Tucker's Demotion
- Thread starter JB2005
- Start date
As far as I can recall, Tucker was never officially referred to as the first officer. But I haven't seen "Broken Bow" in a while. If Tucker did start out the XO, perhaps someone could quote the relevant dialogue...?
I also noticed that Archer rarely if ever called T'Pol his first officer. He used "science officer." It was established in "Broken Bow" that T'Pol's Vulcan rank was higher than Tucker's Starfleet rank, so perhaps that's why Archer put T'Pol in command when he left the ship, and she became the de facto XO. Or maybe it was part of Archer's deal to keep her on board after "Broken Bow" as his science officer.
I also noticed that Archer rarely if ever called T'Pol his first officer. He used "science officer." It was established in "Broken Bow" that T'Pol's Vulcan rank was higher than Tucker's Starfleet rank, so perhaps that's why Archer put T'Pol in command when he left the ship, and she became the de facto XO. Or maybe it was part of Archer's deal to keep her on board after "Broken Bow" as his science officer.
Funny! It was all about the rack in Enterprise, man. But they never explicitly said Trip was first officer, as I recall. My own theory is they had someone else in mind but he was ill or injured. and the Vulcan High Command wanted someone to keep an eye on them anyway, so the opportunity presented itself. And the creators were trying to recreat the TOS troika -- American captain, Vulcan first officer/science officer, Southern department head. -- RR
Tucker was a full commander, as far as I know. Aren't Commander and (Vulcan rank) Subcommander equal? If it were me, I would have made Tucker first officer, though, and made him the security chief. As you all may recall, in the TOS days, the first officer (at least on Kirk's ship) doubled as some department head. I would've then made Malcolm Reed the chief engineer, with the rank of lt. cmdr. -- RR
A practical question - how exactly can one engineer who spends his entire workday in engineering be an XO?
There's a lot more to being an XO then to just take over command when captain becomes incapacitated. I mean, T'Pol sits in the chair every time Archer goes to take a leak. Now imagine Trip turbolifting up to the bridge fifteen times per day...
There's a lot more to being an XO then to just take over command when captain becomes incapacitated. I mean, T'Pol sits in the chair every time Archer goes to take a leak. Now imagine Trip turbolifting up to the bridge fifteen times per day...
To the best of my knowledge, Tucker was second highest ranking (Starfleet) officer. And it's my impression that Trip and T'Pol's ranks were equal.
T'Pol's role was clearly not just as science officer. She was left in charge of the ship anytime Archer was away from the bridge (for whatever reason). The only times Trip was put in charge was when Archer and T'Pol were away.
If T'Pol hadn't been aboard, Trip would probably have been on the bridge a lot more often. Tho' we did see lower ranking officers put in charge on occasion.
T'Pol's role was clearly not just as science officer. She was left in charge of the ship anytime Archer was away from the bridge (for whatever reason). The only times Trip was put in charge was when Archer and T'Pol were away.
If T'Pol hadn't been aboard, Trip would probably have been on the bridge a lot more often. Tho' we did see lower ranking officers put in charge on occasion.
I would say I doubt that they'd give her command, but evidence to the contrary has been seen on Enterprise before (Twilight).
From "Broken Bow" - the decon chamber scene:
Trip does not dispute the rank issue after this. Knowing Trip, I would think he'd be screaming like a banshee if he didn't accept it.
And later in sickbay, with Archer...
And...
Archer doesn't dispute the "highest ranking officer" or "acting Captain" references either.
They needed star charts from the Vulcans to get to the Klingon Homeworld and T'Pol tagging along was the price. Also T'Pol was a trained scientist and had more experience in space then Trip and Archer combined.
If you think T'Pol became 1st Officer because of her rack you must then believe Archer got to be captain because of his daddy and Trip Chief Engineer because of his southern charms ...
I think that is a really big part of it. Anyone can order "Evasive maneuvers. ... Fire." In a crisis the engineer is always trying to get warp drives going or recover the shields. There is usually only one person on the ship that can do that. Plus, as quoted in other posts, the dialog of the first episode shows the evolution of trust towards T'Pol. They were both willing to listen to her by the end.
i dont think they expected space to be so crazy when they headed out.
i think the quiet of near space and the vulcans not really warning exactly why they thought they were going out to early gave them this expectation they wouldnt be shot at that often.
and tpol originally was only on board for the broken bow mission.
so i dont know why they woudnt have had picked the executive officer by then.
and with his people skills i could see why archer might have wanted to have trip as his first officer.
the expectation may have been that malcolm during the time of crisis becomes acting first officer if trip is needed in engineering during an emergency.
and with an engineering station on the bridge a lot of things could be done from there.
heck scotty still kept on eye on engineering all the times be became acting captain in tos (scotty pretty much was in charge unless he also was a part of the away team when kirk and spock was gone from pretty much the coming of gene coon and from then on..)
A practical question - how exactly can one engineer who spends his entire workday in engineering be an XO?
There's a lot more to being an XO then to just take over command when captain becomes incapacitated. I mean, T'Pol sits in the chair every time Archer goes to take a leak. Now imagine Trip turbolifting up to the bridge fifteen times per day...
If Archer needed to to go that many times during his watch he really needs to be checked out by Dr. Phlox!
A practical question - how exactly can one engineer who spends his entire workday in engineering be an XO?
There's a lot more to being an XO then to just take over command when captain becomes incapacitated. I mean, T'Pol sits in the chair every time Archer goes to take a leak. Now imagine Trip turbolifting up to the bridge fifteen times per day...
If Archer needed to to go that many times during his watch he really needs to be checked out by Dr. Phlox!
... How far fitness standards have fallen in the 22nd century!
...and a nice bum (nod to Malcolm). Don't forget that!
The examples you cite are simply T'Pol "saying" she outranks Trip. I don't believe there was anything official about it in Broken Bow at least.
My guess is that the reason Trip accepted T'Pol as first officer or acting Captain was because he knew that Starfleet would capitulate to Soval if T'Pol went to him.
I've always argued that Starfleet Commander was a superior rank to Vulcan Subcommander because a Starfleet Commander can have a command. I have seen no examples of Subcommander's with their own commands.
