Closer (Star Trek vid)

Closer, by T. Jonesy and Killa, is a Star Trek K/S vid about Pon Farr that asks, What if they hadn't made it to Vulcan in time? It is a constructed reality vid that slowly ratchets up the tension between Spock and Kirk until it culminates in a scene that implies that Spock forces himself onto Kirk while under the madness of Pon Farr.
Closer was shown at 2004's Shore Leave, a Star Trek convention. It also appeared on the WOAD Society DVD in 2004. Closer went viral in 2006 and was discussed extensively online as an example of context collapse. at Susie Bright's Journal. Posted September 11, 2006. (Accessed 24 December, 2011.)Coppa, Francesca. 2008. Women, Star Trek, and the early development of fannish vidding. Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 1. Coppa briefly discusses a music critic's misinterpretation of the vid as an example of music criticism.Henry Jenkins. How to Watch a Fan-Vid, September 18, 2006 -- Jenkins says, "'Closer,' like other fanvids, was constructed as part of a conversation which the fan artists were having with the original text, with its authors, with other fans, and with themselves, whereas the video as seen outside of this context seems singular and unique. Or conversely, the video is read symptomatically -- as speaking for all Star Trek fans when in fact, it borrows in some ways and breaks in others from the norms of this community." 
In 2012, the vid was selected by the OTW to be part of its Test Suite of Fair Use Vids before the Library of Congress.Test Suite, Organisation for Transformative Works, 2010. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. (Accessed November 9, 2012).
==Makers' Notes==
The vidders offered the following liner notes:
==The Vid Itself==
The vid presents an alternate version of a favorite TOS episode, "Amok Time," the episode that introduced the concept of pon farr. In the vid, Spock enters plak tow (the final stage of pon farr) while still on board the Enterprise and subsequently rapes Kirk. The vid is not only set to the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer", but replicates the sepia tones of the original NIN music video. The combined effect of clip selection, music choice, and color filter creates a sharp contrast to the cheery, cheesy look of the television show.
==Going Viral==
When the vid was uploaded to YouTube by a third party,
 its origins in the vidding tradition were not apparent to most of the viewers. As a result, some of the commentary that was posted about the vid in nonfannish circles was wildly different from how the vid was interpreted by vidding fans. Yet, it was tremendously popular among fans and non-fans alike. By June 2012 the two copies of the vid that were uploaded on YouTube had more than 2,153,000 views, close to 13000 ratings and almost 5500 comments combined.
==Inspired Works==
The vid also inspired fans who understood its context perfectly well. Closer v.2 is a remake and response using footage of Kirk and Spock from the 2009 movie.Closer v.2 by sparringett on youtube. Posted May 23, 2009. (Accessed December 24, 2011.) Uploaded by its creator instead of a third party, it not only explains its background and links to the creator's fanfic but also credits other vidders by name. The vidder summarized it as "A remake of the classic original" (apparently referring to the original Closer vid but equally applicable to the two sources).
The video blog The Ship's Closet reportedly used the song Closer in the opening of its episode on Amok Time, and the vid has reportedly been featured on Fandom Secrets.From a youtube comment posted in 2009. (Accessed December 24, 2011.)
A fan in 2012 wrote the story Shame as a response to this vid.
In the 2016 documentary "For the Love of Spock", excerpts from this vid are used in the section discussing the prevalence of K/S slash in the online Star Trek community.
==Reactions and Reviews ==
Also see Meta Further Reading.
Many bloggers and others online discussed or were linked to the vid without understanding its original context. Youtube comments show a wide range of reactions, from links to the wikipedia article on slash to assuming the vidders were male mashup artists to revulsion or amusement. The vid has been uploaded to youtube at least twice and is famous enough that people joke about it being shown to The Powers That Be as well: 
Other comments displayed much more fandom knowledge, though often not an awareness that the vidders hadn't posted the vid or that posting another person's vids to youtube might be frowned upon in parts of fandom: 
And: 
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In an interview for Meet the Bidder:
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==Meta/Further Reading==
* first they came for the hackers; archive link; WebCite, post by iamsab (September 2006)
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Star Trek TOS Vids
Category:Kirk/Spock Vids
Category:2003 Vids