This article originally appeared in the USS Navras newsletter. All mine, no stealing.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is rife with literary references, predominantly Shakespeare (though not in the original Klingon). Captain Spock joins the literary spree with the words, “An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth.” While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the words, the man who “spoke” them was Doyle’s creation, the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. Even before this, Mirror!Spock in the Original Series episode “Mirror, Mirror” used this quote as well while attempting to solve the mystery of the changed crew members.
These quotes simply cement what many fans think: Sherlock Holmes and Spock are cut from the same cloth. Both value logic and solve the problems presented to them by those of lesser intellect. Neither are social butterflies by nature; left to their own devices, both men turn inward. They are tall, angular, and far from conventionally handsome. Their mind is their greatest asset.
In the hands of fans and in the course of fan fiction, these character aspects manifest in exaggerated fashion. The observer can lay the canon sources for both Sherlock and Spock alongside their depictions in fan fiction or pastiche and gain insight on how different these characters are…and yet how different. However, a head-on approach here can be used due to the recent proliferation of Sherlockian media in the form of the 2009 Guy Ritchie film, the BBC serial starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and the Fox television series, House. Given that this is appearing in a Star Trek newsletter, one would assume some reader familiarity with Spock, even if it is only with the 2009 reboot.
One of the predominant features of Sherlock Holmes, along with his staggering intellect, is his eccentricity. Sherlock is an emotional, passionate man. He is passionate about the chase and solving the case, even if his client cannot pay him; as the detective says, he works on a flat fee, except when he waives it entirely. While placing great value on logic when comes to detection, Sherlock is a Bohemian. He is unconventional and uncaring as to external perceptions. While neat in his hygiene, he casts everything else to the wind. His biographer, Dr. Watson, also describes the darker side to Sherlock in graphic detail in “The Sign of Four.” While he has his high intellectual highs, Sherlock also has cocaine lows, injecting a seven-percent solution of cocaine (or morphine, according to Watson). He will brood, shut in for days on end. Left to his own devices, he is destructive and undisciplined; throughout the Doyle canon, the reader hears of the mess and the lack of consideration for poor Mrs. Hudson. This goes as far as to shooting holes into the wall in the shape of Queen Victoria’s epigram, VR. It has been confessed by the creators and writers of the television series, House, that the grumpy, drug-addicted doctor is heavily based off of Sherlock’s dark side.
However, the “lighter” side of House is also briefly seen, mostly taking the form of his love of music. Pianos, guitars, and an extensive CD collection represent the unburdened Gregory House, just as the Stradivarius violin embodies the active Sherlock. For those unfamiliar with the music world, a Stradivarius violin is considered the ultimate violin to own, constructed by Antonio Stradivari in the 1600s. While it is controversial as to whether its sound is truly superior, the name Stradivarius is still a symbol of musical luxury and desirability, as Tiffany is to jewelry. Sherlock also enjoys outings to the theatre and orchestra. Combined with the drug usage, Sherlock, in short, is a hedonist.
Sherlock is also not insensitive to the needs and fears of others. In the case of “The Veiled Lodger,” the client is a woman who was mauled by a lion at the behest of her ex-lover. He does not hesitate to reach out to her with a comforting hand – something shocking to fans that would have Sherlock scoff at her tearful story. Sherlock expresses concern and worry at times over his clients, most notably in “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” when he indicates that he would not want his sister to be in his poor client’s place (whether Sherlock has a sister or not is immaterial). He also jokes with Watson periodically and is willing to laugh at misfortunes, such as when his tracking dog takes the wrong split in a trail.
Laugher is simply not an option with our Vulcan. Spock is philosophically light years away from Sherlock. His quarters are depicted as Spartan, with the exception of the lyre, his one luxury. While Sherlock and Spock share a love of music and talent, the similarities do not stretch much further. Spock’s life is ordered and structured compared to the periodic chaos of Sherlock’s. While this is fostered by Starfleet, this also seems to be an innate part of Spock’s nature due to Vulcan philosophy. The emotional discipline and orderliness of Spock’s knowledge is a dramatic contrast to extreme emotions of Sherlock and his haphazard collection of facts.
Spock lacks vanity as part of his philosophy, but he is excessively meticulous about external appearances, particularly because he is half-human. He makes every effort to conceal his human side by, as some would put it, out-Vulcaning the Vulcans. In “Journey to Babel,” Sarek permits himself a slight smile, but it is only under duress (“Amok Time,” most famously) or when making music (“Charlie X”) that Spock allows himself an emotional outlet. While Sherlock wouldn’t care about what others thought of him, this preoccupies Spock. He has a need to find his place in the universe; this is part of the likability of his character, while the allure of Sherlock (and House) is the opposite. Sherlock cares not for the rest of the world’s opinion.
Spock is a clean-cut member of Starfleet. Spock taking drugs or having mood swings would be associated with alien influences or biological difficulties –or a bad writer! A fan doesn’t watch Spock to see him crash and burn. While he experiences emotional conflict within, Spock is not a character in turmoil. That said, Spock, much like Sherlock, is not a creature lacking in compassion either. While he can hardly be called “cuddly” and may lack bedside manner, Spock expresses compassion and concern for those around him. Even as he suffers from the affects of the Psi 2000 virus in “The Naked Time,” he attempts to let Christine Chapel down gently after she bares her soul to him. “Requiem for Methuselah” shows Spock mindmelding with Kirk to help him to forget the tragic-lost-love-of-the-week. This is a nicety, not a necessity. The ultimate example of Spock’s compassion, overriding even his logic, is his devotion to the crippled Christopher Pike in “The Menagerie.”
The connection between Spock and Sherlock is possibly genetic. However, their defining characteristic is their use of logical processes to solve problems. However, how each applies logic is different. Spock’s logic is part of his entire life philosophy. It is all-encompassing and holistic. Meanwhile, Sherlock’s is compartmentalized and isolated to his job; he uses his logic to help others, not necessarily himself. Sherlock surrenders freely to his emotions and moods, while Spock reins his emotions in. As indicated earlier, both fit the archetype of the lonely thinker. However, they are made of different stuff. Once one looks further into these men, they are startlingly different because of how they act out their roles and how they use their gifts.
Postscript: The final part of this rambling report is a bit of a sidebar. Both Sherlock and Spock in the realm of fan fiction have a notable following that believe that they are either gay or at least bisexual due to their close association with another male character, Dr. Watson and Captain Kirk. Sherlock was not given this treatment until the late 1980s and early 1990s, but Spock had been under scrutiny since the initial run of the Original Series, coming to great prominence in the 1970s’ fanzines. There are two reasons that occur to this writer as a student of history and film interpretation.
The first reason for this can be found in the homosocial environments that Sherlock and Spock exist in. Sherlock and Watson live in the Victorian and Edwardian era. Even at the turn of the twentieth century, men and women were segregated in their activities. Homosociality is the norm; men exclusively socialized with men, and women socialized only with women. Also common during this time are romantic friendships – great, consuming passions for friends of the same sex without ever have sexual desire for them. It is only a modern innovation that men and women “hang out” together; this only becomes the norm after the sexual revolution in the 1960s.
Even though Spock was “born” in the 1960s, he still exists in a military organization, which, even today, is predominantly homosocial. Uhura was on the bridge, but her role was limited to “hailing frequencies open” in many episodes. Spock still works mostly with men. For anyone who has been in the military, there is an innate bond with those the person has served with. While the writer has not experienced military service, it has been indicated that there are intangible elements to this bond that can push a person to go further for a brother in arms.
The best modern, civilian comparison to a nineteenth romantic friendship or the bond between brothers in arms is perhaps the recently coined term “work spouse.” While at work, a pair functions as a great couple, expressing care and concern for their other half. More often than not, these people are romantically involved or married to someone else, and the spouse doesn’t feel jealousy; the very nature and basis of the relationship is non-competitive and supportive. Outsiders may perceive these relationships as “something more” regardless of the context.
The second reason is that neither Sherlock nor Spock expresses their sexuality overtly. Unlike the womanizing Kirk and Watson (definitely comparatively, in Watson’s case), they are monks in comparison. Judging strictly from Doyle’s canon, it could be argued that Sherlock is the earliest incarnation of an asexual person. One must always keep in mind that sexual labels are a new innovation, so attempting to apply them to pre-twentieth century characters can get tricky. Spock, while less ambiguous due to his entanglements in the Original Series, still is not a predominantly sexual being (though fangirls may hope otherwise!). This probably is another essay within itself, so this brief addendum comes to an abrupt halt.
