The bio for the Prime version of Leonard McCoy on Memory Alpha states that he was stationed briefly on Capella IV in the 2250s, when he was already a Lt. commander. Now the Abramsverse version of McCoy enlists in Starfleet in 2255, expecting to graduate in around three or four years time (That's how long it would've taken NuKirk to graduate). Does this mean that NuMcCoy, like NuKirk, entered Starfleet much later than his counterpart in the Prime reality did? I wonder what could've caused his life to go so differently.
Did McCoy enter Starfleet earlier in the Prime reality?
- Thread starter EJA
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^ Did the episode say exactly how long ago it was that McCoy visited Capella?
Butterfly effect, dude.
It could be something as simple as someone who McCoy Prime once asked for directions not being there this time. Thus he wanders around until he finds the place himself, gets home a little later and, since he's home later than McCoy Prime was, he doesn't find his wife cheating on him - at least not yet.
Or it could be that the date on Memory Alpha is a little off. Dates in Star Trek need to be taken with a pinch of salt - "Space Seed" but TOS 200 years after 1996, "Wrath of Khan" said it's been 15 years since that... it puts things a little earlier than Voyager's 2270 date for the end of the TOS five-year mission.
It could be something as simple as someone who McCoy Prime once asked for directions not being there this time. Thus he wanders around until he finds the place himself, gets home a little later and, since he's home later than McCoy Prime was, he doesn't find his wife cheating on him - at least not yet.
Or it could be that the date on Memory Alpha is a little off. Dates in Star Trek need to be taken with a pinch of salt - "Space Seed" but TOS 200 years after 1996, "Wrath of Khan" said it's been 15 years since that... it puts things a little earlier than Voyager's 2270 date for the end of the TOS five-year mission.
No. The whole business is addressed and disposed of with this exchange in the opening scene:
[Edit: As far as that goes, Memory Alpha doesn't assign a date to his visit, either. From the entry on McCoy:
As to the issue of McCoy holding the Lt. Commander's rank on his prior visit to Capella, it could have been a gaffe, but it was more likely the result of a decision that changing McCoy's sleeve stripes for two quick shots in which they're visible on a briefing-room monitor for about four seconds total simply wasn't worth the bother.
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Yup. Just one more case of insufficient data from which to draw a conclusion, one way or the other.
I think in McCoy's case, events turned out pretty much the same up to the point where Nero attacks Vulcan. There's also no reason why the meeting between Kirk and McCoy wouldn't be similar in the Prime universe. Kirk could have been a Lieutenant who escorted McCoy to his seat on the same shuttle flight in the Prime universe.
Except that the enterprise was already built. Unless.... It was a different craft in the prime universe, like the saladin or something
What difference would the construction date of the Enterprise make in McCoy's personal timeline?
Or "nineteen years ago" - close enough. Was he in Starfleet then?
McCoy's comments that he's just a 'country doctor' suggest that he was fully qualified before joining Starfleet. It's also possible that he could have been assigned to a ship as a civilian specialist for a particular mission (like Phlox). So although it's never established that they attended the acadamy at the same time, it's certainly still possible.
To give the muddy cauldron a final confusing swirl, let's remember this:
Just after Kirk's second attempt at the no-win test, McCoy argues that he has no patience for a third attempt because he's a doctor, and therefore busy. Doesn't sound as if he were still studying...
Timo Saloniemi
...Nope, not quite. We have no clear idea when McCoy is expecting to graduate. For all we know, he only studied at the Academy for a couple of months, and then hanged around as an instructor (we know instructors participate in Kobayashi Maru) while already accumulating service hours that would make him eligible for the position of "senior medical officer" on Pike's next command. Some of those hours could have been clocked offworld or aboard various starships.
Just after Kirk's second attempt at the no-win test, McCoy argues that he has no patience for a third attempt because he's a doctor, and therefore busy. Doesn't sound as if he were still studying...
Timo Saloniemi
Was he even going to "space"? A flight from Iowa to California oughtn't go very high...
McCoy might be at (relative) ease with starships that fly at warp seven across hundreds of lightyears, while offering all the comforts of home. Doesn't mean he would particularly like riding a small shuttle across a continent! For all we know, McCoy is also mortally afraid of boats, and throws up if forced onto a bicycle without the training wheels on, but has visited a dozen planets prior to STXI anyway.
STXI is a live-action movie, so for all we know, it may not be fully canonical, either.
Timo Saloniemi
He did attend 'Ole Miss, as per DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations". I think there was a mention that he also did this in the new timeline on one of the official websites.
They could have just written him in as a doctor at the Academy who was already in Starfleet. But they didnt. Being a medical doctor there is no reason for him to go to the Academy. He already has a bachelor/master and MD. He doesnt need the Academy. But the Academy facility and complex might include the otherwise separate grad school programs and medical residency programs for medical staff studying to be flight surgeons or aerospace medicine, etc.
I dont think we have say he was a freshman at a 4 year college with Kirk. Since military medical personnel often take the training of those they will be serving (diving school for work with divers, or flight training to be a flight surgeon) its possible he and other doctors would have sat for the Kobyashi Maru test.
He is older than Kirk, so you can see how he could have joined earlier, but medical personnel can join at older ages, so I dont have a problem with that. We dont know all that much about McCoys background. We know he nailed Dax. But since spaceflight is common even for civilians in this era, theres no reason to think that mentions of him being off world in years past mean that he was in Starfleet. He could have been there as a civilian doctor.
Anyways, they changed the timeline so you can say whatever you like now.
Course there's also the question of who was CMO of the Enterprise at her launch. And who all proceeded Dr. McCoy as CMO.
Theres...
Dr. Sarah April
Dr. Puri
Dr. Phillip Boyce
Theres...
Dr. Sarah April
Dr. Puri
Dr. Phillip Boyce
Well... in the new timeline only Dr. Puri proceeded McCoy as CMO of the Enterprise (and he's killed only a few minutes/hours after launch). In the Prime timeline only Boyce and Piper proceeded him, that we know of. Sarah April represents a wild-card depending on your personal leanings towards Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Phillip Boyce was, more than likely, CMO of the Enterprise in 2258 of the Prime timeline. Eliminating Puri as a Prime timeline Enterprise CMO.
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