I know this is among the most popular of TOS episodes, but to me it ranks with "Spock's Brain" for idiocy. We are asked to believe that the Vulcans, who are humanoids who can mate with Earthlings, are like the cicadas that need to mate every seventeen years. In the case of Vulcans, it's every seven years. This is not cultural, but biological! Even though TOS series established that Spock was not the only Vulcan in Star Fleet, we are asked to believe that somehow this urgent mating need requiring a return to Vulcan to mate is a closely kept secret. Even if Spock were in fact the sole Vulcan in Star Fleet, would he not inform Kirk well in advance of his "Seven Year Itch" that he may have an urgent need to return to Vulcan, and not remain silent until the last minute? And wouldn't the huge age gap among Vulcans be rather conspicuous, with every generation seven years apart? Then worst of all, we are asked to accept that the super rational Vulcans have an idiotic mating ceremony in which the female could choose "a champion" to fight on her behalf "to the death." We are asked to believe that the High Priestess, speaking in bad King James English instead of Vulcan, neglects to inform Kirk that if he accepted Spock's fiance's challenge, either he or Spock, or possibly both, would be killed? In any scenario, Star Fleet would lose two highly valued officers, either both dead in combat or one dead and the winner facing court martial and a ruined career, as Spock ruefully noted after he believed he killed Kirk. Finally, once Kirk realized he was faced with the Hobson's Choice of either killing Spock or being killed, why wouldn't he have just beamed up with McCoy at once? And if not, when McCoy was tending to a badly mangled Kirk, he also could have signaled the Enterprise to beam them up instead of giving Kirk that shot that simulated death, which was idiotic to do since it would not take effect right away, but only when Kirk was confronting a deranged Spock and likely resulting in Kirk's literal death! "Amok Time" is an insult to the intelligence of every fan of TOS.
