Re Spock being both Science Officer and First Officer, I figured he was allowed to cover both positions because he was able to, maybe an advantage of being Vulcan, given both are big positions. But it must have left Kirk a bridge/command officer short, I would think.
“The Galileo Seven”—why those seven?
- Thread starter Warped9
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In addition to that, Starfleet personnel often fill varied positions during their careers. Just because Finney was Records Officer doesn't mean that he's only been in that position for his entire career.
Pilot, co-pilot, engineer & assistant, scientist & assistant, medical support.
The issue is more why the characters don't get to perform in their logically assigned roles. Spock does the flying. Mears doesn't have anything useful to add beyond switching on the tricorder, which anybody could have done. With Rand, there was a kernel of an idea that she had some skill at improvising in a crisis that could really have been fun, so it could have been her that suggested draining the phasers to fuel the shuttle. Mears was just generic filler. I think there could have been better interplay if the characters' specialties had been brought more into the story. Of course, Scotty rocked as ever, albeit he had sufficient rank to dress down the others who were giving Spock a hard time and didn't do so.
The issue is more why the characters don't get to perform in their logically assigned roles. Spock does the flying. Mears doesn't have anything useful to add beyond switching on the tricorder, which anybody could have done. With Rand, there was a kernel of an idea that she had some skill at improvising in a crisis that could really have been fun, so it could have been her that suggested draining the phasers to fuel the shuttle. Mears was just generic filler. I think there could have been better interplay if the characters' specialties had been brought more into the story. Of course, Scotty rocked as ever, albeit he had sufficient rank to dress down the others who were giving Spock a hard time and didn't do so.
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I think you're reading too much into it...We've found our new forum motto!
Possible crew assignments:
1. Lt. Cmdr. Spock - Mission Commander and Chief Science Officer.
2. Poor Lt. Latimer - Pilot/Helmsman
3. Lt. Gaetano - ? since he wears a gold command shirt, possibly the Navigator but kicked out of his seat by the Mission Commander.
4. Lt. Cmdr. Scott - Engineering Officer, but since this could be a dangerous mission, the Chief Engineering Officer was assigned.
5. Lt. Cmdr. McCoy - Chief Medical Officer. I'm not sure if there is even another medical doctor on board at this point other than a Psychiatrist.
6. Yeoman Mears - Spock's yeoman/administrative assistant for record keeping and coffee.
7. Lt. Boma - Science Officer/Quasar Specialist and dick.
1. Lt. Cmdr. Spock - Mission Commander and Chief Science Officer.
2. Poor Lt. Latimer - Pilot/Helmsman
3. Lt. Gaetano - ? since he wears a gold command shirt, possibly the Navigator but kicked out of his seat by the Mission Commander.
4. Lt. Cmdr. Scott - Engineering Officer, but since this could be a dangerous mission, the Chief Engineering Officer was assigned.
5. Lt. Cmdr. McCoy - Chief Medical Officer. I'm not sure if there is even another medical doctor on board at this point other than a Psychiatrist.
6. Yeoman Mears - Spock's yeoman/administrative assistant for record keeping and coffee.
7. Lt. Boma - Science Officer/Quasar Specialist and dick.
Okay. How about "Obsessive-Compulsive is our middle name" instead?
The Man Trap: "Medical department alert. Doctors and medics acknowledge."
The role was written for Rand. This was the first episode filmed after Grace Lee Whitney left the show.
Yes. I realise that Rand didn't get much dialogue in about half of her episodes but I can't help wondering if the yeoman had been one of the main characters she wouldn't have had something more to do, or at least been a bit more active in discussions, more like her role in Miri. I noticed that Uhura's role in City on the Edge of Forever was much reduced compared to Rand's original role.
Ellison seemed willing to write Rand as a technician, which would have been very useful in Galileo 7 but there did seem to be a stronger desire to keep them dumb and useless after Colt. Mears doesn't even have pom poms, Ross and Barrows really don't have enquiring minds, Zara is the only crewman who isn't armed. Tamura and Landon both get to show some self defence training but neither of them is Einstein.
Did Boma show up in any other episodes? Or did he "transfer off" after this episode to a Starship sans any Vulcans? I can't remember.
But to be frank, this episode never struck me as believable given Spock as exec would have been in command of landing parties and of the ship many times - he wouldn't be exec otherwise. There are some episodes I mentally toss in the trash.
Well the whole point of the episode was that Spock learned to use "good old fashioned human emotion" in his "first command" - if he wanted to command. So I don't think they could change it much. Spock was a good sport about the whole thing, even though I don't think he believed it. Even if it was, as was implausibly stated, his "first command". This theme was revisited in other episodes - I remember Spock periodically at sea so to speak, when he was trying to use logic as a command strategy and it wasn't working. So I guess it was a theme that fit the by-play between the top three however at times implausible it seemed for a real command officer in Spock's position. OTOH, we had Decker, and some other questionable Captains, so perhaps Spock with all his alleged foibles still fit well enough the criteria for command to be given the position.
That could be technically true, except it stands to reason all those years aboard the Enterprise he would likely have commanded shuttlecraft missions before.
The Galileo 7 mission was just a landing party that used a shuttlecraft for transport rather than the transporter. It's not like it was a separate ship independent of the Enterprise. It was basically a ship to planet taxi. As the ranking officer, Spock was in command, but as first or exec officer, he would have been in command of the Enterprise plenty of times standing in for Kirk (or even Pike, if Number One went on a landing party with Pike as often as Spock went with Kirk). How many times was Scotty left in command of the Enterprise? Spock would have been doing the same, even as a junior officer before he became exec or first. And I find it hard to believe command training doesn't involve some command situations. To me this episode doesn't make sense, from a military (or Fleet) perspective on what a first or executive officer has under his belt before he becomes an exec for one of the 12 Starships. The idea that until then he'd never commanded a landing party (shuttle or not)? Just not believable. Though I understand that to serve the script/plot, they wrote it that way. But too contrived and unbelievable for me.
I'm sure Spock commanded tons of shuttlecraft missions.
However, think of a young Lieutenant Jim Kirk flying a shuttlecraft mission to investigate some strange anomaly. Was that shuttlecraft his "first command"? Or are shuttlecraft missions just temporary mission assignments that are not equatable to a "first command" of command assignment of ship?
EDIT: Spock was "acting captain" in two episodes before "The Galileo Seven". However, since there are no episodes stating he was assigned a ship of his own to command before this then he has never had a "first command".
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