Spock Creating the Kobayashi Maru: Not in the OSverse!

[Jackson_Roykirk]

One must also assume that the curriculum at SA evolved over time. Spock may have never taken the test either because he never attended command school (he was a blue tunic, and didn't take over as XO until after Gary Mitchell perished) or because the KM test didn't exist back then.

At some point, someone came up with the notion of presenting command school cadets with a no-win simulation to measure how they would react in the face of a situation that couldn't be resolved in a survivable manner no matter what action was taken. Old school officers Like Pike and April probably never took the test either.

I don't recall the KM scenario ever being mentioned in TNG. It's possible that the test was later dropped for one reason or another. Policies and leadership change over time, and the curriculum continues to evolve.

Well, as I said in the "Spock wearing wrong shirt" thread, I've always thought it possible that Spock had a "double major" while at the Academy -- both Science and Command.

Being who he is, he preferred science (hence the blue shirt) but he was obviously qualified for command (as seen in many TOS episodes), and was perhaps trained in both.

 

[Odo's_Bucket]

the idea of a no-win scenario is VERY foreign to humans, even in our time.

Wrong. Join the military.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Yep, Spock left a pretty obvious security vulnerability somewhere in the thing if an undergraduate hotdog like Kirk could break it that easily.

Yep, and I tend to think her name was Gaila - a cadet whose studies emphasized computer science and whom Kirk was bedding.

 

[donners22]

People here put far more effort into trying to make sense of things than the film's writers did.

 

[RoJoHen]

People here put far more effort into trying to make sense of things than the film's writers did.

That's what Trekkies do.

 

[donners22]

People here put far more effort into trying to make sense of things than the film's writers did.

That's what Trekkies do.

No, I find that for most shows and movies, most Trekkies simply bash the hell out of any issue. At least, here they do.

 

[BenRoethig]

Spock wrote a new version of the test that was unique to the AU. It seemed focused on rescuing another starfleet ship rather than rescuing a civilian freighter. He and Pike didn't serve at the academy in the Prime universe because the Enterprise was already built.

 

[RoJoHen]

People here put far more effort into trying to make sense of things than the film's writers did.

That's what Trekkies do.

No, I find that for most shows and movies, most Trekkies simply bash the hell out of any issue. At least, here they do.

Nah, it's just the vocal, angry minority that makes it seem that way.

 

[RAMA]

Point? Got no point.

 

[Jedi Marso]

One must also assume that the curriculum at SA evolved over time. Spock may have never taken the test either because he never attended command school (he was a blue tunic, and didn't take over as XO until after Gary Mitchell perished) or because the KM test didn't exist back then.

At some point, someone came up with the notion of presenting command school cadets with a no-win simulation to measure how they would react in the face of a situation that couldn't be resolved in a survivable manner no matter what action was taken. Old school officers Like Pike and April probably never took the test either.

I don't recall the KM scenario ever being mentioned in TNG. It's possible that the test was later dropped for one reason or another. Policies and leadership change over time, and the curriculum continues to evolve.

Well, as I said in the "Spock wearing wrong shirt" thread, I've always thought it possible that Spock had a "double major" while at the Academy -- both Science and Command.

Being who he is, he preferred science (hence the blue shirt) but he was obviously qualified for command (as seen in many TOS episodes), and was perhaps trained in both.

Well, we're delving outside of anything presented on screen here, but I like to imagine Spock as a guy who 'evolved' to command rather than training for it as a career track. He was a science officer under Pike (Number 1 was the XO), and then again under Kirk until Mitchell died. At that point Spock began being introduced as the 'executive science officer', and often found himself in command of the ship. Years and years later, Spock was promoted to captain and offered the Enterprise (as a training ship). I don't imagine Spock ever attended command school, hence his remarks about never having taken the KM test. It might have been considered a bit unorthodox by some but hey- we're talking about Spock!