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Physical appearance
Vulcans are depicted as similar in appearance to humans. The main physical differences are their eyebrows and ears: the former are arched and upswept, while the latter feature pinnae which taper into a point at the top. Vulcans can be classified into various races. Most caucasianoid-like Vulcans typically appear with a subtle greenish hue to their skin, due to Vulcans' copper-based blood. Other features described include an inner eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which protects their vision from bright lights, an adaptation for their bright and hot home world. In addition, their hearts are located on the right side of the torso, in between the ribs and pelvis, as Dr.McCoy once says about Spock:he is lucky that his heart is where his liver should be, or hed be dead!
Diet
Vulcans are vegetarians and were omnivores in ages past. In the Star Trek original series (TOS) episode "All Our Yesterdays", Spock willingly consumes meat; partly due to the effects of time-travel 5,000 years into the past, and partly because he reasons there is no other suitable food available given the harsh, ice-age climate in which they are trapped. Vulcans are repeatedly stated to be herbivorous in the (non-canon) TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", by the carnivorous Kzinti. Vulcans do not like to touch their food with their hands, preferring to use utensils whenever possible (though there are numerous cases where Vulcans have broken this rule). It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts (Star Trek Enterprise episode: Home).
Vulcans are said not to drink, though they are depicted indulging on special occasions or as a storyline warrants. In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Repression", Humans and Vulcans are shown drinking a Vulcan alcoholic drink called "Vulcan Brandy". In the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident", as part of his diversionary role during an espionage mission against the Romulans, Spock shares a drink (most likely Romulan Ale) with the female Romulan commander. In a later TOS episode "Requiem For Methuselah", Spock specifically requests a Terran brandy after Dr. McCoy, while serving himself and Captain Kirk, observes that he had no expectation that Spock would be joining them in a drink for fear that the alcohol would affect his logic faculties. In Star Trek: First Contact, when the Vulcans first met Zefram Cochrane, he served them alcoholic beverages, which they took in lieu of dancing. In "non-canon" Trek-related literature, such as the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Vulcans are depicted as immune to the effects of alcohol, but become inebriated by ingesting chocolate (this is also quickly alluded to in DS9 when Quark offers a Vulcan client some Vulcan Port or chocolate, in speaking of which he implies something sexual).
Mating drive
Approximately every seven years, Vulcan males and bonded females experience an overpowering mating drive known as pon farr. Once triggered, Vulcans must have sexual contact with someone, preferably their mate, or else face insanity and death.
If a mate is not available, there are other ways to relieve the effects of the pon farr. The first is meditation, by means of which the Vulcan must overcome the urge to mate through mental discipline. The second is violence. This is seen in the Voyager episode "Blood Fever," when B'Elanna Torres and Ensign Vorik fight in the traditional Vulcan manner. The violence ends the pon farr. The other option is extreme shock; in the TOS episode "Amok Time," Spock believed he had killed James T. Kirk, his best friend, thus providing sufficient shock to nullify the effects of pon farr. When he experienced pon farr, Tuvok of the USS Voyager made use of a holodeck simulation of a temporary mate which resembled his wife to relieve his condition. This holodeck simulation was created because The Doctor was unavailable; the dialog of this episode suggests that The Doctor had prepared a medicine to help Tuvok overcome the effects of pon farr. Infection is another mechanism writers have used to induce pon farr in Vulcan characters.
In the TOS episode "This Side of Paradise", Leila Kalomi hints at having had a special relationship with Spock some six years earlier, which may suggest an encounter between them during pon farr. Likewise in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the regenerated adolescent Spock went through at least two pon farrs at accelerated speed. As his mate was not available on the Genesis planet (where Spock underwent the accelerated pon farrs), it was implied that he mated with Lt. Saavik, a female Vulcan scientist on the crew of the Enterprise who accompanied him during the accelerated pon farr.
Despite popular opinion, TOS writer and story editor, Dorothy C. Fontana, insists that Pon Farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity: "Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion - humanoid emotion - when you're in love. When you want to, you know, when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart."
Vulcans are depicted as similar in appearance to humans. The main physical differences are their eyebrows and ears: the former are arched and upswept, while the latter feature pinnae which taper into a point at the top. Vulcans can be classified into various races. Most caucasianoid-like Vulcans typically appear with a subtle greenish hue to their skin, due to Vulcans' copper-based blood. Other features described include an inner eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which protects their vision from bright lights, an adaptation for their bright and hot home world. In addition, their hearts are located on the right side of the torso, in between the ribs and pelvis, as Dr.McCoy once says about Spock:he is lucky that his heart is where his liver should be, or hed be dead!
Diet
Vulcans are vegetarians and were omnivores in ages past. In the Star Trek original series (TOS) episode "All Our Yesterdays", Spock willingly consumes meat; partly due to the effects of time-travel 5,000 years into the past, and partly because he reasons there is no other suitable food available given the harsh, ice-age climate in which they are trapped. Vulcans are repeatedly stated to be herbivorous in the (non-canon) TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", by the carnivorous Kzinti. Vulcans do not like to touch their food with their hands, preferring to use utensils whenever possible (though there are numerous cases where Vulcans have broken this rule). It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts (Star Trek Enterprise episode: Home).
Vulcans are said not to drink, though they are depicted indulging on special occasions or as a storyline warrants. In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Repression", Humans and Vulcans are shown drinking a Vulcan alcoholic drink called "Vulcan Brandy". In the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident", as part of his diversionary role during an espionage mission against the Romulans, Spock shares a drink (most likely Romulan Ale) with the female Romulan commander. In a later TOS episode "Requiem For Methuselah", Spock specifically requests a Terran brandy after Dr. McCoy, while serving himself and Captain Kirk, observes that he had no expectation that Spock would be joining them in a drink for fear that the alcohol would affect his logic faculties. In Star Trek: First Contact, when the Vulcans first met Zefram Cochrane, he served them alcoholic beverages, which they took in lieu of dancing. In "non-canon" Trek-related literature, such as the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Vulcans are depicted as immune to the effects of alcohol, but become inebriated by ingesting chocolate (this is also quickly alluded to in DS9 when Quark offers a Vulcan client some Vulcan Port or chocolate, in speaking of which he implies something sexual).
Mating drive
Approximately every seven years, Vulcan males and bonded females experience an overpowering mating drive known as pon farr. Once triggered, Vulcans must have sexual contact with someone, preferably their mate, or else face insanity and death.
If a mate is not available, there are other ways to relieve the effects of the pon farr. The first is meditation, by means of which the Vulcan must overcome the urge to mate through mental discipline. The second is violence. This is seen in the Voyager episode "Blood Fever," when B'Elanna Torres and Ensign Vorik fight in the traditional Vulcan manner. The violence ends the pon farr. The other option is extreme shock; in the TOS episode "Amok Time," Spock believed he had killed James T. Kirk, his best friend, thus providing sufficient shock to nullify the effects of pon farr. When he experienced pon farr, Tuvok of the USS Voyager made use of a holodeck simulation of a temporary mate which resembled his wife to relieve his condition. This holodeck simulation was created because The Doctor was unavailable; the dialog of this episode suggests that The Doctor had prepared a medicine to help Tuvok overcome the effects of pon farr. Infection is another mechanism writers have used to induce pon farr in Vulcan characters.
In the TOS episode "This Side of Paradise", Leila Kalomi hints at having had a special relationship with Spock some six years earlier, which may suggest an encounter between them during pon farr. Likewise in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the regenerated adolescent Spock went through at least two pon farrs at accelerated speed. As his mate was not available on the Genesis planet (where Spock underwent the accelerated pon farrs), it was implied that he mated with Lt. Saavik, a female Vulcan scientist on the crew of the Enterprise who accompanied him during the accelerated pon farr.
Despite popular opinion, TOS writer and story editor, Dorothy C. Fontana, insists that Pon Farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity: "Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion - humanoid emotion - when you're in love. When you want to, you know, when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart."
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