Come to think of it, Troi was promoted the very moment she passed that test. Could it be that passing that test is a necessary condition for promotion to commander rank or higher? (That is, all those that were promoted to commander had passed this test at some point in the past, but Data either never had taken, or never had passed that test?)
General Trek Questions and Observations
- Thread starter The Old Mixer
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Come to think of it, Troi was promoted the very moment she passed that test. Could it be that passing that test is a necessary condition for promotion to commander rank or higher? (That is, all those that were promoted to commander had passed this test at some point in the past, but Data either never had taken, or never had passed that test?)
Data would have repaired the conduit himself, making snuffing Geordi unnecessary.
Besides, given that Data regularly assumes command, and serves as acting captain in "Gambit", it seems likely that he passed the test long ago.
I'm sure Data would easily pass the Engineering qualification, but Riker mentions other parts of the test we haven't seen (and his list may not be exhaustive). Data could have failed one of those other parts (first contact situations, or, if it exists, crew management).
But when I thought about it a bit more, I came to the same conclusion. The Data I know wouldn't even have asked Picard in Redemption why he wasn't appointed as captain had he not passed one of the formal requirements for holding such a position.
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Similarly, Picard could have given him field promotion to commander in "Redemption", or Jellico in "Chain of Command". And because of his performance, Starfleet confirms it. Unlike Boimler, whose completely undeserved reduction to ensign was required by the show's format, Data's lack of promotion (and Harry's, and Travis's) was completely unnecessary.
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Perhaps the test that Troi took was for officers not in the chain of command? To face those types of situation that they wouldn't normally do in their positions in order to become a command officer? Whereas Data, who is presumably already in the chain of command, doesn't have to take that test and gets promoted the usual way (however that works)?
I mean, even if you think Data should've made Captain he did still at least make Lieutenant Commander. That's three more promotions than Harry Kim ever got. He was even third in command of the ship overall.
Don't get me started on poor Harry. I could write pages* on why his seven years as an ensign was idiotic, unnecessary, and impossible to justify.
*Or an hour long YouTube video, but the only person who would want to watch an overweight middle-aged guy who sounds like Lewis from "Revenge of the Nerds" with a bit of a lisp rant for an hour about a TV series that ended 22 years ago is me, and... no, actually, not true. I wouldn't want to watch that either.
*Or an hour long YouTube video, but the only person who would want to watch an overweight middle-aged guy who sounds like Lewis from "Revenge of the Nerds" with a bit of a lisp rant for an hour about a TV series that ended 22 years ago is me, and... no, actually, not true. I wouldn't want to watch that either.
Made even worse by the fact that Tom was demoted and then promoted over him within a year. Kim should have been promoted by Janeway at the end of Timeless.
Or "Night", if they weren't interested in actually having a ceremony (though he rated one). He just shows up at the staff meeting with the extra pip on his collar.
Dialogue changes recommended are in boldface.
TORRES: "All right, let's see. Warp core's at peak efficiency, just like last week, and the week before that. And my engineering staff is going stir crazy."
CHAKOTAY: "Thanks. Lieutenant Kim?"
KIM: "Nada."
And...
NEELIX: "One other item, sir. A point of er, concern among some of the crew. It's, well, it's the Captain. She's been a bit elusive lately."
CHAKOTAY: "What's your point?"
NEELIX: "People take comfort in talking to her. When they see that the Captain's happy, they're happy."
PARIS: "Last time I saw her was at the party we had for Harry's promotion, and she slipped out early."
CHAKOTAY: "Captain's privilege. She'll come to the bridge if and when she's needed."
Dialogue changes recommended are in boldface.
TORRES: "All right, let's see. Warp core's at peak efficiency, just like last week, and the week before that. And my engineering staff is going stir crazy."
CHAKOTAY: "Thanks. Lieutenant Kim?"
KIM: "Nada."
And...
NEELIX: "One other item, sir. A point of er, concern among some of the crew. It's, well, it's the Captain. She's been a bit elusive lately."
CHAKOTAY: "What's your point?"
NEELIX: "People take comfort in talking to her. When they see that the Captain's happy, they're happy."
PARIS: "Last time I saw her was at the party we had for Harry's promotion, and she slipped out early."
CHAKOTAY: "Captain's privilege. She'll come to the bridge if and when she's needed."
I’m not saying I would actually watch an hour long YouTube video about the injustice of poor Henry’s lack of promotions but, I’d definitely add it to my “to play while editing” playlist and listen to it while I track down grammatical errors and ponder the intricacies of kerning.
My writing is pretty proficient. It's my oral speech that's not so great.
Harry got to be a senior officer despite being an ensign. He had it plenty good enough. Plus, maybe his performance on the days we didn't see him held him back.
Then why not show us his stumbles and struggles? A senior officer who didn't quite cut the proverbial mustard would have made for an interesting character.
Also, why was he a senior officer from the start? Why not develop him from Lower decks special (○ on collar) to specialist who sometimes gets invited to staff meetings (with ○●), and then to valuable and proficient team member (○○)?
Same reason they took B'Elanna from uncontrollable troublemaker to well-disciplined team member... in one episode. That's why she was on the character development treadmill for the next 160.
Sigh.
You're not the first to come up with that one.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/wheres-my-box-a-short-story-with-5-endings.305612/
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/wheres-my-box-a-short-story-with-5-endings.305612/
So, I understand the idea is that sonic showers use sound waves to vibrate the grime off your body. Wondering what it would feel like taking one, and whether you feel 'clean' in the same way you do after taking a regular shower? Also, why were these introduced when showers already are perfectly adequate to the purpose? Are they more resource efficient? Some other reason?
I assumed it was due to water being a limited resource but I work in water in a very dry part of the world so I bring a lot of implicit bias.
Maybe its not sustainable when dealing with crews of more than 100 people. Or compartments tend get flooded due to anomaly/space battle/malfunctions.
To answer both at once, perhaps you feel (and are) even cleaner than with water. Perhaps it was introduced because it was a step above using water. Like how you can clean yourself with sand, but water is much better. Adequate doesn't mean you can't come up with something better.
Even if it's only as good as water, it'd be far from the first time Trek used a techie version of a simple item.
A high tech version of a dry shampoo, all over.
There are schools of beauty that believe water is bad for your skin as it strips away precious sebum and often has harmful additives like chlorine that, while keeping it bacteria-free, are not ideal for humans to coat themselves in. (As someone involved with water professionals, chlorine with it’s killing things that kill us powers is far more important than it’s drying out your skin drawbacks but we’re talking estheticians thoughts on the matter here, not civil engineers.)
Sonic toothbrushes and more recently sonic facial cleaning brushes are extolled as getting you cleaner with less irritation. Now I’m wondering if sonic showers would be the same… Usually I see writers making characters nostalgic for the aesthetic experience of taking a bath or shower in water but now I’m imagining people noticing that their skin is more irritated or the dead skin cells that are usually naturally exfoliated via sonic vibration leave your skin looking duller after a shower in water. Everyone’s getting a spa-like grooming experience but it’s so commonplace they don’t even notice or appreciate it anymore.
Sonic toothbrushes and more recently sonic facial cleaning brushes are extolled as getting you cleaner with less irritation. Now I’m wondering if sonic showers would be the same… Usually I see writers making characters nostalgic for the aesthetic experience of taking a bath or shower in water but now I’m imagining people noticing that their skin is more irritated or the dead skin cells that are usually naturally exfoliated via sonic vibration leave your skin looking duller after a shower in water. Everyone’s getting a spa-like grooming experience but it’s so commonplace they don’t even notice or appreciate it anymore.
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