Best engineering chief?

[RB_Kandy]

You know, I really like LeForge, but I love Scotty.
However, an argument can be made for Torres. She routinely re-invented the laws of the universe by spouting technobabble and pressing buttons. Of course the laws of universe return to normal in the next episode.

Think about it
B'Elanna: Captain, I have an idea. I can send a shock burst of tachyon radiation through the ship at just the precise amplitude to reverse the negative protons in our bodies driving out the voodoo demons. I just need to remodulate the attenuators on the anti matter converter overflows. But to protect ourselves against the radiation I am going to send an inverted chronoton wave through the doctor's mobile emmiter and piggy back the signal off of Seven's cortical implant through subspace.

I have seen so many convoluted solutions like that on Voyager.

 

[Xhiandra]

At the other extreme of the spectrum, Geordi's technobabble seemed the most internally consistent: what's impossible in one episode isn't easily achieved 3 seasons later.
Time for the campaign slogan:

A vote for LaForge is a vote for consistent laws of physics!

 

[R. Star]

At the other extreme of the spectrum, Geordi's technobabble seemed the most internally consistent: what's impossible in one episode isn't easily achieved 3 seasons later.
Time for the campaign slogan:

A vote for LaForge is a vote for consistent laws of physics!

I'll agree with this one, if just on the technobabble point. LaForge and by proxy the TNG writers used it how it was meant to be. Sparingly and never to the point where you're confusing the audience.

Voyager not only threw out entire paragraphs of Technobabble at a time, they made it major plot points.

 

[SimpleLogic]

You know, I really like LeForge, but I love Scotty.
However, an argument can be made for Torres. She routinely re-invented the laws of the universe by spouting technobabble and pressing buttons. Of course the laws of universe return to normal in the next episode.

Think about it
B'Elanna: Captain, I have an idea. I can send a shock burst of tachyon radiation through the ship at just the precise amplitude to reverse the negative protons in our bodies driving out the voodoo demons. I just need to remodulate the attenuators on the anti matter converter overflows. But to protect ourselves against the radiation I am going to send an inverted chronoton wave through the doctor's mobile emmiter and piggy back the signal off of Seven's cortical implant through subspace.

I have seen so many convoluted solutions like that on Voyager.

I loved that episode.

 

[Mr_Homn]

At the other extreme of the spectrum, Geordi's technobabble seemed the most internally consistent: what's impossible in one episode isn't easily achieved 3 seasons later.
Time for the campaign slogan:

A vote for LaForge is a vote for consistent laws of physics!

I'll agree with this one, if just on the technobabble point. LaForge and by proxy the TNG writers used it how it was meant to be. Sparingly and never to the point where you're confusing the audience.

Voyager not only threw out entire paragraphs of Technobabble at a time, they made it major plot points.

So true

 

[Mage]

For me, it's O'Brien. Just because he actually had to some pretty hardcore engineering on that Cardassian monster, instead of just working with pre-fab, mostly perfect Starfleet tech.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I tend to go with Scotty, and pop culture agrees with me

 

[SilentP]

O'Brien because:
-He managed to get an old, wrecked Cardassian station's tech to mingle with Federation technology.
-He ironed out the kink's in the troublesome Defiant to the point where Starfleet actually could start making more comfortably.
-Ran an engineering department that not only repaired and maintained a space station and attending starship, but did the same for the dozens of vessels that visited DS9.
-He could do the above in wartime conditions too.
-Engineering wasn't even his original department (used to be security).

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Very close between Scotty and O'Brien but I went for the Miles.

 

[Skellington]

Best Engineering Chief: LaForge, for reasons already articulated in this thread.

Best Character would be Scotty. LaForge falls down for pretty much the character traits that make him a great engineer. There's pretty much no room in his psyche for quirky or counterproductive behaviour.

 

[Sector 7]

Montgomery Scott: Scotty is the standard by which all StarFleet engineers are judged. He also wrote the book on Starship Engineering.

 

[Mr_Homn]

Is o'brien even technically an engineering chief?

I thought he was chief of ops. And before that transporter chief.

I think its gotta be between scotty and laforge, you know, actual engineering chiefs

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'd go with Scotty, O'Brien and Trip. LaForge and Torres never really impressed me much.

 

[Takeru]

I voted for Torres.

Scotty sucked! Sorry Scotty fans but it's true, when was he ever a shown to be a good engineer? He did an okay job but only seemed great because he flat out lied to his superiors.

Geordie was okay, my only problem with him was that he couldn't stop the warp core from blowing up under his ass, "There's gas coming out of the wall! The ship's lost, get out of here!!!" "Sir, shoudn't we try to repair the coolant leek or eject the ..." "Barrel roll!!!"

O'Brien is a guy I'd like to hang out with, but I don't see anything that makes him the best engineer.

Tucker? Meh.

Torres was a true miracle worker, she kept the ship running for seven years with no starbases nearby, she and her staff worked 24/7 to keep the plasma running and the gel packs healthy, she found a way to build irreplacable photon torpedoes and cranked out shuttle after shuttle in her spare time.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Scotty sucked! Sorry Scotty fans but it's true, when was he ever a shown to be a good engineer? He did an okay job but only seemed great because he flat out lied to his superiors.

 

[Takeru]

He admitted it himself, he wildly exaggerated to become known as a miracle worker, no exaggeration, no miracle worker, no best engineer.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

He admitted it himself, he wildly exaggerated to become known as a miracle worker, no exaggeration, no miracle worker, no best engineer.

As already pointed out, and correctly, by Maurice upthread, that was a joke. Playful banter between two old friends, Kirk and Scotty.

As for, "when was he ever a shown to be a good engineer?" For a question that requires only a single example to answer, how about The Doomsday Machine, for just one example among scores.

 

[Nightdiamond]

You never doubted that Laforge knew his stuff--he had the biggest techno babble scenes I have ever heard. This dude was married to technology.

I could never understand Torres being the chief engineer. She had only a year or two at the academy, and then dropped out.

And then Janeway makes her chief engineer over more experienced engineers -she runs operations, writes schedules, reports, disciplinary actions etc.

Though I like her character, it was too Wesley Crusher-ish for me.


Overall I go with Scotty-I liked how he doubled as the 3rd officer, and he had great lines. Laforge knew his engines, but Scotty was in love with them.

 

[MacLeod]

Wasn't Scotty 2nd Officer, 3rd in Command?

 

[Ronald Held]

Scotty due to longivity in his career and his skills. How many engineering requirements are attributable to him?