Just how good were the Enterprise crews?
How good were the various Enterprise crews relative Starfleet?
- Thread starter Xerxes1979
- Start date
I always figured the Enterprise(s) always just happened to be in the right places at the right times. I think most Starfleet crews would have been capable enough to handle situations that the crews of the various Enterprises happened to run into instead.
Unless they were commanded by Captain Esteban, of course.
Unless they were commanded by Captain Esteban, of course.
I'll go with "No better or worse" as well.
Gene Roddenberry once said "it's a big Galaxy out there..."
I have no doubt that there are starships out there who have adventures just as amazing and noteworthy as that of any Enterprise (the Voyager's seven-year trek through the Delta Quadrant is proof of that).
I tend to think, however, that individual ships will always claim their crew is the best in the fleet because saying you're second- or third-best isn't exactly great for your crew's morale, IMO...
I have no doubt that there are starships out there who have adventures just as amazing and noteworthy as that of any Enterprise (the Voyager's seven-year trek through the Delta Quadrant is proof of that).
I tend to think, however, that individual ships will always claim their crew is the best in the fleet because saying you're second- or third-best isn't exactly great for your crew's morale, IMO...
Rett Mikhal
Captain
I think there were several dozen instances in which Data's android abilities saved the ship and crew. Clearly having an android on board is a very good thing, and since the Enterprise D is the only one I'd say that means they have the best crew.
Well, the 1701 was just another ship with a crew as good as any other in Starfleet. By the time we got to the D however, the Enterprise crew was apparentally the best Starfleet had to offer, with officers apparentally waiting years to get posted to the Enterprise.
This.
It happened often enough where all of the crew would be passed out due to lack of oxygen or something, and Data would be the only one on the ship keeping things going until the danger had passed.
Any other crew in this exact situation, especially pre EMH (and provided he had a mobile emitter)? Dead.
Remember also that Lt. Castillo was lucky to get his assignment on the Enterprise-C as well.
Well, if Voyager is the meter-sick then I'd say pretty darn good.
Define crew. The whole crew? The command crew? I think it's apparent that the 1701 crew had an elite captain and first officer. 1701-D had an elite captain and you could make a case for several others in the command crew of both ships. I like to think that from 1-430, the original Enterprise had a comparable crew to other Starfleet ships. The difference was the talent at the top.
Well, we tend to see the hits and not the misses: in just about every episode, some member of the crew says or does something spectacular that saves the day. It's very rarely that we see any foibles of the crew--Barclay's holo-porn slackerishness in "Hollow Pursuits" really stuck out in this regard. Does this mean that the rest of the crew never had similar lapses? Who knows.
A more important question is, how big of a variation between the best and worst crew is there? I would guess not much, since below a certain level of discipline and efficiency you're probably going to blow your ship up. Crew who can't perform at consistently high standards--and handle the stress of long-term postings--are probably rotated back to starbase duty or something.
A more important question is, how big of a variation between the best and worst crew is there? I would guess not much, since below a certain level of discipline and efficiency you're probably going to blow your ship up. Crew who can't perform at consistently high standards--and handle the stress of long-term postings--are probably rotated back to starbase duty or something.
To be truthful, I've not always really impressed with TOS security officers. Especially while they're standing guard. In Assignment: Earth when Gary Seven is lock up in the brig the security office carefully stations himself next to the barrier where he has absolutely no view of the inside of the cell, Seven casually stuns him. In Space Seed when Khan is lock up in his cabin the guard places himself next to the door, not facing it from the other side of the corridor, Khan knock him down the corridor. In Dagger of the Mind when a security guard came to the bridge to protect it, he promptly turned his back on the only access to the bridge, Van Gelder knocked him out. In the last case Kirk personally should have repositioned the man to a better location to protect the bridge.
.
.
Truth to be told, the folks in charge of shuttlecraft and transporter room security throughout all of the series did an abysmal job. Maybe they were on strike...for 200 years.
It's a bit like asking "how good are baseball players?" Or even "How good are major league baseball players?" The area is way too broad for such a narrow answer.
See, the 1701 was a typical Constitution Class ship. Probably the Connies got the best and the brightest, but you might serve under Ron Tracy as easily as Jim Kirk. Kirk's people were among the best, but it isn't like all the best people went to him.
The 1701-A was a different deal. Kirk almost certainly got anybody he asked for. And most people would consider it an honor to ship out with Jim Kirk. So that ship had some of the very best of Starfleet aboard.
Similarly with the 1701-D: she's the flagship, and serving aboard her is an honor. Further, nearly every member of the command staff (and a lot of the junior officers too) had encountered and impressed Picard earlier in their careers, and had been specifically requested by him. Picard had been commanding starships for like 25 years at that point, and knew most of the Admirals since they were kids, so he seemed to have a lot of pull. If Picard really wanted somebody, he got them. And almost everybody jumps at the chance to serve aboard the Enterprise.
But then there's the 1701-E: several novels mention that to keep all his senior officers during the Dominion War, Picard had to let Starfleet have just about everybody else. So the crew of the Enterprise-E consisted of people Starfleet was hoping would grow to become the best and the brightest, while the actual best and brightest were getting transfers and promotions. It doesn't matter if being Assistant Chief Engineer under Geordi LaForge is a greater honor than commanding your own ship, you're being made a full Commander and Chief Engineer on something near the front lines. and if your replacement turns out to be half as good at his job as you are at yours, he'll be joining you out there as your Assistant Chief, or maybe Chief Engineer on the next ship over. The Enterprise-E therefore was a glorified training vessel, and the average quality of its crew was probably not all that good.
So you see, each Enterprise has a crew of slightly different quality, and for different reasons, so it is really impossible to assign one overall quality rating to them all. (And I haven't even discussed the 1701-B or -C, of which we had very little to base an estimate on.)
See, the 1701 was a typical Constitution Class ship. Probably the Connies got the best and the brightest, but you might serve under Ron Tracy as easily as Jim Kirk. Kirk's people were among the best, but it isn't like all the best people went to him.
The 1701-A was a different deal. Kirk almost certainly got anybody he asked for. And most people would consider it an honor to ship out with Jim Kirk. So that ship had some of the very best of Starfleet aboard.
Similarly with the 1701-D: she's the flagship, and serving aboard her is an honor. Further, nearly every member of the command staff (and a lot of the junior officers too) had encountered and impressed Picard earlier in their careers, and had been specifically requested by him. Picard had been commanding starships for like 25 years at that point, and knew most of the Admirals since they were kids, so he seemed to have a lot of pull. If Picard really wanted somebody, he got them. And almost everybody jumps at the chance to serve aboard the Enterprise.
But then there's the 1701-E: several novels mention that to keep all his senior officers during the Dominion War, Picard had to let Starfleet have just about everybody else. So the crew of the Enterprise-E consisted of people Starfleet was hoping would grow to become the best and the brightest, while the actual best and brightest were getting transfers and promotions. It doesn't matter if being Assistant Chief Engineer under Geordi LaForge is a greater honor than commanding your own ship, you're being made a full Commander and Chief Engineer on something near the front lines. and if your replacement turns out to be half as good at his job as you are at yours, he'll be joining you out there as your Assistant Chief, or maybe Chief Engineer on the next ship over. The Enterprise-E therefore was a glorified training vessel, and the average quality of its crew was probably not all that good.
So you see, each Enterprise has a crew of slightly different quality, and for different reasons, so it is really impossible to assign one overall quality rating to them all. (And I haven't even discussed the 1701-B or -C, of which we had very little to base an estimate on.)
Similar threads
- Poll
