Picard qualified to command Enterprise?

[Holdfast]

My guess is ostensibly working out of Starfleet Command, but seconded as some kind of Starfleet Liaison officer to a variety of Federation diplomatic missions and embassies. That would let him get to know everyone and make him a natural candidate for a high-profile job like command of the Enterprise. It's also a useful background (when combined with his known tactical/combat/improvisational skills from the Stargazer Incident) given the Enterprise's intended role exploring deep space, making contact with new species and effectively acting as the Federation's voice in those contacts. You need someone diplomatically reliable in that role.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

My guess is ostensibly working out of Starfleet Command, but seconded as some kind of Starfleet Liaison officer to a variety of Federation diplomatic missions and embassies. That would let him get to know everyone and make him a natural candidate for a high-profile job like command of the Enterprise. It's also a useful background (when combined with his known tactical/combat/improvisational skills from the Stargazer Incident) given the Enterprise's intended role exploring deep space, making contact with new species and effectively acting as the Federation's voice in those contacts. You need someone diplomatically reliable in that role.

Yeah, I'd agree with this.

There is a line in BOBW where Riker says that Picard "wrote the book on this ship". If they all came aboard at the same time, how is it that Picard knows more than Riker and Data? He must have had extensive knowlege from his previous posting. If he had worked for SF Command, he would have been able to keep an eye on the Enterprise while it was on Mars and try to win the command of it. He would have admired the ship and found out as much about it as possible, perhaps even visiting often and giving his input.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

 

[BillJ]

Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

Not in the 23rd/24th century.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

 

[Timo]

Umm, what?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

I'm not debating right or wrong. Just that we've seen Kirk, Picard and Riker all lose ships and get new commands, so obviously the dynamics are different in Trek's version of the future.

 

[MickJo1701]

I agree with KingDaniel, Admiral Quinn wouldn't have offered to make him Commandant of the academy only months after assuming command of the Enterprise if he wasn't seen as being one of most respected officers in Starfleet.

 

[R. Star]

Truth is, win, lose or draw, loss of a ship would have disqualified him from another major command. That's just politics of the service.u

Jim Kirk didn't get that memo.

 

[Anwar]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Wow, the wonders of nostalgia filters...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Oh, was that the point? TOS did a poor job, in that case. Good thing the spaceships were cool looking.

 

[CoveTom]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Funny. I thought the point of TOS was to tell entertaining stories in a sci-fi setting as a way of attracting viewers and, ultimately, making money. I also thought all the "using Trek as a vehicle to explore the human condition" bullshit was just that.

 

[R. Star]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Funny. I thought the point of TOS was to tell entertaining stories in a sci-fi setting as a way of attracting viewers and, ultimately, making money. I also thought all the "using Trek as a vehicle to explore the human condition" bullshit was just that.

Gene Roddenberry would disagree..
"[Star Trek] is my social philosophy, my racial philosophy, my overview on life and the human condition."

But what did he know about it's point? He was just the creator after all.

 

[BillJ]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Funny. I thought the point of TOS was to tell entertaining stories in a sci-fi setting as a way of attracting viewers and, ultimately, making money. I also thought all the "using Trek as a vehicle to explore the human condition" bullshit was just that.

Gene Roddenberry would disagree..
"[Star Trek] is my social philosophy, my racial philosophy, my overview on life and the human condition."

But what did he know about it's point? He was just the creator after all.

It also provided for him and he was going to pander to those that spent money on it. Just look at the IDIC symbol.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Funny. I thought the point of TOS was to tell entertaining stories in a sci-fi setting as a way of attracting viewers and, ultimately, making money. I also thought all the "using Trek as a vehicle to explore the human condition" bullshit was just that.

Gene Roddenberry would disagree..
"[Star Trek] is my social philosophy, my racial philosophy, my overview on life and the human condition."

But what did he know about it's point? He was just the creator after all.

Depends on when he said it.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Funny. I thought the point of Trek was to tell us something about ourselves.
Oh, right. That was TOS.

Especially the tribble episode.

 

[CoveTom]

Gene Roddenberry would disagree..
"[Star Trek] is my social philosophy, my racial philosophy, my overview on life and the human condition."

But what did he know about it's point? He was just the creator after all.

Gene Roddenberry was perhaps the greatest peddler of bullshit ever to be associated with Star Trek.

I'd be curious to know when that quote dates from. It's well-documented that as time went on, Roddenberry began embracing more and more the "visionary" label that had been attached to him, and wasted no opportunity to exaggerate the cultural significance of what he had done.

When Roddenberry set out to make TOS, he sought to make a successful and entertaining TV series, nothing more. By the time he got to TNG, he felt as though he were on some sort of great societal crusade. But that certainly wasn't the case back when he was writing "The Cage."

My point is not that TOS didn't have some relevant and thought-provoking things to say about our society. Sure it did. Sometimes it said them well, other times it said them rather badly. But, regardless, my point is that no one set out to make Star Trek to make some sort of social statement. They set out to make a good TV show. Everything else came later.

 

[scotthm]

The original premise for TNG was that the Enterprise-D was going to be out on the edge of known space for 2 decades and would rarely have contact with Starfleet. I'm guessing that in the past other starships were sent out on long deep space voyages and Stargazer was one. So it's not really some kind of career staller to be on a long deep space voyage.

What the original premise was and what "actually happened" are different things. I was personally disappointed that Picard and crew strayed into unknown territory as seldom as they did, and the idea that ships went out for a decade or more without revisiting the Federation just didn't come across to me in the series.

I still think a captain staying with a single command for so long would be bad for a career, but then again Riker turned down command enough times it began to be ridiculous.

---------------

 

[A beaker full of death]

Funny. I thought the point of TOS was to tell entertaining stories in a sci-fi setting as a way of attracting viewers and, ultimately, making money.

no, that was Berma-Trek.

I also thought all the "using Trek as a vehicle to explore the human condition" bullshit was just that.

no, it wasn't. ALL writing - when done by writers - is created because the writer has something to say. That doesn't mean they're trying to expound on deep meaningful philosophy, as people later interpreted Trek. But yes, writers, even tv writers, like all artists, write because they have something to say.
Now, people who start out as suits, who then take writing credits, are another animal entirely.

 

[Timo]

ALL writing - when done by writers - is created because the writer has something to say.

Judging by the results, this might not be as common a phenomenon as you suggest it to be.

Timo Saloniemi