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Did the writers care about the ranks of their characters? (startrek.website)

submitted 1 year ago by Equals@startrek.website to c/daystrominstitute@startrek.website

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I’m not talking about stuff like O’Brien’s hollow rank pip, I’m talking about stuff like “Why make Chakotay a lt. commander rather than a full commander?”

It seems like there was at least some forethought put into who has what rank, but it’s not clear to me how much thought, nor how much meaning was supposed to be baked in to those decisions.

For example, Dr Crusher was a full commander from Day 1, matched only by Riker on the main cast. Was that supposed to signify the authority afforded to the CMO? Was it supposed to be blatant enough for the audience to “get” it?

One of the most prominent examples is Sisko starting his series as a commander. Again — was that supposed to signify that he was more junior, a younger officer?

Behind the scenes, I wonder if we can trace a waxing and waning military influence in the writers room over the years. I know Roddenberry served, and I think some of the early TNG writers did as well. But I feel like that became less common in later series? (But I don’t know for sure.)

I think it’s striking that rank is significantly downplayed on DSC, except for Burnham and potentially Saru.

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[–] AzPsycho@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is an interesting question. As prior military and a fan since childhood I can honestly say that I never paid much attention to it because the shows and movies put so little emphasis on how these people interact with each other through protocol unless it is a plot driven device.

[–] SeeJayEmm@lemmy.procrastinati.org 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I think it provided a rough hierarchy and that about about it.

As Dr. Crusher being a commander, it may have made sense given that the CMO is one of the few people on the ship who has (limited) authority over the captain, and it would feel off to give that authority to someone of lower rank.

[–] HubertManne@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I always felt lt. commander made more sense as it should be the doctor in combination with another senior officer. At least that is how they portrayed it in tos.