Who is Starfleet's biggest fizzle?

[Turd Ferguson]

We're talking the best of the best. Characters that had such potential that they get the best postings... characters that launch from the Academy with such honors and ambition, yet they never achieved breakaway speed into orbit, only to crash back to the surface. We're talking about those hotshots that never made it. I've tried to come up with one from every series:

1. Ensign Travis Mayweather - Enterprise NX-01 - a boomer that was a hotshot pilot. Handpicked for the first warp 5 long range, deep space exploration vessel. Yet, he's still an ensign ten years later when the ship is put into mothballs.

2. Lt. Saavik - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 - seemingly groomed by Mr. Spock himself to ascend to the captain's chair, this young Vulcan failed the Kobayashi Maru test, then, after the death of Mr. Spock, resigned to a science officer posting on U.S.S. Grissom under the esteemed Captain J.T. Esteban, before ultimately saying "Fuck it," and quitting to live on Vulcan.

3. Commander William Riker - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D - Everything screamed "badass" about this character from the get go, ultimately passing up promotion after promotion to remain Captain Picard's first mate before FINALLYaccepting promotion some fifteen years later to the U.S.S. Titan.

4. Ensign Harry Kim - U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656 - Scored high marks at the Academy. Assigned to Voyager to track down disgraced former Starfleet officer turned terrorist Commander Chakotay. Hits the ultimate glass ceiling by being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, ineligible for promotion for some reason, while former Maquis terrorists (never in Starfleet, or Starfleet washouts) hold higher rank than him. Granted the rank of skipper finally for the U.S.S. Rhode Island, only to have that potential future erased by Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

I'm aware I didn't come up with anybody from Deep Space Nine, but that's because there's nobody on there I would consider a fizzle. Personally, I think Riker is the biggest fizzle of all, going from command track to paper pusher track under Captain Picard. What say you?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm aware I didn't come up with anybody from Deep Space Nine, but that's because there's nobody on there I would consider a fizzle.

It didn't happen on that series, but how about Worf? At the end of the series he's appointed an ambassador...a few years later he's back to security duty on the Enterprise like nothing happened.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

I'd have to go with Riker. Not because he kept turning down commands, obviously if he wanted to stay on the show he couldn't take command of another starship. Plus he was happy on the Enterprise and happiness is often more important than prestige.

Of course if he was in the Navy and was an XO and he kept turning down chances to command a ship eventually the Navy would kick him to a desk job somewhere and let someone who wanted to be a CO eventually take over.

He's the biggest disappointment because in the space of 10 minutes in Generations his reputation of a brilliant, bold, cool under pressure officer who was one of the best in starfleet, stopped the Borg and had the universal respect of his peers, was completely destroyed and he was made to look like an incompetent idiot who lost his head at the first sign of trouble and made a series of decisions that lead to the Enterprise being lost to a shitty old BOP.

There were probably 10-12 decision points where if he'd done the right thing he probably would have won the battle and not lost the ship. But not only did he make the wrong decision at all these points, he almost always picked the WORST possible option available to him.

Riker in Generations was a character trashing the likes of which hasn't been equaled in ST before or since.

 

[Cyke101]

Granted the rank of skipper finally for the U.S.S. Rhode Island, only to have that potential future erased by Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

I have to admit, I LOL'd at this one.

Anyway, I feel for Kim and Mayweather indeed. The writers remembered to use Kim constantly, but they always saw him as a glorified intern. Mayweather perhaps had it worse, in that he was a glorified intern with rarely any lines.

But I'd have to go with Riker. Unlike Kim and Mayweather, Riker had opportunities to prove, if not his captaining skills, then at least the reason why he was such a young, respected hotshot -- Kim and Mayweather followed command, Riker gave those commands. And while I still find nuKirk's rise to captaincy a bit far-fetched, Riker was just a couple years older when he became XO of the flagship, and climbed it tooth and nail from the ground up (so I suppose he's closer to nuSpock in terms of his meteoric rise in career).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

For TOS, probably Rand is the only option.

 

[Ithekro]

Valaris. First in her class. Terrible betrayal to her mentor and her captain, as well as Starfleet and the Federation.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Well you could basically argue every character from TOS except McCoy and sulu were duds. Kirk became an admiral but got busted back to captain. I know technically it was a "reward" but he could have been an admiral and still been in positions where he had to command a whole fleet of ships. And I'm sorry the military doesn't bust people in rank as a sign of thanks.

Spock became captain of the Enterprise. Turned it back to kirk, died, was reborn and apparently demoted back to first officer instead of getting another command.

Chekov became a first officer on reliant and then was apparently demoted back to his old job on the enterprise for no reason.

Scotty and uhura did essentially the same job all their careers despite being promoted in rank.

So that leaves McCoy and sulu. Mccoy was a doctor so despite the fact I'm sure there were some opportunities being a doctor your whole career is pretty common.

Sulu became captain of the excelsior. So he was really the only one who actually had a more important position after 25 years in uniform. Everyone else was doing the same thing or had been given bigger positions and then busted back to their old jobs for some reason.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Spock seems to move on to the diplomatic service.

Wesley Crusher is a bit of a fizzle. All gung ho about being in Starfleet. Get to be a ensign. Goes to the Academy only to bail to go on a Galactic walkabout.

 

[Ithekro]

And then somwhow was back in uniform for Riker's wedding.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Starfleet is Starfleet's biggest fizzle.

 

[Cyke101]

Spock became captain of the Enterprise. Turned it back to kirk, died, was reborn and apparently demoted back to first officer instead of getting another command.

I'm much less concerned about Spock since, as Nerys pointed out, Spock entered the world of diplomacy. TNG turned him into an ambassador -- which makes sense since Unification/TUC were in overlapping production and TUC starts out with Spock as part of the special Federation envoy to the Klingon Empire. It's also one of the few TNG elements that lived on into the JJverse. So even though he's technically outside of Starfleet, *everybody* in Starfleet during the TNG era regards him as a legend.

It could very well be that while we Trekkies in the real world will always think of him as a First Officer, in-universe he could be much better known as an ambassador, which is a very, very accomplished, respectable feat.

 

[Shon T'Hara]

2. Lt. Saavik - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 - seemingly groomed by Mr. Spock himself to ascend to the captain's chair, this young Vulcan failed the Kobayashi Maru test, then, after the death of Mr. Spock, resigned to a science officer posting on U.S.S. Grissom under the esteemed Captain J.T. Esteban, before ultimately saying "Fuck it," and quitting to live on Vulcan.

Other than being groomed by Spock, nothing in that summary is true.

1) She didn't fail the Kobayashi Maru -- it's a test of her reaction to getting her butt kicked, and nothing in the film indicates that her reaction was wrong.

2) There's no indication that she "resigned" from the Enterprise. Given that Starfleet would've wanted to keep the number of people with knowledge of Genesis to a minimum, she was probably reassigned by someone high in command. If anything, her posting to Grissom is a sign of Starfleet's faith in her -- a freshly minted lieutenant being trusted with an important and highly classified survey is no small thing.

3) The last we saw of Saavik on Vulcan, she was still in her Starfleet reds. We don't know what arrangements she made after reaching Vulcan, but there's no reason to think that was the end of her career.

I'm aware I didn't come up with anybody from Deep Space Nine, but that's because there's nobody on there I would consider a fizzle.

Red Squad. First they participate in a coup d'etat against the Federation, then they get themselves killed in the most spectacularly stupid fashion by the Dominion. Even Wes and Lacarno weren't that bad.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

2. Lt. Saavik - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 - seemingly groomed by Mr. Spock himself to ascend to the captain's chair, this young Vulcan failed the Kobayashi Maru test, then, after the death of Mr. Spock, resigned to a science officer posting on U.S.S. Grissom under the esteemed Captain J.T. Esteban, before ultimately saying "Fuck it," and quitting to live on Vulcan.

As at least one other poster has stated, Saavik didn't fail the the test. She was re-assigned to Grissom--presumably on orders from Starfleet--to explore the planet (hardly a black mark on her record). There's also no reason to believe she resigned from Starfleet. She remained on Vulcan because she had elected not to accompany Kirk and his crew to Earth (as she was never part of their conspiracy).

It's not clear what become of Saavik as far as canon is concerned, but the novels and comics confirm that not only did she remain in Starfleet, but that she also served aboard the Enterprise-A under Kirk between TFF and TUC. In fact, Saavik was the first to notice that something was off about Valeris, and told Spock privately that she thought the then-cadet was a bigot.

--Sran

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Spock became captain of the Enterprise. Turned it back to kirk, died, was reborn and apparently demoted back to first officer instead of getting another command.

I'm much less concerned about Spock since, as Nerys pointed out, Spock entered the world of diplomacy. TNG turned him into an ambassador -- which makes sense since Unification/TUC were in overlapping production and TUC starts out with Spock as part of the special Federation envoy to the Klingon Empire. It's also one of the few TNG elements that lived on into the JJverse. So even though he's technically outside of Starfleet, *everybody* in Starfleet during the TNG era regards him as a legend.

It could very well be that while we Trekkies in the real world will always think of him as a First Officer, in-universe he could be much better known as an ambassador, which is a very, very accomplished, respectable feat.

Yeah but even in the period between TVH and TUC there were several years where he seemed to be more a regular line starfleet officer as opposed to his eventual shift towards the diplomatic corps. Why wasn't he apparently he offered his command during that period and just demoted back to first officer. Yeah I know the whole "loyality to Kirk" thing could be played as a card, but it just seemed like a demotion for no good reason to me.

And why was McCoy even in starfleet after TMP. When he was beamed aboard the Enterprise in TMP it was clear he was glad to be out of starfleet and Kirk even said "For a man who never said he'd rejoin starfleet" In fact McCoy seemed to HATE the notion of having to become active again.
Of course Kirk convinced him to stay by telling McCoy that he needed him as a friend and confidant on this mission because Kirk was a little overwhelmed and McCoy couldn't say no to his friend.
But what about after TMP? The V'ger threat was gone. Kirk had Spock on the Enterprise so he had a trusted friend aboard help even if McCoy left. Wouldn't it make sense that, assuming he could, McCoy would get the hell out of starfleet as fast as he could given his attitude towards it? Did the one V'ger mission change his whole perspective on starfleet so much to where he wanted to stay even though he seemed much happier as a civilian?
Did McCoy want to stay now that Spock was back in the picture they could resume their little debates and insulting each other? Was Kirk so emotionally fragile that he needed BOTH Spock and McCoy in order to function as a captain again. Doesn't make sense why a guy who seemed to dispise having to reenlist would spend another 15-20 years in the organization he was happy to leave.

 

[kirkfan]

I'd have to say Mayweather. He's a one trick pony, ensign I've been in space before, other than that he's as dull and ineffective as the day is long.

 

[BillJ]

Riker. From driven officer who wanted to be a starship captain more than anything to Picard's secretary in a couple of seasons.

 

[kirkfan]

I'm aware I didn't come up with anybody from Deep Space Nine, but that's because there's nobody on there I would consider a fizzle.

It didn't happen on that series, but how about Worf? At the end of the series he's appointed an ambassador...a few years later he's back to security duty on the Enterprise like nothing happened.

It's plausible that he was bored to death in his new function and decided to quit after a while.

 

[kirkfan]

And then somwhow was back in uniform for Riker's wedding.

Starfleet is a very forgiving place. First he commits perjury and partakes in a cover up involving the death of a cadet and then he defies orders and compromises a diplomatic mission, making a volatile situation worse, and then escapes punishment by giving his resignation. And yet a few years later, they take him back! Wow!

 

[enterprisecvn65]

And then somwhow was back in uniform for Riker's wedding.

Starfleet is a very forgiving place. First he commits perjury and partakes in a cover up involving the death of a cadet and then he defies orders and compromises a diplomatic mission, making a volatile situation worse, and then escapes punishment by giving his resignation. And yet a few years later, they take him back! Wow!

Well they did also drop a whole slew of serious charges against the Enterprise crew, except for the disobeying an order against Kirk which was really a "reward", just because they were smart enough to bring back enough a pair of Humpback whales to stop the probe from wiping out earth.

Same in TUC. Broke a shitload of rules, but stopped the assassination so all is forgiven.

Basically the rule in Star Trek is you can break all the rules you like as long as you correct some stupid mistake that someone else made.

 

[Cyke101]

Spock became captain of the Enterprise. Turned it back to kirk, died, was reborn and apparently demoted back to first officer instead of getting another command.

I'm much less concerned about Spock since, as Nerys pointed out, Spock entered the world of diplomacy. TNG turned him into an ambassador -- which makes sense since Unification/TUC were in overlapping production and TUC starts out with Spock as part of the special Federation envoy to the Klingon Empire. It's also one of the few TNG elements that lived on into the JJverse. So even though he's technically outside of Starfleet, *everybody* in Starfleet during the TNG era regards him as a legend.

It could very well be that while we Trekkies in the real world will always think of him as a First Officer, in-universe he could be much better known as an ambassador, which is a very, very accomplished, respectable feat.

Yeah but even in the period between TVH and TUC there were several years where he seemed to be more a regular line starfleet officer as opposed to his eventual shift towards the diplomatic corps. Why wasn't he apparently he offered his command during that period and just demoted back to first officer. Yeah I know the whole "loyality to Kirk" thing could be played as a card, but it just seemed like a demotion for no good reason to me.

This isn't quite explained, but it could be that Spock still needed some mental recovery and reeducation after the events of TSFS. TVH showed him undergoing the process, but it was interrupted by the trip back to Earth and then the whale probe incident (and then played up for comedy throughout the movie).

But then I'd only say that only really covers TVH - TFF. Between TFF and TUC, that's anyone's guess, but I think TUC implies that eventually he moved into something akin to Starfleet's equivalent of a part-time position for XO while jumping into diplomacy.

Or he could have seen what a shitty job the 3 diplomats on Nimbus were doing and decided to roll up his sleeves to show 'em how it's done.

Though, I think it's important to note that in the real-world US Navy, working hard to the rank of captaincy doesn't necessarily guarantee permanent command since there are only so many ships around. Indeed, there are many officers who rise above the rank of captain but don't command a vessel because that's either not where their careers take them, or they choose not to (and Starfleet, much more than the Navy, seems to allow for a lot more room for personal preference when it comes to career). So Spock could have stepped down from the position by his own choice as well. And it could be that Starfleet regards Spock as a good captain but an even better potential diplomat; where Spock is put to better use not on a single starship, but affecting large scale policy, so he could have been groomed during that time as well. But that's just speculation on my part.

And then somwhow was back in uniform for Riker's wedding.

Starfleet is a very forgiving place. First he commits perjury and partakes in a cover up involving the death of a cadet and then he defies orders and compromises a diplomatic mission, making a volatile situation worse, and then escapes punishment by giving his resignation. And yet a few years later, they take him back! Wow!

I'm going with the ironically less fantastic idea: that his abilities as a Traveller enabled him to make a uniform out of thin-air like Q.

I'm more inclined to believe that than the idea that Starfleet would take him back, at least.