The Secret Origin Of "Bones"

[tranya]

I know there was never an explanation on-screen of where McCoy's nickname "Bones" came from, and it can easily be explained as something to do with being a physician, etc. But, anyone recall any good novels/stories/fan productions which ever hinted at or gave an explanation for this particular nickname? I can't, off the top of my head, nor can I recall any fan consensus on this (unlike, say, a number of names -- Hikaru being Sulu's first name, Kirk's parents being George and Winona, etc.)

 

[USS Excelsior]

"Bones is short for "sawbones," an ancient description for a surgeon."

According to Memory Alpha.

No known onscreen reference.

 

[tranya]

Yeah, figured that. I wonder if any Trek author has created a more elaborate, entertaining, or simply different genesis of the nickname.

 

[Classic Fan]

Yeah, figured that. I wonder if any Trek author has created a more elaborate, entertaining, or simply different genesis of the nickname.

I dont remember reading anything about that.

Although, i have heard a few rumours around that the nickname came about because De was really thin, or that he was a surgeon as mentioned.


Or maybe, he had a skeleton in his office when Kirk met him or something simple like that.

 

[tranya]

Interesting, I never knew this re: "Bones":

"It was in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek pitch as a nickname for Philip Boyce, but was never used in "The Cage"."

 

[NCC1968]

Look at the guy....he IS bones

 

[A beaker full of death]

Interesting, I never knew this re: "Bones":

"It was in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek pitch as a nickname for Philip Boyce, but was never used in "The Cage"."

Yeah, that pitch has been published. I have a copy in pdf form somewhere... it also goes into detail about the parallel earths phenomenon.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I know there was never an explanation on-screen of where McCoy's nickname "Bones" came from, and it can easily be explained as something to do with being a physician, etc. But, anyone recall any good novels/stories/fan productions which ever hinted at or gave an explanation for this particular nickname? I can't, off the top of my head, nor can I recall any fan consensus on this (unlike, say, a number of names -- Hikaru being Sulu's first name, Kirk's parents being George and Winona, etc.)

What more of an explaination would be needed? He's a doctor.

 

[Red Ranger]

My fave Bones reference was in All Our Yesterdays, when Kirk is accused of being a witch in Sarpeidon's past. The guard says, "He did call out to it, and did call it, 'Bones!'" -- RR

 

[gastrof]

Interesting, I never knew this re: "Bones":

"It was in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek pitch as a nickname for Philip Boyce, but was never used in "The Cage"."

Yeah, that pitch has been published. I have a copy in pdf form somewhere... it also goes into detail about the parallel earths phenomenon.

That last part is something I'd like to hear more about. Sounds like an early consideration of something along the lines of the "Miri" story.

 

[paudemge]

The 'parallel earths phenomenon' was just Genes way of trying to sell the series by saving money on using existing sets and locations. And was used all the time in TOS

 

[A beaker full of death]

It was also used as a way to make the stories relatable to the audience, per the pitch. Damned if I can find the thing, though.

 

[Supervisor 194]

My fave Bones reference was in All Our Yesterdays, when Kirk is accused of being a witch in Sarpeidon's past. The guard says, "He did call out to it, and did call it, 'Bones!'" -- RR

I'd forgotten about that!

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

It was also used as a way to make the stories relatable to the audience, per the pitch. Damned if I can find the thing, though.

Do you mean GR was making stories based on what he thought would be best understood and most accepted by the average TV audience?

I never heard of such nonsense!

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

It was also used as a way to make the stories relatable to the audience, per the pitch. Damned if I can find the thing, though.

Do you mean GR was making stories based on what he thought would be best understood and most accepted by the average TV audience?

I never heard of such nonsense!

My understanding of the Parallel Worlds concept was that it was a budget consideration, allowing Trek to be more affordable by utilizing stages, backdrops, costumes and props from previous earthbound productions. And as a means for explaining why the majority of aliens looked pretty much like us.

 

[tranya]

It was also used as a way to make the stories relatable to the audience, per the pitch. Damned if I can find the thing, though.

Do you mean GR was making stories based on what he thought would be best understood and most accepted by the average TV audience?

I never heard of such nonsense!

Blaspheme! Heretic!

 

[M'Sharak]

It was also used as a way to make the stories relatable to the audience, per the pitch. Damned if I can find the thing, though.

Is this what you were thinking of?

"Hodgkin's Law" was a writer's device used to reconcile TOS science-fiction themes with obvious budget limitations. Gene Roddenberry wrote in his original pitch:

The "Parallel Worlds" concept makes production practical by permitting action-adventure science fiction at a practical budget figure via the use of available "earth" casting, sets, locations costuming and so on.

As important (and perhaps even more so in may ways) the "Parallel Worlds" concept tends to keep even the most imaginative stories within the general audience's frame of reference through such recognizable and identifiable casting, sets and costuming."

 

[Nebusj]

My understanding of the Parallel Worlds concept was that it was a budget consideration, allowing Trek to be more affordable by utilizing stages, backdrops, costumes and props from previous earthbound productions. And as a means for explaining why the majority of aliens looked pretty much like us.

It also serves preemptively as an answer to why Star Trek doesn't run into really inhuman aliens on their journeys: their missions are explicitly to places with humanoid creatures, which even though it's a tiny slice of the galaxy is still plenty of places to explore. They ran into a fair number of non-humanoid creatures anyway, but it does mean that nitpick was answered in the premise ahead of time.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Yeah, figured that. I wonder if any Trek author has created a more elaborate, entertaining, or simply different genesis of the nickname.

Emony Dax was the first one to call Leonard McCoy Bones, during their meeting at Ole Miss - and it didn't have anything to do with him being a medical student...

It's in the book "The Lives of Dax".

(Not really - but it would have made for a better story than the one that was in the book about how McCoy met Emony, where they managed to take one of the sexiest and funniest lines in Trek and turn it into a really boring tale.)

 

[Hofner]

Here's MY theory of a secret origin for another McCoy nickname.

Early in his Starfleet career, a drunken McCoy on a dare tried to maually dock a workbee and managed to punch a hole in the side of a starship.

That's why people sometimes call him "Dock".

Robert