• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Galileo Seven (no relation to Blake's)

That's not a myth I've ever heard, and Cheif O'Brien would certainly be surprised to hear it.

It comes from a Roddenberry quote in The Making of Star Trek, 1968.
It comes from TOS Writer's Guide, so not myth, per se, but intent. But sometimes intent* doesn't always make it on the screen.
Quote from the April 1967 version of the Guide:
"Is the starship U.S.S. Enterprise a military vessel?

Yes, but only semi-military in practice -- omitting features which are heavily authoritarian. For example, we are not aware of "officers" and "enlisted men" categories. And we avoid saluting and other annoying medieval leftovers. On the other hand, we do keep a flavor of Naval usage and terminology to help encourage believability and identification by the audience. After all, our own Navy today still retains remnants of tradition known to Nelson and Drake."
*(Of course, it is possible this idea was explicitly added post Tina Lawton)
 
Here's an example of multi-part tool making and use in Crows:
https://www.sciencealert.com/crows-are-so-smart-they-can-make-compound-tools-out-of-multiple-parts

In order to get a food treat out of a puzzle box, a crow puts together a combination of sticks and straws to create a longer stick that will reach the treat.
I dunno. They didn't actually make anything, just assembled found objects, provided by the researchers. And from what the article and video present, the researchers kept using the same birds in every version of the experiment. So one could argue the researchers inadvertently trained the birds in the solution.
Do the crew have the right to fight back?
No argument from me on the right to fight back. Defensively, anyway.
 
I dunno. They didn't actually make anything, just assembled found objects, provided by the researchers. And from what the article and video present, the researchers kept using the same birds in every version of the experiment. So one could argue the researchers inadvertently trained the birds in the solution.

It was the other way around. Who but a crow would be clever enough to manipulate scientists into giving out treats? "I've got them wrapped around my little talon." :)
 
It comes from a Roddenberry quote in The Making of Star Trek, 1968.

I have to correct myself, it's in TMoST but is NOT a quote of Roddenberry. The passage, p. 209:

Although the Enterprise is a military vessel, its organization is only semimilitary. The "enlisted man" category does not exist. Star Trek goes on the assumption that every man and woman aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise is the equivalent of a qualified astronaut, therefore an officer.​

Quote from the April 1967 version of the Guide:
"Is the starship U.S.S. Enterprise a military vessel?

Yes, but only semi-military in practice -- omitting features which are heavily authoritarian. For example, we are not aware of "officers" and "enlisted men" categories. And we avoid saluting and other annoying medieval leftovers. On the other hand, we do keep a flavor of Naval usage and terminology to help encourage believability and identification by the audience. After all, our own Navy today still retains remnants of tradition known to Nelson and Drake."​

*(Of course, it is possible this idea was explicitly added post Tina Lawton)

I've always thought "we are not aware of" is odd phrasing. Does it mean those categories don't exist, or just that they are not emphasized?

At any rate, it's questionable what effect this behind-scenes stuff had on what made it to the screen. Spock's reference to "the captain, officers, and crew of the Enterprise" was in S2 "The Immunity Syndrome," a late 1967 production that aired in January '68, and "Engineer Grade Four" Watkins in S3 "That Which Survives" about a year later.
 
Last edited:
At any rate, it's questionable what effect this behind-scenes stuff had on what made it to the screen. Spock's reference to "the captain, officers, and crew of the Enterprise" was in S2 "The Immunity Syndrome," a late 1967 production that aired in January '68, and "Engineer Grade Four" Watkins in S3 "That Which Survives" about a year later.
Could fall in the same category as "individual ship insignia" that is, a mistake missed by the production team.
 
LOL
Btw, don't mistake me, I am not in the "animals are dumb" camp. That is an outdated bias, IMO.
I'm afraid I'm in the: "I don't want to think about it too much or I might have to become a vegetarian" camp.

Once upon a time when I was very little, we had a tropical fish tank. There were 2 fish (red tailed shark & clown loach) that always swam together in a 2 fish school among all the other fish. One day, the red tailed shark died. The clown loach never swam out again, just hid under the filter all day.

I'm not about to say that a 2 inch long fish is sapient. But Fish Form Friendships and Mourn the Dead.
And that's damn creepy.
 
It comes from TOS Writer's Guide, so not myth, per se, but intent. But sometimes intent* doesn't always make it on the screen.
Quote from the April 1967 version of the Guide:
"Is the starship U.S.S. Enterprise a military vessel?

Yes, but only semi-military in practice -- omitting features which are heavily authoritarian. For example, we are not aware of "officers" and "enlisted men" categories. And we avoid saluting and other annoying medieval leftovers. On the other hand, we do keep a flavor of Naval usage and terminology to help encourage believability and identification by the audience. After all, our own Navy today still retains remnants of tradition known to Nelson and Drake."
*(Of course, it is possible this idea was explicitly added post Tina Lawton)

As I remember, I discussed Tina "Lizard Girl" Lawton in an earlier post, so I am interested in the ambiguiity of your your line "(Of course it is possible this idea was explicitly added post Tina Lawton).
 
Last edited:
I'm afraid I'm in the: "I don't want to think about it too much or I might have to become a vegetarian" camp.

Once upon a time when I was very little, we had a tropical fish tank. There were 2 fish (red tailed shark & clown loach) that always swam together in a 2 fish school among all the other fish. One day, the red tailed shark died. The clown loach never swam out again, just hid under the filter all day.

I'm not about to say that a 2 inch long fish is sapient. But Fish Form Friendships and Mourn the Dead.
And that's damn creepy.
That's honestly your interpretation. One could conversely argue that schooling behavior is innate in some fish and they do not feel safe when alone and thus hide. I'm not saying either is correct, but people tend to project human feelings onto animals when not pretending animals don't have any.
 
As I remember, I discussed Tina "Lizard Girl" Lawton in an earlier post, so I am intested in the abiguiity of your your line "Of course it is possible this idea was explicitly added post Tina Lawton).
The April 17, 1967 WG was the "third revision." And just like they added the bit about the Captain not hugging the Yeoman in the middle of a crisis from Balance of Terror as part of the multiple choice question, they could have added the no enlisted part after Charlie X.
 
There is no real explanation for ensigns and crewmen having no distinction between their uniforms. And there are heaps of "crewman" mentions and Rand is never referred to as Ensign ever. I'm wondering before Chekov was anybody referred to as ensign.
 
I believe the unlucky O'Neal in "The Galileo Seven" was the earliest reference to an ensign.
 
Was then Chekov the first ensign we saw on screen so they made a mistake when they put him in a crewman uniform and it went on from there.
Was Chapel an officer?
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top