Right, but I think it was badly done in Discovery (not seen JAG) because what they should have done is either give a better explanation for why she is always at the centre of things, or (my preference) to focus more explicitly on her even when she is *not* at the centre of things. Own the fact that she is the main character, which would make it a bit more like the TNG 'lower decks' episode I guess.
Discovery ending with Season 5
- Thread starter The Habs Fan
- Start date
Mileage will vary. This feels exactly like how main characters are treated in past shows. Except nowadays main characters have to have a justification to be the main character.
Well the previous ones sort of came with a justification. Spock, McCoy and (especially) Kirk were the three most senior people on the ship. TNG is more ensembly (though in the movies I got so tired of Picard and Data... and I wasn't the only one!), as is DS9. Voyager suffers from the syndrome too in later seasons, when it's all about Janeway/7/the Doctor.
Not Lower Decks. She wasn't a Junior Officer. She was Science Officer and occasionally First Officer. She was a Senior Officer in all but the first season, where she was a Specialist who Lorca had a vested interest in.
If the events of "The Vulcan Hello" hadn't happened, Burnham -- who was already a First Officer on the Shenzhou -- would've been on track to becoming a Captain very soon. It took her three seasons to get back to the standing she was at in the beginning of the series.
If anyone shot up, it was Tilly. She started off as a Cadet, then became a Senior Officer. She was like Harry Kim (an Ensign in the Senior Staff), except -- unlike him -- she eventually got promoted to Lieutenant.
Last edited:
Well what I meant by Lower Decks is that the show might focus on Burnham even as she is not at the centre of the events happening to the ship -- eg she maybe doesn't know what's going on, and it focuses on her relatively normal day as she carries out her duties. Or focuses on her romance or private life for the day. (I guess like "Data's Day" in TNG?)
Yes Tilly has gone through a lot of changes! I actually enjoyed her episode leading the cadets very much, partly because it was a chance for the character to breathe independently.
Well, the justification is that Burnham is the main character-that's it. She's closer to a police or military procedural character whom the events turn around, and move in accordance to her knowledge and ability and will either solve the problem or facilitate the people solving the problem.
Kirk would do this too, especially in Season 1.
Right, sorry, what I meant is an in-universe justification for this character always seeming to be at the centre of events. Kirk's position as captain provided that.
I have to bow out of this, for now. I have to be somewhere soon.
But this is the right way to handle this debate.
But this is the right way to handle this debate.
Ah, well, I think each season has a different justification in the story.
McCoy wasn't. Next in line of command after Spock was Scotty, then Sulu. McCoy was not in the Enterprise's chain of command, a fact even stated within the show itself. This is once again the case of he's main cast, so of course he gets to be central to the stories. And hell, in the first season, McCoy wasn't even in the main cast, yet still had a central role in the show.
You can be senior without being in the chain of command; he was the chief medical officer, so any of the most interesting medical stuff will come to him. (Do we ever meet the CMO on DSC?)
In the first two seasons, no. Indeed, in the first season Culber mentions the CMO is busy handling an Andorian tonsillectomy, which had itself become a bit of an in-joke on this forum for a while. Since season 3 the implication seems very clear Culber is now supposed to be the CMO.
I thought he transferred departments and because ships' counsellor
I'm pretty sure Doctor Pollard was the CMO of the Discovery.
It's pretty clearly Doctor Pollard or Doctor Culber, unless it isn't.
It's never been said.
I know. I'm still pretty sure she was the CMO based on the way that DSC approached its utilization of its main and supporting Starfleet characters.
No. In the first two seasons she was only a Lieutenant JG. Culber was a Lt. Commander, and there was the Space Wale guy from season 1 who was a full Commander. I doubt the lowest ranking medical officer seen on the ship was CMO.
Besides, in the first season she was so inexperienced after Culber died she had to check with Saru for instructions on medical procedures, despite Saru not having any medical background at all.
That's been something that's puzzled me since the start of the series - who's Discovery's CMO - Pollard or Culber? Who's the chief engineer - Stamets or Reno? Sure, they've occasionally implied it's this or that person, but it's never been outright said. In the case of the Chief Engineer, I think Stamets' lab started out as just a science lab, but then the same location sorta morphed into engineering out of plot/production convenience/laziness, and Stamets himself transitioned from being a science officer to a hybrid of the science and engineering departments. Other than Captains, I don't think Disco's writers have ever been that concerned with the chain of command.
Last edited:
Similar threads
