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Lt. Charlene Masters -- an explanation

My wife had a good one. She's in blue because she's not an engineer. She's a scientist. Her specialty must have something to do with engines (dilithium crystals, specifically), and she's clearly hot stuff since her assistant, wearing a gold stripe, treats her with deference.

But the uniform color seems to primarily indicate in what area or division someone works, not their specialty.

She lacks a stripe because she might not even be in the standard Starfleet heirarchy, merely given a uniform to fit in. She gets the brevet rank of Lieutenant since her current position is one of seniority.

It wouldn't make much sense to give someone increased authority but not the commonly understood indicators of that authority. Even Captain Christopher was given a rank stripe.

Brevet ranks were a way to give a basically honorary promotion as a reward, without increased authority. That practice died out before WW1 and decorations came to fill the function,

Have we? Aside from "The Cage", which takes place considerably before Kirk-TOS, who do we have who is explicitly a non-officer?

Yeoman Third Class Tina Lawton, Technicians First Class Harrison and Thule, Engineer Grade Four Watkins, Chief Humboldt. Also, the "captain, officers and crew" of the Enterprise referred to in "The Immunity Syndrome."
 
There are numerous crewmen in TOS - Crewman Green in Man Trap for starters. Geological Technician Fisher would be a way of describing a petty officer (or possibly a senior crewman since he is a technician rather than a specialist). Yeoman Rand was another petty officer (and had the rank of a chief petty officer in TMP) and the distinction in rank with Tina Lawton being a Yeoman 3rd class suggests that there are grades in the non-commissioned ranks. Crewman Tarses in TNG, not to mention Chief O'Brien who was expressly retconned to be a non-commissioned officer.

Michael Burnham was stripped of her rank in season 1 of Discovery and given the title Specialist - which would be a petty officer.

Keeping things just in the TOS perspective, Green, Fisher, and Lawton are valid, but also very early, all within the First Six. That such designations are scrupulously avoided for the rest of the run of the show is telling.


Yeoman Third Class Tina Lawton, Technicians First Class Harrison and Thule, Engineer Grade Four Watkins, Chief Humboldt. Also, the "captain, officers and crew" of the Enterprise referred to in "The Immunity Syndrome."

Harrison and Thule are, again, First Six. "Chief" Humboldt may not refer to his rank -- we have a Security Chief on the Enterprise who is a Lieutenant Commander. Watkins is an interesting late example, though it's not certain "Grade 4" refers to a rating (though it's likely the writer intended it that way).

"Immunity Syndrome" was a good catch. I haven't gotten there yet.

But the uniform color seems to primarily indicate in what area or division someone works, not their specialty.

Who knows? I'm just trying to explain how a staff officer with no braid, regardless of stated rank (if she's new in rank, then she is junior to EVERY Lieutenant on board) acts like, and is treated like she's in charge.

It wouldn't make much sense to give someone increased authority but not the commonly understood indicators of that authority. Even Captain Christopher was given a rank stripe.

A touch I always loved. I agree, it doesn't make a lot of sense. But that's why this thread exists -- to make sense of things. No one interpretation will be "correct"; they can't be. :)

Brevet ranks were a way to give a basically honorary promotion as a reward, without increased authority. That practice died out before WW1 and decorations came to fill the function,

Temporary promotions were VERY common in World War 2. I apologize if my use of brevet was confusing.
 
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"Space Seed" was late season one.

Oh, you're right. I associate Harrison with Ron Veto and Thule with Eddie Paskey so I thought this was earlier.

It's interesting the use of Technician First Class or Yeoman Third Class -- that strikes me more WW2 rating style than 60s.
 
We seem to have gone from: Everyone in Starfleet is an officer to everyone in TOS is an officer to everyone is TOS is an officer if you don't count the first six episodes. :lol:
Goal post be moving.

You may be confusing the moving of goal posts with the adaptation of opinion upon receiving additional data.

There seem to be two conflicting, co-existing visions regarding what the officer/crew situation was supposed to be.

You can say "I found examples of crew!" and please note that several times, in this thread, I've acknowledged, "Yup! Those are examples."

There's also evidence that the Enterprise was supposed to be crewed solely by officers, and that the occasional, rare existence of crewmen was aberrant.

I'm not saying one is more right than the other. I'm noting both interpretations exist. The fact that Franz Josef seemed to think there were no crewmen on the Enterprise is significant.
 
Why? He wasn't exactly in the inner circle of Star Trek. He pretty much went his own way, IIRC.

That someone could have this interpretation suggests there is reason for the interpretation to exist.

I get that it's not your interpretation. :) That's fine. You're not wrong.
 
Oh, interesting. Do they maintain a whole bunch of separate parallel tracks with different names for E1-9?
Basically, yes. The rating is equivalent of grade, and they will still be addressed by rate (Seaman, petty officer, etc.)) but you'll see a job title that is distinctive. Yeoman are among the oldest job titles in the Navy.
 
That someone could have this interpretation suggests there is reason for the interpretation to exist.

I get that it's not your interpretation. :) That's fine. You're not wrong.
:shrug:

He wasn't involved with the creation or production of the show. What am I missing?
 
He wasn't involved with the creation or production of the show. What am I missing?

Franz Joseph devoured The Making of Star Trek and faithfully implemented its stated facts about the Enterprise. The book reflected Roddenberry's intentions, not all of which made it on screen.

And FJ did an amazing job. For instance, we had a BBS member around here who once went through the 12 sheets of deck plans and counted work stations. It came to something in the vicinity of 140, which is a third of the crew (working three 8-hour shifts). And the bed count would allow the entire crew to take refuge in the saucer if necessary. And recalling Kirk's line from "Operation: Annihilate," there were indeed fourteen science labs aboard this ship.

The Star Trek Blueprints was a dazzling, thunderously magnificent package in 1975, and it remains a landmark work today. I could count on the fingers of one hand the things I would change.
 
columbo-stare.gif
 
Franz Joseph devoured The Making of Star Trek and faithfully implemented its stated facts about the Enterprise. The book reflected Roddenberry's intentions, not all of which made it on screen.

And FJ did an amazing job. For instance, we had a BBS member around here who once went through the 12 sheets of deck plans and counted work stations. It came to something in the vicinity of 140, which is a third of the crew (working three 8-hour shifts). And the bed count would allow the entire crew to take refuge in the saucer if necessary. And recalling Kirk's line from "Operation: Annihilate," there were indeed fourteen science labs aboard this ship.

The Star Trek Blueprints was a dazzling, thunderously magnificent package in 1975, and it remains a landmark work today. I could count on the fingers of one hand the things I would change.
Now that's an informative post.
 
There's also evidence that the Enterprise was supposed to be crewed solely by officers, and that the occasional, rare existence of crewmen was aberrant.

There's no onscreen evidence. The idea comes from what Roddenberry said in The Making of Star Trek in 1968. It doesn't appear that he or anyone else took steps to establish it in the episodes, though.

I'm not saying one is more right than the other. I'm noting both interpretations exist. The fact that Franz Josef seemed to think there were no crewmen on the Enterprise is significant.

He, understandably, took TMOST at its word.
 
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