What happened to Yeomen?

[Gotham Central]

What happened to the position of Yeoman in Trek? Yeomen were essentially secretaries and personal assistants. It makes sense that on ships with busy captains and officers that there would be a need for people to do administrative tasks and help help department heads do their jobs. However, the position seemed to fall out of use even before the end of TOS and by the movies were largely gone. The question is why?

I'm sure that part of the reason what the increasing enlightenment of the creators and the audience to the idea that women would be more than glorified secretaries (I always ound it ironic that both Captains Pike and Kirk complained about being assigned female Yeoman yet we NEVER saw a man hold the position).

 

[MANT!]

Well maybe only the 'pretty boys' were considered for the position?
per our friends in Wikipedia..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman_(US_Navy)

It's still a position in the US Navy..and under other names in the other US services.

I can only assume it's been replaced for the most part by automation..

 

[BillJ]

Gene probably couldn't get it up anymore by the time of TNG, so he had no use for young starlets.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Probably because they realized that captains should be able to get their own food.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

One less actor to pay...

 

[RyuRoots]

Computers happened.

 

[JB2005]

One too many sexual harrassment charges

 

[MHT1138]

I am assuming that even if Starfleet did do away with that rank/position, there would still be enlisted personnel to act as administrative assistants.

side note: I always thought it was interesting that Sergeant Harriman in Stargate was able to be both a technician, he was the main gate dialer, and administrative assistant to the general. He must never have gone home. Though I guess Yeoman Rand did lots of different tasks as well.

 

[ALF]

Gene probably couldn't get it up anymore by the time of TNG, so he had no use for young starlets.

From one Bill to another.... thanks for saving me from typing this.

 

[The Castellan]

Gene probably couldn't get it up anymore by the time of TNG, so he had no use for young starlets.

From one Bill to another.... thanks for saving me from typing this.

Pity he did not live long enough for Viagra to come out.

 

[Takeru]

The question is why?

Probably because a yeoman is completely useless as far as the story is concerned. Holding the black thingies that Kirk signed was the only thing we ever saw of a yeoman's job on TOS, of course they were used as victims or to be in love with Kirk, but that's nothing yeoman specific, those things can be done by the guest star of the week, gives them more to do and saves the money otherwise spent on an additional chick in a short skirt.

 

[nightwind1]

I am assuming that even if Starfleet did do away with that rank/position, there would still be enlisted personnel to act as administrative assistants.

side note: I always thought it was interesting that Sergeant Harriman in Stargate was able to be both a technician, he was the main gate dialer, and administrative assistant to the general. He must never have gone home. Though I guess Yeoman Rand did lots of different tasks as well.

If you know what I mean, and I think you do. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more.

 

[BillJ]

The question is why?

Probably because a yeoman is completely useless as far as the story is concerned. Holding the black thingies that Kirk signed was the only thing we ever saw of a yeoman's job on TOS, of course they were used as victims or to be in love with Kirk, but that's nothing yeoman specific, those things can be done by the guest star of the week, gives them more to do and saves the money otherwise spent on an additional chick in a short skirt.

Modern Trek would've benefited from some short skirts.

 

[Pavonis]

^They tried that, but someone gave a couple of guys the skirt and that killed the idea forever after.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I'm sure that part of the reason what the increasing enlightenment of the creators and the audience to the idea that women would be more than glorified secretaries (I always ound it ironic that both Captains Pike and Kirk complained about being assigned female Yeoman yet we NEVER saw a man hold the position).

In the very first pilot we did. We see a young man holding position beside Pike's chair with a data slate both before and after Pike was on the bridge.

It's also plausible that there are quite a few male yeomen about, but just that most of them were women during TOS. But I believe the Captain's Yeoman is a special position and serves as something of a butler to the captain. In addition to keeping track of the captain's schedule, he also brings the captain his meals, takes care of his laundry, and even tidies up his cabin when necessary. The relationship between the captain and his personal yeoman is probably a close one, as the yeoman would probably be privy to things about the captain that no one else on the ship knows. It's not too surprising that a captain's yeoman may also serve as something of a confidant to a captain's innermost thoughts.

Kirk and Pike likely balked the idea of an attractive young woman suddenly becoming their Alfred (Batman reference) and being all up in their business now...

 

[Pauln6]

The fate of the yeomen has a lot to do with the fact that the TOS writers didn't generally know what to do with the concept of female astronauts. The original concept for Rand had a lot of potential that was squandered but it had little to do with the position itself. Similarly, in TNG the position of helmsman was generally a non-role. However, when the position is filled by LaForge, Wesley, or Ro, the role comes alive because those characters have story elements written for their personalities. Rand had a few elements written for her but she was almost exclusively a talentless victim who spent her spare time mooning over Kirk. The other yeomen didn't fare much better although at least Ross was a dab hand at unarmed combat.

 

[Pauln6]

Was it Atkins? My bad! The actress knew judo so they wrote it into the story I believe. What it demonstrates is that even in the sixties the role of the individual yeomen was what they were prepared to make of it. It's one reason why I'd like to see an updated version of Rand in the reboot. It doesn't matter that she's a non-com or the Captain's secretary as long as the character is given some personality and something worthwhile to do.

 

[TotesMagotes]

s'funny... in the commonwealth navies, Yeoman is the title given to the senior communicator.

 

[Pauln6]

All those hot, dumb blonde yeomen do start to merge into one after a while...

 

[zar]

I'm pretty sure there was at least one episode where a guy served coffee or tea on the bridge in TNG.

The two men who assassinated Gorkon in TUC were Yeomen.