People, First, to Hermiod, the chief engineer who tries to relieve Geordi is a full Lieutenant, Lt. Logan. It's an understandable error, since most of the other chief engineers shown during Season 1, McDougal, Argyle, and the long-winded Leland T. Lynch, were lieutenant commanders. To CoveTom and others, there are a couple of times Data is referred to as second officer in Season One. The only other time I remember that is in "The Battle," when the Ferengi come on board the Enterprise and Picard introduces him as second officer. And I believe we've all established that rank and position are different things. I do recall that when Riker, Worf, Geordi and others are on board the old starship in "Peak Performance," getting ready for war games, Riker wants Worf to be his tactical officer. Worf demurs and suggests Geordi, since he outranks him, but Geordi says he'll have his hands full in engineering. Oh, and Picard did give Worf command of the saucer section in "Encounter at Farpoint" when they tried to safeguard the families and distract Q. Red Ranger
Though of course, Worf did command the saucer in EaF. And Logan in Arsenal of Freedom was a Lieutenant.
D'oh. This is why I normally fact check this stuff. I was convinced that he was a Lieutenant Commander. My mistake.
Hey, no problem. We're all here to help -- I've posted a few bonehead errors here. After all, we are talking about an ep that came out about 20 years ago!
Never liked that they gave a young Crusher a commission as an acting Ensign. It just doesn’t make any sense, even in the 24th century. I like the idea of prospective academy candidates getting work experience on starships to boost their chances of getting accepted into the academy but to be given a temporary commission is a very strange concept in this regard!
Data has this intimidating aura around him when he's a CO. Remember when he commanded the Sutherland in Redemption? Great stuff by Data & Brent Spiner (sorry for going off topcic!).
I don't remember that, but it's been awhile. If so, then the Ferengi definition of second officer must be different -- perhaps it's synonymous with subordinate officers, anyone below a first officer.
There is indeed some confusion about this... In "The Battle", Picard doesn't exactly say that Data would be his second officer. Instead, he says that Data is his "second in command", which is strange considering that his first officer (whom he just introduced to Bok as well) should be his second in command! For an opposite example, Spock calls himself the second officer of the ship in "The Enemy Within", while apparently meaning second in command. One could perhaps argue that Starfleet uses the expressions "second officer" and "second in command" interchangeably, and perhaps speaks of "first officer" and "first in command" likewise, unlike is the case in today's navies... Or then one could aruge that even the mighty Spock makes a slip of the tongue every now and then. FWIW, the TrekCore script for "The Last Outpost" has this: However, TrekCore scripts are typically penultimate rather than ultimate versions, and for example "Arsenal of Freedom" was heavily ad-libbed or the details rewritten. I might check the tape when I get home... Anyway, Taar's teeth would have made it impossible to hear whether there's an "s" in his "officers" or not. Timo Saloniemi
Timo, Didn't remember exactly how Picard referred to Data. I could've sworn he said "second officer." It must've been in another episode then. The ST people often got many of the conventions of rank incorrect. As you properly point out, the first officer is second-in-command. Thus, the second officer is third-in-command. As for Spock, I know there's some debate over whether Gary Mitchell was first officer and Spock held the title second officer, and that when he dictated his log, he was still officially a second officer and not yet promoted to the post of first officer. Or maybe the writing staff messed up! Red Ranger