What was Worf's job before he became Chief of Security?

[CoveTom]

^ I wish I could find a quote or something to reference what I remember. I recall very distinctly, though, that Roddenberry felt strongly that by the 24th century, technology should be so refined that it just worked and didn't have failures. He wanted to avoid the kind of "transporter is broken" excuses that TOS used to put our heroes in danger. And if that were true, we wouldn't have a great deal of dramatic reason to go to engineering, since things would always be working.

Of course, I could be remembering that totally wrong, but that's what I recall.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I recall something about the Enterprise-D originally having several chief engineers. I think there was a line of dialogue in "Where No One Has Gone Before" in which Riker introduced Lt. Commander Argyle as being the chief engineer in "this case."

But as far as Worf is concerned, I kind of prefer to think he was a Bridge Officer as well. Maybe "Chief Auxiliary Officer" might be more appropriate (or more appropriately vague enough) since he did go on a few away team missions as well in that first season.

 

[Start Wreck]

^ "One of our chief engineers" was the line.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I remember it now. The actual line was "...by one of our chief engineers, Lieutenant Commander Argyle, in this case."

 

[CoveTom]

^ I take that to mean, though, that he's one of their chief engineers in the sense that he's one of their most senior, and best, engineers. They certainly would ultimately have to have a single person over the department. At least I would think.

 

[milo bloom]

^ I take that to mean, though, that he's one of their chief engineers in the sense that he's one of their most senior, and best, engineers. They certainly would ultimately have to have a single person over the department. At least I would think.

While the idea of multiple chief engineers doesn't make sense by current standards (Trek or real life military), it might have made sense to GR and the showrunners at the time, kinda fitting in with all the hippy-dippy, touch-feely* stuff they tried to saddle themselves with in the first season. Like they would all take turns doing what each did best, or maybe even each duty shift had a chief engineer, all of which ultimately reported to the XO or Ops Mgr.



*says the hippy-dippy, touch-feely, new age male...

 

[C.E. Evans]

^ I take that to mean, though, that he's one of their chief engineers in the sense that he's one of their most senior, and best, engineers. They certainly would ultimately have to have a single person over the department. At least I would think.

While the idea of multiple chief engineers doesn't make sense by current standards (Trek or real life military), it might have made sense to GR and the showrunners at the time, kinda fitting in with all the hippy-dippy, touch-feely* stuff they tried to saddle themselves with in the first season. Like they would all take turns doing what each did best, or maybe even each duty shift had a chief engineer, all of which ultimately reported to the XO or Ops Mgr.



*says the hippy-dippy, touch-feely, new age male...

I think it was just a case that each shift had a different chief engineer.

My memory's kind of hazy on the subject, but I recall reading somewhere that Roddenberry didn't originally want a main character as chief engineer--just to be different from TOS, which did. By the second season, though, he obviously had a change of heart, which I think actually worked out well for LaForge, IMO.

 

[Red Ranger]

Once Geordi became chief engineer, that's when his character became more focused. Sure, it was fun to have a blind man as helmsman, but engineer is a much more important position on the ship.

I've read speculation -- maybe fanon? -- regarding the revolving chief engineers on Enterprise. The Galaxy-class was so new, and intended as a template for a new generation of starships, that several engineers trained on the ship in order to spread their knowledge of the new systems to other ships in Starfleet.

I kind of like that explanation, which means that eventually, McDougal, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch transferred off Enterprise and became chief engineers on other either Galaxy-class or Nebula-class starships.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I kind of like that explanation, which means that eventually, McDougal, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch transferred off Enterprise and became chief engineers on other either Galaxy-class or Nebula-class starships.

Me, too. Thanks for introducing me to this.

 

[Red Ranger]

^Thanks. Also, Worf's character definitely came into sharper focus once he became security chief. It gave him a much more defined role than "guy-who-mans-lots-of-bridge-stations." Plus it fit in with his warrior nature.

 

[CoveTom]

It really is good, though, that Paramount was willing to have in the budget as main characters people who were, in the first season, rather undefined roles like Worf and LaForge. You could easily have had an "ensign of the week" in LaForge's role, and pretty much everything Worf did could have gone to Yar. Thankfully, those things didn't happen, and we were able to have them develop into very compelling characters.

 

[milo bloom]

It really is good, though, that Paramount was willing to have in the budget as main characters people who were, in the first season, rather undefined roles like Worf and LaForge. You could easily have had an "ensign of the week" in LaForge's role, and pretty much everything Worf did could have gone to Yar. Thankfully, those things didn't happen, and we were able to have them develop into very compelling characters.

When the next show eventually gets into production, this is definitely something I'd like to see done (sorta). See what I'd really like to see is something like how TOS started with just Kirk and Spock (eventually adding McCoy) and then allowing the background characters to grow without forcing them into their positions [sidebar: for all the problems Enterprise had as a show, the Archer/T'Pol/Trip trifecta was damn near perfect. But characters like Mayweather, and to a lesser degree Hoshi and Phlox, just didn't seem to really click. Reed was awesome though.]

So, cast three mains, like a K/S/M or an A/T/T, but also have some rotating second tier players that aren't tied down to a station that the writers can play with throughout the series.


Back on topic, in our TNG rewatch project, we just watched "We'll Always Have Paris" tonight. It's the first post-Tasha episode and the difference with Worf is astounding (and that's not a slam on Tasha, as I'm a long time Yar fanboy, just a realization that, while having a floating bridge officer like Worf was for most of the season can be a neat idea, once Dorn took that position fulltime he really started to shine).

 

[Red Ranger]

It really is good, though, that Paramount was willing to have in the budget as main characters people who were, in the first season, rather undefined roles like Worf and LaForge. You could easily have had an "ensign of the week" in LaForge's role, and pretty much everything Worf did could have gone to Yar. Thankfully, those things didn't happen, and we were able to have them develop into very compelling characters.

When the next show eventually gets into production, this is definitely something I'd like to see done (sorta). See what I'd really like to see is something like how TOS started with just Kirk and Spock (eventually adding McCoy) and then allowing the background characters to grow without forcing them into their positions [sidebar: for all the problems Enterprise had as a show, the Archer/T'Pol/Trip trifecta was damn near perfect. But characters like Mayweather, and to a lesser degree Hoshi and Phlox, just didn't seem to really click. Reed was awesome though.]

So, cast three mains, like a K/S/M or an A/T/T, but also have some rotating second tier players that aren't tied down to a station that the writers can play with throughout the series.


Back on topic, in our TNG rewatch project, we just watched "We'll Always Have Paris" tonight. It's the first post-Tasha episode and the difference with Worf is astounding (and that's not a slam on Tasha, as I'm a long time Yar fanboy, just a realization that, while having a floating bridge officer like Worf was for most of the season can be a neat idea, once Dorn took that position fulltime he really started to shine).

I like the idea of the next ST show harkening back to the TOS first season, with a main troika and other minor characters coming and going. NYPD Blue was like that in its first season, too, as they had guest stars play other detectives, who you wouldn't see in subsequent episodes, working with Kelly and Sipowicz, instead of the regulars that came into focus later.

 

[Wil has a posse]

The Buried Age tried to explain this. From Memory Alpha:

Worf's somewhat ill defined role in the initial stages of the series is explained in The Buried Age as being the "Chief Bridge Watch Officer" whose duties were to essentially fill in where needed, which allowed him to gain command experience. According to the novel, Worf had put in for security but Picard refused, saying that he needed more experience which would give him more opportunities later on.

 

[Red Ranger]

The Buried Age tried to explain this. From Memory Alpha:

Worf's somewhat ill defined role in the initial stages of the series is explained in The Buried Age as being the "Chief Bridge Watch Officer" whose duties were to essentially fill in where needed, which allowed him to gain command experience. According to the novel, Worf had put in for security but Picard refused, saying that he needed more experience which would give him more opportunities later on.

I really need to read The Buried Age. Certainly sounds interesting -- its explanation of how Worf was initially a command-track, jack-of-all-stations officer and Picard insisting he needed to do that before he'd let him become security chief. That kind of training certainly would be helpful to a Starfleet officer.

I wonder how it would have worked out if it had been Tasha who was in that position while Worf was security chief from the beginning. Maybe Tasha got her start the same way.

I always thought Tasha should have been helm officer from the get-go, kind of Picard's protege, with Geordi and Worf in their familiar positions from the start.

 

[gianderosa1990]

I thought that Worf was the Bridge cleaner and steward.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I think he was just a junior officer who's job it was to learn, learn, learn about all the ship's functions.

 

[Red Ranger]

I think he was just a junior officer who's job it was to learn, learn, learn about all the ship's functions.

Didn't Worf say something like that in Lonely Among Us?

 

[Admiral Shran]

I think he was just a junior officer who's job it was to learn, learn, learn about all the ship's functions.

Didn't Worf say something like that in Lonely Among Us?

Exactly, that's what I was referring to. That episode, and that line in particular, always suggested to me that Worf's job was basically just to learn all he could while he was still a junior officer.

 

[Kdsmgb]

That electrifying scene of Worf is from, "Lonely Amng Us." Season 1, ep 7. In that Worf refers to himself as, "...one of Picards Junior Officers", as he makes the rounds through engineering as part of his general training through all stations. Yes, Geordie is working in engineering at the time and is later at the helm. Picard later refers to the chief engineer, by a name I've never heard before. Yep, everyone's floatng.