Is there any explanation for how Barclay managed to graduate?
Every single episode he's in is like a case study.
Every single episode he's in is like a case study.
Does Star Fleet not run psychiatric examinations on its recruits?
- Thread starter QuarkforNagus
- Start date
If we're to believe Jake's comments in "Nor the Battle for the Strong," they're required to undergo a psychological profile during their training. Perhaps the issue is not whether an officer has a behavioral problem but whether the problem in question is treatable. Barclay may have carried a diagnosis and been treated prior to his coming aboard Enterprise. That wouldn't explain why things changed once he was working for LaForge, but it may be why he was still in the service.
--Sran
Why does he even have access to holodecks at all? Don't they require security codes to get in?
Couldn't they have put him on sick leave for his mental illness?
Couldn't they have put him on sick leave for his mental illness?
It also may depend on what role your are planning to go in for.
If he was to go into Command or Security I doubt he would have got a clean bill of health.
But science and engineering? Well a lot of the smartest people have issues so they may have a slightly more lax on recruitment.
If he was to go into Command or Security I doubt he would have got a clean bill of health.
But science and engineering? Well a lot of the smartest people have issues so they may have a slightly more lax on recruitment.
Why would they? They're meant for recreational purposes, they don't pose a security threat.
It would also seem that Starfleet is much more forgiving when it comes to inappropriate behavior. Hell, Worf killed someone in cold blood (consistent with Klingon law, however), and Picard let him off with a reprimand.
--Sran
I'm less concerned with Barclay's idiosyncrasies than the alarming rate that the captains of Constitution-Class starships tend to go nuts despite the fact that they are supposed to be "the best of the best", and that many Admirals seem to become corrupt from the moment they gain their rank insignia!
It's been shown that Barclay is indeed a very capable officer in his field, it's just that he'll almost certainly never reach command of a starship.
It's been shown that Barclay is indeed a very capable officer in his field, it's just that he'll almost certainly never reach command of a starship.
Is it the rank insignia or the new uniform? Or is it more a matter of them being cooped up in offices all the time? Now that I mention it, I do have a hard time seeing some of them commanding ships. I mean, Ross? He's a good guy, but he's too indecisive to sit in the big chair.
--Sran
A better example is on DS9. In S4 Sisko chews Worf out over attempting to kill Kurn, which again is allowed under Klingon ritual. But then in S7, Sisko drops hints about challenging Gowron, which Worf does, kills him, and presumably Sisko is cool with that.
Unless you conjure up Moriarty with instructions that he be capable of defeating an android officer of the fleet.
Different stakes. Also recall that the Sisko asking Worf to get rid of Gowron was a post-ITPML Sisko who had already dirtied his own hands. To get on Worf's case about legitimately challenging and killing Gowron wouldn't have been fair. Sisko also knew Worf a lot better by the time the seventh season rolled around. When he tried to kill Kurn, they hadn't worked together that long.
--Sran
Ross could have been a starship Captain in the past, but simply out of the big chair for a considerable amount of time, not unheard of as for example Picard, a very capable captain, did not have a command for nine years. Had Ross been promoted to Admiral only ten years before we first saw him, much of his experience would be out of date.
On the other side of the coin, Commodore Stocker had reached that rank without ever commanding a ship, and apparently not even serving on one, during his entire career.
Which presumably Barclay wasn't doing. So unless midget musketeer Riker was going to somehow break out of the holodeck and rampage around the ship, nothing Barclay was doing in there needed to be restricted by security.
Which seems hard to believe. I'm sure there were Starfleet officers who served in capacities other than exploration. But it's hard to believe that someone could rise so high in the chain of command without at least some ship-bound duty. OTOH, captain is just a rank like any other. It doesn't have to mean that someone commanded ships or troops in battle.
--Sran
Unfortunately, it probably wasn't realistic at all, just a way for the script of The Deadly Years to dumb down an authority figure while allowing Kirk to show what an awesome Captain he was.
Makes me wonder about someone like Phillipa Louvois from "The Measure of a Man." She held the rank of captain but had no command responsibility aside from her role as a JAG officer. Was her entire career like that, or did she serve in Starfleet in some other way? If she held a law degree, it's possible she could have been a communications officer or ship's historian.
--Sran
You don't need to command a ship to hold the rank of Captain. Its just the next rank after Commander. No doubt McCoy held the rank of Captain for a while, before becoming an Admiral. Louvois probably spent her entire career as a JAG officer. MA says she headed the twenty-third sector office of the Judge Advocate General office. Her command would be that office. With an organization as vast and diverse as Starfleet there are probably officers who have served little time aboard a ship.
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