Star Trek Magazine – July 2019

STARTREK

RANK AND FILE

InStarTrek(2009), Kirk,McCoy,

andUhuraallgotoStarfleet

Academytogether.Whenallcadets

areorderedtothefleetduring

Nero’sattackonVulcan,Kirkis

stillreferredtoasa cadetwhen

he’stoldhe’sgrounded,andKirk

referstoUhuraasa cadetwhenhe

is lookingforherontheEnterprise.

Butsomehow,onceMcCoyis on

boardtheEnterprise, heis a “senior

medicalofficer”withtherankof

Lt.Commander.HowdoesMcCoy

holdthatrankwhenhewasjustfast-

trackedtothefleetasa cadet?

DouglasPayne

Jacksonville,NC

Goodlogicalcatch,Douglas!It

bringsupanotherpointwhere,going

backtotheoriginalseries,StarTrek

historicallyechoesactualnaval(ifnot

overallmilitary)practice– at least,

thatoftheUnitedStates.Because

oftheiradditionallycomplexskills

andaptitudethatcanalsobeusedin

civilianlife,doctorsareoftenrewarded

at enlistment– orevenrightafter

graduationfroma serviceacademy–

witha rankoneortwostepshigher

thanthenorm,andthentypically

advancedmoreslowly.

IntheUSnavalequivalentto

Starfleet,forinstance,a routine

graduateis usuallycommissionedas

anensign,whereasa doctor– coming

aboardeitherfroma fullacademy

termorsigningupwitha civilian

degree– mightstarta stephigher:

a lieutenant,juniorgrade,being

rewardedforthetimeinmedical

school,whichcandoubletheyearsof

cadets’undergraduatecourses.That’s

exactlywhatwesawwithbothDoctors

BashirandLense– recentStarfleet

MedicalAcademygraduates– intheir

firstpostingsonDeepSpace9 andthe

U.S.S.Lexington, respectively.

YourquestionaboutKelvin

McCoycoversthesameground,and

hisinitialpostedrankis anevenbigger

leap,inanyuniverse(bearinginmind

that“cadet”is notreallya rank).But

as a licensed,traineddoctor,withnot

onlyundergradbutmedicalschool

andtwoyears’practicebehindhim

by 2355 whenhemetKelvinKirkon

thatshuttle,alt-Boneswasalready

yearsaheadofthetypicalcadetage

threeyearslater.So,at 31,it seemsa

lieutenantcommanderpostingis seen

byhissuperiorsas notexorbitant.

Don’tforgetthatmedicalofficers

withthathigherbeginningrankare

stillconsidereda staffofficer,nota

lineofficerincommand.That is,until

• likeDoctorCrusherandCounselor
  Troi,andnowAdmiralCornwell–
  theyapplytotakeactualcommand
  training,andthendogointothatline.

LARRY NEMECEK’S

A FISTFUL OF DATA

MAKING SENSE OF THE FUTURE

Look around you! We’re

living in historic times.

Not only is Star Trek:

Picard busy fi lming, but

Star Trek: Discovery is

back in production for

Season 3. Th at means we’re

living through days that

have not been seen in 20

• count ’em, 20 – years:

namely, two Star Trek

series in production at

the same time. Th at hasn’t

happened since March

19,1999,whenStarTrek:

Voyagerwaswrapping

itsSeason5 finalewhile

DeepSpaceNinewas

shootingpenultimate

seriesepisode“The Dogs

ofWar,”enroutetoa

storiedfinalewrapdayon

April20.The bottomline

is thatthenewplanets,

characters,technologies,

andsituationscan’tallbe

settledon-screenwitheach

other,muchlessallthat

hasgonebefore.Sowe’ll

be“smoothingthegaps”

forsometimetocome– as

longasyoukeepasking

thequestions!

LarryNemecek

Send your background
bewilderments and
canon queries to
startrekmagazine@titanemail.
com, via larrynemecek.
com, @larrynemecek or @
StarTrekMag on Twitter, or @
StarTrekMagazine on Facebook.

01 Karl Urban

as Bones with

his Star Trek

(2009) co-

stars.

01

88 STAR TREK