Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan Secretly Introduced The Franchise's First Half-Vulcan/Half-Romulan

Fun trivia: "Star Trek" didn't have a full-blooded Vulcan character in its main cast until the introduction of Tuvok (Tim Russ) on "Star Trek: Voyager" in 1995. Until that point, most of the central Vulcan characters were partially non-Vulcan. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), of course, was half-Vulcan and half-human, with a Vulcan father (played by Mark Lenard in the original series) and a human mother (played by Jane Wyatt). Spock was raised on Vulcan, however, and had devoted himself to the Vulcan ethos of emotionlessness and logic. 

Saavik (Kirstie Alley) from 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," one might find, was also not fully Vulcan, although only deep-cut Trekkies might know about her true heritage. Saavik, for the uninitiated, was a Starfleet cadet who was serving on board the U.S.S. Enterprise as Spock's protégé. "Star Trek II" opened with Saavik taking the now-famous Kobayashi Maru test, a no-win scenario designed to test a cadet's command skills in a desperate situation. Saavik was a very rules-oriented character, fond of quoting regulations to Admiral Kirk (William Shatner), and lived just as emotionlessly as Spock. 

At the end of the film, however, after Spock dies saving the Enterprise, Saavik is seen crying at his funeral. In this case, she couldn't control her sadness. On the DVD commentary track for "Star Trek II," director Nicholas Meyer says he was lightly admonished on set for including a crying Vulcan because "Vulcans don't do that." Meyer, not caring much for extant canon, merely answered that her tears merely made her a more interesting Vulcan. 

Meyer might have also pointed out that the script for "Star Trek II" mentioned that Saavik was actually half-Romulan. Indeed, a scene was shot wherein Kirk and Spock discuss her test-taking abilities, and Spock mentioned that her Romulan heritage likely contributed to a certain degree of impulsiveness. The scene was ultimately deleted, but it can be found easily enough online. 

As seen in the above scene, Spock clearly mentions Saavik's Romulan parentage. Kirk says "Your protégé is first-rate! A tad emotional." Spock immediately replies, "She is half-Romulan, Jim. The admixture tends to make her more volatile than ... me, for example." That is, more vulnerable to experiencing emotions. Vulcans do experience emotions, but millennia of cultural repression make them less pronounced. Although, as will eventually be seen in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" in 1989, there are also passionate Vulcans. 

Although the above-deleted scene wasn't widely viewed by Trekkies, Saavik's Romulan heritage was known for years thanks to fan-perpetuated scuttlebutt and glimpses at the "Star Trek II" script. The script described Saavik as "young and beautiful. She is half Vulcan and half Romulan. In appearance, she is Vulcan with pointed ears, but her skin is fair, and she has none of the expressionless facial immobility of a Vulcan." The above-mentioned commentary track was recorded in 2000, and it was the first time Saavik's bloodline was stated explicitly on an official "Star Trek" product. Meyer noted later, though, in an issue of Enterprise Incidents Magazine, that he removed all references to Saavik's Romulan heritage because it didn't really make a difference in the long run. 

Saavik's lineage isn't mentioned in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" or "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," in which she appeared, now played by Robin Curtis. The script for "Star Trek III" mentions that she's half-Vulcan, but doesn't make any mention of her being Romulan. Her background was more explicitly stated in the tie-in novels "The Pandora Principle" by Carolyn Clowes and "The Captain's Daughter" by Peter David. "Star Trek" novels, however, while authorized by the "Star Trek" showrunners, aren't canonical. 

So it's official, and it also isn't. Because her lineage was never mentioned on screen, there's every reason to believe Saavik is a full-blooded Vulcan. But if you say that in front of a Trekkie, be prepared to face a confident and condescending "Well, actually..."