suddenly went from Comm Officer to engineer?
It must be really easy to become an engineer in the future...
It must be really easy to become an engineer in the future...
Did they ever explain how Geordi...
- Thread starter LoneDragon
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Maybe cause he had the visor they were like "ah you'll be good at detecting warp core breaches and stuff what with your enhanced vision..." hence the promotion?
The captain can promote whoever he wishes at any time.
Yes, it was explained...
Answer: it had a nice ring to it.
Answer: it had a nice ring to it.
I'm sure that's the case. He 1st met Geordi as a pilot, & when he commented on the shuttle's engine efficiency, Geordi spent the night improving it. I'm pretty sure Geordi was being groomed for the job from day one, & Picard convinced him to follow that career track, after Geordi had been aboard a while in the command division
It would have been cool to see that conversation. Worf's promotion was clear cut, after Tasha died, but Geordi's was left open ended
I remember in "The Last Outpost" when communications between the bridge and engineering were out, Picard sent LaForge down to engineering for a report. Riker later joined him there, and LaForge seemed right at home talking about the engines, even giving orders to an engineer, IMO.
It's Conn Officer, not Comm. Conn is the Helm controls. I think he was Ops anyway. An Engineer being an Ops officer would be normal, I'd think, as Engineering is part of Ops.
I've always assumed that Geordi graduated the academy as an engineer, but early in his career was convinced to switch to the command tract. Which was where he was when Picard met him. He probably was torn between going back to egineering or taking a the pilots position on the fleets flagship when Picard offered him a slot on the E. Picard no doubt knew of Geordi's engineering background and used him in that capacity when needed. When the CEO position opened up Geordi and Picard probably jumped at the chance to place LaForge there.
Plus in a progressive future like Trek, everyone seems to be awesome at everything. Look at Dax, Spock and Data. They have expertise in a wide range of sciences (chemistry/physics/biology/computer/math).
They are some what exceptional though. Data's an android, Spock's a hybrid and Dax has multiple lives to pull from.
In "The Next Phase" it's suggested Geordi's engineering expertise is what interested Picard in him in the first place so Geordi is likely brought onto the ship with the intention of him being Chief Engineer someday. Since Geordi was then only a Lieutenant J.G. he had to wait for a promotion to get the position and he hadn't put enough time in at the lower rank. Meanwhile the Enterprise served as a "training ship" for other engineers to be assigned to future Galaxy-Class ships or ships with the new systems the Enterprise had. (Hence the rotating series of engineers we see in the first season.) Geordi would spend a year as the chief helmsman at Lieutenant J.G. while ALSO learning about the ship's new systems behind the scenes, meanwhile the ship would train aspiring engineers going to future assignments. After a year Geordi would be open for the promotion to full Lieutenant, get it, and then be given the Chief Engineer role on a "fast-track" to Lieutenant Commander. (Which he would get by the third season.)
IMO, he wanted TNG to be different from TOS. Data was really the immediate go-to guy for questions and reports about the engines, so the need for a permanent character to be the actual chief engineer wasn't all that great in the beginning (heck, TNG wouldn't even have had an engineering set at all if Roddenberry hadn't quickly wrote in a scene there in the pilot--the show wouldn't have had the money to build the set later in the first season).
"In-universe"--and in hindsight--it could be a case that during the first year of the Enterprise's operation, several chief engineers trained on the vessel and familiarized themselves with her then many new systems before going on to other ships.
This is how I interpret it too.
There are probably more threads on this subject than there were first season engineers!
And why was it many of the chief engineers were so unlikable?
OK, Singh was fairly likable, but then they immediately killed him. Usually whenever you see a character who is totally nice, you know they're gonna GET IT.
Lynch (sorry, Leland T. Lynch) and Logan were insufferable. I guess the only way early TNG could have conflict between the crew would be to have nobodies come in and cause the conflict (see also Kosinski). MacDougal wasn't much of a character either. She spent most of the time being annoyed.
I guess Argyle came off the best, since he got to be in it twice, but then the actor cheated to try and get the role full-time.
OK, Singh was fairly likable, but then they immediately killed him. Usually whenever you see a character who is totally nice, you know they're gonna GET IT.
Lynch (sorry, Leland T. Lynch) and Logan were insufferable. I guess the only way early TNG could have conflict between the crew would be to have nobodies come in and cause the conflict (see also Kosinski). MacDougal wasn't much of a character either. She spent most of the time being annoyed.
I guess Argyle came off the best, since he got to be in it twice, but then the actor cheated to try and get the role full-time.
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