Didn't he take command in one episode?
Rank of Doctor
- Thread starter shauncroucher
- Start date
Didn't he take command in one episode?
No, McCoy was never in command of the Enterprise.
McCoy was left in command in the novel Doctor's Orders.
Do you do any research before posting?
It was done more as a "walk a mile in my shoes" gesture. The Crusher/Troi situation bordered on ridiculous. Reminded me of a couple of bored yuppies who decided they want a baby, without having any idea what it entails.
Troi was a Lt Cmdr even in the first season, and Crusher was always a full Commander. If a Doctor is never supposed to be able to command anyone on the ship aside from the immediate medical staff there shouldn't be any point in giving them actual Line ranks in the first place.
Plus, considering she had a skeleton crew and took out a Borg Cruiser Crusher did a pretty good job Captaining.
Plus, considering she had a skeleton crew and took out a Borg Cruiser Crusher did a pretty good job Captaining.
...Just like every other Captain does as good as job as the writers need them to.
Your point? Look, just cause you have some problem with a Doctor showing command capability when it comes down to it doesn't change that she showed it when it came down to it.
And we still haven't figured out just how a civilian doctor would be different from the typical Starfleet Doctor.
Your point? Look, just cause you have some problem with a Doctor showing command capability when it comes down to it doesn't change that she showed it when it came down to it.
And we still haven't figured out just how a civilian doctor would be different from the typical Starfleet Doctor.
Was she put in charge of Starfleet medical on earth in season two?
Yes.
Isn't it sort of obvious and goes without saying that to do that job she would have to be an Admiral or a Commodore?
it did go without saying.
The production people when they were writing her out really didn't consider anything beyond that they got some hotty from TOS to steam up the idiot boxes and force Picard to accept a love interest... Fucked up there much?
Admiral Crusher.
Which makes her demotion back to Commander all the more distressing rather than just humiliating that she did something so awful that Starfleet medical had to hide her, put the girl out to pasture pretend that she had never left the Enterprise.
She missed her son?
Bullshit.
Either someone important died under her "knife" or she she slept with a patient or Beverly got hooked on space-crack.
You think her hair is that colour naturally?
Side effect of space-crack.
Yes.
Isn't it sort of obvious and goes without saying that to do that job she would have to be an Admiral or a Commodore?
it did go without saying.
The production people when they were writing her out really didn't consider anything beyond that they got some hotty from TOS to steam up the idiot boxes and force Picard to accept a love interest... Fucked up there much?
Admiral Crusher.
Which makes her demotion back to Commander all the more distressing rather than just humiliating that she did something so awful that Starfleet medical had to hide her, put the girl out to pasture pretend that she had never left the Enterprise.
She missed her son?
Bullshit.
Either someone important died under her "knife" or she she slept with a patient or Beverly got hooked on space-crack.
You think her hair is that colour naturally?
Side effect of space-crack.
The problem is that it defies reality. Think about it, the chief medical officer and chief psychiatrist about the Enterprise-D are responsible for the medical and physical health of over one-thousand people (not to mention Troi is already seemingly on the bridge all the time as an adviser). Not an empty task and not one that lends itself to a part-time job as starship commander. An eight-hour shift in sickbay (at least) another eight hours on the bridge (at least), plus we know that both Crusher and Troi wrote research papers in their respective fields. Plus you run into the fact that because they want to play fantasy starship commander they are depriving other young officers who want to pursue command an opportunity.
It was an empty attempt by the writers to make two vanilla characters more interesting.
And I already spoke to where I thought a civilian doctor would make an interesting addition (if Deep Space Nine had taken place planet side as originally envisioned) earlier in this thread.
You still never answered about whether the Borg had seen a knife of bullets prior to First Contact in another thread.
I said that Drones obviously have inferior shielding than the ships, which is why it's a lot easier to kill a drone than to damage a Cube. So I think even if they just kept shooting a Drone with adapted phasers over and over eventually its' personal shields would just collapse anyways. But it would likely take too many shots to do so.
As I said in my last post, McCoy never commanded the Enterprise in the series. BillJ clearly stated that his example was from a novel, which, as you know, is not canon.
As TNG would clearly establish, Crusher was a Commander because she had taken and passed the Bridge Officer Examination. As such, she was considered by Starfleet to be qualified to command the bridge and was a logical choice on Picard's part of hands in which to leave the Enterprise. Crusher took the exam one year prior to the launch of the Enterprise-D.
There was no rank of Commodore in the timeframe of the modern series.
Or, as is far more likely, she missed serving on a starship.
As far as the concern over shifts goes, Crusher did state that she occasionally takes the night shift to keep current. Since she (and Troi, once Troi passed the BOE) isn't a command division officer, she likely wouldn't need or be expected to lead a shift as often as a command track officer would. I would also imagine that Starfleet would encourage as many officers as possible to pass the BOE in order to maximize the number of individuals who could take command in crisis situations if it became necessary.
What about Picard for the decade between the Stargayzer and the Enterprise?
Just because you're a captain, you don't have to Captain a Starship.
Sisko was a station commander as a commander and then (eventually) Ross's Coffee bitch as a Captain.
Just because you're a captain, you don't have to Captain a Starship.
Sisko was a station commander as a commander and then (eventually) Ross's Coffee bitch as a Captain.
We have no way of telling what went on between Picard's time on the Stargazer and when he took command of the Enterprise. I'm not sure anything, in canon, rules out him having had another command in that time period.
So he either could have had another command, commanded a starbase or served on the staff of a flag officer (such as Admiral Quinn, who he seemed to have a close relationship with). Or he could have been working on special missions on behalf of Starfleet. None of which would seem to be precluded from him because of his Captains' rank.
The Starfleet Medical Corps could just have a different structure where position is far more important than rank.
Or perhaps the upper ranks are reserved for officers who have served or are serving in command positions. With certain exceptions for long-serving officers (like McCoy).
All of those examples, or any combination thereof, definitely seem plausible, I'd agree. Picard had to have been onboard at least one starship, possibly in command, during at least part of the nine years between the loss of the Stargazer in 2355 and his assignment to the Enterprise in 2364 because, in "Legacy," he described the first time he met Tasha Yar to her sister Ishara, noting that their respective ships had both responded to the same distress call. His usage of "as had mine" in reference to his ship could be interpreted to mean either that he was in command or that he was onboard in some other capacity. He was most likely in command of that starship, though he only ever referred to Stargazer when talking about past commands so it's certainly possible that he had been onboard in perhaps a mission specialist capacity or for some other purpose. Since he had been exonerated in his court martial (and had been awarded the Grankite Order of Tactics), it seems unlikely that the loss of the Stargazer would have resulted in a demotion.
But there might not have been a ship available?
If Picard was a hero with a medal, was he going to take the first ship they offered him? And lets's face it the first 10 ships they offered him were probably ass because of the ship itself or the assignment or inheriting some other captains crew who were annoyed that no one got to go up one spot because the admiralty brought in outside talent.
Maybe he was even just waiting for a "new" ship without ghosts or skeletons?
(Why am I thinking of Homer at the lobster tank pointing out his food and saying "I'll be seeing you later" in so far as Picard being showed the designs for a Galaxy Class Starship as something they were considering building and Picard says "I'll be seeing you later.")
There is a novel about this time in his life and the author posts here.
If Picard was a hero with a medal, was he going to take the first ship they offered him? And lets's face it the first 10 ships they offered him were probably ass because of the ship itself or the assignment or inheriting some other captains crew who were annoyed that no one got to go up one spot because the admiralty brought in outside talent.
Maybe he was even just waiting for a "new" ship without ghosts or skeletons?
(Why am I thinking of Homer at the lobster tank pointing out his food and saying "I'll be seeing you later" in so far as Picard being showed the designs for a Galaxy Class Starship as something they were considering building and Picard says "I'll be seeing you later.")
There is a novel about this time in his life and the author posts here.
Last edited:
^ Certainly there might not have been a ship available or at least a ship that Picard wanted (though considering his descriptions of the Stargazer, I get the feeling that Picard was typically more interested in that center seat than the state of the overall ship). That's where BillJ's examples of other assignments Picard could have had during those nine years come in.
I'm not sure Starfleet would have handed over their latest ship and technology to a man who hadn't sat in the center seat for nine years. Unless Picard was part of the design/construction process of the Galaxy Class, but he never seemed especially adept in the engineering field... so I've rule that avenue out.
And if he was involved in the design/construction process, it begs the question: why didn't he receive command of the USS Galaxy?
And if he was involved in the design/construction process, it begs the question: why didn't he receive command of the USS Galaxy?
Actually, it was Henry making Hawkeye the Chief Surgeon over Frank. First season, fourth episode, "Chief Surgeon Who?"
And as for the Doctor, an EMH having a rank, I'm on the fence on that one but leaning towards a "yes". He certainly proved himself often enough, in a variety of non-medical situations as well.
The ECH has Pips.
Four of them.
He thinks he's Captain.
But he has to fight a bloody Ensign every inch of the way to see his orders carried out.
Though it was more humiliating for Kim that Chuckles was treating Kim and the ECH evenly/equally when they were putting their ideas up to a lieutenant commander in Workforce.
Four of them.
He thinks he's Captain.
But he has to fight a bloody Ensign every inch of the way to see his orders carried out.
Though it was more humiliating for Kim that Chuckles was treating Kim and the ECH evenly/equally when they were putting their ideas up to a lieutenant commander in Workforce.
