I have to say that specialists on SNW Enterprise make more sense than TNG Enterprise...

[Skipper]

I mean, at least they have a xenobiologist and a linguist. In TNG who did they have? Data. Data. And Data.
One would think that in a spaceship with a thousand crew there might be someone with skills suitable for encountering, well, new life forms and civilizations. Instead nothing.

And when Data was not available? Troi. Pay attention to it. For example in The Ensigns of Command Data was on the planet trying to convince the colonists to leave, who on the Enterprise was left to study the Treaty of Armens to find a legal loophole? Picard. And Troi. No one thought to put an expert in interstellar law among a thousand people. And Troi was also the one who had to figure out in "Darmok" how to decipher the language of the Tamarians.

Probably no one thought a linguist was needed when new civilizations and new languages were encountered.

The narrative motivations are clear (they couldn't introduce a new character every episode when a new specialization was needed) and therefore only the main characters had to deal with these things, but in hindsight it seems that the members of the Enterprise in TNG were bizarrely unprepared to do their job.

 

[at Quark's]

Now that you say it, they relatively rarely included a non-regular-mission specialist in TNG. I believe it even happened more often in TOS, but I could be mistaken in that.

 

[somebuddyX]

Well the exact opposite was original intention. Data was a mission specialist, they had a separate officer who did the jobs of both what they'd later call Conn and Ops, a separate science officer, and Geordi was a member of the planetary contact team.
But also, why would I want to watch some rando specialist guest star when you're taking lines away from the regular cast.
"Be unprepared" is definitely Starfleet's motto, though.

 

[Skipper]

Well the exact opposite was original intention. Data was a mission specialist, they had a separate officer who did the jobs of both what they'd later call Conn and Ops, a separate science officer, and Geordi was a member of the planetary contact team.
But also, why would I want to watch some rando specialist guest star when you're taking lines away from the regular cast.
"Be unprepared" is definitely Starfleet's motto, though.

From a narrative point of view, I can understand that they thought they were already so many main characters and therefore didn't want to bring in a new crew member every time when they needed particular knowledge and skills.
On the other hand, as you said, almost all of the protagonists pretty much just dealt with Conns and Ops and none had anything resembling specific skills for, well, what was supposedly the mission of the Enterprise.

I understand Data was their resident jack-of-all-trades, but if in theory he was never available again what were they supposed to do? Transfer a hundred specialists in various disciplines aboard the Enterprise?

 

[Firebird]

I think the only mission-specialist I can recall outside of Data on TNG was the conveniently-specific 20th century specialist that came along to get shot in The Big Goodbye.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Hey, at least he didn't fall in love with the villain. (I'm looking at you, Marla McGivers.)

 

[Tango]

I think the only mission-specialist I can recall outside of Data on TNG was the conveniently-specific 20th century specialist that came along to get shot in The Big Goodbye.

Hey, at least he didn't fall in love with the villain. (I'm looking at you, Marla McGivers.)

And then there is John Gill. What is it with historians in Star Trek?

 

[Skipper]

I think the only mission-specialist I can recall outside of Data on TNG was the conveniently-specific 20th century specialist that came along to get shot in The Big Goodbye.

We can call him really a "mission-specialist"? 20th century history seems to me not very related to space exploration.

 

[JesterFace]

Here's an explanation that makes no sense except it would save some budget.
Enterprise-D has about thousand people on board, there must be specialists of many different areas on board, they just didn't appear on screen?
Those specialists were called when needed but they weren't on the bridge on every shift?
Or those specialists were so boring they didn't get to make appearances.
There are some "specialists" that appear, once, for example someone like Dr Barron in 'Who Watches The Watchers' and Dr Russell in 'Ethics'.

Or was this thread about contacting new lifeforms and civilizations? Or did I get the term specialist wrong?

 

[Skipper]

Or was this thread about contacting new lifeforms and civilizations? Or did I get the term specialist wrong?

Both. Like I said, in SNW they have at least a linguist and xenobiologist. In TNG the main characters were just people whose job it was to keep the Enterprise going. If there was anything that didn't relate to this and Data wasn't available they were completely lost.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Adding generalist specialists (specializing in broad fields such as linguistics and xenobiology) to the regular crew makes sense, as they can be useful in a variety of situations.

Also, being a specialist in one field doesn't mean it's your only specialty. Whalen may also be well-versed in history of a species we may not have met on the show, but that the Enterprise might deal with frequently, or certain historical sub-topics, like the history of post or pre-war societies in general.

And then there is John Gill. What is it with historians in Star Trek?

Gill had a theory, namely that Nazi practices of efficiency and economic policy could exist apart from the horrifying genocidal beliefs that led to the Holocaust. He experimented, with the aim of aiding their struggling people, and it went horribly badly. When you try to use real people for a social sciences experiment, something which appears possible on paper fails because there will always be factors you can't control.

Such as, in this case, a subordinate who sabotages you for his own purposes.

I think historians romanticize the past to the point where they unintentionally convince themselves that their version/view of history is the true one. "Kirk drift" in real life.

 

[ReddishAlert]

I always assumed there were specialists providing reports and what not for the bridge crew. Like when Wesley assembles the team but is the team leader reporting on their findings. In the same way that when I hold a meeting at work the managers are (theoretically) bringing the best information/ideas to the forefront from their departments.

So I guess I assumed that to find a legal loophole Picard was meeting with and reading annotated briefings by the Enterprise legal crew. But they aren’t the ones who can act on the information.

Of course, I suppose the problem with my premise is that in like Darmok, as you pointed out, Troi is clearly working it out all on her own with no advice from real linguists.

 

[matthunter]

Given the (admittedly soon abandoned) idea that the E-D was so big as it would operate on the borders/unexplored regions beyond those of the Federation for years, it would make sense to have a Federation ambassador on board. Instead, Picard and Troi share that role for the most part whenever the ambassadorial role isn't "guest actor of the week".

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Given the (admittedly soon abandoned) idea that the E-D was so big as it would operate on the borders/unexplored regions beyond those of the Federation for years, it would make sense to have a Federation ambassador on board. Instead, Picard and Troi share that role for the most part whenever the ambassadorial role isn't "guest actor of the week".

A full Ambassador (known as a Career Ambassador) is considered equivalent to a senior flag officer, so it wouldn't be appropriate for them to be assigned to invidual ships as officers if we assume parity.

However assignment of one or more Foreign Service Officers, Foreign Service Specialists from within the Starfleet Diplomatic Corps/Service https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/General_Orders_and_Regulations#Starfleet_Transfer_Regulations holding ranks between Ensign and Commander would be plausible.

 

[DrMike]

I'm saying this half tongue-in-cheek, but would it be such a surprise that they just used Data for everything?

I mean, he's basically a walking and talking Siri with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything he's ever encountered and everything his creator ever uploaded into him, and he's already sitting there on the bridge or accompanying them during an away mission.

If I want to learn something about plants, I could phone the botany department at my local university and bother a professor with my question, or I could ask Siri and have her Google it for me.

If Data was sitting 10 feet away from me, I'd definitely just ask him. People are lazy.

 

[Qonundrum]

Hey, at least he didn't fall in love with the villain. (I'm looking at you, Marla McGivers.)

Who wouldn't fall for someone from their favorite profession come alive for real? Especially history; romanticizing an era or place or even a lead figure. Then meeting said noun and it's more complex than what the history book indicated. The old adage "Never meet your heroes" definitely has a strong undercurrent in this episode, and it does show a personal struggle involving allegiances - something not often seen, being in the middle with such a struggle. It would have been nice to have one of his female frozen figures go after one of the men as well, since he's patting everyone on the back as they do their morning calisthenics and preparing to do a line dance.

I'm also kerfuffled that the script has Khan genuinely falling in love with her, rather than just using sex as a means to achieve power - maybe he might have done in an earlier draft, but by the episode's end the wedding bells were about to go two ringy-dingy and that's even after she turns on him, which is a different form of positivity in a sequence of events that started with a turn of positivity. Either way, Marla would still get to turn on Khan had he just been a dupe, but for stronger narrative reasons. Either way, she did become the impetus for turning things around. Maybe that's also why it's best that Khan felt the hots for her all the same; how often in the 60s were women used then discarded as sex objects versus a genuine love somehow growing with a villain? TWOK would be also different if Khan didn't have his wife's corpse to mull over when plotting revenge.

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Khan definitely lays on the psychological manipulation in this, that's for sure. Note his hand reaching out at 1:28 and when he turns it over.

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Khan interrupting her definitely is nothing other than a power play, and it's a creepy one at that.


Star Trek "Trial of Khan" - YouTube
(becomes a little syrupy, but Khan is apparently oh-so-happy to conquer a world with a wife... But TWOK confirms it was all genuine. )

And now it's tangent time, since Khan had a knock-on effect - if the Klingons read up on Shakespeare, maybe they read up on Earth's more grunty figures as well?

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Worf channeling Khan... oh my! Thankfully this next tangent is far more amusing:

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To paraphrase Data, "I love this, wheeeeeee!"

And then there is John Gill. What is it with historians in Star Trek?

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John Gill, eh? Now there's an ally that Kirk could sign up with!

 

[Skipper]

I'm saying this half tongue-in-cheek, but would it be such a surprise that they just used Data for everything?

I mean, he's basically a walking and talking Siri with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything he's ever encountered and everything his creator ever uploaded into him, and he's already sitting there on the bridge or accompanying them during an away mission.

If I want to learn something about plants, I could phone the botany department at my local university and bother a professor with my question, or I could ask Siri and have her Google it for me.

If Data was sitting 10 feet away from me, I'd definitely just ask him. People are lazy.

But you can't rely on just ONE person. What if he's not available (as happened in various episodes)? And what are we to imagine happened when they crewed the Enterprise? "Hi, I'm an expert in linguistics and xeno-biology, can I come?". "No we're good, we have Data".

It follows that the crew of the Enterprise is composed only of:
a) those indispensable to operate the vessel
b) the mediocre, people without useful knowledge or skills

 

[valkyrie013]

For Ops or someone on the bridge they have to be a generalist, someone with there toes in all the subjects. To my knowledge all science reports to the Ops, or like SNW Spock, so Spock is in meetings with all the various Ops departments, maybe daily.
In TOS there were Geologists, diplomats etc. on away teams.
In the books there were First Contact specialists, Linguist., etc. and they spin themselves up for upcoming planets that they are planned to visit, So by the time the ship gets there, Spock/ops has already read reports, and based on findings, people that could accompany the away team.
I'm pretty sure when something is happening, the specialists are watching the video feed/information, and if they have anything to contribute they contact Ops.

 

[Skipper]

I'm pretty sure when something is happening, the specialists are watching the video feed/information, and if they have anything to contribute they contact Ops.

The problem is that we have never seen these "specialists". Even when there were problems with a language in Darmok we saw Troy trying to figure something out and in The Ensigns of Command Picard trying to find some loophole in the Treaty of Armens.

The narrative reasons are starkly obvious, but it's simply baffling to see the main characters completely unprepared for what their job should be.

And when there was research and/or analysis on the biology of new species to be done, Dr. Crusher ended up doing the job. Now, unless she were some kind of new Leonardo Da Vinci, a biology researcher is a little different from a medical doctor whose job is the well-being of others (although obviously there are points of contact). The reason is simple: life is too short to be an expert in everything, but bizarrely in TNG there was no expert in xeno-biology. You had to rely on the one whose main job was to fix broken bones or provide flu remedies.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Presumably, the specialists are writing reports and running tests that the main character can draw from in making their conclusions.