# Why a Doc in sci-fi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143 "2010-05-29T03:56:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Radishes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Radishes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Radishes)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/1 "2010-05-29T03:56:54Z")
Yes, I just got through watching “Forbidden Planet”, and it struck me that each time the Commander went out and about, the company doc went with him. Which reminds me that the same thing happened in Star Trek shows with Bones. So my question here is, has this been a trend in the spaceship movies and shows? I don’t remember and I just wondered if I had missed something or it was a given that the ship’s doctor always had to go along with the captain. Did Captain Steubing have this problem with the doc on the Love Boat? :dubious: Radishes ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/2 "2010-05-29T04:02:36Z")
Why a doc? Why a-no chicken? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/3 "2010-05-29T04:03:10Z")
Yeah, and why did the doctor himself have to go? Why not one of his assistants or nurses? Also, in the ST universe, since the medical technology is so advanced, why not a machine or diagnostic device? I think Voyager had the most logical one: the doctor is a hologram, and sick bay is fully automated. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/4 "2010-05-29T06:38:26Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Yeah, and why did the doctor himself have to go? Why not one of his assistants or nurses? Also, in the ST universe, since the medical technology is so advanced, why not a machine or diagnostic device? I think Voyager had the most logical one: the doctor is a hologram, and sick bay is fully automated. In Star Trek, it was a general disdain for technology. Stop laughing. While technology was allowed to advance, any that replaced humans was considered to most likely become evil. Heck, even their regular tools broke often enough not to be trusted. The only reason Voyager got what they did was because the labeled Doc as an “emergency hologram”, and all the humans that could do his job were killed in the first episode. It’s only when he becomes thought of as human that he is really trusted. As for why not send nurses–it’s the same reason as _House_–they want to use the main characters. And, for some reason, the main doctor is always one of them. Heck, other than the original, I’m not even sure if there were any nurses, except in episodes where an extra\* person was needed. \*literally an extra, or at least someone with the minimal number of lines. They existed not as characters, but to help with the plot. As soon as they weren’t needed in the plot, they are removed. And if needed again, usually replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/5 "2010-05-29T09:45:39Z")
The answer to why they had a doctor both in _Forbidden Planet_ and on _Star Trek_ is easy to explain. _Star Trek_ was actually modeled closely on _Forbidden Planet_. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/6 "2010-05-29T12:10:51Z")
Wild-assed guess: at the time of FORBIDDEN PLANET, they didn’t have the term “exobiologist” and they wanted someone who was an expert in life-forms to go with the captain… ? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/7 "2010-05-29T16:38:55Z")
Having the doctor in the landing crew fills an important role in exposition. Since the Dr. is not a flight officer, it gives the characters someone they can explain their actions to, thus also explaining them to the audience. Patrick O’brian used Dr. Maturin in the same way, he was as ignorant of the workings of the ship as the reader was (after 20 novels, he was more ignorant than the reader) and could ask questions so that the reader would know what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/8 "2010-05-29T16:56:31Z")
You need a Doctor in case there are Daleks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/9 "2010-05-29T17:29:24Z")
Why a doc? Because that’s the only way to get the water to Rome.😛 The whole thing of the Bridge crew being the “away team” was crazy anyway. They’d have an officer, some Seals, and a medic. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/10 "2010-05-29T17:33:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > You need a Doctor in case there are Daleks. Well played, sir, very well played. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/11 "2010-05-29T22:00:23Z")
> [@](#): > > So my question here is, has this been a trend in the spaceship movies and shows? I don’t remember and I just wondered if I had missed something or it was a given that the ship’s doctor always had to go along with the captain. Did Captain Steubing have this problem with the doc on the Love Boat? When Gene Roddenbery stole a big chunk of Forbidden Planet for his new TV show, one of the things he clearly took was the triumvirate of Captain-First Officer- Doctor going out to explore/contact. AFAIK, this wasn’t a major element in SF movies or fiction before this. I can see why FP did it – the Doctor was clearly supposed to be the Intellectual. Morbius recognizes him as such, and loses few opportunities to tell the Captain that he thinks he’s a dunce. but he treats Doc Ostrow as an equal. It’s the Doctor who hypothesizes most about the Invisible Entity, recognizing its incongruity and (in a scene that’s so perfectly SF that it makes me go “squee”) who realizes that the Invisible Entity’s ability to stand up to the output of their “blasters” is incompatible with a solid creature, and indicates that it must be drawing energy from elsewhere. And it’s Doc Ostrow who ultimately unravels the Mystery of the Krell Disappearance. He’s really kinda Bone McCoy and Spock rolled into one. The First Officer, Jerry Farmer, is a brave man of action, but not obviously an intellect. I don’t know exactly where this dynamic comes from. Darwin, on the _Beagle_ might be one inspiration – he was brought aboard explitly as the Captain’s companion, not the ship’s doctor (although that’s not widely known). I don’t think Patrick o’Brien had started his books yet, with the close Captain-and-Intellectual Doctor pairing\*. In the Horatio Hornblower series, the ship’s doctor didn’t fair too well – they tended to be drunks or blowhards or otherwise disagreeable. Yeah – a quick check shows that the first appeared in 1969, over a decade after FP. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/12 "2010-05-30T00:37:33Z")
The ship’s doctor, as an educated man, would be considered a gentleman, and therefore a suitable social partner for the captain. It wouldn’t do for the captain to play cards or duets with one of the common crew, but with the doctor, that’s OK. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/13 "2010-05-30T01:40:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Having the doctor in the landing crew fills an important role in exposition. Since the Dr. is not a flight officer, it gives the characters someone they can explain their actions to, thus also explaining them to the audience. Patrick O’brian used Dr. Maturin in the same way, he was as ignorant of the workings of the ship as the reader was (after 20 novels, he was more ignorant than the reader) and could ask questions so that the reader would know what was going on. I think you’re on the right track here, with regard to the Doctor being someone outside of the normal chain of command. He also has the narrative benefit of being someone who can interact with all ranks as something close to a peer, without so much concern about “fraternizing” as a line officer. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The answer to why they had a doctor both in _Forbidden Planet_ and on _Star Trek_ is easy to explain. _Star Trek_ was actually modeled closely on _Forbidden Planet_. I’d always assumed the direct antecedent of the Doc in _Forbidden Planet_ and _Star Trek_ was the Doc in _Mister Roberts_ (1946 book/1948 play/1955 movie). That Doc is less of a sounding board for the tyrannical captain than for XO Roberts, but the dynamic is the same. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/14 "2010-05-30T02:45:19Z")
Also, a doctor is a profession that everyone is familiar with and it helps ground the series in some level of reality, giving viewers a point of reference. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/15 "2010-05-30T15:55:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The ship’s doctor, as an educated man, would be considered a gentleman, and therefore a suitable social partner for the captain. It wouldn’t do for the captain to play cards or duets with one of the common crew, but with the doctor, that’s OK. Most ships doctors of that time were surgeons, not physicians as Maturin was. Surgeons were not as far as I know held in very high esteem socially, being associated with tooth pullers,barbers and mountebanks rather then gentlemen. Even today, in inverted snobbery in the U.K. surgeons(who are fully qualified doctors) are referred as Mr. rather then doctor. Physicians WERE quite well regarded socially. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/16 "2010-05-30T17:46:23Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Most ships doctors of that time were surgeons, not physicians as Maturin was. > Surgeons were not as far as I know held in very high esteem socially, being associated with tooth pullers,barbers and mountebanks rather then gentlemen.. Although it is true that a physician was considered higher socially than a surgeon, a ships surgeon still dined with the officers, thus was still a gentleman by at least courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/17 "2010-05-30T20:15:53Z")
I tend to the fanwank handwaving notion that the medical technology was so advanced in those times that a doctor could cure everything short of death on the spot, so of course you’d want one along on a dangerous mission, just as the Army brings medics along on an assault. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/18 "2010-05-31T01:31:07Z")
No matter what the level of medical technology, it’s pretty much always going to be true that the doctor can do more the quicker he gets to the patient. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/19 "2010-05-31T01:52:31Z")
There’s an in-story explanation in many of the Trek novels. (Or at least there used to be; I haven’t read a new one this decade.) Diane Duane and Vonda McIntyre mentioned such a thing as first-contact clearance, which the majority of the officers and crew would not have. It wouldn’t surprise me if among the four hundred or so company of Kirk’s Enterprise, only a fraction were authorized to beam down to an inhabited planet not part of the Federation. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143/20 "2010-05-31T06:25:19Z")
This may date back as far as Arthur Conan Doyle providing Doctor Watson as a companion to Sherlock Holmes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-doc-in-sci-fi/541143.md?page=2)