i’m all “let’s watch the rest of this season so far! no cas feels in sight!” and hulu’s all “OH YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD AVOID CAS FEELS HERE’S A QUICK REMINDER THAT ONE TIME CAS WANTED TO BE GOD AND HIS FACE GOT ALL MESSED UP WASN’T THAT FUN TEEHEE”
I should’ve gotten more cotton candy I really should’ve
21/100 Fictional Character Crushes
Dr. Leonard McCoy/Bones
WOW OK AWESOME LET’S JUST PUT THEM BOTH TOGETHER
This is basically the movie/Jim & Bones’ relationship from McCoy’s perspective (because “Fix You” is Leonard McCoy’s official theme song forever).
in which Bones goes from Chief Medical Sassypants to “SOMEBODY HELP ME MY BFFL IS HAVING A LIFE THREATENING REACTION TO A VACCINE” in 10 caps or less.
you’re welcome.
It’s gone now and it had a lot of Trek feels in it. I’m not redoing the whole stupid thing. I’m just going to talk about the part that’s most important to me.
This is what was said
And as much as I adore KUrbs and DeForest, Bones is a space-racist, and not in the way where he hates your culture and is blinded by White/human privilege and doesn’t realize he’s being fucked up, you’re one of the good Vulcans, even if he dislikes you personally, but in the way that is about how weird your heart is sitting on top of where your liver should be, you green-blooded hobgoblin, and that is just so weird for me that McCoy is not being called on that constantly by people who don’t actually like him. Maybe it’s a generational thing, I didn’t come up on TOS, so sue me.
And this is how I feel about it.
Bones is not even remotely space-racist. The whole POINT of Trek is the idea that in the future, our differences will become non-issues. Why would they create a character who wasn’t accepting of other races?
Yeah, Bones will point out that Spock’s anatomy is different, and he’ll do it with the kind of sass that would blow up an entire planet. But you know what? Spock gives it right back.
This is not an example of one character acting outside the bounds of accepted cultural propriety and decency, like everyone else should be shunning him for saying that kind of thing to Spock. You can’t just look at his interaction with one person and call him space-racist. You have to look at
a) WHO is he talking to, and what is their relationship
b) does he treat everyone who is different from him (or everyone from that race) the same way
First things first, the relationship between Bones and Spock is brotherly. They’re not just friends or acquaintances- there is a deeper bond. That’s understood in TOS and (I think) will be built up in the reboot. Spock and Bones also each have a brotherly relationship with Jim. So think about siblings’ relationships. They act differently with each one. They show love in different ways. So Spock & Bones have a more sibling-rivalry relationship. They jab at each other. It’s part of how they communicate and interact.
Here, have some examples (off the top of my head):
in I Mudd, the episode starts with Bones noticing that a crewman is acting weird. He says (to Spock) that it’s not normal for someone to never smile and only focus on work and avoid dr. appointments. He then back tracks and says “unusual for a non-human” (APOLOGIZING IS RACIST NOW?). Spock says “he’s probably terrified of your beads and rattles”.
in The Apple, Spock gets hit with a poison plant but doesn’t die. Bones remarks on his green blood saving him. Spock says Bones’ concoction (the hypo) is turning his stomach. Bones says if his blood was red instead of green, he’d be fine.
in Bread & Circuses, the trio’s new friend notices Spock & Bones bantering and asks Jim if they’re friends or enemies. Jim says sometimes he’s not sure THEY know.
(this is just what I immediately thought of. There are dozens more.)
The two of them give as much as they get. It’s part of what makes their dynamic so fun to watch.
As far as point b, obviously Bones is respectful of other species and other Vulcans. Just look at Journey to Babel. Come on.
And this is definitely not a generational thing, it’s a do your research thing. If you’re going to make a snap judgement on a character based on his two minute interaction with another character in one movie, that’s just lazy. I’d never watched TOS before I saw the reboot; in fact, I hadn’t watched ANY Trek since I was like 5 years old watching TNG with my dad. I had no idea who these characters were, and I came away thinking Bones and Spock were definitely going to be a fun friendship to watch because they’d probably end up with some great sarcastic banter. (Also I’m 27 so no, I’m not even remotely part of the TOS gen.)
AND ANOTHER POINT: If you’re only referencing the reboot, HELLO:
JIM: “Who was that pointy eared bastard?”
BONES: “I don’t know, but I like him!”
Yeah, it’s sarcastic, but you can tell from the line delivery alone that McCoy’s character respects and likes something about Spock’s character. A racist doesn’t usually see the good in others.
I just have a lot of McCoy feels.
