posted
This has always bugged and confused me a lot, especially in TOS and the movies.
Are there any conclusive rules as to who did what on the TOS bridge? Who was in charge of security? And who was in charge of the ship's weapons? And did this change in the movies?
Let's just make a list of relevant officers..
Enterprise (NX-01)
Armory Officer: Handles ships's weapons and is chief of security.
Helm Officer: Handles helm and navigation.
There is no bridge-level Operations Manager, unless it's combined with one of the other positions (most likely candidates are the Captain or the XO (T'Pol)). Reed is also referred to as "Tactical Officer", most likely a synonym for AO, or perhaps a different role, with Reed being both AO and TO. ENT's system is pretty clear-cut.
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701(-A))
Helm Officer: Doubles as Security Chief. Also as tactical officer?
Navigator: I believe even navigators sounded Battle Stations and fired weapons?
Similarly, no indentifiable Operations Manager. The Science Officer is the XO, although in "The Cage", the Navigator was the XO.
The big question is: who did what in the Movies? What was Chekov's position? And what about Saavik, Sulu and Valeris?
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
Tactical officer/Security chief: A combined post on the Ent-D.
Flight Controller: Helm and navigation, like the NX-01 Helm Officer
Operations Manager: Some sort of accountant. Seems to be the de facto Science Officer.
The Voyager seems to follow the Ent-D's system pretty closely. I'll let DS9 be, because a partly civilian starbase is not comparable to an all-Starfleet starship.
Helm Officer: Doubles as Security Chief. Also as tactical officer? Navigator: I believe even navigators sounded Battle Stations and fired weapons?
The Helm officer doubliing as Security Chief may be particular to how Kirk ran his ship- or to Sulu- and not fleetwide policy.
I'd think any bridge officer could sound battlestations (or would you rather Ensign Newbie wakes up the Captain first when the Romulans/Borg/Giant hand pops up?).
Data's role as both Second Officer, Science Officer and Ops controller is established- seems like a LOT, but he doesn't need to fucking sleep so...
It's almost certainly split up on other starships.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
TOS Movie Era: Chekov was security chief. He cleared Spock to come aboard in TMP. He sealed Spock's quarters in TSFS and gave security instructions in TUC.
This raises the odd question as to why didn't Chekov know firiing a phaser would set off the alarms in TUC?
Chekov also handled photon torpedoes in TMP and TWOK
I believe Chekov had the navigation position in TVH, TFF and TUC (Of course in TVH they were renegades and not on a Starfleet ship).
Saavik was Navigation. Valaris also seemed to be navigation (since she was supposed to be Saavik anyway it makes sense...) Now I wonder where Chekov sat in TUC before Kirk and McCoy went on trial.
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posted
Well - Sulu never served as chief of security, in TOS or the movies (with the exception of alternate-Sulu in Mirror Mirror). He served as tactical officer often, with controls of ships' weaponry through his console.
In the episode "Devil in the Dark", we saw a Lt. Commander Giotto who was refered to by Kirk as "chief of security."
If memory serves, Chekov was tactical officer and head of security in TMP, then back to navigator the next time we saw him actually assigned to Enterprise in Star Trek V.
So I would say that on the original Enterprise, tactical was the duty of the helmsman, with control redundancy through the navigation station. And with the exception of the odd-one-guest-shot red-shirt, the chief of security was often one of the red-shirts killed in the first five minutes of the show.
posted
Fuck yeah, Chekov was "back to navigator" in STV! You want an officer with a history of mind control and brain damage as your Security Chief?!?
He shows his security "skills" in STVI. (mabye McCoy's little device couldn't repair everything....)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
So the security chief in TOS is not a bridge officer?
Okay, so this is what I gather from the movies:
TMP
Helm: Sulu
Navigator: Ilia
Tactical/Security: Chekov
Chekov is also ordered to assemble the crew, manage Spock's Starfleet commission log *and* he controls the viewscreen. It seems like he is also Operations Manager.
TWOK
Helm: Sulu
Navigator: Saavik
Tactical/Security: Chekov (replacing some cadet)
TSFS/TVH At the end, Chekov's back in the Navigator seat.
TFF Back to TOS, it seems. Sulu fires a torpedo, and Chekov is the Navigator...
TUC Valeris introduces herself as the new helmsman. Chekov is still Navigator, and he is also the Tactical Officer.
So, Chekov went from navigator to chief tactical to executive officer, and then back to navigator. Sounds like demotion to me.. perhaps because of the trial in TVH? EDIT: Or perhaps it was because the brainworms. Just like keeping Picard/Locutus away from the Borg.
Who was in charge of security when Chekov went back to being a Navigator?
[ January 05, 2005, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Harry ]
posted
In STV? No one: the shaip had a minimal compliment, so they may not have had a security chief (or that guy got killed taking the complex in "Paradise City".
It's just as likely that the Security Chief is just not on Alpha Shift- we almost never see the command staffs from the other two duty shifts.
It's quite possible that there was no Operations Officer position before TNG....or at least not as a critical element of the bridge crew. As starships got larger and coordinating many more onboard departments with the command staff became critical, the need would have arose.
Did Enterprise C have an Operations Officer?
Of note, Tactical Officer does not always include the Security Chief position (at least not on DS9). Daniels(?) did not seem to be Security Chief in Nemesis.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Yeah, and if you'd bothered reading the thread before responding to it, you'd see he was also mentioned.
Since I just saw "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle" last night, imagine an Indian guy (from India) leaning out a truck window doing an Apu impersonation while giving the finger, "Thank you, come again."
posted
Sorry, Snay. Hadn't noticed that part of the thread. Honest mistake.
Back on topic. It certainly would make sense in TOS for the navigator to double as weapons officer as he really didn't have much to do during non-warp flight operations.
As far as Sulu calling battle-stations... well traditionally the Officer of the Watch (the Captain doesn't stand a watch) sounds the alert on the orders of the CO. Redundancy is key in order so no mistakes or miss-hearings occur.
-------------------- I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
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posted
Was Sulu ever actually identified as a security chief in TOS? I only remember Mirror-him being in charge of security in the alternate universe. But I'm not a big expert on TOS.
Something I recall from old novels was that Gary Mitchell was Kirk's original XO, and Spock only got stuck with it, along with being Science Officer, after Mitchell was killed.
posted
What was Spock before he was Science Officer? Mascot? Obligatory Token Alien on the bridge? (Every Enterprise needs one, dontcha know?)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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quote:Originally posted by MarianLH: Something I recall from old novels was that Gary Mitchell was Kirk's original XO, and Spock only got stuck with it, along with being Science Officer, after Mitchell was killed.
...which (as I know we've discussed before ) doesn't jive with the episode, since Spock wore command colors and Mitchell wore operations colors. See here. (Plus, Spock and Kirk acted like Captain and XO, playing chess together and having private conferences and what-not.)
-MMoM
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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) doesn't jive with the episode, since Spock wore command colors and Mitchell wore operations colors. See 
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