Picard qualified to command Enterprise?

[King Daniel into Darkness]

IIRC, Picard was offered the role of Commandant of Starfleet Academy early on by Admiral Quinn. I'd imagine he'd have had prior academy teaching experience to be offered such a post.

[BillJ]

scotthm wrote:

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That's a sign of a stagnant career, and would seem to be a strike against him, IMO.

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Or that the ship was sent out on assignments that lasted years at a time. Kirk commanded the Enterprise off and on for twenty-eight years. We know Spock served aboard for a stint of sixteen years in a row, eleven with Pike and five with Kirk.

It's obvious that Starfleet looks at staying in one place a long time differently than we do today.

[T'Girl]

BillJ wrote:

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We know Spock served aboard for a stint of sixteen years in a row, eleven with Pike and five with Kirk.

But similar to Picard and the Stargazer, prior to his time with Kirk, how long was Spock with the Enterprise? Spock served with Pike for Eleven years, four months, five days.

Pike and Spock were both aboard the Enterprise thirteen years before the events of The Menagerie, when the ship went to Talo Four. And they were both (presumable) aboard the ship just prior to Kirk taking command.

But was Spock continuously aboard the Enterprise the entire span of time?

[Enterprise is Great]

The original premise for TNG was that the Enterprise-D was going to be out on the edge of known space for 2 decades and would rarely have contact with Starfleet. I'm guessing that in the past other starships were sent out on long deep space voyages and Stargazer was one. So it's not really some kind of career staller to be on a long deep space voyage.

My theory on Picard's whereabouts in the year between the Stargazer and th ENT-D is that he was working for Starfleet Intelligence and that's why there's never been any dialog aboutt hose missing years...it's classified.

[R. Star]

Picard's just not the intelligence type.

[Holdfast]

My guess is ostensibly working out of Starfleet Command, but seconded as some kind of Starfleet Liaison officer to a variety of Federation diplomatic missions and embassies. That would let him get to know everyone and make him a natural candidate for a high-profile job like command of the Enterprise. It's also a useful background (when combined with his known tactical/combat/improvisational skills from the Stargazer Incident) given the Enterprise's intended role exploring deep space, making contact with new species and effectively acting as the Federation's voice in those contacts. You need someone diplomatically reliable in that role.

[EmperorTiberius]

Holdfast wrote:

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My guess is ostensibly working out of Starfleet Command, but seconded as some kind of Starfleet Liaison officer to a variety of Federation diplomatic missions and embassies. That would let him get to know everyone and make him a natural candidate for a high-profile job like command of the Enterprise. It's also a useful background (when combined with his known tactical/combat/improvisational skills from the Stargazer Incident) given the Enterprise's intended role exploring deep space, making contact with new species and effectively acting as the Federation's voice in those contacts. You need someone diplomatically reliable in that role.

Yeah, I'd agree with this.

There is a line in BOBW where Riker says that Picard "wrote the book on this ship". If they all came aboard at the same time, how is it that Picard knows more than Riker and Data? He must have had extensive knowlege from his previous posting. If he had worked for SF Command, he would have been able to keep an eye on the Enterprise while it was on Mars and try to win the command of it. He would have admired the ship and found out as much about it as possible, perhaps even visiting often and giving his input.

[A beaker full of death]

Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

[BillJ]

A beaker full of death wrote:

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Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

Not in the 23rd/24th century.

[A beaker full of death]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

[Timo]

Umm, what?

Timo Saloniemi

[BillJ]

A beaker full of death wrote:

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Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

I'm not debating right or wrong. Just that we've seen Kirk, Picard and Riker all lose ships and get new commands, so obviously the dynamics are different in Trek's version of the future.

[MickJo1701]

I agree with KingDaniel, Admiral Quinn wouldn't have offered to make him Commandant of the academy only months after assuming command of the Enterprise if he wasn't seen as being one of most respected officers in Starfleet.

[R. Star]

A beaker full of death wrote:

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Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

Jim Kirk didn't get that memo.

[Anwar]

A beaker full of death wrote:

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Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Wow, the wonders of nostalgia filters...