Wouldn’t it be prudent to have one of Vance’s people drafted in? For contemporary insight etc. Willa for instance.
I think at some point this became a running gag. Both Culber and Reno came into the spore drive lab saying that their presumable superior officer sent them to do something or called them. I do think they were originally trying to establish a "lower decks." But it never really work. You cannot have a serious action drama show and not be primarily dealing with the people who make life and death decisions. M My guess, with the reduced crew from before the time jump, Culber is the CMO (check him out in the new photos) and Reno is Chief Engineer. It was never Stamets. He continues to wear silver and not bronze and and you have a full Commander in Reno who IS an engineer and was formerly chief on the Hiawatha. Chief Engineer doesn't just care for the warp core, but every operational system on the ship. She is a better fit.
I bet Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise are in these chat rooms laughing their heads off. I think they knew exactly what they were doing with all these nods in the writing. Nilsson gets the conn, Rhys gets the conn, Nhan leaves, Reno is in a jefferies tube somewhere. (It will probably be Tilly.) Kurtzman has said he reads everything!
Didn't Shelby go behind Riker's back by launching an away mission early without telling him, talk smack to Riker and tell him "he's in the way" and he "plays it safe", and get rewarded by being made first officer of the flagship in the Federation's darkest hour? Chakotay was made first officer of Voyager as reward for being a Maquis criminal. Admittedly Saru probably isn't aware of those incidents unless he rush reviewed a thousand years of Starfleet history in 3 weeks.
It wasn't a reward, it was a compromise to help integrate the crews better. it's explained in the episode.
And Riker explains that at that moment in time he needed Data and Worf where they were. I would imagine if Picard hadn’t been recovered, Data would have made his way to be XO and Shelby still goes to work on the task force.
What they should’ve done was post BOBW, Was still have Riker in command of the Enterprise for like six episodes while Picard goes off and recovers or Starfleet orders him to take like a month off cause it’s like one episode and he’s back to being his normal self.
maybe even a half season. He could still be on the Enterprise, just not in command. Maybe even give him a fear of being back in command and considering retirement or a desk job but something happens that forces him to face his fear and lead the ship.
I think it will be lieutenant willa at admiral vance's request. As much as Saru loves tilly i don't think he would ever put her in a situation she wasn't ready for. Taking tilly on an away mission and promoting her to first officer are two very different things.
I'm going with Willa. Saru will see it as a benefit to have someone in the crew who's actually from the 32nd Century. Vance will say it as a way for someone to keep an eye on them. This isn't the Kelvin Timeline, so Tilly's not going to go from Ensign to First Officer.
Good topic. Reno will not happen because the actress is not available full time. That knocks it down to: 1) Stamets (not a good fit and not really a "red shirt"/command type. 2) Nhan. Who just left the ship. Seems unlikely. 3) Georgiou. Not happening. Saru (rightly) does not trust her. 4) I like the idea of an officer from the current time, but Saru was big on the trust element, and making a newbie #1 seems odd. 5) Nilsson. Next most logical. Seems next in line based on getting the con. But she is kind of new as well. Which leaves........ Tilly. It will make no sense but be very emotional. Perfect for DISCO.
I mean Discovery's already has no chief engineer and no chief medical officer, so what's losing a first officer spot too?
Realistically, it should be a new officer from the 32nd century. Admiral Vance will want one of his own people in a senior command position, and Lt. Willa's already filling in as chief if security/liaison officer. But they'll probably go with Willa or Nilsson. Probably Willa, since I don't see them killing off Nilsson so Michael can take over the position again by the end of the season. Why does everyone keep thinking Pollard is or was CMO? Out of the three medical officers we've seen on the ship with speaking roles, she's the lowest ranked one.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out -- I assume it won't be long before we find out! My thoughts at the moment: 1. Oh FFS, we're back to this with Burnham? I thought we'd got beyond all that! 2. Not Tilly. She is becoming more sensible and less flighty but really she's far too junior and inexperienced. 3. Stamets: is becoming less of a dick but its not really suitable for him and he wouldn't want it. 4. Reno: Would be utterly hilarious but she'd tell Saru where he could poke it if he ever offered it to her! 5. Culber: Medic. He wouldn't want it. 6. Nhan: they've just packed her off on a ship home (apparently for a few months at least) but it doesn't mean she'd be gone forever. She's certainly senior enough and Rachael Ancheril is supposedly main cast now so, a good possibility...? 7. The other named characters... They're all still a bit two-dimensional and under-used, but it sort of looks a bit like they might have been setting Nilsson up for this one over the last week or two. Maybe a promotion to Lieutenant Commander...? Detmer is still working through her issues and I can't see it going to one of the others 8. An officer seconded by F.Adm Vance... This seems like a fair possibility too but while they have established Lieutenant Willa as a character she doesn't seem like she would be an appropriate pick for first officer -- this may not stop them though... A different Command officer from 3189 Starfleet who we haven't met yet is another reasonable possibility. On a broader note, I'd agree that we should be seeing more liaison / training / research officers posted aboard Discovery by Vance -- they need to support and train the old crew on all the new systems and Saru really should have a senior advisor with up to date knowledge and experience of the systems and the current state of the galaxy on the bridge (another point for an XO from C32) and I'd fully expect a research team trying to work out how to reverse engineer the spore drive for other ships (or at least replicate the dozen extra Discoveries that Vance would like to have!). 9. Georgiou. Really...?! Would you want an XO who'd be happy to have you with fries...?
Yes, quite -- Culber is a Lieutenant Commander and Pollard is a Lieutenant, although that's not always obvious from the badges. The full Commanmder seen briefly in Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad would be the most likely candidate for CMO of all those seen so far -- but who knows if he survived to make the jump or is even still on the ship in 3189?
Possibly. Possibly not. Although I don't know why the show is continuing to play coy about this and won't just come out and confirm it one way or the other. Oh well, whatever...
Admiral Vance: With all due respect Dr. Culber, 3 weeks isn't enough time to catch you up on a thousand years of medical advances. Take a break and let modern technology handle the chief medical officer position. This technology has been tested for centuries and worked in our initial field missions into the Delta Quadrant. Emergency Medical Hologram: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.