True, but they'd all been on the ground at the Academy, it might've been a bit since they'd last taken the ol' girl out for a spin.
Who was Spock's XO?
- Thread starter Sketcher
- Start date
My speculation is that Captain Spock had his own five year mission, and then the Enterprise became a training ship. Commander Sulu left then, only to return in TWOK.
That is certainly plausible. There is supposed to be a long gap between TMP and TWOK. The only thing I can think that contradicts it, though, is the reporter in Generations who tells Kirk that the Enterprise-B is the first Starship Enterprise in 30 years without James T. Kirk in command. Now, we know that technically Decker was in command for a period of time, but that was during a period of refit where the ship never went on any missions. But if Spock had the Enterprise out on actual missions for five years, it makes the reporter's statement seem quite odd.
Me, I'd like to think Uhura was Spock's XO. Would have been nice to see that, having her do something else than opening hailing frequencies.
I'd ignore that statement.
That statement might have been OK had TMP not made Kirk an admiral at the beginning of the movie.
The Admiralty would want Kirk back ASAP. He might turn them down for one five year mission, but not two.
Spock's dialogue with Kirk may imply that he didn't command the ship on actual missions:
If Stardates increment at 1000 units per year (which matches both the fifteen year gap between "Space Seed" and TWOK and the crew being "in the third month" of their Vulcan exile in TVH), it's been less than a year since TMP.
The Enterprise may well have just not left spacedock for the last 260-ish days. I'd even argue that Kirk's general malaise may be a reaction to having been briefly back in command of a Starship since his last birthday.
McCoy as much as says that Kirk doesn't feel old:
If he's talking specifically about the Enterprise a moment later, rather than some non-specific starship command, that would also imply that the ship has been in ordinary for the eight months or so since TMP:
I think it's likely that ship has been at Earth since we last saw it.
In terms of XO candidates, Kirk presumably is still Chief of Starfleet Operations, and his exchange with Sulu in the shuttle might indicate that Sulu's on his staff:
Uhura's also traveling with them, but it's not clear whether she's there as an officer of the ship, a member of Kirk's entourage, or is just along for the training mission.
Kirk and Scotty's dialogue at the beginning of the inspection implies that they haven't seen each other recently, though McCoy recently treated Scotty:
I think it's relatively likely that both Scotty and Bones are assigned to the same command, meaning either the Enterprise (in which case "shore leave" is more literal) or Spock's training program.
In The Search for Spock, of these officers only Scotty directly expresses any expectation of continued official attachment to the ship:
Mister Adventure's conversation with Uhura in that film seems to imply that she came to Old City Station directly from a space assignment:
So I'd guess that she, Scotty, and McCoy were all caretaker crew aboard the Enterprise. I think there's also some suggestion of that in the last dialogue in the Kobayashi Maru scenario simulator in TWOK:
Notably, they're also still aboard in TSFS after the bulk of the trainees, including Saavik, have left the ship:
In TWOK, Sulu orders the rendering of honors during Spock's funeral, and all of the senior officers, including Saavik, are standing with Kirk.
Uhura's promotion to full commander seems like it should have coincided with some new responsibilities, which seems to have been the case for both Chekov (first officer aboard Reliant) and Sulu (an assignment off the Enterprise).
That might be her assignment as first officer of a caretaker crew. But Kyle holds the same rank and communications position aboard the Reliant, and isn't the first officer.
TLDR: I think it's as likely as not that Spock is performing the duties himself (which are likely minimal, considering the small crew and his well-established aversion to taking leave), with assistance from Scotty, Uhura, and McCoy.
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In my mind, Saavik was finishing up a year or so at command school (perhaps directly after completing her studies at the Academy), Uhura was Kirk's aide (look at the way he hands his book off to her as he begins the Enterprise inspection tour), and Scotty and McCoy were both part of the regular Enterprise crew, helping Spock train the next generation of cadets (Notice that McCoy's name is still stenciled onto the door of sickbay). Oh, and only officers in command school take the Kobayashi Maru test.
As to who Spock's first officer was, I don't really know and I'm not terribly concerned who it might be. I suppose Sulu is the mostly likely candidate by process of elimination, but from his line about "any chance to go aboard the Enterprise," I'd assume that he's not regularly assigned there. If he's the first officer, there's nothing novel about him being at the helm for three weeks.
So I suppose either Spock didn't have one with the Enterprise currently assigned as a training vessel, or else the first officer was some other character we didn't see who was on shore leave or something.
As to who Spock's first officer was, I don't really know and I'm not terribly concerned who it might be. I suppose Sulu is the mostly likely candidate by process of elimination, but from his line about "any chance to go aboard the Enterprise," I'd assume that he's not regularly assigned there. If he's the first officer, there's nothing novel about him being at the helm for three weeks.
So I suppose either Spock didn't have one with the Enterprise currently assigned as a training vessel, or else the first officer was some other character we didn't see who was on shore leave or something.
Oh, that's interesting! I came up with the command school theory on my own about ten years back, but it's neat to know that some of the early publicity on TWOK said the same.
Agreed!
There is nothing to suggest Spock commanded a five-year mission and all evidence points to Kirk only commanding one.
I thought there was meant to be a 5 year mission following TMP with the TOS crew doing their thing (or at least, that's what decades of novels assumed), then the ship was retired to become a training vessel.
