I still think Chekov should have Sulu's XO on Excelsior.
Too Many CMDRs, Not Enough Ensigns
- Thread starter ZapBrannigan
- Start date
Perhaps it was somewhat unreleastic but why can't the CMO hold the rank of Commander, The Chief Engineer after decades of service be a Captain. But perhaps in those examples we are talking specalists Medicine and Enginnering respectively. Characters like Chekov and Uhuru are a little harder to explain, we had seen Chekov as a First Officer so it would seem his career had at best stalled at worst reversed. But how much of that was down to possible fallout of the Genesis Incident.
Aircraft carriers often have two, three or even four captains on them.
I think we're forgetting something fairly important: the original cast is what sold tickets. Nobody was particularly interested in the adventures of Lt Ilia, Decker, Saavik, and David.
Trek's strength is in those original characters and the chemistry. Realism isn't nearly as important in the movies as being entertaining and nostalgic.
So, trying to figure out why this does or doesn't make sense is kind of a strange exercise.
Trek's strength is in those original characters and the chemistry. Realism isn't nearly as important in the movies as being entertaining and nostalgic.
So, trying to figure out why this does or doesn't make sense is kind of a strange exercise.
The novels agreed as well. Chekov eventually became Sulu's exec on the Excelsior.
I don't think he looked like a moron. There was a mystery going on at the time and Chekov was grasping at straws like everyone else without pointed ears trying to figure out what was going on. Otherwise, he was serving as a senior officer and was needed as much as any senior officer on a ship would be.
I think within the context of bi-annual movie events you're probably right (although I'd say that Lt. Saavik in her Kirstie Alley interpretation at least is often held up as being a valid and much beloved characterization, possibly up there with the actual classic original cast). But characters like Ilia and Decker were conceived for television, and within the context of continuing weekly adventures with those characters there would be every chance the audience would take them into their hearts, especially were somebody like Decker to be presented alongside the established, original captain of the Enterprise.
I'm not saying necessarily to phase out the old crew, but presenting us with a viable 'next generation' whom they are training to take their place -- like Saavik -- would have worked well even within the context of a continuing set of movies. But alas, Saavik was recast for TSFS... and then by some accounts deliberately marginalized in favor of the regulars... so she wasn't really given a chance to develop further.
The thing with Crewman Dax with his weird feet, and the gravity boots just made Chekov look really bad. I know it was meant for comic relief, but still.
Also the part where he didn't know that a phaser on the vaporize setting would set off the alarm made him look worse. He's served on ships for a long time, and he used to be head of security; he should have known that. Of course, someone had to ask the question because they had the mashed potato gag ready to go, but Chekov was a poor choice for that.
It just seemed like a simple case of Chekov mistaking the crewman as an average humanoid and not getting a good look at his feet (given how obvious they were, something must have been blocking his view of them).
To be fair, Chekov wasn't asking about a phaser, but vaporization in general (it was Valeris who proposed it being done by phaser, when it could also have been done via transporter or by some device other than a phaser).
It does tie in with Azetbur's claim earlier in the movie that Starfleet is a "homo-sapien only club". The possibility of there being predominantly humanoid crewmembers with certain non-humanoid features aboard Enterprise really should've occured to Pavel before he called everybody there to 'unmask' the perp, but instead he got hit by the idiot stick for a scene simply for the sake of a cheap laugh and to pay-off a plot red herring.C.E. Evans said:
And yet from that point on, Chekov is the one that jumps in to point out such discrepancies. Probably from embarrassment.
I didn't think of it, but this is another supporting argument for my original thesis. There's only so much dialog to go around, and forcing the script to serve a bunch of "high-ranking" legacy actors can leave them asking the questions that should belong to young ensigns-- the very role young Chekov was created for but is no longer suited to.
A Nimitz-class carrier sails with over 5600 people aboard. That doesn't invalidate what you're saying, but it's a factor. It's ten times the crew of a starship and lots of high-responsibility, high-autonomy jobs like fighter pilot.
It's also more like two commands, the ship and the air wing, plus the admiral and flag staff, all located together.
Good point.
