That's not how McCoy got his nickname!

[Jolantru]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

Sawbones isn't in the lexicon today, let alone the 23rd century. It was a common phrase in the 1960's. Sort of like a Sheriff was often called a "tin man", or in the 70's the poliece were referred to as "the fuzz".

I don't know if the writers were consiously aware of the sawbones term, or if they were and because of the lack of use in modern lexicon decided to change the backstory based on that.

Emily Deschanel's Bones is called that because she's based on a forensic anthropoligist Kathy Reichs, who studies skeletal reconstruction in crime solving. A forensic anthropologist is not a surgeon and therefore not a "sawbones"

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

This shows just how much you people know about Star Trek history. Kirk calls McCoy "Bones" because of an incident that happened in their past, off screen, when they first met. The bones in Kirk's legs had been completely crushed, almost beyond repair, and it was thought that they would have to be amputated and replaced with synthetic legs. McCoy saved Kirk's legs by painstakingly reconstructing the bones piece by piece. This was supposed to have been addressed and shown as a flashback in a season four or five episode of TOS but the show was cancelled before it happened. The idea for the episode, which had been authorized by Roddenberry eventually became one the old Star Trek novels. The name of the novel escapes me, but I will look for it.

Any true fan would know this.

The explanation they gave in this new film is pure crap.

What I know about the backgrounds of the main characters comes from watching the TV shows and films...repeatedly.

...and since I don't know about this McCoy/Kirk backstory that supposedly could have one day been said onscreen if TOS wasn't cancelled and was only part of some novel...well I guess that means that I'm not a true fan.

Since I'm not worthy of being a Star Trek fan since I only care about the TV shows and films, can you please tell me where do I go to turn in my fandom card?


Having said my sarcastic piece, consider this:

Aren't there other occassions where a Star Trek novel contains information that becomes contradictory because of a later TV show or film? Due to the fact that the TV show or film trumps novels as the basis of canon, the latter "live action" information becomes canon over the previous novel information. Couldn't this "Bones" issue just be one more example of that?


EDIT TO ADD:
Oops!! I have since been informed that the post I quoted was also sarcasm..however my point about facts we learn in films trumping facts we learned from novels is still valid (although just not directed at Odo' bucket.)

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Okay, I admit it.

I gave him his nickname.

And I completely agree with Dax- he's got a surgeon's hands.

 

[Opus]

You're good at writing sarcasm (I guess), but not too good at identifying it. Take a deep breath - Odo's Bucket was also being sarcastic.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

You're good at writing sarcasm (I guess), but not too good at identifying it. Take a deep breath - Odo's Bucket was also being sarcastic.

D'oh ....But I still feel better because of my response .

Perhaps I shouldn't direct it at Odo's Bucket, but to the rest of the fans who seem to think that some anecdotal comment by Roddenberry or some forgotten novel written in the 1970s should be strictly adhered to as canon for all future on-screen efforts.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I noticed that, too, but it didn't bother me.

Next time though, I'll get really damn drunk, go to the movie and throw the biggest fit anyone has heard of. Women will weep, men will stand back in awe, and I will surely be arrested and given the death penalty when the damage is totaled up.

 

[Gepard]

Any true fan would know this.

God, here we go with the true fan crap again.

As if fans don't have anything better to do then memorize minutiae.

http://www.alaskanaircon.com/imagevariable/sku/large/1075.jpg

[Yahtzee] "Fans are clingy complaining dipshits who will never ever be grateful for any concession you make. The moment you shut out their shrill tremulous voices, the happier you'll be for it." [/Yahtzee.]

 

[OneBuckFilms]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

Please tell me the TV Episode or Movie that establishes this as the origin.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

All bullshitting aside, I always thought (by myself, as a kid growing up in those pre- internet days) that Bones got his name from the fact that he's older than most of the rest of the crew (Alas, I did not know as a child how old Spock was). No disrespect to Kelly, but he did look older than most of the rest of the crew, and IMDB states him as being about a decade older than Shatner and Nimoy.

I figured one day Mc Coy was grousing something along the line about "you kids don't know how easy you have it," and they threw back something about a "grumbling old bag of bones." Well, it beats calling him old fart.

So that was always my one woman theory on how Bones got his name, from being the older one in the bunch who liked to pull the age card on the younger ones. And not anything having to do with his profession.

 

[gomtuu20]

I believe that Kirk actually called McCoy Sawbones in one of TOS episodes. I remember his saying it with a Chicago-type accent, so it must have been A Piece of the Action. That is cannon.

 

[gomtuu20]

......or maybe he noticed that McCoy REALLY likes him.....

 

[CommanderRaytas]

... and thus, Kirk/Bones slash fiction entered a whole new dimension. And the Lord was puzzled, and decided to pretend it had never happened, and knew nothing of it.

 

[CptGarth]

Hey ya all, I been watchin trek for 35 years(I was 5 when I seen my first show), I dont ever remember why they called him bones. I assumed it was cause he was skinny also! I dont care what anyone says,I like the Idea>My wife took the planet and left me my bones also! Ok I'm bias but what the hell,It struck me funny...in some twisted way. Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor,not a lawyer!

BTW, It is a new timeline. Get used to it!

 

[Cky]

Wasn't the original origin of the nickname "SawBones" in a non-canon book? Therefore we don't actually know how he really got the nickname. This could quite as easily be the way Kirk gave him the nickname (obviously in a different location to what he would have in the Prime timeline).

 

[galleywest]

I thought it would be likely to be a combination of the two: the remark striking a chord with Kirk, and the coincidental fact that the guy saying it was a sawbones, or surgeon. And I guess you could add in that he's the older member of the crew. So all of these things added up to a fitting nickname.

Ta da!

 

[Cdr MacDuff]

I like the movie explanation for his nickname. Its funny.

 

[gomtuu20]

I thought it was because he had prescibed viagra to himself.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Stop saying that Kirk gave McCoy the nickname "Bones" from McCoy's line about his ex-wife. That's not why he has that nickname!



Not only does such a genesis for a nickname make no sense, "Hey when we first met you said your wife left you with your bones after the divorce. It was an off-the-cuff flippant remark and using it as a nickname will likely stir up painful memories of your divorce!"

No. His nickname is "Bones" from the term "sawbones" a slang-term for a surgreon!

It's an alternate universe, man, things are "ALTERNATE" (as suggested by Rom in "The Emporer's New Cloak")

 

[number6]

Why can't it be both?

 

[M'Sharak]

I thought it was because he had prescibed viagra to himself.

More product placement?