Star Trek Bouvie

THE SECRET INSPIRATION FOR STAR TREK

discovered by Pam Green , © 1994

Just recently while perusing the book "Star Trek Creator, the Authorized biography of Gene Roddenberry" by David Alexander, I discovered the true secret inspiration for the success of the original Star Trek series and thus for the entire Star Trek phenomenon.

The secret inspiration was a Bouvier !!!

Yes, dear friends, right in the center of the book in the middle of the photo section is a photo of Roddenberry and his first wife, Eileen, dated 1945 showing the couple seated side by side and in between them is a young Bouvier, to my eye appearing to be probably 7 to 10 months old, black, with bright Bouvie eyes, big Bouvie nose, Bouvie tongue charminly half-out, and nice expressive uncropped ears. Unmistakably a young Bouvier ! ! !

Now surely it was the association with the Bouvier breed, which would inevitably have included contact with cropped eared Bouviers that was the true , though very likely subconscious , inspiration for Spock's pointed ears. And it was Roddenberry's stubborn insistance, in the face of much studio opposition, that Spock retain his pointed ears and other indicia of alienness that was essential to the success of the Spock character. And we all know that Spock's character was absolutely essential to the success of the series. Spock received more fan mail than the rest of the cast combined --- and is a more complex and interesting character than any other in the original series cast.

For further internal evidence of the Bouvie influence, let us recall that in the episode in which we meet Spock's parents, his mother revels that when Spock was a lad he "had a pet sehlat of whom he was very fond" and that a sehlat resembles a "live teddy bear with six inch fangs." Sounds like a Bouvier to me.

Thus the Bouvier begat Spock, Spock begat Star Trek, Star Trek begat Next Generation, Next Generation begat Deep Space Nine, and so on. Treks without end , amen !

May all Bouviers live long and prosper !!!

for the role of Bouviers in Star Wars, Return of the Jedi