Why didn't they just give the Salt Vampire table salt?

[Cadet49]

I never understood in the Man Trap why Kirk and crew felt they had to kill the Salt Vampire. They lured it with table salt, so obviously it could feed on table salt, so why didn't they just give it a lifetime supply of all you can eat table salt???

Seriously, Kirk's attitude in this episode still bothers me, because he makes no attempt to find an alternative to killing the being - it was obviously sentient and desperate to survive - they could have attempted to capture or negotiate with it, locate a planet for it with an alternate food sources, or see if there was a medical way to find an alternate for salt for it, or capture it - he just hunts it down and kills it. It's pretty obvious from Kirk's ruthless speech to its doctor companion that he's planning on killing it, no matter what...

Yes, it had killed members of his crew, but so had the Horta, and Kirk still found a way to make peace with it. I still don't understand why they didn't just give it salt. If it had to do with the type of salt found in the human body, couldn't McCoy or Spock somehow replicate the conditions that happen in the human body, to give the salt vampire a simulated food supply to sustain it? Seriously, still never understand this ...

 

[Gov Kodos]

It's an excellent question that I can't begin to answer. Basic rock salt or table salt seems fine since that appears to have sufficed for its needs with Dr Crater. While it would seem sentient, perhaps the creature was not and only mimics it's prey with some form of telepathy. Or perhaps the creature was sentient but dangerously insane from surviving alone an unknown period after the collapse of the civilization. Neither one explains your basic question, of course, which I don't see why they couldn't have just given it salt either.

 

[Timo]

But the reason the creature got killed isn't related to "strategic thinking" like that. The creature got gunned down because of what happened in a confined space in the heat of the moment. McCoy shot it because it was a deadly threat at that moment.

Kirk and Spock wanted the Salt Vampire shot, too, but there's no evidence they wanted it killed, considering how their guns have stun settings. At no point did Kirk order the guns set to kill, despite all his aggressive swagger. He just wanted a threat to his ship eliminated.

McCoy is infamous for fumbling with guns, though, not to mention probably in a state of mind where he would want to kill the deceitful beast.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Also, it seemed like the creature might have been partially resistant to phaser fire, precise setting unknown though.

 

[BillJ]

We know they dismiss giving it salt "without tricks" in the briefing room scene.

 

[Timo]

Yet it's just Spock questioning McCoy's ability to know that the creature is fundamentally nonaggressive. And when "McCoy" (who really is the beast) and Crater explain themselves to Spock, the science officer doesn't object to their interpretation, nor does Kirk challenge the idea of the beast being manipulable and manageable.

The idea of giving salt goes nowhere because it's evident the beast isn't eating the salt (rather difficult for it to do so when sitting in the briefing room!); the hunt heats up because the beast is cornered, and has to assault Spock, not because Kirk would deliberately have abandoned a strategic course of action. And then it kills Crater, rightly convincing Kirk that an immediate threat precludes long-term plans of mercy.

That is, this is how it all looks from the viewpoint of 2012. Back when written, the episode might have featured a bloodlusty Kirk blasting ugly monsters without compassion - but only implicitly, as the bloodlust isn't actually visible on screen. Kirk even stops to negotiate with the beast in the final confrontation, despite already being convinced that it must be nearly mindless and dangerous!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ssosmcin]

In that scene, in McCoy's form, the creature is trying to reason with them. It's an interesting episode for the attitudes it displays.

 

[AtoZ]

But the reason the creature got killed isn't related to "strategic thinking" like that. The creature got gunned down because of what happened in a confined space in the heat of the moment. McCoy shot it because it was a deadly threat at that moment.

Kirk and Spock wanted the Salt Vampire shot, too, but there's no evidence they wanted it killed, considering how their guns have stun settings. At no point did Kirk order the guns set to kill, despite all his aggressive swagger. He just wanted a threat to his ship eliminated.

McCoy is infamous for fumbling with guns, though, not to mention probably in a state of mind where he would want to kill the deceitful beast.

Timo Saloniemi

Honestly, your retorts are the stuff of fine art where TOS is concerned. I look forward to your explanations when such thought provoking and often hard to defend subjects are brought up. Excellent!

 

[BillJ]

In that scene, in McCoy's form, the creature is trying to reason with them. It's an interesting episode for the attitudes it displays.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If they left a supply of salt on the planet, the creature would eventually use it up. It would then escape and resume killing victims.

As for its actual onscreen death: It was actively trying to kill Kirk, so McCoy killed it first. That was entirely justified. If it had been just standing there, no one would have shot it. McCoy had every right to defend Kirk's life.

 

[bbailey861]

^I think that is it in a nutshell. At the moment the creature was shot, it was because there was a threat on someone's life (and the Captain was a big someone) and the situation had to be dealt with.

 

[Elder Knight]

One wonders if, due to health concerns, there'd be no table salt shakers in the 22nd century. You'd need a prescription to get it!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

One wonders if, due to health concerns, there'd be no table salt shakers in the 22nd century. You'd need a prescription to get it!

There were plenty salt shakers in sickbay.

 

[Knight Templar]

I think people aren't looking at the big picture. Obviously the creature had lived with Crater for years and subsisted on salt tablets.

But its also quickly apparent that the creature doesn't hesitate for a moment to start killing Kirk's crew once it has an opportunity even though there is actually some salt left in the supplies when Crater shows it to them.

Obviously it could have survived a couple of more days until the Enterprise crew sent down more supplies (and the Enterprise had no reason not to).

I think the creature was extremely xenophobic. It tolerated Crater as long as it was JUST CRATER and it alone on the planet. But it reacted extremely violently to any additional humans.

I think the actual "kill the thing" decision was after it had killed Crater. Because despite Crater supporting it and protecting it for years, the creater did not hesitate to kill him to keep its identity secret.

 

[Bones_McCoy21]

The creature did try to save itself. Taking the form of Nancy and pleading with McCoy to let it live. Somehow the creature knew it had a chance by making it hard for McCoy to kill the person he loved. So somehow the creature knew 1 way to survive, but that way faild and McCoy killed it though he found it emotionally difficult. In my eyes however I believe that the creature didn't know better and was trying to survive, in another light though it could seem that it is a mass killer (remember it killed everybody BUT Dr.Crater on the outpost) so I think killling the idea of giving it straight salt was shot down by looking at the big picure.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I think the actual "kill the thing" decision was after it had killed Crater. Because despite Crater supporting it and protecting it for years, the creater did not hesitate to kill him to keep its identity secret.

Quite so. If it turned on Crater (who had protected it, spared it, fed it) obviously it would turn on anyone.

And yes, when it attacked the captain, McCoy reluctantly shot it to save his friend's life.

 

[Timo]

It is interesting that the creature shows the ability to reason with our heroes - after it has gone on a murderous and mindless rampage, and just before it does that again.

Should we assign the beast true linguistic and reasoning skills, though? It's the master of illusion, in that it makes people see what they want to see. It is likely that it doesn't really know Swahili, or how to best seduce a deprived crewman. Its victims provide the necessary information and skill instead.

A rudimentary, beastly expression of a desire to survive would then manifest as "McCoy"'s eloquent pleading and scheming in the briefing room, without necessarily meaning the creature was capable of planning for its survival in human terms.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It is interesting that the creature shows the ability to reason with our heroes - after it has gone on a murderous and mindless rampage, and just before it does that again.

Should we assign the beast true linguistic and reasoning skills, though? It's the master of illusion, in that it makes people see what they want to see. It is likely that it doesn't really know Swahili, or how to best seduce a deprived crewman. Its victims provide the necessary information and skill instead.

A rudimentary, beastly expression of a desire to survive would then manifest as "McCoy"'s eloquent pleading and scheming in the briefing room, without necessarily meaning the creature was capable of planning for its survival in human terms.

Timo Saloniemi

This is a fairly reasonable postulate. I like it. We never find out exactly what it is of the creature that Kirk hypothesizes to be a "hypnotic" power. Crater is at least partially compromised, and possibly mad. He may be ascribing too much sentience to the creature out of pity, or perhaps even because he's under the influence of its hypnotic screen. Additionally, killing Crater, its only ally, is hard to defend as a rational act.

 

[ALF]

I know it's a cliche and all... but if there were ever a thread I jumped into aching to see pics...
Spock with a giant shaker of salt.

 

[Takeru]

Think of the creature as a human dressed up like a banana living with a sentient orange that gives him nutrition pills that allow the human to survive. The human is smart, he will not eat the orange because then he has to starve, but imagine a spaceship arrives with more sentient fruits, vegetables and various meat with Captain Steak leading the away team.
Do you really think the human would wait for them to load off more nutrition pills and fly away, leaving the human and the orange alone for another five years? No way, Captain Steak will find the gnawed on cadaver of Ensign Apple within 30 minutes and all that's left of Lt. Sausage are his clothes and equipment.

The human (now dressed up as an asparagus) would obviously argue that the "thing" can survive on nutrition pills, it has done so for years, but he's just trying to save his ass, he can't stop thinking about the strawberry he saw walking down the corridor and it gets harder to not take a bite out of the captain with every single minute.

I have no doubt the creature the Enterprise encountered was intelligent, but it just couldn't help itself, it was suddenly surrounded by tasty food after it had to survive for years on a crappy substitute, of course it started eating the good stuff as soon as it was available.