Star Trek: 10 Most Overused Plot Tropes

Star Trek: The Original Series introduced audiences to Spock, a half-human, half-Vulcan hybrid. Many times throughout his adventures we saw Spock struggling to acknowledge his human side while still staying true to his Vulcan upbringing. Spock was one of the only half-human Vulcans ever and, as we saw in Star Trek (2009), he was often bullied by other Vulcans as a child due to his humanity.

This internal conflict of alien versus human seemed to be an analogy for children growing up in bicultural homes. Many children whose parents come from significantly different cultures find it difficult to identify with either one but often learn how to respect and take pride in both.

But this theme didn't end with Spock. Throughout Star Trek we saw many half-human characters trying to reconcile their two ancestries. B'Elanna Torres was a half-human, half-Klingon who rejected her Klingon heritage at first out of embarrassment. She, like Spock, was also bullied for being a hybrid, though for B'Elanna it was her alien side, rather than her human side, that she tried to suppress. Other examples include Deanna Troi, the half-Betazoid, and to a certain extent Seven of Nine, who, although not born Borg, definitely struggled to blend her Borg ideals with her forgotten humanity.