I hope it’s pointed out the officers wouldn’t be hiding the information, they would just not be talking about it. There is little reason to spread that kind of news to any one who doesn’t need it for their job, and that fits perfectly with the captain’s characterization, but should also be normal on any ship. Besides, gossip always happens, and there are no orders to keep the information secret.
While I think the guy is right about a ship in the blind spot, he is also riling the crew up for no good reason. I like that. There is a book I’m reminded of where all of the characters have very different aspects of their personalities displayed over the course of the story. Where a character might have started as unsympathetic and useless, later they can be extraordinarily capable. The key was the right build up of factors to lead to particular actions, or the right context for their methods to work beneficially, or non-beneficially. Usually characters maintain a certain consistency of place or use regardless of changing factors.
Stories are usually about the alpha male, so we’ll get emotional investment in them, because most of us think we’re personally the most important thing on the planet.
It’s the same reason that so many people think they were a king in a former lifetime.
It’s connected with the same reason that it’s so difficult to tax the rich: because over half think that they’ll someday soon be one.
Me, too. In his original pitch for Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry talked about how the ship would have a large crew and the show could “zoom in” on a new guest star/crew member every week. They did a bit of that in the early TOS episodes, but it fell by the wayside after a while, and the show became more focused on Kirk/Spock/McCoy. Not complaining about that, but the big crew approach still holds a lot of potential for telling new Trek stories, especially in fan projects, where you don’t have to write a paycheck for each new crew member you create.
That’s one of the things that was good about nuBSG. You got to see all walks of the ship, not just the officers. Even in TNG’s Lower Decks you still only get to see a couple of whiney junior officers. You never saw the grunts.
Enlisted personnel almost don’t exist in Star Trek, at least by TNG. The most notable one is Miles O’Brien, and even though he becomes chief engineer of DS9 he still maintains a non-com’s rank, where as Geordi LaForge and Scotty were Lt. Commanders. There is a blip where O’Brien has Lieutenant pips and was referred to as such, but after that in TNG he has an enlisted rank, and maintains that kind of rank through DS9.
It leads me to believe the main difference between enlisted and commissioned officers on Starfleet ships is a difference between apprenticeship and college. There is a little more but that’s the jist. O’Brien joined Starfleet at 18, while officers seem to join the academy at that age. O’Brien must have learned everything on the job, so well in fact he was an instructor at the academy. The point being, by TNG ensigns are the grunts.
I hope it’s pointed out the officers wouldn’t be hiding the information, they would just not be talking about it. There is little reason to spread that kind of news to any one who doesn’t need it for their job, and that fits perfectly with the captain’s characterization, but should also be normal on any ship. Besides, gossip always happens, and there are no orders to keep the information secret.
While I think the guy is right about a ship in the blind spot, he is also riling the crew up for no good reason. I like that. There is a book I’m reminded of where all of the characters have very different aspects of their personalities displayed over the course of the story. Where a character might have started as unsympathetic and useless, later they can be extraordinarily capable. The key was the right build up of factors to lead to particular actions, or the right context for their methods to work beneficially, or non-beneficially. Usually characters maintain a certain consistency of place or use regardless of changing factors.
Stories are usually about the alpha male, so we’ll get emotional investment in them, because most of us think we’re personally the most important thing on the planet.
It’s the same reason that so many people think they were a king in a former lifetime.
It’s connected with the same reason that it’s so difficult to tax the rich: because over half think that they’ll someday soon be one.
Reminds of me of the TNG episode where they focus on four minor characters and their daily goings-on below decks. Would love to see more like that!
BTW please don’t kill these guys off… kinda diggin’ em 🙂
I love below-decks stories. If a starship is its own community, we should hear more often from someone other than the town’s mayor.
Me, too. In his original pitch for Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry talked about how the ship would have a large crew and the show could “zoom in” on a new guest star/crew member every week. They did a bit of that in the early TOS episodes, but it fell by the wayside after a while, and the show became more focused on Kirk/Spock/McCoy. Not complaining about that, but the big crew approach still holds a lot of potential for telling new Trek stories, especially in fan projects, where you don’t have to write a paycheck for each new crew member you create.
That’s one of the things that was good about nuBSG. You got to see all walks of the ship, not just the officers. Even in TNG’s Lower Decks you still only get to see a couple of whiney junior officers. You never saw the grunts.
Enlisted personnel almost don’t exist in Star Trek, at least by TNG. The most notable one is Miles O’Brien, and even though he becomes chief engineer of DS9 he still maintains a non-com’s rank, where as Geordi LaForge and Scotty were Lt. Commanders. There is a blip where O’Brien has Lieutenant pips and was referred to as such, but after that in TNG he has an enlisted rank, and maintains that kind of rank through DS9.
It leads me to believe the main difference between enlisted and commissioned officers on Starfleet ships is a difference between apprenticeship and college. There is a little more but that’s the jist. O’Brien joined Starfleet at 18, while officers seem to join the academy at that age. O’Brien must have learned everything on the job, so well in fact he was an instructor at the academy. The point being, by TNG ensigns are the grunts.