Enterprise D should not be the flagship

[Nyotarules]

I am on season three of TNG, from what I can remember the Enterprise D is the flagship of the fleet, apart from real life, restricted TV budget reasons, this so called flagship representing a multispecies Federation has a crew complement of around 1000 personnel and yet apart from Worf, Selar and Troi every other crew person is entirely human. Now if one is the lead ship of Starfleet at least have a diverse crew and a more diverse senior staff to represent the UFP or better yet remove the tag 'flagship' and just be another Galaxy class ship exploring the stars. They might as well have the USS T'Kumbra as the flagship with its Vulcan personnel.

 

[Kilana2]

@Christopher handles the topic of a multi species crew in Ex Machina (TOS novel).

As to Enterprise D's top-ranking officers: they are mostly human. Where are the Andorians? The Bolians?
To be fair: not only Enterprise D is dominated by humans, also Starfleet Headquarters portrayed in TNG is dominated by human Admirals. Where is the diverse Federation, the IDIC?

 

[Nyotarules]

@Christopher handles the topic of a multi species crew in Ex Machina (TOS novel).

As to Enterprise D's top-ranking officers: they are mostly human. Where are the Andorians? The Bolians?
To be fair: not only Enterprise D is dominated by humans, also Starfleet Headquarters portrayed in TNG is dominated by human Admirals. Where is the diverse Federation, the IDIC?

Yes I read TOS Ex machina it gives an in universe reason for TOS Enterprise poor diversity, but things should have improved in 90 years not remain stagnant.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Well, no Starfleet ship really reflected that diversity to that degree, so no ship seems qualified. The homosapiens were everywhere!

 

[Nyotarules]

Well, no Starfleet ship really reflected that diversity to that degree, so no ship seems qualified. The homosapiens were everywhere!

The reboot movies were a better representation

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I am on season three of TNG, from what I can remember the Enterprise D is the flagship of the fleet, apart from real life, restricted TV budget reasons, this so called flagship representing a multispecies Federation has a crew complement of around 1000 personnel and yet apart from Worf, Selar and Troi every other crew person is entirely human. Now if one is the lead ship of Starfleet at least have a diverse crew and a more diverse senior staff to represent the UFP or better yet remove the tag 'flagship' and just be another Galaxy class ship exploring the stars. They might as well have the USS T'Kumbra as the flagship with its Vulcan personnel.

While the majority of Enterprise personnel are visually human, it should noted that that doesn't necessarily mean they are from Earth. Also, while they might not have been on board the entire seven-year mission, Selar isn't the only alien background officer either. Others include: Lt Nara (unnamed alien, engineer, Eye of the Beholder), Lt Daniel Kawn (half-Napean, engineer, Eye of the Beholder), Ensign/Lt Ro Laren (Bajoran, pilot, various episodes), Ensign Sito Jaxa (Bajoran, tactical officer, Lower Decks), Ensign Taurik (Vulcan, engineer, Lower Decks) and depending on whether civilian personnel count there's also Guinan, Mot and one of the Ten Forward waiters (both Bolian).

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

The reboot movies were a better representation

Agreed (it's about the only kudos I'll wholeheartedly give them, but...)

Discovery is probably the best of the tv series for that, Voyager is probably second.

 

[tomswift2002]

While the majority of Enterprise personnel are visually human, it should noted that that doesn't necessarily mean they are from Earth. Also, while they might not have been on board the entire seven-year mission, Selar isn't the only alien background officer either. Others include: Lt Nara (unnamed alien, engineer, Eye of the Beholder), Lt Daniel Kawn (half-Napean, engineer, Eye of the Beholder), Ensign/Lt Ro Laren (Bajoran, pilot, various episodes), Ensign Sito Jaxa (Bajoran, tactical officer, Lower Decks), Ensign Taurik (Vulcan, engineer, Lower Decks) and depending on whether civilian personnel count there's also Guinan, Mot and one of the Ten Forward waiters (both Bolian).

According to the TNG novel “Dark Mirror” there were also aquatic crewmembers, but on a TV budget in early CGI days they would been expensive to do. Of course we did get to see their transit way in “Star Trek (2009)”.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've always viewed the term "the Federation flagship" as purely an honorific given to the ship with the most famous name in the fleet. The Enterprise may be arguably the most well-known ship name within the Federation (and beyond), so some admiral in a Starfleet PR office might simply have slapped the latest incarnation of the ship with the moniker. If ships named USS Seleya (for example) were more well-known publicly, then the latest Seleya might have been the flagship instead, IMO.

 

[nutshell]

I am on season three of TNG, from what I can remember the Enterprise D is the flagship of the fleet, apart from real life, restricted TV budget reasons, this so called flagship representing a multispecies Federation has a crew complement of around 1000 personnel and yet apart from Worf, Selar and Troi every other crew person is entirely human. Now if one is the lead ship of Starfleet at least have a diverse crew and a more diverse senior staff to represent the UFP or better yet remove the tag 'flagship' and just be another Galaxy class ship exploring the stars. They might as well have the USS T'Kumbra as the flagship with its Vulcan personnel.

The Federation has always been a homo sapiens only club.

 

[Salinga]

Because it's a TV show with a tight budget and alien makeup costs money.

 

[Timo]

Of course, episodes like "The Enemy" verbally establish that the ship is teeming with aliens; at the very least, there are more Vulcans there than meets the eye.

Then again, why should Starfleet or the Federation go for reverse racial discrimination? If one attempts a mathematically exact balance, one is making a fundamentally racist choice: "You can't come, we have too many Bolians already!". Or worse still: "You! You there! Come here and join the crew, we need a Tellarite!". The 24th century folks might simply have outgrown such injustice.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

The reboot movies were a better representation

As is Discovery. Even TAS. The cool aliens only come out when the budget allows, it's nothing to do with in-universe politics whatever the novel says.

 

[saladdays]

Yeah, you can't just go by what you see on TV without taking into consideration budgets. As others have alluded to, there are references here and there to other non-human staff on board. I'm sure they would have loved to do a little more what they did with the Kelvin films and in Discovery if they could back then.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

The Enterprise-D isn't a flagship under the true naval definition.

A flagship is the lead ship in a flee or group, commanded by a flag officer, such as a Commodore (Rear Admiral, lower half) and up.

But TNG and on has always played a little loose with navel terminology, like the crew manning "shifts" instead of "standing watches."

 

[Marc]

As is Discovery. Even TAS. The cool aliens only come out when the budget allows, it's nothing to do with in-universe politics whatever the novel says.

So we'll never see a TV series set aboard the USS Titan given all the different aliens that make up her crew.

 

[Timo]

Then again, the TNG terminology was very specific. The E-D wasn't a Starfleet flagship, she was "the Federation flagship".

Starfleet had flagships in the traditional sense, with Admirals on board in command of formations. It's just that the E-D never was one of those: there was no formation when Pressman tried to take charge, and no flag officer when Picard led formations. But the ship was probably nevertheless built to act as a fleet kingpin, and seemed to be slated for that role in "Chain of Command" even when she ended up doing all the work on her own.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

So we'll never see a TV series set aboard the USS Titan given all the different aliens that make up her crew.

They could always do an animated show!

 

[Tuskin38]

According to the TNG novel “Dark Mirror” there were also aquatic crewmembers, but on a TV budget in early CGI days they would been expensive to do. Of course we did get to see their transit way in “Star Trek (2009)”.

That was hinted at in the episode 'Yesterday's Enterprise' as well, there was a mention of "Cetacean Ops" over the intercom.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cetacean_Ops

 

[Tenacity]

apart from Worf, Selar and Troi every other crew person is entirely human

Maybe. We've seen many non-Human species who are identical or nearly so to Humans. Except for the dark eyes Betazeds are visually identical to humans.