Re: Vulcan Writing Analysis
Rob Zook 
Tue, 08 Sep 1998 09:20:46 -0500

Steven Boozer wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Rob Zook wrote:
> 
> >At 08:45 PM 9/6/98 -0500, Steven Boozer wrote:
> >>There were also some Vulcan letters on the Vulcan shuttle 
> >>transporting Spock to the Enterprise in ST:TMP.  A small drawing of 
> >>this shuttle with the tiny lettering barely legible appears in the 
> >>Encyclopedia, page 299 ("shuttle, Vulcan").
> >
> >I had seen the letters in ST:TMP but could not make them out. The
> >Encyclopedia version has at least the largest set legible. That 
> >gives us at least 4 styles, three of which seem fairly unrelated.
> 
> Hopefully you can find a larger picture online.  

The picture was sufficient. The upper line of small characters was 
the first five of the big characters, the lower line of small 
characters was a sequence of the six big characters then a repeat of
the six big characters but the whole second sequence was rotated clock-
wise 180 degrees.


> The shuttle was "of Vulcan registry" and "bore the name *Surak*" 
> according to the Encyclopedia.  The larger of the two lines of 
> characters on the warp drive section (repeated in smaller letters on 
> the upper, detachable crew cabin) is probably the Vulcan version of 
> "S,S. Surak".  The second, smaller string may give the Vulcan for 
> "United Federation of Planets", which appears immediately below it in 
> English and is legible with a magnifying glass.

Interesting, with six letters and two little marks which could be
vowels (but again, more likely I think diacritical marks), we could 
have the word Surak and a prefix/affix signifying something similar to 
"S,S.". 

The smaller marks could be explained away as repetitions of the
ship's name as some kind of redundancy feature, i,e. to ensure someone
who's ship was in a different orientation could still read the name.
Not the greatest explanation, true.

> Of course, we know that none of the alien scripts used in Trek 
> actually means anything.  That is, there is no attempt to represent a 
> consistent writing system.  The artists merely arrange the letters 
> and symbols artistically, in arrangements they feel are esthetic.  

Unfortunately, too true. ST production values do not seem to include
any effort for consistency and realism. They may have while Gene was
alive, but not since then.


> Furthermore, one graphic designer's arrangement may be different from 
> another's.  This practice has been confirmed by Michael Okuda for the 
> TV episodes WRT to the various bits of "Klingon" text we've seen over 
> the years.  He resists all attempts at establishing an official 
> alphabet (or syllabary, or character set, or whatever) for the 
> various writing systems.  He feels that his job is set decoration, 
> not language creation.  And he has a point; if I were in his place, 
> I'd probably do the same.

Yeah, even his Okudagrams on the controls rarely make any sense. In 
fact, according to some guide (forget which), the labels on the large
deck by deck display in the Enterprise D engineering room has stuff
like Giant Mouse, and Captain's Turbo Prop plane.

Have same complaint about B5, although they make a much more sincere
effort. Need someone with the vision of Rodenberry/JMS and the realism
values of J,R,R. Tolkein to take over ST production :)


Rob Z.