Nothing? How about her decoding alien languages? How about her being a communications officer? And what evidence is there that P-Uhura is an Engineer?
Why Can't Uhura Speak Klingon in Star Trek VI; Is She a Diffrent Person After Nomad
- Thread starter Star Trek Apolgist
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^ When does Uhura-prime *ever* "decode" (I assume you mean "translate"?) an alien language?
Decoding an encoded transmission is not the same thing as translating a foreign language.
Decoding an encoded transmission is not the same thing as translating a foreign language.
Today (iirc) less than half of all US Navy officers go to the naval academy, other go to universities, ROTC, OTS, etc..
We know Kirk did, because he spoke of it. Mitchell definately went. Spock and Chekov maybe. What makes you think Sulu or Scotty (or Uhura) went?
†
There are novels regarding the Kobyashi Maru test taken by Sulu and Scotty (a test only at Starfleet Academy)
And in the alternate reality, Uhura and Spock went to the Academy.
I think Chekov is a definite. He mentioned he went to the Academy with Irina in "The Way to Eden". (I would tend to think Spock did as well, since he's the one who explained "dunsel" to McCoy, but you're right, that's not definitive.)
I love the novels, but you're not going to get consensus about them proving that things "actually" happened in-universe.
And what happens in the AR after 2233 may or may not reflect what happened in prime.
Even in NuTrek, McCoy was already a doctor before enlisting in Starfleet, meaning he had gone to another university for pre-med and then finished medical school after that. And that was pretty much the same background that "Prime" McCoy had for many years in non-canon sources.
Officer training certainly would have been needed, though.
Kor
Officer training certainly would have been needed, though.
Kor
We should remember that one person having a certain path of education is no good proof of others following the same path, especially in the Trek universe. Specific examples include Kirk taking his command training as a cadet, Saavik as a Lieutenant; and E-D kids studying calculus before the age at which Jake Sisko tackles algebra.
Should we assume that Scotty would need university-level training in engineering before being qualified as the CEO of a starship? Or should a lifetime tending to various spacecraft suffice? Really hard to tell. For all we know, Scotty had to get his degree before his first job as a freighter greaser's apprentice. Equally possibly, Beverly Crusher got all her formal medical training on a crash course at Starfleet Academy, after having presented a freeform resume of achievements in the field of grandma's herbal remedies. Future education just could be different.
How one achieves specific rank is even less clear. Uhura could be a Lieutenant without any academic training whatsoever, and little in the way of skills in any field, simply because Starfleet needs cannon fodder at every rank level. Or then lieutenancy reflects a very specific set of qualifications and a series of successfully completed tests relating to the line of work.
Ultimately, it really shouldn't matter. Uhura needs linguistics skills about as much as Kirk does, either in order to be an effective Starfleet officer, or in order to be a credible character. Is Worf or Paris or Tucker less of a character for lacking linguistics skills?
Timo Saloniemi
Should we assume that Scotty would need university-level training in engineering before being qualified as the CEO of a starship? Or should a lifetime tending to various spacecraft suffice? Really hard to tell. For all we know, Scotty had to get his degree before his first job as a freighter greaser's apprentice. Equally possibly, Beverly Crusher got all her formal medical training on a crash course at Starfleet Academy, after having presented a freeform resume of achievements in the field of grandma's herbal remedies. Future education just could be different.
How one achieves specific rank is even less clear. Uhura could be a Lieutenant without any academic training whatsoever, and little in the way of skills in any field, simply because Starfleet needs cannon fodder at every rank level. Or then lieutenancy reflects a very specific set of qualifications and a series of successfully completed tests relating to the line of work.
Ultimately, it really shouldn't matter. Uhura needs linguistics skills about as much as Kirk does, either in order to be an effective Starfleet officer, or in order to be a credible character. Is Worf or Paris or Tucker less of a character for lacking linguistics skills?
Timo Saloniemi
Why do we assume "communications" equals linguist? Her job, as seen on the show, was to operate and repair communication equipment. She wasn't shown to be an expert in any non-Federation languages. The UT seems to handle all translations. And I'm sure Uhura is quite adept at running it.
No, but you don't have to earn a commission in order to be a technician or specialist. However, you do have to develop a field of study (such as physics, linguistics, engineering) before or during the commissioning process. So, the question is this: what was Uhura's field of study while she attended Starfleet Academy? That's what is at issue here. Personally, I am fine with Uhura having a background in linguistic as a part of her duties as a comm officer, since she displayed a limited technical background throughout TOS.
Engineering with an emphasis in communication technologies.
Starfleet communications are all transmitted through subspace. I'm sure there's some kind of esoteric physics involved with that. Perhaps that's why, in the ENT era, the movie era, and the TNG era, Communications falls under the Science department.
Uhura's not just the noncom who operates the sat phone, or whatever. She has to deal with spatial phenomena, jamming by enemy ships, establishing communications with aliens who might have completely incompatible technology, what have you. Plus, IIRC there's some evidence in the show that she also has knowledge around cryptography.
Limited? I seem to recall in TOS that when the communications system needed to be modified, she didn't call Engineering... she did it herself.
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