The Most Dangerous Vulcan Weapon

The Stone of Gol was featured in the two part Next Generation Episodes "The Gambit." Let's take a look at this mythological device and the lore behind one of the most truly dangerous weapons created by the Vulcans in their time of awakening.

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This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[samwill]

"I wish you Vulcans would stop being so logical all the time!"
"If you knew anything about our history, human, you would know that no, you don't."

[Jayjay-qeum]

"You were right, Tallera. The resonator cannot be stopped by phasers and shields... but it can be defeated by peace." -- Jean-Luc Picard

[hinty]

Yeah, they didn't destroy it.
The logical move is to pretend you destroyed it so no one will even think of looking for it, but to actually keep it stored away somewhere in case one day you come across an enemy that only the stone can destroy.

(also, this makes for future story options and not even Vulcans can stand against the strength of Narrative.)

[cmbaz]

Someone asked me once to explain to him vulcans as simple as possible...

I knew he was a starwars fan so told him :
for the longest time vulcans were like sith always at war with each other to dominate the planet...until a man called surak came and began to teach his people how to control their emotions and embrace logic.
So with time and following suraks teachings the vulcans became jedi.

[shattered_helix]

This video made me think of an interesting video idea, or even series of videos. Things in Star Trek that were thought to be myth but turned out to be real.

[bumbleguppy]

So maybe the military need for resistance discipline to thwart this weapon could have been the beginnings of the Kohlinar then? Wouldn't that be interesting...

[nobodyyouknow]

And then everyone agreed to never speak of it again.

[VulpisFoxfire]

Is it just me, or does the God of Death depicted on the stone look a lot like PIcard? :-)

[Ed-uzem]

Regardless of Sci Fi etc, Roddenberry was able to personify so many of humanity’s natures into various species. A lesson of imbalances and extremes which humanity has yet to learn from.

[madviola]

This was a great TNG episode. I like how you brought up other avenues of though around why it was so feared - given its single person use. Cool video!

[MrChupacabra]

I always thought that it should have at least knocked Worf on his back, and then Picard/Riker again tells him to remain calm, at which point it fails to work again.

[stevieturner]

Thank you again Rick for the informitive video.

[NoBudjetFilms]

Really cool video you have here. I always thought the Stone was interesting, would like to see it come back someday...

[thomasmuennich]

You are the best keep up the good work

[TK]

So powerful was the Vulcan mental gestalt (for lack of better term) that when Spock was 50, 000 years in past and probably 100's of light years away from Vulcan. His fathers people could strip away his life time of dedication to Suraks teachings and return him to a Vulcan savage. It makes me wonder how Surak was able to do it in first place (meaning maybe his mental strength had calming effect on others) and its probably the calming effect of the awakening that allowed Romulans to survive and also show more emotional control after leaving Vulcan.

[hoffenwurdig]

I implore you to read The Bloodwing Voyages by Diane Duane. My feeling for many years has been that that anthology is wonderful, in part because it puts forth what I consider immensely interesting ideas about T’Khasi, the Sundering, and those we now call the Romulans. Okay, apparently Gene Roddenbery really did not like those novels. But just being Gene Roddenbery does not mean one would always be correct. There are few things I am more passinate about than to reread and think about this anthology, over and over. I identify with the characters and experience strong empathy. In fact, I very much wish that some of those characters were actually my friends.

[gethinjones]

Surak ensured that parts of the stone was sent with those who walk under the raptors wing ! How else were the fragments were spread out ?

[Kian]

I've always been fascinated by the concept of the Stone of Gol because it uses your enemies'anger against them; doubtless it was a long range weapon because a Mind Lord would be dangerous enough at close range and one to one. And likely its scope of effectiveness could be affected and enhanced by numbers - we have seen Vulcan telepaths form a gestalt mind to assist a single objective, like when Spock's Katra was refused with his Genesis Effect regenerated body.

The Stone of Gol wouldn't be much good against the dispassionate Borg Collective but I'm sure it would be tactically effective against Species 8472, that is if they hadn't already gained experience of such weapons and developed a defence, being a telepathic species of surpassing ability.

[zhoufang]

Imagine how terrifying this weapon would be against the Dominion. Just zap the Great Link from light years away.

[HistoryVideoGamesMiscStuff]

My headcanon is that the Stone of Gol became the basis for SFDebris' Mind Bomb.