If Trip and T'Pol wanted to conceive they might have to do that. All I'm saying is the women don't get the seven year itch unless their men give it to them.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ I'm probably repeating myself here, but I keep a FAQ file on my harddrive so I can easily post my views on subjects that appear at regular intervalls. So here is my take on the whole female pon farr thing:

Vulcan females don't experience pon farr on their own. They only enter pon farr after it has been triggered by a Vulcan male already "in heat". On VOY we had Vorik inducing it in B'Elanna. Now, granted she wasn't a Vulcan but his actions (the melding thing) pretty much told us how it would've worked had he had a Vulcan mate there.

In Bounty T'Pol was induced into a faux pon farr by some virus (or whatever it was) in much the same way a Vulcan male in pon farr would have done. When she said "it's not yet the time", I took that to mean that it wasn't the time since she had no mate going through pon farr (or any mate at all) at the time.

[Asso]

In Bounty T'Pol was induced into a faux pon farr by some virus (or whatever it was) in much the same way a Vulcan male in pon farr would have done. When she said "it's not yet the time", I took that to mean that it wasn't the time since she had no mate going through pon farr (or any mate at all) at the time.

This one is the only explanation.
But, please, do not be angry with me, Pon Farr is the worst invention of whole Star Trek. Well, obviously for me.

[WarpGirl]

^ I'm probably repeating myself here, but I keep a FAQ file on my harddrive so I can easily post my views on subjects that appear at regular intervalls. So here is my take on the whole female pon farr thing:

Vulcan females don't experience pon farr on their own. They only enter pon farr after it has been triggered by a Vulcan male already "in heat". On VOY we had Vorik inducing it in B'Elanna. Now, granted she wasn't a Vulcan but his actions (the melding thing) pretty much told us how it would've worked had he had a Vulcan mate there.

In Bounty T'Pol was induced into a faux pon farr by some virus (or whatever it was) in much the same way a Vulcan male in pon farr would have done. When she said "it's not yet the time", I took that to mean that it wasn't the time since she had no mate going through pon farr (or any mate at all) at the time.

That's what I said only you were much more succinct.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Well, I've had plenty of training, posting at various Trek boards for some years now...