Star Trek: 9 Times Mr. Spock Got A Power-Up
1. Spock The Illogical Snow Man
When thrown into the ice-age past of the planet Sarpedion in “All Our Yesterdays” it is Spock who is better able to withstand the cold than McCoy, who suffers frostbite and nearly dies. This oddity did not slip past the fact checker at de Forest Research, whose report dated December 9, 1968 contains this:
I had forgotten that humans cannot regulate their metabolism at will – Spock does not usually forget anything, but, in any case, it is not true that Vulcans can regulate their metabolism at will. We have even dramatized Spock’s super-heating his quarters to stay comfortable. Cold affects him faster than any discomfort, even physical injury. Advise delete as inconsistent with STAR TREK precedents.
Two and half years earlier Gene Roddenberry noted the following for the Writer-Director Guide character analysis for Mr. Spock dated May 2, 1966:
And since his home planet is also dryer [sic] and hotter than Earth, Spock can withstand greater temperatures, go longer without water.
Greater temperature doesn’t mean lesser temperatures. If anything, it should have been Spock shivering in his space boots instead of Bones, but nope, so in the series’ penultimate episode Spock gained an antifreeze power-up!
NOTE: Special thanks to David Eversole, David Tilotta, and Ryan Thomas Riddle.