Does anyone else find McCoy annoying?

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Lordsuhn, May 12, 2013.

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  1. Lordsuhn

    Lordsuhn Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Hi all - back on the trekbbs after a long hiatus.

    Have been re-watching TOS after a long time and have really been annoyed by McCoy in almost every episode. Here are some of my reasons.
    For one thing, every time Spock is in command he questions all of Spock's decisions and makes his job harder.
    He also seems to be pretty dumb, almost always preferring his gut to scientific analysis and usually wrong.

    Anyway - just wanted to see if I was the only one.
     
  2. kirsten187

    kirsten187 Napoleonic Power Monger Admiral

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    I'm sure a similar thread (s) have been in here so no doubt someone will :)

    I certainly used to when I 1st started watching in the mid 1990s.
     
  3. jayrath

    jayrath Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You're coming at this decades later. Part of McCoy's work, dramatically speaking, was to serve as the original viewers' stand-in, to point out how alien he was, how different. That way, we get to see Spock struggle with his human side, question himself.

    And yes, of course the character was the polar opposite of Spock: emotion vs. logic, with Kirk in the middle. Yes, it was a little strident at times, but it's the same dynamic as in the cell scene in "Bread and Circuses," likely the best McCoy/Spock scene of all time -- and in the third season, at that!
     
  4. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Second season, actually.
     
  5. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Nah. McCoy is great. He adds plenty of humanity, character,and, yes, attitude to the show.
     
  6. ALF

    ALF Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Never found him annoying, but the fact that so many scenes he appears covered in sweat is kind of annoying. I know, it was the 60s so the lights were super hot.
     
  7. Gil T.Azell

    Gil T.Azell Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Not Annoying but a border line Bigot if that can be used., he was not always politically correct.
     
  8. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

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    I love McCoy! Always have. Sure, sometimes he questions Spock a little too much, but Spock always finds a way to come back at him, which makes it very entertaining to watch. McCoy is the most human and most casual of the characters. He often says exactly what I as the viewer am thinking. Also, if I was sick there's no one I would rather pay a visit.
     
  9. horatio83

    horatio83 Commodore Commodore

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    It took me some time to warm up to him. When you first see TOS he does indeed appear to be just a rude, ignorant old man but after some time you realize that he is actually friends with Spock and deeply cares about his patients.
     
  10. bbailey861

    bbailey861 Admiral Admiral

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    I love Bones. I think it's easy to pick apart a character that is almost 50 years old. You can do it with almost every series that ever ran. The fact of the matter is that, in the 60s, he represented the humanity in all of us during all those great adventures. He was irascible, but considering how new the idea of space flight was in those days - the idea of meeting new life and exploring new civilizations - he did a great job of asking the questions we were all thinking, all the while caring deeply for all his shipmates - especially the other two of the triumvirate.
     
  11. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Best character of them all. TNG desperately needed someone like him, but the closest they got was Q.
     
  12. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    ^ TNG had someone just like him... Dr. Pulaski in season 2.
     
  13. T'Bonz

    T'Bonz Romulan Curmudgeon Administrator

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    I love McCoy. He's one of my favorite Trek characters, just behind Kira Nerys.
     
  14. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    McCoy's good into the second year. Then, like a lot of details of the show, his eccentricities become rote character tics and a routine part of the writers' kit for getting through the episode.

    In the movies he's quickly reduced to most often being an exaggerated parody of himself.
     
  15. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    McCoy/Kirk interchanges in episodes such as The Ultimate Computer and A Private Little War are golden. McCoy is a great Star Trek character.
     
  16. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Don't forget their "Balance of Terror" scene in Kirk's quarters. "Captain, I know you don't really expect an answer-- but I've got one."
     
  17. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ... and The Corbomite Maneuver ...
     
  18. JarodRussell

    JarodRussell Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's a real shame they brought Dr. Crusher back. I liked Pulaski.
     
  19. SchwEnt

    SchwEnt Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I suspect modern day viewers may take McCoy's political incorrectness and bigotry much differently than old time viewers who first saw McCoy decades ago.

    Back in the day, commenting on such things as McCoy does was not that unusual or unduly insensitive.

    Judging him by current day standards of cultural sensitivities and political correctness may give an impression of the doctor that was not originally intended.
     
  20. Rowdy Roddy McDowall

    Rowdy Roddy McDowall Commodore Rear Admiral

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    If you mentally merge McCoy and Spock in the transporter, or just philosophically, of course the result is you get Kirk.

    It may not have been true in the first year, but by the second, it's virtually inescapable. Kirk is the marriage of Spock and McCoy. The synthesis of his two best friends.
    And the three of them combined are almost as good as Scotty.:cool:
     
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