Commodore Stocker-The Deadly Years

[PhoenixIreland]

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Stocker

Two strange things about this guy I noted after I just watched the ep for the first time (I'm watching most of TOS for the first time ever and watching them in remastered)

1. He's not a dick like every other official and high ranking officer in starfleet seems to be during TOS so far.

2. They say on screen he's never been in command of a starship, I find that a bit odd, was that a boo boo by the writers? Could you rise to General without commanding any troops?

 

[Christopher]

2. They say on screen he's never been in command of a starship, I find that a bit odd, was that a boo boo by the writers? Could you rise to General without commanding any troops?

Of course you can. Not everyone in the military serves in the field; some are in staff positions, working in the administration and bureaucracy -- in this case, working at starbases, Starfleet Headquarters, things like that. Stocker was simply a staff officer rather than a line officer.

 

[SchwEnt]

...and Commodore Stocker spent the whole eps calling Spock and Kirk "Sir".

Maybe he was deferring to their line experience, but Stocker IS the Senior Officer.
He needn't call his subordinates "sir".

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

...and Commodore Stocker spent the whole eps calling Spock and Kirk "Sir".

Maybe he was deferring to their line experience, but Stocker IS the Senior Officer.
He needn't call his subordinates "sir".

Perhaps he was just very polite?

 

[Christopher]

...and Commodore Stocker spent the whole eps calling Spock and Kirk "Sir".

Maybe he was deferring to their line experience, but Stocker IS the Senior Officer.
He needn't call his subordinates "sir".

"Sir" can be used as a courtesy title among equals or near-equals as well as an address to superiors. It's a recognition of their rank and authority rather than a deference to it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

My boss likes to call me sir.

"Commodore Stocker- The Deadly Years", sounds like entry in a movie or book series.

 

[RobertScorpio]

My boss likes to call me sir.

"Commodore Stocker- The Deadly Years", sounds like entry in a movie or book series.

with a face like that could you blame him????

Rob

 

[Vendor]

2. They say on screen he's never been in command of a starship, I find that a bit odd, was that a boo boo by the writers? Could you rise to General without commanding any troops?

Why should the 23rd Century military be any different than modern-day's. Some people politic and/or ass-kiss their way up the ladder.

 

[paustin]

as Kirk said....."he's a desk bound paper pusher" (i think I got that right)

 

[Vance]

Right. Stocker wasn't a bad officer (in fact, Kirk is respectful of his position) , but he was an administrative officer, not a field officer. He's damn good at pushing paper and running the administrative tasks of the sector, and you DO need those guys... but you don't need the commanding the Enterprise.

 

[Red Ranger]

as Kirk said....."he's a desk bound paper pusher" (i think I got that right)

I won't swear I'm right, but I thought Kirk said, "The man's a chair-bound paper-pusher!" Same intention, of course! Bless his heart, at least Stocker was likable. -- RR

 

[Gil T.Azell]

2. They say on screen he's never been in command of a starship, I find that a bit odd, was that a boo boo by the writers? Could you rise to General without commanding any troops?

Why should the 23rd Century military be any different than modern-day's. Some people politic and/or ass-kiss their way up the ladder.

There is that, and the degree of education they have.

 

[Vendor]

2. They say on screen he's never been in command of a starship, I find that a bit odd, was that a boo boo by the writers? Could you rise to General without commanding any troops?

Why should the 23rd Century military be any different than modern-day's. Some people politic and/or ass-kiss their way up the ladder.

There is that, and the degree of education they have.

of course, education doesn't always play into it.

 

[Dayton3]

One has to consider that Commodore Stocker not only made no objection whatsoever when Captain Kirk suddenly raced onto the bridge and retake command (couldn't blame him but he could've said something) but later Stocker basically apologized to Captain Kirk on the bridge in front of the crew.

Stocker was obviously inexperienced in the field (he apparently knew little or nothing about the Romulans for example) and he made some huge mistakes.

But he seemed like a decent guy making the wrong decisions for the right reasons.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I thought he looked like a Bush descendant.

 

[Christopher]

Why should the 23rd Century military be any different than modern-day's. Some people politic and/or ass-kiss their way up the ladder.

There is that, and the degree of education they have.

It's got nothing to do with any of that. Surely you can't believe that everyone in the military is a line officer out in the field. Who would there be to man the bases and headquarters, to make the administrative decisions, to issue the orders that get the ships built and maintained and supplied and the personnel assigned and managed? There need to be staff officers as well as line officers. It's not a difference of competence or intelligence, simply a difference of responsibilities.

 

[Dayton3]

One has too look at it from Stocker's perspective.

Something he did mention out loud.

Kirk was obviously unfit for command by the general standards.

Scotty even worse.

And Spock himself told Stocker that his command abilities had been degraded by the disease.

So that left Sulu.

Now while first season episodes had Sulu as third in command (Errand of Mercy, Arena) apparently, more later ones put Scotty as third in command.

So from Stocker's perspective, it meant putting a junior officer in command of the Enterprise during a fairly serious crisis.

 

[Timo]

And really, Stocker only had one command in mind when taking the center seat - a well-reasoned one, from his viewpoint. He wanted the matter out of his hands and in more competent ones as soon as possible, and the natural way to achieve that was to reach a Starfleet installation. That goal perfectly coincided with the need to reach a location where the top officers could receive medical attention. What was there to consider beyond that?

Okay, so committing an act of war might sound like a bad idea... But Kirk himself had proven time and again that Romulans were wussies who would never press the issue if Starfleet wronged them.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sbk1234]

To further support good ol' Commodore Stocker, he tried to find someone else to take command first. Spock refused. So that left Stocker few options. He wanted desperately to protect Kirk and officers and not lose them.

 

[Dayton3]

And when one looks at just the three seasons of ST:OS, it seems that the Romulans didn't exactly patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone all that strongly.

In "Balance of Terror", the Romulans had actually come through the zone and entered Federation space.

In "The Enterprise Incident", the Enterprise actually came all the way through the zone and entered Romulan space.

in "The Way To Eden" the Romulans either never detected or didn't bother when the hijacked Enterprise entered the Neutral Zone.

That leaves "The Deadly Years", and it seems like bad luck more than anything that led the Enterprise into an enounter with TEN Romulan ships.

For that matter, ten Romulan ships seems like a fleet or major task force for that era. So it seems doubly unlucky that Stocker just happened to take the Enterprise through the NZ at that particular time.

And you've got to admit TEN Romulan ships suddenly attack at once?!!?

It is any wonder that Stocker seemed to freeze in the captains chair?