So, I just finished watching the TNG episode Pen Pals (wait for it, this is a TOS post) in which Wesley gets his first crack at a command (leading a team to study a planet's mineral deposits). This is a sub-plot and doesn't really go very far in terms of developing Crusher's character IMHO. BUT, this got me thinking about The Galileo Seven and of something that has always bothered me about that episode. Throughout TGS, reference is made to it being Spock's first command. How is that possible? I realize that when the episode was penned, the creators hadn't thought about the Spock/Pike backstory that would emerge in The Menagerie. I also get that during the 1960s, TV shows were purely episodic and universe continuity from one episode to the next was of little concern if of any at all. Still, it never made sense to me that the ship's first officer (Spock certainly was never presented as a young unpolished junior officer the way Chekov was in Catspaw ) would have had a first command at that point in his career. If it was needed as a plot device to embolden members of the landing party to question his authority, the issue of his cold logical Vulcan way of making decisions would seem to have been enough to fulfill that purpose. It just doesn't seem to fit that Spock would have a first command at that point in his career and given the age of the actor who played him at that time.
The way I resolve it in my head is that McCoy is being sarcastic when he refers to the Galileo as Spock's "first command." I just ignore Kirk's mention of it in his opening log entry.
Prior to that episode, I'm sure Spock had been put in charge of various things before. I think McCoy casually referred to this shuttle mission as his "first command" as shorthand for "the first command where you're completely cut off from communication with superiors, and it's all on you." And Spock goes along with him because it isn't worth nitpicking when they're all about to die.
I'm pretty sure this is the only mention of it in the show: MCCOY: Well, Mister Spock, so ends your first command. SPOCK: Yes. My first command.
[Outside the shuttlecraft] (Spock is scanning one of it's small nacelles when McCoy comes out to join him.) MCCOY: Well, I can't say much for the circumstances, but at least it's your big chance. SPOCK: My big chance? For what, Doctor? MCCOY: Command. Oh, I know you, Mister Spock. You've never voiced it, but you've always thought that logic was the best basis on which to build command. Am I right? SPOCK: I am a logical man, Doctor. MCCOY: It'll take more than logic to get us out of this. SPOCK: Perhaps, Doctor, but I know of no better way to begin. I realise command does have its fascinations, even under circumstances such as these. But I neither enjoy the idea of command, nor am I frightened of it. It simply exists. And I will do whatever logically needs to be done. Excuse me. (he heads back inside)
Thankfully, none of that involves the concept of this being Spock's first command. It's just a command - and as such, a big chance to do it the Vulcan way. For all we learn from this dialogue, Spock always commands the Vulcan way, and this is just his chance to demonstrate that the style is superior to all others in saving their collective posteriors. OTOH, "first command" in other Trek contexts tends to refer to spacecraft specifically. Kirk supposedly studied with command ambitions - he must have had dozens of opportunities to demonstrate his command skills in front of his educators before he even graduated. Yet he asked for Gary Mitchell aboard his "first command", supposedly a spacecraft but clearly at least something you can be "aboard". Here Spock commands a shuttlecraft expedition. Quite possibly he never did that before; if not for "The Cage", we could assume he got all his sleeve braid from his academic credentials at graduation day already, and only earned a commanding position because Gary Mitchell died and vacated a chair. With the additional evidence from the two pilots (which some people are ready to dismiss for not "really" being part of the show, mind you), that becomes less likely, but the rarity of independent command of spacecraft might still remain. Landing parties don't usually involve craft in the transporter era, after all. Timo Saloniemi
Maybe I'm missing something, but both RW equivalents and the "Bridge Officers Test"/"Command School" etc from canon suggests that only those that have specifically assessed for it are normally eligible for command. So in order to be Second and later First Officer, Spock would realistically had to take some sort of voluntary course or test, so was at least broadly speaking "interested in command" even if - accurately not his primary interest. On another note, is it plausible that - like in Startrek Online and the epilogue of the old Starfleet Academy game - that a Command School graduate could be assigned as Commanding Officer of a support vessel (like say as runabout or raider or transport ship, or would the career pathway be Bridge Officer (CONN, Tactical or rotating at ENS to LT), then Bridge/Flight Deck Duty Officer (at LTJG-LTCDR), then Command Officer (2ndO, XO. At LT to CDR depending on ship), then Commanding Officer (at LTCDR to CAPT)?
Yeah, I dunno. The fact that McCoy refers to it as his "big chance" implies that there is something a little extra special about it. I think the writers intended for the audience to see this as Spock's first time being in charge with no one overseeing him. Besides, why would this be his "big chance to do it the Vulcan way"? Has he not been carrying out his duties in a Vulcan manner up until this point? Certainly not a "first command" in the sense of it being his first ship to command (I don't think commanding a shuttlecraft qualifies). I find it hard to believe that a first officer had never led a landing party before shuttlecraft or not.
Most "commands" would be supervised, yes. So the big chance could come from that not being the case here. But it could also come from the exceptional case here of Spock's command decisions actually having a significance. Even if he completely messed up the botanical survey of the northern sub-peninsula of Alpha Beta III, it would barely register: as per precedent, Kirk could just allocate more time to the mission, so that Spock (perhaps with a bit of assistance) could cover up his mistakes and get the job done. Here Spock decides whether seven people live or die. Spock was factually shown commanding a landing party in "The Cage", even if for the briefest of whiles. He commanded the entire starship there eventually, too, however briefly. In several of the early episodes, he made command decisions while Kirk was planetside (even if they were of the "wait and see" type). "Dagger of the Mind" has him in active command, say; he even leads a security detail in person. So clearly there are commands and then there are commands. And we can, and have to, rule out mere landing party leadership and the command of the entire starship for limited duration if we want to assume McCoy was factually correct at the conclusion of "The Galileo Seven", rather than facetious. Timo Saloniemi
It's the "big chance" aspect that has me convinced that the writers wanted to convey that this was Spock's first time in his proverbial big boy pants. I agree, there is more than sufficient precedent in-universe to challenge this. So, I guess we just have to chalk it up to laziness or simply to the fact that the writers did not expect fans to notice or even care about seeming inconsistencies.