Paris Never completed the Academy?

[hux]

Poor Harry never got promoted beyond Ensign but what makes it worse is that his superior, Tom Paris, never even qualified from the academy.

From Drive

TORRES: Do I really have to spend my morning reciting nursery rhymes?
PARIS: It got me through the Academy.
TORRES: You were expelled.

What gives?

Presumably she meant Starfleet, right?

Maybe that's why he was so angry with her in that episode and cleverly distracted her with the offer of marriage (hopefully she'll stop talking about how I got expelled from the academy now).

 

[Relayer1]

Or maybe Paris Sr. intervened ?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Poor Harry never got promoted beyond Ensign but what makes it worse is that his superior, Tom Paris, never even qualified from the academy.

From Drive

TORRES: Do I really have to spend my morning reciting nursery rhymes?
PARIS: It got me through the Academy.
TORRES: You were expelled.

What gives?

Presumably she meant Starfleet, right?

Maybe that's why he was so angry with her in that episode and cleverly distracted her with the offer of marriage (hopefully she'll stop talking about how I got expelled from the academy now).

She often confuses him with a guy named Nick,who she met at the Academy.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I always thought Tom did graduate. If he was expelled I could definitely see his father pulling some strings. B'Elanna dropped out.

 

[Lynx]

B'Elanna must have mixed that up with Tom being kicked out from Starfleet.

Tom did graduate and spent some time on the starship USS Copernicus as Ensign and pilot until he started to have hallucinations about his dead colleagues from the accident that he was responsible for. He went back to Earth and Starfleet Headquarters, confessed what really happened and as a result of having caused the accident and lied about it, he was expelled from Starfleet.

he drifted around for a while, joined the Maquis, was captured by Starfleet and later on released for a mission in space on board Voyager.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Technically the writers made the mix up then.

 

[MacLeod]

No surprise there then, they must have been using an old writers guide for the show where Paris was Lorcano.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I wonder if Tom and Nick ever ran into each other at the Academy?

 

[Lynx]

I wonder if Tom and Nick ever ran into each other at the Academy?

I haven't seen anything in any book or so which confirmed that.

However, I have presented the following theory about Tom and Nick on the Kes Website:

Nick Locarno was the result of a a love affair between Admiral Paris and another woman than his wife. The old Admiral helped Nick Locarno to be accepted at Starfleet Academy where he screwed it up. The similar accidents Nick and Tom had were coincidents. Tom's hatred to his father was because he found out about Nick Locarno's existence during his time at Starfleet Academy. A possible meeting between Tom and Nick would be something for coming books or movies, wouldn't it.

According to the Memory Beta site, Locarno was involved in some other activities after being kicked out from the Academy.

Spoiler: Locarno

He ended up being assimilated by the Borg

 

[Timo]

Tom did graduate and spent some time on the starship USS Copernicus as Ensign and pilot until he started to have hallucinations about his dead colleagues from the accident that he was responsible for. He went back to Earth and Starfleet Headquarters, confessed what really happened and as a result of having caused the accident and lied about it, he was expelled from Starfleet.

That's the extended version. The one actually told in the episodes omits all information about any USS Copernicus, or of graduation.

True, "Non Sequitur" has Tom Paris claiming that he served together with Kim on the Exeter. But why should that count?

1) It's probably a lie anyway. Paris looks like an active Maquis agent there (carrying that rare piece of getaway tech and all), trying to deal with this stranger who might be a promising Starfleet contact but probably is just somebody he needs to get rid of, fast.
2) It's a different Paris in any case, from a different timeline. There are similarities to his story and that of our Paris, but differences as well.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lynx]

In "Caretaker" it was stated that Tom was kicked out of Starfleet after confessing his previous lies about the accident.

 

[Timo]

...Which is in no conflict with the idea of him being kicked out before he even graduated. The Academy is a Starfleet one, after all.

We have that bit from "Drive" suggesting Paris was expelled from the Academy, and "Caretaker" establishing this was because three people died and he was at fault somehow. We don't have bits suggesting he graduated (although Janeway/Starfleet giving him full Lieutenant pips as reward for his betrayal of the Maquis in "Caretaker" is a bit easier to accept if he already held that rank, or at least the rank just below that).

(Heck, we can't even be sure that three officers really were killed. That could just be Paris making fun of the fact that one died and then he got ghosts, with the triplication done purely to make the Dickensian joke work. But that still doesn't make it identical to what Locarno did, as his antics didn't exactly kill an officer. )

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Lynx]

I think that it's pretty clear that he was kicked out from Starfleet, not the Academy:

PARIS: There, you see? I told you it wouldn't take long.
KIM: Is it true?
PARIS: Was the accident my fault? Yes. Pilot error. But it took me a while to admit it. Oh, fourteen varieties and they can't even get plain tomato soup right.
KIM: They said you falsified reports.
PARIS: That's right.
KIM: Why?
PARIS: What's the difference? I lied.
KIM: But then you came forward and you admitted that it was your fault?
PARIS: I'll tell you the truth, Harry. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and I was home free. But I couldn't. The ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas. So I confessed. Worst mistake I ever made but not my last. After they cashiered me out of Starfleet, I went out looking for a fight and found the Maquis. And on my first assignment, I was caught.

Add to that "the extended version" and eveything seems clear.

As for the comment in "Drive", I regard it as just another example of sloppy writing. Sometimes those writers didn't seem to have a clue about what they did the week before.

 

[Timo]

Why consider "Drive" to be in error when it's factually consistent with "Caretaker" and not inconsistent with anything known? There should be no distinction between "cashiered out of Starfleet" and "cashiered out of Starfleet Academy", really. Especially not as the latter necessarily means the former, too.

It would be different if there were actual hints at Tom serving in Starfleet in some capacity. He has no stories of service to tell, however. The closest we get is that Tom was stationed at Caldic Prime where Janeway's unnamed Chief Medical Officer also was - this is said in such ominous tones that we get the impression the CMO had to process the corpses Tom produced. This stationing could have been pre-graduation or post-graduation for all we learn.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Beawild]

Tom graduated from the Academy. This is the first time I've heard anyone question whether he graduated or not. He was cashiered out of Starfleet for lying about his role in the Caldik Prime incident.

FEDERATION DATABASE FILE: Paris, Tom
Status: Returned to Alpha Quadrant in 2378 as lieutenant aboard U.S.S. Voyager; previous status as trusty of UFP Rehabilitation Commission under review
Last recorded assignment: Observer/scout, U.S.S. Voyager
Full Name: Thomas Eugene Paris
Parents: Admiral and Mrs. Paris
Education: Starfleet Academy graduate
Marital status: Married to B'Elanna Torres (per datastream transmission of Stardate 54089)
Children: One daughter, Miral, born 2378

http://www.startrek.com/database_article/paris-tom

 

[hux]

Well obviously, the real world answer is that the writers simply didn't pay attention and confused the academy with Starfleet. The in-universe answer is either -

1. B'Elanna also confused the academy with Starfleet and Tom didn't bother to correct her.
2. He was expelled from the academy but got back in (probably with the help of daddy) and also kicked out of Starfleet later.

I don't buy the idea that the academy and Starfleet are interchangeable descriptions of the same thing though.

 

[Timo]

Why wouldn't they be? SFA is part of SF just as much as any other aspect of SF is. And if you get kicked out of SFA, you are out of SF for good, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MacLeod]

There is this line from "Non Sequitor"

[FONT=Arial]PARIS: Oh. Well, it must have been the Exeter. We served on the Exeter together? [/FONT]

Now that

 

[MacLeod]

Well there is this line form "Non Sequitor"

PARIS: Oh. Well, it must have been the Exeter. We served on the Exeter together?


True that could have been his years experience whilst at the academy.

 

[Timo]

...But as said, it doesn't mean that this Tom Paris (who is from another reality anyway) would really have served on the Exeter.

He's being accosted by this guy he doesn't know at all (Harry Kim) but who is obviously Starfleet. He's not all that interested in finding out more about Kim. For all we know, he could be giving disinformation about his Starfleet past, which he is anything but proud of. (And, again, he's not our Tom Paris anyway.)

Timo Saloniemi