"When Captain Pike is transformed into a Vulcan in the latest Strange New Worlds Season 3 episode, he suddenly becomes a man who shouts. Indeed, the opening narration of "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans" features Pike, as his new Vulcan self, speaking in a halted, shouty voice. Is this what Vulcans sound like? Are Vulcans, as Spock admits in the new episode, sometimes pushy, arrogant "jerks"?"
"In some early memos and outlines from Roddenberry, Spock was described as "so satanic you might also expect him to have a forked tail." And, as fans will note, in "The Cage," Spock shouts quite a bit. These rough drafts of Spock, and by extension, the Vulcans as a whole, were retconned in The Original Series, but not as quickly as one might assume. Spock still grins in "Where No Man Has Gone Before,""
Four-and-a-Half Vulcans turns Captain Pike, Uhura, Chapel, and La'an into Vulcans for an undercover mission, producing a halted, shouty Pike. The portrayal draws on 1964 conceptions of Spock that included descriptions as "so satanic you might also expect him to have a forked tail." Early pilots and episodes show Spock grinning and shouting, indicating a more aggressive vocal style that was gradually retconned. Remnants of that style persist in episodes like "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "The Corbomite Maneuver." Anson Mount’s performance leans into those historical traits to interrogate what Vulcan identity means.
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