Hello new to TrekBBS

[Lt.Cmdr.Tug]

My name is Manny, I'm from Virginia Beach, VA. I ran across BBS thru google because we have a TNG Podcast show and I was trying to find out why in the first few episodes of TNG there's a revolving door when it comes to engineering and who runs it.

Do check our podcast out it's called Dork Trek....www.dorktrek.com it's a different take from your usual trekkie podcast since we just like the show for what it is...and we're not really well versed in the jargon...like the spray injection thing people get in their necks in sickbay..what's that thing called?

 

[DrCorby]

My name is Manny, I'm from Virginia Beach, VA. I ran across BBS thru google because we have a TNG Podcast show and I was trying to find out why in the first few episodes of TNG there's a revolving door when it comes to engineering and who runs it.

Do check our podcast out it's called Dork Trek....www.dorktrek.com it's a different take from your usual trekkie podcast since we just like the show for what it is...and we're not really well versed in the jargon...like the spray injection thing people get in their necks in sickbay..what's that thing called?

Welcome to Trek BBS! It's a fun place, with lots of cool people who love to talk Trek.

I think the real-life explanation of the revolving-door chief engineer is that they were trying to be different from the original series, and not have the chief engineer be a regular cast member, so an actor would be hired for a few episodes, and then another actor hired later for an ep or two, as needed. By the second season, they decided that Engineering was a good place for LaForge's character.

I don't think it was ever explained in the show. Perhaps the Enterprise was still shaking out a few bugs after launch, so had some chief engineers on temporary loan to iron things out for a while.

The sickbay tool is called a hypospray.

 

[MikeS]

...I was trying to find out why in the first few episodes of TNG there's a revolving door when it comes to engineering and who runs it.

Gene wanted to show how far they'd come technologically. Starships would no longer need a chief engineer - they would fix themselves. They nearly didn't build an engineering set for the pilot because of this. Someone convinced him to do it whilst the money was available for it. Otherwise we may never have seen engineering.

The writers thought that having a chief engineer would add a little more drama to their stories so they came up with the idea of a "rotating" Chief. That's why Riker introduces Argyle as "one of our chief engineers" in WNOHGB.

It's been retrospectively suggested that LaForge was doing a years bridge training before being moved into engineering - that Picard had seen something special in the young lieutenant that he decided to nurture. The other Chiefs were just "temps" that were training before joining the crews of other Galaxy's in production.

 

[MHT1138]

Welcome Lt.Cmdr.Tug

Having a rotating chief engineer was confusing to the audience, and didn't work very well within the storytelling part of the series. I am glad Geordi was moved to Engineering. It gave his character more to do. It also made room for Wesley to be at the helm on a regular basis starting in the second season.

 

[Lt.Cmdr.Tug]

That's interesting that they would have a revolving door since part of the fun watching TOS was engineering. I'm glad too that they did have Geordi in there. See these are the questions we ended up asking from a laymans (for the lack of a better term) view when we review episodes. For example in the episode The Naked Now....we always wondered that the space playboy Riker...had the most resistance from the pathogen/virus that made people susceptible to their inhibitions...or another question we have is why spend alot of time developing Yars character only to kill her off?

P.S. In our podcast we all wear uniforms when we record and we are all the same ranks Lt.Commanders.....hence my user name Lt.Commander Tug Johnson (I'm the stylish one)...but we do have a captain...and his name is Captain Not Patrick Stewart of the USS John Henry Boner....anyways I'm sure ill be here lookin for answers. Thanks for the warm welcome dudes.

 

[Lt.Cmdr.Tug]

It's been retrospectively suggested that LaForge was doing a years bridge training before being moved into engineering - that Picard had seen something special in the young lieutenant that he decided to nurture. The other Chiefs were just "temps" that were training before joining the crews of other Galaxy's in production.

That's a cool back story to it. I'm a fan of Geordi because in a way he was a smart aleck.