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Discovery's lead character will be referred to in the series as “Number One”

How does this character turn into a black or latina female?

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I've known a couple of Latinas who look similar. One's my wife.
Here's another
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I understand the historical usage. We have already had two notable characters that have went by "Number One". If it isn't "The Cage" Number One, I honestly don't see the point. You can have more subtle callbacks to what came before.
I agree using it a third time seems redundant drama-wise. This might mean we're in for a surprise. Herc from Ain't it Cool News said at the event Fuller said the rank of the lead is Lt. Commander. Then he leaned over and whispered to him "But she'll have many ranks". This is in his talkback thread on the site from the day of the announcement.
 
I estimate 35% losses taking Garth down (yeah I made that up). It would be the most devastating mutiny in the history of Starfleet. He would most likely anticipate the whole mutiny and be ready for them. It might even take a joint op between multiple CREWS. Only when his supporters see how far gone he is would they turn and join the mutiny and defeat him.
Ok, my hopes are dangerously high. If Garth is not captain, someone must promise to make this into a fan film. Written by Trek BBS. :-D
Come on. He's not the Goddamn Batman. ;)
 
I just watched the other day and it's what Kirk says about his history that defines Garth's greatness. By the time we meet him, he's been interred for a long time, is out of touch, and that much crazier.

I thought he had only been there a little while, they seemed to treat him going nuts as a recent thing.
 
If it is the same character, that's pretty cool. If it isn't, that's still a nice callback.

What did we ever see that made you think he was a genius, other than exposition?

Erm... Does exposition suddenly not count? It seemed pretty universal that Garth was a damn good and smart starship Captain before he went coocoo for coco puffs.
 
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/76084
There's also this! Nicholas Meyer to write the second episode of the show!

Quite a bit of interesting news in that article. Starting to get excited now, January's getting closer!
Looking forward to more Nick Meyer Trek (TWOK and TUC are my favourite TOS movies).

It says the lead character will be called "Number One" in honour of Majel Barrett's character, so I doubt it'll be the same person. I also think it's a nice tribute to Majel, who after all was the only actor to feature in all the previous Trek TV series.
Interestingly, we won't find out the character's real name straight away (but will before the end of the season) - perhaps she's an ancestor (or descendant) of a previous Trek character?

Also the more I see the Discovery, the more I like it. I was already quite partial anyway but I'm beginning to appreciate it more and more. Can't wait to see it in more detail.

I figure it went down like this:
Gath: Kill these fools who refuse to bow before Lord Garth!
Number One and his security team blast Garth with phasers. Garth collapses.
Number One: Haul this crazy ass mother fucker to the brig.
( In my head canon, Number One is played by Samuel L. Jackson)

@Nerys Myk, someone needs to get in touch with Bryan Fuller and put you in charge of casting :lol:
 
Most likely Roddenberry picked it up from the Horatio Hornblower novels that were part of his inspiration for Star Trek, and had Pike use it to address his first officer in the original pilot.

From the handful of the Hornblower books I've read (not all of them), the term "Number One" is never uttered. First Lieutenants in the book are usually referred to as the "First Lieutenant."
 
I think they said so themselves. It was either Kirk or Spock that said that he was brilliant or a genius or something to that effect.
I'm not debating that (hence "other than exposition"). I was just countering your point that we actually saw what a tactical genius he was; he was anything but in that episode of TOS. Even a friggin' psych major was able to thwart his plans.
 
From TrekMovie: "Commenting on the female lead, Fuller said that DSC will, “explore a woman’s journey that will teach her to get along with others in the galaxy.” Fuller believes that for a protagonist to truly understand something alien, she has to first understand herself."

And now we find out that this character will only be know as Number One for a few episodes. Interesting... I wonder if there's any correlation? She needs to understand herself better while only being referred to by a title of rank. I'm starting to really look forward to this show.
 
Men say "God" during sex so they don't blurt out the wrong name, if they forget who is under them momentarily.

Starship Captains are probably the same with their first Officers.

Having the same team together for twenty years must be fricking atypical.

A captain can have dozens of ships, or/an dozens of first officers during his or her career.

A full Commander should become a Captain quick enough, or no one would want them to be their First Officer, because they are obviously crap.
 
From the handful of the Hornblower books I've read (not all of them), the term "Number One" is never uttered. First Lieutenants in the book are usually referred to as the "First Lieutenant."

"Number One's letting us have the second cutter," said Danvers. - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, 1950

"What d'ye think Number One'll do?" asked Bush - Lieutenant Hornblower, 1952

Those are the only two isolated incidents I could find in Horatio Hornblower novels, so I'm not sure how much of an influence they may have had on Roddenberry (or Meyer), outside of other sources.

Horatio Hornblower, of course, is a character famous from rising from a lowly Midshipman to a famous ship Captain to (eventually) Admiral of the Fleet. From what little I know, Discovery's Number One seems to be in the same vein. Lieutenant Hornblower itself seems to be a good outline for a potential Garth/Number One Discovery series.

I will enjoy learning about the Klingon Napoleon.
 
The Number One is obviously an experiment artificial lifeform. A joint project between Starfleet Science and Section 31. Available in a variety of species, race and gender. They were sanctioned and decommissioned after their, shall we say active role in the Discovery crew massacre. ;)
 
"Number One's letting us have the second cutter," said Danvers. - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, 1950

"What d'ye think Number One'll do?" asked Bush - Lieutenant Hornblower, 1952

Those are the only two isolated incidents I could find in Horatio Hornblower novels, so I'm not sure how much of an influence they may have had on Roddenberry (or Meyer), outside of other sources.

Horatio Hornblower, of course, is a character famous from rising from a lowly Midshipman to a famous ship Captain to (eventually) Admiral of the Fleet. From what little I know, Discovery's Number One seems to be in the same vein. Lieutenant Hornblower itself seems to be a good outline for a potential Garth/Number One Discovery series.

I will enjoy learning about the Klingon Napoleon.

Thanks for that! I'd read Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and Lieutenant Hornblower and just didn't recall that they used Number One at all. Seems it was easy to do since they were just quick, throwaway instances. :D
 
I'm not debating that (hence "other than exposition"). I was just countering your point that we actually saw what a tactical genius he was; he was anything but in that episode of TOS. Even a friggin' psych major was able to thwart his plans.

Did we figure out how old he is?

If Garth is a thousand years old or older, maybe he's not a tactical genius, he's just really good at wrote behaviour in war?
 
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