Bones isn’t the only doctor. He’s the CMO, and, as a main character does most of the medical stuff that we see, but among just the named characters there are at least 2 physicians (Doctors M’Benga and Sanchez), and two psychologists (Drs Dehner (killed in the second pilot) and Noel). There’ve also been civilian specialists attached to the crew for various reasons.
The Menagerie - You know, I’ve never actually seen this episode before (The Cage aside, a couple days ago), but I feel like I’ve seen it simply because of how many times this episode has been referenced in other media. It was interesting seeing the original finally, and also interesting to see how they reused The Cage to fit into the new version of TOS, so I’m glad I did watch The Cage first. I take it the actor who played Pike didn’t want to return for this episode, and they didn’t want to pull a George McFly? LOLz to Spock using floppy disks with wav files. So has there ever been an official consensus on whether this counts as 1 or 2 episodes?
The Menagerie - You know, I’ve never actually seen this episode before (The Cage aside, a couple days ago), but I feel like I’ve seen it simply because of how many times this episode has been referenced in other media. It was interesting seeing the original finally, and also interesting to see how they reused The Cage to fit into the new version of TOS, so I’m glad I did watch The Cage first. I take it the actor who played Pike didn’t want to return for this episode, and they didn’t want to pull a George McFly? LOLz to Spock using floppy disks with wav files. So has there ever been an official consensus on whether this counts as 1 or 2 episodes?
Some Trek novelist (Diane Duane? Vonda McIntyre? A woman, certainly) explained this once by noting that not everyone in the ship’s company was allowed to go on every away mission. One had to have a first-contact certification (and such certification wasn’t just for the literal first time the Federation had contacted an alien culture, but for any dealings with a pre-warp culture); it came up because Kirk was pissed at McCoy for not having renewed his certification and thus not being able to go on a certain mission. I can easily imagine that chief surgeons are required to maintain that qualification, but not everyone in Medicine was. (Particularly since I also think that the actual, full-time Medical Department consisted of McCoy & Chapel and maybe one other nurse; M’Benga and the other doctors & nurses (implied but not seen) actually worked in one of the Science departments (i.e., for Spock) except when relieving McCoy & Chapel or doing whatever minimum time practicing medicine was required to keep their licenses.
We’re talking about Star Trek here, not the “Star Trek franchise.” Regardless of whether such intent existed as of the 21st century, it certainly didn’t exist in 1966, and it’s pointless to try and attribute it to them.
The same reason writers use any idea, because they had to write another episode and hanging a plot point on a question that had been asked by fans since 1979 was an easy way to do it. The writers don’t care about “creating canon” or satisfying hard sci-fi needs for explanation. They’re just trying to make a show that they hope will get viewers.
I’m not sure what you’re saying, but to me this is an indication that canon and continuity is finally being recognized as the needless burden that it is. Abrams wanted to tell his own story, just like any good writer would want to, and hang the canon-freaks.
That said, I have no problem with the new movie, given that it’s explicitly stated that it’s not in the canon timeline.
My problems with the new movie have nothing to do with it not being canon. I rather was looking forward to a new canon. My problems with it stem from all the new characters but two (well, two and a half) being utterly unlikable. When 90210!Kirk was being chased by the monsters on the ice planet, I was rooting for him to be eaten.
What’s funny about the absent universal translators is that they were actually used in one episode. I think it was called Arena?
fuyosa, you’re wondering about oxygen and stuff, but did you consider why practically every alien is anatomically nearly identical to humans? This is actually sorta kinda addressed in one of the later episodes. I can’t remember which one, but I have a memory of Spock and McCoy discussing it while being dressed up as Native Americans.
Actually, it’s not explicitly addressed until the TNG episode “The Chase”. It turns out all of the alien species of the galaxy are descendants of one ancient species. Horrible genetic science, but a decent lampshade. (WARNING! WARNING! LINK TO TVTROPES! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!)
A TNG episode dealt with all of the aliens having similar features.
Edit: Too slow.
Actually, horrible science, period, to amend my own post. It turns evolutionary theory on its ear, since humans are non-ambiguously intermeshed into the general model of life on Earth, from bacteria to us. So the only way “seeding” could have actually worked is if the ancient aliens were able to pre-program evolution to have an inevitable outcome of an upright quadruped with a head on top, through billions of years of development. On every planet with a sentient species. Definitely a “willing (and dedicated) suspension of disbelief” moment.
The translator was actually given to Kirk by the beings(Metrons) that zapped the captain and the Gorn to the arena planet. IIRC, the only members of Star Fleet who ever dressed up as “Native American” was Kirk(Kirok) in “The Paradise Syndrome”, an very sub-standard episode.
But there was a TOS episode that alluded to it as well.
Help me out here…
McCoy and Spock are standing outside of some sort of brown structure with strange symbols all over it. Kirk is trapped inside. The structure is outdoors, and wind is blowing through the trees.
Sound like a familiar scene?
It sounds like “The Paradise Syndrome”: Kirk is zapped by an obelisk into a state of amnesia. Spock, unable to find the captain, has to leave him behind to go to deflect an asteroid. The Paradise Syndrome - Wikipedia
The Preservers (race) ( List of Star Trek aliens - Wikipedia ) are mentioned in this episode as having transplanted humans about to several different worlds.
That’s the one.
It doesn’t bug me. The laws of physics are clearly different in the TrekVerse, as warp drive, phasers, & transporters make clear; why should the laws of biology be the same? (Especially if you’re one of those who hold that biology is essentially an extension of statistics & chemistry, and that chemistry is essentially an extension of physics.)
Even worse, they use it to justify breeding between different species. We’d be more likely to interbreed with a carrot. I can almost buy Spock, where a very powerful and rich father could pay for massive amounts of genetic engineering, but by TNG time it wasn’t even being justified.
Having been there, I assure you that by the standards of 1966 a science fiction show that recognized that you couldn’t go faster than light by stepping on the pedal harder and that it made perfect sense to build spaceships for space only was so far in advance of anything I had ever seen as to make any flaky science things (like the energy barrier which Isaac Asimov didn’t like in his TV Guide article on sf shows) very excusable. There was a very complimentary article on ST by Harry Stine in Analog in 1967, btw.
Just a side note, but it looks like Captain Kirk might just be a billionaire. Shatner has been taking his Priceline pay in stock since the beginning. With PLCN rapidly approaching $500/share (from a low of $2/share), our good Captain is rolling in it.
“Beam some Cristal and Yeoman Rand to my quarters, Mr. Chekov. Mr. Sulu, you have the con.”
Priceline won’t officially comment, declaring their compensation of Shatner as “confidential,” but unofficial Wall Street sources place his earnings northwards of $600,000,000. However there is some skepticism of this figure.