Skip to main content

star trek - Why is there no consistent Chief Helms Officer in TNG?


After watching TNG and VOY, there is a rather major discrepancy: in TNG, there seems to be no consistent helms officer on the Enterprise-D, apart from when Wesley is in charge. It seems to be some random Ensign that last about a week/month before a new one is put in charge. Yet, in VOY, it's always Tom Paris (as is the case in TOS and ENT). Why is this the case (possibly to give Ensigns experience or something)?



Answer




  • Because the producer's gave Robert Duncan McNeill the role of Tom Paris, helm officer of the U.S.S Voyager and viewers don't want to see story-lines about random pilot of the week, nor did anyone want to pay someone else for a speaking role when you're giving McNeill the paycheck.

  • It's often stated that Tom Paris is the best pilot they have onboard so that's probably why he ends up as permanent helm officer after the last one gets herself killed in the Pilot. But as we see, there's different shifts over the course of a day on Voyager and Paris must have counterparts driving the ship when he's taking a nap. We just don't see a lot of these other shifts because no one wants to see episodes which consist of the main cast sleeping.


  • There's also a big discrepancy between job availability/advancement between U.S.S Voyager and U.S.S Enterprise. A lot of people are stuck doing the same jobs on Voyager that might have changed to different jobs on Enterprise, but probably not.

  • Don't forget that on TNG we had regular helm officers too. In Season 1 we had Geordi flying the ship, while in Season 5 and 6 they had Ensign Ro. Wesley filled the role in Seasons 2-4. Also if you check out this link for Flight Controllers you can see that other helm officers had reoccurring appearances, so all were probably having off-screen adventures onboard the Enterprise between their appearances.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more