Trek Tropes
universe
- Cool Starship
- Standard Sci-Fi Setting
- The World Is Just Awesome
settings
USS Enterprise
- The Bridge: Enterprise contains one.
- Close-Knit Community: 400 people + confined space + 5+ years.
- Crazy Workplace: A murder on ship? Evil doppelgangers of your officers? Abraham Lincoln appearing on the viewscreen, or Surak on a world you beam down to? Somebody stole your friend's brain? Just another Alpha Shift.
Hellguard
- Death World: It's called Hellguard.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Again, it's called Hellguard.
Vulcan
- Sand Worm: The (semi-mythical) Undertier(s).
- Solar Flare Disaster: In the prehistoric past.
species, cultures, & organisations
the Federation
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Prime Directive.
- The Federation: Trope namer!
- Fictional United Nations: TVTropes disagrees with me. I think that's nonsense because I watched Journey to Babel & read Spock's World.
- Melting Pot Sci-Fi Setting
Horta
the Klingon Empire
- Martyrdom Culture: Death in battle is heavily idealised, if not expected.
Romulans
Starfleet
- Mildly Military: Starfleet is not, per se, a military. Starfleet is also not, per se, not a military. As the offical trope page puts it, Starfleet wants to be primarily an exploration and science service, but it becomes a proper military when it has to.
Vulcans
- Brutal Honesty
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: An unfortunately common misconception.
Rule of Silences redaction
- Mating Season Mayhem: Pon Farr.
- Pointy Ears
- The Stoic
- Telepathic Spacemen
characters
James T. Kirk
- Benevolent Boss
- Big Beautiful Man
- The Captain
- Determinator
- The Men First: Consistently priotises the welfare of his crew members above his own.
Kevin
- An Alien Named Bob: A Klingon named Kevin. His mother was Human.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The son of Korsal, a Klingon scientist, and a Human Starfleet officer.
Leonard McCoy
- Determined Doctor: He will prioritise treating his patients - which includes anyone injured or unwell in his vicinity - above anything.
- Frontier Doctor: Final frontier doctor.
- The Heart
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Trope namer, trope originator, trope codifier.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Tough Love
Montgomery Scott
Nyota Uhura
- Communications Officer: Naturally.
Saavik
- Children Forced to Kill
- Constantly Curious: Something which is considered almost a virtue among Vulcans.
- Foster Kid
- Half-Breed Angst
- Hiding Your Heritage
- Little Miss Badass
- Taking You With Me: To Hellguard. Ye'll be killed, man. not make it out alive! [...] "You won't get him, you bastard world! I've sold my soul to see you die! And I'm coming to kill you-myself!"
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour
- Unadoptable Orphan
- Wild Child
Sarek
- Ambadassador: At least twice has had to - and easily succeeded to - hold his own in physical fights in what was supposed to be a diplomatic setting. Also, apparently, "quite capable" of killing if he were to deem it neccessary.
- Cunning Linguist: He learned several languages and dialects on Terra, was noted to be especially good at teaching English, and also learned to navigate lies and subterfuge.
- Intrigued by Humanity: He quickly found this after being posted to Terra's Vulcan Embassy.
- Not So Above It All: Apparently, with his non-Vulcan students, he is a "comedian".
- Will Not Tell a Lie
Spock
- Arranged Marriage: A situation thankfully dealt with by Jim and Leonard.
- Blue Blood: A direct descendant of Surak, and a member of T'Pau's clan.
- Character Catchphrase: "Fascinating."
- Character Tics: When in great distress, will often tug his shirt down.
- Constantly Curious: Considered almost a virtue among Vulcans.
- Child of Two Worlds: Trope namer.
- Death Seeker: "I shall do neither."
- Friendless Background
- Half-Breed Angst
- Half-Human Hybrid: The first surviving Vulcan-Human hybrid.
- Jewish and Nerdy
- Martial Pacifist: "I am a Vulcan, bred to peace" - and trained in combat.
- Spock Speak: Trope namer. Spock speaks very precisely, frequently utilising jargon.
- Token Nonhuman: During his first few years aboard Enterprise, the only visibly nonhuman officer aboard.
- Virtuous Vegetarianism
relationships
Amanda + Sarek
- Attracted to Humor: Amanda makes Sarek laugh for the first time in years, and laugh so hard he can't breathe.
- Authoritative in Public, Docile in Private: Sarek, to a certain extent.
- Boldly Coming: "then I met your father… and decided to practice a different form of cooperation between intelligent life forms," as Amanda phrases it later.
- Converting for Love: Amanda, to an extent.
- Happily Married
- Interspecies Romance: Human; Vulcan.
- Learning to Swim: Amanda taught Sarek to swim.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage
- Marry For Love
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Certainly by Vulcan standards of body language and public affection.
Amanada + Sarek + Spock
- Our Phlebotinum Child: The first surviving Vulcan-Human hybrid, with thanks to the VSA's genetics labs.
Daniel Corrigan + Sorel
- Interspecies Romance: Human; Vulcan.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage
the family Enterprise
Bones, Hikaru, Jim, Nyota, Pavel, Scotty, & Spock; sometimes also Saavik.
- Everyone's Baby Sister: Everyone is quick to become protective of Saavik after meeting her.
- Rescued from the Underworld: Genesis, with Spock.
- True Companions
Hikaru + Pavel
- Those Two Guys: Especially on the bridge.
James T. Kirk + Leonard McCoy + Spock
- Freudian Trio: Id (makes decisions from emotion and instinct - McCoy), superego (makes decisions from rules and logic - Spock), superego (balances both factors - Kirk).
- Power Trio
- Take a Third Option: "I will do what I must... but not with him." In Amok Time, thanks to Jim's refusal to fight to kill, Bones is spurred on to find a solution - to, as he puts it, cheat - where neither of his friends die.
James T. Kirk + Spock
- Celebrity Power Couple: Both are quite famous and influential.
- Happily Married
- Interspecies Romance: Human; Vulcan.
- Marry For Love: Arranged marriages and marriaged of convenience are the norm in Vulcan society. Spock chooses to marry the man he loves instead.
Leonard McCoy + Spock
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: While they both wear Sciences blue (McCoy in the ligher medical shade), they are close friends with very different worldviews - passion ('red oni') vs. intellect ('blue oni').
- Science Hero
- Vitriolic Best Buds
Saavik + Spock
- Adult Adoptee: After being fostered by Spock in childhood, and an ongoing mentorship, she was officially adopted into the family.
- Happily Adopted
- Parent-Child Team
Sarek + Spock
- Follow in My Footsteps: Sarek wanted Spock to study at the Vulcan Science Academy like he and his own father had done, and was disappointed when Spock chose to instead attend Starfleet Academy.
- It Runs in the Family: As Salok says, "so difficult for fathers when sons are like themselves."
