Have to agree about how Uhura was written, given the time in which she was created. I would also feel more comfortable following her orders than Chekov's, can't really say why though.
Why didn't Chekov ever make Captain?
- Thread starter MarsWeeps
- Start date
The reality of promotion -- in many jobs, not just necessarily in the armed forces -- is that sometimes a rapid career progression reaches a bottleneck where things can't move forward any further until a later date. So while somebody might make rapid progress up the long ladder, they'll reach a point where no matter what happens thing will stagnate for a bit.
I imagine something similar happens to a lot of Star Trek characters. We see them reach Commander rank, some of them even make Captain, but their roles in the hierarchy are essentially unchanged. Somebody like Chekov might have got to XO on the Reliant but simply had his career stall for a few years afterwards (likely he was eventually promoted sometime after the events in Generations).
Agreed.
Face it, a tribble has more command presence than Chekov.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this. Funniest thing I've read all day--thanks!
From the available evidence, Starfleet underwent some major changes between TUC and TNG. The sheer number of ships seem to have increased, quite possibly in tandem with the growth of Federation members. Consider--the vast majority of Starfleet we saw were Humans, Tellarites, Andorians, Vulcans and Caitians. Within another seven decades we were seeing lots more we'd never heard of before--Trill, Zakdorns, Bolians, Bynar, etc. I would suggest this means a greatly increased industrial base, especially since the Khitomer Accords almost certainly resulted in greater trade with the Klingon Empire and its sphere of influence. So--far greater industrial base coupled with many more potential members of Starfleet. Yet at the same time, no major wars as far as we can tell. We get references to two conflicts--with the Tholians and with the Cardassians--neither seemingly that intense. More on the order of rather brief Vietnams or perhaps the Gulf War rather than World War Two (which in this scenario would equate to the Dominion War).
So up until the Dominion War, seems likely promotion was fairly slow. And Chekhov was quite junior, with a couple of great big black marks on his record (like stealing the Enterprise).
Yet if Star Trek: Renegades ever reaches the stage where we consider it canon, Chekhov did indeed become a Captain. And is currently an Admiral!
The USS Chekhov btw I suspect is named for the playwright.
Let's face it... when you're XO of a ship and manage to let it get hijacked by a wrathful madman who you just happened to forget about who steals a weapon of mass destruction which creates a cold war style conflict between the Federation and Klingon Empire, your file isn't at the top of the promotion list.
I could well imagine she made Captain and then later Admiral, I doubt she would have ended up commanding a ship though as I could see her more at home working at SF Command or the Academy, there are many posts a Starfleet Captain can take up other than sitting in the centre seat of a starship.
Scotty was an odd in the later films, he actually wore both Engineering and Command colours, Engineering gold/mustard when he was in full uniform and then the white undershirt of a Captain when at work on the Enterprise with the black utility vest.
As for Chekov, he was obviously competent enough for Kirk and Spock to leave in command in V and VI as he was seen a couple of times in the Captains Chair. I always liked the idea he would have been Sulu's XO after the events of TUC and later made Captain even if he didnt command a ship.
Looks like Chekov actually Captained a couple of different ships in the novels. He is mentioned as the CO of the USS Cydonia in Shatner's The Return and he is also noted as having been the CO of the USS Undauntless.
Of all the books I think The Sundered nailed his character post TWOK. He was depicted as a somewhat damaged individual that begrudgingly took the job of XO for Sulu. He performs his role in a much more guarded and cautious manner due to his experiences aboard the Reliant. He eventually fills the role comfortably and performs superbly as I remember. He does go on to eventually take over as the Starfleet C-in-C in the Shatnerverse.
As for Uhura, her comments in TSFS pretty much sum up her ambition to me. "Peace and quiet appeals to me Ensign." Uhura always struck me as the one member of the crew that was versatile enough to leave Starfleet and still be happy. I could see her pursuing music or teaching. She didn't seem to need Starfleet like the rest of the main crew.
Of all the books I think The Sundered nailed his character post TWOK. He was depicted as a somewhat damaged individual that begrudgingly took the job of XO for Sulu. He performs his role in a much more guarded and cautious manner due to his experiences aboard the Reliant. He eventually fills the role comfortably and performs superbly as I remember. He does go on to eventually take over as the Starfleet C-in-C in the Shatnerverse.
As for Uhura, her comments in TSFS pretty much sum up her ambition to me. "Peace and quiet appeals to me Ensign." Uhura always struck me as the one member of the crew that was versatile enough to leave Starfleet and still be happy. I could see her pursuing music or teaching. She didn't seem to need Starfleet like the rest of the main crew.
It seems like none of the senior staff are still assigned to Enterprise at the start of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Given that Spock is the Federation Envoy to the Klingon Empire, perhaps he'd arranged to have Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov returned to the ship especially for the mission. They could have been off elsewhere doing other things. Uhura especially points out that she's teaching at Starfleet Academy. Perhaps Chekov was away serving on another starship.
Personally, I'm surprised Sulu didn't request him for the position of Executive Officer aboard Excelsior.
Personally, I'm surprised Sulu didn't request him for the position of Executive Officer aboard Excelsior.
It's Chekov for the Trek character, Chekhov for the playwrite, so if the spelling should be the tipoff.
There's a series of really good fanfic stories where he made Captain. 
This. In seven pages I've only seen a handful of references to the fact that Chekov was an XO of a starship. For some reason he went from 1st officer, second in command of the ship back down to a lower position on the Enterprise. Now, either Chekov believed that serving under Kirk as Navigator (end of Star Trek IV and Star Trek V) and Security Chief (Star Trek VI) was more preferable to being an XO on another Starship, or else Chekov was in some way blackmarked and prohibited from serving in that capacity any more.
Look at his career through the movies
TMP: Security Chief
WOK: 1st Officer of Reliant
SFS: No posting - awaiting reassignment
TVH: Serves as navigator at the end of the movie
TFF: Serves as navigator after Sybok takes control. Was left in command while Kirk and Spock were off ship.
TUC: Security Chief
GEN: No posting that we know of - served as a dignitary at the launch of Enterprise- B.
Books aren't canon, Of Gods and Men aren't canon. Going just by on-screen evidence, Chekov's career stalled after the events of Ceti Alpha V.
How so? Who is going to challange the USA in anything (especially since the PRC has the USA's manufacturing in it's back pocket anyway?) And what's Russia going to do?
- Mr Adventures, come to the closet with me! Other Mr Adventures, you have the bridge.
She finds the way to screw the cloaked Bird of Prey, she's definitely too good to be demoted as admiral.
Actually, Chekov was a last minute addition to that film. Every line that Chekov had was supposed to be for McCoy, but De Kelley declined to appear. But Walter Koenig agreed to do it, so Chekov was put into the film and got every McCoy line.
Same goes for Spock: Nimoy didn't want to do it either, so Scotty got all the lines that Spock would have.
