Early TNG... no Chief Engineer?

[c0rnedfr0g]

When TNG started, did TPTB not think that one of the main characters would need to be the Chief Engineer? I mean, with all the storylines in Engineering, and the prominent role Scotty played in the last generation, why hadn't they started the show with a Chief Engineer as a main cast member?

 

[Alrik]

You should be able to find the answers you are looking for in this thread from not too long ago.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=83223

 

[Ro_Laren]

It seemed to me like there were plenty of Chief Engineers. Who knows why they kept switching through them the first season. Maybe the importance of that role to TNG storylines is whey Geordi became the Chief Engineer second season.

 

[C.E. Evans]

There wouldn't even have been an engine room set built for TNG's first season if Roddenberry hadn't remembered to write a scene for it in the pilot at the last minute...

 

[Alrik]

It seemed to me like there were plenty of Chief Engineers. Who knows why they kept switching through them the first season. Maybe the importance of that role to TNG storylines is whey Geordi became the Chief Engineer second season.[/quote]


I think that did get fleshed out between Seasons 1 & 2. Nothing was ever mentioned on screen, so maybe we could just look at it like this. Picard was very picky about who his Chief Engineer was. He kept moving the assignment around throughout the first year from person to person, like it was an audition. When Geordi finally got his shot between seasons,(while Riker was off growing a beard) Geordi was the hands down winner. The rest, as they say, is Trek history.

 

[Praetor]

That works for me.

 

[Red Ranger]

Yep, this is one of the most-often asked questions. As I understand it, from the original TNG story bible, the idea was that the Galaxy-class Enterprise was so advanced it didn't need a chief engineer. Obviously, they thought better of that, and thus the parade of at least four chief engineers and one assistant chief engineer, as I recall, from McDougal, Singh, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch.

Alrik's answer is pretty good, too, so if you want to accept that and make it part of your own personal off-screen canon, why not? I like to think myself that since Enterprise is Starfleet's flagship and one of the first Galaxy-class starships, all the engineers we saw were on temporary duty so they could learn as much of how the new ship's systems operate so they could then take their practical knowledge to other starships, not just the Galaxy-class.

Red Ranger

 

[zephramc]

As RR stated, early on in TNG, the Enterprise was to be advanced enough to maintain itself. Hence no need for a Chief Engineer.

As far as an "in universe" explanation, here's my take. The Galaxy class starship was at that point, the most complex ship ever built. I believe that Geordi mentions something to that effect in Contagion. Starfleet may have wanted a team of engineers intimately knowledgeable with the Galaxy class during it's first year in operation. One could assume the the USS Galaxy and USS Yamato also had several chief engineers during it's first year out.

During that first year, Geordi was being prepped off-screen to be the ships chief engineer after the kinks were work out of Enterprise's systems.

 

[Praetor]

Combine this...

Yep, this is one of the most-often asked questions. As I understand it, from the original TNG story bible, the idea was that the Galaxy-class Enterprise was so advanced it didn't need a chief engineer. Obviously, they thought better of that, and thus the parade of at least four chief engineers and one assistant chief engineer, as I recall, from McDougal, Singh, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch.

Alrik's answer is pretty good, too, so if you want to accept that and make it part of your own personal off-screen canon, why not? I like to think myself that since Enterprise is Starfleet's flagship and one of the first Galaxy-class starships, all the engineers we saw were on temporary duty so they could learn as much of how the new ship's systems operate so they could then take their practical knowledge to other starships, not just the Galaxy-class.

Red Ranger

and this...

As RR stated, early on in TNG, the Enterprise was to be advanced enough to maintain itself. Hence no need for a Chief Engineer.

As far as an "in universe" explanation, here's my take. The Galaxy class starship was at that point, the most complex ship ever built. I believe that Geordi mentions something to that effect in Contagion. Starfleet may have wanted a team of engineers intimately knowledgeable with the Galaxy class during it's first year in operation. One could assume the the USS Galaxy and USS Yamato also had several chief engineers during it's first year out.

During that first year, Geordi was being prepped off-screen to be the ships chief engineer after the kinks were work out of Enterprise's systems.

for maximum correctness. Stir well, until blended.

 

[Alrik]

....for maximum correctness. Stir well, until blended.

Works for me too.

 

[Praetor]

I also like the idea of Picard being picky and knowing he wanted LaForge from the start, and just 'putting up' with the other folks.

 

[Alrik]

I also like the idea of Picard being picky and knowing he wanted LaForge from the start, and just 'putting up' with the other folks.

It would go hand in hand with Picard leaving him in command in Arsenal of Freedom. Obviously a certain amount of trust had been developed.

Edit:

Or at least was developing.

 

[Praetor]

Wasn't there some reference to Picard first meeting LaForge as a shuttle pilot or something like that?

 

[Alrik]

That sounds about right. Now my mind will be spinning trying to figure out in what Ep when I take my daughter in for softball practice, here in a few minutes.

Edit:

Was it the same Ep that Geordi was talking about doing the "Titan Turn" or something like that.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

In the TNG series finale, who was in the shuttle pod besides Picard that delivered him to the E-D in the past?

 

[Alrik]

In the TNG series finale, who was in the shuttle pod besides Picard that delivered him to the E-D in the past?

IIRC, it was Tasha.

 

[Alrik]

That sounds about right. Now my mind will be spinning trying to figure out in what Ep when I take my daughter in for softball practice, here in a few minutes.

Edit:

Was it the same Ep that Geordi was talking about doing the "Titan Turn" or something like that.

I wasn't kidding about that part.

It hit me on the way back. It was from The Next Phase when Picard was talking to Riker at the service. Here's the quote:

PICARD
I've been thinking about the first
time I met Geordi La Forge. He
was a young officer assigned to
pilot me on an inspection tour...
I made some off-hand remark about
the shuttle's engine efficiency
not being what it should... the
next morning I found he'd stayed
up all night refitting the fusion
initiators.
(beat)
I knew right then that I wanted
him with me on my next command.

Edit:

I also remembered that the "Titan Turn" manuver was in the conversation with Jellico in Chain of Commond Pt II.

 

[Timo]

LaForge does rather consistently sound like the classic "token black" driver/mechanic. An interest in piloting small craft and repairing them would match his known Starfleet career, while OTOH he would lack the poorly thought out side interests that plague the less stereotypical supporting characters...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[WillsBabe]

Wasn't there some reference to Picard first meeting LaForge as a shuttle pilot or something like that?

I think it's mentioned in The Next Phase, when Picard and Riker are talking about the eulogy/wake/funerals for Geordi and Ro.

Re: Titan's Turn. When's that mentioned? Is it Chain of Command? Is it Geordi talking to Jellico and persuading him to ask Riker to pilot the shuttle? Or is it The Outcast when Riker and Soren are swapping piloting stories?

 

[Timo]

It's "Chain of Command" all right. What is left unclear is whether the Titan's Turn thing is related to Starfleet or not. Jellico says he "started his career" that way, and LaForge did it at some point in his life. But perhaps hauling cargo in an apparent single-person shuttle between Jupiter and Saturn is something you do before you enter the Academy, to gain points? It does sound like a strangeish occupation for a junior Starfleet officer...

Timo Saloniemi