Spoilers Strange New Worlds General Discussion Thread

[cooleddie74]

Okay, can we applaud M'Benga using glass beakers and flasks like McCoy's Sickbay in TOS? That is so retro that outside of Phlox in ENT we just don't see much if anything of Starfleet chief medical officers using standard lab equipment and breakables.

 

[Yistaan]

M'Benga was, um, reassigned to the USS Constellation, happened to be on leave when it was destroyed by the planet killer, and went back to the Enterprise but decided not to kick McCoy out of CMO job. Yeah that's it.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Damn. That's some bad mojo right there...

 

[The Knappos]

Spoiler

So now we know without a doubt M'Benga is chief medical officer, and he's not just a doctor working under an unseen CMO (Boyce or Piper). What in the galaxy happened between this show and TOS that results in M'Benga losing CMO job to McCoy?

Well, there was a change of Captain. Maybe the new guy said he wanted his own choice for CMO.

 

[Mudd]

Enterprise wasn’t the flagship back then.

By any naval definition, Enterprise has never been a Starfleet flagship.

 

[Yistaan]

Well, there was a change of Captain. Maybe the new guy said he wanted his own choice for CMO.

 

[cooleddie74]

Let's not forget Mark Piper. Dr. Piper is on the Enterprise during Kirk's first year in command. McCoy doesn't assume his role as CMO until 2266 as confirmed by Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and M'Benga isn't seen again until "A Private Little War(TOS)," set in 2267. Lots of changes in Sickbay coming in the next six years or so.

 

[The Knappos]

Let's not forget Mark Piper. Dr. Piper is on the Enterprise during Kirk's first year in command. McCoy doesn't assume his role as CMO until 2266 as confirmed by Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and M'Benga isn't seen again until "A Private Little War(TOS)," set in 2267. Lots of changes in Sickbay coming in the next six years or so.

Makes the Crusher > Pulaski > Crusher progression seem a lot simpler

 

[Tuskin38]

There's also positive reasons M'Benga could have stepped down for McCoy. Remember at some point he studied Vulcan medicine.

 

[Yistaan]

Commander Kirk: M'Benga! I just want to extend my belated condolences on the loss of the USS Discovery. It was a fine ship, and to lose so many, you and the other survivors were lucky to be off-ship when that happened.

M'Benga: I, uh (glances nervously at Spock) have no idea what you're talking about. Disco what?

Commander Kirk: I could have sworn I heard you were Chief Medical Officer on USS Discovery.

M'Benga: Oh no no no, that was Dr. Culber. No wait, I mean Dr. Pollard after Culber was killed by a Klingon. Oh wait he's alive. No I mean he's dead. Again. Right.

Kirk: Wait what? What are you talking about? You just said you had no idea what I'm talking about, then start rattling off names and nonsense... (makes mental note that M'Benga's losing it, and to bring in another CMO)

 

[cooleddie74]

Interning in a Vulcan ward could take him off the ship for most of the period between 2259 and 2267. Unless it's established he's already done that by the beginning of SNW.

 

[Nightcreature]

I definitely agree. I would rather see a well casted Robert April and George Kirk than a young James Kirk.

 

[fireproof78]

I never understood the April obsession. But, I can't throw stones in my class house.

And George Kirk is a near nobody.

 

[Nightcreature]

I never understood the April obsession. But, I can't throw stones in my class house.

And George Kirk is a near nobody.

Go read Final Frontier and Best Destiny by Diane Carey and come back and say that. Maybe they aren't canon but they are some of the best Star Trek novels period.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Enterprise wasn’t the flagship back then.

Since we haven't seen this particular "back then" until now, we didn't know it was. It is now.

 

[fireproof78]

Go read Final Frontier and Best Destiny by Diane Carey and come back and say that. Maybe they aren't canon but they are some of the best Star Trek novels period.

So?

I deal with shows, not books. I have some extremely favorite Trek novels that mean dick all to my enjoyment of shows.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Go read Final Frontier and Best Destiny by Diane Carey and come back and say that. Maybe they aren't canon but they are some of the best Star Trek novels period.

I don't recall them being so but to each their own.

 

[Nightcreature]

So?

I deal with shows, not books. I have some extremely favorite Trek novels that mean dick all to my enjoyment of shows.

There are many Trek books that are literally better than shows in my opinion. I consider the New Frontier novels to be better than Enterprise, Picard so far and Discovery so far but that's just me.

 

[fireproof78]

There are many Trek books that are literally better than shows in my opinion. I consider the New Frontier novels to be better than Enterprise, Picard so far and Discovery so far but that's just me.

Probably so. That doesn't change my opinion on shows. It's completely different mediums. I have books that I much prefer to the vast majority of shows out there, but that's me. I am a total book worm, but I will not judge shows vs. books. For me it doesn't work that way and treating a character special because they were important in a book is not how I engage with two different story telling methods.

And telling me something is better than a show is a bit odd. Like, ok, but a book is far different animal than a show. A show has to engage the audience at multiple levels. A book does so differently. Way differently. Often times utilizing the reader's imagination and willingness to suspend disbelief more in a book, resulting in way more engagement and way more forgiveness.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Funny how segments of a fandom which has elements of Shakespeare and open-mindedness about it are so centered on that someone doesn't look like the actor that portrayed them before.