That would be Sulu.
Chekov in ST V & VI - Vat Vas His Job?
- Thread starter Jose Tyler
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Both Chekov and Sulu were far too senior to simply be navigator and helmsman. I've always faniced that Sulu was the chief operations officer who just manned helm occasionally (and during any major crisis). Chekov was security chief in TMP but I think he'd be terrible at that - he's naive, he can't really fight, and his investigation in TUC was shambolic. I prefer to think of him as weapons officer under the umbrella of the security department. He does seem to be science officer in TWoK but that was for a particular planetary survey mission on a small science vessel - I don't think he'd be qualified as a science officer on a general exploration mission.
The later movies dispensed with departmental logic so you had science, ops (navigation) and engineering (technical services) falling under the grey collar. I think security was black or dark green but I'm not sure? Chekov and Sulu's positions on Enterprise were generally temporary for particualr missions i.e. you can't imagine them doing those jobs for a 5-year mission.
The later movies dispensed with departmental logic so you had science, ops (navigation) and engineering (technical services) falling under the grey collar. I think security was black or dark green but I'm not sure? Chekov and Sulu's positions on Enterprise were generally temporary for particualr missions i.e. you can't imagine them doing those jobs for a 5-year mission.
Actually, that's Ship's Services, or the "new TOS red". There exists a specific dark green color for Security in the ST2-6 scheme.
Basically, when things moved from TOS to TMP, a few colors were added to the original scheme. The old Gold of random command duties, helm, tactical and the like got boosted with White, which appeared to be High Command; Red remained Engineering, but was boosted with Silver which was Security (Chekov wears Silver in TMP); Medical got Light Green; Blue was dropped altogether (I think they feared bluescreen interference) and Sciences briefly became Orange.
This sort of made sense. But then the script for ST2 called for a special Cadet color, and that became Red, throwing Engineering into a limbo (Scotty wore alternating Gold and White from this point on). Grey was introduced for the odd jobs that in TOS had warranted Red - essentially, this "Ship's Services" thing. It seemed to swallow everything from Communications to Science, with the Orange thankfully disappearing. (Since only Spock had prominently worn it in TMP, we could just as well dismiss it as an "Onboard Guest" special color!) Further, ST5 added dark blue for the commando team, and ST6 added light blue for the waiters serving the diplomatic dinner.
Basically, then, for ST2-6 Grey tells us the least of all the colors. Gold seems to remain associated with Helm, plus sometimes with Scotty. Red appears to be associated with training, although it probably also includes postgrads and instructors rather than just the originally planned cadets and enlisted trainees. And Sciences never regains its own color, oddly enough - although we could simply argue that Kirk's ship never had a proper Science Officer onboard in the movies, because they only involved a training cruise gone wrong, plus missions of combat or diplomacy that were intended to be very short and limited in scope.
Timo Saloniemi
Oh, dunno - having a LtCmdr or Cmdr at those positions was quite customary in the movies, save for the small Grissom. Kirk settling for mere Lieutenants after "Where No Man" could be seen as an exception.
Apparently, there's no shame in doing Helm after two decades in Starfleet, and no need to get a more prestigious job in order to qualify for Second Officer or the like.
By such standards, the Enterprise would be a "small science vessel" as well; if anything, she was less voluminous and less heavily armed than the Reliant.
If five-year missions even exist outside the TOS context, one would think everybody would be doing pretty much everything there. It would be a waste of resources to give Helm to a kid who can do nothing but steer...
Timo Saloniemi
According to my FASA game, the Enterprise was larger and more powerful than Reliant but yeah there wasn't much in it. But rather I meant that the tour was not one of general exploration but rather planetary surveying for a specific purpose. If Chekov is qualified in planetary sciences and sensor use then he's qualified to be chief science officer for that mission. Most other chief science officers have tended to be astrophysicists, which Chekov isn't (although Sulu is) but all the crew would have to have a working knowledge of astrophysics to qualify as astronauts.
It makes sense to have experienced senior officers at the helm during times of crisis but I would have thought that they would not be assigned there for lengthy shifts as it is a waste of their experience. If it's anything like real life, the more senior you become, the more admin you do. The senior officers probably spent half their shifts signing PADDS and ordering junior crew to do things.
That's not nearly as impressive when you start with 3 of them
Yea, Checkov is pretty much a Jack of all trades in the movies
Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, didn't he occasionally do science on TOS?
If I recall he often manned the science station (sensor operation) and had an encyclopedic knowledge of exo-zoology. Plus he must be trained in astronomy, mathematics, and astronavigation, which are related fields but they're also fields that all starfleet cadets would be trained in. Navigation and helm are generalist positions (Uhura, Rand, and Troi have all manned them in emergencies) but some (like Sulu and Tom Paris) are highly skilled at them. Chekov always seemed more of a science nerd than a security officer or pilot though. Navigation does seem like the more sciency side of Command/Ops so I don't think the grey collar is that out of place.
Both controlled the weapons in different episodes. Sulu in "The Doomsday Machine", Chekov in "Journey to Babel" for example.
I just figure he's a Generic Bridge / Deck Watch Officer of Choice, more than anything else.
Of course, as seen in TVH, he really was a High Fashion Designer.
Cheers,
-CM-
Of course, as seen in TVH, he really was a High Fashion Designer.
Cheers,
-CM-
I just figure he's a Generic Bridge / Deck Watch Officer of Choice, more than anything else.
Of course, as seen in TVH, he really was a High Fashion Designer.
Cheers,
-CM-
Nah, that goes to Sulu and his cape!
I like to think he was first officer, at least in TUC. Spock was aboard as the diplomatic lead, and took command only because it was a crisis and he was the highest ranking officer. (Same thing Kirk did in TWoK.) Sulu was gone and Scotty was in engineering, and Chekov was commanding the ship after the dinner party.
I also like to think Sulu was Spock's XO in TWoK.
I also like to think Sulu was Spock's XO in TWoK.
...Then again, Spock did seem to be explicitly telling Valeris that she would succeed him, that is, take over his role aboard the ship. This couldn't refer to Valeris becoming the next guest diplomat. So was Valeris to become the next Science Officer? Or the next First Officer? Or the next Commanding Officer? Or just the next Token Vulcan?
Yet his line there was "I'm delighted! Any chance to go aboard the Enterprise...", suggesting that just like Kirk, he was there just this once, to celebrate the birthday.
Timo Saloniemi
He couldn't have been the security chief - because in Star Trek VI, he didn't even know that an unauthorized phaser fired on a starship sets off an alarm - he needed Lt. Valeris to show him that, so either he is really behind in his security training, or he wasn't the security chief. If he was the chief, he would have known that little fact! Like someone said, I don't think he was qualified to be the security chief.
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Becasue Chekov was a line officer and Scott was engineering.
It's not the rank in those situations - it's the (theoretical in Chekov's case) training and skill set.
Chekov has pretty spent his entire career as bridge officer, Soctt hasn't and chains of command usually run through the bridge/line officers before they get to departments such engineering.
or use a TNG example, Dr Crusher carried the rank of Commander through the entire run of TNG which meant that outrankined Data, Worf, La Forge but with one exception, she was never left in command when Picard and Riker weren't available. Data though lower rank still placed a higher in the command chain a second officer.
See, this is really weird to me. In the "real world" the Chief Engineer (or Reactor Officer on aircraft carriers, same duties really) is typically the next in line for command right after the XO.
In fact, in order to be Reactor Officer on a carrier, they usually had to have already done a stint as commanding officer of a smaller ship.
Perhaps when Scotty was promoted to Captain of Engineering he moved from being a Line Officer to a Restricted Line Officer or a Non-Line Officer and more of a specialist. Or maybe after all of those years of being in command while Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were getting captured on alien planets he had enough and didn't want to be in the chain of command except in dire emergencies.
As for Chekov, I'm thinking that he was Second Officer and Navigator. Chekov was likely just serving time until he could qualify as First Officer on a starship again. I would have to imagine not being able to tell the difference between Ceti Alpha IV and Ceti Alpha V and getting your ship captured slows your career down...
I got that impression, too. Early on, they seemed to be treating Chekov like he was Spock's protege, as in "Who Mourns for Adonais," but they never really developed this.
He sure knew a lot about quadrotriticale too.
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