10 Things You Never Knew About Star Trek: The Animated Series

7. Exploring Spock's Background

Spock has always been one of the most intriguing characters, but his youth, as a half Vulcan/Half Human character was something only hinted at in the Original Series with mentions of his parents, his childhood pet Sehlat and his torment at the hands of his classmates for not being fully Vulcan.

We got more of it from the Animated Series. In episode “Yesteryear”, Spock must use the Guardian of Forever to go back in time and save his young self. We get to see Spock’s hometown of ShiKahr, which can be briefly seen in the remastered “Amok Time”.

We also see Spock being bullied by his classmates for not being a true Vulcan and also, not being able to perform the Vulcan neck pinch, we meet his pet, I-Chaya and Mark Lenard returns to perform the role of his father, Sarek. More unexpectedly, we learn that Spock was something of a practical joker.

The episode centres around the point in Spock’s life where he makes the decision to either follow the Human or Vulcan philosophy in life, with him choosing the latter.